Presidents Behaving Badly: Warren Harding and Nan Britton
For a while now I've been thinking of doing a series on "Presidents Behaving Badly". I don't usually like to go negative, but there are too many interesting stories buried in some of the presidential closets, and some of them might even be true, although the apocryphal ones are usually more interesting. I want to begin this series with Warren Harding. It's difficult to think of a time when Harding wasn't behaving badly, though in fairness, I've said a lot of nice things about Harding in this community, particularly about his courage in going to the heart of the south to speak out in favor of the rights of African-Americans.
Harding is probably best known for scandals, especially the ones that happened on his watch in which corrupt underlings pilfered from the public purse. The Teapot Dome scandal is the most famous. But Harding also had a propensity for scandal when it came to his marriage vows. On July 8, 1891, Warren Harding, who was then the editor and owner of the Marion (Ohio) Star newspaper, married divorcee Florence Kling, the daughter of his competitor Amos Kling. Florence was five years older than Harding and he called her "the Duchess" based on a character in a serial that ran in The New York Sun. The Duchess was a character who kept a close eye on the Duke and their money, running anything that required efficiency.
Harding was candid about the fact that he had trouble keeping faithful to his wife. He once told a party of reporters at the National Press Club:"It's a good thing I am not a woman. I would always be pregnant. I can't say no."
Harding didn't just go offside with one woman. As his Attorney-General Harry Daugherty put it, "no president had more women scrapes" than Daugherty's boss. Harding reportedly had affairs with Susie Hodder (his wife's best friend from childhood – allegedly resulting in the birth of a daughter), with his wife's closest adult friend, Carrie Fulton Phillips (the affair lasted for 15 years and produced some salacious letters); and with his Senate aide, Grace Cross. Perhaps the most infamous was with a young woman named Nan Britton.
Nan Britton was born in 1896 in Marion, Ohio, where Harding ran the local newspaper. Nan developed an obsession with Harding, who was a friend of her father. As a young girl, she posted pictures of Harding on her bedroom walls, cut out of local papers and magazines. As a teenager, she would hang around his Marion Daily Star building in Marion, Ohio, hoping to see him on his walk home from work. Nan's father, Dr. Britton, spoke to Harding about his daughter's adulation for him, and Harding met with her. Harding told her father that he had explained to Nan that some day she would find "the man of her dreams." At the time, Harding was involved in his affair with Carrie Phillips, wife of James Phillips, co-owner of a local department store.
When Nan graduated from high school in 1914, she moved to New York City, to begin a career as a secretary. It was at that time that she claimed she also began an intimate relationship with Harding. Harding was 31 years older than her. In his wonderful book 1920: The Year of Six Presidents (reviewed here), author David Pietrusza gives this amusing account of one of the encounters that then-Senator Harding had in 1917 with Ms. Britton in which their amorous encounter was interrupted by two hotel detectives (told at page 79 of the book):
It was not the most romantic of experiences. Shortly after, the phone rang. "You've got the wrong number" Harding barked into the receiver. There was a hard knock at the door. Two men stormed in demanding Nan's name. "Tell them the truth' Harding balefully advised. "They've got us."
He sat on the bed, pleading with the intruders. "I'll answer for both, won't I? Let this poor little girl go." They curtly informed him he should have considered her safety before registering for a room. They asked her age. Harding lied "she's twenty-two" he said. Nan interrupted to say she was really twenty, another lie.
Every time Harding raised an objection, the men snapped "tell that to the judge." They were about to call the police, when one of them picked up the Senator's hat. Inside, he read the gold inscription "W. G. Harding." Nan thought the two men became instantly calm, even respectful.
The embarrassed couple finished dressing and was escorted to a side entrance. Harding slipped one man twenty dollars. Safely inside a taxi, he turned to his paramour confiding "Gee Nan, I never thought I would get out of that for under a thousand dollars."
Following Harding's death, Britton wrote a book about her affair with Harding entitled The President's Daughter, published in 1928, in which she claimed she had been Harding's mistress throughout his presidency, and that Harding was the father of her daughter, Elizabeth Ann (1919–2005). In one passage in the book, Britton writes about their making love in a coat closet in the executive office of the White House.
According to Britton, Harding had promised to support their daughter, but after his sudden death in 1923, first lady Florence Harding refused to honor the obligation. Britton claimed that she wrote the book to earn money to the support her daughter and to champion the rights of illegitimate children. She was the plaintiff in a lawsuit in which she alleged that Harding was the father of her child, but she was unable to provide any concrete evidence to support her allegation and her credibility was called into question by vicious personal attacks made by Congressman Grant Mouser during her cross-examination.
In 1964, the discovery of more than 250 love letters between Harding and Carrie Phillips of Marion Ohio gave further support to Britton's claims. At that time Britton was living in Chicago, but she refused to grant an interview. In the 1980s, Britton and her extended family moved to Oregon, where her three grandchildren currently live. Nan Britton died in 1991 in Sandy, Oregon, where she had lived during the last years of her life. She insisted until her death that Harding was her daughter's father.
Last summer, Jim Blaesing, Nan Britton's grandson, decided to have his DNA tested to determine if he had any of Harding's DNA. The tests did indeed confirm that Nan Britton’s daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, was in fact Harding’s biological child.
