View source for Presidency of Warren G. Harding

{{short description|U.S. presidential administration from 1921 to 1923}}
{{for timeline|Timeline of the Warren G. Harding presidency}}
{{Infobox administration
| image          = Warren G Harding-Harris & Ewing.jpg
| name           = Presidency of Warren G. Harding
| term_start     = March 4, 1921
| term_end       = August 2, 1923
| vicepresident  = [[Calvin Coolidge]]
| cabinet        = ''[[#Administration|See list]]''
| party          = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| election       = [[1920 United States presidential election|1920]]
| seat           = [[White House]]
| predecessor    = [[Presidency of Woodrow Wilson|Woodrow Wilson]]
| successor      = [[Presidency of Calvin Coolidge|Calvin Coolidge]]
| seal           = 1894 US Presidential Seal.jpg
| seal_caption   = Seal of the president<br />(1894–1945)
}}
[[Warren G. Harding]]'s tenure as the [[List of presidents of the United States|29th president of the United States]] lasted from March 4, 1921, until his death on August 2, 1923. Harding presided over the country in the [[aftermath of World War I]]. A [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] from [[Ohio]], Harding held office during a period in American political history [[Fourth Party System|from the mid-1890s to 1932]] that was generally dominated by his party. He died of an apparent [[heart attack]] and was succeeded by Vice President [[Calvin Coolidge]].

Harding took office after defeating [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[James M. Cox]] in the [[1920 United States presidential election|1920 presidential election]]. Running against the policies of incumbent Democratic President [[Woodrow Wilson]], Harding won the popular vote by a margin of 26.2 percentage points, which remains the largest [[List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin|popular-vote percentage margin]] in presidential elections since the end of the [[Era of Good Feelings]] in the 1820s. Upon taking office, Harding instituted conservative policies designed to minimize the government's role in the economy. Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew Mellon]] won passage of the [[Revenue Act of 1921]], a major tax cut that primarily reduced taxes on the wealthy. Harding also signed the [[Budget and Accounting Act]], which established the country's first formal budgeting process and created the [[Office of Management and Budget|Bureau of the Budget]]. Another major aspect of his domestic policy was the [[Fordney–McCumber Tariff]], which greatly increased [[tariffs in United States history|tariff rates]].

Harding supported the 1921 [[Emergency Quota Act]], which marked the start of a period of restrictive immigration policies. He vetoed a bill designed to give a bonus to [[World War I]] veterans but presided over the creation of the Veterans Bureau. He also signed into law several bills designed to address the [[1920s farm crisis|farm crisis]] and, along with Secretary of Commerce [[Herbert Hoover]], promoted new technologies like the radio and aviation. Harding's foreign policy was directed by Secretary of State [[Charles Evans Hughes]]. Hughes's major foreign policy achievement was the [[Washington Naval Conference]] of 1921–1922, in which the world's major naval powers agreed on a naval disarmament program. Harding appointed four Supreme Court justices, all of whom became conservative members of the [[Taft Court]]. Shortly after Harding's death, several major scandals emerged, including the [[Teapot Dome scandal]].

Harding died as one of the most popular presidents in history, but the subsequent exposure of the scandals eroded his popular regard, as did revelations of several extramarital affairs. In [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|historical rankings of the U.S. presidents]] during the decades after his term in office, Harding was often rated among the worst. However, in recent decades, many historians have begun to fundamentally reassess the conventional views of Harding's historical record in office.

{{Warren G. Harding series}}

==1920 election==
{{Main|1920 United States presidential election}}

===Republican nomination===

By early 1920, General [[Leonard Wood]], Illinois governor [[Frank Lowden]], and Senator [[Hiram Johnson]] of California had emerged as the frontrunners for the Republican nomination in the upcoming presidential election.<ref>{{cite news|title=Text of the Republican Platform, Except League Plank; Dispute Over That, and Threat of a Bolt by Borah; Wood Men See Gains; New Yorkers Balk at Butler Pledge|url=https://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/200610convention-gop-ra.html|access-date=May 1, 2017|newspaper=New York Times|date=June 10, 1920}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=334}}</ref> Some in the party began to scout for such an alternative, and Harding's name arose, despite his reluctance, due to his unique ability to draw vital [[Ohio]] votes.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=328}}</ref> [[Harry Daugherty]], who became Harding's campaign manager, and who was sure none of these candidates could garner a majority, convinced Harding to run after a marathon discussion of six-plus hours.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=333}}</ref> Daugherty's strategy focused on making Harding liked by or at least acceptable to all wings of the party, so that Harding could emerge as a compromise candidate in the likely event of a convention deadlock.<ref name="dean8292"/> He struck a deal with Oklahoma oilman Jake L. Hamon, whereby 18 Oklahoma delegates whose votes Hamon had bought for Lowden were committed to Harding as a second choice if Lowden's effort faltered.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=348}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=070731_1_A4_spanc15888 |title=Only in Oklahoma: Hamon's death spawned sensational trial |first=Gene |last=Curtis |newspaper=Tulsa World |date=July 31, 2007 |access-date=September 24, 2013 }}</ref>

[[File:Republican National Convention, 1920 LCCN2007663528 (cropped1).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[1920 Republican National Convention|Republican National Convention]], [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], June 8–12, 1920]]

By the time the [[1920 Republican National Convention]] began in June, a Senate sub-committee had tallied the monies spent by the various candidates, with totals as follows: Wood{{snd}}$1.8&nbsp;million; Lowden{{snd}}$414,000; Johnson{{snd}}$194,000; and Harding{{snd}}$114,000; the committed delegate count at the opening gavel was: Wood{{snd}}124; Johnson{{snd}}112; Lowden{{snd}}72; Harding{{snd}}39.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=351}}</ref> Still, at the opening, less than one-half of the delegates were committed,<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=356}}</ref> and many expected the convention to nominate a compromise candidate like Pennsylvania Senator [[Philander C. Knox]], Massachusetts Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]], or 1916 nominee [[Charles Evans Hughes]].<ref name=nyt1>{{cite news|title=Platform Fights Starts as the Convention Opens; Johnson Flatly Demands Repudiation of the League; Apathy in the Convention; Lodge Permanent Chairman|url=https://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/200609convention-gop-ra.html|access-date=9 October 2015|newspaper=New York Times|date=9 June 1920}}</ref> No candidate was able to corral a majority after nine ballots.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=380}}</ref> After the convention adjourned for the day, Republican Senators and other leaders, who were divided and without a singular political boss, met in Room 404 of the [[Blackstone Hotel]] in Chicago. After a nightlong session, these party leaders tentatively concluded Harding was the best possible compromise candidate; this meeting has often been described as having taken place in a "[[smoke-filled room]]."<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=381}}</ref> The next day, on the tenth ballot, Harding was nominated for president. Delegates then selected Massachusetts governor [[Calvin Coolidge]] to be his vice-presidential running mate.<ref>{{cite web|title=Calvin Coolidge, 29th Vice President (1921–1923)|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Calvin_Coolidge.htm|publisher=US Senate|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=April 30, 2017}}</ref>

===General election===
[[File:Warren G. Harding's Home Marion Ohio 1920 Republican Front Porch Campaign.jpg|thumb|left|Harding's home in [[Marion, Ohio]], from which he conducted his 1920 "front porch" campaign. (c.1918–1921)]]

Harding's opponent in the [[1920 United States presidential election|1920 election]] was Ohio governor and newspaperman [[James M. Cox]], who had won the Democratic nomination in a 44-ballot [[1920 Democratic National Convention|convention]] battle. Harding rejected the [[Progressive Era|Progressive]] ideology of the [[Presidency of Woodrow Wilson|Wilson administration]] in favor of the [[laissez-faire]] approach of the [[Presidency of William McKinley|McKinley administration]].<ref name="Russell, p. 404">{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=404}}</ref> He ran on the promise of a "[[return to normalcy]]," calling for the end to an era which he saw as tainted by war, internationalism, and government activism.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=403}}</ref> He stated: 
{{Blockquote|America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/return-to-normalcy/| title=Return to Normalcy Warren G. Harding Boston, Massachusetts May 14, 1920| website=TeachingAmericanHistory.org| publisher=Ashbrook Center at Ashland University| location=Ashland, Ohio| access-date=May 1, 2017}}</ref>}}

The 1920 election was the first in which women could vote nationwide, as well as the first to be covered on the radio.<ref name="history">{{cite web|title=Harding becomes first president to be heard on the radio|date= 16 November 2009 |url= http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/harding-becomes-first-president-to-be-heard-on-the-radio |access-date=April 2, 2011}}</ref> Led by [[Albert Lasker]], the Harding campaign executed a broad-based [[advertising campaign]] that used modern advertising techniques for the first time in a presidential campaign.<ref>{{harvp|Morello|2001}}</ref> Using newsreels, motion pictures, sound recordings, billboard posters, newspapers, magazines, and other media, Lasker emphasized and enhanced Harding's patriotism and affability. Five thousand speakers were trained by advertiser [[Harry New]] and sent across the country to speak for Harding. [[Telemarketers]] were used to make phone conferences with perfected dialogues to promote Harding, and Lasker had 8,000 photos of Harding and his wife distributed around the nation every two weeks. Farmers were sent brochures decrying the alleged abuses of Democratic agriculture policies, while African Americans and women were given literature in an attempt to take away votes from the Democrats.<ref>{{harvp|Morello|2001|pp=64–65}}</ref> Additionally, celebrities like [[Al Jolson]] and [[Lillian Russell]] toured the nation on Harding's behalf.<ref>{{cite magazine| title=Warren G. Harding Was The First Celebrity-Endorsed President| url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/warren-g-harding-was-the-first-celebrityendorsed-president| last=Giaimo| first=Cara| date=August 31, 2015| magazine=Atlas Obscura| access-date=May 1, 2017}}</ref>

[[File:ElectoralCollege1920.svg|thumb|1920 electoral vote results]]

Harding won a decisive victory, receiving 404 [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral votes]] to Cox's 127. He took 60 percent of the nationwide popular vote, the highest percentage ever recorded up to that time, while Cox received just 34 percent of the vote.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=418}}</ref> Campaigning from a federal prison, [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]] candidate [[Eugene V. Debs]] received 3% percent of the national vote. Harding won the popular vote by a margin of 26.2%, the [[List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin|largest margin]] since the [[1820 United States presidential election|election of 1820]]. He swept every state outside of the "[[Solid South]]", and his victory in Tennessee made him the first Republican to win a former [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] state since the end of [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]].{{sfn|Dean|2004|pp=76–77}} In the concurrent [[1920 United States elections|congressional elections]], the Republicans picked up 63 seats in the House of Representatives.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=419}}</ref> The incoming [[67th United States Congress|67th Congress]] would be dominated by Republicans, though the party was divided among various factions, including an independent-minded farm bloc from the Midwest.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=59–60}}

==Inauguration==
{{main|Inauguration of Warren G. Harding}}
[[File:Warren G. Harding inauguration cph.3b11806.jpg|thumb|Inauguration of Warren G. Harding, March 4, 1921.]]
Harding  was inaugurated as the nation's 29th president on March 4, 1921, on the East Portico of the [[United States Capitol]]. [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]] [[Edward Douglass White|Edward D. White]] administered the [[Oath of office of the President of the United States|oath of office]]. Harding placed his hand on the [[George Washington Inaugural Bible|Washington Inaugural Bible]] as he recited the oath. This was the first time that a U.S. president rode to and from his inauguration in an automobile.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/about/past-inaugural-ceremonies/34th-inaugural-ceremonies/| title=The 34th Presidential Inauguration Warren G. Harding March 4, 1921| publisher=Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies| access-date=April 29, 2017}}</ref> In his inaugural address Harding reiterated the themes of his campaign, declaring:
{{blockquote|My Countrymen: When one surveys the world about him after the great storm, noting the marks of destruction and yet rejoicing in the ruggedness of the things which withstood it, if he is an American he breathes the clarified atmosphere with a strange mingling of regret and new hope. ... Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much from the government and at the same time do too little for it.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|pp=2, 14}}</ref>}}

