"Return to normalcy" was a campaign slogan used by Warren G. Harding during the 1920 United States presidential election. Harding won the election with 60.4% of the popular vote.
"Return to normalcy" was a campaign slogan used by Warren G. Harding during the 1920 United States presidential election. Harding won the election with 60.4% of the popular vote.
In a speech delivered on May 14, 1920, Harding proclaimed that America needed "not nostrums, but normalcy". [1] Two months later, during a homecoming speech, Harding reaffirmed his endorsement of "normal times and a return to normalcy." [2]
World War I and the Spanish flu had upended life, and Harding said that it altered the perspective of humanity. He argued that the solution was to seek normalcy by restoring life to how it was before the war. [3] Harding's conception of normalcy for the 1920s included deregulation, civic engagement, and isolationism. [3] He rejected the idealism of Woodrow Wilson and the activism of Roosevelt, favoring the earlier isolationist policy of the United States. [4]
Detractors of the time tried to belittle the word "normalcy" as a neologism as well as a malapropism, saying that it was poorly coined by Harding, as opposed to the more accepted term normality . There was contemporaneous discussion and evidence that normalcy had been listed in dictionaries as far back as 1857. [5] According to some historians, normalcy was an "obscure math term" before its use by Harding [6] during the campaign. Harding, a newspaper editor, addressed the issue of the word's origin, claiming that normalcy but not normality appeared in his dictionary. [7]
Harding prominently featured his dog Laddie Boy in the press to instill the domestic image associated with his vision of normalcy. [8]
Harding's position attracted support during the 1920 presidential election, winning 60.3% of the popular vote. [9]
Chalmers M. Roberts of The Washington Post compared the desire for a "return to normalcy" in 1920 to the 1946 midterms following World War II and the 1992 presidential election following the Cold War. [10]
The 12th episode of Boardwalk Empire takes place during the 1920 election and is titled "A Return to Normalcy".
The phrase "return to normalcy" became associated with the 2020 presidential campaign of Joe Biden, specifically referring to Biden's promises to end the "divisiveness of the Trump years," as well as his campaign's focus on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. [11]
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents while in office. After his death, a number of scandals were exposed, including Teapot Dome, as well as an extramarital affair with Nan Britton, which tarnished his reputation.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1920. Republican senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio defeated Democratic governor James M. Cox of Ohio. It was the first election held after the end of the First World War, and the first election after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment which gave equal votes to men and women. It was the third presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state, and the last time that the state was not New York. It was the first presidential election to have its results broadcast by radio. Coincidentally, the election was held on Harding's 55th birthday.
James Middleton Cox was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the United States at the 1920 presidential election, he lost in a landslide to fellow Ohioan Warren G. Harding. His running mate was future president Franklin D. Roosevelt. He founded the chain of newspapers that continues today as Cox Enterprises, a media conglomerate.
Most United States presidents have kept pets while in office, or pets have been part of their families. Only James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald Trump did not have any presidential pets while in office.
A front porch campaign is a low-key electoral campaign used in American politics in which the candidate remains close to or at home where they issue written statements and give speeches to supporters who come to visit. The candidate largely does not travel around or otherwise actively campaign. The presidential campaigns of James A. Garfield in 1880, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, William McKinley, and Warren G. Harding are perhaps the best-known front porch campaigns.
Laddie Boy was an Airedale Terrier owned by U.S. President Warren G. Harding. He was born in Toledo, Ohio. His father was Champion Tintern Tip Top. He was presented to Harding by Charles Quetschke of Caswell Kennels and became a celebrity during the Harding administration.
Warren G. Harding's tenure as the 29th president of the United States lasted from March 4, 1921, until his death on August 2, 1923. Harding presided over the country in the aftermath of World War I. A Republican from Ohio, Harding held office during a period in American political history from the mid-1890s to 1932 that was generally dominated by his party. He died of an apparent heart attack and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.
"A Return to Normalcy" is the 12th episode of the first season of HBO television series Boardwalk Empire and the season finale, which premiered on HBO December 5, 2010. The episode was written by series creator Terence Winter and directed by Tim Van Patten, both executive producers.
The 1920 United States elections was held on November 2. In the aftermath of World War I, the Republican Party re-established the dominant position it lost in the 1910 and 1912 elections. This was the first election after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the constitutional right to vote.
The 1914 United States Senate election in Ohio was held on November 3, 1914. Republican nominee Warren G. Harding, future President of the United States, defeated Democratic nominee Timothy S. Hogan and Progressive Arthur L. Garford to succeed retiring incumbent Republican senator Theodore E. Burton.
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