Warren G. Harding

NAME Warren Gamaliel Harding

WHAT FAMOUS FOR 29th President of the United States (1921–1923), remembered for his “return to normalcy” campaign after World War I, his folksy charm, and the scandals that later emerged from his administration.

BIRTH Warren Gamaliel Harding was born on November 2, 1865, in Blooming Grove (originally called Corsica), Ohio. He was nicknamed "Winnie" as a small child.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Harding was the eldest of eight children born to Dr. George Tryon Harding and Phoebe Elizabeth (née Dickerson) Harding. Both parents were doctors—an unusual distinction for his mother, who was a state-licensed midwife. His father was a homeopathic physician who later owned a small newspaper. 

Harding's ancestry was English, Scottish, and Dutch. There were persistent rumors throughout his life that he had African American ancestry, but genetic testing in 2015 determined with more than 95% accuracy that he lacked sub-Saharan African forebears within four generations.

CHILDHOOD Harding grew up in rural Ohio and spent his childhood in Caledonia after his family moved there when he was ten years old. He enjoyed what he described as an idyllic American childhood with farm chores, swimming in the local creek, and playing in the village band. He attended a one-room schoolhouse and learned to read from McGuffey's Readers. 

From age 11, he worked as a printer's assistant at his father's newspaper, The Argus, learning the basics of the newspaper business.

EDUCATION He originally attended a one-room schoolhouse in Caledonia.

At age 14, Harding enrolled at Ohio Central College in Iberia, Ohio. The college was originally founded as Iberia College by the Free Presbyterian Church and was open to all, regardless of race or gender. While Harding was a student there, he and a friend helped create the school newspaper, the Iberian Spectator, which he edited. The college's curriculum was modest and primarily geared toward preparing students for rural teaching. Harding's own academic focus included editing the school paper and partaking in some studies of history, philosophy, and literature, but he never showed a strong passion for serious academic study, often preferring practical work and extracurricular activities. 

After Harding graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1882, he briefly taught in a country school outside Marion, Ohio, for one term.

CAREER RECORD After a brief stint teaching, Harding tried law and insurance sales before finding his calling in journalism. 

1884, at age 19, he purchased the nearly defunct Marion Star newspaper with two friends for $300. He eventually bought out his partners and transformed the struggling paper into a successful daily publication. 

1900-1904 Harding served in the Ohio State Senate

1904-1906 Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (1904-1906), 

1915-1921 U.S. Senator

1921-1923 U.S. President

APPEARANCE Harding was an imposing figure, standing over six feet tall with broad shoulders and distinguished features. He had striking grayish hair and bright blue eyes. He was universally considered handsome and possessed what observers described as a commanding, senatorial appearance. Many noted that he simply "looked like a president", which contributed significantly to his political success. (1)

Warren G Harding Portrait, c. 1920–1923

FASHION Harding was always well-dressed and well-groomed, favoring conservative, elegant attire. He typically wore well-tailored dark three-piece suits with starched collars, maintaining a neat and dignified appearance throughout his career. His impeccable dress sense enhanced his natural presidential bearing.

CHARACTER Known for his genial nature and magnetic personality, Harding possessed what one associate called “the inestimable gift of never forgetting a man’s face or name,” accompanied by “a genuine warmth in his handshake.” Yet beneath his affability lay a certain weakness—he was indecisive, overly trusting, and easily swayed by those around him.  (2)

His father once quipped that it was fortunate Warren hadn’t been born a girl, as “he would have been in a family way all the time because he could not say no.” At heart, Harding was kind and generous, but he lacked the firmness and resolve expected of a leader. (3)

SPEAKING VOICE Harding possessed a rich baritone voice that was considered one of the most impressive among U.S. presidents. His warm and resonant oratory played a significant role in his political rise.

Warren G. Harding was the first president to deliver an amplified inaugural address at his inauguration in 1921, thanks to the use of loudspeakers that allowed his speech to be heard by the large crowd present. He delivered the first presidential speech ever broadcast live by radio at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial on May 30, 1922. His first major radio broadcast from the Capitol was the annual address to Congress on December 8, 1922, which marked a significant milestone in presidential communications.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Harding was known for his joviality, easy laugh, and storytelling ability. He enjoyed using wit and humor to disarm critics and charm audiences, and was described as having a naturally jovial personality that made both men and women like him.

He often poked fun at himself and his poker habit, once joking that “there’s no loser’s club in Washington—just new members every week.”

