Warren G. Harding

"Warren Harding" redirects here. For the American rock climber, see Warren Harding (climber).

Warren G. Harding
29th President of the United States
In office March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923
Vice President	Calvin Coolidge
Preceded by	Woodrow Wilson
Succeeded by	Calvin Coolidge
United States Senator from Ohio
In office March 4, 1915 – January 13, 1921
Preceded by	Theodore E. Burton
Succeeded by	Frank B. Willis
28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio
In office January 11, 1904 – January 8, 1906
Governor	Myron T. Herrick
Preceded by	Harry L. Gordon
Succeeded by	Andrew L. Harris
Ohio State Senator
In office 1899–1903
Personal details
Born	Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-11-02)November 2, 1865 near Blooming Grove, Ohio
Died	August 2, 1923(1923-08-02) (aged 57) San Francisco, California
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Florence Kling Harding
Children	Marshall Eugene DeWolfe (stepson)
Alma mater	Ohio Central College
Occupation	Businessman (Newspapers)
Signature

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865– August 2, 1923) was the 29th President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack in 1923. A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate (1899–1903) and later as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (1903–1905) and as a U.S. Senator (1915–1921).

His conservative stance on issues such as taxes, his affable manner, and campaign manager Harry Daugherty's 'make no enemies' strategy enabled Harding to become the compromise choice at the 1920 Republican National Convention. During his presidential campaign, in the aftermath of World War I; he promised a return to "normalcy"; an "America first" campaign that encouraged industrialization and a strong economy independent of foreign influence. Harding, a fiscal conservative, represented a trend in government that departed from the progressive movement that had dominated Congress since President Theodore Roosevelt. In the 1920 election, he and his running-mate, Calvin Coolidge, defeated Democrat and fellow Ohioan James M. Cox, in what was then the largest presidential popular vote landslide in American history since the popular vote tally began to be recorded in 1824: 60.36% to 34.19%.

President Harding headed a cabinet of notable men such as Charles Evans Hughes, Andrew Mellon, and future president Herbert Hoover. However, he was careless with other associates and rewarded his close friends with powerful positions. Scandals and corruption would eventually be found in the Harding Administration; Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall was jailed for involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal; Director of Veterans Bureau, Charles R. Forbes was involved in bribery and price skimming from bootleggers and drug dealers. In foreign affairs, Harding rejected the League of Nations, and signed a separate peace treaty with Germany and Austria, formally ending World War I. He also led the way to world Naval disarmament at the 1921–22 Washington Naval Conference. Domestically, Harding signed the first child welfare program in the United States and dealt with striking workers in the mining and railroad industries. He died suddenly in 1923 and was succeeded by his Vice President, Calvin Coolidge.

Traditionally, polls of historians and scholars have ranked Harding as one of the worst Presidents; primarily due to the multiple scandals in his administration caused by the "Ohio Gang"; Harding's cabinet and appointees who warranted federal corruption investigations, charges, and convictions. His presidency has been recently evaluated in terms of presidential record and accomplishments in addition to the scandals and his reputation had risen slightly since the 1990s. The most recent Presidential rankings have had various lower results for President Harding. A 2008 study for The Times placed Harding at number 34 and a 2009 C-SPAN survey ranked Harding at 38. In 2010, a Siena College poll of Presidential scholars placed Harding at 41.

Early life

Warren G. Harding was born November 2, 1865, in Corsica (now Blooming Grove), Ohio. Harding was the eldest of eight children born to Dr. George Tryon Harding, Sr. (1843–1928) and Phoebe Elizabeth (Dickerson) Harding (1843–1910). His mother was a midwife and later obtained her medical license, and his father owned a farm and taught at a rural school north of Mount Gilead, Ohio. One of Harding's great-grandmothers may have been African American. Eventually, the family moved to Caledonia, Ohio in neighboring Marion County, when Harding's father acquired The Argus, a local weekly newspaper there. Starting at age 10, it was at The Argus where Harding learned the basics of the journalism business. He continued studying the printing and newspaper trade as a college student at Ohio Central College in Iberia, during which time he also worked at the Union Register in Mount Gilead.

Harding, age 17

After graduating, Harding moved to Marion, Ohio, where he and two friends raised $300 with which to purchase the failing Marion Daily Star, the weakest of the growing city's three newspapers. Harding revamped the paper's editorial platform to support the Republican Party, and enjoyed a moderate degree of success. However, his political stance put him at odds with those who controlled Marion's local politics. Thus when Harding moved to unseat the Marion Independent as the official paper of daily record, he met with vocal resistance from local figures, such as Amos Hall Kling, one of Marion's wealthiest real estate speculators.

While Harding won the war of words and made the Marion Daily Star one of the most popular newspapers in the county, the battle took a toll on his health. In 1889, when Harding was 24, he suffered from exhaustion and nervous fatigue. He spent several weeks at the Battle Creek Sanitarium to regain his strength, ultimately making five visits over fourteen years. Harding later returned to Marion to continue operating the paper. He spent his days boosting the community on the editorial pages, and his evenings "bloviating" (Harding's term for "informally conversing") with his friends over games of poker.

On July 8, 1891, Harding married Florence Kling DeWolfe, the daughter of his nemesis, Amos Hall Kling. Florence Kling DeWolfe was a divorcée, five years Harding's senior, and the mother of a young son, Marshall Eugene DeWolfe. She had pursued Harding persistently until he reluctantly proposed. Florence's father was furious with his daughter's decision to marry Harding, forbidding his wife from attending the wedding and not speaking to his daughter or son-in-law for eight years.

The couple complemented one another, with Harding's affable personality balancing his wife's no-nonsense approach to life. Florence Harding, exhibiting her father's determination and business sense, turned the Marion Daily Star into a profitable business. She has been credited with helping Harding achieve more than he might have alone; some have speculated that she later pushed him all the way to the White House.

Harding was a Freemason, raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason on August 27, 1920, in Marion Lodge #70, F.& A.M., in Marion, Ohio.

Political career

As an influential newspaper publisher with a flair for public speaking, Harding was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1899. He served four years before being elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, a post he occupied from 1903 to 1905. His leanings were conservative, and his record in both offices was relatively undistinguished. He received the Republican nomination for Governor of Ohio in 1910, but lost to incumbent Judson Harmon.

