He went to Washington when Congress opened in early December, where he was given a hero's welcome as the first sitting senator to be elected to the White House.[e] Back in Ohio, he planned to consult the "best minds" of the country on appointments, and they dutifully journeyed to Marion to offer their counsel.[114][115]
Harding chose pro-League Charles Evans Hughes as his Secretary of State, ignoring the advice of Senator Lodge and others. After Charles G. Dawes declined the Treasury position, he chose Pittsburgh banker Andrew W. Mellon, one of the richest people in the country. He appointed Herbert Hoover as United States Secretary of Commerce.[116] RNC Chairman Will Hays was made Postmaster General, then a cabinet post; he left after a year in the position to become chief censor to the motion picture industry.[117]
The two Harding cabinet appointees who darkened the reputation of his administration by their involvement in scandal were Harding's Senate friend, Albert B. Fall of New Mexico, the Interior Secretary, and Daugherty, the Attorney General. Fall was a Western rancher and former miner, and was pro-development.