Cultural depictions of Warren G. Harding

Official White House Portrait

Former US President Warren G. Harding has inspired artistic and cultural works since his presidency. The following lists cover various media to include items of historic interest, enduring works of high art, and recent representations in popular culture. The entries represent portrayals that a reader has a reasonable chance of encountering rather than a complete catalog. Lesser known works are not included.

Film, television and stage

• Backstairs at the White House (1979): Television episode 1.2, Warren G. Harding played by George Kennedy.^[1]

• The Prez: A Ragtime Scandal: A musical centered on historical life events of Warren G. Harding (played by Larry Marshall). Hosted by Capital Style Magazine at the National Press Club on C-SPAN, February 18, 1999.^[2]

• The American President (2000): Season One, Episode 8, Voice of President Harding: Benjamin C. Bradley.^[3]

• Boardwalk Empire (2010): Television episode 1.8, Warren G. Harding played by Malachy Cleary.

• Momma's Boys (2001): A historical play that centers on the eight previous Presidents of the United States from Ohio (including Harding), in a humorous and dramatic discussion of their lives.^[4][5][6]

Music

• Al Stewart's song "Warren Harding" (from his 1973 album Past, Present and Future) satirizes Harding's predicament by contrasting his fall with the rise of an immigrant bootlegger.

Literature

• In a poem written on the subject of Harding's death, E. E. Cummings ridiculed the late President as^[7]

  the only man woman or child who wrote
  a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical
  errors

• Ki Longfellow, China Blues, Eio Books 2012; ISBN 0-9759255-7-1
  Harding looms large in this story of 1920s San Francisco, in which Harding dies during his visit to the City by the Bay.^[8]

• The Bloviator, 2012, ISBN 978-1475279535 a comic novel by Jim Yoakum that tells a semi-fictional story of Harding's last six months of life.^[9]

• In the alternate history short story "A Fireside Chat" by Jack Nimersheim contained in the anthology Alternate Presidents, Harding dies from a stroke during the 1920 election campaign. This eventually leads to the election being won by the Democratic candidate James M. Cox and his running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, five weeks after the election, President-elect Cox was assassinated by an anti-League of Nations activist, meaning that Roosevelt took office as the 29th President on March 4, 1921.

• Carter Beats the Devil (2001): novel by Glen David Gold wherein, at the climax of his latest touring stage show, Carter invites United States President Warren G. Harding on to stage to take part in his act hours before the President's death.^[10]

In the novel Oil by Upton Sinclair Harding is described as the straw man for big business special interests.

Artwork

• Presidential portrait, painted by Edmund Hodgson Smart.

References

1. "Back Stairs at the White House". Retrieved 2010-08-23.
2. "A Ragtime Review of Warren G. Harding". Retrieved 2010-08-23.
3. ""The American President" Compromise Choices (2000)". Retrieved 2010-08-23.
4. "Stephen Earl Froelich". Lehtomaa.Com. Lehtomaa Funeral Home. August 24, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
5. "FFP Says Goodbye to Steve Froelich" (PDF). FortFindlayplayhouse.Com. Fort Findlay Playhouse. September 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
6. Chapman, Aara (April 2010). "Librarian's Corner" (PDF). Cuelines (Ohio Community Theatre Association). LVIII (2): 4.
7. Poem XXVII, from ViVa. H. Liveright. 1931.
8. Eio Books. Eio Books. Retrieved on 2013-08-17.
9. The Bloviator. Createspace.com (2012-08-02). Retrieved on 2013-08-17.
10. Magical mysteries