Lived

November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923

Home State

Ohio

Party

Republican

Vice President

Calvin Coolidge

Warren G. Harding was an Ohio newspaper publisher whose 1920 campaign promised a 'return to normalcy' after World War I. He called the Washington Naval Conference, which limited battleship tonnage among the great powers, and established the Bureau of the Budget. His administration was engulfed by the Teapot Dome scandal, in which Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall secretly leased federal oil reserves in exchange for bribes. Harding died in office in 1923 before the full extent of the scandals became public. Ohio newspaper publisher (Marion Star), Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, U.S. Senator.

Ohio Central College, 1882.

Called for and delivered the Washington Naval Conference limiting battleship tonnage. Established the Bureau of the Budget. Publicly called for federal anti-lynching legislation and, in a 1921 Birmingham speech, condemned racial injustice — striking positions for a Republican of his era. Signed the Budget and Accounting Act (1921), the Emergency Quota Act (1921), and the Fordney–McCumber Tariff (1922).

Teapot Dome — the secret leasing of federal oil reserves by Interior Secretary Albert Fall — became the archetypal executive-branch corruption scandal. Signed the Emergency Quota Act (1921), imposing the first numerical caps on immigration by national origin.