Warren Harding: The First African American President
January 19th, 2009 . by Marty
With the inauguration coming up, a lot of people are going to be celebrating Barack Obama as the first African-American president. With no disrespect to Mr. Obama and his unique multicultural heritage, I feel it important to set the record straight: Warren G. Harding, the namesake of my beloved Institute, was in fact, the first African-American president. One need look no further than the New York Times. I spent the holidays with our benefactor, Clifford Harding III, and he authorized me to spread what until now was mostly a family secret. He said, “The family is ready to come clean about how proud we’ve always been of our great uncle’s contribution to the mosaic of American diversity.” As President Harding himself once said, “America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration.”
So on January 20th, let’s all remember: Before Obama. Before Clinton. There was Harding.
