By the Maui Curmudgeon (29th in a 43-part series)

How do the U.S. Presidents stack up? I thought I’d find out by reading biographies of all 43 presidents, in the order of their administrations. Here are briefly the pros and cons of my discoveries, the interesting bits, and how I’d rank him. For comparison, I give you the 1982 Murrary-Blessing ranking, a survey of hundreds of leading historians who ranked each president by number. This survey is the gold standard of presidential rankings and is most cited when this kind of thing needs bringing up in media.

WARREN G. HARDING: 1921-1923 ~ 29th U.S. President

Genial and easygoing, the Republican poker player from Ohio had just four years experience in the Senate during which he did nothing. He won election with 404 electoral votes, an unprecedented landslide, and more than 60% of the popular vote. Wilson oversaw a Democratic majority in Congress, but Harding brought in outrageous majorities of Republicans in 1920 (a 24-person majority in the Senate).

He was a pig.

As historian Paula Fass has written, “The presidency of Warren G. Harding began in mediocrity and ended in corruption.” Whereas Ulysses S. Grant chose men for his administration because he thought them able, and they turned out corrupt, Harding chose men because they were corrupt, and they could enrich him.

Read the rest…