U.S. Senator

U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding

Photo taken between 1918-1920

In 1912, Harding gave the nominating speech for incumbent President William Howard Taft at the Republican National Convention, and in 1914 was elected to the United States Senate, becoming Ohio's first senator elected by popular vote. He served in the Senate from 1915 until his inauguration as President on March 4, 1921, becoming the first sitting senator to be elected President of the United States. Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama are the only three men to have been elected president while serving as a United States senator.

Joseph Nathan Kane's book, Facts About the Presidents, stated that Harding was "the second President elected while a Senator." This becomes a matter of semantics. On January 13, 1880, the Ohio legislature appointed James A. Garfield, who was then a Congressman from Ohio, to the U.S. Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1881 (at that time, senators were elected by state legislatures rather than directly by the citizens). He won the Presidential election on November 2, so on that date he was at once Congressman, Senator-elect, and President-elect. Garfield accepted the Presidential election and soon afterwards relinquished his other offices. He never sat in the Senate seat, as his term was not to begin for another four months.

Because of the technicality, Harding continues to be generally considered the first "truly" sitting Senator to become President, Kennedy being the second. For example, George Will referred to Harding that way in his Newsweek commentary in the issue of June 16, 2008, p. 60, in pointing out that the two presumptive candidates in the 2008 race were both sitting senators.

In his book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell became the latest of numerous political pundits and ordinary voters who suggested that Warren Harding's electoral success was based on his appearance, essentially opining that he "looked like a president." Gladwell argues that peoples' first impression of Harding tended to be so favorable that it gave them a fixed and very high opinion of Harding, which could not be shaken unless his intellectual and other deficiencies became glaring. Gladwell even refers to the flawed process by which people make decisions as 'Warren Harding Error'.

Election of 1920

Harding's home in Marion, from which he conducted his "front porch" campaign

Main article: United States presidential election, 1920

Relatively unknown outside his own state, Harding was a true "dark horse" candidate, winning the Republican Party nomination due to the political machinations of his friends after the nominating convention had become deadlocked. Republican leaders meeting in Room 404 of the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago discussed Harding as a possible compromise candidate. This was only one of many informal meetings taking place at the time and, contrary to popular stories, there is little evidence of a deal having been struck in this "smoke-filled room". Rather, since the three leading candidates were unable to gain a majority, the effort was made to assemble a majority for one of the remaining candidates. The first attempt was made with Harding, as "best of the second raters", who won on the tenth ballot. Before receiving the nomination, Harding was asked whether there were any embarrassing episodes in his past that might be used against him. Despite his longstanding affair with the wife of an old friend, Harding answered "No", and the Party moved to nominate him, only to discover later his relationship with Carrie Fulton Phillips.

In the 1920 election, Harding ran against Democratic Ohio Governor James M. Cox, whose running-mate was Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt. The election was seen in part as a referendum on whether to continue with the "progressive" work of the Woodrow Wilson Administration or to revert to the "laissez-faire" approach of the William McKinley era.

Harding ran on a promise to "Return to Normalcy", a seldom-used term he popularized. The slogan called an end to the abnormal era of the Great War, along with a call to reflect three trends of his time: a renewed isolationism in reaction to the War, a resurgence of nativism, and a turning away from the government activism of the reform era.

Harding's "front porch campaign" during the late summer and fall of 1920 captured the imagination of the country. Not only was it the first campaign to be heavily covered by the press and to receive widespread newsreel coverage, but it was also the first modern campaign to use the power of Hollywood and Broadway stars, who travelled to Marion for photo opportunities with Harding and his wife. Al Jolson, Lillian Russell, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford were among the conservative-minded luminaries to make the pilgrimage to his house in central Ohio. Business icons Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone also lent their cachet to the campaign. From the onset of the campaign until the November election, over 600,000 people travelled to Marion to participate.

Warren G. Harding campaigning in 1920

The campaign owed a great deal to Florence Harding, who played perhaps a more active role than any previous candidate's wife in a presidential race. She cultivated the relationship between the campaign and the press. As the business manager of the Star, she understood reporters and their industry. She played to their needs by being freely available to answer questions, pose for pictures, or deliver food prepared in her kitchen to the press office, a bungalow which she had constructed at the rear of their property in Marion. Mrs. Harding even coached her husband on the proper way to wave to newsreel cameras to make the most of coverage.

The campaign also drew upon Harding's popularity with women. Considered handsome, Harding photographed well compared to Cox. However, it was mainly Harding's support in the Senate for women's suffrage legislation that made him more popular with that demographic: the ratification of the 19th Amendment in August 1920 brought huge crowds of women to Marion, Ohio, to hear Harding. Immigrant groups who had made up an important part of the Democratic coalition, such as ethnic Germans and Irish, also voted for Harding in the election in reaction to their perceived persecution by the Wilson administration during World War I.

During the campaign, political opponents spread rumors that Harding's great-great-grandfather was a West Indian black person and that other blacks might be found in his family tree. In an era when the "one-drop rule" would classify a person with any African ancestry as black, and black people in the South had been effectively disfranchised, Harding's campaign manager responded, "No family in the state (of Ohio) has a clearer, a more honorable record than the Hardings', a blue-eyed stock from New England and Pennsylvania, the finest pioneer blood." Historian and opponent William Estabrook Chancellor publicized the rumors, based on supposed family research, but perhaps reflecting no more than local gossip. The rumors may have been sustained by a statement Harding allegedly made to newspaperman James W. Faulkner on the subject, which he perhaps meant to be dismissive: "How do I know, Jim? One of my ancestors may have jumped the fence." If the rumors are ever proven to be true, by some definitions Harding would be considered to be the first African-American president.

The election of 1920 was the first in which women could vote nationwide. It was also the first presidential election to be covered on the radio, thanks to the nation's first commercial radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Harding received 60% of the national vote and 404 electoral votes, an unprecedented margin of victory. Cox received 34% of the national vote and 127 electoral votes. Campaigning from a federal prison, Socialist Eugene V. Debs received 3% of the national vote.

Presidency: 1921–1923

Inauguration of Warren G. Harding, March 4, 1921. It was the first time a President's voice was electronically amplified and broadcast by radio around the world.

