"Return To Normalcy": The 1920 U.S. Presidential Election

In this video, I do my best to give an overview of the 1920 election, mostly from the perspective of the voter, and the biggest issues between the two main parties.

[@BSNFabricating]

Random fun fact: Harding was elected on his 55th birthday.

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

"America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration...not surgery but serenity." - Warren G. Harding

[@josephquillian2866]

This is a great channel! I learn so much. My mom was born in 1920. Greetings from Jody in Dallas, Texas (a retired elementary school teacher)

[@DogbadTV]

How about Wilson signing the Federal Reserve Act in 1913?

[@gothamarea]

😏

[@miketemple7686]

If you love history this is a channel for you. Sub up folks! As a history buff myself, it seems there is almost NOTHING that is truly unprecedented.

[@tooruoikawa8985]

Great video. Fantastic script and narration. Thanks for the unbiased history coverage :) I didn’t want to touch the dial.. I mean skip button lol

[@doncox1965]

Thank you for all the time that you put into making this video.

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

James Cox was a newspaperman who would eventually lead to the creation of what would be Cox Industries

[@miketemple7686]

You beat me to it! Well played Hakeem...well played.🤣👍

[@dingers5days]

Great video. You should do something similar for the 1924 and 1928 election.

[@tugginalong]

A lot of similarities between the 1920 election and the 2020 election but as opposites.

[@batman5224]

In the 1920s, quarantine would have been very boring. Don’t get me wrong; I love the 1920s, but before the 1950s, being a homebody would have been very difficult for me. Prior to the invention of television, reading was the only leisure activity that people had access to in private homes, and despite being an avid reader, I can only do so much of it.

[@TheNotBees]

Imagine, having to read books, write letters, draw, paint, talk to people, listen to the radio. The horror.

[@ricardodelorenzo3954]

Prohibition, a terrible time in our country.

[@06BIBOI]

I LOVE the longer videos !!

[@skeeterhoney]

I actually laughed at the Cox politial cartoon that riffed on the classic RCA ad. Very clever and very American.

[@jebthegodemperor7301]

I like to think I still would have written in a vote for Teddy

[@michaelshort7472]

Teddy was dead by then. Died in January of 1919. But of course, that doesn't stop some folks.

[@lanacampbell-moore4549]

Thank You For Sharing😊

[@jerryshunk7152]

1920 >>> Return to normalcy. 2020 >>> End of normalcy!

[@hazelwray4184]

The Wall Street Crash (1929).

[@Wildrover82]

I love this channel. Thanks for all the content.🙌

[@lisahyde9894]

Great video! Thank you and keep up the good work! 👍🤗💖🙏🏼

[@sophiepalmer-doran344]

