Beschreibung:

HARDING, Warren G. An archive of 1 autograph and 10 typed letters signed ("Warren G. Harding," 1 with initials), all to Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty (1860-1841), INCLUDING 1 PRESIDENTIAL ALS, 20 May 1921 to 18 May 1922. Together 12 pp., 4to, all on White House stationery . -- HARDING. TLS to his father, Dr. G. T. Harding, 12 May 1923. 2 pages, 4to . -- DAUGHERTY. Typed memo signed ("H. M. Daugherty") to Mr. Herron, 25 April 1922. 1 p., 4to , plus 4 carbons (unsigned ) to Harding -- HUGHES, C. E. TLS to Daugherty, 4 June 1921. 1 p., 4to . Together 18 items. A REVEALING GLIMPSE OF HARDING AND HIS ATTORNEY GENERAL: "I DON'T WANT YOU TO LIE FOR ME AS I WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO LIE FOR YOU..." A revealing archive on the character of Harding's Attorney General, a man at the center of the Teapot Dome scandals. Daugherty seemed to think the public till only existed to reward political allies. "Our friends think that 'our friends' should be on this Board," he tells Harding in a 25 November 1921 letter about the Sugar Board. Harding tries to deflect him from using the Shipping Board for still more patronage, since Harding wanted Board chairman Albert Lasker to "rid the organization of the purely political job holders" and all the "useless timber." The President responds to Daugherty's continual requests for patronage, from the Federal bench and regulatory agencies, to a Federal penitentiary. The HARDING ALS AS PRESIDENT deals with that post: "The bearer is J. H. Miller, an old school friend...I would be glad to have him made warden of the penitentiary at McNeill's Island." Daugherty has no compunction in asking the President to lie for him in a (carbon) letter dated 17 May 1922. He wants Harding to write him a letter that Daugherty can use as an excuse to get out of a speaking engagement. "I don't want you to lie for me as I would be delighted to lie for you but you could do this in a second..." Harding duly complies on 18 May. There is not a line of law enforcement business discussed between the two men, with one notable exception. A flurry of memos in April 1922 deal with the Senate's demand for a list of Harding's executive appointments, officials thereby exempted from civil service rules. "The President is anxious to have an opinion as to whether or not he is compelled to furnish the information," Daugherty nervously writes to one of his minions. "It is quite essential that he have this by tomorrow noon, if possible. Kindly hurry this work." Together 18 items .