PRESIDENT "WORN DOWN" BY FLOOD OF HANDSHAKERS 3 DAYS A WEEK
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 30, 1921, the Washington Bureau of the New York Tribune wrote that "a continuous stream of hand shakers" were wearing down President Warren G. Harding.
The President had been greeting hundreds of visitors three days a week putting enormous "physical and mental strain" on the Chief Executive.
The Tribune reported that these visitors file through the President's office "in a solid stream for an hour at a time" leaving Mr. Harding exhausted and bearing a "drawn" face.
According to the Tribune, "barkers for 'rubberneck wagons*'" promise a handshake with the President as one of their main attractions. The wagons then pull up to one of the gates at the White House and turn loose the rubberneckers.
*Rubbernecking: a term used to describe the wagons, automobiles & buses used in tours around American cities in the early 1900s. H.L. Mencken said the term was 'one of the best words ever coined.'
SOURCE
"Harding Weakens as Army of Handshakers Increases," The New York Tribune, March 31, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
