Rating: 
Summary: Warren beats W
Review: I grew up studying all about the Presidents, and President Harding was usually at the bottom of the list. This book brings out the good in Harding, and explains why a very popular president in 1923, would in a few years (due to two money making tabloid books) be considered such a bad President. Unlike Nixon, the scandals were not caused by Harding. He used bad judgement in picking friends. After reading this book I can honestly say out of all the presidents BUSH is by far our worst president
Rating: 
Summary: Read the book
Review: If there was someone that had first hand knowledge of presidential corruption, it would be Mr. Dean. In fact, Dean worked for one of the three Presidents known strongly for having a corrupt administration, Nixon (Harding & Grant being the other two). Warren Harding was a failure in every definition of the word. He was chosen by bosses to be a puppet that would return America to its Laissez-Faire past. While President, Harding broke moral laws, by having numerous affairs. He broke legal laws, by violating prohibition. His corrupt bunch of Ohio Gang stole millions from the government and sold pardons for cash. Meanwhile, Harding scoured the White House, looking for a book that would tell him how to be President. HOWEVER, Mr. Dean wants Harding to avoid blame for the events that took place under his watch, because he was not directly tied to the biggest scandals. Wow, if only it were that easy. No, Mr. Dean, you are responsible for the people that you put in power. Their actions reflect on you. If you put corrupt people in positions of power, you are responsible for whatever they might do. If we are going to crucify a great man like Grant for scandal, we can sure find fault with a failure like Harding. This book outraged me. It attempts to distort the facts. Whether this was another example of a biographer falling in love with his subject, I don't know. But Mr. Dean should be forced to answer for this. And just because time has elapsed, doesn't mean some of us have forgotten the reality of Harding and Teapot Dome.
Rating: 
Summary: Black is White and Up is Down
Review: Information can be so easily manipulated and positioned, so that anything can be arrainged to mean something else. I am a historian and US History teacher. The Presidents have always been my favorite topics. I have never cared about what party they belonged to, I just like to evaluate them by what they did and who they were. Of course, we all know that Harding has been rated the "worst President ever." I guess an author that knows a little something about working for poorly rated Presidents wanted to see if he could craft a book which could debunk what so many other historians believe. Well, he didn't. Harding was a stooge, handpicked because of his incompetence. While in office, he appointed corrupt poker playing buddies to run our country. He drank alcohol and had numerous affairs. Meanwhile, his Ohio Gang buddies stole the country blind. Oh, but..uhhhhh.. that is OK, right? No, it is not. This book is a bunch of manipulated bunk.
Rating:
Summary: Saves Harding from the Ash Heap of American Presidents
Review: John Dean has achieved the considerable feat of rescuing the reputation of a man who is generally considered one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. He does this by drawing the reader's attention to what made Harding one of the most popular American presidents during his lifetime: a speedy and significant economic recovery, a major international arms reduction agreement, and, perhaps most importantly, a reduction in divisiveness from his predecessor's final two years in office.Not long after Warren Harding's death in August, 1923, public and critical opinion toward his presidency began a precipitous decline. Several scandals - some of which had already emerged during his presidency and some of which would only come out after his death - began to symbolize his regime. Harding's presidential papers, which could have helped remove some of the black marks towards his administration, were withheld from public view, allowing fictionalized and grossly unhistorical accounts of his presidency to stand as the only available record. Harding's fundamental decency, his good political instincts, and his high regard for public service were lost in the one-sided reckoning of his presidency. Even in the selection of his cabinet and other personnel, Harding was far better than is now widely assumed. While several scandals arose among his cabinet and staff (none of which implicated the president himself), Harding made several outstanding and notable selections to his cabinet and to the Supreme Court: Andrew Mellon as Treasury Secretary, Herbert Hoover as head of the Department of Commerce, William Howard Taft as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are some examples. Harding was not a five-star president, and this biography does not make the case he was. This is a five-star book about the man and his presidency that makes the case they deserve far better recognition than they have received. John Dean shows there was far more to Harding and his presidency than smoke-filled poker rooms, womanizing, and political scandals and corruption that have come to symbolize his administration.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Look and new Appraisial of Harding
