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Warren G. Harding
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| Order: | 29th President |
| Term of Office: | March 4, 1921 - August 2, 1923 |
| Predecessor: | Woodrow Wilson |
| Successor: | Calvin Coolidge |
| Date of Birth | Thursday, November 2, 1865 |
| Place of Birth: | Blooming Grove, Ohio |
| Date of Death: | Thursday, August 2, 1923 |
| Place of Death: | San Francisco, California |
| First Lady: | Florence Harding |
| Profession: | Publisher |
| Political Party: | Republican |
| Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the second-highest executive official of the United States government, the person who is "a heartbeat from the presidency. As first in the presidential line of succession, the Vice President becomes the new Presi: | Calvin Coolidge |
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Warren Gamaliel Harding ( Thursday, November 2, 1865 - Thursday, August 2, 1923) was the 29th ( 1921- 1923) President of the United States and the sixth President to die in office.
Many historians consider Harding to have been the worst President in American history, mostly due to widespread corruption in his Administration. His death early in his term makes a definitive judgement impossible.
1 Early life
Harding was born in Corsica, now Blooming Grove, Morrow County, Ohio on November 2 1865 to Dr George Harding and Phoebe Dickerson. He graduated from Ohio Central College at Iberia. Harding was the oldest of six children; his boyhood heroes were Alexander Hamilton and Napoleon. His mother was a midwife who later obtained her medical license. See William Estabrook Chancellor for details of Harding's African American lineage.
In 1889 (when he was 24) Harding suffered a nervous breakdown and spent several weeks in a sanitarium. Two years later he married Florence Mabel Kling DeWolfe, a divorcee and mother of one son. Florence inherited her father's determination and business sense. Five years older than he, she had pursued him persistently, until he reluctantly gave in. Her father opposed the marriage vigorously and would not speak to his daughter or her husband for many years.
While the marriage wasn't one of full-blown passions, the couple complemented one another. Much to Florence Kling Harding's dismay, Harding conducted a number of affairs behind her back. But it has been said that it was Florence's drive that helped him achieve greater things than he could alone.
2 Political rise
An influential newspaper publisher , Harding was elected to the Ohio State Senate in 1899, serving four years before being elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, a post where he served from 1903 to 1905. In both cases his service was relatively indistinguished, and at the conclusion of his term as Lieutenant Governor Harding returned to private life.