RELATIONSHIPS Harding married Florence Kling DeWolfe on July 8, 1891, in their new home in Marion. Florence was five years older than Warren, a divorcée with a child from her previous marriage, and came from a wealthy family. She became instrumental in managing their newspaper and supporting his political career. Florence earned the affectionate nickname “the Duchess” for her commanding personality and managerial skills. The couple had no children together.

Warren and Florence Harding, c. 1922. 

Harding was notoriously unfaithful, conducting multiple extramarital affairs. His most famous affairs were with Carrie Fulton Phillips, the wife of a Marion store owner, and with secretary Nan Britton (November 9, 1896 – March 21, 1991), a much younger woman who claimed he fathered her daughter Elizabeth Ann (October 22, 1919 – November 17, 2005). She was ridiculed at the time, but DNA testing in 2015 confirmed her story. The affair with Britton continued throughout his presidency, with encounters reportedly occurring in a White House closet.

Harding surrounded himself with friends and political cronies, known as the "Ohio Gang," some of whom he appointed to high office and later became embroiled in corruption scandals.

MONEY AND FAME As a successful newspaper publisher, Harding accumulated considerable wealth before entering national politics. His newspaper background gave him national recognition and influence in Republican circles.

Harding's presidential campaign and "Return to Normalcy" slogan brought him national fame, winning the 1920 election with 60% of the popular vote. At the time of his death, he was extremely popular with the American public.

He sometimes had an undisciplined relationship with money, once gambling away a White House china set in a poker game.

FOOD AND DRINK Harding enjoyed simple Midwestern cuisine, including cornbread, chicken pie, and cherry pie. 

Despite being president during Prohibition, he was known to drink alcohol freely at the White House, hosting parties with "trays with bottles containing every imaginable brand of whiskey". He served confiscated bootleg liquor to guests in the present-day Yellow Room. 

His favorite holiday cocktail was the Tom & Jerry, a warm drink similar to eggnog made with dark rum.

MUSIC AND ARTS Harding was very musical, playing several instruments including the cornet, alto horn, and other brass instruments. He said, "I played every instrument but the slide trombone and the E-flat cornet". 

As a young man, he played in the Marion Silver Cornet Band and other local ensembles. In 1884, his Citizens' Cornet Band competed in the Ohio State Band Festival. 

He loved music throughout his life and frequently participated in informal musical gatherings. He believed in federal support for music and advocated for a national conservatory with branches throughout the country. 

His wife, Florence, had studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and taught piano to support herself.

LITERATURE Harding was a passionate writer of poetry. His poems were often sentimental and sensual, written for private consumption rather than publication. He wrote extensively to Carrie Phillips, often inserting spontaneous poetry into his letters. One example from 1912 read: "Who cares not what was brought today / Of the medley that fate has whirled? / I hold you in my arms to say– / I love you more than all the world". 

As a newspaper editor, he contributed articles and maintained his writing skills throughout his career.

Harding was an avid reader of essays, speeches, and classical oratory. He admired 19th-century prose and often borrowed phrases from earlier statesmen in his own speeches.

NATURE Harding enjoyed spending time outdoors and appreciated the countryside around his Ohio home. His childhood was filled with outdoor activities like swimming in the local creek and farm work. He maintained an appreciation for natural scenery throughout his life.

PETS Harding was a devoted animal lover who owned several pets during his presidency. His most famous pet was Laddie Boy (July 26, 1920 – January 23, 1929) , an Airedale Terrier who became the first celebrity presidential pet. Laddie Boy attended Cabinet meetings in his own hand-carved chair, had birthday parties with other neighborhood dogs, and was regularly featured in newspaper interviews. Laddie Boy reportedly howled constantly for three days before Harding's death, sensing his master's imminent demise.

When Laddie Boy died, 19,000 newspaper boys donated a penny each to create a copper statue, now in the Smithsonian.

Harding also owned a lesser-known bulldog named Old Boy.

Laddie Boy

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Harding played golf approximately twice a week while president, practicing on the White House south grounds where Laddie Boy would retrieve his balls. Despite constant practice, he struggled to break 100. 

He also loved baseball, and fishing—activities that gave him a break from political pressures

He hosted regular poker games with friends, including members of his "Poker Cabinet". These games were held about twice weekly for relaxation, usually ending by midnight with a fluid membership that sometimes included future president Herbert Hoover.

SCIENCE AND MATHS Harding embraced technological progress—most notably by installing the first radio in the White House in 1922.

He had little personal interest in mathematics or science beyond basic education. His focus remained primarily on journalism, politics, and business rather than scientific pursuits.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Harding was a Baptist who joined the Trinity Baptist Church in Marion in 1883, serving as a trustee for 25 years. Despite his moral failings, he was a genuine believer in liberal Protestant principles and the Social Gospel. At a time when modernism was becoming fashionable among northern Baptists, Harding maintained his church membership throughout his life. His religious convictions were moderate and uncontroversial, believing in pragmatic American values rather than deep theological contemplation.

