(Warren G. Harding - only President for 2 years. Yes, THAT Warren G. Harding) Keeping with the spirit of "Presidents you've probably never actually
February 4, 2010

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(Warren G. Harding - only President for 2 years. Yes, THAT Warren G. Harding)

Keeping with the spirit of "Presidents you've probably never actually heard before", I thought I would add Warren G. Harding to the mix.

Harding was President from 1921 to 1923, dying in office from a fatal heart attack. Not a lot of time to do much, he nonetheless tried to establish a system of arms control, brought about at a time when the world was still getting over the nightmare of the Great War in which he coined the phrase "return to normalcy". At his death he was succeeded by his vice-President Calvin Coolidge.

Here is a recording made at the opening of the International Conference For Limitation Of Arms on November 23, 1921.

Warren G. Harding: “We wish to sit with you at the table of understanding and goodwill. In good conscience we are eager to meet you frankly. And invite and offer cooperation. The world demands a sober contemplation of the existing order and the realization that there can be no cure without sacrifice. Not by one of us, but by all of us.”

Ironically, it was also the same day he signed into law the Wills-Campell Act which banned beer or any alcohol for medicinal use. It was a loophole in the Prohibition Law and no doubt I'm sure there was a connection there somewhere.

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