Literary critic [[H.L. Mencken]] was appalled, announcing that:
{{blockquote|He writes the worst English I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights.<ref>{{cite book|author=Allan Metcalf|title=Presidential Voices: Speaking Styles from George Washington to George W. Bush|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentialvoic0000metc|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|pages=[https://archive.org/details/presidentialvoic0000metc/page/37 37]–38|isbn=9780547350301}}</ref>}}

==Administration==

===Cabinet===
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=right
|Name=Harding
|President=[[Warren G. Harding]]
|President start=1921
|President end=1923
|Vice President=[[Calvin Coolidge]]
|Vice President start=1921
|Vice President end=1923
|State=[[Charles Evans Hughes]]
|State start=1921
|State end=1923
|Treasury=[[Andrew Mellon]]
|Treasury start=1921
|Treasury end=1923
|War=[[John W. Weeks]]
|War start=1921
|War end=1923
|Justice=[[Harry M. Daugherty]]
|Justice start=1921
|Justice end=1923
|Post=[[Will H. Hays]]
|Post start=1921
|Post end=1922
|Post 2=[[Hubert Work]]
|Post start 2=1922
|Post end 2=1923
|Post 3=[[Harry S. New]]
|Post date 3=1923
|Navy=[[Edwin Denby (politician)|Edwin Denby]]
|Navy start=1921
|Navy end=1923
|Interior=[[Albert B. Fall]]
|Interior start=1921
|Interior end=1923
|Interior 2=[[Hubert Work]]
|Interior date 2=1923
|Agriculture=[[Henry Cantwell Wallace]]
|Agriculture start=1921
|Agriculture end=1923
|Commerce=[[Herbert Hoover]]
|Commerce start=1921
|Commerce end=1923
|Labor=[[James J. Davis]]
|Labor start=1921
|Labor end=1923
}}
[[File:Harding-Cabinet-1921.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Harding and his first Cabinet, 1921<br>From left: Harding, Andrew W. Mellon, Harry M. Daugherty, Edwin Denby, Henry C. Wallace, James J. Davis, Charles Evans Hughes, Calvin Coolidge, John W. Weeks, Will H. Hays, Albert Fall, Herbert Hoover]]

Harding selected numerous prominent national figures for his ten-person Cabinet. Henry Cabot Lodge, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, suggested that Harding appoint [[Elihu Root]] or [[Philander C. Knox]] as Secretary of State, but Harding instead selected former Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes for the position. Harding appointed [[Henry Cantwell Wallace|Henry C. Wallace]], an Iowan journalist who had advised Harding's 1920 campaign on farm issues, as Secretary of Agriculture. After [[Charles G. Dawes]] declined Harding's offer to become Secretary of the Treasury, Harding assented to Senator [[Boies Penrose]]'s suggestion to select Pittsburgh billionaire [[Andrew Mellon]]. Harding used Mellon's appointment as leverage to win confirmation for [[Herbert Hoover]], who had led the [[U.S. Food Administration]] under Wilson and who became Harding's Secretary of Commerce.<ref name="dean8292"/>

Rejecting public calls to appoint Leonard Wood as Secretary of War, Harding instead appointed Lodge's preferred candidate, former Senator [[John W. Weeks]] of Massachusetts. He selected [[James J. Davis]] for the position of Secretary of Labor, as Davis satisfied Harding's criteria of being broadly acceptable to labor but being opposed to labor leader [[Samuel Gompers]]. [[Will H. Hays]], the chairman of the [[Republican National Committee]], was appointed Postmaster General. Grateful for his actions at the 1920 Republican convention, Harding offered Frank Lowden the post of Secretary of the Navy. After Lowden turned down the post, Harding instead appointed former Congressman [[Edwin Denby (politician)|Edwin Denby]] of Michigan. New Mexico Senator [[Albert B. Fall]], a close ally of Harding's during their time in the Senate together, became Harding's Secretary of the Interior.<ref name="dean8292">{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=82–92}}</ref>

Although Harding was committed to putting the "best minds" on his Cabinet, he often awarded other appointments to those who had contributed to his campaign's victory. Wayne Wheeler, leader of the [[Anti-Saloon League]], was allowed by Harding to dictate who would serve on the Prohibition Commission.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=440}}</ref> Harding appointed Harry M. Daugherty as Attorney General because he felt he owed Daugherty for running his 1920 campaign. After the election, many people from the Ohio area moved to [[Washington, D.C.]], made their headquarters in a [[Little Green House on K Street|little green house on K Street]], and would be eventually known as the "[[Ohio Gang]]".<ref>[http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=3033 Harry M. Daugherty], Ohio History Central, Retrieved September 5, 2010</ref> Graft and corruption charges permeated Harding's [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]]; bootleggers [[confiscated]] tens of thousands cases of whiskey through [[bribery]] and [[Kickback (bribery)|kickbacks]].<ref name="Werner, pp. 266–272">{{harvp|Werner|2010|pp=266–272}}</ref> The financial and political scandals caused by the Ohio Gang and other Harding appointees, in addition to Harding's own personal controversies, severely damaged Harding's personal reputation and eclipsed his presidential accomplishments.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=460}}</ref>

===Press corps===
According to biographers, Harding got along better with the press than any other previous president, being a former newspaperman. Reporters admired his frankness, candor, and his confessed limitations. He took the press behind the scenes and showed them the inner circle of the presidency. In November 1921, Harding also implemented a policy of taking written questions from reporters during a press conference.<ref name="Dean_95_97_99_100">{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=95, 97, 99, 100}}</ref>

==Judicial appointments==
{{Main|Warren G. Harding Supreme Court candidates|List of federal judges appointed by Warren G. Harding}}

Harding appointed four justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]. After the death of [[Chief Justice of the United States|Chief Justice]]
[[Edward Douglass White]], former President [[William Howard Taft]] lobbied Harding for the nomination to succeed White. Harding acceded to Taft's request, and Taft joined the court in June 1921.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=48–49}} Harding's next choice for the Court was conservative former Senator [[George Sutherland]] of Utah, who had been a major supporter of Taft in 1912 and Harding in 1920. Sutherland succeeded [[John Hessin Clarke]] in September 1922 after Clarke resigned. Two Supreme Court vacancies arose in 1923 due to the death of [[William R. Day]] and the resignation of [[Mahlon Pitney]]. On Taft's recommendation, Harding nominated railroad attorney and conservative Democrat [[Pierce Butler (justice)|Pierce Butler]] to succeed Day. Progressive senators like [[Robert M. La Follette]] unsuccessfully sought to defeat Butler's nomination, but Butler was confirmed. On the advice of Attorney General Daugherty, Harding appointed federal appellate judge [[Edward Terry Sanford]] of Tennessee to succeed Pitney.<ref name="clouatre1">{{cite book|last1=Clouatre|first1=Douglas|title=Presidents and their Justices|date=2012|publisher=University Press of America|pages=224–225}}</ref> Bolstered by these appointments, the [[Taft Court]] upheld the precedents of the [[Lochner era]] and largely reflected the conservatism of the 1920s.<ref name="renstrom">{{cite book|last1=Renstrom|first1=Peter|title=The Taft Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy|date=2003|publisher=ABC-CLIO|pages=3–4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MvXtcBst9OIC&q=%22taft+court%22|access-date=March 4, 2016|isbn=9781576072806}}</ref>

The Justice Department in the Harding Administration selected 6 judges to the [[United States Courts of Appeals]], 42 judges to the [[United States district courts]], and 2 judges to the [[United States Court of Customs Appeals]].

==Domestic affairs==
===Revenue Act of 1921===
{{Further|Depression of 1920–21}}
[[File:AWMellon.jpg|thumb|upright|Secretary of Treasury [[Andrew W. Mellon]]]]

Harding assumed office while the nation was in the midst of a postwar economic decline known as the [[Depression of 1920–21]]. He strongly rejected proposals to provide for federal [[unemployment benefits]], believing that the government should leave relief efforts to charities and local governments.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=92–93}} He believed that the best way to restore economic prosperity was to raise [[tariffs in United States history|tariff]] rates and reduce the government's role in economic activities.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=58–59}} His administration's economic policy was formulated by Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, who proposed cuts to the [[excess profits tax]] and the corporate tax.<ref>{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=106–107}}</ref> The central tenet of Mellon's tax plan was a reduction of the surtax, a progressive income tax that only affected high-income earners.{{sfn|Murnane|2004|pp=825–826, 837–838}} Mellon favored the wealthy holding as much capital as possible, since he saw them as the main drivers of economic growth.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=71}} Congressional Republican leaders shared Harding and Mellon's desire for tax cuts, and Republicans made tax cuts and tariff rates the key legislative priorities of Harding's first year in office. Harding called a special session of the Congress to address these and other issues, and Congress convened in April 1921.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=54–55}}

Despite opposition from Democrats and many farm state Republicans, Congress passed the [[Revenue Act of 1921]] in November, and Harding signed the bill into law later that month. The act greatly reduced taxes for the wealthiest Americans, though the cuts were not as deep as Mellon had favored.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=71–72}} The act reduced the top marginal income tax rate from 73 percent to 58 percent,{{sfn|Murnane|2004|pp=824–829}} lowered the corporate tax from 65 percent to 50 percent, and provided for ultimate elimination of the excess profits tax.<ref name="Graff_394_398"/><ref>{{harvp|Armstrong|2007|pp=218–219}}</ref> Revenues to the treasury decreased substantially.<ref name="ombhistorical">{{cite web|author=Office of Management and Budget|title=Table 1.1—Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (-): 1789–2019|url = https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/budget/Historicals|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[Office of Management and Budget]]|access-date=May 16, 2014}}</ref>

Wages, profits, and productivity all made substantial gains during the 1920s, and economists have differed as to whether Revenue Act of 1921 played a major role in the strong period of economic growth after the Depression of 1920–21. Economist Daniel Kuehn has attributed the improvement to the earlier monetary policy of the [[Federal Reserve]], and notes that the changes in marginal tax rates were accompanied by an expansion in the tax base that could account for the increase in revenue.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A critique of Powell, Woods, and Murphy on the 1920–1921 depression|doi=10.1007/s11138-010-0131-3|volume=24|issue=3|journal=The Review of Austrian Economics|pages=273–291|year=2011|last1=Kuehn|first1=Daniel|s2cid=145586147}}</ref> [[Libertarianism|Libertarian]] historians Schweikart and Allen argue that Harding's tax and economic policies in part "...&nbsp;produced the most vibrant eight year burst of manufacturing and innovation in the nation's history,"<ref>{{harvp|Schweikart|Allen|2004|p=539}}</ref> Recovery did not last long. Another economic contraction began near the end of Harding's presidency in 1923, while tax cuts were still underway. A third contraction followed in 1927 during the next presidential term.<ref name="nber">{{cite web|url=https://www.nber.org/cycles/cyclesmain.html|title=US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions|publisher=Nber.org|access-date=2012-01-20}}</ref> Some economists have argued that the tax cuts resulted in growing [[economic inequality]] and [[speculation]], which in turn contributed to the [[Great Depression]].{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=72–73}}

===Fordney– McCumber Tariff===
{{see also|Tariffs in United States history}}

Like most Republicans of his era, Harding favored [[protective tariff]]s-- high taxes on selected imports.  Before 1920 Harding was a spokesman for the traditional Republican Party stance favoring high tariffs to protect the manufacturing industries and the high wages they paid.   In the 1920 campaign and during his presidency, Harding was a strong advocate for protectionism, believing that tariffs were essential to safeguard American jobs and industries.  He believed that tariffs would stimulate domestic manufacturing, keep factory wages high, and lead to general prosperity.  However, Harding's administration also sought to negotiate reciprocal trade agreements, which involved reducing tariffs on imports from another country in exchange for similar concessions by it. This approach aimed to promote more trade while still protecting domestic industries.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=56, 74}} <ref>John A. Moore,  "The Original Supply Siders: Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge." ''The Independent Review'' 18.4 (2014): 597-618. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24563172 online]</ref>

Shortly after taking office, he signed the [[Emergency Tariff of 1921]], a stopgap measure primarily designed to aid American farmers suffering from the effects of an expansion in European farm imports.<ref>{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=102–103}}</ref> The emergency tariff also protected domestic manufacturing, as it included a clause to prevent [[Dumping (pricing policy)|dumping]] by European manufacturers.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=61}} Harding hoped to sign a permanent tariff into law by the end of 1921, but heated congressional debate over tariff schedules, especially between agricultural and manufacturing interests, delayed passage of such a bill.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=73–74}}