For many years after Harding's death, Nan Britton was vilified and denounced as a someone who was lying to get money and accused of waging a campaign of falsehoods against the Harding’s. It's unfortunate that her vindication came 24 years after her death.
Harding is probably best known for scandals, especially the ones that happened on his watch in which corrupt underlings pilfered from the public purse. The Teapot Dome scandal is the most famous. But Harding also had a propensity for scandal when it came to his marriage vows. On July 8, 1891, Warren Harding, who was then the editor and owner of the Marion (Ohio) Star newspaper, married divorcee Florence Kling, the daughter of his competitor Amos Kling. Florence was five years older than Harding and he called her "the Duchess" based on a character in a serial that ran in The New York Sun. The Duchess was a character who kept a close eye on the Duke and their money, running anything that required efficiency.
Harding was candid about the fact that he had trouble keeping faithful to his wife. He once told a party of reporters at the National Press Club:"It's a good thing I am not a woman. I would always be pregnant. I can't say no."
Harding didn't just go offside with one woman. As his Attorney-General Harry Daugherty put it, "no president had more women scrapes" than Daugherty's boss. Harding reportedly had affairs with Susie Hodder (his wife's best friend from childhood – allegedly resulting in the birth of a daughter), with his wife's closest adult friend, Carrie Fulton Phillips (the affair lasted for 15 years and produced some salacious letters); and with his Senate aide, Grace Cross. Perhaps the most infamous was with a young woman named Nan Britton.
Nan Britton was born in 1896 in Marion, Ohio, where Harding ran the local newspaper. Nan developed an obsession with Harding, who was a friend of her father. As a young girl, she posted pictures of Harding on her bedroom walls, cut out of local papers and magazines. As a teenager, she would hang around his Marion Daily Star building in Marion, Ohio, hoping to see him on his walk home from work. Nan's father, Dr. Britton, spoke to Harding about his daughter's adulation for him, and Harding met with her. Harding told her father that he had explained to Nan that some day she would find "the man of her dreams." At the time, Harding was involved in his affair with Carrie Phillips, wife of James Phillips, co-owner of a local department store.
When Nan graduated from high school in 1914, she moved to New York City, to begin a career as a secretary. It was at that time that she claimed she also began an intimate relationship with Harding. Harding was 31 years older than her. In his wonderful book 1920: The Year of Six Presidents (reviewed here), author David Pietrusza gives this amusing account of one of the encounters that then-Senator Harding had in 1917 with Ms. Britton in which their amorous encounter was interrupted by two hotel detectives (told at page 79 of the book):
It was not the most romantic of experiences. Shortly after, the phone rang. "You've got the wrong number" Harding barked into the receiver. There was a hard knock at the door. Two men stormed in demanding Nan's name. "Tell them the truth' Harding balefully advised. "They've got us."
He sat on the bed, pleading with the intruders. "I'll answer for both, won't I? Let this poor little girl go." They curtly informed him he should have considered her safety before registering for a room. They asked her age. Harding lied "she's twenty-two" he said. Nan interrupted to say she was really twenty, another lie.
Every time Harding raised an objection, the men snapped "tell that to the judge." They were about to call the police, when one of them picked up the Senator's hat. Inside, he read the gold inscription "W. G. Harding." Nan thought the two men became instantly calm, even respectful.
The embarrassed couple finished dressing and was escorted to a side entrance. Harding slipped one man twenty dollars. Safely inside a taxi, he turned to his paramour confiding "Gee Nan, I never thought I would get out of that for under a thousand dollars."
Following Harding's death, Britton wrote a book about her affair with Harding entitled The President's Daughter, published in 1928, in which she claimed she had been Harding's mistress throughout his presidency, and that Harding was the father of her daughter, Elizabeth Ann (1919–2005). In one passage in the book, Britton writes about their making love in a coat closet in the executive office of the White House.
According to Britton, Harding had promised to support their daughter, but after his sudden death in 1923, first lady Florence Harding refused to honor the obligation. Britton claimed that she wrote the book to earn money to the support her daughter and to champion the rights of illegitimate children. She was the plaintiff in a lawsuit in which she alleged that Harding was the father of her child, but she was unable to provide any concrete evidence to support her allegation and her credibility was called into question by vicious personal attacks made by Congressman Grant Mouser during her cross-examination.
In 1964, the discovery of more than 250 love letters between Harding and Carrie Phillips of Marion Ohio gave further support to Britton's claims. At that time Britton was living in Chicago, but she refused to grant an interview. In the 1980s, Britton and her extended family moved to Oregon, where her three grandchildren currently live. Nan Britton died in 1991 in Sandy, Oregon, where she had lived during the last years of her life. She insisted until her death that Harding was her daughter's father.
Last summer, Jim Blaesing, Nan Britton's grandson, decided to have his DNA tested to determine if he had any of Harding's DNA. The tests did indeed confirm that Nan Britton’s daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, was in fact Harding’s biological child.
For many years after Harding's death, Nan Britton was vilified and denounced as a someone who was lying to get money and accused of waging a campaign of falsehoods against the Harding’s. It's unfortunate that her vindication came 24 years after her death.