Recurring to the theme of primary sources.
One of Taibbi’s commenters approvingly cites Mencken’s nasty description of Harding’s writing.
Primary sources tell the correct story.
Mencken was an arrogant conformist elitist bully of the worst sort. Pure Nietzsche. I am GOD. You are SHIT. He constantly berated peasants and Southerners and yokels. He hated anyone who wanted to leave one peasant alive.
Harding was a serious man who genuinely worked for peace and against tyranny. He wiped out most of Wilson’s tyrannical agencies. His writing was overstuffed as per the fashion of the time, but always conveyed a clear anti-elite meaning.
The elite disapproval of Harding resonated deep and long. My father, born in 1922, was named Warren. Next year he was hastily renamed Russel. He finally changed the official documents when he entered the Navy. When telling this story he said “The only good thing Harding ever did was die in office.”
We “learned” the same lie in school “history” class. Harding was a corrupt stupid brainless three-tooth Bubba hillbilly who deserved to die.
I didn’t know any different until I started wondering why Wilson’s tyranny dissolved so quickly, contrary to all of Parkinson’s Laws. The primary source tells the story. Harding’s speeches were serious populism, and he meant it. That’s why he had to be scandaled and destroyed.
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In fairness, some of Taibbi’s commenters later answered the pro-Mencken idiot, saying the same thing I’m saying. This didn’t bother the Mencken supporters who continued the noble eugenics crusade undaunted.
Polistra's Mill 