Ship Subsidy Bill

The Ship Subsidy Bill was an bill tabled during the presidency of Warren G. Harding. It proposed to allocate public funds for the creation and maintenance of a U.S. merchant navy, which would be "privately owned and privately operated," but "[would serve] all the people and always [be] available to the Government in any emergency."

In its 6 December 1926 issue, the New York Chronicle reported that President Harding had given a speech that day before the U.S. Congress in support of the bill, in which he challenged its opponents to work to defeat it rather than ignore it, as "the failure of Congress to act decisively [would] be no less disastrous than adverse action." Harding faced opposition from within his own party, particularly among members from the Midwest, but was committed to seeing the bill passed despite the political risk to himself.

Behind the scenes

 * The references to Warren G. Harding in articles in a prop issue of the New York Chronicle featured in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are anachronistic, as the film is set in 1926, and Harding died in office in 1923. The text of the articles in the prop newspaper was taken from the real 21 November 1922 issue of The Evening World.