The presidency of Warren G. Harding began on March 4, 1921, when Warren G. Harding was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended when he died on August 2, 1923, a span of 881 days. Harding, the 29th United States president, presided over the country in the aftermath of World War I. He also signed into law several bills designed to address the farm crisis and, along with Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, promoted new technologies like the radio and aviation. Harding's foreign policy was directed by Secretary of State Charles Evan Hughes. He believed that the best way to restore economic prosperity was to raise tariff rates and reduce the government's role in economic activities. His administration's economic policy was formulated by Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, who proposed cuts to the excess profits tax and the corporate tax. The central tenet of Mellon's tax plan was a reduction of the surtax, a progressive income tax that only affected high-income earners.