Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was born on November 2, 1865, in Corsica (now Blooming Grove), Ohio, the eldest of eight children of George Tryon Harding and Phoebe Dickerson Harding. Both parents were doctors; his mother was granted a medical license on the strength of her experience as a midwife and in assisting her husband. When Harding was ten the family moved to Caledonia, Ohio, where he grew up.⁠[1][2][3]

Harding attended a one-room schoolhouse and entered Ohio Central College at fourteen, earning a B.S. in 1882.⁠[3][4]

In 1884, at nineteen, Harding and two friends raised $300 to buy the nearly defunct Marion Star in Marion, Ohio; he owned the paper for nearly forty years.⁠[3][2][1]

Harding was a trustee of Trinity Baptist Church in Marion and a director of many businesses, and he led fraternal and charitable groups; he also organized the Citizen’s Cornet Band, which played at both Republican and Democratic rallies.⁠[5]

On July 8, 1891, Harding married Florence Kling DeWolfe at the house on Mount Vernon Avenue in Marion. Born Florence Mabel Kling in Marion on August 15, 1860, the daughter of Amos Hall Kling, she had eloped with Henry Atherton DeWolfe in January 1880, given birth to a son, Marshall Eugene DeWolfe, on September 22 that year, and divorced in 1886.⁠[2][6][4]

After the marriage Florence Harding ran the Marion Star’s books and reorganized its home delivery to make it more efficient and profitable; in her words, she “stopped by the Star office one afternoon and stayed fourteen years.” With her help the paper became a financially successful daily.⁠[6][1]

In 1899 Harding won the first of two terms in the Ohio Senate, where he served as majority leader; BritannicaEncyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopedia first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768; the name also refers to its publisher, Chicago-based Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (which presents itself as The Britannica Group). The print edition ended in 2012, and the company’s main businesses since then have been the online encyclopedia Britannica.com, digital education products for schools and libraries, and Merriam-Webster dictionaries.Open the full entry gives his years as state senator as 1899–1902. He was lieutenant governor of Ohio in 1903–04. In 1910 he lost a race for governor of Ohio.⁠[3][1][2]

In 1912 Harding delivered the speech nominating William Howard TaftWilliam Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft (1857–1930) was an American lawyer, judge and politician who served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and as the 10th chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930, the only person to have held both offices.Open the full entry at the Republican National Convention. In 1914 he won the Ohio Republican primary for the U.S. Senate and defeated Attorney General Timothy Hogan in the general election, taking his seat in 1915 and serving until 1921. In 1916 he was keynote speaker and chairman of the Republican National Convention.⁠[5][3][2][1]

The Miller Center’s essay notes that as a senator Harding missed more sessions than he attended.⁠[7]

The Republican National Convention opened in Chicago on June 8, 1920. With the leading candidates deadlocked, party leaders turned to Harding as a compromise candidate, reportedly in a “smoke-filled room” at Chicago’s Blackstone Hotel. On June 12 Harding won the presidential nomination on the 10th ballot, with Governor Calvin CoolidgeCalvin CoolidgeCalvin Coolidge (1872–1933) was an American lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts and, from 1921, as vice president of the United States; he succeeded Warren G. Harding as the 30th president in August 1923, was elected to a full term in 1924 and served until 1929.Open the full entry of Massachusetts as his running mate.⁠[8][1][9]

In speeches before his nomination Harding called for “not heroics, but healing” and for “normalcy.” On July 22 he formally accepted the nomination, setting out sixteen beliefs, including support for guaranteed rights for Black citizens. For roughly three months he campaigned mainly from the front porch of his Marion home, the fourth Ohio presidential candidate to run a front-porch campaign after Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison (1833–1901) was an American lawyer, soldier, and Republican politician who represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate and served as the 23rd President of the United States from 1889 to 1893.Open the full entry, James A. GarfieldJames A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield (1831–1881) was an American educator, soldier and politician who rose to major general in the Civil War, served for many years in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the 20th president of the United States in 1881, dying in office after being shot.Open the full entry and William McKinleyWilliam McKinleyWilliam McKinley (1843–1901) was an American Republican politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and as Governor of Ohio before becoming the 25th President of the United States (1897–1901), leading the country through the Spanish-American War; he was assassinated in 1901.Open the full entry; about 600,000 people came to Marion that summer to hear him.⁠[5][8][2]

On November 2, 1920, Harding and Coolidge defeated the Democratic ticket of Ohio Governor James M. Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt, winning 404 electoral votes (76.1%) to 127. In the popular vote Harding received 16,151,916 (60.3%) to Cox’s 9,134,074 (34.1%), the largest popular-vote margin to that time.⁠[10][11][9][1]

Before the election thirty-one distinguished Republicans signed a manifesto saying that a vote for Harding was a vote for the League of Nations; Harding instead read his victory as a mandate to stay out of the League.⁠[5]

On March 2, 1921, the Hardings said goodbye to their fellow citizens from the porch of their Marion home before leaving for Washington. On March 4 Harding succeeded Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson (1856–1924) was an American scholar and politician who served as president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey and was the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921, leading the country through World War I and proposing the League of Nations.Open the full entry as president and delivered his inaugural address.⁠[2][8][7]

