HiddenMysteries: Surprise! America's First Black President Is A Dead Republican

Adam Howard: You'll never think of Warren Harding the same way again. That is, if you ever did.

You'll never think of Warren Harding the same way again. That is, if you ever did. This comes from Wonkette:

The vast majority of Americans have long forgotten Warren G. Harding, our 29th president. He won election in 1920 by the largest popular vote margin in history, despite basing his campaign on the totally made-up word "normalcy." He then proceeded keep two mistresses in the White House and allow his cabinet members to personally profit from selling off mineral rights to national parks; before the scandals could really catch up with him, he did the honorable thing and dropped dead of a heart attack. But did you know that he was also black? Maybe?

Seems that around their hometown of Blooming Grove, Ohio, the Hardings were considered poor white trash of dubious racial background, and when young Warren proposed marriage to his future much-suffering wife, her father was outraged, believing him to have African blood. Later, William Estabrook Chancellor, a Wooster professor and racial purity obsessive, hounded Harding throughout his political career with a series of pamphlets and publications claiming that Harding's great-grandmother was black. Even Harding was ambivalent, once saying to a friend, "How do I know, Jim? One of my ancestors may have jumped the fence."

There's more. Apparently in the early 1920s there was a infamous racist joke about Harding that went something like this:

Rastus: There's going to be an election this year. Do you know who's running for resident?

Sambo: Why, Mr. Harding, I understand.

Rastus: Yeah, I know that. But who is the white folks' candidate?

Being an African American myself, I can confirm that there is a lot of excitement mixed with trepidation about the possibility of someone who shares our ancestry becoming president--but perhaps this new revelation can put a lot of us, and Senator Obama a bit more at ease. He may no longer be the "standard-bearer" for our race, as some people put it, since good ol' Warren G. Harding led the way.

http://www.alternet.org/

Surprise! America's First Black President Is A Dead Republican

Wednesday, August 08 2007 @ 10:04 PM CDT