Warren G. Harding was the 29th President of the United States of America. He remained President from 1921 to 1923. Before he could complete his Presidential term, his health failed and he died.
His brief term was rocked by many scandals. Harding is considered one of the least effective Presidents of American history. This was primarily because his cabinet was filled with crooks and he couldn’t take any measures to stop their corruption.
Warren G. Harding was born on November 2, 1865 in Corsica, Ohio.
Warren G. Harding was born to a well-read family. His father was the owner of a newspaper in Ohio, so Warren learned to read and write at an early age. He also got to learn about journalism while he was still quite young. This helped him later in his life.
After his early education, he went on to study at the Ohio Central College. He graduated from this college in 1882. He then studied law for a time but didn’t decide to pursue the career of a lawyer. Instead, he went back to manage the newspaper business.
As the owner of a popular newspaper in Ohio, Warren G. Harding soon became a well-known person. He also developed an interest in politics and gained his first major victory when he was elected to the Ohio State Legislature.
He later ran for a seat in the Senate and was elected as a Senator in 1914. Although he was a powerful public speaker who could deeply affect an audience, he didn’t prove a very effective Senator.
However, he became quite well-known in the Republican Party. So when the Party decided to nominate its Presidential candidate in the 1920 Presidential campaign, Warren G. Harding was nominated.
He was reluctant to run but was persuaded by his friends in the Republican Party. So he ran for the office and won the election.
Warren G. Harding proved a very ineffective President. This was primarily because he didn’t prove very well at handling the duties of a President, and he was surrounded by so-called friends who were actually crooks and simply wanted to make money by using him and his Presidency.
Within two years of his Presidency, many different scandals came to light. Members of Harding’s cabinet were involved in many of these scandals. His Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was involved in the famous Teapot Dome scandal for which he was sent to jail.
All these scandals cast a very bad light on Harding’s Presidency and people started thinking that the government was filled with corrupt crooks.
Warren G. Harding came under a lot of stress after all these scandals came to light. Matters were worse for him because many of his friends and colleague were involved in these scandals although he was unaware of it.
During a trip to the Alaska Territory in 1923, Harding’s health failed completely. He died on August 2, 1923 in San Francisco, California.