Florence Harding - Reference

US first lady (1921–3), born in Marion, Ohio, USA. A divorcee and five years older than Warren Harding, after their marriage (1891) she became a major influence in advancing his career. Following his untimely death, she ignored rumours that she had poisoned him. She later destroyed personal papers that might have told more about the marriage.

Florence Harding (August 15, 1860 – November 21, 1924), wife of Warren G. Harding, was First Lady of the United States from 1921 to 1923.

Daughter of the richest man in a small town—Amos Hall Kling, a successful businessman— and his wife Louisa "Louise" Mabel (Bouton) Kling, Florence (Flossie) Mabel Kling was born in Marion, Ohio in 1860.

At age 19, Florence eloped with Henry De Wolfe, her childhood friend and neighbor. shortly after the birth of their son Marshall Eugene DeWolfe (also known as Marshall Eugene Kling) in 1880, Florence left her husband and returned to Marion.

Refusing to live at home, she rented rooms and earned her own money by giving piano lessons to children of the neighborhood.

One of Florence Kling's piano students was Charity (Chat) Harding, eldest sister to Warren G. Harding, the young publisher of the town’s only daily newspaper, the Marion Daily Star (now the Marion Star). However, Harding was having difficulty with Amos Kling and his cronies and a marriage to the persistent Florence Kling would politically benefit him.

Mrs. Harding soon took over the Star's circulation department, spanking newsboys when necessary.

She had never been a guest at the White House; and former President Taft, meeting the President-elect and Mrs. Harding, discussed its social customs with her and stressed the value of ceremony.

When Mrs. Harding moved into the White House, she opened the mansion and grounds to the public again—both had been closed through President Wilson's illness.

Mrs. Harding embarked with her husband on his nationwide "Voyage of Understanding" in the Summer of 1923.

Following the death of President Harding, the former First Lady set about making a new life for herself. Sawyer, and Sawyer insisted that Mrs. Harding return to Marion for treatment and recovery. Sawyer died that September, and Mrs. Harding, under the care of Dr. Sawyer’s son, Dr. Carl Sawyer, died two months later in November 1924 at the Sawyer Sanitarium, White Oaks Farm, Marion, Ohio of end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Mrs. Harding was first buried in the receiving vault in Marion Cemetery, next to her husband. Following the completion of the Harding Memorial in 1927, the bodies of the President and the First Lady were reinterred in the Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio.

Preceded by: Edith Bolling Wilson

First Lady of the United States 1921–1923

Succeeded by: Grace Coolidge

First Ladies of the United States

M. Washington • A. Adams • M. Jefferson Randolph • D. Madison • E. Monroe • L. Adams • E. Donelson • S. Jackson • A. Van Buren • A. Harrison • J. Harrison • L. Tyler • P. Tyler • J. Tyler • S. Polk • M. Taylor • A. Fillmore • J. Pierce • H. Lane • M. Lincoln • E. Johnson • J. Grant • L. Hayes • L. Garfield • M. McElroy • R. Cleveland • F. Cleveland • C. Harrison • F. Cleveland • I. McKinley • Edith Roosevelt • H. Taft • Ellen Wilson • Edith Wilson • F. Harding • G. Coolidge • L. Hoover • Eleanor Roosevelt • B. Truman • M. Eisenhower • J. Kennedy • Lady Bird Johnson • P. Nixon • B. Ford • R. Carter • N. Reagan • B. Bush • H. Clinton • L. Bush

Reference

Original text based on White House biography