August 2, 1923: President Harding dies

On this day in 1923, President Warren Harding died unexpectedly in San Francisco; Vice President Calvin Coolidge ascended to his position.

Harding died of a cerebral hemorrhage, a complication of heart disease and pneumonia. At the time of his death, he was listening to his wife, Florence, read a favorable article about him from The Saturday Evening Post. “That’s good, read some more,” he told her before breaking into convulsions.

Harding’s reputation was sullied by several scandals. Chief among them was when Interior Secretary Albert Bacon Fall (mmm, Bacon) basically gave away the rights to petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California to oil companies.

The site in Wyoming, Teapot Dome, became synonymous with the affair; Fall was convicted of accepting bribes and became the first cabinet member to go to jail.

Harding, a Republican, was buried in Marion, Ohio.

Image: candidates Harding and Coolidge, 1920. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.