Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel) Harding

Born in Blooming Grove, Ohio, in 1865, Warren G. Harding grew up in a family of modest means and worked in journalism before entering politics. He helped revive the Marion Star, a local newspaper, and built a reputation as a friendly, well-liked public figure with an easy speaking style that served him well in Ohio Republican politics.

Harding served as a state legislator, lieutenant governor of Ohio, and then a U.S. senator before becoming the 29th president of the United States in 1921. He is still closely associated with his call for a return to "normalcy" after the strain of World War I. During his presidency, he supported business-oriented policies and embraced new technology, becoming one of the first presidents to use radio as a major public tool.

His presidency was cut short by his death in 1923 while on a western trip. In the years that followed, investigations into corruption by members of his administration—most famously the Teapot Dome scandal—deeply hurt his historical standing. Even so, his life remains a striking story of how a newspaper man from rural Ohio rose to the highest office in the country.