The Voyage of Understanding

WARREN HARDING’S TRIP WEST AND UNTIMELY DEATH BY JON ANDERSEN

This summer, the Ohio History Connection’s Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites in Marion are commemorating the 100th anniversary of President Harding’s grand trip to the Western states, Canada and Alaska, as well as the 100th anniversary of his untimely death on Aug. 2.

President Harding climbed aboard his private train car, the Superb, on June 20, 1923, to start an ambitious eight-week trip. The “Voyage of Understanding,” as Harding called it, would take him across the nation by train, to Alaska by ship, down the West Coast by train, across the ocean by ship through the Panama Canal with a brief stop in Puerto Rico and then back to Washington, D.C. It was a huge physical and emotional undertaking for any president.

Harding was in good spirits as he waved and smiled from the train platform to a small crowd when he left Washington. Filled with excitement, he looked forward to connecting with the American people on their own turf, to see if the administration’s economic policies were moving people forward from the recession following World War I.

At the same time, Harding, like most of our presidents, was glad to escape the politically stifling world of Washington, D.C. The goal was to visit the Alaska Territory, where federal agencies were giving the president conflicting reports about Alaska’s natural resources. Harding wanted to see the mysterious land for himself to answer overriding questions: How does a president balance development of natural resources with conservation? How does he encourage settlement of Alaska without harming the indigenous people and their way of life?

CHEST PAINS, SHORTNESS OF BREATH

Unfortunately, Harding completed just six weeks of the planned trip. After returning to the U.S. mainland from Alaska, he experienced chest pains, shortness of breath and indigestion, among other symptoms. The president, after seeming to rebound under the care of several doctors, died from heart failure on Aug. 2, 1923, in San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.

His death triggered mourning across the nation as his train—now labeled a funeral train—traveled back to Washington and then to Marion. His body was interred in a receiving vault in Marion Cemetery; in the next few years, the stately Harding Memorial was built and is the final resting place for both President and Mrs. Harding.

Naturally, the president’s unexpected death overshadowed the purpose and accomplishments of Harding’s western trip, but the trip shouldn’t be brushed aside. Harding’s “Voyage of Understanding” was built on a simple premise: Americans and their government needed to understand each other better.

The president needed to see the human beings behind the government statistics and learn of the obstacles they faced. In return, he hoped that he could explain to the people what the government was trying to do to improve their lives. That mutual understanding was necessary, he thought, for the nation to move forward.

Harding wanted to be in the thick of it all, meeting and speaking with the people on the farms, the workers in factories and mines, and the native peoples. He had learned a lot from fact-finding reports, but the longtime newspaper editor reverted to his instincts—going to the sources for the “story.”

Face To Face With The Man Himself

The people in large cities like Kansas City and small towns like Livingston, Montana, who knew what their president looked like only by glimpsing a photo of him in the newspaper, were now going to be face to face with the man himself, and the sociable Harding could not be more pleased with the opportunity to meet them all.

He hoped to glean insight from seeing the realworld problems that farmers and industrial workers faced. He wanted to create a renewed confidence among the people that the government, which seemed so far away in Washington, had in fact not forgotten them. He wanted to figure out how the Alaska Territory and its people could be built into the fabric of the United States.

At the same time, he told the people that America needed to join an international world court to stave off another war, that the government’s policies were solid in bringing the nation out of recession and that the nation was on a new path forward.

The fact that a president would be on the road for six or eight weeks may boggle our minds today. But even 100 years ago, a president could easily stay in close contact with Washington from the far reaches of the sparsely populated West. One of the cars of the train was dedicated to the “telephone men,” who would install temporary lines to a telephone pole in a matter of minutes any time the train stopped for an hour or more. Biplanes dropped mail from Washington for the president and the cabinet members, and returned mail to the capital in a surprisingly quick turnaround. And the journalists accompanying Harding reported daily about his speeches and activities, sending stories to their home newspapers via telegraph or telephone.

A Packed Schedule

The trip was supposed to include just a handful of official speeches, so the president could rest and enjoy some downtime. The requests for additional speaking engagements, though, rolled into the Harding camp as the train chugged west. The president, unwilling to disappoint the people who wanted to see and hear from him, reluctantly agreed to add dozens of speeches to the itinerary. Harding’s packed schedule only served to strain a man already suffering from congestive heart failure, as his medical records reveal to modern eyes.

Health issues, for both Warren and wife Florence, certainly created an ominous cloud over the trip. For years, Florence had suffered with lifethreatening kidney disease, and an arduous trip of this nature was a risk. She had nearly died the previous fall and was just regaining her strength by spring 1923.

However, Florence was just as eager to see Alaska as her husband was, and she enthusiastically joined the group. But while her doctors’ attention was turned to Florence’s precarious health, little focus was placed on warning signs of the president’s health. Cardiac medicine was in its infancy, so Harding’s high blood pressure, chest pains, stomach complaints and immense fatigue stemming from a January bout of the Spanish flu did not raise alarm bells. Despite the fear for his wife’s health, and pushing through his own health issues, Harding set forth on a trip from which he would never return.

In this centennial year of President Harding’s “Voyage of Understanding,” the Harding Presidential Sites are eagerly delving into the story of this final journey, encompassing the sense of excitement, discovery and gut-wrenching loss.

Jon Andersen is a researcher at the Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites.

did and didn’t do. The speakers will also investigate several conspiracy theories to determine what’s true and what’s fiction. The hybrid program will be held at the Harding Presidential Library & Museum and on Zoom. See page 18.

LEARN MORE

LEARN MORE

Ohio History Connection members are invited to visit the Marion home of President Harding, the Harding Presidential Library & Museum and the Harding Memorial Presidential Gravesite to gain a deeper understanding of the president and first lady and the times in which they lived. The museum has an exhibit and video about Harding’s Voyage of Understanding. A new video about Harding’s health and death, researched and narrated by Richard K. Harding (the president’s grandnephew), will air at the Harding Museum this summer.

The Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites will host the program “Death of a President” at 7 p.m. on Aug. 7. The program will feature researcher Jon Andersen, Site Manager Sherry Hall and Richard K. Harding discussing the health challenges faced by the president during his trip across the nation, what the last few days of his life looked like, how the doctors treated him and what Mrs. Harding

Sherry Hall recommends these books about Harding: Warren G. Harding by John W. Dean; The Harding Era: Warren G. Harding and His Administration by Robert K. Murray; and Warren G. Harding & the Marion Daily Star: How Newspapering Shaped a President by Sheryl Smart Hall.

Below: President Harding visited Kansas City, Missouri, on June 22, 1923, during his Voyage of Understanding.