Review: John Dean, no stranger to White House scandals, author's this book of our 29th President for whom the White House's own internet site degrades. What is most impressive about this book is that Dean uses verifiable facts about what was accomplished during Harding's tenure (fourth shortest of all presidents), and what more he intended to do. This in sharp contrast to another short biography in this American President's series, William Mckinley, by Kevin Phillips who used more conjecture of "what might have happened if Mckinley had lived" to give greater importance to Mckinley. The story of Harding is particularly of interest since it is a story of basically a self made man (his family neither impoverished, nor rich). He was a decent and hard working man who seemed to see his role as president as one to allow America to prosper, ease international worries, and bring normalcy after the controversial policies of the Wilson administration. Harding spoke in the deep south about racial equality, he allowed Blacks into the federal government (reversing the Wilsonian racism that his apologists so often downplay), organized a major peace conference among world powers, sought U.S. participation in a world court, established what is now the government accounting office and established economic policies that directly led to the "roaring twenties." Additionally, he defied public opinion by releasing Eugene Debs, and others (so long as they were not involved with violence) jailed by Wilson under the now discredited anti-sedition act, and he looked for a resolution to the labor-business problems. He also won the presidency by a then record majority. Harding provided a cabinet that included a future president and one of the more esteemed chief justices in the Supreme Court history. Furthermore, his worse appointment, Albert Falls for the Interior, was widely supported for the post by the public, press, and Congress and he was easily confirmed. Dean takes to task the more sensational accounts of Harding (e.g., having sex in a W.H. closet, fathering a (...) child [he was sterile], that he was a drunkard, a gambler, a pawn of congress, that he was killed by his wife, etc.). What basically happened was that Harding died before the nature of the Tea Pot Dome scandals became known to anyone but the criminals (Falls had already resigned), so he could not work to correct negative impressions of his administration, and other authors were not aware that the Harding papers survived to refute many of the negative claims. Also, I believe that Harding was a target for pompous, class-minded writers and socialites who disliked his not coming from a more proper stock and education. I didn't mean to be so extensive, but I believe that this is a valuable book and perhaps more needed to correct history than most of the other books in this series.
Rating:
Summary: A Scholarly Presentation of a Historically Tough Subject
Review: John Dean, no stranger to White House scandals, author's this book of our 29th President for whom the White House's own internet site degrades. What is most impressive about this book is that Dean uses verifiable facts about what was accomplished during Harding's tenure (fourth shortest of all presidents), and what more he intended to do. This in sharp contrast to another short biography in this American President's series, William Mckinley, by Kevin Phillips who used more conjecture of "what might have happened if Mckinley had lived" to give greater importance to Mckinley. The story of Harding is particularly of interest since it is a story of basically a self made man (his family neither impoverished, nor rich). He was a decent and hard working man who seemed to see his role as president as one to allow America to prosper, ease international worries, and bring normalcy after the controversial policies of the Wilson administration. Harding spoke in the deep south about racial equality, he allowed Blacks into the federal government (reversing the Wilsonian racism that his apologists so often downplay), organized a major peace conference among world powers, sought U.S. participation in a world court, established what is now the government accounting office and established economic policies that directly led to the "roaring twenties." Additionally, he defied public opinion by releasing Eugene Debs, and others (so long as they were not involved with violence) jailed by Wilson under the now discredited anti-sedition act, and he looked for a resolution to the labor-business problems. He also won the presidency by a then record majority. Harding provided a cabinet that included a future president and one of the more esteemed chief justices in the Supreme Court history. Furthermore, his worse appointment, Albert Falls for the Interior, was widely supported for the post by the public, press, and Congress and he was easily confirmed. Dean takes to task the more sensational accounts of Harding (e.g., having sex in a W.H. closet, fathering a (...) child [he was sterile], that he was a drunkard, a gambler, a pawn of congress, that he was killed by his wife, etc.). What basically happened was that Harding died before the nature of the Tea Pot Dome scandals became known to anyone but the criminals (Falls had already resigned), so he could not work to correct negative impressions of his administration, and other authors were not aware that the Harding papers survived to refute many of the negative claims. Also, I believe that Harding was a target for pompous, class-minded writers and socialites who disliked his not coming from a more proper stock and education. I didn't mean to be so extensive, but I believe that this is a valuable book and perhaps more needed to correct history than most of the other books in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: An Attempt at Rehabilitation
Review: John W. Dean sets himself up a formidable task in his mini-biography of Warren G. Harding, the latest in the "American Presidents" series. Harding is generally considered by historians to be one of the worst presidents in history, if not at the absolute bottom of the barrel. His administration was marred by the nastiest White House scandal until Watergate half a century later. How can such a tarnished figure be rehabilitated? Yet that's exactly what Dean has tried to do, with mixed results. Dean says in his Introduction that Harding has been the victim of a grave injustice by historians who have ignored "much of the relevant information about Harding and his presidency." This is a personal matter with Dean, who has long been fascinated with Harding and who grew up in Harding's hometown of Marion, Ohio. So Dean definitely has an agenda to portray Harding in as positive a light as he possibly can, given the facts. And what are those facts? Dean claims that Nan Britton, who wrote a best-selling book after the president's death claiming that she and Harding had had an