In September 1922, Harding enthusiastically signed the [[Fordney–McCumber Tariff]] Act.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=550}}</ref> The protectionist legislation was sponsored by Representative [[Joseph W. Fordney]] and Senator [[Porter J. McCumber]], and was supported by nearly every congressional Republican.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=73–74}} The act increased the tariff rates contained in the previous [[Underwood-Simmons Tariff]] Act of 1913, to the highest level in the nation's history. Harding became concerned when the agriculture business suffered economic hardship from the high tariffs. By 1922, Harding began to believe that the long-term effects of high tariffs could be detrimental to national economy, despite the short-term benefits.<ref name="Russell, pp. 551">{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=551}}</ref> The high tariffs established under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover have historically been viewed as a contributing factor to the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]].<ref name="Graff_394_398">{{harvp|Graff|2002|pp=394–398}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=102–105}}</ref>

===Bureau of the Budget===
[[File:Chas G Dawes-H&E.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Dawes]]—the first budget director]]

Harding believed the federal government should be fiscally managed in a way similar to private sector businesses.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=54}} He had campaigned on the slogan, "Less government in business and more business in government."<ref>{{cite web|title=Warren G. Harding US President&nbsp;— 1921–23|url=http://www.classbrain.com/artbiographies/publish/warren_harding.shtml|access-date=2011-01-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927082616/http://www.classbrain.com/artbiographies/publish/warren_harding.shtml|archive-date=2011-09-27}}</ref> As the [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|House Ways and Means Committee]] found it increasingly difficult to balance revenues and expenditures, Taft had recommended the creation of a federal budget system during his presidency. Businessmen and economists coalesced around Taft's proposal during the Wilson administration, and by 1920, both parties favored it. Reflecting this goal, in June 1921, Harding signed the [[Budget and Accounting Act of 1921]].{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=61–62}}

The act established the [[Office of Management and Budget|Bureau of the Budget]] to coordinate the federal budgeting process.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=443}}</ref> At the head of this office was the presidential budget director, who was directly responsible to the president rather than to the Secretary of Treasury. The law also stipulated that the president must annually submit a budget to Congress, and all presidents since have had to do so.<ref>History Channel (2005), ''The Presidents'', Part 6, Section 2/5.</ref> Additionally, the [[General Accounting Office]] (GAO) was created to assure congressional oversight of federal budget expenditures. The GAO would be led by the [[Comptroller General of the United States|Comptroller General]], who was appointed by Congress to a term of fifteen years.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=62}} Harding appointed Charles Dawes as the Bureau of the Budget's first director. Dawes's first year in office saw government spending reduced by $1.5 billion, a 25 percent reduction, and he presided over another 25 percent reduction the following year.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=538}}</ref>

===Immigration restriction===
{{see also|History of immigration to the United States}}

In the first two decades of the 20th century, immigration to the United States had increased, with many of the immigrants coming from [[Southern Europe]] and [[Eastern Europe]] rather than [[Western Europe]]. Many Americans viewed these new immigrants with suspicion, and World War I and the [[First Red Scare]] further heightened [[Nativism (politics)|nativist]] fears.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=60–61}} The [[Emergency Quota Act|Per Centum Act of 1921]], signed by Harding on May 19, 1921, reduced the numbers of [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] to 3 percent of a country's represented population based on the [[1910 United States Census|1910 Census]]. The act, which had been vetoed by President Wilson in the previous Congress, also allowed unauthorized immigrants to be deported. Harding and Secretary of Labor James Davis believed that enforcement had to be humane, and Harding often allowed exceptions granting reprieves to thousands of immigrants.<ref name="harvp|Dean|2004|pp=101-102">{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=101–102}}</ref> Immigration to the United States fell from roughly 800,000 in 1920 to approximately 300,000 in 1922.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=61}} Though the act was later superseded by the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], it marked the establishment of the [[National Origins Formula]].<ref name="harvp|Dean|2004|pp=101-102"/>

===Veterans===

Many World War I veterans were unemployed or otherwise economically distressed when Harding took office. To aid these veterans, the Senate considered passing a law that gave veterans a $1 bonus for each day they had served in the war.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=64–65}} Harding opposed payment of a bonus to veterans, arguing that much was already being done for them and that the bill would "break down our Treasury, from which so much is later on to be expected."{{sfn|Dean|2004|pp=107–108}} The Senate sent the bonus bill back to committee,{{sfn|Dean|2004|pp=107–108}} but the issue returned when Congress reconvened in December 1921. A bill providing a bonus, without a means of funding it, was passed by both houses in September 1922. Harding vetoed it, and the veto was narrowly sustained.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=78–79}}

In August 1921, Harding signed the Sweet Bill, which established a new agency known as the Veterans Bureau. After World War I, 300,000 wounded veterans were in need of [[Inpatient care|hospitalization]], medical care, and job training. To handle the needs of these veterans, the new agency incorporated the War Risk Insurance Bureau, the Federal Hospitalization Bureau, and three other bureaus that dealt with veteran affairs.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=522}}</ref> Harding appointed Colonel [[Charles R. Forbes]], a decorated war veteran, as the Veteran Bureau's first director. The Veterans Bureau later was incorporated into the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Veterans Administration]] and ultimately the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Department of Veterans Affairs]].<ref name="Russell_526">{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=526}}</ref>

===Farm acts===

Farmers were among the hardest hit during the Depression of 1920–21, and prices for farm goods collapsed.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=13–14}} The presence of a powerful bipartisan farm bloc led by Senator [[William S. Kenyon (Iowa politician)|William S. Kenyon]] and Congressman [[Lester J. Dickinson]] ensured that Congress would address the [[1920s farm crisis|farm crisis]]. Harding established the Joint Commission on Agricultural Industry to make recommendations on farm policy, and he signed a series of farm- and food-related laws in 1921 and 1922.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=66–67}} Much of the legislation emanated from President Woodrow Wilson's 1919 [[Federal Trade Commission]] report, which investigated and discovered "manipulations, controls, trusts, combinations, or restraints out of harmony with the law or the public interest" in the [[meat-packing industry]]. The first law was the [[Packers and Stockyards Act]], which prohibited packers from engaging in unfair and deceptive practices. Two amendments were made to the [[Federal Farm Loan Act|Farm Loan Act]] of 1916 that President Wilson had signed into law, which had expanded the maximum size of rural farm loans. The Emergency Agriculture Credit Act authorized new loans to farmers to help them sell and market livestock. The [[Capper–Volstead Act]], signed by Harding on February 18, 1922, protected farm cooperatives from anti-trust legislation. The [[Future Trading Act]] was also enacted, regulating ''puts and calls'', ''bids'', and ''offers'' on [[futures contract]]ing. Later, on May 15, 1922, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled this legislation unconstitutional,<ref name="Graff_394_398"/> but Congress passed the similar [[Grain Futures Act]] in response. Though sympathetic to farmers and deferential to Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, Harding was uncomfortable with many of the farm programs since they relied on governmental action, and he sought to weaken the farm bloc by appointing Kenyon to a federal judgeship in 1922.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=68–69}}

===Highways and radio===
{{see also|History of radio}}
[[File:HerbertClarkHoover.jpg|thumb|upright|Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover listening to a radio]]

During the 1920s, use of electricity became increasingly common, and mass production of the [[automobile]] stimulated industries such as highway construction, rubber, steel, and construction.{{sfn|Sinclair|1965|p=206}} Congress had passed the [[Federal Aid Road Act of 1916]] to aid state road-building programs, and Harding favored a further expansion of the federal role in road construction and maintenance. He signed into law the [[Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921]], which allowed states to select interstate and intercounty roads that would receive federal funds.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=87–88}} From 1921 to 1923, the federal government spent $162&nbsp;million on America's highway system, infusing the U.S. economy with a large amount of capital.{{sfn|Wynn|1986|pp=217–218}}

Harding and Secretary of Commerce Hoover embraced the emerging medium of the [[radio]].{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=46}} In June 1922, Harding became the first president that the American public heard on the radio, delivering a speech in honor of [[Francis Scott Key]].<ref name="history"/> Secretary of Commerce Hoover took charge of the administration's radio policy. He convened a conference of radio broadcasters in 1922, which led to a voluntary agreement for licensing of [[radio frequency|radio frequencies]] through the Commerce Department. Both Harding and Hoover believed that something more than an agreement was needed, but Congress was slow to act, not imposing radio regulation until 1927. Hoover hosted a similar conference on aviation,
but, as with the radio, was unable to win passage of legislation that would have provided for regulation air travel.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=88}}

===Labor issues===
{{Further|Great Railroad Strike of 1922}}

[[Trade union|Union]] membership had grown during World War I, and by 1920 union members constituted approximately one-fifth of the labor force. Many employers reduced wages after the war, and some business leaders hoped to destroy the power of organized labor in order to re-establish control over their employees. These policies led to increasing labor tension in the early 1920s.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=96–97}} Widespread strikes marked 1922, as labor sought redress for falling wages and increased unemployment. In April, 500,000 coal miners, led by [[John L. Lewis]], struck over wage cuts. Mining executives argued that the industry was seeing hard times; Lewis accused them of trying to break the union. Harding convinced the miners to return to work while  a congressional commission looked into their grievances.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=97–99}} He also sent out the National Guard and 2,200 deputy U.S. marshals to keep the peace.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=547}}</ref> On July 1, 1922, 400,000 railroad workers went on strike. Harding proposed a settlement that made some concessions, but management objected. Attorney General Daugherty convinced Judge [[James H. Wilkerson]] to issue a sweeping injunction to break up the strike. Although there was public support for the Wilkerson injunction, Harding felt it went too far, and had Daugherty and Wilkerson amend it. The injunction succeeded in ending the strike; however, tensions remained high between railroad workers and management for years.{{sfn|Russell|1962|pp=546–549}}

By 1922, the [[eight-hour day]] had become common in American industry. One exception was in [[steel mill]]s, where workers labored through a twelve-hour workday, seven days a week. Hoover considered this practice barbaric, and convinced Harding to convene a conference of steel manufacturers with a view to ending it. The conference established a committee under the leadership of [[U.S. Steel]] chairman [[Elbert Gary]], which in early 1923 recommended against ending the practice. Harding sent a letter to Gary deploring the result, which was printed in the press, and public outcry caused the manufacturers to reverse themselves and standardize the eight-hour day.{{sfn|Sinclair|1965|pp=255–256}}

===African Americans===
[[File:Leonidas C. Dyer Edited.jpg|thumb|upright|Harding supported the anti-lynching bill proposed by Republican Congressman [[Leonidas C. Dyer]]; it was killed in the Senate.]]

