Harding, Warren Gamaliel

Harding, Warren Gamaliel (1865–1923) 29th president of the United States (1921–23), born near Blooming Grove, Ohio. A prominent newspaperman and leading citizen of Marion, Ohio, Harding served two terms in the state senate (1900–04) and one term as lieutenant governor (1904–06) before being elected to the U.S. Senate. As a Republican senator (1915–21), he supported most of President Woodrow Wilson's war measures, but became highly critical of them after World War I. In 1920 he received his party's presidential nomination and was swept to victory on a platform that called for a return to “normalcy,” opposition to the League of Nations, protective tariffs, and stricter immigration standards. But once in office, Harding proved ill-suited for the challenges of the position. His administration was marked by highly publicized scandals (many of which came to light only after his death) involving officials in several departments. The most notorious of these was the Teapot Dome affair, concerning the transfer of naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, to the Department of the Interior, whose secretary subsequently leased them to private interests. The administration's greatest diplomatic achievement was the complex of treaties negotiated and signed at the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armaments and on Far Eastern and Pacific Questions (1921–22), resulting in the slowing of a naval arms race and international recognition for the U.S. open door policy in regard to China.

Albert B. Fall, Harding's secretary of the interior, was the first U.S. cabinet member to be convicted of a felony committed while in office.