Warren Harding is a vastly underrated US President

Warren G Harding became president following WWI, a time at which Americans were sick of intervening in foreign affairs that they felt did not concern them. Warren G Harding did advocate retaining to normalcy in the 1920's and turning Americas back on the world. This idea of non-intervention would be carried on by later presidents and allowed for the events of WWII to come about such as the rise of Hitler, Japanese aggression against China, creation of Fascism in Italy, etc. Although Harding was not directly responsible for these things, his policy of avoiding foreign affairs were carried on by his successors which allowed for these events to transpire and would ultimately plunge the world into the Second World War. Had Harding remained even a little more open to US participation in foreign affairs then some of these events could have been halted and WWII might have never occurred. One of the only beneficial outcomes of WWI was the creation of the League of Nations, a prelude to the UN. this league of nations was created by Woodrow Wilson but Harding never made the US a member of the League of Nations, which severely limited its influence. The US was kept out of the League of nations by Harding, and the League of Nations had also failed to prevent the rise of fascism in Italy, Spain, and later Nazi Germany. Had the US been involved in the League of nations then a more coordinated effort could have been given to prevent dictators like Mussolini and Hitler from ultimately tearing Europe to shreds. The most concerning part of Harding's presidency though was his appointment of his own friends "The Ohio Gang" to positions in the White House. These men were inexperienced, very ill equipped to handle the tasks given to them, and many of them engaged in reckless, illegal, and shocking actions of bribery and fraud. These men were appointed by Harding and so and and all actions they engaged in went to Harding's credibility. The economy did prosper under him but that was because of the work of the secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover and Treasury secretary Andrew Mellon, not because of the efforts of Harding. As for the Ohio Gang, here are some of the activities that his own appointed friends were involved in. Harry M. Daugherty: Attorney General, He prevented a lawsuit against a company called Wright-Martin Aircraft Corp for defrauding the US out of 2.3 million dollars in war contracts. Harry prevented the lawsuit because he had stock in the company and they had benefited from the government. He was never charged in this matter. Harry was later accused of taking bribes from bootleggers during Prohibition, accused of corruption many times where he stood trial, but was never found guilty because of hung juries. Harry was also notorious for appointing his own friends to high ranking positions in the justice department, such as William Burns to the head of the Justice Dept.'s Bureau of Investigation. Burns known for authorizing illegal searches and seizures, appointing men to fix trials, sold favors, manipulated files of people, and was the prime person behind the Teapot Dome Scandal. When burns was put on trial he hired "detectives" to "investigate" his jurors. His actions were discovered, a new trial was given, he was found guilty, appealed to the Supreme Court, and his sentence was overturned by them. He was later fired by Harding's Successor, Calvin Coolidge. http://www.fbi.gov... http://en.wikipedia.org... http://thisdayinalternatehistory.blogspot.com... Jess W Smith: Harry Daughtry's person aid, Jess Smith was an aid who was notorious for undermining Prohibition to lease permits to drug companies to sell alcohol as Medicine, however many of the drug companies he drafted permits to were faulty and were actually organizations representing bootleggers, who bribed Smith for permits. The profits Smith received were split between him and a fellow conspirator, he even was known for bringing whiskey to other members of the Ohio Gang and the White House itself before Harding was forced to release him. http://www.u-s-history.com... http://www.presidentprofiles.com... Charles R. Forbes: Director of the Veterans Bureau Forbes was another Harding appointee who was known for defrauding the Veterans Affairs organization. He took money out of compensation programs meant for WWI veterans to build his own wealth. At the same time he defrauded the nation over hospital constructions by jacking up the true price for the hospitals to be built and then pocketed the excess into his own pocket. Forbes was also known for taking bribes and was finally let go by Harding for all the bad press he received, but Harding allowed him to flee to Europe before he announced his "retirement". He was later found guilty of Corruption though and ended up in Prison. http://en.wikipedia.org... http://www.u-s-history.com... Warren G Harding appointed friends and doners to top positions in the government, and these very men abused their own powers and profited from defrauding the government and the people of the US for their own personal gain. Harding appointed these very men and therefore their actions are a reflection of his presidency, their performance at their jobs were so poor and unbelievably bad that they overshadowed any good that Harding did as president for the few short years he was president (he died before his 1st term ended).