"America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration"

Harding articulates a philosophy of governance aimed at a society exhausted by war, pandemic, and political tumult. The contrast between “heroics” and “healing” rejects the grand gestures and martial valor that defined World War I and the soaring moral crusades of the Progressive Era. Instead, it prioritizes mending social fabric, reconciling divisions, and restoring trust in ordinary institutions. Healing suggests patience, care, and practical repair rather than spectacle or moral absolutism.

By opposing “nostrums” to “normalcy,” he invokes the era’s familiarity with patent medicines and quack cures. The point is to dismiss flashy policy quick-fixes and ideological panaceas in favor of steady administration and predictable public life. Normalcy, Harding’s signature word, offered a promise of routine: jobs, family, civic order, and markets that function without constant crisis. The appeal rests on the idea that stability can itself be a public good, particularly after prolonged upheaval.

The final pair, “revolution” versus “restoration,” distances the nation from radical change. In the context of the Red Scare and global socialist movements, Harding signals aversion to upheaval. Restoration implies returning to constitutional norms, prewar commerce, and restrained government, rather than reimagining society from the ground up. It is a conservative vision that privileges continuity and gradualism.

Yet the formulation can be read ambivalently. Healing without heroics risks complacency in the face of injustice; normalcy can protect a status quo rife with inequalities; restoration may re-entrench power structures that needed scrutiny. Still, the rhetoric reflects a keen reading of public mood: citizens weary of sacrifice often seek predictability more than transformation. The statement thus functions both as diagnosis and campaign promise, claiming that what most binds a fractured nation is not a new crusade but the quiet work of repair, routine, and institutional steadiness.