The administration of Warren G. Harding followed the Republican platform approved at the 1920 Republican National Convention, which was held in Chicago.

Harding calmed the 1919-1920 Bolshevik scare and released election opponent, Socialist leader Eugene Debs, from prison. Debs had been convicted under charges brought by the Wilson administration for his opposition to the draft during World War I. Despite many political differences between the two candidates, Harding commuted Debs' sentence to time served.

Harding pushed for the establishment of the Bureau of Veterans Affairs (later organized as the Department of Veterans Affairs), the first permanent attempt at answering the needs of those who had served the nation in time of war. He created the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)), becoming the first president to have the executive branch take a role in federal expenditures.

(from left to right) President Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Representative Joseph Gurney Cannon, and Senator Philander C. Knox during the 1921 presidential inauguration.

In April 1921, speaking before a joint session of Congress, Harding called for peacemaking with Germany and Austria, emergency tariffs, new immigration laws, regulation of radio and trans cable communications retrenchment in government, tax reduction, repeal of wartime excess profits tax, reduction of railroad rates, promotion of agricultural interests, a national budget system, a great merchant marine and a department of public welfare. He also called for measures to bring an end to lynching, but he did not want to make enemies in his own party and with the Democrats, and did not fight for his program.

According to biographers, Harding got along well with the press more than any other President, being a former newspaper man. Reporters admired his frankness, candor, and his confessed limitations. He took the press behind the scenes and showed them the inner circle of the presidency. Harding, in November 1921, also implemented a policy of taking written questions from reporters during a press conference. Hardings relationship with Congress, however, was strained and he did not receive the traditional honeymoon given to new Presidents. Prior to Harding's election the nation was adrift; President Woodrow Wilson had been ill by a debilitating stroke for eighteen months and before that Wilson had been in Europe for several months attempting to negotiate a peace settlement after WWI. By contrast on the March 4, 1921 Inaugural; Harding looked strong; with grey hair and a commanding physical presence.

The Hardings visited their home community of Marion, Ohio once during the term, when the city celebrated its Centennial during the first week of July. Harding arrived on July 3, gave a speech to the community at the Marion County Fairgrounds on July 4, and left the following morning for other speaking commitments.

Postwar depression and recession

Main article: Depression of 1920-21

On March 4, 1921 President Harding assumed office while the nation was in the midst of a postwar economic decline, known as the Depression of 1920-21. By summer of his first year in office, after a series of actions by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, an economic recovery was underway. After the recession, starting in 1922, Harding cut taxes. The top marginal rate was reduced annually in four stages from 73% in 1921 to 25% in 1925. Taxes were cut for lower incomes starting in 1923. Despite these policies, the economy entered recession in May 1923 and remained in recession into the next presidency, through July 1924. Thomas E. Woods, however, contends in the Fall 2009 issue of The International Review, that the tax cuts implemented by President Harding ended the Depression of 1920-21 and were responsible for creating a decade-long expansion. President Harding, convened the Conference of Unemployment in 1921, headed by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, that proactively advocated stimulating the economy with local public work projects and encouraged businesses to apply shared work programs.

Joint Session of Congress 1921

President Harding addresses a joint session of Congress in April, 1921: Coolidge and Gillett seated behind.

On April 12, 1921 President Harding addressed a joint session of Congress concerned with the policies, plans, and matters he deemed important to the nation. His speech, considered to be the best in his career, contained few political platitudes and was overwhelmingly accepted by Congress. In terms of national economy Harding urged Congress to create a Bureau of the Budget; cut expenditures; and revise federal tax laws. Harding urged increasing protectionist tariffs, to lower taxes, and agriculture legislation to help the farmer. In the speech, Harding advocated aviation technology for civil and military purposes; the development of radio technology and regulation; and the passage of a federal anti-lynching law to protect African Americans. Harding advocated, in terms of foreign affairs, a "conference and cooperation" of nations to prevent war, yet flatly stated the United States should not enter the League of Nations. Harding endorsed peace to be established between all former enemy nations from WWI; and the funding and liquidation of war debts.

Domestic Policies and Economy

Bureau of the Budget

Charlie Dawes was the first budget director for a U.S. President. He was an able administrator who reduced federal spending.

On June 12, 1921 President Harding signed the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 establishing the Bureau of the Budget, considered to be one of his greatest domestic achievements. The law created the presidencial budget director who was directly responsible to the President, rather than the Secretary of Treasury. The law also stipulated that he President must submit a budget annually before the U.S. Congress. The General Accounting Office was created to assure oversight in the federal budget expenditures. Harding appointed Charlie Dawes, known for being an effective financier, as the first director of the Bureau of the Budget. Dawes reduced government spending by 1.5 billion his first year as director, a 25% Reduction, along with another 25% reduction the following year. In effect, the Government budget was cut in half in just 2 years.

Veterans Bureau

On August 9, 1921 President Harding signed the into law a bill known as the "Sweet Bill" that established the Veterans Bureau as a separate agency. The Bureau was appointed a director responsible only to the President. The new Veterans Bureau incorporated five previous separate Bureaus that dealt with veteran affairs. Harding appointed Colonel Charles R. Forbes as the Veteran Bureau's first director. The Veterans Bureau would later be incorporated into the Veterans Administration and ultimately the Department of Veterans Affairs. Harding prevented a budget-busting WWI soldier's bonus in an effort to reduce costs.

Farm acts and amendments

From 1921 to 1922 President Harding signed a series of bills and amendments passed by Congress into law that regulated the farm industry. The legislation was propagated by President Woodrow Wilson's 1919 FTC report that investigated "manipulations, controls, trusts, combinations, or restraints out of harmony with the law or the public interest" in the meat packing industry. The first law was Packers and Stockyards Act that prohibited packers from engaging in unfair and deceptive practices. The second was the Future Trading Act that regulated "put and calls", "bids", and "offers" on futures contracting. Two amendments were made to the Farm Loan Act of 1916, signed into law by President Wilson, that expanded the maximum size of rural farm loans. The Emergency Agriculture Credit Act authorized new loans to farmers in order to sell and market livestock. The Capper–Volstead Act signed by Harding on February 18, 1922 protected farm cooperatives from anti-trust legislation. The Future Trading Act was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 15, 1922.

