Archives West Finding Aid

Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923), the 29th President of the United States, served in office from 1921 until 1923. Born to George Harding and Phoebe Dickerson on November 2, 1865, on a farm in the small Ohio community of Corsica, Harding was the oldest of eight children. After graduating from Ohio Central College in 1882, he moved to Marion, Ohio where he worked as a reporter, eventually becoming co-owner of a small, struggling newspaper, the Marion Star. Harding began his political career in 1898 when he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he served until 1903. Following a short stint as lieutenant governor of Ohio, Harding stepped into the national spotlight at the 1912 Republican National Convention when he gave a speech nominating President William Taft for a second term. Harding was elected to the U.S Senate in 1914 where he remained until his presidential inauguration in 1921, becoming the first U.S president elected to office following the ratification of the 19th amendment which granted women the right to vote. His tenure as president, however, was short-lived. On August 2, 1923, at the end of a 40-day cross country tour of the United States to promote his policies, Harding died of an apparent heart attack in a San Francisco hotel. Although no autopsy was conducted at the time, Harding's death was later determined to be caused by pneumonia and thrombosis. In the early hours of August 3, 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as America’s 30th president.

Warren G. Harding arrived in Elliott Bay aboard the U.S. Army transport Henderson on the afternoon of July 27, 1923. During his busy six-hour stay in Seattle, Harding visited the Bell Street Pier, rode in a parade through downtown, stopped by Volunteer Park and then Woodland Park, where he led an estimated 50,000 Boy Scouts in a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Shortly after his arrival at University Stadium in the early evening, Harding gave what would be his last speech to a crowd of roughly 25,000 spectators.