Hays, a politically active lawyer, became the chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1918. He spearheaded Warren G. Harding's successful front-porch campaign for the presidency of the United States in 1920 and the following year was appointed postmaster general (1921–22). In 1922, after the occurrence of a number of scandals involving Hollywood personalities, the leaders of the motion-picture industry formed the self-regulating MPPDA to counteract the threat of government censorship of films and to create favourable publicity for the industry. Hays was offered a position as president. As a respected national politician and dignified elder in the Presbyterian Church, Hays brought prestige to the organization. He initiated a moral blacklist in Hollywood, inserted morals clauses in actors' contracts, and in 1930 was one of the authors of the Production Code, a detailed enumeration of what was morally acceptable on the screen, which was not supplanted until 1966.