** Press president, buried by press **
This biography makes you root for Harding as a person more than most presidents. The author’s core project—rehabilitating a reputation long distorted by headlines rather than historians—largely works. It helps that the scandals that came to define him erupted after his death and never actually involved him. Yet for a century the narrative stuck, a reminder that journalism can outshine history, whether for good or ill.
The book’s strongest material covers his early presidency: navigating the post–WWI labor unrest, negotiating disarmament, and pushing through the final diplomatic clean-up of Wilson’s war. Harding comes across as a competent pragmatist. His background as a newspaper man and skill with the press also adds an unexpected layer of irony: a president undone by the very profession he came from.
Unfortunately, the post-Wilson transition deserves more attention; it was one of the most structurally important handoffs of the American century. His early death and the subsequent burning of key papers did more to shape his legacy than his policies ever did. This book doesn’t fully close the gaps, but it pushes Harding closer to where he probably belongs.