Happy Birthday Warren Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was born on November 2, 1865 (147 years ago today) in Blooming Grove, Ohio. He was the eldest of eight children born to Dr. George Tryon Harding, Sr. and Phoebe Elizabeth (Dickerson) Harding, a devout Methodist, who was a midwife and who later obtained her medical license. He graduated from Ohio Central College in 1882 with a Bachelor of Science degree at the age of 17. As a young man Harding had become an accomplished cornet player and played in various bands. In 1884, Harding gained popular recognition in Marion, Ohio when his Citizens' Cornet Band won third place at the highly competitive Ohio State Band Festival.
Harding went on to have a career in the newspaper business. In 1893, his newspaper the Marion Star, replaced the Independent as the official paper for Marion's governmental notices, after Harding exposed the rival paper for overcharging the city. In 1896, the Independent ceased doing business and its owner was his father-in-law, Amos Kling wasted no time in financing and launching another rival paper, the Republican Transcript. In 1900, a political opponent, J.F. McNeal, with the help of Kling, secretly bought up $20,000 in loans owed by Harding, and immediately called them due in full. Harding just barely succeeded in securing the funds to pay off the debt.
Harding gave the nomination speech for William Howard Taft at the 1912 GOP Convention. He served in the Ohio Senate, as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator from 1915–1921, becoming the first Senator from Ohio to be elected by popular vote.
In 1920 the GOP convention in Chicago became deadlocked, and a bunch of party bosses met in a "smoke-filled room" (room 404 at the Blackstone Hotel) and brokered a deal for Harding's nomination. They asked Harding if he had any skeletons in his closet and he said "no", omitting to mention that he had been having a long-standing affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips, the wife of a friend of his. The election was one of the first to receive massive media coverage. Harding trounced his opponent James Cox, winning 404 electoral college votes to his opponent's 127.
He didn't seem like such a bad president at first. He was quite popular and his policy of lowering interest rates led the nation out of "the depression of 1920". Harding made some very courageous speeches in the heart of the deep south criticizing racial discrimination. He freed Socialist Party leader Eugene Debs, who had been imprisoned during World War 1 for his political views. But his downfall was a series of scandals that occurred on his watch. These include:
*The Teapot Dome: his Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was convicted of accepting bribes from oilmen in exchange for allowing them to drill on public lands.
*Thomas Miller, Harding's "Director of Alien Property" was also convicted of accepting bribes.
*His Attorney-General Harry Daugherty was charged with accepting bribes from bootleggers.
*His personal aide Jess Smith was accused of selling liquor licenses and paroles and of fixing fines. Harding busted Smith's chops for it and Smith burnt his papers before committing suicide. Smith was later used as a scapegoat at the trial of some of the others.
*Charles R. Forbes, Director of the Veterans Bureau, accepted large kickbacks, and directed underground alcohol and drug distribution. Harding, when informed of the scandal, called Forbes to the White House, grabbed him by the throat and shouted "You double-crossing bastard". Forbes eventually was convicted of fraud and bribery.
In 1923 Harding and his wife went on a train trip to Alaska and the pacific northwest. While travelling through British Columbia, he developed a case of what was thought to be food poisoning. Harding became too ill to finish some of his speaking engagements. Harding died suddenly in the middle of conversation with his wife in the presidential suite of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco at 7:35 p.m. on August 2, 1923.
Conspiracy theorists like disreputable private eye Gaston Means have speculated that Harding was murdered by his wife. Mrs. Harding refused permission for an autopsy. Means wrote a book called The Strange Death of President Harding in 1930 which claimed that Harding had been poisoned. Means' accusation was later discredited.
Author Malcolm Gladwell, in his book "Blink", suggests that Harding's electoral success was based on his appearance. Gladwell writes that Harding "looked like a president" and that peoples' first impression of Harding tended to be so favorable that it gave them a fixed and very high opinion of Harding. Gladwell even refers to the flawed process by which people make decisions as 'Warren Harding Error'. I'll leave it up to you to decide if this is a fair criticism, or if Harding was a good president who surrounded himself with bad people.
Harding went on to have a career in the newspaper business. In 1893, his newspaper the Marion Star, replaced the Independent as the official paper for Marion's governmental notices, after Harding exposed the rival paper for overcharging the city. In 1896, the Independent ceased doing business and its owner was his father-in-law, Amos Kling wasted no time in financing and launching another rival paper, the Republican Transcript. In 1900, a political opponent, J.F. McNeal, with the help of Kling, secretly bought up $20,000 in loans owed by Harding, and immediately called them due in full. Harding just barely succeeded in securing the funds to pay off the debt.
Harding gave the nomination speech for William Howard Taft at the 1912 GOP Convention. He served in the Ohio Senate, as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator from 1915–1921, becoming the first Senator from Ohio to be elected by popular vote.
In 1920 the GOP convention in Chicago became deadlocked, and a bunch of party bosses met in a "smoke-filled room" (room 404 at the Blackstone Hotel) and brokered a deal for Harding's nomination. They asked Harding if he had any skeletons in his closet and he said "no", omitting to mention that he had been having a long-standing affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips, the wife of a friend of his. The election was one of the first to receive massive media coverage. Harding trounced his opponent James Cox, winning 404 electoral college votes to his opponent's 127.
He didn't seem like such a bad president at first. He was quite popular and his policy of lowering interest rates led the nation out of "the depression of 1920". Harding made some very courageous speeches in the heart of the deep south criticizing racial discrimination. He freed Socialist Party leader Eugene Debs, who had been imprisoned during World War 1 for his political views. But his downfall was a series of scandals that occurred on his watch. These include:
*The Teapot Dome: his Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was convicted of accepting bribes from oilmen in exchange for allowing them to drill on public lands.
*Thomas Miller, Harding's "Director of Alien Property" was also convicted of accepting bribes.
*His Attorney-General Harry Daugherty was charged with accepting bribes from bootleggers.
*His personal aide Jess Smith was accused of selling liquor licenses and paroles and of fixing fines. Harding busted Smith's chops for it and Smith burnt his papers before committing suicide. Smith was later used as a scapegoat at the trial of some of the others.
*Charles R. Forbes, Director of the Veterans Bureau, accepted large kickbacks, and directed underground alcohol and drug distribution. Harding, when informed of the scandal, called Forbes to the White House, grabbed him by the throat and shouted "You double-crossing bastard". Forbes eventually was convicted of fraud and bribery.
In 1923 Harding and his wife went on a train trip to Alaska and the pacific northwest. While travelling through British Columbia, he developed a case of what was thought to be food poisoning. Harding became too ill to finish some of his speaking engagements. Harding died suddenly in the middle of conversation with his wife in the presidential suite of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco at 7:35 p.m. on August 2, 1923.
Conspiracy theorists like disreputable private eye Gaston Means have speculated that Harding was murdered by his wife. Mrs. Harding refused permission for an autopsy. Means wrote a book called The Strange Death of President Harding in 1930 which claimed that Harding had been poisoned. Means' accusation was later discredited.
Author Malcolm Gladwell, in his book "Blink", suggests that Harding's electoral success was based on his appearance. Gladwell writes that Harding "looked like a president" and that peoples' first impression of Harding tended to be so favorable that it gave them a fixed and very high opinion of Harding. Gladwell even refers to the flawed process by which people make decisions as 'Warren Harding Error'. I'll leave it up to you to decide if this is a fair criticism, or if Harding was a good president who surrounded himself with bad people.