Life.Liberty
Warren G. Harding
1923 Oil on canvas, by Margaret Lindsay Williams. 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 (nonetheless the nation’s unemployment rate dropped by half during Harding’s administration[1]); 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 administration scandals. The most recent Presidential rankings have had various lower results for President Harding. A 2008 study for The Times placed Harding at number 34[2] and a 2009 C-SPAN survey ranked Harding at 38.[3] In 2010, a Siena College poll of Presidential scholars placed Harding at 41.
Warren G. Harding
1923 Oil on canvas, by Margaret Lindsay Williams. 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 (nonetheless the nation’s unemployment rate dropped by half during Harding’s administration[1]); 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 administration scandals. The most recent Presidential rankings have had various lower results for President Harding. A 2008 study for The Times placed Harding at number 34[2] and a 2009 C-SPAN survey ranked Harding at 38.[3] In 2010, a Siena College poll of Presidential scholars placed Harding at 41.