Let Us Sit Upon the Ground and Tell Sad Stories

It will not come as a surprise to you, dear reader, as it did to newspaper readers across the United States, that President Warren Gamaliel Harding died on August 2, 1923 in San Francisco, California, while on an ambitious speaking tour.

Unsigned (O.C. Chopin?) in San Francisco Examiner, August 3, 1923

Editorial cartoonists around the country (but not all of them) rushed to their drawing boards in an effort to express the nation's grief. 

Your humble blogger has observed before that the cartoon character of Miss Columbia used to be the one drawn to mark a time of mourning, notably after the deaths of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. This was still the case in 1923...

"A Nation Bowed in Grief," unsigned, in San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 1923

"One in Sorrow and Faith" by Gustavo Bronstrup in San Francisco Chronicle, August 4, 1923

No caption, by Clifford Berryman in Washington (DC) Evening Star, August 3, 1923

...but upon the death of President Harding, Uncle Sam appeared in several cartoonists' work.

No caption, by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, August 4, 1923

"One Touch of Sorrow Makes Us Kin" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 5, 1923

"On the shores of the Pacific," Unsigned (McCutcheon?) in Chicago Tribune, August 4, 1923

"He Has Found Eternal Peace" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 4, 1923

No caption, by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Star, August 4, 1923

"For Grief Is Proud and Makes His Owner Stoop" by Roy James in St. Louis Star, August 4, 1923

Uncle Sam had also appeared to pay his respects upon the death of Teddy Roosevelt in 1919, the distinction at that time being that Roosevelt was no longer in office, and the most memorable cartoons centered on the larger-than-life former president himself. No cartoon in this collection rivals "Ding" Darling's "The Long, Long Trail" eulogizing Roosevelt.

Harold Wahl, eschewing any national symbol, may have been trying to make a more universal statement. Or perhaps he just a bit more macabre than everybody else.

"In Death as in Life" by Harold Wahl in Sacramento Bee, August 4, 1923

I mentioned that not all cartoonists drew eulogy cartoons. Syndicated ones such as Dorman Smith would have found little market for a weepy cartoon that might not be published by some newspapers until several days later. Others, such as the Louisville Courier Journal's Grover Page and Daniel Fitzpatrick the St. Louis Post Dispatch simply decided to let Harding's death pass unremarked for their own reasons.

And then there is the approach of Frank Spangler, who packed a reference to Harding's passing (an arm band, and a train carrying the body of our 30th president) into a cartoon about a French general coming to town to Montgomery to honor local war veterans.

"Arms and the Men" by Frank "Spang" Spangler in Montgomery Advertiser, August 4, 1923

If Miss Columbia still held onto her job as Mourner-In-Chief, it was now Uncle Sam who greeted the new chief executive.

"The New Helmsman" by Oscar C. Chopin in San Francisco Examiner, August 6, 1923

"Carrying On" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, August 4, 1923

"Let Us Work Together" by Harold Wahl in Sacramento Bee, August 6, 1923

"To New Shoulders" by Lute Pease in Newark Daily News, August, 1923

Fasces would fall out of fashion as a symbol of "responsibility of great power" after the outbreak of World War II, although you will still find them in some of our most famous presidential monuments.

McCutcheon in Chicago Sunday Tribune, August 5, 1923

"May He Choose Well His Course" by Gustavo Bronstrup in San Francisco Chronicle, August 6, 1923

Okay, perhaps not quite everybody got the Uncle Sam memo.

Meanwhile, August 10 was declared the official day of mourning, but editorial cartoonists had to do what editorial cartoonists do in the days following the transition to a new administration.

"His Last Message..." by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register, August 5, 1923

I imagine that Darling may have had this cartoon on his drawing board before news came of Harding's death, and that he decided to tweak the caption and send it along to his publishers anyway. Harding may have appreciated leaving the World Court as his lasting legacy — or bringing peace to the Pacific as cited in the unsigned Chicago Tribune cartoon above — but history has decided otherwise.

Kind of like remembering Richard Nixon for creating the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Close the Fatal Road" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 5, 1923

Nelson Harding's call to stop presidents from national speaking tours wouldn't get much traction, even though the new president had a reputation for not speaking out much.

"Nary a Word" by William C. Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, August, 1923

Indeed, I don't believe I have run across a single cartoon about Coolidge by anyone between the 1920 Republican national convention and August 4, 1923.