Harding’s cabinet included Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, Commerce Secretary Herbert HooverHerbert HooverHerbert Hoover (1874–1964) was an American mining engineer, humanitarian and politician who led food relief for Europe during and after World War I, served as U.S. secretary of commerce from 1921 to 1928 and was the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933, a term dominated by the Great Depression.Open the full entry, Attorney General Harry Daugherty and Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall; Charles G. Dawes became the first budget director. Britannica judges Hughes and Hoover strong appointments and Daugherty and Fall unscrupulous ones.⁠[1][7]

On May 19, 1921, Harding signed the Emergency Quota Act, limiting immigration from each country to 3 percent of the number of people born there who were counted in the 1910 census. On May 20 he welcomed the Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prize is an international award established under the will of Alfred Nobel, comprising five prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace, awarded since 1901; its funds are managed by the Nobel Foundation, whose Board is based in Stockholm. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, established in 1968, is not a Nobel Prize.Open the full entry winner Marie Curie to the White House and presented her with a gram of radium from the American people. On May 27 he signed the Emergency Tariff Act to protect American farmers.⁠[8]

On May 31, 1921, after a 19-year-old Black man was arrested in Tulsa, OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma is a U.S. state whose capital is Oklahoma City. It was admitted to the Union on November 16, 1907, as the 46th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 3,959,353.Open the full entry, white rioters attacked the Black community of Greenwood, killing dozens. On June 3 NAACP Secretary James Weldon Johnson telegraphed Harding asking for a statement on the violence, and the attorney general ordered an investigation; on June 6, speaking at Lincoln University, Harding called the Tulsa riots an unhappy and distressing spectacle.⁠[8]

On October 26, 1921, in Birmingham, AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a U.S. state in the Southeast on the Gulf of Mexico, with its capital at Montgomery. It was admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819, as the 22nd state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 5,024,279 residents.Open the full entry, Harding gave an address on race calling for political equality and equal educational opportunity while opposing racial amalgamation.⁠[8]

On June 10, 1921, Harding signed the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which created the executive budget, a Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office, whose comptroller general serves a 15-year term. On June 30 he nominated former President William Howard Taft as chief justice, and the Senate confirmed him the same day.⁠[8]

On April 20, 1921, the Senate ratified the Thompson-Urrutia Treaty with Colombia, signed on April 6, 1914, omitting its expression of regret relating to Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) was an American Republican politician, writer, naturalist, and soldier who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 and received the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War.Open the full entry. On July 2 Harding signed the Knox-Porter Resolution, formally ending the state of war with Germany and Austria-Hungary; on August 25 the United States and Germany signed a treaty restoring friendly relations, which the Senate ratified on October 18.⁠[8]

On August 30, 1921, during the Battle of Blair Mountain in West VirginiaWest VirginiaWest Virginia is a U.S. state formed from the western counties of Virginia during the Civil War; its capital and largest city is Charleston. It became the 35th state on June 20, 1863. Its population was 1,793,716 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, Harding issued a proclamation ordering armed coal miners and operators to disperse by noon on September 1; figures cited put at least 6,000 miners against 3,000 company detectives. On September 2, at the request of the governor of West Virginia, federal troops were ordered in, and they had largely ended the conflict by September 3.⁠[8]

On September 30, 1921, Harding signed a proclamation establishing Armistice Day, later Veterans Day, and on November 11 he spoke at the burial of an unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.⁠[8]

On November 2, 1921, Harding signed the Snyder Act, funding Indian health care and authorizing Indian judges in the Courts of Indian Offenses; on November 23 he signed the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act, which provided matching federal funds for prenatal and child health centers.⁠[8][12]

On August 11, 1921, Harding invited Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan to a Conference on the Limitation of Armaments, later called the Washington Conference; led by Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, it opened on November 12. On February 6, 1922, Harding addressed its closing session, and that day the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan signed the Washington Naval Treaty (Five-Power Treaty) limiting naval armaments; on February 10 he presented the conference treaties to the Senate.⁠[8][1]

Britannica regards the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference, at which the major powers agreed to halt the arms race in large naval vessels, as the administration’s most important achievement.⁠[1]

On January 24, 1922, Harding signed Executive Order 3623 authorizing up to $4 million for relief of famine-stricken Russia; on February 18 he signed the Capper-Volstead Act, giving farm cooperatives a limited antitrust exemption. On May 30 he delivered the address at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, broadcast by radio to a large crowd.⁠[8]

On May 31, 1921, Harding signed Executive Order 3474 transferring jurisdiction over the naval oil reserves to the Interior Department. On April 7, 1922, Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall secretly leased the Teapot Dome oil reserve, without competitive bidding, to Harry F. Sinclair’s Mammoth Oil Company; The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is a U.S. news publication founded in 1889, with a focus on business, finance and economics. It is published by Dow Jones, part of News Corp.Open the full entry broke the story on April 14. On April 29 the Senate adopted La Follette’s resolution for an investigation of the Elk Hills lease, 58–0 with 38 not voting, and Senator Thomas Walsh led the inquiry.⁠[8]

