Warren G. Harding was born in Bloomington Grove, Ohio on November 2, 1865. He lived most of his life in Ohio. Harding was one of seven Presidents from Ohio.

His mother wanted to call him Winfield.

His father George Tyron Harding was home on sick leave from the Civil War when Warren was born. The war ended before he could return to his troops. His father had also shaken hands with President Lincoln.

He was a Baptist.

Warren Harding entered Ohio Central College when he was 14. He worked his way through college painting houses and barns.

Harding visited his mother every Sunday and gave her a bouquet of flowers. Later when he was to far away from home, he had the flowers delivered to his mother.

After he graduated he taught grade school in a one room school house for one year. He was glad when he left teaching.

In 1884, Warren and a college classmate bought a the Marion Star newspaper. His father helped him with the financing. It had gone broke and was sold for $300.00 at a sheriff's sale.

On July 8, 1891 he married Florence Kling. She was an outspoken woman who had argued at lot with her father. Follow her link to learn more about her.

At 24, he suffered a nervous breakdown and spent several weeks in a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Warren Harding was 6' tall.

At the presidential convention, it took 10 rounds of voting before Harding was nominated.

Warren Harding campaigned for the presidency by meeting visiting groups on his front porch in Marion, Ohio.

President Harding was the first President that women voted for in a presidential election. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1919. It was the first time a president's wife could vote for her husband.

He was the first presidential candidate to hire a speech writer. During the 1920 campaign, he gave over 112 speeches.

Harding was the first newspaper publisher to be elected President.

President Harding was the first President to ride to his inauguration in an automobile.

He was the first sitting senator to be elected president. He visited the senate chamber two hours after his inauguration. He didn't need permission because he was a former senator. That day the US Senate approved his entire cabinet without objection. It only took ten minutes.

Warren G. Harding presidency is ranked by historians as one of the worst, perhaps one step above President Grant's ranking.

He played golf twice a week . He was the first president to have a golf course named after him. When he played golf he played quickly. He would hit his shots quickly and walk rapidly to the next tee. He expected those playing with him to do the same.

He also liked to play poker and have cigars and whiskey. Warren G. Harding once lost all the White House china gambling, on a hand of cards.

Warren Harding had the largest feet of any President. He wore a size 14 shoes.

Harding was the first to have the presidential election results broadcast on the radio.(November, 1920)

Warren Harding formally concluded WWI.

Loudspeakers were used at his inauguration for the first time in the event's history. It was also broadcast via radio.

His Airedale dog, Laddie Boy, delivered his newspaper each day. The dog had a birthday party and a cake made of dog biscuits. He also had his own chair for cabinet meetings. He was the first President to broadcast over the radio. His speech at the dedication of the Francis Scott Key Memorial at Fort Mc Henry. Harding was the first president to make his vice president part of his cabinet. Harding coined the word "normalcy." Nan Britton claimed in a sensational book, President's Daughter that Harding had fathered her daughter, Elizabeth Ann. Carrie Phillips, the wife of one of Harding's best friends, was involved in a 10-year affair with him. He also maintained a room next to the Oval Office for quick liaisons. President Harding was the first President to visit Alaska and Canada during his term in office. When Harding and his wife, Florence, went to Alaska Harding he had a coffin taken along with him is case his wife died. She had been very ill earlier that year. Harding hosted weekly poker games at the White House while he was president. Jess Smith, brought to the Justice Department by Attorney General Daugherty, guaranteed an ample supply of liquor for the games. President Harding's Vice President was Calvin Coolidge (1921-1923). Towards the end of his life the Tea Pot Dome Scandal came out in the newspapers. A person in his administration was in charge of protecting the US Oil Reserves. Instead of protecting them he leased nearby lad to oil developers. The developers paid bribes for the leases. Harding was never implicated in the scandal, but it hurt his record as a president. When Harding died in 1923, there was no autopsy. Insiders came to believe that he had been poisoned by his wife to save him from the disgrace of his scandal-ridden administration. This has been rumored, but the evidence shows he died of a stroke. He died while his wife was reading an article form the Saturday Evening Post to him. Harding was president for 882 days. (A full four year term is 1,461 days.) Warren G. Harding died in San Francisco, CA. He was 57 years and 273 days old. He is buried in Marion, Ohio. They took his body back to Washington D.C. via a train. I was estimated that nearly nine million people stood silently along the tracks as the train traveled across the United States.

Quotes: Harding stated "I never find myself done. I never find my work complete. I don't believe there is a human being who can do all the work there is to be done in the President's office. It seems as though I have been President for twenty years."