Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding
Born	Warren Gamaliel Harding 2 11, 1865
Birthplace	Blooming Grove, Ohio, U.S.
Died	Template:Death date and age San Francisco, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Newspaper publisher, politician
Title	29th President of the United States
Known for	29th President of the United States; Teapot Dome scandal; Washington Naval Conference
Education	Ohio Central College
Spouse(s)	Florence Kling Harding
Children	1

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who served as the 29th President of the United States from 1921 until his death in 1923. Born and raised in rural Ohio, Harding rose from modest origins to become the owner and editor of The Marion Star, a newspaper he built into a prominent local publication. His political career took him from the Ohio State Senate to the lieutenant governorship, and eventually to the United States Senate before he won the presidency in a landslide election in 1920. Harding's promise of a "return to normalcy" after the upheavals of World War I resonated with a war-weary American electorate, and he became the first sitting senator to be elected president. His cabinet included figures such as Andrew Mellon, Herbert Hoover, and Charles Evans Hughes, and his administration achieved a notable foreign policy success with the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–1922. Harding was among the most popular presidents at the time of his sudden death from a heart attack in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. However, the subsequent exposure of scandals—most notably the Teapot Dome affair—and revelations about his personal life severely damaged his posthumous reputation, and he has frequently been rated among the least effective presidents in historical rankings.

Early Life

Warren Gamaliel Harding was born on November 2, 1865, in Blooming Grove, Ohio, a small community in Morrow County. He was the eldest of eight children born to George Tryon Harding and Phoebe Elizabeth (Dickerson) Harding. His father was a farmer who later studied medicine and became a physician; his mother was also a midwife.

Harding grew up in rural Ohio and lived in the state for virtually his entire life, leaving only when political service required him to be elsewhere. As a boy, he worked on the family farm and developed an early interest in the newspaper business. He learned the printing trade at a young age, working at a local newspaper, The Caledonia Argus, where he gained experience with typesetting and the operation of a printing press.

After completing his formal education, Harding tried several occupations, including teaching and studying law briefly, before settling on journalism as his profession. In 1884, at the age of nineteen, Harding and two partners purchased The Marion Star, a struggling newspaper in Marion, Ohio. Harding eventually bought out his partners and became the sole owner and editor of the paper. Under his management, The Marion Star grew into a successful and influential local publication, establishing Harding as a prominent figure in the Marion community. The newspaper served as a foundation for both his financial stability and his entry into politics. Through his editorial work, Harding became well connected with Ohio's Republican political establishment, relationships that would prove instrumental throughout his subsequent political career.

Harding's early life in small-town Ohio shaped his personality and political outlook. He was known for his genial manner, his gift for public speaking, and his ability to cultivate personal relationships—qualities that would serve him throughout his rise in Republican politics.

Education

Harding attended Ohio Central College in Iberia, Ohio, where he graduated in 1882. Ohio Central College was a small institution that offered a general education curriculum. During his time there, Harding participated in debate and developed his skills as a public speaker and writer. He also helped edit the college newspaper, an early indication of his lifelong interest in journalism and publishing. After graduation, Harding briefly explored other vocational paths, including a short period of teaching school and reading law, before committing himself to the newspaper business in Marion, Ohio.

Career

Newspaper Publishing

Harding's career in journalism began in earnest in 1884 when he acquired The Marion Star. He devoted significant energy to building the newspaper into a financially viable and editorially respected publication. The paper became a vehicle for Republican Party messaging in Marion County and helped establish Harding's reputation as a civic leader and party loyalist. His wife, Florence Kling Harding, whom he married in 1891, played an active role in the business operations of the newspaper, managing the circulation department and contributing to the paper's commercial success.

The success of The Marion Star provided Harding with the economic independence and public profile necessary to pursue a career in politics. His editorial positions generally aligned with mainstream Republican views of the era, favoring business interests, protective tariffs, and conservative governance.

