| The Harding Era - Warren G. Harding and his Administration
(1969)
|
| Front Cover |
Book Details |
|
| Genre |
Biography; Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923; Presidents - United States - Biography |
| Publication Date |
1969 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.8
mm)
|
| Publisher |
University of Minnesota Press |
| Language |
English |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
|
| Personal Details |
| Store |
Alibris |
| Purchase Price |
$28.00 |
| Acquire Date |
11/23/2016 |
| Condition |
Very Good/Very Good |
| Rating |
0 |
| Links |
Library of Congress
|
|
| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
E786 .M8 1969 |
| Dewey |
973.91/4/0924 |
| Edition |
[1st ed.] |
| Country |
USA |
| Cover Price |
$13.50 |
| No. of Pages |
626 |
| First Edition |
Yes |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
When selecting presidential biographies, my goal is to find a whole life biography that tells the whole story - where the president grew up, his family, is body of work prior to his presidency. Ideally, this work will place the man in the proper context including the social, economic, and political environment he navigated.
This book fails on the first but succeeds on the second. It took all of one chapter for the author to bring us to Harding's nomination. But it was superb at painting a picture of the challenges Harding (and the nation) faced, and how he managed them.
Throughout the book I was expecting to read about the scandals. It wasn't until the final chapter, after his death, that Murray went into Teapot Dome, Nan Britton, and the rest. Murray makes the case that these scandals were blown out of proportion, only involved him marginally, and had little or no documentary evidence to back them up. He insists that these scandals kept the public attention in large part due to the Harding Memorial Association's reluctance and delay in making his papers available to historians.
Harding can boast a long list of accomplishments, and Murray does make a good case that he wasn't the worst president in history. He ruled in troubled times (financial depression after the botched demobilization of the war, administrative malaise after 19 months of Wilson's inactivity due to ill health, growing fear of communism, labor unrest, and so on) and oversaw a return to financial growth, government accountability, and improved foreign relations. |
|