Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President [Hardcover]

Carl Sferrazza Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1998

This book tells the story of Florence Hardin g''s rise to power. The daughter of an abusive father, mother at a young age to an illegitimate child, she saw her escape in Warren Harding and became the driving force behind his a scent to power. '

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A convincing reassessment of President Warren Harding's sudden death in 1923 is only one of the high points in this exhaustive biography of the president's wife, Florence (1860-1924). The author presents a detailed, three-dimensional portrait of the complicated woman he persuasively claims was the first truly modern First Lady: an equal partner in--indeed, the undisputed manager of- -her husband's career, and a trusted advisor whose opinions were always consulted. She'd had hard knocks, including a child conceived out of wedlock and an alcoholic first husband, but in public Florence always possessed the dignified, commanding presence that won her the nickname "Duchess." The contrast between her staid demeanor and Warren's partying ways, which included frequent and flagrant infidelities, makes for some juicy passages in an otherwise sober account of a transitional figure in the long struggle by American women to gain political power. --Wendy Smith

From Publishers Weekly

On inauguration day in March 1921 the new First Lady reputedly turned to her husband and remarked, "Well, Warren Harding, I have got you the Presidency. What are you going to do with it?" He answered, "May God help me, for I need it." Enlarging, with recently emerged documentation, on his First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power (1991), Anthony has produced an engrossing, full-breadth biography of the spouse of possibly the most incompetent American president, which establishes "the Duchess" as one of the most remarkable of First Ladies. ("Jazz Age" is only a title embellishment.) Mother of an illegitimate child before her marriage to the proprietor of a small-town weekly, she became a straight-laced, activist helpmate who pushed and prodded her mediocre husband into a political career in which he was increasingly unqualified. Despite a proclivity toward adultery, poker, drink and crooked cronies, Harding still managed to conduct some creditable public business before dying of an apparent heart attack after only two and a half years in office?long enough, however, for scandals among his associates to brew. Protecting his fragile reputation while building her own, his wife promoted women's rights, veterans' welfare, racial equality and national parks. But her dependence on the White House physician (her incompetent home-town homeopath) would accelerate Harding's decline while, paradoxically, keeping the ailing Florence, five years her husband's senior, active. She died a year after Harding and was quickly forgotten. Anthony's melodramatic life strenuously rehabilitates her. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 645 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688077943
• ISBN-13: 978-0688077945
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.7 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #889,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating biography reminiscent of Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, July 22, 2000

By 

Richard E. Hegner (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of America's Most Scandalous President (Paperback)

I came to this book knowing little about the Harding administration except for its scandals and babbitry and knowing virtually nothing about Harding's wife Florence. This is an absolutely captivating piece of writing, both vividly portraying an era and brimming with human interest stories. Florence Harding was at least as much a modern First Lady as Eleanor Roosevelt--outspoken, a strong feminist, a woman with a major voice in her husband's administration. Her life was filled with tragedy--an out-of-wedlock child to a drunken, shiftless man before she met Warren; a domineering German-American father who was both unloving and bigoted; a philandering husband the equal of Bill Clinton at his worst; and an espousal of "causes" like animal rights and veterans' welfare that had a way of backfiring on her. Florence was very much the ambition behind Warren, who probably would not have made it further than being a small town Ohio newspaper editor without her; yet he showed considerable resentment toward her outspokenness over the years--perhaps the root of some of his womanizing. Florence's life provides a very apt prism through which to view Harding's rise to power, his demise, and his mysterious death, upon which the author sheds some new and interesting light. This is a book filled with memorable characters, including Florence's wealthy and bohemian friend, Evelyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope diamond, and the vitriolic Alice Roosevelt Longworth. As countless other reviewers have noted, it is hard to put down, too. A great book for a summer escape, with the redeeming virtue of shedding light on an understudied piece of American history.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American History more Fascinating than Fiction, July 6, 2000

By 

Jack Nelson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of America's Most Scandalous President (Paperback)

Florence Harding's biography is not something that I would normally want to read, let alone spend money to obtain. However, after leafing through it in our local bookstore, I added it to my cart on a whim the last time I bought from Amazon. If you are interested in American History in general and the presidency in particular (as I am), you will devour this book (as I did). The parallels to the Clintons, while unmentioned by the author, are undeniable; in fact, it would be appropriate for Hillary to attempt channeling with Florence rather than Eleanor Roosevelt! This makes the reading all the more lively and contemporary. This biography does a great service to the memory of Florence Harding, who comes off very poorly in nearly all the historical summaries I have read. She is usually portrayed as imperious, aggressive, and authoritarian -- which she was, but not without reason; and Harding is portrayed as being the victim of a loveless marriage -- which he was not, she adored him. Why is the wife always blamed for her "coldness" when a husband sleeps around? I was left with great admiration for Mrs. Harding, and a desire to learn even more about her. Congratulations, Mr. Anthony, on a monumental biography.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly book that reads like a thriller!, August 24, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Oakland, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of America's Most Scandalous President (Paperback)

In this biography of Florence Harding, Carl Anthony portrays an unfogettable cast of colorful and shady individuals who continued to influence American politics long after the Hardings' brief tenure. What a treat to read a page-turner that is also impeccably researched, richly annotated, and painstakingly attributed! The characters, especially the Hardings and their intimates, are deeply drawn with both compassion and accuracy, leaving the reader to form his own judgments. The machinations of politics are described in chilling detail. Anthony takes advantage of newly available material to answer mysteries which have long shadowed the Harding legacy, in a way no previous author could have done. The book is not without its shortcomings. In some places, the verbiage is thickly entangled, with absurd grammatical errors ("Late into the warm spring night poker games, illuminated by strings of tiny white bulbs, the popular songs of Tin Pan Alley and racing pieces in the new jazz sound wafted as far out as Evalyn's new greenhouses as she cranked the Victrola.") Anthony's descriptions of Mrs. Harding's medical problems make little sense in terms of today's knowledge. Also, I feel he employs an exaggerated sense of melodrama in relating the circumstances of Harding's death. However, compared to the other Harding literature I've read, this is far away the best-researched and most objective. Overall--one of the best books I've read on politics, the Jazz Age, and the hypocrises of public life.