Ohio State Politics

Harding entered electoral politics in 1899 when he won a seat in the Ohio State Senate, representing the 13th district. He served in the state senate from 1900 to 1904, where he was regarded as a reliable Republican and an effective legislator who worked well with colleagues across factional lines.

In 1903, Harding was elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, serving under Governor Myron T. Herrick from January 11, 1904, to January 8, 1906. The position gave him statewide visibility and further cemented his connections within the Ohio Republican Party. After completing his term as lieutenant governor, Harding returned to Marion and focused on his newspaper business for several years.

In 1910, Harding ran for governor of Ohio but was defeated in the general election. The loss was a setback, but it did not end his political ambitions. He remained active in Republican Party affairs and continued to build relationships with party leaders at both the state and national levels.

United States Senate

Harding's political fortunes revived in 1914 when he won election to the United States Senate, representing Ohio. This was a notable election, as it was the first time Ohio's U.S. senators were chosen by direct popular vote following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution. He succeeded Theodore E. Burton in the seat.

During his time in the Senate, which lasted from March 4, 1915, to January 13, 1921, Harding compiled a legislative record that was largely in line with mainstream Republican positions. He supported protective tariffs, opposed the League of Nations as proposed by President Woodrow Wilson, and generally voted with the conservative wing of the party. Harding was not considered a legislative leader or a particularly active senator; he was absent for a significant number of roll-call votes. However, his affability, his skill as a public speaker, and his capacity to avoid making enemies within the party made him a figure of increasing national prominence.

Harding's Senate tenure coincided with the final years of World War I and the tumultuous postwar period, including the contentious debate over American entry into the League of Nations. His opposition to Wilson's League of Nations proposal aligned him with the majority of Senate Republicans and positioned him favorably within the party as it looked ahead to the 1920 presidential election.

1920 Presidential Campaign

Harding entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920 as a long shot. The leading candidates for the nomination included General Leonard Wood, Governor Frank Lowden of Illinois, and Senator Hiram Johnson of California. When the Republican National Convention convened in Chicago in June 1920, none of the frontrunners was able to secure a majority of delegates, and the convention became deadlocked.

As the balloting continued without resolution, support gradually shifted to Harding as a compromise candidate. He was nominated on the tenth ballot, a result that was influenced by behind-the-scenes negotiations among party leaders. The selection of Harding was later characterized—somewhat controversially—as having been decided in a "smoke-filled room," a phrase that entered the American political lexicon from the 1920 convention.

For the general election, Harding conducted a "front porch campaign," remaining largely in Marion, Ohio, and allowing supporters, journalists, and delegations to come to him. This approach was a deliberate echo of William McKinley's successful 1896 campaign strategy. Harding's central campaign theme was a promise of a "return to normalcy"—a call for stability, peace, and a retreat from the internationalism and progressive activism of the Wilson years.

Harding faced Democratic nominee James M. Cox, also of Ohio, and his running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt. The election, held on November 2, 1920, resulted in a decisive victory for Harding, who won approximately 60 percent of the popular vote—one of the largest margins of victory in presidential election history at that time. Harding became the first sitting United States senator to be elected president.

Presidency (1921–1923)

Cabinet and Appointments

Harding took office on March 4, 1921, succeeding Woodrow Wilson. He assembled a cabinet that included several figures of considerable stature. Andrew Mellon, one of the wealthiest men in America, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. Charles Evans Hughes, a former Supreme Court justice and the 1916 Republican presidential nominee, became Secretary of State. Herbert Hoover, who had gained international renown for his management of wartime food relief efforts in Europe, was named Secretary of Commerce.

However, Harding also appointed a number of personal friends and political allies to positions of power, choices that would later prove problematic. Among these were Harry Daugherty, his campaign manager, who was appointed Attorney General, and Albert B. Fall, a fellow senator from New Mexico, who became Secretary of the Interior. These appointments would become central to the scandals that damaged Harding's reputation after his death.

