From the past, a new slogan: Make America normal again

Original article can be found at The Denver Post  
Originally published on October 14, 2016 By Patty Limerick  

How is it possible that so few commentators have noted the match between Donald Trump’s lack of preparation for the presidency and the comparable deficiency that burdened President Warren Harding in 1920? 

In truth, Harding’s appeal to voters seems much easier to explain. To a nation fatigued by the vexations and sorrows of World War One, Harding’s promise of a “Return to Normalcy” pointed in the opposite direction from recent troubles. Nonetheless, once he took office, Harding’s weaknesses unleashed troubles aplenty. He was not gifted in the assessment of character. Corruption plagued his administration, reaching its greatest visibility in the Teapot Dome scandal and the subsequent conviction and imprisonment of Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall. 

Privately, President Harding took to admitting that he was in way over his head. 

His never-very-happy marriage did not prosper in the White House. After his death in office, a colorful character named Nan Britton, in a book called “The President’s Daughter,” claimed that she and Harding had been romantically involved, with some of those romantic involvements taking place in a White House coat closet. 

So, with that disturbing thought now lodged in our minds, we are ready to make light of a serious subject. 

Back in college, the professor in my American history survey class gave us the assignment of writing a play, rather than a conventional research paper. Warren Harding instantly struck me as the ideal subject for this unexpected literary challenge. 

Hindsight shows that my choice of famous figures whose names begin with “H” was a brilliant approach. Ten years before Lin-Manuel Miranda was born, I had in my reach the opportunity to bypass Harding and head straight to Hamilton. 

After crafting a script that has, as yet, never set attendance records on Broadway, I composed a limerick that, in its third and fourth lines, achieved a dazzling mastery of rhyme and rhythm: 

There was an old man named Warren 

Who hated all things foreign. 

He liked to live normally, 

Drunk and informally, 

And spend his time gamblin’ and whorin’. 

And this, attentive readers will have noted, returns us to reflections on similarities and differences between Harding and Trump. 

They are unmistakably birds of a feather by virtue (so to speak) of their insufficient preparation for the presidency and their enthusiastic embrace (once again, so to speak) of behavior that falls far below minimal standards of fidelity and impulse-control. 

And that may be it for exact matches. 

Warren Harding seems to have been a pretty nice guy, with an inclination to honesty in admitting his weaknesses. 

That’s different. 

And then there’s the contrast in campaign slogans. 

In retrospect, Harding’s phrase, a “Return to Normalcy” carries a quality of modest aspiration that “Make America Great Again” does not share. 

For Americans deeply worried about what will become of our nation on November 8, thoughts of Warren Harding offer an improbable inspiration: a stopgap slogan might give us our bearings in the weeks ahead, guiding us to a place where we can pause before taking on the work of recovery and clean-up after this election. Bumper stickers, baseball caps, t-shirts, and coffee cups could rally us to a very important cause: 

Make America Normal Again.