Warren G. Harding was the 29th President of the United States. His Presidency was pretty nondescript and short due to him dying of a heart attack two years into his term. Harding’s Presidency is more known for the scandals, affairs and tomfoolery that went on during his term.
During Harding’s Presidential Campaign, The New York World, called Harding the least qualified candidate since James Buchanan, it deemed him a “weak and mediocre” man who “never had an original idea.” The New York Times described Harding as ” a very respectable Ohio politician of the second class.” And we think the modern day press is too harsh!
Harding played to his strengths and conducted a front porch campaign strategy. This strategy is when the candidate stays at home and allows the press and other visitors to visit him at home. The strategy allowed Harding to avoid making mistakes because he was literally talking to people on his front porch, while his opponents were stumping around the country. George W. Bush Jr. used a similar strategy from the White House during his second Presidential election. Joe Biden also used a forced similar approach in 2020.
During the campaign, the opposition spread rumors that Harding’s great-great-grandfather was a West Indian Black person and that they might find other Blacks in his family tree (neither rumor was true). Apparently, being accused of having Black heritage was the 1920s version of being accused of being a Muslim, Gay or non-American Citizen today. Even with the dirty whisper campaign, Harding won the 1920 Presidential election with 60.2 percent of the popular vote and 404 Electoral college votes.
Harding’s first of many mistakes made while he was the President, was to appoint his friends Albert B. Fall and Harry M. Daugherty to cabinet positions, both would bring his administration great shame.
Before Harding became President, he engaged in a 15 year affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips. The affair conveniently ended in 1920 when Harding was elected President. Harding didn’t end his adulterous ways when he became President, he continued them with his other mistress. Nan Britton was Harding’s other mistress. The two often had sex in a closet near the oval office with secret service agents posted nearby so they wouldn’t be disturbed. Harding even fathered a daughter with Britton in 1919, which was kept quiet until Britton wrote a tell-all book about their relationship in 1927.
Harding was a big time poker player, and he would play poker at least twice a week with some of his shady cabinet appointees. One time, Harding gambled away an entire set of White House China dishes that dated back to Benjamin Harrison (23rd President).
Because Harding died suddenly in office, the news of his administration’s many scandals didn’t come to light till after his passing. The biggest known scandal was conducted by Fall, the Secretary of the Interior, and is known as the Teapot Dome Scandal.
When Harding appointed Daugherty the Country’s Attorney General, many people complained Daugherty was not qualified to hold the position. Daugherty proved these people right, as he got caught up in a political scandal involving the steering of a German company seized during World War I to American buyers. For his efforts, Daugherty split $ 500,000. They tried twice Daugherty for this illegal action, but both attempts ended in hung juries. The fact Daugherty didn’t take the stand in his defense in either trial ruined his reputation.
Charles R. Forbes was Harding’s choice for the director of the Veterans Bureau. Forbes quickly went to work defrauding the government by cutting deals with contractors to hand them Government projects instead of having the projects publicly bid on. He inflated construction costs on projects and kept a percentage of the excess money. Forbes took his illegal dealings to land acquisition next. He allowed the purchase of a tract of land in San Francisco that was worth less than $ 20,000 for a grand price of $ 105,000. Forbes pocketed at least $ 12,000 from the sale. Mr. Forbes wasn’t done taking advantage of his position, he started selling valuable hospital supplies left over from World War I. Forbes sold the supplies for a fraction of their cost and took home a cut. Harding finally got wind of Forbes’ illegal dealings and forced him to resign. They convicted Forbes of defrauding the U.S. government, and he served a whopping two years in jail.
All the aforementioned activities occurred in a 2-3 period before and during Harding’s Presidency. Harding is routinely considered one of the worst presidents in U.S. history due to all the scandals, greed, lies and affairs that occurred at his helm. When current people think of bad Presidents, they usually think of Bush jr. or Trump however, neither hold a candle to the Harding Administration.
Harding’s administration was like a fraternity house. The President was the head of the fraternity, who liked to gamble, had multiple girlfriends and poor decision-making skills in picking his Cabinet (aka bros). He offered his bros positions in the fraternity that they were unqualified for. The bros cut side deals in the fraternity’s name that only benefited themselves. The only thing that was different was this wasn’t a fraternity, it was the United States Government. This wasn’t young foolish men, these were middle-aged males who were trusted with running the government and instead were only interested in benefiting themselves.
When Harding passed he was beloved by the public, it wasn’t until news of the scandals and affairs started coming out did his reputation take a hit. Harding is like that significant other you dated for a short amount of time, who was a hot mess, and your friends and family won’t let you forget about them no matter how hard you try.
