'They'll Fight it Out' cartoon

Published in 1922, this cartoon uses President Warren G. Harding’s well-known affinity for golf to speak to the frustration felt by the public and legislators eager to return to their home districts for upcoming elections. Many felt that the Harding administration was purposely delaying action on a number of issues including the bonus bill for army veterans, the coal strike, tariffs on foreign imports, etc. Ohio politician Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) served as state senator, lieutenant governor, and governor. In 1914 Harding was elected to the U. S. Senate. He launched his famous "front porch" 1920 presidential campaign from the porch of his Marion, Ohio, home. He won the presidency with sixty percent of the popular vote, promising a "return to normalcy" following the wave of reforms begun during Theodore Roosevelt's administration. As president, Harding’s administration was tainted by corruption, and the infamous "Teapot Dome" scandal (in which Harding's secretary of the interior leased a government petroleum reserve to a private oil company) nearly destroyed his presidency. Harding died in office in August 1923