![]() But it seemed to serve its purpose. Economists Carolyn Moehling and Melissa Thomasson estimate that Sheppard-Towner accounted for 9 to 21 percent of the decline in infant mortality during the period in which it was in effect. Ladd-Taylor explains that the law was "vigorously opposed by a coalition of medical associations and right-wing organizations who claimed it was a Communist-inspired step toward state medicine that threatened the home and violated the principle of states' rights" (sound familiar?). The program didn't last long it was briefly extended in 1927, but was not made permanent, and was killed within a few years by president Herbert Hoover, with the backing of the American Medical Association. The law "provided federal matching grants to the states for information and instruction on nutrition and hygiene, prenatal and child health clinics, and visiting nurses for pregnant women and new mothers," as York University's Molly Ladd-Taylor explained. Smith's knock on Harding for being insufficiently reformist is particularly strange in light of the latter's signing of the Sheppard-Towner Act of 1921, which historian Stanley Lemons once described as "the first venture of the federal government into social security legislation." The act was meant to provide health assistance to new mothers and infants, given the poor state of pre- and postnatal care at the time. Domestic policyĪ nurse funded by the Children's Bureau's Maternity and Infancy program performs a home visit. Far from ending the reform era, Harding continued it in some meaningful ways, and, most notably, was considerably more progressive on racial issues than his notoriously racist predecessor, Wilson. But his reputation as one of America's worst is just as misguided. No one would argue he was a top 10 president. It's true that Harding's administration was super corrupt, and his immigration policy left a lot to be desired. "He slashed immigration quotas, appointed his cronies - one of whom, his secretary of the interior, accepted bribes from oil companies in what became known as the Teapot Dome scandal - and brought an end to the famously reform-minded eras of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson," Smith writes.īut this assessment is wrong. These personal sins have only bolstered Harding's reputation as one of the worst presidents in American history. ("The president often wrote in code, in case the letters were discovered, referring to his penis as Jerry," the Times's Jordan Michael Smith explains.) ![]() It's the second major revelation regarding Harding's extramarital dalliances in recent years last year, the Library of Congress released his ultra-explicit love letters to mistress Carrie Fulton Phillips that came to light this past summer. The New York Times's Peter Baker reports that new genetic tests have confirmed Harding was the biological father of Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, whose mother, Nan Britton, had revealed an affair with the president, starting when he was a senator and continuing into the White House. O The position physical demands listed below reflect activities employees are expected to perform during each day worked.It's official: Warren Harding had a love child.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |