Mumbo Jumbo immerses readers in a web of alternative historical narratives that challenge the Atonist status quo and promote critical reflection on the role of history, mythology, and art in our world today. The world Reed creates seems both confusing and fundamentally equivalent to the one we've been taught about, and this duality can be seen in the story of Warren G. Harding. I've tried to dig up "real" historical information regarding this unpopular president and his untimely death in order to expose exactly how compelling Reed's theories can be.
First of all, nobody likes Warren G. Harding. Most sources rank Harding as the nation's fourth or fifth-worst president due to his tax reforms favoring corporations, restrictive immigration policies, multiple bribery scandals, illegal drinking during Prohibition, and extramarital affairs with much (31 years!) younger women. Harding is also known for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal, during which his administration's Secretary of the Interior rented public lands in Wyoming and California to private companies and pocketed the profits. The Harding administration was characterized by a complex network of internal connections to industrial interests, especially oil companies and underground bootlegging operations during Prohibition. These external interests led to a series of policies unrepresentative of the needs of the American populace.
However, most mainstream historians don't register alarm regarding Harding's surprising death while on tour in Alaska and the West. Dr. Howard Markel from the University of Michigan writes that "President Harding’s death was hardly strange at all, merely premature by 21st century standards." Mainstream historians have concluded that Harding died as a result of congestive heart failure (worsened by complications with pneumonia) after a series of minor heart attacks over the past few months. Given widespread acceptance of Harding's sudden death in both the historical and medical fields, Reed's assertion that Harding was poisoned by his Secretary of State, Harry Daughtery, could be seen as controversial. Reed's masterful rewriting of the Harding narrative incorporates all the shady details that went previously unexplained, arriving at the startling conclusion that the President was murdered by his own administration.
Reed claims that the Wallflower Order's Hierophant personally contacted Harry Daughtery and ordered him to kill Harding because of recent rumors regarding Harding's potentially mixed-race ancestry. Harding's racial politics were already confusing enough, and the idea that his great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa could have been black further complicates the situation. Harding had supported comprehensive anti-lynching legislation and advocated for improved (yet segregated) educational facilities for black students, though he famously supported poll taxes and other classic voter supression methods designed to bar black voters from the polls and maintain Southern Democratic power. Additionally, he delivered a landmark speech on race relations in Birmingham just two years before his death which argued in favor of increased political rights for black citizens. However, Harding repeated the 'Invisible Man at the battle royale' denounciation of social equality in favor of social responsibility.
Mumbo Jumbo adds another layer to the Harding puzzle, suggesting that the most important motive for Daughtery's killing is Harding's involvement with the Jes Grew movement. Apparently Harding was seen at a rent party in order to hear "some of that good music...the sounds Mr. Daughtery my Attourney General and Florence my wife keep hidden from me". Daughtery fits right in with the Atonist movement, and he is often the politician interviewed on Anti-Jes Grew efforts, so surely he would hate to see the President supporting the very movement American politics was fighting against. Reed also underscores rumors regarding Harding's anscestry, and Mumbo Jumbo includes clippings from several pamphlets circulating which claim that residents of Harding's Ohio hometown never accepted his family as white. (Wikipedia also notes that these rumors were just as pervasive as claims that Harding was a member of the KKK, so take them with a grain of salt I guess.)
Reed also writes that Harding's friend Jess Smith (spelled Jes Smith, coincidentally) had been similarly murdered for attempting to warn Harding of Daughtery's plans before he left for the Western tour. Smith was a high-ranking assistant to Daughtery in the Attourney General's office, though he was deeply involved in illegal Prohibition-era alcohol sales in Washington DC. Mainstream historians guessed that Smith committed suicide after learning that Harding intended to fire Smith due to his corruption, which would be ironic considering the scandals embroiling Harding's entire cabinet at the time. But Reed suspects this is not the case -- wouldn't a more cohesive narrative connect Smith's "suicide" to Daughtery's politcal maneuvering to Harding's death just weeks later?