Domestic Policy

Harding's domestic agenda reflected his conservative Republican philosophy. His administration pursued tax reduction, particularly for corporations and high-income earners, under the guidance of Treasury Secretary Mellon. Harding signed the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which created the Bureau of the Budget (a forerunner of the modern Office of Management and Budget) and established a more systematic process for federal budget preparation.

Harding also signed the Emergency Tariff of 1921 and the Fordney–McCumber Tariff of 1922, which raised import duties to protect American industry and agriculture. These measures were consistent with the protectionist trade policies favored by the Republican Party during this era.

One of Harding's notable actions was the release of political prisoners who had been imprisoned under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 for their opposition to World War I. Among those whose sentences Harding commuted was the prominent socialist leader Eugene V. Debs, who had been sentenced to ten years in prison for an anti-war speech. Harding invited Debs to the White House after his release, a gesture that reflected Harding's conciliatory temperament.

Foreign Policy and the Washington Naval Conference

The most significant foreign policy achievement of the Harding administration was the Washington Naval Conference, held from November 1921 to February 1922. Organized by Secretary of State Hughes, the conference brought together delegates from the United States, Great Britain, Japan, France, and Italy to negotiate limitations on naval armaments.

The resulting treaties—including the Five-Power Treaty, the Four-Power Treaty, and the Nine-Power Treaty—established limits on the construction of capital ships and aircraft carriers, and addressed territorial and political issues in the Pacific region. The naval limitations program agreed upon at the conference endured for approximately a decade and represented a significant effort at multilateral arms control in the interwar period.

While Harding had opposed American entry into the League of Nations, the Washington Naval Conference demonstrated that his administration was not entirely isolationist in its approach to foreign affairs. The conference was regarded at the time as a major diplomatic success and enhanced the international prestige of the United States.

Scandals

The Harding administration became associated with several scandals, the most consequential of which was the Teapot Dome affair. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall secretly leased naval oil reserve lands at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, to private oil companies in exchange for personal financial benefits, including cash payments and no-interest loans. The transactions were conducted without competitive bidding and without the knowledge of the public or Congress.

The scandal was not fully exposed until after Harding's death, when congressional investigations brought the details to light. Fall was eventually convicted of accepting bribes—the first former cabinet member in United States history to be sentenced to prison for crimes committed while in office.

Attorney General Harry Daugherty was also implicated in corruption. He was accused of accepting bribes and failing to prosecute cases of fraud within the Department of Justice. Daugherty was tried twice but was not convicted, as both trials ended in hung juries.

Additional scandals involved the Veterans' Bureau, whose director, Charles Forbes, was found to have embezzled and wasted hundreds of millions of dollars in funds intended for the care of World War I veterans. Forbes was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government and sentenced to federal prison.

The extent to which Harding himself was aware of or complicit in these acts of corruption has been a subject of historical debate. There is no conclusive evidence that Harding personally profited from the scandals, but his trust in disloyal associates and his management style, which afforded considerable autonomy to his appointees, contributed to the conditions under which the corruption flourished.

Death

In the summer of 1923, Harding embarked on an extensive cross-country tour, which he called the "Voyage of Understanding," traveling by train to the western states and by ship to the Alaska Territory. The journey was intended to promote his administration's policies and to gauge public opinion ahead of the 1924 presidential campaign.

During the trip, Harding's health deteriorated. He experienced fatigue and other symptoms. On August 2, 1923, Harding died at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. The cause of death was initially attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage, though subsequent medical opinion has generally concluded that he suffered a heart attack, possibly related to congestive heart failure. He was 57 years old. Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president by his own father, a notary public, at the family homestead in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, in the early morning hours of August 3, 1923.

At the time of his death, Harding was one of the most popular presidents in American history. The nation responded to the news with an outpouring of grief, and his funeral train from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., was witnessed by large crowds along its route.

Personal Life

Harding married Florence Kling DeWolfe on July 8, 1891, in Marion, Ohio. Florence was the daughter of Amos Kling, a prominent and wealthy Marion businessman. She had previously been married and had a son from her first marriage. Florence Harding was an active and influential partner in both her husband's newspaper business and his political career, and she was known as a forceful personality who played a significant behind-the-scenes role during his presidency.

