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Warren G. Harding, 1865-1923
Twenty-ninth president, 1921–1923
On November 2, 1920, less than three months after the nineteenth amendment had been signed into law, men -- and women -- elected Warren Harding to serve as their president. The former governor and senator from Ohio, who entered the White House following an era of upheaval, promised to restore "normalcy" after a period marked by sweeping social reforms and World War I.
Under Harding's leadership, the U.S. dampened a naval arms race with Japan and Great Britain, but in doing so, it agreed to provisions that in effect ceded naval control of the western Pacific to the Japanese, and that set the stage for future conflicts. Harding, who was an inept judge of character, is often criticized for having trusted corrupt cronies with positions of power. Scandals plagued his administration, but because he died in office just as the accounts of wrongdoing were surfacing, they remain opaque.
Margaret Lindsay Williams, 1923 |