Daughtery was also quick to swear in the Vice President, Calvin Coolidge, as Harding's replacement following his death. So do all these clues lead to the conclusion that Harding was murdered? Reed's narrative definitely makes sense, and he's working with the same information as mainstream historians. The Harding case reinforces questions of legitimacy -- whose history is right, and whose history is publicized?
First of all, nobody likes Warren G. Harding. Most sources rank Harding as the nation's fourth or fifth-worst president due to his tax reforms favoring corporations, restrictive immigration policies, multiple bribery scandals, illegal drinking during Prohibition, and extramarital affairs with much (31 years!) younger women. Harding is also known for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal, during which his administration's Secretary of the Interior rented public lands in Wyoming and California to private companies and pocketed the profits. The Harding administration was characterized by a complex network of internal connections to industrial interests, especially oil companies and underground bootlegging operations during Prohibition. These external interests led to a series of policies unrepresentative of the needs of the American populace.
However, most mainstream historians don't register alarm regarding Harding's surprising death while on tour in Alaska and the West. Dr. Howard Markel from the University of Michigan writes that "President Harding’s death was hardly strange at all, merely premature by 21st century standards." Mainstream historians have concluded that Harding died as a result of congestive heart failure (worsened by complications with pneumonia) after a series of minor heart attacks over the past few months. Given widespread acceptance of Harding's sudden death in both the historical and medical fields, Reed's assertion that Harding was poisoned by his Secretary of State, Harry Daughtery, could be seen as controversial. Reed's masterful rewriting of the Harding narrative incorporates all the shady details that went previously unexplained, arriving at the startling conclusion that the President was murdered by his own administration.
Reed claims that the Wallflower Order's Hierophant personally contacted Harry Daughtery and ordered him to kill Harding because of recent rumors regarding Harding's potentially mixed-race ancestry. Harding's racial politics were already confusing enough, and the idea that his great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa could have been black further complicates the situation. Harding had supported comprehensive anti-lynching legislation and advocated for improved (yet segregated) educational facilities for black students, though he famously supported poll taxes and other classic voter supression methods designed to bar black voters from the polls and maintain Southern Democratic power. Additionally, he delivered a landmark speech on race relations in Birmingham just two years before his death which argued in favor of increased political rights for black citizens. However, Harding repeated the 'Invisible Man at the battle royale' denounciation of social equality in favor of social responsibility.
Mumbo Jumbo adds another layer to the Harding puzzle, suggesting that the most important motive for Daughtery's killing is Harding's involvement with the Jes Grew movement. Apparently Harding was seen at a rent party in order to hear "some of that good music...the sounds Mr. Daughtery my Attourney General and Florence my wife keep hidden from me". Daughtery fits right in with the Atonist movement, and he is often the politician interviewed on Anti-Jes Grew efforts, so surely he would hate to see the President supporting the very movement American politics was fighting against. Reed also underscores rumors regarding Harding's anscestry, and Mumbo Jumbo includes clippings from several pamphlets circulating which claim that residents of Harding's Ohio hometown never accepted his family as white. (Wikipedia also notes that these rumors were just as pervasive as claims that Harding was a member of the KKK, so take them with a grain of salt I guess.)
Reed also writes that Harding's friend Jess Smith (spelled Jes Smith, coincidentally) had been similarly murdered for attempting to warn Harding of Daughtery's plans before he left for the Western tour. Smith was a high-ranking assistant to Daughtery in the Attourney General's office, though he was deeply involved in illegal Prohibition-era alcohol sales in Washington DC. Mainstream historians guessed that Smith committed suicide after learning that Harding intended to fire Smith due to his corruption, which would be ironic considering the scandals embroiling Harding's entire cabinet at the time. But Reed suspects this is not the case -- wouldn't a more cohesive narrative connect Smith's "suicide" to Daughtery's politcal maneuvering to Harding's death just weeks later?
Daughtery was also quick to swear in the Vice President, Calvin Coolidge, as Harding's replacement following his death. So do all these clues lead to the conclusion that Harding was murdered? Reed's narrative definitely makes sense, and he's working with the same information as mainstream historians. The Harding case reinforces questions of legitimacy -- whose history is right, and whose history is publicized?
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