Changes

=== Military ===   

=== Military ===   

 

Harding presided over modernization of the U.S. forces including the addition of the experimental [[aircraft carrier]] Langley and the T-2 [[submarine]], as well as the creation of a merchant marine.  

Harding presided over modernization of the U.S. forces including the addition of the experimental [[aircraft carrier]] Langley and the T-2 [[submarine]], as well as the creation of a merchant marine which was critical in early US involvement in WWII via the [[Lend-Lease Act]].<ref>http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0193620-00</ref>

 

=== Diplomatic ===

=== Diplomatic ===

 

Harding  rejected the Lague of Nations and avoided entangling alliances, but he pursued a vigorous foreign policy.  Harding's administration was successful in negotiating the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited battleships.

Harding avoided entangling alliances that lead to war and defended US interests. Mr. Harding outlined his policy in his inaugural address: "...every commitment must be made in the exercise of our national sovereignty. Since freedom impelled, and independence inspired, and nationality exalted, a world supergovernment is contrary to everything we cherish and can have no sanction by our Republic. This is not selfishness, it is sanctity. It is not aloofness, it is security. It is not suspicion of others, it is patriotic adherence to the things which made us what we are." <ref>http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=25833</ref>  

 

 

Harding's administration was successful in negotiating the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited battleships.

=== Labor and economic issues ===

=== Labor and economic issues ===

==Scandals==

==Scandals==

=== Teapot Dome Scandal===

=== Teapot Dome Scandal===

Harding appointed Senator Albert B. Fall of New Mexico as his Secretary of the Interior, in charge of valuable oil lands that were for the long-term use of the Navy.  Democrats in Congress, lead by Senator [[Thomas J. Walsh]] and Republican Senator [[Robert M. LaFollette]] (a former progressive), began an investigation with the support of the [[conservationist]] interests that backed them.  They found that Fall had used his privatization efforts to benefit himself by over $400,000.  Mr. Fall entangled other businessmen and politicians into his wrongdoing which lead to other indictments of both Democrats and Republicans and continued into the Coolidge administration.  Harding did not know about these dealings until shortly before his death.  

Harding appointed Senator Albert B. Fall of New Mexico as his Secretary of the Interior, in charge of valuable oil lands that were for the long-term use of the Navy.  Democrats in Congress, lead by Senator [[Thomas J. Walsh]] and Republican Senator [[Robert M. LaFollette]] (a former progressive), began an investigation with the support of the [[conservationist]] interests that backed them.  They found that Fall had used his privatization efforts to benefit himself by over $400,000.  Mr. Fall entangled other businessmen and politicians into his wrongdoing which lead to other indictments of both Democrats and Republicans and continued into the Coolidge administration.  Harding did not know about these dealings until shortly before his death.  

 

===Interpretation===

==="The President's Daughter"===

Fine (1990) explains why Harding's reputation took a nose dive, as the new president Calvin Coolidge blamed the troubles of the day on his dead predecessor. "Reputational entrepreneurs" attempt to control the memory of historical figures through motivation, narrative facility, and institutional placement, says Fine. Men remembered as great heroes or great vilains or evil are explained by the Durkheimian theory of consensus and cohesion, but this does not explain the memory of the "incompetent" like Harding.  Reputational politics is an arena in which forces compete to control memory. Reputations are grounded in a social construction of character, subsequently generalized to policy and the character of the society. In the case of Harding, the president rated lowest by historians and the public, political opponents set the agenda, while potential supporters did not defend him, given their political interests, structural positions, and a lack of credible narrative.

In 1928, Nan Britton published a book entitled "The President's Daughter" claiming that she and Harding had been lovers and had conceived a child in 1919. According to her, the affair continued for six years, and the lovers' meeting-places included a coat closet in the executive offices of the White House.<ref name=taylor>Allen, Frederick Lewis (1931), ''Only Yesterday,'' ch. VI, "Harding and the Scandals"</ref>

 

== Strange Death ==

== Strange Death ==

Harding appeared to be in good health until his collapse and death. The surprise soon gave rise to a savage case of character assassination by insuations of murder, all thoroughly unfounded. <ref>Ferrell, Robert H. (1996), The Strange Deaths of President Harding, University of Missouri Press  p.31</ref>

Harding appeared to be in good health until his collapse and death. The surprise soon gave rise to a savage case of character assassination by insinuations of murder, all thoroughly unfounded. <ref>Ferrell, Robert H. (1996), The Strange Deaths of President Harding, University of Missouri Press  p.31</ref>

Shaken by the talk of corruption among the friends he had appointed to office, he 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 and the food -- especially the seafood in Alaska. On his return journey, he became ill with what was then attributed to food poisoning. The Presidential train rushed to [[San Francisco]], where his condition worsened. He developed [[pneumonia]], and complicated by his heart ailment, died suddenly on August 23, he suffered a [[heart attack]] in the evening, while his wife was reading to him. He died quietly and instantaneously.