Harding spoke of equal rights in his speech when accepting the Republican nomination in 1920:

<blockquote>
"No majority shall abridge the rights of a minority [...] I believe the Black citizens of America should be guaranteed the enjoyment of all their rights, that they have earned their full measure of citizenship bestowed, that their sacrifices in blood on the battlefields of the republic have entitled them to all of freedom and opportunity, all of sympathy and aid that the American spirit of fairness and justice demands.”<ref>James D. Robenalt,  “The Republican president who called for racial justice in America after Tulsa massacre: Warren G. Harding’s comments about race and equality were remarkable for 1921” [https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/06/21/warren-harding-tulsa-race-massacre-trump/  Washington Post June 21, 2020]</ref>
</blockquote>

In June 1921, three  days after the massive [[Tulsa race massacre]] President Harding spoke at the all-black [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]] in Pennsylvania. “Despite the demagogues, the idea of our oneness as Americans has risen superior to every appeal to mere class and group,” Harding declared. “And so, I wish it might be in this matter of our national problem of races.” He honored Lincoln alumni who had been among the more than 367,000 black soldiers to fight in the Great War. One Lincoln graduate led the 370th U.S. Infantry, the “Black Devils.” Col. F.A. Denison was the sole black commander of a regiment in France.  The President called education critical to solving the issues of racial inequality, but he challenged the students to shoulder their shared responsibility to advance freedom. The government alone, he said, could not magically “take a race from bondage to citizenship in half a century.”  He spoke about Tulsa and offered up a simple prayer: “God grant that, in the soberness, the fairness, and the justice of this country, we never see another spectacle like it.”<ref>Robenalt,  “The Republican president who called for racial justice in America after Tulsa massacre"</ref>

Notably in an age of severe racial intolerance during the 1920s, Harding did not hold any racial animosity, according to historian Carl S. Anthony.<ref name="Anthony 1998">Anthony (July–August, 1998), ''The Most Scandalous President''</ref> In a speech on October 26, 1921, given in segregated [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], [[Alabama]] Harding advocated [[civil rights]] for African Americans, becoming the first president to openly advocate black political, educational, and economic equality during the 20th century.<ref name="Anthony 1998"/> In the Birmingham speech, Harding called for African Americans to have equal educational opportunities and greater voting rights in the [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|South]]. The white section of the audience listened in silence while the black section of the segregated audience cheered.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Radosh |first1=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Radosh |last2=Radosh |first2=Allis |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/hey_wait_a_minute/2014/07/warren_harding_letters_could_they_spark_a_revisionist_view_of_the_much_maligned.single.html |title=What If Warren Harding Wasn't a Terrible President? |work=Slate |date=2014-07-16 |access-date=2014-07-18 }}</ref> Harding, however, openly stated that he was not for black social equality in terms of racial mixing or [[Miscegenation|intermarriage]].<ref name="Christian Science Monitor 1921">Christian Science Monitor (October 27, 1921), ''The President's Views On Race''</ref> Harding also spoke on the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]], stating that blacks migrating to the North and West to find employment had actually harmed race relations between blacks and whites.<ref name="Christian Science Monitor 1921"/>

The three previous presidents had dropped African Americans from several government positions they had previously held, and Harding reversed this policy.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 273560|title = The Rise of Segregation in the Federal Bureaucracy, 1900–1930|journal = Phylon|volume = 28|issue = 2|pages = 178–184|last1 = Meier|first1 = August|last2 = Rudwick|first2 = Elliott|year = 1967|doi = 10.2307/273560}}</ref> African Americans were appointed to high-level positions in the Departments of Labor and Interior, and numerous blacks were hired in other agencies and departments.<ref>{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=123-124}}</ref> [[Eugene P. Trani]] and Daniel L. Wilson write that Harding did not emphasize appointing African Americans to positions they had traditionally held prior to Wilson's tenure, partly out of a desire to court white Southerners.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=50}} Harding also disappointed black supporters by not abolishing segregation in federal offices, and through his failure to comment publicly on the [[Ku Klux Klan]].{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=104}}

Harding supported Congressman [[Leonidas Dyer]]'s federal anti-lynching bill, known as the [[Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill|Dyer Bill]], which passed the House of Representatives in January, 1922.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/lynch/doc1.htm |title=Anti-Lynching Bill |author=Leonidas Dyer |year=1922 |publisher=WASM |access-date=November 14, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217081129/http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/lynch/doc1.htm |archive-date=February 17, 2009 }}</ref> When it reached the Senate floor in November 1922, it was filibustered by Southern Democrats, and Senator Lodge withdrew it so as to allow a ship subsidy bill Harding favored to be debated. Many blacks blamed Harding for the Dyer bill's defeat; Harding biographer [[Robert K. Murray]] noted that it was hastened to its end by Harding's desire to have the ship subsidy bill considered.{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=89–90}}

===Sheppard–Towner Maternity Act===
On November 21, 1921, Harding signed the [[Sheppard–Towner Act|Sheppard–Towner Maternity Act]], the first major federal government social welfare program in the U.S. The law was sponsored by [[Julia Lathrop]], America's first director of the [[United States Children's Bureau|U.S. Children's Bureau]]. The Sheppard–Towner Maternity Act funded almost 3,000 child and health centers, where doctors treated healthy pregnant women and provided preventive care to healthy children. Child welfare workers were sent out to make sure that parents were taking care of their children. Many women were given career opportunities as welfare and social workers. Although the law remained in effect only eight years, it set the trend for [[New Deal]] social programs during the 1930s.<ref>{{harvp|Sreenivasan|2009|p=567}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=A historic look at health care legislation|url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/03/23/a_historic_look_at_health_care_legislation/|agency=Associated Press|date=March 23, 2010| access-date=2011-02-26|work=The Boston Globe}}</ref>

===Deregulation===
{{See also|Lochner era|l1=''Lochner'' era}}

As part of Harding's belief in limiting the government's role in the economy, he sought to undercut the power of the [[regulatory agency|regulatory agencies]] that had been created or strengthened during the [[Progressive Era]]. Among the agencies in existence when Harding came to office were the Federal Reserve (charged with regulating banks), the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] (charged with regulating railroads) and the [[Federal Trade Commission]] (charged with regulating other business activities, especially [[Trust (business)|trusts]]). Harding staffed the agencies with individuals sympathetic to business concerns and hostile to regulation. By the end of his tenure, only the Federal Trade Commission resisted conservative domination.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=86–87}} Other federal organizations, like the [[Railroad Labor Board]], also came under the sway of business interests.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=99–100}} In 1921, Harding signed the [[Willis Graham Act]], which effectively rescinded the [[Kingsbury Commitment]] and allowed [[AT&T]] to establish a monopoly in the [[telephone]] industry.{{sfn|Wilson|2000|pp=17–21}}

===Release of political prisoners===
[[image:Eugenedebs1921.jpg|thumb|right|Eugene Debs after release from prison by President Harding, visits the White House]]

On December 23, 1921, Harding released Socialist leader Eugene Debs from prison. Debs had been convicted under sedition charges brought by the Wilson administration for his opposition to the draft during World War I.<ref>{{harvp|Frum|2000|p=41}}</ref> Despite many political differences between the two candidates, Harding commuted Debs' sentence to time served, though he did not grant Debs an official [[presidential pardon]]. Debs' failing health was a contributing factor for the release. Harding granted a general amnesty to 23 prisoners, alleged [[anarchists]] and socialists, who had been active during the [[First Red Scare]].<ref name="Graff_394_398"/><ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=487}}</ref>

===1922 mid-term elections===
Entering the [[1922 United States elections|1922 midterm congressional election]] campaign, Harding and the Republicans had followed through on many of their campaign promises. But some of the fulfilled pledges, like cutting taxes for the well-off, did not appeal to the electorate. The economy had not returned to normalcy, with unemployment at 11&nbsp;percent, and organized labor was angry over the outcome of the strikes. In the 1922 elections, Republicans suffered major losses in both the House and the Senate. Though they kept control of both chambers, they retained only a narrow majority in the House at the start of the [[68th United States Congress|68th Congress]] in 1923.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=80–81}} The elections empowered the progressive wing of the party led by Robert La Follette, who began investigations into Harding administration.{{sfn|Thelen|1976|pp=171–176}}

==Foreign affairs==
{{Further|History of U.S. foreign policy, 1913–1933}}

===European relations===
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|By the time Harding took office, several new European states had been established in the [[Aftermath of World War I]]]]

Harding took office less than two years after the end of World War I, and his administration faced several issues in the [[aftermath of World War I|aftermath of that conflict]]. Harding made it clear when he appointed Hughes as Secretary of State that the former justice would run foreign policy, a change from Wilson's close management of international affairs.{{sfn|Russell|1962|p=43}} Harding and Hughes frequently communicated, and the president remained well-informed regarding the state of foreign affairs, but he rarely overrode any of Hughes's decisions.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=109–110}} Hughes did have to work within some broad outlines; after taking office, Harding hardened his stance on the [[League of Nations]], deciding the U.S. would not join even a scaled-down version of the League.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=142–145}}

With the [[Treaty of Versailles]] unratified by the Senate, the U.S. remained technically at war with Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Peacemaking began with the [[Knox–Porter Resolution]], declaring the U.S. at peace and reserving any rights granted under Versailles. Treaties [[U.S.–German Peace Treaty (1921)|with Germany]], [[U.S.–Austrian Peace Treaty (1921)|Austria]] and [[U.S.–Hungarian Peace Treaty (1921)|Hungary]], each containing many of the non-League provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, were ratified in 1921.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=142–145}} This still left the question of relations between the U.S. and the League. Hughes' State Department initially ignored communications from the League, or tried to bypass it through direct communications with member nations. By 1922, though, the U.S., through its consul in Geneva, was dealing with the League. The U.S. refused to participate in any League meeting with political implications, but it sent observers to sessions on technical and humanitarian matters.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=145–147}} Harding stunned the capital when he sent to the Senate a message supporting the participation of the U.S. in the proposed [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] (also known as the "World Court"). His proposal was not favorably received by most senators, and a resolution supporting U.S. membership in the World Court was drafted and promptly buried in the Foreign Affairs Committee.<ref name="Russell_560">{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=560}}</ref>

By the time Harding took office, there were calls from foreign governments for the reduction of the massive war debt owed to the United States, and the German government sought to reduce the [[World War I reparations|reparations]] that it was required to pay. The U.S. refused to consider any multilateral settlement. Harding sought passage of a plan proposed by Mellon to give the administration broad authority to reduce war debts in negotiation, but Congress, in 1922, passed [[World War Foreign Debts Commission Act|a more restrictive bill]]. Hughes negotiated an agreement for Britain to pay off its war debt over 62 years at low interest, effectively reducing the [[present value]] of the obligations. This agreement, approved by Congress in 1923, set a pattern for negotiations with other nations. Talks with Germany on reduction of reparations payments would result in the [[Dawes Plan]] of 1924.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=162–163}}

During World War I, the U.S. had been among the nations that had [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|sent troops]] to [[Russia]] after the [[Russian Revolution]]. Afterwards, President Wilson refused to provide [[diplomatic recognition]] to Russia, which was led by a [[Communism|Communist]] government following the [[October Revolution]]. Commerce Secretary Hoover, with considerable experience of Russian affairs, took the lead on Russian policy. He supported aid to and trade with Russia, fearing U.S. companies would be frozen out of the Soviet market.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=116–126}} When [[Russian famine of 1921|famine struck Russia in 1921]], Hoover had the [[American Relief Administration]], which he had headed, negotiate with the Russians to provide aid. According to historian George Herring, the American relief effort may have saved as many as 10 million people from starvation. U.S. businessman such as [[Armand Hammer]] invested in the Russian economy, but many of these investments failed due to various Russian restrictions on trade and commerce. Russian and (after the 1922 establishment of the [[Soviet Union]]) Soviet leaders hoped that these economic and humanitarian connections would lead to recognition of their government, but Communism's extreme unpopularity in the U.S. precluded this possibility.<ref>{{harvp|Herring|2008|pp=464–466}}</ref>

===Disarmament===
{{See also|Washington Naval Conference}}
[[File:Charles Evans Hughes-01.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Evans Hughes]], former Supreme Court Justice and Harding's Secretary of State]]

At the end of World War I, the United States had the largest navy and one of the largest armies in the world. With no serious threat to the United States itself, Harding and his successors presided over the disarmament of the navy and the army. The army shrank to 140,000 men, while naval reduction was based on a policy of parity with Britain.<ref>{{harvp|Herring|2008|pp=439–440}}</ref> Seeking to prevent an arms race, Senator [[William Borah]] won passage of a congressional resolution calling for a 50 percent reduction of the American Navy, the British Navy, and the Japanese Navy. With Congress's backing, Harding and Hughes began preparations to hold a naval disarmament conference in Washington.<ref>{{harvp|Herring|2008|pp=452–453}}</ref> The [[Washington Naval Conference]] convened in November 1921, with representatives from the U.S., [[Japan]], Britain, [[France]], [[Italy]], [[China]], [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]], and [[Portugal]]. Secretary of State Hughes assumed a primary role in the conference and made the pivotal proposal—the U.S. would reduce its number of warships by 30 if Great Britain decommissioned 19 ships and Japan decommissioned 17 ships.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=481}}</ref> A journalist covering the conference wrote that "Hughes sank in thirty-five minutes more ships than all of the admirals of the world have sunk in a cycle of centuries."<ref>{{harvp|Herring|2008|pp=453–454}}</ref>