Revenue Act of 1921

Secretary of Treasury Andrew W. Mellon. One of Harding's talented cabinet appointments.

On November 22, 1921 President Harding signed the Revenue Act of 1921 that gave large deductions in the amount of taxes that the wealthiest Americans had to pay. Protests from Republican farmers caused the deductions to be less than originally desired by Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon. The lengthly 96 page Act reduced the corporate tax from 65% to 50% and provided for the ultimate elimination of the excess-profits tax during WWI.

Fordney-McCumber Tariff

On September 21, 1922, President Harding signed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act. The protectionist legislation was sponsored by Representative Joseph W. Fordney and Senator Porter J. McCumber. The Act increased the tariff rates contained in the previous Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act of 1913. Harding became concerned when the agriculture business suffered economic hardship from the high tariffs. Previously, on May 21, 1921 President Harding signed the emergency legislation that put tariffs on select foreign inputs. By 1922, Harding soon began to realize that the long term effects of tariffs could be detrimental to national economy. Harding's successors, President Calvin Coolidge and President Herbert Hoover, also advocated tariff legislation. The tariffs established in the 1920s have historically been viewed as a contributing factor to causing the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Radio conferences 1922-1923

Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover regulated the fledgling radio industry in the early 1920's. Hoover would go on to be elected the 31st President of the United States in 1928. Hoover is seated listening to a radio.

On February 27, 1922 President Harding implemented the first of a series of Radio Conferences headed by Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover. The last Radio Act of 1912 was considered "inadequate" and "chaotic"; change was neccessary to help the fledgling radio industry. At the first meeting 30 representatives including amateurs, governmental agencies, and the radio industry made cooperative efforts to ensure the public interest in broadcasting, who would broadcast and for what purpose, and to curb direct advertizing. Also discussed was how wattage power used by broadcasters would be distributed depending on the radio station's conditional use and location. The conference ended on March 2, 1922 and after a closed congressional meeting in April a final recommendation report was released. Representative Wallace White and Senator Frank Kellogg introduced legislation, however, no bill was passed; radio companies lobbied against the passage out of concern that regulation would give too much power over an alleged monopoly by Hoover, the Secretary of Commerce.

A second radio conference was called in 1923 and this time Secretary Hoover was successful at obtaining radio regulation power without legislation passed. Hoover himself in Janurary 1923 told the press there was an "urgent need for radio regulation." Large radio stations such as Westinghouse advocated that only 25 larger radio stations in large metropolitan areas be allowed to broadcast while smaller stations would be given limited power. At the end of the meeting the industrialists agreed to give Hoover the power "to regulate hours and wave lengths of operation of stations when such action is necessary to prevent interference detrimental to the public good". Hoover immediately took the initiative and on April 4th, 1923 put through a major spectrum reallocation. On May 15 Hoover's policy went into effect that divided radio stations into classes worked in three spectral bands. The wattage and class configuration system created by Hoover would be the model for modern radio communication in the United States. Hoover's regulations, however, favored broadcasters AT&T, RCA, and Westinghouse with a Class B rating while educational and religious stations received the lower Class C rating.

Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4

On February 23, 1923 President Harding by Executive Order # 3797 created Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4 in Alaska. It become clear by the 1920s that petroleum was becoming increasingly important to the national economy and security of the nation. The reserve system was to keep the oil under government jurisdiction rather than through private claims.

Foreign Policies

Knox-Porter resolution

President Harding's Secretary of State Charles E. Hughes ably worked behind the scenes to formally make peace with former enemies Austria and Germany. This was known as the Knox-Porter Resolution; subsequent Peace treaties were signed with both countries and Ratified by the Senate and signed by Harding on July 21, 1921; that officially ended WWI for the United States. The Senate had refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles in both 1919 and 1920; since it required the United States to endorse the League of Nations.

Washington arms conference and treaties 1921-1922

Main article: Washington Naval Conference

Large battleships generated fears of a post WWI arms race. A British Royal Navy Battleship: HMS Tiger

Considered the greatest achievement in international diplomacy between WWI and WWII was President Harding's world wide national conference, held in Washington D.C., to limit an arms race among the United States, Japan, Great Britain, France, and Italy. Although Harding was initially reluctant; he called the conference at the insistance of the Senate. Harding's secretary of state Charles E. Hughes took an active role in the peace conference. A total of 9 nations gathered at the conference to settle disputes and vent respective concerns. Starting in November 6, 1921 and ending February 6, 1922; world leaders met to control a naval arms race and to bring stability to East Asia. The conference was an outlet that allowed the great powers to mutually limit their large naval ships and avoid conflict in the Pacific. The delegation of nations also worked out security issues and promoted cooperation in the Far East.

Secretary of State Charles E. Hughes ably organized the 1921-1922 Washington Peace Conference.

Out of the conference a total of 6 treaties and 12 resolutions were made between the nations that ranged from limiting the size or "tonnage" of naval ships to custom tariffs. The treaties included:

• The United States, Japan, Great Britain, France, and Italy limit the size of their respective Navies.
• The United States, Japan, Great Britain, France, and Italy regulate the use of submarines and noxious gases in warfare.
• The United States, Japan, Great Britain, and France [The Four Powers] divide and secure insular possessions and dominions in the Pacific Ocean. This was known as the Four Powers Treaty.
• A public declaration of the Four Powers Treaty.
• A supplementary treaty between the Four Powers.
• A treaty between the 9 powers adopting principles and policies toward China.
• A treaty between the 9 powers establishing custom tariffs with China.

The treaties, however, only remained in effect until the mid 1930s and in the end ultimately failed. Japan eventually invaded Manchuria and the arms limitations no longer had any effect. The building of "monster warships' resumed and the United States and Great Britain were unable to quickly rearm themselves to defend a liberal international order and stop Japan from remilitarizing.

Thomson–Urrutia Treaty

President Harding, in an effort to improve U.S. relations with Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean Islands implemented a program of military disengagement. On April 20, 1921 the Thomson–Urrutia Treaty with Panama was ratified by the Senate and signed by Harding; that awarded $25,000,000 as indemnity payment for land used to make the Panama Canal.

