William L. Harding
[1] Harding entered politics in 1906, serving as a Republican member of the Iowa House of Representatives, a position he held for six years.[3] During that time, there were "defense councils" in every state,[4] following President Wilson's famous statement "the world must be made safe for democracy",[5] 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.[6] He addressed those issues in an edict whose title was the Babel Proclamation, which prohibited all public communication in any language other than English.In response to complaints from pastors, Harding stated that "there is no use in anyone wasting his time praying in languages other than English.His hostility towards immigrants and foreign ethnic groups extended beyond Germans and included Iowans of Norwegian[9] and Danish[10] descent.