The Booster: Warren G. Harding

Abstract

Like the “irredeemables” of the nineteenth century, the presidents of the early twentieth century are treated collectively. As Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan are often judged as responsible for the Civil War, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover together share responsibility for the Great Depression. As Lincoln, a great president, provided the critique of his bad predecessors, so did Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) for his. Franklin D. Roosevelt did not name names in his 1932 Oglethorpe University speech as Lincoln did in his House Divided address, but he unequivocally assigned blame to the Republican triumvirate of the 1920s. It would have been surprising in an election campaign if FDR had not blamed the Depression on Hoover. FDR used Hoover’s own analogy of the Depression as a storm sweeping across American shores from Europe to attack the Hoover administration’s competence: “There are glimpses through the clouds, of troubled officers pacing the deck wondering what to do.” ¹