Labor disputes and strikes

Blair Mountain miner war

Main articles: Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain

On May 12, 1921, just two months into Harding's presidency, violence broke out again between union mining strikers and company strike busters near Matewan, West Virginia. The miners cut down telephone and telegraph lines; trained their guns on the mines, strike breakers and buildings. The battle lasted three days; on the first day and night of the battle some 10,000 bullets were fired; former justice of the peace, Harry C. Staton, was killed. Ephraim Morgan, governor of West Virginia, pleaded in person with President Harding for federal military support. Harding, who was keeping track of the situation, would only send in troops if state militia could no longer handle the striking miners. On August 1, Sid Hatfield, a prominent Union organizer and Matewan chief of police, was assassinated by mining company agents. On August 28, three days of fighting broke out at Blair Mountain between coal company militia and thousands of Union miners led by Bill Blizzard. President Harding, having issued two proclamations to keep the peace; finally used military force including Martin MB-1 bombers that deployed gas and explosive bombs. Federal troops arrived on September 2, forcing the miners to flee to their homes. 50-100 miners had been killed to 30 strike busters in the fighting. After the battle 985 miners were indicted for crimes against the State of West Virginia; some imprisoned for years. Bill Blizzard was indicted and put on trial for treason, however, he was acquitted.

Great railway strike

Main article: Great Railroad Strike of 1922

About one year after President Harding contended with the 1921 Blair Mountain mining labor war in West Virginia, another, strike broke out during the summer of 1922 in the railroad industry. 400,000 railroad workers and shopmen, on July 1, 1922 went on strike over reduced hourly wages by 7 cents and a demanding 12 hour a day work week. Strike busters were brought in to fill the positions. President Harding proposed a settlement on July, 28 that gave the shop workers some concessions, however, the railroad owners refused to budge. Harding sent out the National Guard and 2,200 deputy U.S. marshals to keep the peace. Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty, who opposed unions, ordered Judge James H. Wilkerson to issue an injunction to break up the strike. This was known as the "Wilkerson" or "Daughtery" injunction; that caused labor to be enraged against the government; widespread opposition to the injunction ensued among labor unions. The strike finally settle out on its own without significant violence, however, tensions remained high between railroad workers and company men for years.

Civil Rights

Per Centum Act of 1921

The Per Centum Act of 1921 signed by President Harding on May 19, 1921 severely reduced the amount of immigration into the United States to 3% of their represented population based on the 1910 census. The Act allowed unauthorized immigrants to be deported. Harding and Secretary of Labor James Davis believed that enforcement had to be humane. Harding often allowed exceptions granting reprieves to thousands of immigrants.

Supports anti-lynching movement

U.S. Representative Leonidas C. Dyer authored legislation to make lynching a federal crime in 1918.

In a speech on October 26, 1921 Harding advocated civil rights for all Americans, including African Americans. He suggested appointing African Americans to federal positions and was in favor of a national anti-lynching bill. Harding also advocated the establishment of an international commission to improve race relations between whites and blacks; however, strong political opposition by the Southern Democratic bloc prevented any of these initiatives from coming to fruition. The Ku Klux Klan had its highest membership during its revival in the 1920s, when it expanded membership among urban populations of the Midwest and South who were concerned about job competition and immigration.

Harding supported Congressman Leonidas Dyer's federal anti-lynching bill, known as the Dyer Bill, which passed the House of Representatives on January 26, 1922. The bill was defeated in the Senate by a filibuster. Harding had previously spoken out publicly against lynching on October 21, 1921. Congress had not debated a civil rights bill since the 1890 Federal Elections Bill.

Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act

On November 21, 1921 President Harding signed the Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act, the first major federal government social welfare program in the United States. The law funded almost 3,000 child and health centers throughout the United States. Medical doctors were spurred to offer preventative health care measures in addition to treating ill children. Doctors were required to help healthy pregnant women and prevent healthy children from getting sick. Child welfare workers were sent out to make sure that parents were taking care of their children. Many minority groups, particularly African American, Native American, and foreign born women; resented the law and the welfare workers who visited their homes and intruded into their family's lives. The law was sponsored by a woman, Julia Lathrop, Americas first director of the U.S. Children's Bureau. Although the law remained in effect only eight years, it set the trend for New Deal social programs during the Great Depression. Many women who had been given the right to vote in 1920, were given career opportunities as welfare and social workers.

Freed Eugene V. Debs

On December 23, 1921 President Harding freed Eugene V. Debs, a forceful WWI antiwar activist and socialist whom previous President Woodrow Wilson had thrown into jail for sedition. This was done as an effort to get the United States returned to "normalcy" after the Great War. Debs was released from jail for time served, but not granted an official Presidential pardon. Debs' failing health was a contributing factor for the release. Harding granted a general amnesty to 23 prisoners, alleged anarchists and socialists, active in the Red Scare.

Administrative scandals

Charles R. Forbes
A Harding appointee convicted for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

Upon winning the election, Harding appointed many of his longtime allies to prominent political positions. Known as the "Ohio Gang" (a term used by Charles Mee, Jr., in his book of the same name), some of the appointees used their new powers to exploit their positions for personal gain. It is unclear how much, if anything, Harding himself knew about his friends' illicit activities.

The most infamous scandal was the Teapot Dome affair, which shook the nation for years after Harding's death. The scandal involved Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, who was convicted of accepting bribes and illegal no-interest personal loans in exchange for the leasing of public oil fields to business associates. (Aside from the bribes and personal loans, the leases were fully legal.) In 1931, Fall became the first member of a Presidential Cabinet to be sent to prison after conviction on charges.

Thomas W. Miller, head of the Office of Alien Property, was convicted of accepting bribes. Jess W. Smith, personal aide to the Attorney General, was involved with selling liquor licenses, granting paroles, and arranging fixes. After a heated exchange with President Harding over these activities; Smith destroyed papers and committed suicide the following day. Charles R. Forbes, Director of the Veterans Bureau, skimmed profits, accepted high kickbacks, and directed underground alcohol and drug distribution. Harding, who was informed of the scandal in January, 1923 summoned Forbes to the White House; angrily grabbed him by the throat; and shouted "You double-crossing bastard". Forbes eventually was convicted of fraud and bribery and drew a two-year sentence. Charles Cramer, an aide to Forbes involved in the scandal, committed suicide. Harding's Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty resigned on March 28, 1924 amidst allegations of accepting bribes from bootleggers. Daugherty had remained on as President Calvin Coolidge's Attorney General.

