Warren G Harding
Limited Edition Print
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Each print is an 8x10, signed and numbered first edition of 20. Printed on German Etching Archival Fine Art paper.
About the Man
Warren Harding was an affable man, but he faced the plight of many ineffective leaders gone before him. Whatever historians may consider to be his good qualities, one of those was definitely not taking a stand.
Unlike Woodrow Wilson, Harding flipped and he flopped. As a Senator it is said that he missed nearly 40% of the votes. His past was filled with mistresses and possibly an illegitimate child. His presidency was filled with scandal and corruption. Though none of the scandal was directly tied to him, a man is known by the friends he chooses and Harding’s friends gave him nothing but trouble.
The quote I used for the painting attests to this fact: “My God this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies… but my damn friends, they’re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!”
To be fair to Harding, there is no evidence that suggests he made any personal gain from the bribes and fraud that went on during his time in office. But after taking an extended vacation out west to Seattle, a trip where he planned to meet ordinary people and explain his policies, his troubles followed and he was unable to shake talks of the scandals on Capitol Hill thousands of miles away. He died unexpectedly in San Francisco, leaving the office to Calvin Coolidge.
Coolidge was so disgusted by the turmoil he didn’t even attend the former presidents funeral service.
Warren Harding was also famous for his terrible use of the English language. He insisted on using the word “normalcy” which was basically unheard of at the time. He also insisted on writing his own speeches, which led to many baffling statements such as “I would like the government to do all it can to mitigate, then, in understanding, in mutuality of interest, in concern for the common good, our tasks will be solved” which comes from Stephen Piles Book of Heroic Failures.
Upon his death, famous poet EE Cummings stated “The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead.” The quote was taken from the same source.
