Warren G. Harding: America's Most Underrated President

by Casey Rankin

“Warren Harding was our worst president.” The previous declaration is one that egghead academics have uttered countless times over the course of the past 90 years, and one that is patently false, and intellectually lazy. When one takes the time to look at the entire record of the Harding Administration, they will find it filled with monumental achievements. The president's policies served as a modernizing and transformative force for America during the early 1920's.

“We need to cut spending,” is a refrain heard from presidential candidates in every election since the dawn of our republic. Unlike virtually everyone who has said this, President Harding actually did cut spending, and cut it dramatically, from $6.3 billion in 1920, to $3.3 billion in 1922. This was in large part due to his signing of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which created the Bureau of the Budget ( he precursor to the Office of Management and Budget). Additionally, President Harding also signed legislation in 1922 that included some of the sharpest across the board tax cuts in American history, lowering the top marginal income rate from 73% to 25%. Harding also signed the Revenue Act in 1921, which cut the corporate tax rate from 65% to 50%. These supply side cuts actually resulted in an increase of tax revenue, and helped to cut the national debt by one third.

In addition to cutting taxes and spending, Harding helped modernize the American economy with significant investment in infrastructure, when he signed the Highway Act in 1921, helping to establish some of the first modern roads. He was also the first president to invest in preventive medicine, by signing the Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act in 1921, which required doctors to regularly examine healthy pregnant women and children to keep them from getting sick.

Along with his economic achievements, Harding was the most pro-civil rights president since Abraham Lincoln. He was the first 20^th Century President to advocate political, educational, and economic equality for African Americans, and followed up on that ideal by appointing several to federal positions. Harding also spoke in favor of anti-lynching legislation, pledging to sign the Dyer Bill, which would have increased penalties on those convicted of lynching. The bill met defeat in the Senate due to a Democratic filibuster.

Most famously, Harding signed legislation establishing the Veteran's Bureau, which eventually evolved into the Department of Veteran's Affairs. This legislation modernized America's approach to taking care of its returning soldiers, allowing 300,000 World War I veterans to receive needed medical care, and helped to open up educational opportunities for them.

Finally, Harding provided leadership on another important front: our freedom to party. Harding openly defied the Volstead Act during Prohibition, by drinking whiskey during his poker games and serving wine to White House guests at formal dinners. This act of leadership helped embolden Americans to ignore one of the most unpatriotic and un-American laws in our nation's history and contributed to the “Roaring Twenties” atmosphere of the decade.

To conclude, Harding's two years in office were filled with more accomplishments than most presidents achieve in eight. His supply side economic agenda helped stimulate one of the most robust periods of growth in American history. His policies helped cut the federal budget in half, and reduced our debt by a third. He was one of the first presidents to invest heavily in infrastructure, which helped modernize the American economy. His advocacy for Veteran's Affairs helped many returning soldiers receive the care they needed. He had the patriotic audacity to personally reject the absurdity and insanity that was Prohibition, and encouraged his countryman to do the same. With all of these facts taken into account, only a foolish stooge could call Harding a failed president, despite the corruption of a handful of his subordinates. Harding's low standing amongst historians is due to intellectual laziness, and nothing more. He was enormously popular in his time, winning the election with over 60% of the popular vote, and was seen as a shoo-in for reelection before his death, as his contemporaries saw the direct benefit from his leadership. If we could elect a president in 2012 who was able to cut the federal budget in half, reduce our national debt by a third, and stimulate a decade of robust economic growth, we would leap for joy, and probably ignore any corruption with gleeful ignorance. In other words, America could use another Warren G. Harding.