No evidence to date suggests that Harding personally profited from such crimes, but he was apparently unable to prevent them. "I have no trouble with my enemies," Harding told journalist William Allen White late in his presidency, "but my damn friends, they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!"

Response to Veterans' Bureau Corruption

Veterans' Bureau director Charles R. Forbes defrauded the U.S. government millions of dollars at the Perryville depot.

In order to limit corruption in the Veterans' Bureau, President Harding insisted that all government contracts should be by public notice. To get around this regulation, Veterans' director, Charles R. Forbes, told insider contracters to make their time limits as low as possible in the bidding, thus ensuring a government contract. On April 29, 1922 Harding by executive order gave Forbes the authority to administer 80% of the government supplies at the railway depot in Perryville, Maryland. Forbes contracted the sale of these supplies to an insider Boston contract firm, Thomson & Kelly, Inc., without public notice and at extremely discounted prices. Millions of dollars of supplies were being virtally given away by Forbes. When protests erupted, Harding ordered Forbes to stop the supply shipments by railroad at Perryville. Forbes ignored the order and kept selling and shipping out the valuable supplies telling Harding that the shipped supplies were "damaged". Harding then allowed Forbes to continue the shipping, however, as further protests ensued, President Harding gave a second order on January 24, 1923 for the shipments to stop and summoned Forbes to the White House where he demanded him to resign. After a heated physical exchange, President Harding, however, allowed Forbes to travel to Europe on a minor foreign mission abroad. Forbes submitted his resignation while in Europe to President Harding on February 15, 1923.

Trip to Alaska and death

Funeral procession for President Harding passes by the front of the White House.

In June 1923, Harding set out on a cross-country "Voyage of Understanding," in which he planned to meet ordinary people and explain his policies. During this trip, he became the first president to visit Alaska. Harding's health prior to the Alaskan venture was poor; he looked tired and dogged; his personal doctor believed getting away from the stresses of Washington would help the President. Rumors of corruption in his administration were beginning to circulate in Washington. While in Alaska, Harding was profoundly shocked by a long message he received detailing illegal activities previously unknown to him. At the end of July, while traveling south from Alaska through British Columbia, he developed what was believed to be a severe case of food poisoning. Scholars have surmised that, given subsequent events, it was more likely that he had had an inferior-wall myocardial infarct (heart attack). He gave his final speech to a large crowd at the University of Washington stadium in Seattle, Washington. A scheduled speech in Portland, Oregon was canceled.

The President's train continued south to San Francisco. Arriving at the Palace Hotel, Harding developed a respiratory illness believed to be pneumonia, but which may have been cardiogenic pulmonary edema. Harding died suddenly in the middle of conversation with his wife in the hotel's presidential suite, at 7:35 p.m. on August 2, 1923. The president's physician – Dr. Charles E. Sawyer (a homeopath, and friend of the Harding family) – opined that Harding had succumbed to a stroke, but that conclusion was erroneous. The president had abruptly lost his pulse. This was likely due to a cardiac arrhythmia; no localizing neurological deficits were present beforehand. In retrospect, scholars believe that Harding had shown physical signs of cardiac insufficiency with congestive heart failure in the preceding weeks.

Harding's tomb in Marion. Considered to be one of the most beautiful presidential memorials; officially dedicated in 1931.

Naval medical consultants who examined the president in San Francisco concluded that he had suffered a heart attack. Reflecting Dr. Sawyer's formal statement to the press, however, the New York Times of that day stated, "A stroke of apoplexy was the cause of death." Harding had been overtly ill for one week before his death.

Mrs. Harding refused permission for an autopsy. Some people speculated that the President had been the victim of a plot, possibly carried out by his wife. Gaston B. Means, an amateur historian and gadfly, noted in his book The Strange Death of President Harding (1930) that the circumstances surrounding the president's death led some to suspect he had been poisoned. Means' accusation was later discredited.

Harding was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge. He was sworn in by his father, a Justice of the Peace, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

Following his death, Harding's body lay in state in San Francisco City Hall and was then returned to Washington. His casket was held in the East Room of the White House pending a state funeral at the United States Capitol. White House employees were quoted as saying that the night before the funeral, they heard Mrs. Harding talking for more than an hour to her dead husband.

Harding was entombed in the receiving vault of the Marion Cemetery, Marion, Ohio, in August 1923. Following Mrs. Harding's death on November 21, 1924 from renal failure, she was temporarily buried next to her husband. Their remains were reinterred in December 1927 at the newly completed Harding Memorial in Marion, dedicated by President Herbert Hoover in 1931. The lapse between the final interment and the dedication was partly because of the aftermath of the Teapot Dome scandal.

At death, Harding was survived by his father. Harding and John F. Kennedy are the only two presidents to have predeceased their fathers.

Legacy

Initially, Harding's death in 1923 was mourned by the nation and his presidency was popularly viewed by both the press and the nation. However, as the many scandals during the Harding Administration were exposed, his presidential reputation was destroyed and he became a defenseless target relegated among historians to a legacy of scandal, greed, and corruption . Although traditionally viewed as one of the worst Presidents, one Harding biographer, John W. Dean, points out that his actual Presidential record has been overlooked. Harding had officially ended WWI; overcame the Depression of 1920-1921; and established a conference system to solve international disputes rather than militarization and war. Harding encouraged civil rights for African Americans; supported an antilynching law at a time when membership in the KKK was at its highest; and signed into law a progressive child welfare program. Harding also did much to regulate and protect farm interests and cooperatives. Although Harding had many presidential accomplishments; he was unable to resolve contentious disputes between industrial corporations and labor unions that plagued his administration. Harding had chosen his friends poorly and was unable to stop criminal activity during his administration. The legacy of Warren G. Harding's unfinished presidency is incomplete; how he would have reacted to the exposed scandals remains historical speculation.

