Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
The thought of being president terrified Harding, nonetheless, he surrounded himself with a number of truly great cabinet members, Secretary of State Charles Evan Hughes, Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover and perhaps one of America’s greatest Treasury Secretaries, Andrew Mellon, as well a few of his Ohio political cronies, like Harry Daugherty. The latter would end up sinking Harding’s reputation for good by linking him to the unseemly but somewhat overblown Teapot Dome scandal in which a few members of Harding’s administration were bribed to sell land cheaply to oil companies. Some of those men went to jail, but Harding was never personally involved in the scandal.
Harding inherited a catastrophically bad economy from Woodrow Wilson and the country was locked in a recession when he entered office. However, Harding turned the economy around by introducing an economic program opposite of President Obama’s. Harding’s economic policy was essentially one of public sector austerity. He reduced taxes, dramatically cut government spending and ended many regulations, dropping unemployment to just under two percent by 1926. In addition, he dramatically reduced the federal government’s debt. These policies jump-started what became known as the Roaring Twenties, during which the country experienced almost a decade of incredible economic growth.
Harding did not just return the country to “normalcy” he unleashed its incredible economic potential. Harding’s successor, Calvin Coolidge, has been revived by Ronald Reagan and modern conservatives as one of America’s great, successful presidents, but it’s time that Harding gets some credit too.
http://bearingarms.com/top-five-underrated-presidents/
Warren G. Harding
The thought of being president terrified Harding, nonetheless, he surrounded himself with a number of truly great cabinet members, Secretary of State Charles Evan Hughes, Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover and perhaps one of America’s greatest Treasury Secretaries, Andrew Mellon, as well a few of his Ohio political cronies, like Harry Daugherty. The latter would end up sinking Harding’s reputation for good by linking him to the unseemly but somewhat overblown Teapot Dome scandal in which a few members of Harding’s administration were bribed to sell land cheaply to oil companies. Some of those men went to jail, but Harding was never personally involved in the scandal.
Harding inherited a catastrophically bad economy from Woodrow Wilson and the country was locked in a recession when he entered office. However, Harding turned the economy around by introducing an economic program opposite of President Obama’s. Harding’s economic policy was essentially one of public sector austerity. He reduced taxes, dramatically cut government spending and ended many regulations, dropping unemployment to just under two percent by 1926. In addition, he dramatically reduced the federal government’s debt. These policies jump-started what became known as the Roaring Twenties, during which the country experienced almost a decade of incredible economic growth.
Harding did not just return the country to “normalcy” he unleashed its incredible economic potential. Harding’s successor, Calvin Coolidge, has been revived by Ronald Reagan and modern conservatives as one of America’s great, successful presidents, but it’s time that Harding gets some credit too.
http://bearingarms.com/top-five-underrated-presidents/