Let’s remember when a Warren G. Harding memorial was dedicated, on this day in 1925 (March 29)
Warren G. Harding might go down in history as the first US presidential administration to be defined by their corruption. He was widely regarded as the worst president in US history, at least until Nixon, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump came along. For some reason, though, people loved honoring him with statues and other monuments.
One such monument was dedicated in Seattle’s Woodland Park. It was dedicated 94 years ago today. It was to honor Harding’s penultimate address as president. He gave a speech to honor Boy Scouts on July 27, 1923. Harding died that year, so the local Elks Lodge was in quite a rush to honor Harding.
HistoryLink tells us (in a long, detailed essay that you should definitely read):
On March 29, 1925, a new memorial to President Warren G. Harding (1865–1923) is dedicated in Seattle’s Woodland Park. Sculptor Alice Robertson Carr (1899–1996) created the sculptural elements of the memorial, which was designed by architect Daniel Huntington (1871–1962). The work was commissioned by a local Elks Lodge in Seattle. The completed public sculpture combines relief and statuary and is the second sculpture Carr created for the park during her career. The theme of the memorial is based on a speech Harding gave on that site in the park to a large assembly of Boy Scouts in 1923, with many details from that event incorporated into the final memorial design and presentation.
Alas, it is long gone. Wikipedia says: “In 1977, the memorial was demolished and buried under the Woodland Park Zoo’s African Savanna exhibit. The memorial’s only surviving elements — two life-sized bronze statues of Boy Scouts that once saluted the image of Harding — were relocated to the headquarters of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America.”
For further reading:
