United States History - 20th Century - 1901 to 1945, Executive Branch, U.S. - Political Biography
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Overview
A major new biography of the politically powerful forerunner of Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton. Florence Harding reveals the never-before-told story of First Lady Florence Harding's phenomenal rise to power. The daughter of an abusive father in small-town Ohio, mother at a young age to an illegitimate child, Florence Harding saw her escape in Warren Harding, and became the driving force behind his ascent to one of the most scandal-ridden presidencies in United States history. Preeminent First Ladies biographer Carl Sferrazza Anthony not only captures the drama of Florence Harding's personality, but he uses the White House to bring to life Jazz Age America -- a world of speakeasies and Miss America, Babe Ruth, Al Jolson, and the rise of Hollywood. He shows how Florence's friendship with Evalyn McLean, the morphine-addicted owner of the Hope Diamond and The Washington Post was one of the defining bonds in her public life. With newly unsealed medical information, Florence Harding finally unfolds the mystery of whether the First Lady poisoned the President, whose death occurred seventy-five years ago. Florence Harding is a fascinating and informative look at a lost chapter in American history.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
On inauguration day in March 1921 the new First Lady reputedly turned to her husband and remarked, 'Well, Warren Harding, I have got you the Presidency. What are you going to do with it?' He answered, 'May God help me, for I need it.' Enlarging, with recently emerged documentation, on his First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power (1991), Anthony has produced an engrossing, full-breadth biography of the spouse of possibly the most incompetent American president, which establishes 'the Duchess' as one of the most remarkable of First Ladies.Mother of an illegitimate child before her marriage to the proprietor of a small-town weekly, she became a straight-laced, activist helpmate who pushed and prodded her mediocre husband into a political career in which he was increasingly unqualified. Despite a proclivity toward adultery, poker, drink and crooked cronies, Harding still managed to conduct some creditable public business before dying of an apparent heart attack after only two and a half years in office, long enough, however, for scandals among his associates to brew. Protecting his fragile reputation while building her own, his wife promoted women's rights, veterans' welfare, racial equality and national parks.
But her dependence on the White House physician (her incompetent home-town homeopath) would accelerate Harding's decline while, paradoxically, keeping the ailing Florence, five years her husband's senior, active. She died a year after Harding and was quickly forgotten.
Booknews
Tells the story of Florence Harding's rise from young unwed mother to First Lady and reveals her influence behind Harding's ascent to America's most scandal-ridden presidency and her role in his death. The drama of her life is set against the stage of the White House in the Jazz Age, and involves exciting elements such as mistresses, blackmail, poisoning, and opium addicts. Includes b&w photos. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.People
Think Hillary Clinton has it tough? Then read this. . .bio of Mrs. Warren G. Harding. . .stolid bystander to the most scandalous Presidency in American history.Megan Harlan
Anthony's insights into why this powerful woman remained loyal. . .illuminate recent White House scandals -- and the complicated heart of the political marriage -- Entertainment WeeklyKirkus Reviews
A revealing biography with unmistakably powerful contemporary parallels to recent presidential spouses, from Anthony ("First Ladies", 2 vols., 1990, 1991). Plain and five years older than Warren, Florence was more indispensable helpmate than lover to her randy spouse. Anthony discloses what she assiduously sought to conceal, depicting a woman whose air of command (her husband nicknamed her 'Duchess') was a necessity for someone badly served by those closest to her. Escaping from a tyrannical father in small-town Ohio, she bore an illegitimate baby by a ne'er-do-well neighbor at age 19, only to have the father abandon her and their baby. Having obtained a common-law divorce, she later won the handsome Warren, supplying the drive and business acumen that propelled him from newspaper editor to president. Halfway through her marriage, she discovered Warren's affair with her friend Carrie Phillips. Friends such as Harry Daugherty, Jess Smith, Charlie Forbes, and Albert Fall helped destroy her husband's reputation through scandals such as 'Teapot Dome.' A trusted family doctor, Anthony concludes, caused Warren to die by misdiagnosing heart trouble as food poisoning (and led Florence to cover up the mistake). Even boon companion Evalyn McLean, the morphine- and alcohol-abusing owner of the 'Washington Post', allowed Warren to use her mansion for trysts. In many ways, Florence deserved better. She relentlessly pushed causes (aid for veterans, animal rights, Zion National Park, women's suffrage) and, even before Eleanor Roosevelt, made the First Lady a figure of visibility, influence, and popularity. Inevitably, a public gripped by gossip in recent years about popular presidents and theirassertive wives will find echoes in this chronicle, such as affairs, a friend's suicide, and a First Lady who consulted an astrologer. While sometimes overly reflective of Anthony's painstaking research, this biography is a fascinating account of one of the most complex of all the political wives of this century.Book Details
Published
October 8, 1998
Publisher
New York : W. Morrow & Co., c1998.
Pages
626
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780688077945