Warren G. Harding, Worst President Ever?

The first thing that caught my eye when I picked the book off the shelf at the library is the name of the author, John W. Dean. Yes, it's the same John Dean who was deeply involved in the Watergate coverup, pled guilty and was a key witness for the government. Dean grew up in Marion, Ohio, the same town as Harding.

Dean starts the book out with "Warren G. Harding is best known as America's worst President." It's interesting way to start a book. I wanted to read the book before determining if I agreed with this statement.

In 1865 Harding was born in Blooming Grover, Ohio. His family later moved to Marion. With the assistance of his wealthy father who was a doctor, Harding bought a newspaper. After purchasing the Marion Star. Harding became active in politics.

1884 Traveled to the Republican Convention in Chicago

• Harding was wowed by the nomination of James Blaine
• More to come on Blaine in the Garfield blog
• Blaine lost election to Grover Cleveland
• Attending the convention inspired Harding to return to Marion and use his newspaper to advance Republican causes

1891 Married Florence Kling DeWole

• Harding previously had feuds via his newspaper with Florence's father Amos Kling over business dealings in town
• Florence previously had child at 19 that Amos did not approve of
• Florence and Warren had a very strained relationship for years with Amos

Political rise started in Ohio

• 1900-4 Member of Ohio State Senate
• 1904-05 Lt. Governor of Ohio
• 1910 Unsuccessful bid for Ohio Governor

 In 1905 Harding started a 15 year affair with Carrie Phillips

• Carrie's husband and Harding were very good friends
• Seems to be a common theme for Presidents
• His wife was aware of the affair

1912 GOP Republican Convention

• Harding gave the nomination speech for William Howard Taft
• This was Harding's introduction on the national political stage

1914 Elected to US Senate

• The year before, the 17th amendment was adopted where general elections elected US Senators
• Previously, state legislators elected the Senators
• Ohio adopted the general election format and the incumbent did not want to run 
• Harding won both the Republican primary and the general election

1916 Republican convention

• Even though Harding had low seniority in the Senate, he was given the coveted spot of the key note speech at the convention
• The Republican party was greatly divided
• Harding is crated with bringing the party back together
• Republican nominee Hughes lost to Democratic incumbent Wilson

1920: Harding and Calvin Coolidge defeated the Democratic ticket of James Cox and FDR. Harding became the 7th President from Ohio

• Ulysses S. Grant
• Rutherford b. Hayes
• James A. Garfield
• Benjamin Harrison
• William McKinley
• William Howard Taft

and first President to go directly from the Senate.

Presidency

• Created Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
• Created the GAO- Government Accountability Office along with a Budget director
• Actively involved in ending the coal miners and railroad strikes which had crippled the country economically
• Future President Herbert Hoover served as Secretary of Commerce
• Andrew Mellon served as Secretary of Treasury and helped passed the bonus bill for World War I veterans
• Favorable legislation for farmers was passed as the farm community greatly struggled at the beginning of the 1920s
• Held a conference on agriculture and employment
• Passed immigration law limiting the number of immigrants from each country (quotas)
• Held disarmament conference with Great Britain and Japan to limit the production of warships
• Appointed four Supreme Court Justices including former President Taft

1923 Harding died while in San Francisco. It was after his death that the VA and Teapot dome scandals became public.

• Teapot Dome
• This involved the federal Government awarding oil drilling leases in Wyoming
• Interior Secretary Albert Fall was convicted in 1931 and became the first Cabinet member convicted for a crime while in office
• VA
• Corruption by VA Director Charles Forbes in the construction of hospitals

While the investigations dragged on for close to ten years, Harding was never implicated in any of the scandals. Also contributing to Harding's negative perception was the flood of books critical of him including a book by Nan Britton. Britton alleges that Harding fathered a child with her while Harding was married to Florence. This was never proved to be true.

It was wildly believe that after Harding's death, Florence destroyed all of Harding's personal writings. Harding's personal secretary George Christian had ignored Florence's instructions to destroy the papers and saved them. It wasn't until many years later the papers were discovered and historians had a chance to review.

Harding is ranked 40 out of 43 former Presidents in a CSPAN Poll. While he may not be the worst President, Harding is definitely near the bottom of the list.

18 down (9,175pages), 26 to go. Next up another President from the Buckeye state, James A. Garfield.