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). He was the first incumbent United States Senator to be elected President. 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.[4]
Early life
Warren Gamaliel Harding was born November 2, 1865, in Corsica (now Blooming Grove ), Ohio. Harding was the eldest of eight children born to Dr. George Tryon Harding, Sr. (1843–1928) and Phoebe Elizabeth (Dickerson) Harding (1843–1910). His mother was a midwife and later obtained her medical license , and his father owned a farm and taught at a rural school north of Mount Gilead, Ohio . One of Harding's great-grandmothers may have been African American . Eventually, the family moved to Caledonia, Ohio in neighboring Marion County , when Harding's father acquired The Argus, a local weekly newspaper there. Starting at age 10, it was at The Argus where Harding learned the basics of the journalism business. He continued studying the printing and newspaper trade as a college student at Ohio Central College in Iberia , during which time he also worked at the Union Register in Mount Gilead.
After graduating, Harding moved to Marion, Ohio , where he and two friends raised $300 with which to purchase the failing Marion Daily Star , the weakest of the growing city's three newspapers. Harding revamped the paper's editorial platform to support the Republican Party , and enjoyed a moderate degree of success. However, his political stance put him at odds with those who controlled Marion's local politics. Thus when Harding moved to unseat the Marion Independent as the official paper of daily record, he met with vocal resistance from local figures, such as Amos Hall Kling, one of Marion's wealthiest real estate speculators.
While Harding won the war of words and made the Marion Daily Star one of the most popular newspapers in the county, the battle took a toll on his health. In 1889, when Harding was 24, he suffered from exhaustion and nervous fatigue. He spent several weeks at the Battle Creek Sanitarium to regain his strength, ultimately making five visits over fourteen years. Harding later returned to Marion to continue operating the paper. He spent his days boosting the community on the editorial pages, and his evenings "bloviating " (Harding's term for "informally conversing") with his friends over games of poker .
On July 8, 1891, Harding married Florence Kling DeWolfe , the daughter of his nemesis, Amos Hall Kling . Florence Kling DeWolfe was a divorcée , five years Harding's senior, and the mother of a young son, Marshall Eugene DeWolfe. She had pursued Harding persistently until he reluctantly proposed. Florence's father was furious with his daughter's decision to marry Harding, forbidding his wife from attending the wedding and not speaking to his daughter or son-in-law for eight years.
The couple complemented one another, with Harding's affable personality balancing his wife's no-nonsense approach to life. Florence Harding, exhibiting her father's determination and business sense, turned the Marion Daily Star into a profitable business. She has been credited with helping Harding achieve more than he might have alone; some have speculated that she later pushed him all the way to the White House .
Harding was a Freemason , raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason on August 27, 1920, in Marion Lodge #70, F.& A.M., in Marion, Ohio.
Political career
As an influential newspaper publisher with a flair for public speaking , Harding was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1899. He served four years before being elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio , a post he occupied from 1903 to 1905. His leanings were conservative ,[clarification needed ] and his record in both offices was relatively undistinguished.[citation needed ] He received the Republican nomination for Governor of Ohio in 1910, but lost to incumbent Judson Harmon .
U.S. Senator
Photo taken between 1918-1920
In 1912, Harding gave the nominating speech for incumbent President William Howard Taft at the Republican National Convention , and in 1914 was elected to the United States Senate , becoming Ohio's first senator elected by popular vote . He served in the Senate from 1915 until his inauguration as President on March 4, 1921, becoming the first sitting senator to be elected President of the United States . Harding, John F. Kennedy , and Barack Obama are the only three men to have been elected president while serving as a United States senator.
Joseph Nathan Kane 's book, Facts About the Presidents, stated that Harding was "the second President elected while a Senator." This becomes a matter of semantics. On January 13, 1880, the Ohio legislature appointed James A. Garfield , who was then a Congressman from Ohio, to the U.S. Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1881 (at that time, senators were elected by state legislatures rather than directly by the citizens). He won the Presidential election on November 2, so on that date he was at once Congressman, Senator-elect, and President-elect. Garfield accepted the Presidential election and soon afterwards relinquished his other offices. He never sat in the Senate seat, as his term was not to begin for another four months.
Because of the technicality, Harding continues to be generally considered the first "truly" sitting Senator to become President, Kennedy being the second. For example, George Will referred to Harding that way in his Newsweek commentary in the issue of June 16, 2008, p. 60, in pointing out that the two presumptive candidates in the 2008 race were both sitting senators.
In his book, Blink , Malcolm Gladwell became the latest of numerous political pundits and ordinary voters who suggested that Warren Harding's electoral success was based on his appearance, essentially opining that he "looked like a president." Gladwell argues that peoples' first impression of Harding tended to be so favorable that it gave them a fixed and very high opinion of Harding, which could not be shaken unless his intellectua
warren harding gather
Nov 08, 2010 Warren Gamaliel Harding was born in Corsica (later Blooming Grove), Ohio, the eldest of eight children. He attended rural Ohio Central Co Read the rest
warren harding « web trends
Warren Harding. Warren Harding was dead due to heart attack he was previous President of the United States. Harding was an influential newspaper publisher. Read the rest
warren harding climber wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Warren Harding (June 18, 1924–February 27, 2002) was one of the most accomplished and influential American rock climbers of the 1950s to 1970s. Read the rest
warren g harding wikipedia the free encyclopedia
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. Read the rest
american president warren gamaliel harding
In-depth essays created by the University of Virginia on Warren Gamaliel Harding's life and administration. Read the rest
warren g harding the white house
Warren G. Harding was the 29th President of the United States, from 1921-1923. Read the rest
warren g harding high school
A new and improved $44 million high school is now open! Students and staff are experiencing some positive changes in the school environment, as well as in classroom structure Read the rest
warren g harding wikipedia in spite of the fact that free
"Warren Harding" redirects her er. For in spite of the fact that The United States rock climber, see Warren Harding (climber). Read the rest
warren harding biography from answers com
Warren Harding , U.S. President Born: 2 November 1865 Birthplace: Corsica, Ohio Died: 2 August 1923 (heart attack) Best Known As: President of the Read the rest
warren harding ask com encyclopedia
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. Read the rest