Administration and cabinet

Official portrait of President Harding

The Harding Cabinet
OFFICE	NAME	TERM
President	Warren G. Harding	1921–1923
Vice President	Calvin Coolidge	1921–1923
Secretary of State	Charles Evans Hughes	1921–1923
Secretary of the Treasury	Andrew Mellon	1921–1923
Secretary of War	John W. Weeks	1921–1923
Attorney General	Harry M. Daugherty	1921–1923
Postmaster General	Will H. Hays	1921–1922
	Hubert Work	1922–1923
	Harry S. New	1923
Secretary of the Navy	Edwin Denby	1921–1923
Secretary of the Interior	Albert B. Fall	1921–1923
	Hubert Work	1923
Secretary of Agriculture	Henry C. Wallace	1921–1923
Secretary of Commerce	Herbert Hoover	1921–1923
Secretary of Labor	James J. Davis	1921–1923

Supreme Court appointments

Main article: Warren G. Harding Supreme Court candidates

The Taft Court, 1925

Harding appointed the following justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

• William Howard Taft – Chief Justice – 1921
  • Harding was the only President to have appointed a previous President to the Supreme Court.
• George Sutherland – 1922
• Pierce Butler – 1923
• Edward Terry Sanford – 1923

Personal life and controversies

Warren and Florence Harding pose in their garden.

In addition to the political scandals caused by his personal friends whom he appointed to high government posts, Harding himself had his own personal controversies. Allegedly, Harding had numerous extramarital affairs with several women. The extent to which Harding engaged in extramarital affairs is somewhat controversial. It has been recorded in private letters, discovered in the 1960s, that Harding had a 15 year on-and-off-again affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips. Harding also had an affair with Nan Britton, who published her tell-all book The President's Daughter in 1927, claiming that Harding was the father of her daughter, Elizabeth Ann. 105 letters were discovered after Mrs. Phillips died in 1960. Some of these letters were as long as 35 to 40 pages with alleged evidence that Harding had affairs with both of these women. Although these letters have been banned from publication by court order, historian Francis Russell, who viewed the letters, claimed that President Harding had a sexual affair in a closet of the White House with his "dearie" while the Secret Service kept a look out for Mrs. Harding.

In addition to the affairs, President Harding was an avid social drinker, at a time when he was supposed to be enforcing the laws regulating alcohol during Prohibition. The result was that Prohibition was not enforced to the full effect by the Commander in Chief; how President Harding was able to obtain liquor at a time when it was outlawed can only be speculated.

Alleged extramarital affairs

In 1927, four years after President Harding died, Nan Britton, a former Marionite woman claimed that Harding fathered her child, Elizabeth Ann, in 1919. Britton also claimed that Harding and herself continued their illicit relationship even while he was President. The validity to Britton's claim that Harding was the father to her child is doubtful, since Harding himself was allegedly sterile. Their relationship did extend into Harding's senatorial career, but it had ended when Harding assumed the Presidency.

Harding also had an extramarital affair with a married woman, Carrie Fulton Phillips, the wife of a prominent department store owner in Marion. This confirmed relationship took place during a number of years prior to Harding becoming a U.S. Senator. Intimate letters between Harding and Mrs. Philips were discovered in the 1960s; however the Harding-Philips "love letters" have been barred by an Ohio Court order from public viewing until 2024.

There is also an allegation that President Harding and Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty participated in bacchanalian orgies at the "Ohio Gang" green house off of K Street in Washington D.C.. However, many witnesses were unreliable and one was even a convicted perjurer.

Keeps bootleg liquor

On January 16, 1920 the Eighteenth Amendment was passed by the nation that outlawed the sale of liquor. Harding had voted for the Prohibition amendment while serving as U.S. Senator. While President, it was common knowledge Harding kept bootleg liquor stocked up at the White House. Harding, who was supposed to enforce the Prohibition amendment, embittered many Americans into widespread contempt for the laws. Eventually, violent gangsters took over the liquor business in the United States.

Alleged KKK ties

Historian, Wyn Craig Wade, in his 1987 book The Fiery Cross, suggested that President Harding allegedly had ties with the Ku Klux Klan, perhaps having been inducted into the organization in a private White House ceremony. Evidence included the taped testimony of one of the members of the alleged induction team; however, beyond that it was scant at best. Historians generally discount the allegation.

Damaged reputation and rumors

Harding's personal controversies and presidential scandals, in combination, created massive destruction to his reputation in addition to muckracking and mythmaking on behalf of historians. Exaggerated rumors spread of Harding's sexual exploits and the Ohio Gang's other alleged illegal activity, that in the end, covered up Harding's successes as President of the United States. However, responsibility for the Harding scandals, both presidential and personal, ultimately belong to Harding himself; a man with excellent political ability and traits mixed in with his own character flaws. The central question that remains for historians is how much did Harding know concerning the scandals. He did know about Charles Forbes and Jess W. Smith's criminal allegations, however, he did not know about Albert B. Fall and the Teapot Dome scandal. He had angry talks with both Forbes and Smith, however, did not force either of them to resign. Forbes, however, was allowed to voluntarily resign and he fled to Europe. Harding replaced Forbes with a reformer who cleaned up the Veterans Bureau.

Life Legacy

Further information: Harding Memorial

President Warren G. Harding

1921-1923

Official White House Portrait

Warren G. Harding was an ambitious self made man risen from obscurity on an Ohio farm; graduated as a rural teacher from college; and owned the Marion Daily Star newspaper; having gained journalist training on his father's newspaper working while a boy and at college. Harding, a strikingly handsome young man, began his career in the Republican party at the 1887 Ohio State Republican Convention. Harding also married the daughter of the wealthiest banker in Marion County. A natural politician, Harding served two terms as Ohio State senator in 1900 and served one term as Ohio's lieutenant governor. In 1910 he ran unsuccessfully for Ohio State governor; however, having gained national exposure from the governor's race he was elected U.S. Senator by a landslide 100,000 vote victory in 1914. In 1920, Harding was the compromise candidate at the Republican national convention and was elected the 29th President of the United States.

Harding's generosity and loyalty to friends proved to be a liability as President. Multiple scandals evolved during his administration that damaged his reputation throughout the nation. Mixed in with his personal character flaws; his many successes as President were over shadowed by the "Ohio Gang" criminal exploits, his social drinking and alleged past extravagant extramarital affairs. His sudden death in 1923 only complicated the many controversies surrounding his life with many unanswered questions concerning his knowledge of the scandals, possible involvement, or if he would have reformed his administration. In fact, his reputation was so controversial, it was not until 1931 that President Harding's marble memorial colonnade in Marion was ably dedicated by Herbert Hoover. According to Hoover the legacy of Harding was one of tragic betrayal.

