Today's lesson focused on President Harding. Mercer read material and watched video clips about Harding's presidency. He learned that Harding appointed a mixture of outstanding leaders and unscrupulous politicians waiting for an opportunity to line their pockets to his cabinet and that Harding was a notoriously poor judge of character who expected his appointees to repay his trust with integrity. He was to be deeply disappointed. Mercer read that most of Harding's goals were more in keeping with the Old Guard Republican views associated with: a higher protective tariff (Fordney-McCumber), lower taxes on business, and a sharp reduction in the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States from southern and eastern Europe. Mercer was on task.