PRE-PRESIDENCY POLITICAL CAREER Before he ascended to the presidency, Warren G. Harding carved out a career that was less about fireworks than about being reassuringly solid—an unruffled presence in a time when American politics often resembled a barroom brawl. In his home state of Ohio, Harding made his start in the early 1900s, serving two terms in the State Senate, where he earned a reputation for being calm, courteous, and almost suspiciously agreeable. He wasn’t the sort to start a fight, but he had an uncanny knack for ending them, which made him invaluable in a party that was frequently at odds with itself.

From there, he became Lieutenant Governor (1904–1906), a job not especially known for excitement, but one he performed with quiet competence. A failed run for governor in 1910 might have ended the story for a less determined man, but Harding’s easy charm and gift for making allies in every room kept him afloat. Two years later, he caught the nation’s attention by delivering the nominating address for President Taft at the 1912 Republican National Convention—a speech that put him squarely on the national map and, perhaps more importantly, marked him as a man everyone could get along with.

Harding in the 1900s

By 1914, Harding was elected to the U.S. Senate—the first Ohioan to do so by direct popular vote after the 17th Amendment made such things possible. In Washington, he proved himself a thoroughly dependable conservative: pro-business, cautious on social reform, and rarely the source of any unpleasant surprises. He had the air of a man who could walk into any room and make everyone exhale. Colleagues liked him because he was kind, reasonable, and didn’t take politics personally—an almost miraculous combination. By 1920, when the Republican Party was hopelessly divided, Harding’s greatest talent—being everyone’s second choice—suddenly became his ticket to the presidency.

PRESIDENCY Warren G. Harding’s presidency, though short-lived, was one of those curious chapters in American history where the country seemed to sigh deeply, loosen its tie, and decide that a bit of calm and comfort wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all. Taking office in 1921 as the nation’s 29th president, Harding promised what he called a “return to normalcy”—a slogan so vague and yet so appealing after the chaos of World War I that it was practically irresistible. Harding wasn’t a man of thunderous convictions or revolutionary ideas, but rather one who radiated steadiness and good manners, which, in those jittery postwar years, was precisely what many Americans were craving.

His administration ushered in an era of conservative economics: taxes were cut (especially for the wealthy), regulations were trimmed, and tariffs were raised through the Fordney–McCumber Act to keep American industry nicely insulated from the unpredictability of the outside world. More importantly, he gave the federal government its first organized budgeting process through the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, creating the Bureau of the Budget—a sensible, almost shockingly modern reform for an administration often remembered for its follies. Harding’s domestic record also contained flashes of empathy: he backed farm relief, signed the Sheppard–Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act, and even commuted the sentence of socialist leader Eugene V. Debs, an act of generosity that surprised almost everyone.

Warren G. Harding was the first sitting U.S. president to publicly speak out against lynching. It happened on October 21, 1921, in Birmingham, Alabama, a city so segregated it practically had separate air. Harding stood before a mixed-race audience — itself almost unthinkable in the South at the time — and did something no president before him had dared: he called for racial equality under the law and demanded an end to lynching.

“Whether you like it or not,” he declared with the kind of stubborn Midwestern gravity that suggested he didn’t much care if you didn’t, “unless our democracy is a lie, you must stand for that equality.”

He followed that with a second line that could have been engraved on a monument but instead mostly disappeared into history:

“I say we must not only stand for the common rights of humanity but we must see that they are guaranteed to every citizen of the United States.”

Harding’s words were astonishingly forward-thinking for 1921 — particularly given that lynching was still appallingly common and that his predecessors had mostly treated the subject as a conversational third rail. He even threw his weight behind the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, a proposal from Congressman Leonidas Dyer of Missouri that aimed to make lynching a federal crime. The House passed it in 1922, but the Senate, in its infinite talent for moral paralysis, let it die under a Southern filibuster.

On the world stage, Harding presided over the Washington Naval Conference, a rather remarkable gathering that managed to persuade several major powers to agree on limits to naval armaments—a diplomatic miracle, really, in an age not known for restraint. Unfortunately, much of that promise was later overshadowed by scandal. Harding, whose gift for friendship far exceeded his talent for discernment, filled his administration with a mix of brilliant statesmen like Charles Evans Hughes and Herbert Hoover, and, regrettably, some of the most corrupt political operators ever to grace Washington—the notorious “Ohio Gang.” Their antics led to the Teapot Dome scandal and a slew of other embarrassments that would stain Harding’s legacy long after his death in 1923.

