When Warren Harding became President in 1921, there were over 300,000 veterans, mostly of World War I, receiving some sort of assistance from numerous government programs. Many of these veterans in Washington,DC also started to receive the assistance of the new First Lady Florence Harding. She took a tremendous interest in their plight and visited Walter Reed Hospital In DC on a regular basis. She gave garden parties to lobby others for their cause. She also helped her husband decide to consolidate the numerous programs into one entity, the Veterans Bureau. She even had hand in picking its first director Mr.Charles Forbes, a selection that would result in a major scandal of the Harding administration.