affair in the White House and that he fathered her illegitimate daughter, was nothing but an infatuated stalker (keep in mind that Clinton's people once posited the same thing about Monica Lewinsky). He claims that Harding dealt harshly and, in the words of one historian, "quite appropriately" with those people in his administration who were acting improperly, even though he was unaware of the full extent of their criminality, which would stain his administration after his untimely death. Dean devotes an entire chapter (in a book that only has nine of them) to the composition of Harding's cabinet and claims that "no president before or after Harding has done any better at cabinet making." This is a remarkable statement, and a bit of an exaggeration. I would suggest that he take a look at George Washington's cabinet, which included at various times John Jay, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton (and, if you feel like including the Vice President, John Adams) and did not, as Harding's cabinet did, include a future convicted felon. So Dean has not altogether convinced me that Harding was a great president maligned by ignorant historians. He has convinced me, though, that there might be somewhat more to Harding than the memorable (if nasty) "just a slob" label put on him by the amusingly viperish Alice Roosevelt Longworth (daughter of Teddy). And while Harding's prose style (labeled "Gamalielese" after his Biblical middle name by H.L. Mencken) is enough to set anyone's teeth on edge ("it is so bad," Mencken memorably said of it, "that a sort of grandeur creeps into it"), and his administration, which was one of the shortest in history, didn't have time to accomplish anything memorable, Dean makes the case, without quite intending to, that Harding was a decent enough man who was in over his head and who died of overwork trying to live up to the job of being president. That might be as much of a reevaluation as Harding is ever going to get.
Rating:
Summary: Short book that makes some good points
Review: John W. Dean's new short biography of Warren G. Harding, the twenty-ninth president of the United States, is a welcome addition to the scant amount of good literature on the president who enjoyed a great reputation while in office, but sank to the bottom of the list when scandals and corruption in his administration were exposed after his death. For us Harding enthusiasts Dean's book makes the explicit point that Harding wasn't really all that bad...that after all, he had some successes in the abbreviated term he served from 1921-1923. To this end, I believe Dean has made a strong case. Warren Harding was a man whose entire life seemed to be clouded in intrigue and mystery. It's always been a wonder to me why historians haven't written more about him. From the gossipy "The Shadow of Blooming Grove" (1968) through Dean's book, one senses a definite uptick in Harding's reputation. Dean recites Harding's accomplishments....the Washington disarmament conference (1921-22), the creation of the Bureau of the Budget and his naming of former president William Howard Taft to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The author gives Harding praise for his efforts to help settle the coal and railroad strikes and his ability to stand up to Congress when he thought he was right. In Dean's book President Harding comes across more forcefully than in other books I've read about this president. Dean suggests that one of Harding's biggest political achievements was his ability not to make enemies. Of course, this was his biggest problem, too. Dean is careful not to elevate Harding too high and the overall success of this book is to keep Harding out of the cellar of the ranking of presidents. Perhaps that space can now be occupied by James Buchanan. John Dean conquers no new real historic ground. The book is very short and more, I think, aimed at readers who don't know too much about Warren Harding. Dean's prose is sometimes a bit wooden and I wish he had included a few more photographs. I particularly enjoyed the section on Harding's selection of the cabinet and the comments about Harding's speaking style and substance by William McAdoo and H.L. Mencken (page 73) are very funny. Was Warren G. Harding fit for the presidency? Even Harding wondered about that, himself. John Dean has essentially said "yes" and I agree with him. The author has presented a well-researched book and one that deserves to be read.
Rating:
Summary: nice balance
Review: Warren Harding has been called Ameridca's worst president but was he really? Yes, there were scandals in his administration but compared to what's been going on in Washington for the last 40 years they look like small potatoes. Yes, he had an affair but he's hardly the only president do so.
This short but information packed book gives a good balance to the real life of Harding. This was a man who dared to call for racial fairness in a speech in the Deep South. Harding had been dogged by rumors that he had black ancestry so bringing up the subject at all took a certain amount of courage.
History is different from legend and this book does a lot to clear up some old myths. Check it out.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Look and new Appraisial of Harding
Review: What I really like about this book is that it pointed out Harding's genuine accomplishments without feeling the need to be some nutty right-wing defensive rant about this man who was also a serial adulterer, lazy-minded, and drank heavily during Prohibition. He was a human being with all the good and bad traits. Too often Harding is either demonized as all bad with no accomplishments or a saint as is propogated by Treacle Roman (?), the old lady historian of Ohio and even worse, the terribly researched and embarrassingly flawed Strange Deaths of President Harding by Robert Ferrell. In absolute contrast, Dean gives us the fully balanced Harding who succeeded publicly despite his failures privately. Most especially, Harding should be considered a civil rights Republican President - the most important since Lincoln.
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