The conference produced six treaties and twelve resolutions among the participating nations, which ranged from limiting the [[tonnage]] of naval ships to custom tariffs.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=483}}</ref> The United States, Britain, Japan, and France reached the [[Four-Power Treaty]], in which each country agreed to respect the territorial integrity of one another in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Those four powers as well as Italy also reached the [[Washington Naval Treaty]], which established a ratio of battleship tonnage that each country agreed to respect. In the [[Nine-Power Treaty]], each signatory agreed to respect the [[Open Door Policy]] in China, and Japan agreed to return [[Shandong]] to China.<ref>{{harvp|Herring|2008|pp=454–455}}</ref> The treaties only remained in effect until the mid-1930s, however, and ultimately failed. Japan eventually invaded [[Manchuria]] and the arms limitations no longer had any effect. The building of "monster warships" resumed and the U.S. and Great Britain were unable to quickly rearm themselves to defend an international order and stop Japan from remilitarizing.<ref>Goldstein, Erik [https://books.google.com/books?id=dDmJPPGjfJMC&q=The+Washington+Conference,+1921-22 The Washington Conference 1921–22], 1994, Retrieved May 14, 2010.</ref><ref>Goldman, Emily O. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IQct3YvBRgUC&q=Sunken+Treaties:+Naval+Arms+Control+between+the+Wars Sunken treaties], 1994; retrieved May 14, 2010</ref>

===Latin America===
Intervention in Latin America had been a minor campaign issue; Harding spoke against Wilson's decision to [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–24)|send U.S. troops]] to the [[Dominican Republic]], and attacked the Democratic vice presidential candidate, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], for his role in the [[United States occupation of Haiti|Haitian intervention]]. Secretary of State Hughes worked to improve relations with Latin American countries who were wary of the American use of the [[Monroe Doctrine]] to justify intervention; at the time of Harding's inauguration, the U.S. also had troops in [[Cuba]] and [[Nicaragua]]. The troops stationed in Cuba to protect American interests were withdrawn in 1921, but U.S. forces remained in the other three nations through Harding's presidency.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=133–135}} In April 1921, Harding gained the ratification of the [[Thomson–Urrutia Treaty]] with [[Colombia]], granting that nation $25,000,000 as settlement for the U.S.-provoked [[Separation of Panama from Colombia|Panamanian revolution of 1903]].{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=340–341}} The Latin American nations were not fully satisfied, as the U.S. refused to renounce interventionism, though Hughes pledged to limit it to nations near the Panama Canal and to make it clear what the U.S. aims were.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=136–137}}

The U.S. had intervened repeatedly in [[Mexico]] under Wilson, and had withdrawn diplomatic recognition, setting conditions for reinstatement. The Mexican government under President [[Álvaro Obregón]] wanted recognition before negotiations, but Wilson and his final Secretary of State, [[Bainbridge Colby]], refused. Both Hughes and Secretary of the Interior Fall opposed recognition; Hughes instead sent a draft treaty to the Mexicans in May 1921, which included pledges to reimburse Americans for losses in Mexico since the [[Mexican Revolution|1910 revolution]] there. Obregón was unwilling to sign a treaty before being recognized, and he worked to improve the relationship between American businesses and Mexico, reaching agreement with creditors and mounting a public relations campaign in the United States.<ref>N. Stephen Kane, "American businessmen and foreign policy: The recognition of Mexico, 1920–1923." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 90.2 (1975): 293–313 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2148239 online].</ref>  This had its effect, and by mid-1922, Fall was less influential than he had been, lessening the resistance to recognition. The two presidents appointed commissioners to reach a deal, and the U.S. recognized the Obregón government on August 31, 1923, just under a month after Harding's death, substantially on the terms proffered by Mexico.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|pp=130–132}}

==Administration scandals==
When Harding assembled his administration following the 1920 election, he appointed several longtime allies and campaign contributors to prominent political positions in control of vast amounts of government money and resources. Some of the appointees used their new powers to exploit their positions for personal gain. Although Harding was responsible for making these appointments, it is unclear how much, if anything, Harding himself knew about his friends' illicit activities. No evidence to date suggests that Harding personally profited from such crimes, but he was apparently unable to prevent them. "I have no trouble with my enemies", Harding told journalist [[William Allen White]] late in his presidency, "but my damn friends, they're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!"<ref name="Russell_560"/> The only scandal which was openly discovered during Harding's lifetime was in the Veteran's Bureau.<ref name="Russell_523">{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=523}}</ref> Yet gossip about various scandals became rampant after the suicides of Charles Cramer and [[Jess Smith]]. Harding responded aggressively to all of this with a mixture of grief, anger and perplexity.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

===Teapot Dome===
{{Further|Teapot Dome scandal}}
[[File:Albert B. Fall c. 1923.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Albert B. Fall]], Harding's first Secretary of the Interior and the first former Cabinet member sent to prison]]

The most notorious scandal was [[Teapot Dome]], most of which came to light after Harding's death. This affair concerned an oil reserve in Wyoming that was covered by a teapot-shaped rock formation. For years, the country had taken measures to ensure the availability of petroleum reserves, particularly for the navy's use.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=489}}</ref> On February 23, 1923, Harding issued Executive Order # 3797, which created the [[National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska|Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4]] in [[Alaska]]. By the 1920s, it was clear that petroleum was important to the national economy and security, and the reserve system was designed to keep the oil under government jurisdiction rather than subject to private claims.<ref>{{cite web|title=529 F.2d 1101|url=http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/529/529.F2d.1101.74--2218.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100514184200/http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/529/529.F2d.1101.74--2218.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 14, 2010|date=Jan 23, 1976|access-date=May 15, 2010}}</ref> Management of these reserves was the subject of multi-dimensional arguments—beginning with a turf battle between the Secretary of the Navy and the Interior Department.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=490}}</ref> The strategic reserves issue was also a debate topic between conservationists and the petroleum industry, as well as those who favored public ownership versus private control.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=491}}</ref> Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall brought to his office significant political and legal experience, in addition to heavy [[consumer debt|personal debt]], incurred in his obsession to expand his personal estate in New Mexico. He also was an avid supporter of the private ownership and management of reserves.<ref name="Russell, p. 492">{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=492}}</ref>

Fall contracted [[Edward Doheny]] of Pan American Corporation to build storage tanks in exchange for drilling rights. It later came to light that Doheny had made significant personal loans to Fall.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=493}}</ref> The secretary also negotiated leases for the Teapot Dome reserves to [[Harry Ford Sinclair]] of the Consolidated Oil Corporation in return for guaranteed oil reserves to the credit of the government. Again, it later emerged that Sinclair had personally made concurrent cash payments of over $400,000 to Fall.<ref name="Russell, p. 492"/> These activities took place under the watch of progressive and conservationist attorney, [[Harry A. Slattery]], acting for [[Gifford Pinchot]] and Robert La Follette.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=499}}</ref> Fall was ultimately convicted in 1931 of accepting bribes and illegal no-interest personal loans in exchange for the leasing of public oil fields to business associates.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=497}}</ref> In 1931, Fall was the first cabinet member in history imprisoned for crimes committed while in office.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=498}}</ref> Paradoxically, while Fall was convicted for taking the bribe, Doheny was acquitted of paying it.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=638}}</ref>

===Justice Department===
[[File:Harry Daugherty, bw photo portrait 1920.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Harry M. Daugherty]], [[U.S. Attorney General]]. Photo taken 1920.]]

Harding's appointment of Harry M. Daugherty as Attorney General received more criticism than any other. As Harding's campaign manager, Daugherty's Ohio lobbying and back room maneuvers with politicians were not considered the best qualifications.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=444}}</ref> Journalist M.&nbsp;R. Werner referred to the Justice Department under Harding and Daugherty as "the den of a ward politician and the White House a night club". On September 16, 1922, Minnesota Congressman [[Oscar E. Keller]] brought impeachment charges against Daugherty. On December 4, formal investigation hearings, headed by congressman [[Andrew J. Volstead]], began against Daugherty. The impeachment process, however, stopped, since Keller's charges that Daugherty protected interests in trust and war fraud cases could not be substantially proven.<ref name="Werner_230_237">{{harvp|Werner|2010|pp=230–237}}</ref>

Daugherty, according to a 1924 Senate investigation into the Justice Department, authorized a system of graft between aides Jess Smith and Howard Mannington. Both Mannington and Smith allegedly took bribes to secure appointments, prison pardons, and freedom from prosecution. A majority of these purchasable pardons were directed towards [[Rum-running|bootleggers]]. [[Cincinnati]] bootlegger George L. Remus, allegedly paid Jess Smith $250,000 to not prosecute him. Remus, however, was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to Atlanta prison. Smith tried to extract more bribe money from Remus to pay for a pardon. The prevalent question at the Justice Department was "How is he fixed?"<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|pp=236–237}}</ref> Another alleged scandal involving Daugherty concerned the [[Wright-Martin|Wright-Martin Aircraft Corp.]], which supposedly overcharged the federal government by $2.3 million on war contracts.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=509}}</ref> Captain Hazel Scaife tried to bring the company to trial, but was blocked by the Department of Justice. At this time, Daugherty was said to have owned stock in the company and was even adding to these holdings, though he was never charged in the matter.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=510}}</ref>

Daugherty hired [[William J. Burns]] to run the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=516}}</ref> A number of inquisitive congressmen or senators found themselves the object of wire taps, rifled files, and copied correspondence.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=517}}</ref> Burns' primary operative was [[Gaston Means|Gaston B. Means]], a reputed con man, who was known to have fixed prosecutions, sold favors, and manipulated files in the Justice Department.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=518}}</ref> Means, who acted independently, took direct instructions and payments from Jess Smith, without Burn's knowledge, to spy on congressmen. Means hired a woman, Laura Jacobson, to spy on Senator [[Thaddeus Caraway]], a critic of the Harding administration. Means also was involved with "roping" bootleggers.<ref name="Werner_230_237"/>

Daugherty remained in his position during the early days of the Calvin Coolidge administration, then resigned on March 28, 1924, amidst allegations that he accepted bribes from bootleggers. Daugherty was later tried and acquitted twice for corruption. Both juries [[Hung jury|hung]]—in one case, after 65 hours of deliberation. Daugherty's famous defense attorney, [[Max Steuer]], blamed all corruption allegations against Daugherty on Jess Smith, who by then had committed suicide.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|pp=510, 515, 630}}</ref>

The same year, Daugherty and others who had served in the Harding Administration were implicated by [[Office of Alien Property Custodian|Alien Property Custodian]] [[Thomas W. Miller]] for pressuring him to deposit funds in the Midland National Bank, which Daugherty's brother Mally "Mal" S.<ref name=midlandcontroversy>{{cite news|url=https://time.com/archive/6744866/national-affairs-daugherty-bank/|title=National Affairs: Daugherty Bank|publisher=Time|date=May 26, 1930|accessdate=February 2, 2025}}</ref>  Daugherty served as president of, when Daughterty refused to investigate the Teapot Dome Scandal.<ref>Joshua E. Kastenberg, Judicial Ethics in the Confluence of National Security and Political 
Ideology: William Howard Taft and the “Teapot Dome” Oil Scandal as a Case Study for the Post-Trump Era, 53 St. Mary's Law Journal, 55, 115 (2022)</ref> On January 17, 1927, in the ''[[McGrain v. Daugherty]]'' ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a contempt conviction against Mally Daughterty which was related to a contempt citation which was issued against him in 1924.<ref name=midlandcontroversy /> for his refusal to cooperate with a U.S. Senate committee investigating his brother's failures to prosecute the perpetrators in the Teapot Dome Scandal.<ref>{{Cite web | title = McGrain v. Daugherty | publisher = Oyez.org | url = https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/273us135 | accessdate = 5 January 2018}}</ref> However, the Supreme Court decision to uphold Mal's contempt conviction would also result in the Midland Bank case against Daugherty passing into history.<ref name=midlandcontroversy />

===Jess W. Smith===
[[File:Jesse W. Smith.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jess Smith]]]]