He died suddenly, popular with the public but burdened by secrets that hadn’t yet come to light. In the end, Harding’s presidency can be seen as a kind of national breather—an attempt to slow the pulse of a country exhausted by war and reform. It worked, briefly, until history caught up with him and reminded everyone that “normalcy” is often a far trickier business than it sounds.

POLITICS As a Republican, Harding advocated pro-business policies, immigration restriction, and isolationist foreign policies. His famous campaign promise of "Return to Normalcy" appealed to Americans weary from World War I. 

Harding's administration focused on reducing government regulation, cutting taxes on the wealthy, and establishing protective tariffs. He supported civil rights for African Americans and was the first president to address a Black university graduation. He also supported women's suffrage and was notable for his conciliatory political style.

SCANDAL Harding's presidency was plagued by scandals involving his appointees, collectively known as the "Ohio Gang". The most notorious was the Teapot Dome scandal, where  Albert B. Fall secretly leased naval petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, to private oil companies without competitive bidding, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Fall was later convicted of bribery and became the first former cabinet official to go to prison. Harding was not personally implicated in the transactions but was aware of the corrupt behavior of his associates, which took a severe toll on his health.

Other scandal included Head of the Veterans Bureau Charles R. Forbes being convicted on bribery and corruption charges. Attorney General Harry Daugherty was also tried for corruption (but acquitted).

Harding's numerous extramarital affairs, particularly with Nan Britton and Carrie Phillips, severely damaged his posthumous reputation once exposed.

MILITARY RECORD Harding did not serve in any armed conflict or hold a formal military commission. His presidency occurred after World War I, and he focused on veterans' affairs, establishing the Veterans Bureau to serve returning soldiers.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS During his presidency, Harding suffered from various health problems including high blood pressure, heart problems, and an enlarged heart. He tired easily and his doctors were concerned about his health during his final western trip. He died suddenly, likely from a heart attack, though the initial official cause was listed as a stroke.

HOMES Harding's primary residence was a Queen Anne-style Victorian house at 380 Mount Vernon Avenue in Marion, Ohio, which he and Florence designed and built in 1890-91. They were married in this house and lived there for 30 years. The house featured modern amenities for its time, including indoor plumbing, gas lighting, and later electricity. It served as the site of his famous 1920 "Front Porch Campaign" where over 600,000 people visited to hear him speak. 

As president, he resided in the White House.

TRAVEL Harding undertook an ambitious transcontinental tour called the "Voyage of Understanding" in the summer of 1923. This marked the first time a sitting president visited Alaska and Canada. The two-month journey was designed to give him firsthand knowledge of Alaska's problems and to connect with Americans across the country. The trip included stops at Yellowstone National Park, Zion National Park, and various western states before heading to Alaska where he witnessed the completion of the Alaska Railroad. The strenuous journey contributed to his deteriorating health.

DEATH Harding died suddenly on August 2, 1923, in San Francisco, California, at the Palace Hotel. He had become ill during his western trip, suffering from cramps, indigestion, fever, and shortness of breath. While the initial cause was reported as a stroke, modern medical opinion suggests he died of a heart attack. His wife Florence refused to allow an autopsy, which fueled rumors of foul play, including speculation that his wife poisoned him due to his infidelities. His death shocked the nation, and he was extremely popular at the time of his passing.

Warren G. Harding’s body was transported to Washington, D.C., with a private viewing at the White House on August 7, followed by a formal funeral service in the Capitol Rotunda on August 8, 1923. That same day, his casket was transported to Marion, Ohio, where a final funeral service was held on August 10, 1923. Harding was initially interred in a temporary vault at Marion Cemetery. 

In December 1927, both President Harding and his wife Florence were moved to the newly constructed Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio, which remains their final resting place.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Harding has appeared as a character in various films, novels, and documentaries exploring the 1920s and political scandals. 

His love letters to Carrie Phillips, released by the Library of Congress in 2014, generated significant media attention and went viral due to their passionate and sometimes raunchy content. 

The exposure of his affair with Nan Britton came from her tell-all book, which itself became a media sensation.

ACHIEVEMENTS First U.S. president to speak out against lynching.

First to install a radio in the White House.

Advocated for postwar economic recovery and government reform.

Remembered for his charisma and the enduring legend of Laddie Boy, America’s first celebrity dog.

Sources: (1) Encyclopedia Britannica (2) White House History (3) Encyclopedia.com (4) Food Republic (5) Dr Madeline Frank's Music & Math Learning System