What was warren harding famous for

He just avoided issues whenever possible. Unlike other modern Presidents, such as Ronald Reagan, who possessed conventional minds and who thought simply, Harding never understood where he wanted to take the nation. Nor could he communicate his message effectively, because he had none to communicate.

He spoke about a "return to normalcy," but he had no idea what this slogan meant. Lacking the moral compass of a Reagan, Harding had no guide to follow.

He was lucky to have had a few good men in his cabinet who generally ran fiscal and foreign affairs well. In the end, it was not his corrupt friends that tarnished his legacy and undermined his historical impact. Rather, it was his own lack of vision and his poor sense of priorities that positioned him so low in the ranking of U. Then, too, it was Harding's sad fate to have followed in office the most visionary of all our Presidents, Woodrow Wilson, the man whom historians generally rank among the top five or six Presidents in the nation's history.

Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. According to his congressional voting record, he missed two-thirds of the votes held during his tenure as senator, including the vote on women's suffrage—a cause that he strongly supported.

In , political insider and friend Harry Daugherty began to promote Harding for the Republican presidential nomination. Daugherty believed that Harding "looked like a president. He was well-known by Republican leaders, had no major political enemies, was "right" on all the issues and represented the critically important state of Ohio.

At the convention in June , after 10 rounds of voting, the nomination was deadlocked. Finally, on the 11th ballot, Harding emerged as the presidential nominee, with Calvin Coolidge as his running mate. During the campaign, Harding pledged to return the country to "normalcy. Opponents James M. Cox and Cox's running mate, Franklin D. Roosevelt , only carried the deeply Democratic southern states.

Harding's administration was determined to roll back the momentum of progressive legislation that had taken place for the past 20 years. He personally overturned or allowed Congress to reverse many policies of the Wilson Administration, and approved tax cuts on higher incomes and protective tariffs. His administration supported limiting immigration and ending spending controls that had been instituted during World War I.

Harding also signed the Budget and Accounting Act of , which allowed the president to submit a unified budget to Congress in the past, the separate cabinet departments had submitted their own budgets. The act also established the General Accounting Office to audit government expenditures.

Additionally, Harding personally championed civil liberties for African Americans, and his administration supported liberalizing farm credit. In foreign affairs, as in domestic policy, Harding delegated much responsibility to several key cabinet members. The Harding Administration also played an important role in rebuilding Europe after WWI, and in establishing an "open door" trading policy in Asia.

As president, Harding often seemed overwhelmed by the burdens of the office. He frequently confided to friends that he wasn't prepared for the presidency. He worked hard and tried to keep his campaign promise of "naming the best man for the job.

While Hughes, Mellon and Hoover were very effective, several other high-level appointees—known as the "Ohio Gang"—proved to be unscrupulous and corrupt, paving the way for scandal.

Fall leased oil-rich lands in Wyoming to companies in return for personal loans. Fall was eventually found guilty of corruption and was sentenced to prison in Even Harding's close friend and political manager Harry Daugherty, the attorney general at the time, faced several impeachment votes by Congress and two indictments for defrauding the government.

Daugherty was finally forced to resign during the Coolidge Administration. Privately, Harding engaged in the good life emblematic of the s. He and Florence had no children of their own, though Florence had an older son prior to her marriage with Harding.

Their social life was made up primarily of elegant garden parties and state dinners. Taxes were reduced, particularly for corporations and wealthy individuals; high protective tariffs were enacted; and immigration was limited.

Harding signed the Budget and Accounting Act of , which streamlined the federal budget system and established the General Accounting Office to audit government expenditures. Harding also nominated ex-president Taft as the chief justice of the U. Supreme Court. To date, Taft is the only former chief executive to have held this position. However, he also surrounded himself with individuals who were later accused of misconduct.

Harding was popular while in office, but his reputation was tarnished following his death when Americans learned of corruption within his administration—even though he had not engaged in any of this criminal activity.

In one infamous incident, known as the Teapot Dome Scandal , Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall rented public lands to oil companies in exchange for gifts and personal loans. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes and spent less than a year in prison.

Other government officials took payoffs and embezzled funds. Harding himself allegedly had extramarital affairs and drank alcohol in the White House , a violation of the 18th Amendment.

In the summer of , Warren Harding embarked on a cross-country tour of the United States to promote his policies. During the trip, the year-old president became sick, and on August 2 he died of what was likely a heart attack no autopsy was conducted at a San Francisco hotel.

Millions of people across the nation gathered along the railroad tracks to pay their respects to Harding as his body was returned from the West Coast to Washington , D. Start your free trial today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. The affair between the future president and the wife of one of his best friends, dry-goods store operator James Phillips, began in August when Harding was lieutenant governor of Ohio and spanned his six years in the U. Senate before his landslide election to the White Florence Harding was an American first lady and the wife of Warren G. Harding, 29th president of the United States. Florence Mabel Kling had