Warren G. Harding, 1865–1923

Twenty-ninth president, 1921–1923

Republican Warren Harding, a former lieutenant governor and senator from Ohio, entered the White House following an era of upheaval. He promised to “think of America first” and restore “normalcy” after a period of sweeping social reforms, increases in racial segregation, and the trauma of World War I. Under Harding’s leadership at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan joined the United States in signing a treaty that slowed a global arms race. Although Harding lowered taxes and reduced the national debt, the Teapot Dome Scandal of 1921–23, which involved one of his top appointees, marked a lowpoint in his brief term.

Completed after his untimely death in office, this portrait by Welsh artist Margaret Lindsay Williams bears Harding’s full name above the Presidential Seal in the upper-right corner. Later, Williams would become famous for her portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family.