When you ask a historian what Warren G. Harding is known for, they usually start with a sigh. It's the "Teapot Dome" reflex. Most people remember him as that handsome guy from Ohio who presided over a dumpster fire of corruption and then died before he could get fired.
But history is rarely that clean.
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Harding was the first president to be elected after women got the right to vote. He won by a landslide because he promised "normalcy." People were exhausted by World War I and the heavy-handed idealism of Woodrow Wilson. They didn't want a hero; they wanted a neighbor. They got Warren.
He was a newspaper man who loved poker, whiskey, and his friends. Unfortunately, his friends—the "Ohio Gang"—were basically a pack of wolves in suits.
The Teapot Dome Scandal and the Price of Friendship
If there's one thing Warren G. Harding is known for above all else, it's the Teapot Dome scandal. Honestly, it was the "Watergate" of the 1920s.
It started with oil. The Navy had these massive oil reserves in Wyoming and California, meant to be used only in a national emergency. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, convinced the President to transfer control of those reserves to the Interior Department.
Once he had the keys, Fall secretly leased the land to private oil tycoons without any competitive bidding.
In exchange? Fall got about $400,000 in "loans" and gifts. That’s millions in today’s money. He eventually became the first Cabinet member in U.S. history to go to prison.
It wasn’t just oil
The corruption ran deep. Charles Forbes, a buddy of Harding’s who ran the Veterans' Bureau, was caught pocketing money meant for wounded WWI soldiers. He was selling off government medical supplies for personal profit while veterans suffered.
Harding supposedly found out and was devastated. There's a famous story of him grabbing Forbes by the throat in the White House, shouting, "You double-crossing bastard!"
He wasn't a thief. He was just a terrible judge of character.
What Most People Get Wrong About His Record
It’s easy to focus on the bribes and the bootlegging. But if you look at the actual policy, Harding was surprisingly effective in ways we still feel today.
He created the Bureau of the Budget. Before 1921, the federal government didn't really have a unified budget system. It was a mess of departments asking for money. Harding brought in Charles Dawes to whip the finances into shape, and they actually managed to cut government spending significantly.
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Economic Recovery
When Harding took office, the country was in a post-war depression. Unemployment was spiking. By the time he died in 1923, the economy was booming. He slashed taxes, especially on high earners, and raised tariffs. Whether you agree with "trickle-down" style economics or not, the "Roaring Twenties" started on his watch.
Civil Rights: The Birmingham Speech
This is the part of Harding’s legacy that gets ignored. In 1921, he traveled to Birmingham, Alabama. He stood in front of a segregated crowd of 100,000 people—in the heart of the Jim Crow South—and told them that "democracy is a lie" unless Black Americans were given political and economic equality.
Imagine the guts that took in 1921.
The white audience went silent. The Black audience cheered. He was the first sitting president to speak so forcefully for civil rights in the South since the Civil War. He also pushed for a federal anti-lynching law, though it was blocked by Southern Democrats in the Senate.
The "Return to Normalcy" and the Man Behind It
Harding’s catchphrase was "Return to Normalcy." Critics mocked it—it wasn't even a real word at the time—but it resonated.
He was a man who hated conflict.
He held poker games in the White House during Prohibition, serving liquor while his own government was supposed to be busting bootleggers. It wasn't because he was a criminal mastermind; he just wanted everyone to have a good time. He was a small-town guy who somehow ended up in the world's most stressful job.
The mysterious end
In 1923, feeling the weight of the looming scandals, Harding went on a "Voyage of Understanding" to Alaska and the West Coast. He looked terrible. He was exhausted and suffering from what was likely undiagnosed heart disease.
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On August 2, 1923, he died in a San Francisco hotel room.
At first, the nation mourned him like a hero. Millions lined the tracks as his funeral train crossed the country. But as the investigations into Teapot Dome and the Ohio Gang ramped up after his death, his reputation plummeted. He went from being one of the most popular presidents to being ranked near the bottom of every historical list.
Why Warren G. Harding Still Matters
We shouldn't just write him off as a failure. Harding represents the danger of cronyism. He shows us what happens when a leader prioritizes "loyalty" over "competence."
But he also shows us a president who was capable of surprising growth. His stance on civil rights and his modernization of the federal budget were genuinely progressive steps for the era.
If you're looking to understand the 1920s, you have to look past the "Teapot Dome" label. Look at a man who was deeply human, tragically flawed, and far more complex than a textbook footnote.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs:
- Read "The Shadow of Blooming Grove": If you want the gritty details of his personal life and the Ohio Gang, this biography is the gold standard.
- Visit the Harding Home: Located in Marion, Ohio, it’s one of the best-preserved presidential sites and gives you a real feel for his "Front Porch" campaign.
- Check the Archives: Look up the text of his 1921 Birmingham speech. It’s shocking how relevant his words on racial equality still feel over 100 years later.
Harding wasn't the "worst" because he was evil. He was just a man who was in over his head, trying to be normal in a world that had become anything but.