About this Book

"In the long tradition of associating corruption with the administration of Warren G. Harding, the positive aspects of his normalcy program have been submerged. The scandals are remembered, but not Harding's basically sound political and economic beliefs. In this book, Robert K. Murray re-creates the political environment in which Harding was elected and the circumstances surrounding and affecting the development of the program known as normalcy. He examines carefully all aspects of Harding's philosophy, including his "best minds" approach to the selection of cabinet members and other advisers. The now famous scandals are discussed as well as the extent to which knowledge of them affected Harding or was influential in the determination of his actions. Professor Murray evaluates the successes and failures of Harding's normalcy by the mid-1920s, paying careful attention to the significance of Coolidge's succession after Harding's death. Through a careful study of the changing relationship between political theory and practice, a fairer and more favorable image of our thirty-fourth president emerges."--Publisher.