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The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding in His Times

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I read this book over 30 years ago and was fascinated with it. It gave a detailed look at one of our most obscure presidents. I've been interested in him ever since. Perhaps the only flaw of the book was the forced omissions of the letters between Mr.Harding and his mistress in Marion, Ohio. This tragic presidency was brought to life with the fascinating writing of Mr. Russell.

I discovered this book in high school. Required to research a President "off the beaten track," I chose Harding. Even more so than Richard Nixon, Harding's reputation has been tarnished since his death, and historians have seldom gone back to re-examine the man's life. Francis Russell's book, currently out-of-print, remains a fascinating study of a man who made no bones about being from an obscure hometown, a man who, although a successful newspaper editor, often misused the English language, and (last but not least) someone who had advanced in the rough and tumble world of Ohio politics not through being a shrewd policy-maker or a great statesman, but rather a good-looking public speaker and partygoing back-slapper. He had other faults as well, namely his roving eye regarding the fairer sex. One of the most interesting sections of the book concerns his decade-long affair with a married woman. They wrote many love letters back and forth, but excerpts from these letters were suppressed; dashes (---) appear in Russell's book instead of the expected prose. Perhaps someday these letters will be published, and with them an unexpurgated version of this otherwise wholly satisfactory Presidential biography.

The worst of our presidents? That's the usual judgment, but it's hard to say because nothing of real consequence occurred during Harding's two years in office that would have tested his mettle: calling the Washington Conference in 1921 to limit naval armaments, perhaps his biggest (positive) accomplishment, doesn't exactly go down in history as memorable. His reputation, though, much of it hidden from the public until long after his death, is horrendous. He would rather play poker than do anything else, and he revelled in his own pomposity. He fathered a child out of wedlock as a Senator and had other affairs as well. His presidency was one of the most corrupt in history: many of his cabinet cronies were involved in one scandal after another, the biggest being the Teapot Dome affair, which was all about selling off the government's oil reserve to the highest bidders behind everyone's back. Not much to admire, and Russell pulls no punches in expressing his disdain for his subject. The book is solidly written, though it is overly long, especially where Russell goes into Harding's death (food poisoning?) in California. One of the better Presidential biographies out there, however. Recommended.

Harding often makes the list of the worst presidents in US history and this book explores the reasons behind this judgement. Never a statesman, deeply flawed and ultimately tragic, shows what happens when a person whose only qualifications for the job was that he was good natured back slapper above controversy is elected to the presidency. He was from an important state which helped as well, but these should never be considered as qualifcations for the highest office in the land.

Harding was scandal prone from his early days. There was a rather nasty rumor that, given the circumstances of the time significant. This was that his family was part African American. In some ways this was the transformation of the old Democratic civil war "bloody shirt" strategy that dated back to Reconstruction. The Republicans were accused even after they had abandoned Civil Rights (in 1876) of somehow attempting to promote African American interests at the expense of white Americans. This issue continued to pop up throughout Harding's career.

Then there are the women. Harding was married to a woman who appears to have been a bit of a shrew. He sought comfort elsewhere and from a variety of sources. His primary mistress was a political liabilty for more than obvious reasons. Carrie Phillips was pro-German and after the end of their affair was a thorn in Harding's flesh. Unfortunately, the letters between the two are surpressed in this book due to the legal efforts of Harding's nephew, George T. Harding. Given Harding's reputation, it is unclear what he was trying to protect by doing so. I suppose, given Harding's questionable fluency in English, the letters might make for a further negative reassessment. After all when one is the second worst president, one has to fight tooth and nail anything that would put one below James Buchanan even a collection of letters which may express certain needs in a less than eloquent manner.

There is also Nan Britton, who was kind of the Monica Lewinsky of her day. Fortunately for Harding, this story of their affair and daughter did not come to public notice until after he died.

Sex scandals were only part of Harding's presidency. The people he selected for high office were the worst kind of cronies, who saw public service as the means to make a raid on the treasury and public property. The worst of these was the Teapot Dome scandal in which national oil reserves were sold to private companies below what would be considered fair market price (in exchange for bribes). This was not Harding's finest hour, but again luckily he was dead when most of these revelations became public. By then stories of bootlegged liquor in the White House, Little Houses on K Street and stock market tips (which proved to be bad ones) had destroyed Harding's reputation forever. This is why Harding is remembered as one of our worst presidents. Long term relationships with near treasonous mistresses and out-of-wedlock children are really just local colour.

