Why the 29th head of the United States is called a failure president: Warren Harding

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Many Americans associate the name of the 29th President of the United States with the worst rule in the history of the United States. However, if you look at the biography and the last years of Warren Harding's life with an impartial look, you can be sure that he turned out to be lucky in life. Both the elections and even the death of Warren Harding speak of extraordinary luck that simply persecuted the President of the United States.

From the son of a farmer to the editor of a successful publication

Warren Harding was born on November 2, 1865 in Blooming Grove, Ohio, the son of farmer George Tryon Harding and his wife, Phoebe Elizabeth Dickerson, a certified midwife. He was the eldest of eight children, was nicknamed "Vinnie" and never stood out among his peers with special abilities. However, he was quite diligent and, upon reaching the age of 11, already began to comprehend the basics of publishing. The family had already moved to Caledonia by that time, where Harding Sr. not only began medical practice, but also acquired the newspaper Argus.

At the age of 14, Warren Harding entered Ohio Central College in Iberia, from which his father graduated. After completing his studies, the future president of the United States joined his family, which moved to Marion. After college, he worked as a teacher and insurance agent, even tried to study law, but this science was beyond his powers. But he quite successfully raised $ 300, with which he bought the city's only daily newspaper, The Marion Star, the weakest of all city publications.

The young editor declared the publication out of politics, which allowed him to attract advertisers to the newspaper and increase interest in his own person. According to Harding's biographer Andrew Sinclair, the future president started from scratch and was able, by bluffing, dodging, delaying payments and manipulating, to take the publication to a leading position in the city. He was also lucky that the population of Marion literally doubled in 10 years from 4 to 8 thousand, and already in 1900 reached 12 thousand people.

It is not known what the fate of Warren Harding would have been if it had not been for the meeting with Florence Kling.

The woman behind the success of a man

She was the daughter of the successful banker Amos Kling, but suffered a lot from her father's despotism. Her father taught her the basics of doing business, took her with him to work from an early age, and then the girl entered a music college, after which she entered into an open conflict with her own father. Amos whipped her daughter with a cherry stick for disobedience, but the stubborn 19-year-old girl found a way out by escaping from her parental home with Pete Dewulf, whom she married. However, she soon returned to her hometown without a husband, but with a child. Amos Kling adopted a grandson, but flatly refused to help his daughter, who made a living teaching music. One of her students was Warren Harding's sister Charity.

Florence was five years older than Harding, but this did not stop the young editor from falling in love with the music teacher. However, Florence set out to get the charming Harding as her husband: she arranged their "casual" meetings, invariably flirted and charmed Warren. After a long siege in 1891, Warren Harding and Florence Dewulf became husband and wife.

It was Florence who helped her husband raise the newspaper to a new level, and with her own light hand, Warren Harding set off to storm big politics. She forced him to join the Republican Party, taught him how to speak and dress elegantly. She supported all his political undertakings and unobtrusively directed the energy of her husband in the right direction.

Despite her failing health (in 1905, Florence had her kidney removed), she always kept her finger on the pulse and tried not to let her husband out of sight. There were reasons for this: the future president was loving and knew how to win almost any woman's heart. But his wife always remained for him the main adviser, and therefore he played all his novels in secret from her. Thanks to Florence Warren Gardin made a very rapid political career: in 1898 he took the post of senator from Ohio, in 1914 he became a federal senator. A year later, the family moved to Washington.

When, in 1920, Warren Harding was invited to become the Republican nominee for the presidential elections in the United States, even Florence doubted the success of this venture. However, she was not used to giving up in the face of difficulties and gladly plunged into the abyss of election campaigning. No wonder they say that it was Florence who, almost in her arms, brought her husband to the White House.

Warren Harding has been successful in promoting one thought: “America's current need is not heroism, but healing; not nostrum, but normality; not a revolution, but a restoration. He was able to calculate what exactly his voters want to hear, and skillfully took advantage of this. On March 4, 1921, Warren Harding took office as President of the United States.

Worst politician

The 29th President of the United States managed to achieve tax cuts for entrepreneurs and reduce working hours, reformed the relationship between the state and private business. And everything would be fine, but at the same time, the time of Warren Harding's rule is associated with the unthinkable prosperity of corruption and bribery. He himself enjoyed spending time in his office with his mistress, gambling poker and turning a blind eye to the activities of the ministers, many of whom were his friends.

Warren Harding has reduced the authority of the government to an unacceptable minimum. Quite a bit, and impeachment, and possibly even arrest, would await him. On the advice of his wife, the president went on a tour of the country, calling the cycle of meetings with his voters "A Trip of Understanding." During this tour, Warren Harding felt his health deteriorating and died in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. Florence Harding said at her husband's funeral that he left on time.

Probably, he was lucky again, because after the death of the 29th President of the United States, several high-profile scandals erupted, which could well become the basis for initiating a criminal case against Harding.

The 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, has already turned 95 years old, but he is not afraid of either illness or a very old age. He is still vigorous and full of energy, he studies Spanish in the evenings and troubles with health will not force him, even at such a respectable age, to abandon the business that he considers important and necessary.