here is the full medical history of Warren Harding mumps orchitis As a boy, Harding had a "severe attack of mumps with swelling of the testicles" 3a. minor ails Harding's father was a homeopathic practitioner who attended to most of Harding's minor medical needs. Correspondence between Harding and another homeopath, later White House physician Dr. Charles Sawyer, shows that Senator Harding was treated for "nasal allergy" and dermatitis in 1916-1917. 2 aphasia? The writer H.L. Mencken thought Harding's English, or "Gamalielese," was the worst he ever saw 4a: It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of a dark abysm... of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash. On the off chance that Mencken was not exaggerating, this raises the question of whether Harding had some type of mild aphasia. Between 1889 and 1901, Harding paid five "protracted" visits to the J. P. Kellogg sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan "to recover from fatigue, overstrain, and nervous illnesses." 2 mastoid surgery Underwent mastoid surgery in 1901 because of "ear trouble" 3b. tobacco habits Harding "used tobacco in all forms... two cigars a day, interspersed with a pipe and an occasional cigarette." He also chewed tobacco. 2 sterile? no In her book, The President's Daughter 5, one Nan Britton claimed she had borne Harding's daughter. Although scholars now accept her story (in part because of similar "ear structure" in Harding and the daughter) 3c, there was enormous controversy when the book appeared in 1927. Harding was then four years dead. His stalwarts claimed Harding was sterile as a consequence of mumps orchitis in childhood 3d. Doctors in Battle Creek concurred, citing Harding's childless marriage 3e. hypertension + diabetes In mid- to late 1919, Harding was still insisting privately that he had no ambitions to be President. His blood pressure was 185 and there were traces of sugar in his urine, he told one colleague, and he did not want the burden of being President. 3f suspected heart disease By early 1919, Dr. Sawyer began to suspect that Harding had some sort of heart ailment 2. Bumgarner states, but does not support, that "It is apparent that Harding had significant symptoms related to his heart over at least a 25-year period before he died in 1923" 6a. In 1918, Harding "was still troubled by his health, physical and mental. He put on weight -- he was over two hundred pounds now -- and for all his golfing, his breath grew shorter. His heart trouble was real enough. 'I had a serious spell of it covering a period of two or three years,' he wrote.... 'As a matter of fact, I have never gotten wholly free of it'" 3g. mental inadequacy Harding many times voiced his realization that the demands of the Presidency were beyond his mental abilities. This must have been obivious to all, and it, along with his death in office, seems to have moderated what might have otherwise been much harsher criticism from those who did not like him, such as the notoriously sharp-tongued Alice Roosevelt Longworth 7a: I think every one must feel that the brevity of his tenure of office was a mercy to him and to the country. Harding was not a bad man. He was just a slob. He had discovered what was going on around him, and that knowledge, the worry, the thought of the disclosures and shame that were bound to come, undoubtedly undermined his health -- one might say actually killed him. Longworth futher characterizes Harding as "a slack, good-natured man with an unfortunate disposition to surround himself with intimates of questionable character to whom he was unable to say no" 7b. signs of heart disease By 1922, signs of heart disease were increasing. Harding was more easily exhausted and had transient chest pains. "A White House valet described how Harding was forced to sleep with his head propped up by several pillows, a sign of congestive heart failure" 2. Harding's exhaustion compares with his earlier attitude toward sleep, observed by the chief usher of the White House 8a: He was never in bed before midnight and more often it was one or two o'clock. He was always up at eight, and when it was suggested to him that he should lie abed in the morning he answered, "No, it is too much like a woman." Sometimes he would go to his office, lie down on the couch, and sleep. In January 1923 Harding had a protracted, enervating gastrointestinal digestive illness that was diagnosed as influenza. 2 (Given that abdominal complaints appeared during the later stages of Harding's cardiac disease, one wonders if this episode could have been abdominal angina.) infarct Harding's final illness occured during an extended trip to the West in summer 1923 MORE, but the illness had started earlier: Harding told his physician [correctly] that he would not return alive from the trip 9. After playing six holes of golf in Vancouver, Canada, Harding became so tired that, to quell any suspicions, he moved to the 17th hole, then finished the 18th. He later called for White House homeopath Sawyer, complaining of nausea and pain in the upper abdomen. Sawyer found the President had a pulse of 120 beats per minute and was breathing 40 times per minute. (Both of these readings are abnormally high.) "Intensive cardiac therapy including digitalis was started." 2 Harding died suddenly and unexpectedly in his bed in a San Francisco hotel room several days later, on August 2, 1923. Mrs. Harding refused permission for an autopsy. 2 Comment: It is often supposed that Harding died of an acute myocardial infarction, that is, a " heart attack" or "coronary occlusion." However, this should not be supposed merely because he died suddenly. Harding clearly had heart failure (recall the valet's statement), and persons with heart failure are prone to sudden death as well. His physician diagnosed Harding's fatal myocardial infarct as crab meat poisoning 10a. Lyman Wilbur, who was a cardiologist and president of Stanford, forecast his death 1 MORE, as did renowned New York cardiologist Emmanuel Libman 6b. doctorzebra.com/prez/g29.htm

