Warren Harding Revealed

As part of  my presentation at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda last night I premiered some rather extraordinary photos I unearthed at the Library of Congress. They show a 1920 photo shoot with Warren G. Harding in his backyard before he became president, and I’m guessing were for campaign purposes. At first I thought the photographer used a white backdrop, but it seems they were added afterwards on the negative or a copy neg of the photos. The pictures show Harding posing in various positions as if he’s speaking. Pretty interesting stuff, and shows an early awareness of the power of political photography. It also shows the less stuffy side of the Ohio Republican who became president a year later in 1921.