Why was a man of so undistinguished a record as
he first chosen as a candidate for President and then elected
President?
As a legislator he had left no mark on legislation. If he had
retired from Congress at the end of his term his name would have
existed only in the old Congressional directories, like that of a
thousand others. As a public speaker he had said nothing that
anybody could remember. He had passed through a Great War and left
no mark on it. He had shared in a fierce debate upon the peace that
followed the war but though you can recall small persons like
McCumber and Kellogg and Moses and McCormick in that discussion you
do not recall Harding. To be sure he made a speech in that debate
which he himself says was a great speech but no newspaper thought
fit to publish it because of its quality, or felt impelled to
publish it in spite of its quality because it had been made by
Harding.
He neither compelled attention by what he said nor by his
personality. Why, then, without fireworks, without distinction of
any sort, without catching the public eye, or especially deserving
to catch it, was Warren Harding elected President of the United
States?
One plausible reason why he was nominated was that given by Senator
Brandegee at Chicago, where he had a great deal to do with the
nomination. "There ain't any first raters this year.
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