[@sophiepalmer-doran344]

here is the full medical history of Woodrow Wilson Wilson did not learn the alphabet until he was 9 years old, and could not read until he was 12. This raises the possibility he had a learning disability, perhaps similar to dyslexia 2. Wilson eventually earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and became President of Princeton.Dr. E. A. Weinstein has carefully analyzed Wilson's medical history in a book 5. He finds evidence of multiple strokes. Wilson's first stroke was in May 1896. It caused marked weakness of the right upper limb plus sensory disturbances in the fingers. The finger problems were mis-diagnosed as neuritis. Wilson was unable to write normally for almost a year afterwards. In June 1904 Wilson developed weakness in the right upper limb that lasted for several months 5.Wilson had multiple other neurological events that were presumably vascular in origin 5: November 1907 -- Developed weakness and numbness of fingers or right upper limb that lasted several months; July 1908 -- Two attacks of "neuritis" affecting the right upper limb; December 1910 -- Transitory weakness of the right hand. during his first term Wilson's problems with blood circulation in his brain and eyes continued after he became President 5: April 1913 -- Attack of "neuritis" involving right upper limb; May 1914 -- Abnormal retinal arteries observed; May-Sept. 1915 -- Episodes of transient weakness in his right hand.On what must have been a slow news day, the President's cold was front-page news in the New York Times on Dec. 12, 1913 6 MORE -- underneath a story about the 70-pound weight loss achieved by former President William Taft.In Paris for peace talks after the end of World War I, on April 3, 1919 Wilson's voice was husky all day. By evening he could scarcely talk, had a temperature of 103 degrees F, and had coughing fits so violent and severe that it took his breath away. His physician, Dr. Cary Grayson, initially thought Wilson had been poisoned. Rumors spread of deliberate infection with germs planted in his drinking water's ice. 1b Dr. Grayson sat up with Wilson all night. Vomiting and diarrhea developed. The fever did not break. Wilson could not sleep, which was unusual for him. Grayson decided it was influenza. The President stayed in bed the next day and from there even held meetings with rulers who braved the sick room. 1b A night of burning fever followed, after which Grayson and Mrs. Wilson forbade all work. Wilson then slept for three days, fitfully. 1cHe awoke a subtly changed man. He suspected the French servants were spying. He worried that furnishings were being stolen. He scrutinized his delegation's use of automobiles to make sure they were used only for official purposes -- he had previously encouraged the cooped-up staff to take them for relaxing drives and trips. With his physician, he rearranged furnishings in his room. He suspected his closest aide of trying to subvert him. He was dour, secretive, impatient, and petulant, yet continued to do brilliant work. second term Early in September 1919 Wilson began a nationwide rail tour to build public support for the League of Nations Treaty, which faced unyielding opposition in the Senate. The 9981-mile trip would include 26 major stops and at least ten rear-platform speeches a day. Other than Sundays, Wilson refused rest days, saying "This is a business trip, pure and simple." 1e With his long history of arterial disease in the brain and eye, Wilson was not healthy when he set out. He was to get much worse during the trip, experiencing severe headaches, double vision, difficulty breathing, and signs of a weakened heart. The tour was canceled when he developed unmistakable signs of a stroke, though these later eased 5. Wilson's wife called the journey "one long nightmare" 1f. Dr. Cary Grayson, who was on the trip, described it as "a prolonged agony of physical pain" 1f -- pain that he was unable to treat (no physician in that era could have) on the morning of Oct. 2, 1919. According to some accounts, the president awoke to find his left hand numb to sensation before falling into unconsciousness. In other versions, Wilson had his stroke on the way to the bathroom and fell to the floor with Edith dragging him back into bed. However those events transpired, immediately after the president’s collapse, Mrs. Wilson discretely phoned down to the White House chief usher, Ike Hoover and told him to “please get Dr. Grayson, the president is very sick.” Grayson quickly arrived. Ten minutes later, he emerged from the presidential bedroom and the doctor’s diagnosis was terrible: “My God, the president is paralyzed,” Grayson declared. doctorzebra.com/prez/g28.htm www.pbs.org/newshour/health/woodrow-wilson-stroke

[@TheSupercollier]

Excellent

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

The election of 1924 and 1928 and also interesting elections in their own right perhaps you could do a video on them in the future

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

I recently discovered a story about a 1921 camping/road trip between President Warren G. Harding and a group of famous people known as "The Vagabonds" perhaps that could be a future video

[@schrodingersgat4344]

That should be a Movie!

