William L. Harding

William L. Harding, 1915

William Lloyd Harding (born October 3, 1877 on a farm near Sibley , Osceola County , Iowa , † December 17, 1934 ) was an American politician and member of the Republican Party . From 1917 to 1921 he was the 22nd governor of the US state of Iowa.

Life

Harding attended Morningside College, a Methodist college in Sioux City , from 1897 to 1901 . He then moved to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion (South Dakota) , where he received a law degree. He had been married since 1907 and had one child. He was a Methodist and a Freemason . His grave is in a mausoleum in Graceland Park Cemetery in Sioux City.

Political career

Harding's first political office was a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1906 to 1912. From 1913 to 1917 he was Lieutenant Governor of Iowa under Republican George W. Clarke and was elected Governor of Iowa on January 11, 1917, and was re-elected in 1918.

Harding was against expanding women's voting rights and against improving the street system. Before the First World War he was in opposition to Woodrow Wilson , who advocated closer cooperation with Great Britain. The latter in particular earned him the support of many German-speaking voters. He lost this popularity in 1918 when he initiated and published the so-called Babel Act , which banned the use of any non-English language in Iowa. During World War I, resentment against Germans was not uncommon in the United States, but Harding may be considered an extreme example. To encourage patriotism, the use of any language other than English was prohibited. This applied to speaking in public, using the phone, in schools and in churches. Old women were arrested for talking on the phone in German, priests were arrested at wedding ceremonies that were not held in English. At that time, a large proportion of the rural population of Iowa spoke hardly any English; Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech, German and Polish were spoken frequently in villages, especially among the older generation. In a public address, Harding said that God could not hear prayers that are not spoken in English.

After a scandal, Harding had to leave office on January 13, 1921. He had pardoned a rape suspect in northwestern Iowa before a trial. After the Iowa State Legislature overruled the gubernatorial decision, the accused could no longer be found. During his tenure, the rural school system was supported and the planning for the tourist development of historical sights and state parks was promoted. He then tried to get a seat in the United States Senate , but did not succeed. After his governorship, he was President of the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Waterway Association .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Iowa Governor William Lloyd Harding on the National Governors Association website.
2. ^ Entry: Harding, William Lloyd on The Political Graveyard (English).
3. ^ William Lloyd Harding in the Find a Grave database .
4. ↑ Gov. Harding, Babel Proclamation Author , Week in History 4 in Essential Iowa, February 7, 2007.