Auto park during Old Oregon Trail commemoration photograph

Dated July 3, 1923, this photograph shows an automobile park atop the Blue Mountains in Meacham, Oregon. People, trees, and hills can be seen in the distance. This occurred while President Warren G. Harding was in town giving a speech commemorating the Oregon Trail. The caption reads, "Auto park - Top O'Blue Mts. - July 2, 1923." The President and First Lady stopped in Meacham during their "Voyage of Understanding," a cross-country train journey that included numerous stops along the route where Harding had speaking engagements, and culminated in the first-ever presidential visit to the territory of Alaska. The trip was taken in spite of the president's failing health, and on August 2, Harding suffered a heart attack, and never made it to his second stop in Portland, scheduled for July 28. He died August 2, 1923, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. This photograph is part of a photograph album in the Warren G. Harding Photograph Collection (P146). Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States (1921-1923), was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio, in 1865. At age 14, Harding attended Ohio Central College in Iberia, Ohio, where he edited the campus newspaper and became an accomplished public speaker. He married Florence Kling de Wolfe in 1891, and embarked on his political career in 1900 by winning a seat in the Ohio legislature. After serving two terms as an Ohio Senator, Harding served as Lieutenant Governor in 1904 for two years before returning to the newspaper business. Although he lost the 1910 gubernatorial race, Harding was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1914. Political insider Harry Daugherty promoted Harding for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920. His front porch campaign was centered on speeches given from his home in Marion, Ohio, pledging to return the country to “normalcy” in this post World War I era. Harding easily won the election, gaining 61 percent of the popular vote. On August 2, 1923, Harding unexpectedly died from a massive heart attack while touring the western United States, and is entombed in the Marion Cemetery