Warren Harding: The Least Appreciated President

5-Minute Videos | PragerU

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Self-improvement, History, Non-profit, Business, Education

4.8 • 6.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2022

⏱️ 6 minutes

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Summary

Warren Harding is not regarded as one of our most successful presidents. He’s more likely to be remembered for his scandals than his accomplishments. But given the problems he had to confront — massive war debt, high unemployment, and skyrocketing inflation — is this harsh appraisal fair? Renowned historian Amity Shlaes takes a fresh look at our 29th president. Donate today to help keep PragerU podcasts and videos free! PragerU.com/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sometimes a president who appears pathetic is actually just plain tragic, and because he
0:06.6	is a president, his tragedy is also the nations.
0:11.9	That was the case of Warren Harding, the 29th president of the United States.
0:17.6	Harding was perhaps the most misunderstood and least appreciated of all America's chief
0:22.8	executives.
0:24.4	Born in 1865 in a small Ohio town halfway between Cleveland and Columbus, Harding was
0:30.8	a brave and unusual politician.
0:33.5	He didn't start as a politician.
0:35.6	He spent most of his life as the editor and publisher of a Ohio newspaper, The Marion
0:40.6	Star.
0:41.6	He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1910 and then successfully for Senator in 1914.
0:49.2	In the presidential election year of 1920, Harding was considered a dark horse at best,
0:55.5	but he emerged after 10 ballots as the Republican's choice.
0:59.8	He certainly looked and even acted the part tall with thick white hair, deep penetrating
1:06.1	eyes.
1:07.4	Harding was as genial as he was handsome, to know him was to like him.
1:12.9	When Americans did like him, he won the 1920 election in a landslide, garnering an astonishing
1:19.5	60% of the popular vote.
1:22.2	The country that Warren Harding and his running mate, Calvin Coolidge, inherited faced multiple
1:28.0	crises.
1:29.6	To win World War I, the government had taken over large sectors of the economy.
1:34.7	But what works in war doesn't always work in peace.
	...

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