Shaken by the talk of corruption among the friends he had appointed to office, he began a tour on June 20, 1923 of the West and Alaska. Although suffering from high blood pressure and an enlarged heart, he seemed to enjoy himself and the food -- especially the seafood in Alaska. On his return journey, he became ill with food poisoning. The Presidential train rushed to [[San Francisco]], where his condition worsened. He developed [[pneumonia]], and complicated by his heart ailment, died suddenly on August 23, he suffered a [[heart attack]] in the evening, while his wife was reading to him. He died quietly and instantaneously.

After Harding’s death, the reputation of his administration was tarnished by revelations of scandal, primarily the Teapot Dome scandal (mentioned above) and a scandal in the [[Veteran’s Administration]] which was particularly distasteful in that post World War I period. The scandals were pushed forward by congressional hearings, but were greeted by the public with what historian Frederick Lewis Allen concedes was brief resentment at both scandals and scandalmongers, followed by apathy.<ref>see [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/ALLEN/ch6.html Allen, ''Only Yesterday'']</ref>

After Harding’s death, the reputation of his administration was ruined by revelations of scandal, primarily the Teapot Dome scandal and a scandal in the [[Veteran’s Administration]] which was particularly distasteful in that post World War I period. The scandals were pushed forward by congressional hearings, but were greeted by the public with what historian Frederick Lewis Allen concedes was brief resentment at both scandals and scandalmongers, followed by apathy.<ref>see [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/ALLEN/ch6.html Allen, ''Only Yesterday'']</ref>

In 1926, author [[Samuel Hopkins Adams]]  published the novel “Revelry”, with characters which appeared to be thinly disguised members of the Harding administration. The president in the novel, “Willis Markham” poisons himself by accident, but does not take an available antidote, because he realizes that his death “will wipe out the whole score” of soon to be revealed scandals involving oil and the Veteran’s Administration. The novel was later dramatized .<ref>Ferrell, ''The Strange Deaths of President Harding,'' p.33</ref>.  Adams was a successful writer, and would go on to write the story which would become Frank Capra’s film “It Happened One Night”, and to share screenwriting credits with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on an unrelated film, “The President’s Mystery” in 1936. His fictional account of Harding’s death brought the issue of poison firmly into the public mind.

In 1926, author [[Samuel Hopkins Adams]]  published the novel “Revelry”, with characters which appeared to be thinly disguised members of the Harding administration. The president in the novel, “Willis Markham” poisons himself by accident, but does not take an available antidote, because he realizes that his death “will wipe out the whole score” of soon to be revealed scandals involving oil and the Veteran’s Administration. The novel was later dramatized .<ref>Ferrell, ''The Strange Deaths of President Harding,'' p.33</ref>.   

The publication of Nan Britton’s book "The President's Daughter" in 1928 portrayed the late President as a womanizer, which historians now unanimously agree was true, even if some disputes remain regarding the degree to which Harding was involved with Ms. Britton herself, and as to the paternity of her child.

In 1928, Nan Britton published a book entitled "The President's Daughter" claiming that she and Harding had been lovers and had conceived a child in 1919. According to her, the affair continued for six years, and the lovers' meeting-places included a coat closet in the executive offices of the White House.  Historians generally agree she was indeed his lover.

In 1930, Gaston B. Means, who served briefly as an FBI agent during the Harding administration, published ''The Strange Death of President Harding, by Gaston B. Means as told to May Dixon Thacker'', in which he alleged that Mrs. Harding murdered her husband out of jealousy of Ms. Britton, and out of fear of the soon to be revealed Teapot Dome and Veteran’s Administration scandals. Means, who had a long criminal record, provided no evidence and historians dismiss his outlandish claims.  

No evidence has ever been found to suggest that Harding had been poisoned by anyone, let alone his wife. The suggestion that she had a motivation to kill the president because of Florence Harding’s jealousy over an affair with Nan Britton makes little sense since she had long known her husband was a womanizer. The suggestion that she would murder the President to somehow deflect scandals that would be met by public apathy is similarly unlikely. Yet despite the source of these charges, their utter lack of factual support, and the unlikeliness of the alleged motives of the First Lady, Frederick Lewis Allen repeated these charges in his very successful book ''Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s'' in 1931. Coming as it did in the deepest part of the [[Great Depression]], Allen’s book, which depicted all of the Republican presidents of the 1920s as bumbling incompetents, was eagerly accepted by a public looking for someone to blame.  

 

No forensic evidence has ever been found to suggest that Harding had been poisoned by any person, let alone his wife. The suggestion that she had a motivation to kill the president because of Florence Harding’s jealousy over an affair with Nan Britton makes little sense since she had long known her husband was a womanizer. The suggestion that she would murder the President to somehow deflect scandals that would be met by public apathy is similarly unlikely. Yet despite the source of these charges, their utter lack of factual support, and the unlikeliness of the alleged motives of the First Lady, Frederick Lewis Allen repeated these charges in his very successful book ''Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s'' in 1931. Coming as it did in the deepest part of the [[Great Depression]], Allen’s book, which depicted all of the Republican presidents of the 1920s as bumbling incompetents, was eagerly accepted by a public looking for someone to blame.  

== Trivia ==

== Trivia ==

* Out of all of the Presidents of the U.S. he had the largest feet.

* Out of all of the Presidents of the U.S. he had the largest feet.

* He was the first president to visit Alaska.

* He was the first president to visit Alaska.