The Best Books To Learn About President Warren G. Harding
(You can view the rest of our presidential Best Book lists by going to our Best US President Books page, or for a more in-depth look at how we found and ranked the books you can visit our Best Book About Every United States President article.)
Warren G. Harding Quick Facts |
| President Number | 29 |
| Terms In Office | 30/48ths (died) |
| Years | 1921-1923 |
| Political Party | Republican |
| Vice President | Calvin Coolidge |
| Home State | Ohio |
| Presidential Pet | Terrier (Laddie Boy), Bulldog (Old Boy), Canary (Petey) |
| Campaign Slogan | “Return to normalcy” |
| Articles Used in Ranking | 14 |
| Number of Unique Books | 21 |
The Best Book About Warren G. Harding
(Appears on 6 Lists)
Warren G. Harding (The American Presidents Series) by John W. Dean
Lists It Appears On:
- All The Presidents Books
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
- Mashable
- The Tailored Man
- The Washington Post
Raised in Marion, Ohio, Harding took hold of the small town’s newspaper and turned it into a success. Showing a talent for local politics, he rose quickly to the U.S. Senate. His presidential campaign slogan, “America’s present need is not heroics but healing, not nostrums but normalcy,” gave voice to a public exhausted by the intense politics following World War I. Once elected, he pushed for legislation limiting the number of immigrants; set high tariffs to relieve the farm crisis after the war; persuaded Congress to adopt unified federal budget creation; and reduced income taxes and the national debt, before dying unexpectedly in 1923.
#2
(Appears on 5 Lists)
The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G Harding in His Times by Francis Russell
Lists It Appears On:
- At Times Dull
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
- Presidents USA
- The Washington Post
#3
(Appears on 3 Lists)
The Harding Era: Warren G. Harding and His Administration by Robert K. Murray
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Mandi Lindner
- Presidents USA
The 1920’s challenge the historian and the general reader with the controversial and misunderstood figure of Warren G. Harding, president from 1921 until his death in 1923. Professor Murray re-examines and re-evaluates Harding’s nomination, election, and presidency in the light of newly available materials, especially the Harding Papers. He demonstrates that Harding was not a bumbling nonentity as heretofore pictured and that his administration was surprisingly successful in solving its immediate problems. Inheriting domestic and international chaos, the administration engineered an efficient transition from the postwar turmoil of the late Wilson years to a time of prosperity under Collidge. Significantly also, it established the basic outlines of Republican party policy for the rest of the decade. As Professor Murray makes clear, Harding was more than a bystander in these accomplishments; he was a catalytic influence, succeeding where a different personality might have failed. Harding’s failure, the author concludes, was not in the nature of his administration but in himself and his friends. His own flaws, coupled with the corrupt activity of such associates as Forbes, Miller, and Fall, tipped the scales in the public’s eyes against his administration’s achievements. In the process, many persistent myths were created. Now, in this book, the myths are analyzed and, wherever necessary, dispelled.
#4-7
(Appear on 2 List)
Incredible Era: The Life and Times of Warren Gamaliel Harding by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
Biography of Warren G Harding written by a contemporary of Harding.
The Available Man: The Life Behind the Masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding by Andrew Sinclair
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage during the Great War by James David Robenalt
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
- The Christian Science Monitor
Warren Harding fell in love with his beautiful neighbor, Carrie Phillips, in the summer of 1905, almost a decade before he was elected a United States Senator and fifteen years before he became the 29th President of the United States. When the two lovers started their long-term and torrid affair, neither of them could have foreseen that their relationship would play out against one of the greatest wars in world history–the First World War. Harding would become a Senator with the power to vote for war; Mrs. Phillips and her daughter would become German agents, spying on a U. S. training camp on Long Island in the hopes of gauging for the Germans the pace of mobilization of the U. S. Army for entry into the battlefields in France.
The Ohio Gang: The World of Warren G Harding by Charles L. Mee
Lists It Appears On:
- Library of Congress
- Presidents USA
The Ohio Gang, an historical entertainment peopled with the characters of the day, follows Harding and his cronies from their Ohio childhoods to the smoke-filled rooms of the Republican convention and on to the White House. We meet Henry Daugherty, the attorney general with the disconcerting eyes; Jess Smith, tall and pigeon-toed; Nan Britton, the teenage girl who fell in love with Harding’s campaign posters and who later became his mistress and mother to his illegitimate daughter; and America’s first lady, the Duchess. Following the antics of the president and his administration, The Ohio Gang concludes with Harding’s whistle-stop tour of the country—his final, despairing attempt to keep his presidency from coming undone.