The Hardings did not have children together during their marriage. However, Harding's personal life became the subject of public controversy after his death. Nan Britton, a young woman from Marion, claimed in her 1927 book The President's Daughter that she had conducted a long affair with Harding and that he had fathered her daughter, Elizabeth Ann. The claim was controversial and disputed for decades, but in 2015, DNA testing confirmed that Harding was the father of Britton's daughter.

Harding also conducted a lengthy extramarital affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips, a friend of the Harding family. Their correspondence, which was sealed for decades, was eventually made public, revealing a relationship that spanned approximately fifteen years.

Harding was buried in Marion, Ohio. His remains rest at the Harding Tomb, a circular memorial of white marble that was dedicated in 1931.

Recognition

At the time of his death in August 1923, Harding was widely mourned and considered a beloved national figure. However, the revelations of corruption and scandal that followed rapidly eroded public and scholarly esteem for his presidency.

In historical rankings and surveys of U.S. presidents conducted by scholars and historians over the decades following his death, Harding has frequently been placed among the lowest-ranked chief executives. The Teapot Dome scandal, the corruption of his associates, and the perception of his presidency as one of mismanagement and cronyism have been primary factors in these assessments.

C-SPAN produced a program on Harding as part of its "American Presidents: Life Portraits" series, which examined his life, career, and legacy in depth.

In more recent years, some historians have begun to reassess Harding's record in office. Scholars have pointed to his administration's diplomatic achievements, particularly the Washington Naval Conference, his fiscal policies, and his commutation of political prisoners' sentences as evidence that his presidency was not without significant accomplishments. A 2015 article in The Washington Post argued that if the public were less focused on Harding's personal scandals, his record would be evaluated more favorably.

Several institutions and landmarks bear Harding's name, including Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio, and the Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio. The Shapell Manuscript Foundation holds a collection of Harding-related documents and correspondence.

Legacy

Warren G. Harding's legacy remains a subject of debate among historians and political commentators. For much of the twentieth century, his presidency was defined primarily by the scandals that emerged after his death. The Teapot Dome affair, in particular, became a byword for government corruption and was frequently cited as a cautionary example of the dangers of cronyism and inadequate presidential oversight.

The conviction of Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall marked a historic moment in American governance: Fall was the first sitting or former cabinet member to be imprisoned for crimes committed while serving in the cabinet. The trials of Fall and Attorney General Daugherty focused public attention on the ethical standards of the Harding administration and contributed to a lasting negative impression of Harding's leadership.

Harding's personal life has also played a role in shaping his historical reputation. The confirmation through DNA testing in 2015 that he had fathered a child with Nan Britton renewed public interest in his extramarital relationships and added a personal dimension to the critiques of his character. The publication and analysis of his love letters to Carrie Phillips further complicated assessments of his personal conduct.

However, the reassessment movement among historians has drawn attention to aspects of Harding's presidency that were previously overlooked or undervalued. The Washington Naval Conference, the establishment of the Bureau of the Budget, and the release of political prisoners such as Eugene V. Debs have been cited as meaningful policy accomplishments. Harding's administration also oversaw a significant economic recovery following the postwar recession of 1920–1921.

Harding's style of governance—his emphasis on consensus, his avoidance of partisan confrontation, and his willingness to delegate authority—has been viewed both as a strength and a weakness. While it contributed to the cooperative atmosphere of the Washington Naval Conference, it also created the conditions in which corrupt officials were able to operate without effective supervision.

The historical debate over Harding's presidency reflects broader questions about how presidents are evaluated: whether they should be judged primarily by their policy achievements, by the conduct of their appointees, or by their personal behavior. As new evidence and new perspectives have emerged, Harding's place in presidential history has become more nuanced, though he continues to rank near the bottom in most scholarly surveys.