President
Warren G. Harding’s sudden death in San Francisco on August 2, 1923, quickly
became one of the most puzzling episodes in United States
presidential history. Stricken during a cross-country political tour he had
been suffering for weeks from exhaustion, chest pains, shortness of breath, and
what his doctors variously called ptomaine poisoning, pneumonia, and an
overstrained heart.
That evening
at the Palace Hotel, Florence Harding read aloud a flattering article about her
husband as he appeared to be recovering, when he reportedly shuddered and collapsed,
dying almost instantly at age fifty-seven. An official bulletin, signed by five
physicians, attributed his death to a stroke, but no autopsy was performed
because the First Lady refused one and ordered immediate embalming, a decision
that fueled suspicion.
In the
absence of conclusive medical evidence, rumors flourished: whispered tales of
suicide, whispers that Florence had poisoned him because of his extra-marital
affairs, or that political enemies silenced him as many scandals involving political
corruption such as Teapot Dome were closing in.
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