#8-21
(Appear on 1 List)
1920: The Year of the Six Presidents by David Pietrusza
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
The presidential election of 1920 was among history’s most dramatic. Six once-and-future presidents-Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt-jockeyed for the White House. With voters choosing between Wilson’s League of Nations and Harding’s front-porch isolationism, the 1920 election shaped modern America. Women won the vote. Republicans outspent Democrats by 4 to 1, as voters witnessed the first extensive newsreel coverage, modern campaign advertising, and results broadcast on radio. America had become an urban nation: Automobiles, mass production, chain stores, and easy credit transformed the economy. 1920 paints a vivid portrait of America, beset by the Red Scare, jailed dissidents, Prohibition, smoke-filled rooms, bomb-throwing terrorists, and the Klan, gingerly crossing modernity’s threshold.
Dead Last: The Public Memory of Warren G. Harding’s Scandalous Legacy by Phillip G. Payne
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
By examining the public memory of Harding, Phillip G. Payne offers the first significant reinterpretation of his presidency in a generation. Rather than repeating the old stories, Payne examines the contexts and continued meaning of the Harding scandals for various constituencies. Payne explores such topics as Harding’s importance as a midwestern small-town booster, his rumored black ancestry, the role of various biographers in shaping his early image, the tension between public memory and academic history, and, finally, his status as an icon of presidential failure in contemporary political debates. Harding was a popular president and was widely mourned when he died in office in 1923; but with his death began the construction of his public memory and his fall from political grace.
Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America’s Most Scandalous President by Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Deeply researched and richly told, Florence Harding reveals the never-before-told story of First Lady Florence Harding’s phenomenal rise to power. The daughter of an abusive father in small-town Ohio, mother at a young age to an illegitimate child, Florence Harding saw her escape in Warren Harding, and became the driving force behind his ascent to one of the most scandal-ridden presidencies in United States history.Preeminent First Ladies biographer Carl Sferrazza Anthony not only captures the drama of Florence Harding’s personality, but he uses the White House to bring to life Jazz Age America — a world of speakeasies and Miss America, Babe Ruth, Al Jolson, and the rise of Hollywood. He shows how Florence’s friendship with Evalyn McLean, the morphine-addicted owner of the Hope Diamond and The Washington Post was one of the defining bonds in her public life. With newly unsealed medical information, Florence Harding finally unfolds the mystery of whether the First Lady poisoned the President, whose death occurred seventy-five years ago. Florence Harding is a fascinating and informative look at a lost chapter in American history.
Fluke by Martin Blinder
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
So begins the tale of one of the most tragic figures in modern American history, as seen through the rather astigmatic vision of his mistress. In America, anybody can become president. In 1920, anybody did. Harding was a strikingly handsome man, a high school graduate of impenetrable ignorance whose only two qualifications for the presidency were that he looked and sounded presidential provided you didn’t look or listen too closely. Ohio’s “favorite son” at the nominating convention, he recognized his
My Search for Warren Harding by Robert Plunket
Lists It Appears On:
- NY Times
Tempest over Teapot Dome: The Story of Albert B. Fall by David H. Stratton
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Albert B. Fall, interior secretary in the Harding administration, was the first American cabinet member sent to prison for a crime committed in office. In the Teapot Dome affair – the worst modern political scandal until Watergate – Fall leased two naval oil reserves, Wyoming’s Teapot Dome and California’s Elk Hills, to Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny and received payments of $404,000 from the two millionaire oilmen. Historian David Stratton pulls no punches as he sheds new light on western and national politics, conservation, and economic development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Politics of Normalcy: Governmental Theory and Practice in the Harding-Coolidge Era by Robert K. Murray
Lists It Appears On:
- Library of Congress
The Presidency of Warren G Harding by Eugene P. Trani
Lists It Appears On:
- Library of Congress
In this volume, Eugene P. Trani and David L. Wilson evaluate the presidency of Warren G. Harding by surveying scholarship on the Harding years. Harding—generally considered one of the weakest American presidents—was elected chief executive in 1920, during a time of uncertainty and frustration for many of the American people. The authors assess the critics and defenders of Harding in light of the administration’s accomplishments and failures.
The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1865-1920 by Randolph C. Downes
Lists It Appears On:
- Library of Congress
The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
The cover picture to this book is one of the last ever taken of President Warren G. Harding and his wife, Florence, before their untimely deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S. Henderson during their trip to Alaska. Harding appears to be healthy, yet he died only a few days later. This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion that Harding had been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence, refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one year later. As to who would murder Harding and why, at the time of this photo Harding was tremendously popular, one of the most popular presidents ever had. Only a few years later, he came to be regarded as the worst president America ever had. The Teapot Dome Scandal was looming in the far distance, but troubles were starting to appear. Harding had at least two active mistresses, plus an illegitimate child.