On February 9, 1923, a supplemental contract, also without competitive bidding, engaged Mammoth Oil to build and fill Navy fuel-oil storage tanks on the Atlantic coast in exchange for Navy royalty oil. Fall resigned as secretary of the interior on March 4, 1923, and was later convicted of taking a $100,000 bribe. The scandal unfolded over the following two years.⁠[8][12]

On September 19, 1922, Harding vetoed the Soldiers’ Bonus Bill; the House overrode the veto the next day, but the Senate sustained it. On September 21 he signed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, which raised tariffs and expanded executive power, and on September 22 the Cable Act, which let American women keep their citizenship after marrying non-citizens, except those who married aliens ineligible for citizenship.⁠[8]

In the midterm elections of November 7, 1922, Republicans lost 6 Senate seats and 77 House seats but kept majorities of 55% and 52% respectively.⁠[8]

On January 10, 1923, Harding ordered Major General Henry Allen to begin bringing U.S. troops home from the Rhineland in Germany. On February 2 he sent a special message urging the Senate to approve U.S. adherence to the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague. On June 18 he wrote to Judge E. H. Gary in support of abolishing the 12-hour day in the steel industry.⁠[8]

Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans Bureau, illegally sold government medical supplies to private contractors; he resigned ahead of a Senate investigation and left the country, and was later indicted and convicted of fraud, conspiracy and bribery. A group of Harding’s appointees became known as “the Ohio gang”; many were later charged with defrauding the government and some went to jail, though the Miller Center’s essay notes that Harding himself was not linked to any crooked deals.⁠[1][12][7]

On June 20, 1923, Harding began a transcontinental tour, the “Voyage of Understanding,” speaking in St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City and other cities; Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover travelled with him. On July 5 he left Tacoma, Washington, for AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest U.S. state by area and borders Canada to the east; its capital is Juneau and its largest city is Anchorage. Alaska was admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959, as the 49th state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 733,391.Open the full entry aboard a naval ship, on July 8 became the first sitting president to visit Alaska, and on July 16 drove a gold spike marking the completion of the Seward-to-Fairbanks railroad.⁠[8][5]

During the trip Harding asked Hoover whether he would expose or bury a major scandal; Hoover urged exposure, but Harding feared the political fallout.⁠[5]

On July 28, 1923, while travelling south by rail, Harding fell ill with what was described as ptomaine poisoning; later symptoms suggested pneumonia and an enlarged heart. He died in the early evening of August 2, at the age of 57, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. His death was then assumed to be from a stroke; Harding Presidential Sites states that modern doctors have concluded it was a massive heart attack. Florence Harding declined an autopsy.⁠[8][12][2][1]

Vice President Calvin Coolidge succeeded to the presidency, taking the oath at 2:30 a.m. at his father’s home in Plymouth, VermontVermontVermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States; its capital is Montpelier and its largest city is Burlington. It joined the Union on March 4, 1791, as the 14th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 643,077.Open the full entry.⁠[12][8]

After the funeral in August 1923, Harding’s remains were placed in a receiving vault in Marion Cemetery; Florence Harding, who died on November 21, 1924, was placed beside him. The Harding Memorial Association began its fundraising campaign on October 11, 1923, and more than a million contributors from the United States, the Philippines and several European countries gave a total of $977,821, including about 200,000 schoolchildren who collected pennies.⁠[13][6]

Built of white Georgia marble from the Georgia Marble Company of Tate, Georgia, at a cost of $783,103, the memorial has 46 Doric columns around its court; 48, one for each state at the time, had been planned, but funds fell short. The Hardings were interred in the memorial in December 1927, and President Herbert Hoover dedicated it with an address on June 16, 1931.⁠[13][14]

Harding and Florence Kling DeWolfe (1860–1924) had no children together; Marshall Eugene DeWolfe was his stepson. Harding was a Baptist.⁠[4][6]

As first lady Florence Harding urged that the White House grounds be opened to the public, supported and visited disabled World War I veterans in Washington hospitals, invited women journalists, scientists, athletes and singers to the White House, served as honorary national chairwoman of the Girl Scouts and advocated animal protection. Harding Presidential Sites says historians have often called her “The Model for the Modern First Lady.”⁠[6]

The Harding Memorial Association owned and supervised the Harding Memorial from 1926 to 1979, when ownership passed to the State of Ohio. The Ohio History Connection manages the memorial, the Harding Home in Marion and the Warren G. Harding Presidential Library and Museum.⁠[13]

In his 1931 dedication address Herbert Hoover praised Harding for helping to heal postwar divisions and restore peace and employment, and called the Washington Arms Conference a first step toward world disarmament. The White House presidential biography says Harding embraced technology and was sensitive to the plights of minorities and women, while noting that his term was marked by scandal, including Teapot Dome; the Democrat William Gibbs McAdoo mocked Harding’s speeches as “an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea.”⁠[14][5]

Harding Presidential Sites: Official website: https://hardingpresidentialsites.org/president-harding/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]