Warren G Harding

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Today I went to the Warren G Harding Home and Museum in Marion Ohio. It was such an interesting place to check out. It's the third presidential site I've been to. I've been to the Rutheford B. Hayes home and museum in Fremont Ohio and also President Garfield's mausoleum in Cleveland Ohio. Ohio has had 8 presidents hail from it half of which died in office. Two of the three presidential sites I've visited have been presidents who died while in office. President Harding was a very interesting president to learn about. I normally just read articles online or research presidents online but after going to his home I think I may actually pick up a few books on him because I feel like his life would be an interesting read. What struck me as interesting about Harding's home is that it's very modest for what you'd expect of a president. We actually drove right by his house at first because it just kind of blended in with the other homes on the street. It's not a huge house. It's a big house but not a mansion. Harding became president in 1920 and he campaigned from his front porch. I got a picture of my son standing in the same spot he would give his speeches from. His speeches would draw huge crowds around his home of up to 6000 people and the entire street was lined with houses so people would be standing in yards and would even climb up in trees to hear him speak. Harding's wife was five years older than he was and was a divorced single mother which didn't put her in a good light. Harding's wife worked hard to support her husband despite the fact that Harding had been carrying on an affair for ten years during their marriage. He also had another affair that resulted in a child but at the time it couldn't be proven the child was his but they eventually did a DNA test using the DNA of Harding's relatives to confirm the child was in fact his in I believe 2015. I could be off on the year but it was a pretty recent confirmation. Harding also had a love of waffles but not just any waffles, waffles with chipped beef and gravy, which does not sound very appetizing to me. With Harding's love of unhealthy food, tobacco use, and alcohol it's no wonder that he later died from heart issues. His wife ended up dying about 15 months after he died of kidney failure which she had trouble with long before her death. Harding was not a wonderful president but he did some great things in office including helping to give women more rights including the right to vote. He had some pretty loose morals it seemed but that's not uncommon among presidents or government figures even now but especially not back then, back then it was just hidden a lot better. Affairs were also pretty common back then and were almost expected sadly.