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The Strange Deaths of President Harding

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The Strange Deaths of President Harding, by Robert Ferrell is a well researched and documented work that concerns itself with debunking many of the myths that surround the legacy of President Harding. Ferrell begins by recounting a story about a time when he was in college driving through Ohio with a carload of friends. Nearing the Harding Memorial, he drove onto the memorial grounds and stopped the car. At that moment, he pointed out to his friends that it was Harding's tomb, and everyone including Ferrell, laughed. Indeed Ferrell's story as he indicated, demonstrated how the passage of years can change a person's mind. And yet, as he also indicates, Harding continues to be ranked last in the presidential polls. Ferrell sets out not to argue that Harding should be considered a great or near great president--he simply calls for an honest reconsideration of Harding. Ferrell begins by offering evidence that Harding died of a heart attack, from overexertion and after years of suffering from heart disease; He disproves the theory that Florence Harding poisoned her husband. Ferrell then challenges the claims made by Nan Britton, who claimed Harding fathered her child. After which, Ferrell discusses the scandals of the Harding administration and the aftermath. He goes into great detail questioning the motives of a few journalists and authors who relentlessly attacked Harding's reputation and the many salacious biographies written before the Harding papers were opened that relied on rumor, gossip and unsubstantiated claims--and subsequent biographies after the Harding papers opened that continued to rely heavily on these earlier, albeit inaccurate works, giving little to no consideration of the Harding papers. Ferrell makes a compelling argument that many of the stories surrounding Harding would have been disproven had the Harding papers been available. He also suggests that Florence Harding, in her well meaning attempts to protect the legacy of her late husband by burning his papers,(she believed she had burned the majority of his papers but was not aware that she possessed only a very, very small portion of his papers) unwittingly helped hasten the maligning of her husband. Overall Ferrell makes a compelling case that given the inaccuracies that have persisted for decades regarding Harding, there should and must be a reexamination of Harding's legacy that separates fact from fiction.

Americans have always had a love hate relationship with the truth. We love the truth because it's something that we believe in, but we hate the truth when it is less entertaining than tawdry details dreamt up in the minds of scandal mongers. Such is the case of the Nation's 29th President Warren G. Harding, for whom lore wins out over the truth.

"The Strange Deaths of President Harding" is Robert Ferrell's painstakingly researched retort to the years of lies, myths and lore that have enveloped the legacy of President Warren G. Harding, the nations 29th President (1921-1923). At the time of Harding's death in 1923, he was one of the most beloved people in the nation. During the trip that returned his body to Washington D.C. for the State Funeral, millions of Americans lined the railway tracks to pay tribute to him. Adding to the speculation of wrong doing was Mrs. Harding's death in 1924, leaving both Harding's defenseless against the rising tide of tales surrounding them and the President's appointees. The Harding's reputations were so harmed by the public's inability to separate the man from his appointee's actions that their final resting place, completed in 1927 wasn't dedicated until 1931.

Ferrell's strength is not in writing a juicy tell all, but in writing a well documented expose on the truths about the Harding's, and the truth is always less juicy to the American people than the rumors that have persisted. Ferrell does an outstanding job at stripping away the salacious speculations (for example, Mrs. Harding did not kill her husband as Gaston Means speculated) and circumstantial evidence that has damned Harding to be appraised as one of the worst Presidents in American History. Indeed, once free of innuendo and false labels, Harding actually comes out as an average President who gave to much power the wrong the people, and suffered dearly because of this loyalty.

So if you are one of those who believe that Mrs. Harding and Dr. Sawyer conspired to kill Harding, or that Harding fathered Nan Britton's baby or that even Nan Britton worte "The President's Daughter", Ferrell is poised to poke you in the eye with fact patterns and research that show that Harding died of end stage heart disease, no concrete evidence exists to support the paternal claims of Britton and that Britton's book was most likely written by her middle-age mentor.

Despite Ferrell's outstanding work, this book will never enjoy the success it and its writer fully deserve and that is a true American tragedy. Had Ferrell set out to trash the reputation of an American hero, this would have been a best seller, his face would have appearred on the cover of Time and Oprah would have chosen this for her book club. Regardless, this remains a must read for those people who value truth over myth, and honor over dishonor.

I read through this book very carefully, as well as that of John Dean's recent one on Harding. Dean's is much more balanced, and gives a sense of Harding's attributes in the context of his very real and deep weaknesses. Personal weakness and strength affects every person's view of the world and job performance. Presidents are no different. Why is it that Ferrell cannot see the whole man and must whitewash him into a hero? To me the real hero is one who overcomes his failings to succeed. Also, the author rather proudly displays a very old view that women are liars at best for he dismisses the opinion and recollections of every woman who knew Harding - regardless of whether it was from a personal or political viewpoint - as "gossip" yet presents as unchallenged truth the gossip of men like the mail clerk! I also studied the footnotes to see that this book uses a sanitized "for public eyes" version of the presidential doctor's notes - while others use the raw handwritten diary notes. One obvious fact - the near mirror image of Harding's face to that of Nan Britton's alleged daughter by him is simply outright ignored by this author. Simply because she is a working-class woman her claim of honoring Harding's wish that she burn his love letters to her is assumed to be a lie, yet when portions of Harding's own public correspondence is burned to protect his memory, Ferrell supports this action - rather shocking for a person in a profession which requires preservation of all documentation. Either this book was rushed to print without review by professional standards or is simply a failed white4wash. Read Professor Murray's excellent book, Francis Russell - who in the 1950's actually interviewed many Harding contemporaries.

This is an attempt to look at President Harding from a different perspective. The general opinion is that this man was one of the worse presidents this country has every had. Although Mr. Ferrell does not try to totally reverse this opinion and make President Harding out to be a great president he does attempt to explain how the Harding Administration was a reflection of the 1920s and what the people wanted and needed from their government.

The many "deaths" relates first to his physical death. President Harding was -- contrary to what his aides wanted people to believe -- not a well man and had a severe heart condition. He went on a tour to the west coast and was so beaten down physically that he was laid up on bed rest for several days with reports on his conditions being monitored by the news media. The first couple of days the reports were grim and then suddenly the reports became optimistic. Then, just as suddenly the man was dead.

The other deaths of President Harding relates to the death of his image. He reportedly had affairs and illegitimate children. His name was mired in the Teapot Dome Scandal. His accomplishments were diminished by the events that followed his administration. In the end most President Harding's accomplishments were forgotten and so, too, was President Harding.

Ferrell has a long, long history as an author, of distorting the life of Harding. Every book he has written, even when he writes one chapter on Harding (see his book "Presidential Leadership") is written from an anti-revisionist stance. He has consistently tried to rehabilitate Harding's legacy and character, when the facts are apparent to everyone else. Ferrell ignores the two children Harding fathered out of wedlock, his drinking during prohibition, and his partial Black ancestry per the most recent information available. Francis Russell's books on Harding and Carl Anthony's on Mrs. Harding, are closer to the truth. This book on Harding is like the one he wrote recently on Grace Coolidge...just fluff...and not a very good tribute to the Coolidge family. As a historian myself, don't waste your time...it's very poor scholarship; although, I very much agree with him that Gaston Means own book on the "Strange Death of Warren Harding," is suspect in authenticity. Of course, the Means book should be read, but taken with a grain of salt.