[@samanthamorris5340]

I was just reading about this election in Tinseltown and I had wondered if you were to mention Adolph Zukor... But then, I wondered if you could make a bio on him? Information about that shadowy man is seriously lacking and he helped form the very way we watch films.

[@jackcarraway4707]

If I was running for president, Return to Normalcy would be my campaign slogan.

[@user-zm3ht4mt9z]

Yes we must have normalcy 🧐🤔🥸💰💰

[@Muonium1]

I truly hate that the trash word "normalcy" has lost its deserved past Harding-era opprobrium and since gained complete NORMALITY in common parlance over the last century.

[@hazelwray4184]

'past' or 'post'? (genuine question)

[@Muonium1]

@@hazelwray4184 past. The new york times wrote a whole thing upbraiding Harding for saying "normalcy" because at the time it was an annoying new malapropism like the mispronunciation of the word nuclear is today.

[@Muonium1]

@Simon Archbold The UK now uses "nookyoular" more often than we do!

[@scnojohnson9645]

Good video

[@cordiscoscorner]

Interesting though that Harding wasn't really "picked" at the Republican convention. After many, many role calls Harding was chosen as a compromise candidate. Not top tier but the best of the lower tier. Sound familiar? LOL.

[@lighttajiribey4221]

all rise ande stande. provide a linke to the newspaper in the viddeo in the deescriptione.

[@2.7petabytes]

Politics have and will continue to flip flop. What’s old is new again! Ad nauseam

[@asd36f]

Herbert Hoover stood in primaries for both the Democrat and Republican parties - has any other candidate done this?

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

I don't think people know much about Calvin Coolidge especially today, I heard he was a great if not underrated president...maybe you could do a video on him

[@soybasedjeremy3653]

Ok

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

Great video, very informative

[@BarryMoreno-zx4dc]

November 2, 1865.

[@schrodingersgat4344]

That um...illustrated explanation of the war had a little sick Uncle Sam and the words "UNCLE SAM GETS THE OLD "FLU" ...." Just thought that was intseresting.

[@saddq1]

Great video about a great president.

[@scottaznavourian3720]

Hillarious their entire platform is about wilson when hes not even running. Soinds like 2008 with the parties reversed

[@person3070]

Did the economic recession of 1920-1921 and Spanish flu have anything to do with his unpopularity?

[@temeculajoe]

Interesting things change but remain the same

[@Malcolm.Y]

FWIW, Grant ran for a third term in 1876.

[@techweenie1]

Wow I never knew Biden and Wilson were both vegetables.

[@henriomoeje8741]

W. Wilson hated black people with a passion. He set back the clock on civil rights for a generation. We still suffer from it today 😢

[@AlexDeLarge1]

Internationalism is not the same thing as globalization. Internationalism is a political view that all nations of the world must act together in order to preserve a stable political and economic order and prevent things like totalitarianism and imperialism, not to mention upholding the rights of the poor and working class. Globalization is the phenomenon of the various nations and cultures of the world beginning to interact and collide in various ways as a result of new technologies, and globalism is the support of allowing this phenomenon to continue unimpeded. So, one could be an internationalist globalist, or an internationalist but not a globalist, instead supporting international cooperation but also other policies that don't allow so much globalization, like stricter immigration policies. One could also be a globalist, but not an internationalist, supporting policies like the spread of free market capitalism to all corners of the globe, but not supporting international political cooperation to oppose totalitarianism and imperialism.

[@scottaznavourian3720]

'Closest America has had to have a woman president' Hillary was president from 1993-2001 😂

[@davidmartin5802]

I think is not a good idea to call democrats as "liberals", there are very different terms

[@jamwiddle6642]

Wilson was one of the worst presidents in American history.

[@brandonneumann5294]

No Trump is

[@alankent]

Moist

[@alankent]

Moist