Harding's presidency was not quite the disaster it might have been, due to the lack of any great national crisis during his presidency. It is fortunate that this mediocre figure was not in power during a war or economic recession. His role could only have been negative as Russell frequently demonstrates. Theodore Roosevelt privately felt that he had had it too easy during his presidency and that had he lived through more trying times as Lincoln did he might have achieved even greater things. Harding is the inverse, had he been really tested, he might have destroyed the republic in the most amiable of fashions.

Though the subject of Russell's book is not an important figute, it does serve as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong in the selection of presidents. In 1920, the Republicans would have been better served by nominating Leonard Wood (an associate of Theodore Roosevelt). Russell is a fan of Wood's who is far a more compelling figure. If anything this proves that the reputation of Harding is beyond all hope.

Over the last several years I have read around 30 presidential biographies, usually using Amazon readers as my guide to find the best available book. This is certainly my favorite biography of a failed presidency. Many presidents are "in over their heads" once they become president. Harding was over his head as a senator , if not before. He was a fairly successful small town newspaper publisher and a gregarious glad-hander. Shadow of Blooming Grove lays out all of the sordid details in a highly readable way, connecting the reader to the times. Covered are the rumors of Harding being a mulatto, his marriage to a difficult woman, Ohio politics (which managed to produce about every other president for 60 years), the smoke filled room convention, the cronyism and party life in Washington D.C. , the almost complete involvement of Harding's cabinet in one shady deal after another, and Harding's affairs and his illegitimate child. Amazingly, Harding remained popular with the people as so little of the scandals made it into the press while he is alive.

Reading reviews of other Harding books on Amazon and finding that John Dean tries to rehabilitate Harding's reputation is laughable. Personally, Harding is a disaster. As a president he was incompetent, and his administration was rife with corruption.

My edition of Shadow of Blooming Grove has a few quotes and half-pages from Harding's love letters to a mistress censored out due to threats of a lawsuit. Even 40 years after his death, his family tried to hang onto to some decency. The censorship just adds to the fun.

I highly recommend Shadow of Blooming Grove, a top ten presidential biography.

Forty two men have occupied the oval office as of this writing, and in my opinion, the Harding administration may be the most interesting of all. There is seduction, intrigue, deceit, and dark corruption.

Warren Harding was our last true "dark horse" candidate. Propped to the forefront by the "Ohio Gang" of Harry Daugherty, Jesse Smith and others, Harding was a friendly, likable and naive one term senator, with a stentorian voice, and the good looks of a Roman praetorian.

His story serves as a cautionary tale, and watching the Obama campaign, serves notice that the campaign process, which Harding skipped, toughens up a candidate for the difficulty of the job ahead.

Harding was a very popular president to the day he died (in office), but his decline in the estimation of the American public, and in the historians view, was precipitous.

Within weeks of his death, stories of corruption emanating from his cabinet hit the newspaper. Harding was not around to defend himself, or to mitigate the damages.

Francis Russell wrote this biography in 1968, and it must be called the definitive biography of the 29th president. Russell thoroughly researched and intimately came to know and understand his subject. He sees Harding as a simple man, who rose to a position that was over his limited abilities.

There has been little written of Harding, who until recently has been dismissed by most historians as one of our worst presidents. He was a reluctant leader, and surrounded himself with some poor cabinet members. He also had some first rate minds in his midst, including Herbert Hoover, who was considered a wunderkind before his ill-fated presidency, and Andrew Mellon.

John Dean wrote a revisionist biography of Harding, and made a compelling case for re-evaluation. However, Dean's words are forever tainted as many remember his involvement with another ill-fated administration.

This is a thoughtful, comprehensive and informative biography for any history buff who wants to learn the significance of the Harding character, and the legacy of his presidency.

I did not plan to read an entire 650 page book on Harding, but Russell writes so well that I could not stop. It is chock full of very specific insights and details.

