"ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT'S BIRTH"

COOLIDGE MAY ATTEND HARDING MEMORIAL SERVICES IN MARION

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 15, 1923, The Evening Star reports that President Calvin Coolidge "may attend" memorial services for the late President Warren G. Harding to be held on November 2, 1923 in Marion, Ohio.  The date was chosen because it is the anniversary of Mr. Harding's birth.

While Mr. Coolidge's standard policy is to make no trips from the White House "prior to the convening of Congress," it is reported that the president is of the opinion that this memorial service is "of such a nature as to warrant (a) deviation" from the standard policy.

JFK+50 NOTE

The remains of President Harding were placed in a receiving vault in Marion Cemetery until December 1927 when they were interred, along with Mrs. Harding's, in the Harding Memorial, Marion, Ohio.

We can find no information as to whether the proposed memorial service mentioned in today's post was held.  The Evening Star editions of November 2nd & 3rd, 1923 do not mention such an event.

SOURCES

"President May Go to Marion for Harding Service," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., October 15, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

"The History of the Harding Memorial," Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites, www.historypresidentialsites.org/

 

 

Graves of President & Mrs. Warren G. Harding

Marion, Ohio

Photo by User: Postdif

www.wikimedia.org/

"GREAT BLUE FLAG WITH FOUR WHITE STARS"

FLAG THAT WAVED FROM THE MAYFLOWER WILL WAVE BEFORE PRESIDENT HARDING'S HEARSE 

Marion, Ohio (JFK+50) On August 10, 1923, The Evening Star reports "a great blue flag with four white stars that waved...from the masthead" of the presidential yacht Mayflower* "...will wave...before the hearse that carries (President Warren G. Harding) today to his tomb."

The flag, knit with heavy material suitable for sea duty, will be carried through the streets of Marion by Howard F. Carlson, chief radio operator of the Mayflower.

JFK+50 NOTE

Three famous Americans attended the funeral of President Harding in Marion, Ohio on August 10, 1923.  They were Henry Firestone, Thomas Alva Edison and Henry Ford.  The trio had been camping buddies of the President just two years earlier.

Other notables who attended included President Calvin Coolidge, former POTUS William Howard Taft, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and General John J. Pershing.

*USS Mayflower, launched in 1896, served the US Navy in the Spanish-American War, WWI & WWII.  She also was the presidential yacht for TR, Taft, Wilson, Harding & Coolidge.

SOURCES

"President's Flag From Mayflower To Go to Grave," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., August 10, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

"1923; President Warren G. Harding's Funeral," by Nathan Havenner, Ohio Life, July/August 2021, www.ohiomagazine.com/

 

 

U.S.S. Mayflower

1905

NARA Photo