~ Warren G. Harding ~Memorial Issue of 1923Issued only one month after Harding's death on September 1, 1923 in his hometown of Marion, Ohio.

Harding had a dim realization that he had been betrayed...these men not only betrayed the friendship and trust of their staunch and loyal friend but that they had betrayed their country. That was the tragedy of the life of Warren Harding.

As a career politician Harding demonstrated his ability to grow and had a desire to get along with political enemies rather than attack them. As a journalist, Harding was the first President to realize the importance of an ever growing powerful media; even ordering his own cabinet to have their own respective press staff. He knew that radio would eventually dominate American commerce and promoted two Radio Conferences to give government power to regulate the industry. Harding also sensed the importance of oil in terms of national security and prosperity, signing an executive order that gave the United States a giant oil reserve in Alaska. Although President Harding staunchly protected American business interests, as a progressive, he signed America's first child welfare program designed to protect children's health and ensure that they would grow up without neglect from their parents. Harding was also the first president that pursued world security through arms reduction and regulation during the Washington peace conference. Harding, however, was unable to stop the many scandals, both personal and political, that would be revealed after his death; historically damaging his own reputation ever afterwards.

Memorials

A statue honoring Harding on a speech he delivered on relations between the United States and Canada in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

• Warren G. Harding High School, Warren, Ohio
• Warren G. Harding Middle School, Steubenville, Ohio
• Warren G. Harding High School; Bridgeport, Connecticut
• Warren G. Harding Middle School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Harding Middle School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• Harding Elementary School, Santa Barbara, California
• Warren G. Harding Elementary School, Hammond, Indiana.
• Harding Memorial, Marion, Ohio.
• Marion Harding High School, Marion, Ohio
• Harding County, New Mexico is named in his honor.
• Ohio Northern University's College of Law was once named after him but was later renamed.
• Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco is named after him.
• Peace Treaty Marker. Somerville, New Jersey. In 1921, at the estate of New Jersey Governor Joseph S. Frelinghuysen, Warren Harding signed the peace treaty which ended America's involvement in World War I. Today, the estate has been replaced with mini-malls. The marker remains in a patch of grass near a Burger King parking lot along Route 28, just North of the Somerville traffic circle.
• Harding Charter Preparatory High School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Harding Memorial, Seattle, Washington. In 1925 a memorial was erected in Seattle at Woodland Park to commemorate the site of Harding's next-to-last public address. In 1977 the memorial was demolished and buried under the Woodland Park Zoo's African Savanna exhibit. The memorial's only surviving elements—two life-sized bronze statues of Boy Scouts that once saluted the image of Harding—were relocated to the headquarters of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts.
• Montana Highway 2 over Pipestone Pass near Butte, Montana is named "The Harding Way" in his honor.

See also

• List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s - 10 March 1923
• List of United States Presidents who died in office
• List of Presidents of the United States
• U.S. Presidents on U.S. postage stamps

Further reading

• Adams, Samuel Hopkins (1939). Incredible Era: The Life and Times of Warren Gamaliel Harding. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Anthony, Carl S. Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President. (1998)
• Dean, John W. Warren G. Harding (The American Presidents Series). Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2004
• Downes Randolph C. The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1865–1920. Ohio University Press, 1970
• Ferrell, Robert H. The Strange Deaths of Warren G. Harding, Columbia:MO, University of Missouri Press, 1998
• Fine, Gary Alan. "Reputational Entrepreneurs and the Memory of Incompetence: Melting Supporters, Partisan Warriors, and Images of President Harding." American Journal of Sociology, 1996 101(5): 1159-1193. Issn: 0002-9602 Fulltext: in Jstor and Ebsco
• Grant, Philip A., Jr. "President Warren G. Harding and the British War Debt Question, 1921-1923." Presidential Studies Quarterly, 1995 25(3): 479-487. Issn: 0360-4918
• Hakim, Joy (1995). War, Peace, and All That Jazz. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 29–33. ISBN 0-19-509514-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• "An International Problem", Marion Daily Star, October 26, 1921.
• Kenneth J. Grieb; The Latin American Policy of Warren G. Harding 1976 online
• Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online, detailed analysis of foreign and economic policies
• Matuz, Roger (2004, 2009). Bill Harris (ed.). The Presidents Fact Book: The Achievements, Campaigns, Events, Triumphs, Tragedies, and Legacies of Every President from George Washington to Barack Obama. Black Dog and & Leventhal Publishers, Inc. pp. 458–463, 465–467. ISBN 978-1-57912-807-4. Retrieved 05-27-2010. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
• Morello, John A. Selling the President, 1920: Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding. Praeger, 2001.
• Murray Robert K. The Harding Era 1921-1923: Warren G. Harding and his Administration. University of Minnesota Press, 1969
• Payne, Phillip. "Instant History and the Legacy of Scandal: the Tangled Memory of Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, and William Jefferson Clinton", Prospects, 2003 28: 597-625. Issn: 0361-2333
• Pietrusza, David (2007). 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents. New York: Caroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0786716223.
• Russell, Francis (1968). The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding and His Times. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 39–40, 403–405. ISBN 0070543380.
• Sinclair, Andrew. The Available Man: The Life behind the Masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding 1965 online full-scale biography
• "Social Equality Impossible for Negro, Says President, Pleading for Fair Treatment", Atlanta-Journal Constitution, October 27, 1921.

Harding audio and film links

• "Return to Normalcy" Speech, May 14, 1920
• Campaign in Marion, Ohio
• Wearing cowboy hat
• Playing golf during Jazz Age

External links

• United States Congress. "Warren G. Harding (id: H000192)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Extensive essay on Warren G. Harding and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia
• American President: Warren Harding
• Warren Harding: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• Audio clips of Harding's speeches
• Inaugural Address
• The Harding home, Ohio History website
• First State of the Union Address of Warren Harding
• Second State of the Union Address of Warren Harding
• C-Span The American Presidents
• White House biography
• Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos
• Warren G. Harding Links
• 1920 Presidential Election Links
• Works by Warren G. Harding at Project Gutenberg
• A political cartoon about Harding from Married to the Sea
• The Forgotten Economic Depression of 1920[1] from The Market Oracle