My favorite part was the nomination process at the deadlocked convention. The bosses decided on Harding, then a senator, as a compromise canidate to break the deadlock and get everyone out of the 95 degree Chicago summer heat. But first, they came to Harding and asked a very modern-sounding question: "Is there anything in your background that might embarass the Republican Party?" Harding was stunned by the question and asked for some time to think about it. At that time, Harding was having 2 affairs. One was 30 years younger than him and just had his baby which she brought to the Chicago convention to meet her dad. The other, the wife of a friend, was being investigated for spying due to her support for Germany in WWI. And, of course, there were persistent rumors that Harding had Black ancestors. After contemplating his catalog of potential embarassments for 10 minutes, Harding returned and confirmed that his past was clean.

His campaign ended up sending his married girlfriend (and her husband) on an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan after the reporters saw Harding's wife throw a waste basket at her. And a secret service agent was assigned to the full-time duty of delivering envelopes of cash to the younger one.

Harding was not power hungry and really did not want to be President. He was quite happy with his Senate position, his girl friends, and his drinking buddies. But, the policies that he put in place helped create the Roaring Twenties, even though Calvin Coolidge gets more of the credit. I did not know much about Harding but now I see him fondly as a human who found himself in a position that he never really sought.

"The Shadow of Blooming Grove" will be remembered as one of the best biographies of our most adulterous president. It ranks right up there with Carl S. Anthony's later work on Florence Harding and her husband ("Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of America's Most Scandalous President"). If you're wondering about some omissions in the Russell book, listed in the Harding love letters to Carrie Phillips (one of his many mistresses), you can thank the Harding Memorial Association/Ohio Historical Society/and Harding relatives, aka Dr. Richard Harding, et.al., for blocking their release through court action; locked away until 2014. In the meantime, you can read the biased Phillip Payne book "Dead Last" (who lists as his professional credentials "Historic Site Manager, Harding Memorial Home") and who tries to undercut every book ever written on the scandalous Harding administration. Or you can try out Robert Gilbert's "The Strange Deaths of Warren Harding," another weak attempt to rehabilitate Harding's soiled character.

But, for unbiased truthful research, Francis Russell and Carl Anthony have thus far produced the most outstanding books on this scandalous president.

With few exceptions, Warren G Harding is always referred to as America's "worst president" and this book goes to great depths to find out just exactly why.

It's no secret now that Warren G. Harding was the William Jefferson Clinton of his day when it came to an eye for the opposite sex. The difference between the two in this regard (which in no way compares their presidencies) is that in Harding's day, no one talked about it, and if they did, absolutely no one wrote about it.

Harding was one of the most notorious (and last) of America's "selected" Presidents, where party bosses met in "smokey back rooms" and arrived at reasonable compromises. In fact, the author is sympathetic to the reasoning that Harding never had any aspirations on being President and probably could have cared less if he had lost. (It's hard to say he showed any passion in campaigning for the job)

Harding was faced with many obstacles besides an inability to keep his zipper up. He doesn't seem to have made the wisest choice in his choosing of a mate, in fact, according to the author, she appears to be the one who had true aspirations for the presidency.

Harding was dogged throughout the campaign by rumors that he was of African-American descent, something that his relatives still seem intent on fighting to this day. What does appear to be true is the fact that the family were devout abolitionists and served on the Underground Railroad.

Harding's most prominent flaw seems to be his affability, something that many had assumed at the time to be his dominant strength. His inability to call his friends to task, allowed them to run free with the power of the Federal government.

His death will be controversial for years to come, and the author does little to truly answer the question of murder vs. food poisioning, but his presidency remains notorious. If simply for the fact that is considered "the worst."

I feared a muckfest driven by author's urge to sell copy by mining poorly researched intonations of Harding's mixed-race heritage. Not so - a comprehensive review of the man, the character and the foibles are well presented. Excellent weave of the inscrutable strands of political fate that lead such an ordinary individual to presidential office. Especially revealing are the facts of his romantic dalliances (altho some text deletion due to lawsuit injunction) which reveal a simple-minded hedonist at the core. Very engaging read.