Daugherty's personal aide, Jess W. Smith, was a central figure in government file manipulation, paroles and pardons, influence peddling—and even served as [[bagman|bag man]].<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|pp=513–514}}</ref> During [[Prohibition]], [[pharmacies]] received alcohol permits to sell alcohol for medical purposes. According to Congressional testimony, Daugherty arranged for Jess Smith and Howard Mannington to sell these permits to drug company agents who really represented bootleggers. The bootleggers, having obtained a permit could buy cases of whiskey. Smith and Mannington split the permit sales profits. Approximately 50,000 to 60,000 cases of whiskey were sold to bootleggers at a net worth of $750,000 to $900,000. Smith supplied bootleg whiskey to the White House and the Ohio Gang house on K Street, concealing the whiskey in a briefcase for poker games.<ref name="Werner, pp. 266–272"/><ref name="A President Of the Peephole"/>

Eventually, rumors of Smith's abuses—free use of government cars, going to all night parties, manipulation of Justice Department files—reached Harding. Harding withdrew Smith's White House clearance and Daugherty told him to leave Washington. On May 30, 1923, Smith's dead body was found at Daugherty's apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. William J. Burns immediately took Smith's body away and there was no [[autopsy]]. Historian Francis Russell, concluding this was a suicide, indicates that a Daugherty aide entered Smith's room moments after a noise awoke him, and found Smith on the floor with his head in a trash can and a revolver in his hand. Smith allegedly purchased the gun from a hardware store shortly before his death, after Daugherty verbally abused him for waking him up from a nap.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|pp=568–569}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Werner|2010|pp=238–263, 306–307}}</ref>

===Veterans' bureau===
[[File:Cforbes.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Charles R. Forbes]], director of the Veterans Bureau and convicted of defrauding the government]]

[[Charles R. Forbes]], the energetic Director of the Veterans Bureau, disregarded the dire needs of wounded World War I veterans to procure his own wealth.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|pp=286, 292}}</ref> After his appointment, Forbes convinced Harding to issue executive orders that gave him control over veterans' hospital construction and supplies.<ref name="Russell_523"/> To limit corruption in the Veterans' Bureau, Harding insisted that all government contracts be by public notice, but Forbes provided inside information to his co-conspirators to ensure their bids succeeded.<ref name="Russell_526"/> Forbes' main task at the Veterans bureau, having an unprecedented $500 million yearly budget, was to ensure that new hospitals were built around the country to help the 300,000 wounded World War I veterans.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|p=287}}</ref> Forbes defrauded the government of an estimated $225&nbsp;million by increasing construction costs from $3,000 to $4,000 per hospital bed.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=525}}</ref>

In early 1922, Forbes went on tours, known as ''joy-rides'', of new hospital construction sites around the country and the Pacific Coast. On these tours, Forbes allegedly received traveling perks and alcohol kickbacks, took a $5,000 bribe in Chicago, and made a secret code to ensure $17 million in government construction hospital contracts with corrupt contractors.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=555}}</ref> Intent on making more money, on his return to the U.S. Capitol Forbes immediately began selling valuable hospital supplies under his control in large warehouses at the Perryville Depot.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|pp=289, 292}}</ref> The government had stockpiled huge amounts of hospital supplies during the first World War, which Forbes unloaded for a fraction of their cost to the [[Boston]] firm of Thompson and Kelly.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=524}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|p=292}}</ref> Charles F. Cramer, Forbes' legal council to the Veterans Bureau, rocked the nation's capital when he committed suicide in 1923.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=563}}</ref><ref>The ''[[Hartford Courant]]'' (March 15, 1923), ''Charles F. Cramer Ex-Veterans' Bureau Counsel A Suicide'', p. 14</ref> Cramer, at the time of his death, was being investigated by a Senate committee on charges of corruption.<ref>The ''Hartford Courant'' (March 15, 1923), ''Charles F. Cramer Ex-Veterans' Bureau Counsel A Suicide'', p. I4</ref><ref>The ''Helena Daily Independent'' (March 19, 1923), ''Veterans' Bureau Probe'', p. 4</ref>

Forbes faced resistance in the form of General [[Charles E. Sawyer]], chairman of the Federal Hospitalization Board, who represented controlling interests in the valuable hospital supplies.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|pp=232, 292, 294}}</ref> Sawyer, who was also Harding's personal physician, told Harding that Forbes was selling valuable hospital supplies to an insider contractor.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|p=294}}</ref> After issuing two orders for the sales to stop, Harding finally summoned Forbes to the White House and demanded Forbes' [[resignation]], since Forbes had been insubordinate in not stopping the shipments.<ref>''Los Angeles Times'' (November 8, 1923), ''Says Forbes Forced Out'', page I1.</ref> Harding, however, was not yet ready to announce Forbes' resignation and let him flee to Europe on the "flimsy pretext" that he would help disabled U.S. Veterans in Europe.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=559}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|p=296}}</ref> Harding placed a reformer, [[Brigadier General]] [[Frank T. Hines]], in charge of the Veterans Bureau. Hines immediately cleared up the mess left by Forbes. When Forbes returned to the U.S., he visited Harding at the White House in the [[Red Room (White House)|Red Room]]. During the meeting, Harding angrily grabbed Forbes by the throat, shook him vigorously, and exclaimed "You double-crossing bastard!"<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=558}}</ref> In 1926, Forbes was brought to trial and convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. He received a two-year [[prison sentence]] and was released in November 1927.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=562}}</ref>

===Other agencies===
[[Image:Warren G. Harding at Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. IMG 4366.JPG|upright|thumb|Harding as he appears at the [[National Postal Museum]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
On June 13, 1921, Harding appointed Albert D. Lasker chairman of the [[United States Shipping Board]]. Lasker, a cash donor and Harding's general campaign manager, had no previous experience with shipping companies. The [[Merchant Marine Act of 1920]] had allowed the Shipping Board to sell ships made by the U.S. Government to private American companies. A congressional investigation revealed that while Lasker was in charge, many valuable steel cargo ships, worth between $200 and $250 a ton, were sold for as low as $30 a ton to private American shipping companies without an appraisal board. J. Harry Philbin, a manager in the sales division, testified at the congressional hearing that under Lasker's authority U.S. ships were sold, "...as is, where is, take your pick, no matter which vessel you took." Lasker resigned from the Shipping Board on July 1, 1923.<ref>{{harvp|Werner|2010|pp=328–329}}</ref>

[[Thomas W. Miller]], head of the [[Alien Property Custodian|Office of Alien Property]], was convicted of accepting fraud in the American Metals case.<ref name=millerfelder>{{cite news|url=https://time.com/archive/6744505/national-affairs-ohio-gangster/|title=National Affairs: Ohio Gangster|publisher=Time Magazine|date=March 31, 1930|accessdate=February 2, 2025}}</ref> Miller's citizenship rights were taken away and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. His conviction would by upheld by the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York on February 6, 1928.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://casetext.com/case/miller-v-united-states-95z|title=Miller v. United States|publisher=casetext.com|accessdate=February 2, 2025}}</ref> After Miller served 13 months of his sentence, he was released on parole. President Herbert Hoover restored Miller's citizenship on February 2, 1933.<ref>{{harvp|Werner|2010|pp=316–317}}</ref> [[Roy Asa Haynes]], Harding's Prohibition Commissioner, ran the patronage-riddled Prohibition bureau, which was allegedly corrupt from top to bottom.<ref name="Russell, pp. 520">{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=520}}</ref> The bureau's "B permits" for liquor sales became tantamount to negotiable securities, as a result of being so widely bought and sold among known violators of the law.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=521}}</ref> The bureau's agents allegedly made a year's salary from one month's illicit sales of permits.<ref name="Russell, pp. 520"/>

Col. [[Thomas B. Felder]], who died by March 1930, would be implicated in the Harding Administration scandals as well.<ref name=millerfelder />

==Life at the White House==
[[File:President Harding and Laddie Boy.jpg|thumb|President Harding with his dog [[Laddie Boy]]. Photo: 1922]]

Harding's lifestyle at the White House was fairly unconventional compared to his predecessor. Upstairs at the White House, in the [[Yellow Oval Room]], Harding allowed bootleg whiskey to be freely served to his guests during after-dinner parties at a time when the President was supposed to enforce Prohibition. One witness, [[Alice Longworth]], stated that trays, "...with bottles containing every imaginable brand of whiskey stood about."<ref>{{harvp|Behr|2011}}</ref> Some of this alcohol had been directly confiscated from the Prohibition department by Jess Smith, assistant to U.S. Attorney General [[Harry Daugherty]]. Mrs. Harding, also known as the "Duchess", mixed drinks for the guests.<ref name="A President Of the Peephole">Anthony, Carl [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/harding.htm "A President Of the Peephole"], ''The Washington Post'', June 7, 1998; retrieved December 24, 2010.</ref> Harding played poker twice a week, smoked and chewed tobacco. Harding allegedly won a $4,000 pearl necktie pin at one White House poker game.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|pp=212–216}}</ref> Although criticized by Prohibitionist advocate Wayne B. Wheeler over Washington, D.C. rumors of these "wild parties", Harding claimed his personal drinking inside the White House was his own business.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|pp=270–271}}</ref> Though Mrs. Harding did keep a little red book of those who had offended her, the executive mansion was now once again open to the public for events including the annual Easter egg roll.<ref>{{harvp|Russell|1962|p=437}}</ref>

==Western tour and death==
===Western tour===
{{See also|Harding Railroad Car}}
[[File:President Harding in Alaska on Presidential Train.jpg|thumb|Harding aboard the presidential train in Alaska, with secretaries Hoover, Wallace, Work, and Mrs. Harding]]

Though Harding wanted to run for a second term, his health began to decline during his time in office. He gave up drinking, sold his "life-work," the Marion ''Star'', in part to regain $170,000 previous investment losses, and had Daugherty make him a new will. Harding, along with his personal physician Dr. Charles E. Sawyer, believed getting away from [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] would help relieve the stress of being president. By July 1923, criticism of the Harding Administration was increasing. Prior to his leaving Washington, the president reported chest pains that radiated down his left arm.<ref>{{harvp|Adams|1979|pp=333–339}}</ref><ref name="Wilbur_378_384">{{Cite book|last=Wilbur|first= Ray Lyman|title=The Memoirs of Ray Lyman Wilbur 1875–1949|publisher=Stanford University Press| location=Stanford, California|year=1960|pages=378–384}}</ref> In June 1923, Harding set out on a journey, which he dubbed the "[[Voyage of Understanding]]".{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=95}} The president planned to cross the country, go north to [[Alaska Territory]], journey south along the West Coast, then travel by navy ship through the Panama Canal, to Puerto Rico, and to return to Washington at the end of August.{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=441}} The trip would allow him to speak widely across the country in advance of the 1924 campaign, and allow him some rest{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=439–440}} away from Washington's oppressive summer heat.{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=95}}

Harding's political advisers had given him a physically demanding schedule, even though the president had ordered it cut back.{{sfn|Dean|2004|p=147}} In Kansas City, Harding spoke on transportation issues; in [[Hutchinson, Kansas]], agriculture was the theme. In Denver, he spoke on Prohibition, and continued west making a series of speeches not matched by any president until Franklin Roosevelt. In addition to making speeches, he visited [[Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone]] and [[Zion National Park]]s,{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=442–443}} and dedicated a monument on the [[Oregon Trail]] at a celebration organized by venerable pioneer [[Ezra Meeker]] and others.{{sfn|Dary|pp=322–323}} On July 5, Harding embarked on {{USS|Henderson|AP-1|6}} in Washington state. The first president to visit Alaska, he spent hours watching the dramatic landscapes from the ship's deck.{{sfn|Dean|2004|p=149}} After several stops along the coast, the presidential party left the ship at [[Seward, Alaska|Seward]] to take the [[Alaska Railroad|Alaska Central Railway]] to [[McKinley Park, Alaska|McKinley Park]] and [[Fairbanks, Alaska|Fairbanks]], where he addressed a crowd of 1,500 in {{convert|94|F}} heat. The party was to return to Seward by the [[Richardson Highway|Richardson Trail]] but due to Harding's fatigue, it went by train.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=446–447}}

Arriving via [[Vancouver Harbor]] on July 26, Harding became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Canada. He was greeted dock-side by the [[premier of British Columbia]] [[John Oliver (British Columbia politician)|John Oliver]] and the mayor of [[Vancouver]]. Thousands lined the streets of Vancouver to watch as the motorcade of dignitaries moved through the city to [[Stanley Park]], where Harding spoke to an audience estimated at over 40,000. In his speech he proclaimed, "You are not only our neighbor, but a very good neighbor, and we rejoice in your advancement and admire your independence no less sincerely than we value your friendship."<ref name=CHSarticle>{{cite web| title=President Harding's Last Stand: Vancouver gave him a hero's welcome and then he sailed away and died| last=Belyk| first=Robert C.| url=https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/politics-law/president-harding-s-last-stand| date=January 17, 2017 | publisher=Canada's History Society| location=Markham, Ontario| access-date=November 5, 2018}} Originally appeared in the [https://canadashistory.partica.online/canadas-history/the-beaver-feb-mar-1988/flipbook/1/ February–March 1988 issue] of ''The Beaver''</ref> Harding also visited a golf course, but completed only six holes before being fatigued. He was not successful in hiding his exhaustion; one reporter deemed him so tired a rest of mere days would not be sufficient to refresh him.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=447–448}}

===Death===
[[Image:HardingFuneral.jpg|thumb|The funeral procession for President Harding passes by the front of the [[White House]].]]

