When Harding came into office in 1921, America’s international relations, like the economy, was in shambles. The new president, as well as most Americans, wanted to see the end of war and a return to a more traditional American foreign policy. “I think it’s an inspiration to patriotic devotion to safeguard America first, to stabilize America first, to prosper America first, to think of America first, to exalt America first, to live for and revere America first,” he said during his presidential campaign. These views helped propel him to a landslide victory, becoming the first president to garner 60 percent of the popular vote.
