Mencken and Nathan's editorship at "The Smart Set" came to an end after they planned to run a satirical piece on President Warren G. Harding following his death. Harding died in August 1923. His funeral procession involved transporting the body across the country from San Francisco to Ohio. The mainstream media began to sentimentalize the procession, to the dismay of American intellectuals, who noticed a hypocritical change in the press's attitude. Among the dissatisfied were Mencken and Nathan. The two co-editors planned to run a satirical piece on the president's funeral, treating the president in death as they did in life. However, the magazine's printers noticed the piece and reported its contents to an incensed Warner. Considering the piece to be a form of treason, Warner demanded that the editors remove it, and in a rage, announced that he was selling the magazine. Warner's removal of their satirical piece marked the end of the editors' "carte blanche" over the magazine's content, and they sought the freedom and control over their own publication. Upon leaving, Mencken and Nathan began a collaboration with the publishing magnate Alfred A. Knopf and started "The American Mercury".