Little Known First Ladies: Florence Harding Quiz

Answer: Pianist

Florence had attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music but never graduated. She did, however for a brief time, teach piano lessons to children out of her friend's house.

Answer: Henry

Henry de Wolfe was an alcoholic who was rarely around Florence and her son. The two had been married by common law in Ohio after they had run off from their families. Florence filed for divorce in 1886, almost four years after Henry had left. Mrs. Harding's past became a controversial topic during the Election of 1920.

She was savvy enough to fool reporters into believing she had been widowed from Henry, not divorced.

Answer: Marion Star

In her husband's absence, the Marion Star was rapidly declining and the staff started departing for other newspapers. However, Florence turned it around through several keen business ideas and by hiring local boys as deliverers and hiring the first female reporter in Ohio.

Answer: Dr. Charles Sawyer

Sawyer had also saved President Harding's mother from scandal after she accidentally killed a child whom she gave opiate-laced medicine to. Sawyer is often blamed for the sudden death of the president in 1923 after giving an enormous amounts of laxatives that may have caused him to have a heart attack.

The Hardings put so much faith him that they trusted him blindly even when other experts openly questioned Sawyer's practices and techniques.

Answer: She considered divorce but ultimately stayed married once Warren agreed to end the affair.

Warren had quite a number of affairs including with Carrie Phillips but also with other friends of his wife's. Perhaps the most infamous affair was with Nan Britton, a campaigner for the president who was half his age. Britton claimed until the day she died that Warren was the father of her daughter Elizabeth Ann Blaesing.

Answer: She was the first to directly address the press.

During the Republican Convention in 1920, Carrie Phillips blackmailed Warren and threatened to reveal their affair to the public unless he paid her money, which he could not do unless he won the nomination. Mrs. Harding then began actively courting unpledged delegates and the press in order to avoid the scandal.

Answer: Very active and often expressed her opinions

This was the first election in which women could vote and in order to earn their votes for her husband, Mrs. Harding wore two hats. She often appeared as the "strong independent woman" who appeared to dominate and overshadowed her husband (with this one being more in tune with her personality.) She also appealed to the more traditional housewife by sharing recipes with them on campaign visits.

Answer: Welfare of WWI veterans

Harding came to office after the end of World War I, and Mrs. Harding saw it her duty to make sure the soldiers received their just benefits and welfare. She was also active in women's rights and tried to make them active in politics. She was also honorary president of the Girl Scouts.

Answer: True

Florence had a reputation for being a partier and never supported Prohibition. However, she never openly served alcohol and kept it a secret to the public and any teetotaler who was present.

Answer: She adamantly insisted against an autopsy.

Robert Ferrell wrote a semi-fictional book called "The Strange Deaths of President Harding" where he examines his death. At one point he suggests that Mrs. Harding grew tired of Warren's affairs and political corruption and killed him. Immediately after his death, Florence burned all of her husband's papers, providing further shadiness.

However, the general opinion of historians is that Mrs. Harding is not to blame for her husband's death except for insistence on taking Dr. Sawyer's advice, who was deemed incompetent by his peers.