Claim: Warren G. Harding was American.

Warren Gamaliel Harding -LRB- November 2 , 1865 -- August 2 , 1923 -RRB- was the 29th President of the United States , serving from March 4 , 1921 , until his death in 1923 . At the time of his death , he was one of the most popular presidents , but the subsequent exposure of scandals that took place under his administration , such as Teapot Dome , eroded his popular regard , as did revelations of an affair by Nan Britton , one of his mistresses . In historical rankings of the U.S. presidents , Harding is often rated among the worst .   Harding was born in Blooming Grove , Ohio . He lived in rural Ohio all his life , except when political service took him elsewhere . He settled in Marion when not yet 20 years old and bought The Marion Star , building it into a successful newspaper . In 1899 , he was elected to the Ohio State Senate and , after four years there , successfully ran for lieutenant governor . He was defeated for governor in 1910 , but was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1914 .   Harding ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1920 , but he was considered an also-ran with little chance of success . The leading candidates , such as General Leonard Wood , could not gain a majority to secure the nomination , and the convention deadlocked . Harding 's support gradually grew until he was nominated on the 10th ballot . He conducted a front porch campaign , remaining for the most part in Marion and allowing the people to come to him . He won in a landslide over Democrat James M. Cox and Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs , running on a theme of return to normalcy and becoming the first sitting senator to be elected president .   Harding appointed a number of well-regarded figures , including Andrew Mellon at the Treasury , Herbert Hoover at Commerce and Charles Evans Hughes at the State Department . A major foreign policy achievement came with the Washington Naval Conference of 1921 -- 1922 , in which the world 's major naval powers agreed on a naval limitations program that lasted a decade . Two members of his cabinet were implicated in corruption : Interior Secretary Albert Fall and Attorney General Harry Daugherty . The resulting scandals did not fully emerge until after Harding 's death , nor did word of his extramarital affairs , but both greatly damaged his reputation . Harding died of a heart attack in San Francisco while on a western speaking tour ; he was succeeded by his vice president , Calvin Coolidge .