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William Estabrook Chancellor ( 25 September 1867 - 4 February 1963) was an American academic and writer. He was born in Dayton, Ohio. After a degree from Amherst College, he went into teaching, and also wrote prolifically, publishing around 40 books and hundreds of articles. He married into the family of Harriet Beecher Stowe. He was a convinced Democrat in politics.
He was professor at The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, when he began to research the background of Warren Gamaliel Harding. From local enquiries in Marion, Ohio he discovered a story that Harding had at least one African-American great-grandparent; specifically, that a greatgrandmother Elizabeth Madison was black. He wrote two pamphlets about this, in the run-up to the 1920 Presidential election, unleashing a scandal. Chancellor was dismissed from his post, four days before the election.
After Harding was in the White House, Chancellor wanted to write a Harding biography. He was hounded from his job, his home, his town, and eventually, his country, as he took flight to Canada, to escape Harding's agents; his publication on Harding was suppressed.
Reference
- The Indictment (2000) John A. Murphy