The Strange Deaths of President Harding by Robert H. Ferrell
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
For nearly half a century, the twenty-ninth president of the United States has consistently finished last in polls ranking the presidents. After Harding’s untimely death in 1923, a variety of attacks and unsubstantiated claims left the public with a tainted impression of him. In this meticulously researched scrutiny of the mystery surrounding Harding’s death, Robert H. Ferrell, distinguished presidential historian, examines the claims against this unpopular president and uses new material to counter those accusations.
Warren G. Harding and the Marion Daily Star: How Newspapering Shaped a President by Sherry Hall
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
President Warren G. Harding’s thirty-nine-year career as a newspaperman is often treated as a footnote. This book offers a unique approach to the Harding story, presenting him as he saw himself: as a newspaperman. His political successes were based on the thinking of a newspaper editor–balancing all of the facets of an issue, examining the facts and weighing the effect on the constituents. Even his approach to balancing the federal budget was built on early experience at his small, struggling newspaper, where his motto was: All paid in, all paid out, books even.” The only member of the Fourth Estate to enter the White House, Harding found his voice through the pages of the “Marion Daily Star.” Author Sheryl Smart Hall offers an intimate view of the man, often as seen through the eyes of those who knew him best–his co-workers at the “Star.”
Warren G. Harding, Death by Blackness by Marsha Stewart
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Warren G. Harding (Death by Blackness) depicts Harding’s life as my family knew it. While growing up, we were never allowed to talk about the relationship to a US President outside of family gatherings because we were “Colored” and Warren was “passing.” In 1884 he was a teacher at the local “Colored school” in Marion, Ohio, until he crossed the color line and became the 29th President of the US. Biographies written about Harding are quick to note his parents were descendants of Ohio pioneer families with English and dutch ancestry when, in reality, both of his parents were negroes whose ancestors escaped through the Underground Railroad. this book will set the record straight. Few have come forth to tell the truth. The Internet Encyclopedias reference Warren G. Harding’s Blackness openly, to surprise, in view of the fact his Negro ancestry has been squelched by the government and his immediate family members. Moreover, he may have lost his life because of it.
Warren Gamaliel Harding, President of the United States by William Estabrook Chancellor
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
The whole destiny of the world falls on President Harding sleadership; the fate of white civilization hangs in the crisis. This is the startling assertion of Sir Philip Gibbs, the distinguished war correspondent, in a recent analysis of world conditions. The very thought bids us pause. Undoubtedly the times are out of joint and a blind, selfish or false leadership will be calamitous indeed. It is proposed to discuss the inherited and acquired traits of President Harding and those of some of his intimate advisers that the reader may know as he should be advised as to the kind of leadership that is now directing our destiny. Our story is also as an exoneration and vindication of Professor William Estabrook Chancellor upon whose investigations and writings the facts herein stated are based as is also much of the form of statement. After reading these pages let the hesitant reader consider that selfish fear has closed the lips of many who, with Professor Chancellor, investigated and know the fadts of the President sancestry. It should not be forgotten that the tradition charging fusion of races is over one hundred years old and that legal proof of the existence of such tradition is over seventy years old and was presented as evidence in the Butler murder case in the courts of Morrow, President Harding snative county, by one of the most distinguished Republican lawyers and leaders in the history of Ohio, Columbus Delano, who was Secretary of the Interior under President Grant. Living witnesses also are to be found who testify as to the tradition.
The Best Warren G. Harding Book Lists Consulted
| Source | Article |
| All The Presidents Books | One Through Forty-Two or Forty-Three |
| At Times Dull | Janet’s Presidential Biography Project & Blog |
| Best Presidential Bios | The Best Presidential Biographies |
| Huffington Post | Presidents’ Day History: The Must-Reads Of Presidential Biographies |
| Library of Congress | Selected Bibliography |
| Mandi Lindner | 44 Presidents and Their Definitive Biographies |
| Mashable | Why I’m spending a year reading about every U.S. president |
| NY Times | Good Books About Bad Presidents |
| Presidential History | Presidential Resources |
| Presidential History (Again) | Pulitzer Prize Winning Books About Presidents |
| Presidents USA | FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT WARREN HARDING |
| The Christian Science Monitor | 5 great books about obscure presidents |
| The Tailored Man | The 44 Best Presidential Biographies |
| The Washington Post | The Fix’s list of best presidential biographies |
