William L. Harding

William Lloyd Harding, was born in Sibley, Iowa, on October 3, 1877. He later lived in Sioux City. From 1897 to 1901, he attended Morningside College, and then went on to earn his law degree from the University of South Dakota.{{cite web |url=https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/historicalInformation?lastName=Harding&firstName=William&chamberID=&leadershipPositionID=&partyID=3&districtID=&countyID=97&gaYear=Any&historicalGA=Any&historicalLA=Any |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054732/https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/historicalInformation?lastName=Harding&firstName=William&chamberID=&leadershipPositionID=&partyID=3&districtID=&countyID=97&gaYear=Any&historicalGA=Any&historicalLA=Any |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |title=The Iowa Legislature: Historical Information |access-date=November 4, 2016}}

Harding entered politics in 1906, serving as a Republican member of the Iowa House of Representatives, a position he held for six years. He also served as Iowa's lieutenant governor from 1913 to 1917 during the terms of Republican governor George W. Clarke. Harding won the 1916 Republican gubernatorial nomination and then won the election in a landslide (winning 98 of 99 counties.Derr, Nancy. [http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=154 "Harding, William Lloyd"] The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. University of Iowa Press, 2009. November 4, 2016.) He was sworn into the governor's office on January 11, 1917.

Harding was reelected to a second term in 1918 and thus was governor during the four years which roughly coincided with World War I.[http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/bio_william_lloyd_harding.htm William, Lloyd Harding]. From Iowa, Its History & Its Citizens, Volume 2, 1918. During that time, there were "defense councils" in every state,http://people.cas.sc.edu/dubinsk/LING240/readings/Frese.2005.Babel.Proclamation.pdf,footnote17{{dead link|date=May 2016}} following President Wilson's famous statement "the world must be made safe for democracy",Woodrow Wilson, War Declaration to Congress, April 2, 1917 and "millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy live amongst us....Should there be any disloyalty it will be dealt with a firm hand of repression."

Harding was convinced that assimilation would heighten patriotism and felt there is a connection between communication and assimilation. He also claimed that any foreign language provided an opportunity for the enemy to scatter propaganda. Harding became the only governor in the United States to outlaw the public use of all foreign languages.http://people.cas.sc.edu/dubinsk/LING240/readingsFrese.2005.Babel.Proclamation.pdf {{dead link|date=May 2016}} He addressed those issues in an edict whose title was the Babel Proclamation, which prohibited all public communication in any language other than English."Orders German Language Out of All Schools in Iowa." Des Moines Register, May 26, 1918: 10A It forbade the use of foreign languages in public, over the telephone, in school, and in religious services. In response to complaints from pastors, Harding stated that "there is no use in anyone wasting his time praying in languages other than English. God is listening only to the English tongue."{{Cite book |last=Ross |first=William G. |title=Forging new freedoms: nativism, education, and the Constitution, 1917-1927 |date=1994 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-3900-5 |location=Lincoln |pages=45 |chapter=The War against German America}}

Harding's time in office was marred by scandal and controversy. His hostility towards immigrants and foreign ethnic groups extended beyond Germans and included Iowans of Norwegian[http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/legislatorAllYears.aspx?PID=3272 William L. Harding, Iowa General Assembly] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121213082333/http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/legislatorAllYears.aspx?PID=3272 |date=December 13, 2012 }} and Danish{{cite news|title=Would an Apology Be in Order?|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16465796/william_l_harding_18771934/|newspaper=The Des Moines Register|date=July 25, 1918|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = January 12, 2018}} {{Open access}} descent.

An investigation revealed an alleged bribe of $5,000 for the Governor's pardon of a felon convicted of rape. Several resignations resulted, and an impeachment proposal was initiated but denied. A censure motion was approved by a vote of 70-34. He did not run again in 1920.

Derr, Nancy. "Harding, William Lloyd" The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. University of Iowa Press, 2009. Web. January 24, 2017, [http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=154]{{cite web |url=https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_iowa/col2-content/main-content-list/title_harding_william.html |title=William Lloyd Harding |website=www.nga.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118012325/http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_iowa/col2-content/main-content-list/title_harding_william.html |archive-date=2012-01-18}}

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{{succession box|title=Governor of Iowa |before=George W. Clarke |after=Nathan E. Kendall |years=January 11, 1917{{spaced ndash}}January 13, 1921}}

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Category:1877 births

Category:1934 deaths

Category:Iowa lawyers

Category:University of South Dakota alumni

Category:Republican Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives

Category:Lieutenant governors of Iowa

Category:Republican Party governors of Iowa

Category:Politicians from Sioux City, Iowa

Category:People from Sibley, Iowa

Category:20th-century Iowa politicians