Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: The Strange Death of Warren Harding
Warren G. Harding is one of four presidents to die in office of natural causes. Or was he? Conspiracy theorists surmise that Harding was actually murdered and that his murder was covered up. This theory has been promoted by a number of sources, including a disreputable former FBI agent named Gaston Means, who wrote a book about his "investigation" into the alleged conspiracy.
In June of 1923, President Warren G. Harding set out on a cross-country "Voyage of Understanding", a kind of national dog-and-pony show in which Harding hoped to showcase his policies and escape the stench of scandal back home. Rumors of a number of scandals within Harding's administration were just coming to the surface, and while Harding was never directly implicated in them, at the time of his western trip, he was certainly aware of them. He asked his Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, “If you knew of a great scandal in our administration, would you for the good of the country and the party expose it publicly or would you bury it?” Hoover recommended that Harding expose the scandal, stating that at least Harding could get credit for doing the honorable thing. But Harding never got the chance to take that advice.
Harding's political advisers had given him a physically demanding schedule, even though he had ordered it to be cut back. He gave speeches in Kansas City, in Hutchinson, Kansas, in Denver, and in many other stops along the tour. He visited Yellowstone and Zion National Parks, and dedicated a monument on the Oregon Trail. On July 5, Harding embarked on USS Henderson in Washington state. He became the first president to visit Alaska, stopping at Seward to take the Alaska Central Railway to McKinley Park and Fairbanks.
On the way back, Harding's ship stopped at Vancouver Harbor on July 26, where Harding became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Canada. He was greeted dock-side by the Premier of British Columbia and the Mayor of Vancouver. Thousands lined the streets of Vancouver to watch as the motorcade of dignitaries moved through the city to Stanley Park, where Harding spoke to an audience estimated at over 40,000. In his speech he proclaimed, "You are not only our neighbor, but a very good neighbor, and we rejoice in your advancement and admire your independence no less sincerely than we value your friendship." Harding also played golf at a Vancouver golf course, but completed only six holes before becoming too tired to continue.
From Vancouver, Harding went to Seattle and then to San Francisco, arriving at the Palace Hotel on July 29th, where it is believed that he developed pneumonia. His public events were cancelled. By the afternoon of August 2, he appeared to be recovering. That evening, around 7:30 pm, while Florence Harding was reading a flattering article to the president from The Saturday Evening Post titled "A Calm Review of a Calm Man", he began twisting convulsively and collapsed. Doctors attempted stimulants, but were unable to revive him. Harding died at the age of 57. His death was initially attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage, but it was most likely the result a heart attack.
Naval physicians surmised that he had suffered a heart attack. However, this diagnosis was not made by Dr. Charles Sawyer, the Surgeon General, who was traveling with the presidential party. Sawyer recommended to Mrs. Harding that an autopsy be performed to determine the actual cause of death, but Mrs. Harding refused permission for the autopsy. Her refusal brought out the conspiracy theorists of the day, leading to speculation that the President had been the victim of a plot.
Harding was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge, who was sworn in by his father, a justice of the peace, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. Harding's body was returned to Washington, where it was placed in the East Room of the White House pending a state funeral at the United States Capitol. White House employees at the time were quoted as saying that the night before the funeral, they heard Mrs. Harding speak for more than an hour to her dead husband. One of the most controversial remarks attributed to Mrs. Harding at the time was: "They can't hurt you now, Warren."
Harding was entombed in the receiving vault of the Marion Cemetery, Marion, Ohio, in August 1923. Following Mrs. Harding's death on November 21, 1924, she too was temporarily buried next to her husband. Both bodies were moved in December 1927 to the newly completed Harding Memorial in Marion, which was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover in 1931.
In 1930, a former private investigator with a sketchy reputation named Gaston Means wrote an exploitative book, called The Strange Death of President Harding. In the book, Means suggested that many people had a motive to murder the President, including Mrs. Harding. Means claimed that Mrs. Harding poisoned the President. But Means lacked the pedigree of a reliable informant. He was a convicted perjurer who had corruptly used his office as an FBI agent, selling his services to local Washington bootleggers during Prohibition.
In 1924, following Harding's death, Congress held hearings on the Justice Department's role in failing to oversee their Prohibition duties under the Volstead Act. Means testified against former Attorney General Daugherty. In his testimony he admitted to handling bribes for senior officials in the former Harding Administration. The congressional investigation revealed evidence of Means' role in the issuance of Prohibition-era liquor permits. Means was indicted for perjury and tried before a jury. In his testimony, Means accused both Harding and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon as being part of a cover-up. The jury did not believe him. Means was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to two years in federal prison.
In his book, The Strange Death of President Harding, published in 1930, means alleged that Harding had been consciously complicit in all of the major scandals of his administration. In the book, Means claimed that the President had been murdered by his wife, First Lady Florence Harding, with assistance from the couple's personal physician, Charles E. Sawyer. Mrs. Harding's alleged motivation was that she had become aware of her husband's corruption and marital infidelity and wanted to protect his reputation.
In 1933, a counter-exposé published in Liberty Magazine, claimed that the book was a hoax. Mae Dixon Thacker said that she had ghostwritten the book for Means and that Means had cheated her out of her share of the profits. Means himself later admitted that the book was untrue according to another questionable source, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. That didn't present Means from collecting and keeping all of his royalties
Any credibility that Means had was eroded further following the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in 1932. Means was contacted by the Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope Diamond, who asked him to use his connections in the East Coast underworld to assist in the recovery of the Lindbergh child. Means claimed that he knew the whereabouts of the victim and offered his services as a go-between. He asked for $100,000 to pass on to the kidnappers. McLean sent the money to Means, who kept the cash for himself. A co-confederate of his fed McLean false details and Means later came to McLean at her home again and said he needed an additional $4,000 to pay the expenses of the kidnappers. She gave him the money once again. Means met McLean in a southern resort, promising to deliver the baby. He showed up with a man he introduced as the "King of the Kidnappers", who told her how and when the baby would be delivered. When the missing baby did not show up, Means demanded another $35,000. Failing to raise it, the heiress demanded all the money back. Means said he he would do so. He later pretended that he had given the money to a messenger to deliver to her. McLean called the police, Means was captured, and later found guilty of grand larceny. He was sentenced to serve 15 years in a federal penitentiary but the money was never recovered. Means died in 1938 while serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas.