Additional Symposium Information

The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 was enacted to promote the orderly transfer of power by establishing a framework for a transition from one president to another.  Through noted experts we will explore the history of presidential transitions, the transition from Woodrow Wilson to Warren Harding and the innerworkings of a modern presidential transition.  Featured presenters will include historian Dr. Thomas Balcerski, noted author David Harsanyi and Professor Bridget Dooling.  The symposium will be held on the campus of  The Ohio State University at Marion and at the Warren G. Harding Presidential Library and Museum.

U.S. Presidential Transitions:  Building the Bridge of Democracy was cancelled in 2021 and rescheduled for summer 2022.

With the anticipated completion of the Warren G. Harding Presidential Library and Museum, the complete and balanced story of President Warren G. Harding will be shared for the first time in history.  The 2020 Warren G. Harding Symposium will focus on 1920, the year that our nation’s attention turned to Marion, Ohio during the famous “front porch” campaign of Senator Warren G. Harding.  One hundred years later, Marion will again be at center stage as we celebrate the centennial of Harding’s successful campaign and highlight his White House legacy.    

Because of complications presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the symposium will be presented as a live, two-hour webinar event hosted on Zoom at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, 2020.  Featured  presenters will include Dr. Nicole Hemmer, Sheryl Smart Hall and Michael D. Barone. 

The event offered an in-depth look at our country's path to equality for women at the ballot box, how racism impacted the suffrage movement, the drama surrounding the ratification process, and the emergence of women in politics. Featured presenters were Sherry Hall, Dr. Katherine Jellison, Dr. Susan Hartmann, Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall, and Mary Ellen Withrow.

2018’s Harding Symposium focused on the press and the presidency. The 1920 election featured two Ohio newspapermen running against each other, Warren Harding and James Cox. Sherry Hall, curator of the Harding Home and a former reporter herself, examined the cozy relationship between the press and Harding at the time of his election. Those relations have become less cozy over time, a topic examined by Dr. Nicole Hemmer, professor of presidential studies at the University of Virginia Miller Center. New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman gave the Symposium audience an inside look at the often tempestuous relationship between today’s press and the Donald Trump administration.

In 2017, the symposium was titled, The Great War: How America Came of Age. Sessions highlighted the events leading up to our entry into the conflict, the domestic impact of the war, and the “return to normalcy” following the war. Presenters were Dr. Michael Kazin, Dr. David Steigerwald, Sherry Hall, and Dr. Andrew Huebner.

The 2016 Warren G. Harding Symposium will present “The American Presidential Candidate: Reality vs. Illusion”. Warren Harding’s Front Porch Campaign in 1920 was considered the first “modern” media campaign. Some might argue it’s been downhill ever since! Professor Alan Schroeder of Northeastern University’s School of Journalism, Dr. Daniel Shea of Colby College’s Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement, and Mo Elleithee, who heads the Institute of Politics and Public Service at Georgetown University will each bring their insight into today’s “modern” presidential campaigns. Where have we come and where are we going in the selection process for the leader of the free world? This year’s Symposium promises to be as relevant as today’s headlines.

In 2015, the Warren G. Harding Symposium partnered with the National First Ladies’ Library to present The Modern First Ladies: Portraits in Contrast. The event examined the dramatic variety of styles and approaches brought to the role of First lady beginning with Florence Harding. Featured presenters included Cynthia Bittinger, Annette Dunlap, Sherry Hall, Patricia Krider, and former White House Chief Usher Gary Walters. The keynote address was given by the Honorable Capricia Marshall, former Chief of Protocol of the United States. The event was broadcast live on C-SPAN.

2014 marked the 60th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education which declared that state laws establishing separate schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. It is also the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil rights Act of 1964 by President Johnson. Join us for the 2014 Warren G. Harding Symposium which will explore the influence the Oval Office had on the modern Civil Rights Movement from President Harding to President Johnson.

Keynote Address: Andrew Young

Ambassador Young brings a unique perspective, honed by his wealth of experience in national and global leadership, to his focus on this era’s challenges. He confronted segregation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and galvanized a movement that transformed a nation through nonviolence. Young was a key strategist and negotiator during the Civil Rights Campaigns in Birmingham and Selma that resulted in the passage Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This event explored Harding's famous Front Porch Campaign, Democrat challenger James Cox, and the impact of millions of American women exercising their right to vote for the first time.

President Warren Harding’s journey to the western states, Canada and Alaska has become a hazy backdrop to his unexpected death in August 1923. The 2011 Harding Symposium explored what Harding said to the American people in more than 80 speeches, the lasting effects of President Harding’s visit to Alaska, the first by an American president and the controversy surrounding the mysterious decline and eventual death of President Harding.

The Man, the Myth, and the Legacy will be the first presentation of the Warren G. Harding Symposium. The two-day event featured an open House at the Harding Home, guided tours of the Harding Home and Museum, the Harding Memorial, and the Marion County Historical Society. The workshop sessions featured noted authors and Harding researchers gala dinner featuring extensive exhibits of Harding memorabilia, period antique automobiles, and a panel discussion.