Warren Harding: The Least Appreciated President
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.
#president #history #prageru
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Script:
Sometimes a president who appears pathetic is actually just plain tragic. And because he is a president, his tragedy is also the nation’s.
That was the case of Warren Harding, the 29th president of the United States.
Harding was perhaps the most misunderstood and least appreciated of all America’s chief executives.
Born in 1865 in a small Ohio town halfway between Cleveland and Columbus, Harding was a brave and unusual politician.
He didn’t start as a politician. He spent most of his life as the editor and publisher of an Ohio newspaper, the Marion Star. Harding ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1910 and then successfully for senator in 1914.
In the presidential election year of 1920, Harding was considered a dark horse at best. but he emerged after 10 ballots as the Republicans’ choice. He certainly looked and even acted the part. tall, with thick white hair and deep, penetrating eyes, Harding was as genial as he was handsome. To know him was to like him.
And Americans did like him. He won the 1920 election in a landslide, garnering an astonishing 60% of the popular vote.
The country that Warren Harding and his running mate Calvin Coolidge inherited faced multiple crises.
To win World War I, the government had taken over large sectors of the economy.
But what works in war, doesn’t always work in peace.
There was an inflation crisis:
Prices for basic necessities like milk and butter rose at alarming rates. Prices that businesses paid for materials doubled.
There was a tax crisis: Corporate taxes were so heavy that businesses couldn’t expand.
There was a labor crisis: Tens of thousands of Americans, many disabled, returned from Europe to find a stagnant economy short of jobs.
Angry workers mounted violent strikes.
And, there was a government debt crisis, a result of war spending.
By 1920, it seemed that life in crisis was the new normal.
Absolutely not, said Harding.
Harding vowed to end the war laws and rules, to let the country go back to the way things were before the war.
He wanted commonsense life, the kind that had enabled Henry Ford to start his auto business.
“America’s present need,” Harding said, “is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy…”
For the full script, visit: https://www.prageru.com/video/warren-harding-the-least-appreciated-president
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Thank you for this video . I've always liked President Harding and am thankful he's finally being rediscovered and appreciated .
I love these presidential vids.
Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter Alice once described Harding as “a goodhearted man who had neither the experience nor mentality for the presidency.”
Calvin and harding ignored the federal reserve
The Harding administration was one of the most corrupt the nation ever endured.
Harding is one of worst President's , his Best choice was Calvin Coolidge becoming President . 🗽🗽🦅🦅
Setting the stage for the great depression.
Hardings death is a bit mysterious. He was buried without an autopsy being done. Some even suspect his 2nd wife may have had him poisoned
Nice
I remain unconvinced. I could totally see our modern education system denouncing the man and painting him as 'America's worst president' because he was a free market enthusiast. I don't see how his words and poor follow through makes him a good president.
There's plenty of Rinos that talk to talk but can't walk the walk. And letting your quote friends take deals is also known as crony capitalism.
And failing to do what you say you're going to do is also called hypocrisy.
I'm not saying he's that bad, and I love Calvin coolidge, but I'm not so convinced he was that good…
Shlaes is much tougher on Harding's scandals than Ryan Walters ("The Jazz Age President"). He acted decisively when informed of malfeasance in his administration. His flaws are played up by court historians because he was that rare president who respected constitutional limits on executive power. Harding, Tyler, Cleveland, Buchanan, etc. were not the power hungry activists that the academy prefers. So they fall to the bottom of the rankings. That's the real tragedy.
Now you can do a video on Donald Trump! The Most Hated President For No Good Reason!
https://youtu.be/_7VUqJF3Vi4
I imagine this is going to get me some trouble for saying this… But we need in Coolidge not another Trump.
The tragedy of another administration that took bribes from those private industries they helped build back up. We have such a long list of tragic president's & administrations now; so sad.
For good reason. He relied on easy credit and economy manipulation and did his fair share to add to the Depression. Lets focus on Presidents who didn't use easy credit without production and didn't artificially prop up the wages, like Trump.
Great show.
he clearly likes it!
Why would you not name the city Harding was from? It's disrespectful.
You think JFK and Bill Clinton were whoremongers…President Harding's cabinet members would always knock before they entered a room afraid they would find the president in a compromising position with a woman….he also got a underage girl pregnant and paid for her and the child secretly…..he also had the most corrupt cabinet👍🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
He pardoned Eugen Debs , a socialist that Wilson put in prison.
Harding is definitely under appreciated but he wasn't a good president. He should probably rank around the middle as far as presidents go, not at the bottom as he often does.
Who gives a shit about this old fart, Prager U do more stuff with Will Witt. Do better.
Wilson: loves socialism, locks up rival socialists
Harding: deplores socialism, lets political prisoners out of jail
I love Amity! She's so quirky! 🙂
He and Grant have the dubious honor of being the worst presidents in USA history.
OMG! I just learned about Warren Harding last year after Biden chose to revisit the 100 year race riot. I thought to myself that i bet a republican was president when that happened. Sure enough i was right. I already knew about Woodrow Wilson abd how he destroyed America. Warren Harding's campaign slogan was return America to normalcy…
They attacked him just like they have with trump
Wasnt he the most corrupt
He just sounds mediocre.
We will also rise again when Trump gets back in office and you will find out that it was "Nasty" Pelosi and the FBI that was actually behind the riot at the Capital.
Trump was the best president of my lifetime period no exceptions.
Fact:He was actually our first black president not Obama.
The book "The Jazz Age President" by Ryan Walters goes over all of the good Harding did and dispels much of the myths about him. The author said that historians overlooked Harding's Presidency but as of late, his impact on American politics was stellar and had an enduring positive impact. Historians are seeing Harding in a more favorable light these days.
Harding won by a landslide because of Woodrow Wilson and the death of Theodore Roosevelt . Historians consider Wilson to be the only true American dictator. Wilson popularized the idea that the Constitution was a "living document" and should change regularly with the times. Wilson passed all sorts of unconstitutional laws, and threatened to draft workers on strike so he could execute union leaders for treason, and tried to run for a third term (Though there were no term limits back then running for a third Presidential term was deemed unseemly). Wilson had no concern with upholding his pledge to Support the Constitution and disregarded it as an outdated relic not valid in the 20th century. The media loved Wilson and propped him up as the smartest President ever while relentlessly hammering Harding as feeble and stupid. The American people saw through the media's bias and rejected Wilson. Harding's win was more about the voter's feelings toward Wilson and not Harding's political record.
America needs NORMALCY now
We need a video of Eisenhower. A great president who stood over the the Great prosperity and peace of the 1950s. His legacy is often over shadowed by that of John F Kennedy. In some sense things got worse under Kennedy, such as the Vietnam war that escalated, worse soviet relations due to the bay of pigs and also the Cuban missiles crisis. Kennedy had great ambition and personality but Eisenhower had great wisdom and diplomacy.
I think Trump takes this title.
I kind of want to share this on Twitter. But I know that this video would most likely be taken down I’d say around 15-30 minutes.