[AnAmericanMother]

Yep, the original AH article had lots of pictures (the onlive archive is simply text, scanned in and not proofread too carefully), including of Harding's paternal grandparents. It was that grandfather's mother who was rumored to be "a full-blooded African," as they said in those days.

Harding was not of particularly good family - his dad was an itinerant patent medicine salesman who anointed himself a doctor after a stint as a vet . . . . it was his social climbing, predatory wife who pushed him into the presidency. If W.G. had had his way, he would have spent his life as a newspaper editor in Blooming Grove, playing poker with the boys and living it up.

Ike Hoover, who as head usher in the White House for almost 40 years saw a lot of life, said that Taft was a ladies' man, but Harding was "a sporting ladies' man."

[stefanbatory]

“it was his social climbing, predatory wife who pushed him into the presidency.”

that sounds oddly familiar somehow...

[wideminded]

Taft was a ladies' man

A 320 pound ladies' man.

[AdvisorB]

I don't particularly like John Dean, but Mr.Dean has written a riveting book about Warren G. Harding as part of Arthur Schlesinger, Jrs series entitled the "American Presidents."

Harding had quite a few achievements in his limited tenure as POTUS.

Dean makes the case that Harding was a reformist Conservative who was instrumental in creating the Bureau of the Budget which saved over a billion dollars in government outlays. Dean says that Harding's budget hawk approach set the stage for the dramatic prosperity that came to be known as the roaring twenties.