Warren Gamaliel Harding (1921-1923)

The most corrupt president we ever had. Partly responsible for causing The Great Depression.

Harding did some good things, and was an amiable man- what a relief he must have seemed after eight years of that arrogant, self-righteous and ineffective fool Wilson- but he nevertheless was an extremely poor judge of character and presided over one of the moost corrupt Administrations in history. I personally could care less about his private sexual affairs, just as I doon't give a hoot about JFK's or Clinton's; in some countries it is considered admirable to have manly conquests.

Tea Pot Dome scandal and others

Anyone who followed Wilson would shine in comparison, and Warren did very little! He gets a bad rap from Wilson loving historians. He was right for the country. I think his reputation is rising with clear thinking historians.

Probably the dumbest man ever to sit in the Oval Office. His friends were a seedy gang of crooks who were so corrupt, the only thing they wouldn't steal was a red hot stove. He has fond of telling an anecdote in which his father told him that it was a good thing he wasn't born a girl because I'd be in the family way all the time, because I never learned how to say 'No' Great choice as a first executive. Ironically he did more to preserve the Constitution than any president before or since. He had the document taken out of the files of the Library of Congress, where it was steadily decaying, and archivally preserved under glass.

Harding was gullible- and had other negative attributes that made him one of our worse Presidents. He employed people of very questional character out of gross nepotism. The result was corruption of a scale never seen- resulting in the 'Teapot Dome' scandal. He was rather 'Presidential Looking' and with women first given the right to vote in 1920- many did vote for him for his handsome good looks. Nothing sexist in those last remarks.

Invented the modern scandal with Teapot Dome scandal. The scandal involved no-bid leasing of oil fields to companies in exchange for bribes (sound familiar?). While some historians argue that Harding wasn't personally involved in the scandal, he is generally faulted for allowing it to happen within his administration, even though it was primarily the work of a couple of senators. The scandal brought down a number of political figures, thanks mostly to the efforts of a liberal firebrand, Senator Robert LaFollette (founder of The Progressive magazine and considered by some historians to be the "first modern liberal" to hold office) who kept pushing the investigation even when it appeared to be at a dead-end. Back then, presidents were held accountable for what went on under their watch, as opposed to now where they can blame "intelligence failures" or the opposition party with no power.

The poster child for why Presidents shouldn't be elected based solely on their looks. Harding looked undeniably presidential - big and strong with a deep gravelly voice, silver hair, and powerful, broad shoulders. He went into the Republican Convention ranked sixth of six nominees, but once the delegation got a look at him, they realized that nobody looked more presidential than him. As a senator he was silent on the defining issues of his generation. What he liked doing more than anything else was womanizing - and apparently he was very good at that. Most historians agree that he was just about the bottom of the barrel in US Presidents.

The only President to be elected on his birthday.. Often hosted poker games at the White House, and once gambled away a set of presidential china from Benjamin Harrison's administration.

It's hard to seperate Harding from Coolidge because Coolidge carried on Harding's policies so well. A former Reagan economics advisor said this about the Harding/Coolidge administration: In another 50 years, Harding will look much better than he does today. His most sensational move was to name Andrew Mellon, the Pittsburgh banker, Treasury Secretary, which is why the Twenties roared. Mellon was the best Treasury Secretary after Alexander Hamilton. Harding's second great move (which preceded his Mellon pick) was to name Calvin Coolidge his running mate. Coolidge is derided because he didn't advocate Big Government, but he was Reagan's hero. RR was in high school in the Coolidge years, when Coolidge best expressed the ideas of low tax rates producing greater tax revenues than high tax rates. It was Mellon who inspired the JFK tax cuts of 1964 and the Reagan Revolution that followed. The only reason Harding is reviled by today's historians is that he MUST be entombed along with Hoover (a... Read more

Maybe he didn't always make the right choices, but he's one of the few republicans we've had who truly was a good man.

Bush is better, Jar-Jar. Harding died in office because of a heart attack. That heart attack came because of all the corruption that was coming up in his administration.

He didn't really want to become president, but I'd prefer him much better than the dork running the country today. ... Harding was congenial, outgoing and reasonable. And yes, he did like African-American people. There are pics of him having friendly caucuses with them.

very good at keeping the economy strong, but had *very* poor judgement as to who he picked for his cabinet

Should have stayed in the Senate. He might have lived longer.

I didn't think there was anyone who was more stupid than Daddy Bush and his young-un (Dubya). Come to think of it...I still don't think there is any one more stupid than these two men, but Hardy comes so close.

Had a corrupt adminstration and was a very immoral man. Not a good Republican and not a good American either!

