Prior to his appointment, Warren G. Harding declared: “America's need today is not heroism, but healing; revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not immersion in internationality; but the support in the triumphant nationality...." pompous phrases crossing the landscape in search of an idea." Their very obscurity was effective, as Harding's statements remained unclear about the League of Nations, in contrast to the passionate crusade of Democratic candidates, Governor James M. Cox of Ohio and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Thirty-one prominent Republicans had signed a manifesto assuring voters that a vote for Harding was a vote for the League a mandate to stay out of the League of Nations. Harding, born near Marion, Ohio, in 1865, became a newspaper publisher. He married a divorcee, Mrs. Florence Kling De Wolfe. He was a trustee of Trinity Baptist Church, a director of nearly all important affairs, and a leader in fraternal organizations and charitable enterprises. He organized the Citizen's Cornet Band, available for both Republican and Democratic rallies; “I played every instrument except the trombone and the E-flat cornet,” he once observed. Harding's unwavering republicanism and vibrant voice, plus his willingness to let machine bosses set policy, took him far in Ohio politics. He served in the state Senate and as Lieutenant Governor and successfully ran for Governor. He delivered President Taft's nominating speech at the 1912 Republican Convention. In 1914 he was elected to the Senate, which he found "a very pleasant place." An admirer from Ohio, Harry Daugherty, began promoting Harding for the 1920 Republican nomination because, he later explained, "he looked like a president." a group of senators, who took control of the 1920 Republican Convention when the major candidates were deadlocked, turned to Harding. He won the presidential election with an unprecedented landslide of 60% of the popular vote. Republicans in Congress easily obtained the president's signature on their bills. They eliminated wartime controls and cut taxes, established a federal budget system, reinstated high protective tariffs, and imposed strict limitations on immigration. By 1923 the postwar depression seemed to give way to a new wave of prosperity, and newspapers hailed Harding as a wise statesman keeping his campaign promise: "Less government in business and more business in government"..