In March he entered the Cabinet of President Harding as Secretary of Commerce, stipulating that he be allowed to carry out his European relief work, already begun.
In 1921 he entered the Cabinet of President Harding as Secretary of War.
Mr. Harding based his campaign chiefly upon criticism of the Wilson administration, denouncing especially the excessive power that, as he maintained, had been exercised by the executive as a result of war centralization; he demanded as speedy as possible a return to normal conditions, political and industrial.
The electoral vote was 404 for Harding against 127 for Cox.
The popular vote was 16,138,009 for Harding against 9,142,000 for Cox.