Even Better than Bush!

callitdowntheline75, well said, except that almost every president of the 20th century had an affair, though he was one of the only ones to have a child (maybe the only one; I don't study presidential affiars). I see yet again people have added points because he could have done well. You cannot rate a president on what they could have done had they not died. And for the people giving him a 4 and a lot of 5s, stop that. Don't rate him higher because you think he is better than Bush. You are changing a fair poll of peoples opinions because you want someone last. Vote them last and rate the others with knowledge, not with emotions regarding Dubya. Trust me, I would give Kennedy a 1 and everyone else a 5 (other than Bush) if I was doing it your way, but Kennedy was not terrible, he was only bad. Vote truthfully.

Better than Bush, so I'll give him a FOUR!

Warren G. Harding was a genial man who never really wanted to be President, and proceeded to prove why he ought not to have been. Not to say that he did not make any wise decisions during his term as he chose able men such as Charles Evans Hughes, Herbert Hoover, and Andrew Mellon to his Cabinet. He also pushed for women's rights. That being said, he was a poor judge of character as his cronies, Harry M. Daugherty and Albert Fall, contributed to his Administration's disgrace through the Teapot Dome Scandal. He was also amoral, having fathered a child out of wedlock and denying it repeatedly. In short, Harding was unfit to be President.

Caused the Great Depression.

Historians tend to underrate Warren Harding's Presidency. The Teapot Dome Scandal, of which Harding's presidency was historically infamous for, was not caused by him. He took advice from and appointed people of low character to high cabinet positions. It really is guilt by association. Harding never accepted the bribes himself, but some of his cabinet members did. His problem was that he appointed a lot of political cronies to important offices. Harding was never implicated in anything, but he loses points for not being tough with some of his friends like Albert Fall who was responsible for the Teapot Dome. Personally Harding lacked backbone and character, had it been a different period in American history his Presidency would have turned out differently. Like President Eisenhower Harding wasn't a hands-on executive, but he had vision and he knew where he wanted to take the country Despite some of the bad apples he had in his administration, he had some real stars in his cabinet, among... Read more

Anyone who can cut spending by 40% gets my appreciation.

Much better than dubya. so he should be in front of that bush asshole

Another moronic, corrupt do-nothing Republican whose administration, along with Coolidge's, did nothing to fend off The Great Depression: in fact, the lameness and not-so-benign neglect of the nation's financial matters by this guy and his successor actually gave cause in large part to the worst economic catastrophe in our nation's history. Presided over a tainted administration and spent considerable time boffing Nan Britton in a janitor's closet just off the Oval Office. In this, the old whoremaster was decidedly a major role model for Bubba Clinton, almost as much as that other rake who couldn't keep his fly zipped, John "We Hardly Blew Ye" Kennedy.

POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES: Warren G. Harding was an honest, good intentioned man whose Presidency was destroyed by scandals that have never been proven to be related to him personally. He did many positive things in office and stood for high ideals. He lowered taxes to stimulate economic recovery and improved government budgeting. He also was a modern thinker with his support of a massive highway construction program. He raised tariffs to end the post-war recession in correspondance with American Public Opinion. He was the first President to be a friend to oppressed African Americans and had he lived, may have presented Anti-Lynching laws. He was also a friend of women, approving massive funding to states for improved maternal and child care. He was well-liked and very popular with the American people throughout his Presidency until his reputation was diminished after his death. NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTES: Warren Harding generally sided with big business, refusing to call for the raise in the minim... Read more

"Gams" was a return to normalcy, just when we needed a break. Ohio's favorite son won by campaigning from his front porch. He moved the oral office onto a train, long before Bill Clinton ducked into the hall with Monica. Washington Mall needs a Harding Memorial to make it complete.

two years of drunken bliss!

STUD!

Better than historians admit. As percentages go, he was elected by a larger margin than any other president (at least that's what I've read). And when he died, he was still as popular as he had been in the beginning. It was only after some of his cronies were discovered to be crooks later on that Harding's image was forever tarnished.

That's my dawgg! The original Warren G!

he made up words like Bush.

Gamaliel? Did you kill the smurfs?

Harding is remakably underappreciated in American history. He was a man who was able to do many things in the short time he was in office and even before. Harding brought America a sense of uplift after enduring the horrible Great War. He called it "normalcy." He probably meant something like "normality" but what he meant was really much more. Americans knew that then and normalcy remains part of our lexicon. He was also the first President to say that he supported the possibility of anti-lynching law. This shows that he was a man who had compassion for humanity. He was a leader who created what has been called the smartest cabinet in history. The people who appointed were the very best of their time. Also consider the post-war military treaties that would serve as blueprints for weapons reduction decades later. He was America's "Uncle Warren" and his time in the whitehouse is undervalued.