Upon returning to the U.S. on July 27, Harding participated in a series of events in Seattle. After reviewing the navy fleet in the harbor and riding in a parade through downtown, he addressed a crowd of over 30,000 [[Boy Scouts of America|Boy Scouts]] at a [[National Scout Jamboree (Boy Scouts of America)|jamboree]] in [[Woodland Park (Seattle)|Woodland Park]] and then addressed 25,000 people at the [[University of Washington]]'s [[Husky Stadium]]. That evening, in what would be his last official public event, Harding addressed the Seattle Press Club.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title=President Warren Harding makes final speeches of his life in Seattle on July 27, 1923| last=Lange| first=Greg| date=October 9, 2017| orig-year=Originally posted February 10, 1999| url=http://historylink.org/File/878| encyclopedia=HistoryLink.org, the free encyclopedia of Washington state history| location=Seattle, Washington| access-date=November 5, 2018}}</ref> By the end of the evening Harding was near collapse, and he went to bed early. The next day, all tour stops scheduled between Seattle and San Francisco were cancelled, and the presidential entourage proceeded directly there.<ref name=CHSarticle/> Arriving in the city on the morning of July 29, Harding felt well enough that he insisted on walking from the train to the car. However, shortly after arriving at the [[Palace Hotel, San Francisco|Palace Hotel]] he suffered a relapse.{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=449–450}} Upon examining him, doctors found that not only was Harding's heart causing problems, but he also had a serious case of [[pneumonia]]. All public engagements were cancelled.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

When treated with caffeine and [[Digoxin|digitalis]], Harding seemed to improve.<ref name=CHSarticle/> Reports that the released text of his July 31 speech had received a favorable reception also buoyed his spirits, and by the afternoon of August 2, doctors allowed him to sit up in bed. That evening, around 7:30 pm, while Florence Harding was reading a flattering article to the president from ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' titled "A Calm Review of a Calm Man",<ref>{{cite news |last=Ziv |first=Stav |date=December 9, 2012 |title=President Harding's mysterious S.F. death |url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/President-Harding-s-mysterious-S-F-death-4097303.php| work=sfgate.com, a Hearst-owned website sister-site of the San Francisco Chronicle| access-date=November 5, 2018}}</ref> he began twisting convulsively and collapsed. Doctors attempted stimulants, but were unable to revive him, and President Harding died at the age of 57. Although initially attributed to a [[cerebral hemorrhage]], the president's death was most likely the result of a [[heart attack]].{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=449–450}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Generations later, President Warren Harding's sudden death recalled|date=August 1, 2018|last=Nishikawa|first=A. H.|url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/after-90-years-president-warren-hardings-death-still-unsettled/|work=Constitution Daily|publisher=National Constitution Center|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|access-date=November 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last=Tarini| first=Eugene P.| title=Warren G. Harding: Life After the Presidency| url=https://millercenter.org/president/harding/death-of-the-president| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia| location=Charlottesville, Virginia| access-date=November 5, 2018| date=2016-10-04}}</ref>

Harding's death came as a great shock to the nation. The president was liked and admired, and the press and public had followed his illness closely, and been reassured by his apparent recovery.{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=450}} Harding was returned to his train in a casket for a journey across the nation followed closely in the newspapers. Nine million people lined the tracks as Harding's body was taken from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., and after services there, home to Marion, Ohio, for burial.{{sfn|Dean|2004|pp=152–153}} In Marion, Warren Harding's body was placed on a horse-drawn hearse, which was followed by President Coolidge and Chief Justice Taft, then by Harding's wife and father.{{sfn|Russell|1962|pp=601–602}} They followed it through the city, past the ''Star'' building where the presses stood silent, and at last to the Marion Cemetery, where the casket was placed in the [[Marion Cemetery Receiving Vault|cemetery's receiving vault]].{{sfn|Russell|1962|p=602}}{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=454}}

Immediately after Harding's death, Mrs. Harding returned to Washington, D.C. and, according to historian Francis Russell, burned as much of President Harding's correspondence and documents, both official and unofficial, as she could get.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Russell|first=Francis|journal=American Heritage|title=The Four Mysteries Of Warren Harding|date=April 1963|volume=14|issue=3|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/four-mysteries-warren-harding?page=show|access-date=April 18, 2014}}</ref> However, most of Harding's papers survived because Harding's personal secretary, George Christian, disobeyed Florence Harding's instructions.<ref>{{harvp|Dean|2004|pp=166–167}}</ref>

== Historical views ==
[[File:Warren G Hardiing 1923 Issue-2c.jpg|thumb|upright|Harding memorial issue, issued September&nbsp;1, 1923]]
Upon his death, Harding was deeply mourned—not only in the United States, but around the world. He was called a man of peace in many European newspapers. American journalists praised him lavishly, with some describing him as having given his life for his country. His associates were stunned by his demise. Daugherty wrote, "I can hardly write about it or allow myself to think about it yet."{{sfn|Murray 1969|pp=456–457}} Hughes stated, "I cannot realize that our beloved Chief is no longer with us."{{sfn|Murray 1969|p=457}}

[[Hagiography|Hagiographic]] accounts of Harding's life quickly followed his death, such as Joe Mitchell Chapple's ''Life and Times of Warren G. Harding, Our After-War President'' (1924).{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=208}} By then, the scandals were breaking, and the Harding administration soon became a byword for corruption in the view of the public. Works written in the late 1920s helped shape Harding's historical reputation: ''Masks in a Pageant'', by [[William Allen White]], mocked and dismissed Harding, as did [[Samuel Hopkins Adams]]' fictionalized account of the Harding administration, ''Revelry''.{{sfn|Coffey|2014|p=80}} These books depicted Harding's time in office as one of great presidential weakness.{{sfn|Ferrell|1998|loc=2970}} The publication of Nan Britton's bestselling book disclosing they had had an affair also lowered the late president in public esteem. President Coolidge, wishing to distance himself from his predecessor, refused to dedicate the Harding Tomb. Hoover, Coolidge's successor, was similarly reluctant, but with Coolidge in attendance, presided over the dedication in 1931. By that time, with the [[Great Depression]] in full swing, Hoover was nearly as discredited as Harding.{{sfn|Russell|1962|pp=632–633, 639–640}}{{sfn|Payne|2014|pp=125, 127}}

Harding reputation has been the subject of debate and re-evaluation. He has traditionally been [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|ranked as one of the worst presidents]];{{sfn|Ferrell|1998|loc=3474–3485}} in a 1948 poll conducted by [[Harvard University]], historian [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr.]] conducted a survey of scholars' opinions of the presidents, ranking Harding last among the 29 presidents considered.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur M. |author-link=Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. |date=November 1, 1948 |title=Historians Rate the U.S. Presidents |magazine=Life |pages=65–66, 68, 73–74}}</ref> He has also been last in many other polls since then.  However, the prominence of this evaluation diminished, owing partly to later larger scandals, especially [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]], as well as numerous societal upheavals and major crises since 1923. Some authors and historians began to fundamentally reassess the conventional views of Harding's historical record in office.<ref name="Robenalt13Aug">{{cite news |last=Robenalt |first=James D. |author-link=James Robenalt |date=August 13, 2015 |title=If we weren't so obsessed with Warren G. Harding's sex life, we'd realize he was a pretty good president |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/13/if-we-werent-so-obsessed-with-warren-g-hardings-sex-life-wed-realize-he-was-a-pretty-good-president/ |access-date=August 13, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Reputation">{{cite journal |last1=Pecquet |first1=Gary M. |last2=Thies |first2=Clifford F. |date=Summer 2016 |title=Reputation Overrides Record: How Warren G. Harding Mistakenly Became the 'Worst' President of the United States |url=http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_21_01_02_pecquet-thies.pdf |journal=[[The Independent Review]] |publisher=[[Independent Institute]] |volume=21 |pages=29–45 |issn=1086-1653}}</ref>

===Reassessment===
{{Main|Historical reputation of Warren G. Harding}}

Various historians have defended Harding, with many arguing that he was merely below average rather than a total failure.{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=190}} Historian [[Robert K. Murray]] wrote that, "in establishing the political philosophy and program for an entire decade, [Harding's] 882 days in office were more significant than all but a few similar short periods in the nation's existence."{{sfn|Trani|Wilson|1977|p=190}} Authors [[Marcus Raskin]] and Robert Spero, in 2007, also believed that Harding was underrated, and admired Harding's quest for world peace after [[World War I]] and his successful naval disarmament among strongly armed nations, including [[France]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], and [[Japan]].<ref name="Raskin-Spero_p242">Raskin-Spero (2007), ''The Four Freedoms Under Siege'', p. 242</ref> In 2004, John Dean, noted for his involvement in another presidential scandal, [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]], wrote the Harding volume in "The American Presidents" series of short biographies, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.; Coffey considered that book the most revisionist to date, and faults Dean for glossing over some unfavorable episodes in Harding's life, like his silence during the 1914 Senate campaign, when his opponent Hogan was being attacked for his faith.{{sfn|Coffey|2014|p=89}}

Trani faults Harding's own lack of depth and decisiveness as bringing about his tarnished legacy.<ref>{{cite web |last=Trani |first=Eugene P. |author-link=Eugene P. Trani |date=October 4, 2016 |title=Warren G. Harding: Impact and Legacy |url=https://millercenter.org/president/harding/impact-and-legacy |access-date=December 26, 2017 |publisher=[[Miller Center]]}}</ref> Ferrell attributes Harding's negative ratings to scholars who read little that is substantive, and who focus more on sensational accounts of Harding.{{sfn|Ferrell|1998|loc=3474–3485}} Coffey believes "the academic lack of interest in Harding has cost him his reputation, as scholars still rank Harding as nearly dead last among presidents."{{sfn|Coffey|2014|p=86}}

In his 2010 book ''The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn't): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game'', presidential historian [[Alvin S. Felzenberg]], ranking presidents on several criteria, ranked Harding 26th out of 40 presidents considered.<ref>{{harvp|Felzenberg|2010|p=378}}</ref><blockquote> 
For years I shared this general [negative] opinion of Harding. But then I started to study him... Warren G. Harding may not have been a great President, but he was a good man. And as I read more, an oddly modern figure began to emerge. Here was someone sensitive to problems facing women, minorities, and workers, someone who enthusiastically and intelligently embraced his era's technology and culture. Here was a man of considerable gifts, all of them largely forgotten today... Perhaps the most surprising single event of Harding's Presidency was his blunt speech on October 26, 1921, to a segregated crowd in Birmingham, Alabama, stating that democracy would always be a sham until African-Americans received full equality in education, employment, and political life.<ref name="american heritage">[https://www.americanheritage.com/most-scandalous-president The Most Scandalous President: You've always heard Harding was the worst President. Sex in the White House. Bribes on Capitol Hill. Was he really that bad?], by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, July/August 1998, American Heritage.</ref> </blockquote>

