Prez 29 - Harding

Scramblin' thru... the U.S. Presidents

"President Hardly"
"Winnie"
"The Executive Editor"
"The Master of Affairs"

Personal Information

November 2, 1865
Blooming Grove, Ohio

August 2, 1923
(age 57)
San Francisco, California

Cause of Death:
Food poisoning & Myocardial infarction
(a.k.a. heart attack)

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 173 lbs.

Baptist

Level: College
(Ohio Central College)

Married: Once
(Florence, 1891)

Biological Kids: 0
Illegitimate Kids: 1
(w/Nan Britton)

Wrote:
2 books

Career BEFORE Presidency:
newspaper editor,
U.S. Senator

Career AFTER Presidency:
Died in office

Presidential Information

Began: March 4, 1921
(age 55)

Ended: August 2, 1923
(age 57)

# Months Served: 29
(0 full terms)

# Vice Presidents: 1
(Calvin Coolidge)

Political Affiliation:
Republic

Salary:
$75,000/year

Election Information

Election of 1920

[Click map for a larger version.]

[Click chart for a larger version.]

A Presidential Life in Review

Click on the banner above to go to the Warren G. Harding homepage at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. Click on the buttons below for in-depth information about Harding's Presidency.

A life in brief

Life before the presidency

Campaigns & elections

The 29th U.S. President, Warren G. Harding served in office from 1921 to 1923 before dying of an apparent heart attack. Harding's Presidency was overshadowed by the criminal activities of his Cabinet members and other government officials, although he himself was not involved in any wrongdoing. An Ohio native and Republican, Harding was a successful newspaper publisher who served in the Ohio legislature and the U.S. Senate. He won the Election of 1920 in a landslide, promising a "return to normalcy" after the hardships of World War I (1914-1918). As President, he favored pro-business policies and limited immigration. Harding died suddenly in San Francisco in 1923 and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge. After Harding's death, the Teapot Dome Scandal and other instances of corruption came to light, further damaging his reputation. Source: The History Channel

Historical Rankings

Click here to learn more about the C-SPAN Survey

Warren G. Harding Fun Facts

Harding was the first newspaper publisher to be elected President.

Both of Harding's parents were doctors. He topped them by becoming... President.

Harding supposedly had sex with Nan Britton (the daughter of one of his friends), on a regular basis in a White House closet. Secret Service agents reportedly had to stop his wife, Florence, from beating down the closet door on one occasion. Britton developed an obsession with Harding when she was a teenager. (Her bedroom walls were covered with images of Harding from local papers and magazines.) Following Harding's death in 1923, Britton wrote what is considered to be the first kiss-and-tell book, The President's Daughter, published in 1928. In it, she claimed to have been his mistress before and during his Presidency, and that Harding was the father of her daughter, Elizabeth Ann, who was later adopted by Britton's husband. According to Britton, Harding had promised to support her daughter, but after his sudden death in 1923, Harding's family refused to acknowledge the obligation.

Harding suffered nervous breakdowns when he was 24 and had to spend some time in a sanitarium.

One of Harding's sisters was a Washington, D.C. policewoman.

Harding was the first President to ride to his inauguration in an automobile.

Harding was the first President to own a radio and the first to speak over the radio airwaves.

Harding was the first President to visit Alaska while in office.

While President, Harding played golf, poker twice a week, followed baseball and boxing, and sneaked off to burlesque shows. He was so fond of playing cards that his Cabinet was known as the "Poker Cabinet" because they all played poker together. At his poker parties, alcohol would flow freely. There was just one problem with that... Harding was President during Prohibition. Alcohol was illegal.

Harding had the largest feet of any President. He wore size 14 shoes.

Harding was the first President to have his own father outlive him.

Harding was obsessed with poker and once bet an entire set of priceless White House China... and lost.

Shaken by the talk of corruption among the friends he had appointed to office (such as the infamous "Teapot Dome" scandal in which Harding's Secretary of the Interior leased government-owned oil fields in Nevada and California to private companies at low rates), Harding and his wife, Florence, began a tour on June 20, 1923 of the West and Alaska. He hoped to get out and meet people, to shake hands and explain his policies. Although suffering from high blood pressure and an enlarged heart, he seemed to enjoy himself. On his return journey, he became ill with what was then attributed to a touch of food poisoning. The Presidential train rushed to San Francisco, where his condition worsened. On August 2nd, he suffered a heart attack in the evening while Florence was reading to him. He died quietly and instantaneously. Word quickly spread that Florence, the last person to be with him that evening, had poisoned him to prevent him from being brought up on charges of corruption (and for his sexual exploits). Her refusal to allow an autopsy of the President only fed the rumors. Harding left the bulk of his estate, valued at $850,000, to his wife. (That's $11.3 million in today's money.) Yea... that's it... "food poisoning". Anyone seen "The Sixth Sense" and the mother who fed her daughter Pine-Solv? Bingo.