Warren G. Harding birthplace postcard   Save
Ohio History Connection Properties File
Description: This postcard depicts the home where President Warren G. Harding was born on November 2, 1865, near the village of Blooming Grove, Ohio, in Morrow County. The house was built in 1856 and torn down in 1896. The reverse of the postcard includes a note that this image was "From one of his own camera plates, snapped by W.G. Harding, Compliments of Harding Jr, 1/30/24....to Chas. D. Schaffner, Marion, O." The printed portion includes information about the home sworn by C. W. Kramer, Notary Public in Marion County, Ohio on November 9, 1923. Harding graduated from Ohio Central College in Iberia at the age of sixteen. His family moved to Marion, where Harding taught school and briefly studied law. He worked occasionally as a reporter for a local paper before buying the Marion Star in 1884. Within five years, the Star was one of the most successful small-town newspapers in the state. Harding became popular as the leader of the Citizen's Coronet Band, which played at political rallies, and for his skill as an orator. Willing to follow the lead of political bosses, Harding advanced rapidly in Ohio politics, serving as state senator and lieutenant governor. In 1914 Harding was elected to the U. S. Senate. He launched his famous "front porch" 1920 presidential campaign from the porch of his Victorian home in Marion. He won the presidency with sixty percent of the popular vote, promising a "return to normalcy" following the wave of reforms begun during Theodore Roosevelt's administration. As president, Harding appointed several friends to federal office who proved untrustworthy. His administration was tainted by corruption, and the infamous "Teapot Dome" scandal (in which Harding's secretary of the interior leased a government petroleum reserve to a private oil company) nearly destroyed his presidency. After he died in office in August 1923, other scandals were uncovered, further tarnishing Harding's reputation. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3205_3812873_001
Subjects: Presidents and Politics; Architecture; Houses; Birthplaces; Presidents; Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923
Places: Blooming Grove (Ohio); Morrow County (Ohio)