==See also==
{{Portal|1920s|United States|Politics|Ohio}}
* [[Cultural depictions of Warren G. Harding]]
* [[List of memorials to Warren G. Harding]]
* [[List of presidents of the United States who died in office]]
* [[Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin|2}}
*{{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Samuel Hopkins |year=1979 |orig-year=1939 |title=Incredible Era: The Life and Times of Warren Gamaliel Harding |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0-374-90051-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/incredibleeralif0000adam }}
*{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Stephen |year=2007 |title=5 Steps to AP History |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-162322-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c75u62Xh8ZEC&q=warren+g.+harding+Revenue+Act+of+1921&pg=PA218 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Anthony |first=Carl S. |title=Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-688-16975-6 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Anthony |first=Carl S. |title=The Most Scandalous President |url=http://50.56.66.97/content/most-scandalous-president |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121128195442/http://50.56.66.97/content/most-scandalous-president |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-11-28 |journal=American Heritage |volume=49 |issue=4 |date=July–August 1998 |access-date=May 23, 2011 }}
*{{cite book |last=Behr |first=Edward |year=2011 |title=Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=978-1611450095 }}
*{{cite book |last=Benjamin |first=Louise M. Benjamin |year=2006 |title=Freedom of the Air and the Public Interest: First Amendment Rights in Broadcasting To 1935 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9mrXFXSIssC&pg=PA15 |publisher=SIU Press |isbn=978-0-8093-2719-5 }}
* {{Citation |first=Justin P. |last=Coffey |editor-last=Sibley |editor-first=Katherine A. S. |contribution=Harding Biographies |title=A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover |year=2014 |pages=79–93 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |location=Chichester, UK |isbn=978-1-4443-5003-6}}
* {{cite book | last = Dary | first = David | title = The Oregon Trail: An American Saga | year = 2004 | publisher = Alfred A. Knopf | isbn = 978-0-375-41399-5 | ref = {{sfnRef|Dary}} | url = https://archive.org/details/oregontrailameri00dary }}
*{{Cite book |last=Dean |first=John W. |author-link=John Dean |year=2004 |title=Warren Harding: The 29th President, 1921–1923 |series=The American Presidents Series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=12I6tyg8no4C&q=Warren+G.+Harding |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |isbn=978-0-8050-6956-3 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Downes |first=Randolph C. |title=The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1865–1920 |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8142-0140-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/riseofwarrengama00down }}
*{{Cite book |last=Felzenberg |first=Alvin S. |author-link=Alvin S. Felzenberg |year=2010 |title=The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn't): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1ZreywJJe0C&pg=PA378 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-2163-4 }}
*{{cite book |last=Ferrell |first=Robert H. |author-link=Robert Hugh Ferrell |year=1992 |title=Ill-Advised: Presidential Health & Public Trust |publisher=University of Missouri Press |location=Columbia, MO |isbn=978-0826208644 |url=https://archive.org/details/illadvisedpresid00ferr }}
*{{Cite book |last=Ferrell |first=Robert H. |author-link=Robert Hugh Ferrell |title=The Strange Deaths of Warren G. Harding |publisher= University of Missouri Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8262-1202-3 }}
*{{Cite journal |last=Fine |first=Gary Alan |title=Reputational Entrepreneurs and the Memory of Incompetence |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=101 |issue=5 |date=1996 |doi=10.1086/230820 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |year=2000 |title=How We Got Here: The '70s |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-04195-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum }}
*{{Cite book |last=Gleason |first=Mildred Diane and H. Micheal Tarver |year=2013 |title=Warren G. Harding: Harbinger of Normalcy |publisher=[[Nova Science Publishers, Inc.]] |isbn=978-1-62618-463-3 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Graff |first=Henry Franklin |year=2002 |title=The Presidents: A Reference History |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons. |isbn=978-0-684-31226-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentsrefere00graf }}
*{{Cite journal |last=Grant |first=Philip A. Jr. |title=President Warren G. Harding and the British War Debt Question, 1921–1923 |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |volume=25 |issue=3 |date=1995 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Grieb |first=Kenneth J. |url=https://www.questia.com/ |title= The Latin American Policy of Warren G. Harding |publisher= Texas Christian Univ. Press |year= 1976 }}*{{Cite book |last=Morello |first=John A. |year=2001 |title=Selling the President, 1920: Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding |publisher=Praeger }}
*{{Cite book |last=Hakim |first=Joy |author-link=Joy Hakim |title=War, Peace, and All That Jazz |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-509514-2 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=Warren G. |title=Social Equality Impossible for Negro, Says President, Pleading for Fair Treatment |publisher=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date= October 27, 1921 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=Warren G. |title=An International Problem |publisher=Marion Daily Star |date= October 26, 1921 }}
*{{cite book|last1=Herring|first1=George C.|title=From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-507822-0|url=https://archive.org/details/fromcolonytosupe00herr}}
*{{Cite book |last=Malin |first=James C. |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5260560 |title= 'The United States after the World War |publisher= Ginn & Co. |year= 1930 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Matuz |first=Roger |title=The Presidents Fact Book: The Achievements, Campaigns, Events, Triumphs, Tragedies, and Legacies of Every President from George Washington to Barack Obama |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-dQc4RO7nQC&q=The+Presidents+Fact+Book:+The+Achievements,+Campaigns,+Events,+Triumphs |editor= Bill Harris |pages=458–463, 465–467 |isbn=978-1-57912-807-4 |access-date=May 27, 2010 |publisher=Black Dog and & Leventhal Publishers, Inc. |year=2009 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Murnane |first1=M. Susan |title=Selling Scientific Taxation: The Treasury Departments Campaign for Tax Reform in the 1920s |journal=Law & Social Inquiry |date=2004 |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=819–856 |jstor=4092770 |doi=10.1111/j.1747-4469.2004.tb01077.x |s2cid=155069922 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Murray|first=Robert K.|title=The Harding Era 1921–1923: Warren G. Harding and his Administration|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|date=1969|ref={{sfnRef|Murray 1969}}|isbn=0-8166-0541-6}}
* {{Cite book|last=Murray|first=Robert K.|title=The Politics of Normalcy: Governmental Theory and Practice in the Harding–Coolidge Era|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|date=1973|ref={{sfnRef|Murray 1973}}|isbn=0-393-05474-8|url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofnormal00robe}}
*{{cite book |first=Allan |last=Nevins |author-link=Allan Nevins |year=1932 |title=Dictionary of American Biography Harding, Warren Gamaliel |editor=[[Dumas Malone]] |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofamer08ilamer#page/252/mode/1up |location=[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]] |pages=252–257 }}
* {{Citation |last=Payne |first=Phillip G. |editor-last=Sibley |editor-first=Katherine A. S. |contribution=The Harding Presidency: Scandals, Legacy, and Memory |title=A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover |year=2014 |pages=79–93 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |location=Chichester, UK |isbn=978-1-4443-5003-6}}
*{{Cite book |last=Pietrusza |first=David |author-link=David Pietrusza |title=1920: The Year of the Six Presidents |publisher=Caroll & Graf Publishers |location=New York |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7867-1622-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780786716227 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Russell |first=Francis |title=The Four Mysteries Of Warren Harding |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/four-mysteries-warren-harding |journal=American Heritage |volume=14 |issue=3 |date=April 1963 |access-date=2011-06-19 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Francis |author-link=Francis Russell (author) |year=1962 |title=The Shadow of Blooming Grove-Warren G. Harding In His Times |publisher=Easton Press |isbn=978-0-07-054338-6 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur M. Jr. |author-link=Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. |title=The Age of Roosevelt: The Crisis of the Old Order, 1919–1933 |publisher=Heinemann |year=1957 |isbn=978-0-618-34085-9 }}
*{{Cite book |last1=Schweikart |first1=Larry |author-link1=Larry Schweikart |last2=Allen |first2=Michael |year=2004 |title=A Patriot's History of the United States |publisher=Easton Press }}
*{{Cite book |last=Shogan |first=Robert |year=2004 |title=The Battle of Blair Mountain |publisher=Westview Press |place=Boulder, CO |isbn=978-0-8133-4096-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/battleofblairmou00shog }}
*{{Cite book |last=Sinclair |first=Andrew |year=1965 |title=The Available Man: The Life behind the Masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=8550753 |publisher=MacMillan Co. }}
*{{Cite book |last=Sreenivasan |first=Jyotsna |year=2009 |title=Poverty and the Government in America: A Historical Encyclopedia |volume=1 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-59884-168-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/povertygovernmen0000unse }}
* {{cite book |last1=Thelen |first1=David P. |title=Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit |url=https://archive.org/details/robertmlafollett00thel |url-access=registration |date=1976 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0316839273}}
*{{cite book|last1=Trani|first1=Eugene P. | author-link = Eugene P. Trani |last2=Wilson|first2=David L.|title=The Presidency of Warren G. Harding|publisher=The Regents Press of Kansas|series=American Presidency|year=1977|isbn=978-0-7006-0152-3|url=https://archive.org/details/presidencyofwarr00tran}}
*{{Cite book |last=Werner |first=Morris R. |title=Privileged Characters |year=2010 |publisher=General Books |isbn=978-1-152-57676-6 }}, reprint of 1923 book based on testimony to Congress.
*{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Kevin G. |title=Deregulating Telecommunications: U.S. and Canadian Telecommunications, 1840-1997 |url=https://archive.org/details/deregulatingtele0000wils |url-access=registration |date=2000 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780847698257 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Wynn |first=Neil |year=1986 |title=From Progressivism to Prosperity: World War I and American Society |publisher=Holmes & Meier |isbn=978-0-8419-1107-9 }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Graff, Henry F., ed. ''The Presidents: A Reference History'' (3rd ed. 2002)  [https://www.presidentprofiles.com// online]
* Payne, Phillip. "Instant History and the Legacy of Scandal: the Tangled Memory of Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon, and William Jefferson Clinton", ''Prospects'', 28: 597–625, 2003. {{ISSN|0361-2333}}
* Rhodes, Benjamin D. ''United States Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, 1918–1941: The Golden Age of American Diplomatic and Military Complacency'' (Greenwood, 2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=wuPEEAAAQBAJ&dq=.+United+States+Foreign+Policy+in+the+Interwar+Period,&pg=PP6 online]
* Sibley, Katherine A.S., ed. ''A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover'' (2014); 616pp; essays by scholars stressing historiography [https://books.google.com/books?id=PTIWBAAAQBAJ&dq=+A+Companion+to+Warren+G.+Harding,+%2B&pg=PT17 online]

* Sullivan, Mark. ''Our Times: 1900-1925: Volume 6: The Twenties''  (1935) pp. 16–371. [https://archive.org/details/ourtimestwenties0000mark/page/n8/mode/1up online], by a leading journalist.

* Walters, Ryan S. ''The Jazz Age President: Defending Warren G. Harding'' (2022) [https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Age-President-Defending-Harding/dp/1621578844/ excerpt] also [https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-jazz-age-president-review-correcting-the-record-11649020056?mod=books_arts_featured_pos2 online review]

===Primary sources===
* Schlup, Leonard et al. eds. ''Selections from the Papers and Speeches of Warren G. Harding 1918–1923: The Twenty-Ninth President of the United States of America'' (Edwin Mellen, 2008) 471pp [https://www.academia.edu/download/54337024/A_-_Introduction.pdf excerpt]

==External links==
{{Sister project links |wikt=Harding |commons=Warren G. Harding |b=no |n=no |q=Warren G. Harding |s=Author:Warren G. Harding |v=no}}
* [http://millercenter.org/president/speeches#harding Full audio and text of a number of Harding speeches], [[Miller Center of Public Affairs]]
* {{NYT topic|people/h/warren_g_harding}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/presidents/harding/ Warren Harding: A Resource Guide], [[Library of Congress]]
* [http://millercenter.org/president/harding Extensive essays on Warren Harding] and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?151625-1/life-portrait-warren-g-harding Warren G. Harding] at [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Presidents: Life Portraits]]''

{{Warren G. Harding}}
{{US Presidential Administrations}}
{{Republican Party (United States)}}

[[Category:Presidency of Warren G. Harding| ]]
[[Category:1921 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:1923 disestablishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Presidencies of the United States|Harding, Warren G.]]
[[Category:1920s in the United States]]
[[Category:Warren G. Harding]]
[[Category:Calvin Coolidge]]