Main
Date: 21 Sep 2008 10:11:26
From: samsloan
Subject: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means foreword by
The Strange Death of President Harding
by Gaston B. Means

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390

Foreword

The cover photo to this book is one of the last ever taken of
President Harding and his wife, Florence, before their untimely
deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S. Henderson
during their trip by ship to Alaska. Behind them is a lifeboat on the
deck of the ship. Harding appears to be healthy, yet he died only a
few days later.

This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion that
Harding had been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence,
refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one
year later.

There is renewed interest in Harding during the current presidential
election campaign, for several reasons. One is that Harding was a
United States Senator when elected president and only he and John F.
Kennedy were elected president while they were senators. This year,
both of the candidates, McCain and Obama, are US Senators, so one of
them will be elected.

Another reason is the long standing rumor that President Harding was
part Black. This rumor is based primarily on the book entitled =93WARREN
GAMALIEL HARDING: PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES=94 by William Estabrook
Chancellor, published by The Sentinal Press in 1922. However, shortly
after publication, the plates and the bulk of books stored by the
Sentinal Press were taken away by agents and destroyed. It is rumored
that the plates were dumped into the Ohio river. The book thus became
one of the rarest bibliographical items in twentieth-century American
history. Only five copies are known to exist, one of which is on sale
on the Internet for $2550.00 !!

The destruction of that book did not stop the rumor that Harding was
part-Black from spreading and indeed may have enhanced it. Thus, if
Barak Obama is elected President, it will be said that he was the
SECOND Black president.

A more important reason for renewed interest in President Harding is
that it is becoming increasingly apparent that Harding got a =93bum rap=94
when he was called the worst president that America ever had. When I
was in high school, my American History teacher taught me that the two
worst presidents America ever had were Grant and Harding. Grant has
still not been rehabilitated. (My next project?) However, there is a
strong case to be made that Harding was one of the best if not the
very best president America ever had.

Largely on the strength of this book, =93The Strange Death of President
Harding=94 and on the so-called =93Teapot Dome Scandal=94, Harding became
known as the worst president the United States ever had.

Of late, there has been a re-examination of President Harding, who was
president from 1921 to 1923. A recent book by John W. Dean, who, as
the cover blurb notes in a massive understatement, is =93no stranger to
presidential controversy=94 makes a strong case that not only was
President Harding not the worst, but he was perhaps the best president
the US ever had.

The Fall Guy in the Teapot Dome Scandal had been Albert Fall. However,
Fall had served as Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court and had
been for many years a United States Senator before joining the Harding
Administration, so it seems difficult to understand why Harding had to
take the fall for Fall.

Harding had many accomplishments as president, far more than most
presidents. For example, President Harding was the first to require
all departments of the government to have a budget. Harding cut
government expenditures by one billion dollars. Harding brought about
the economic reforms that started =93The Roaring Twenties=94, a period of
unequaled economic prosperity in America.

Strangely, Woodrow Wilson is regarded by the general public as being
one of the best presidents America ever had, but in reality he was one
of the worst. When Wilson left office, the government was in a state
of chaotic disarray. Harding managed to clean up most of it during his
only two years as president.

There seem to be only three reasons why Warren G. Harding is regarded
as the worst president, or at least one of the worst:

1. The Teapot Dome Scandal

2. The book =93The President's Daughter=94 by Nan Britton

3. This book, =93The Strange Death of President Harding=94

I have now published or reprinted four different books by people who
knew President Harding personally. All but this last one have
expressed favorable views about President Harding. The other three
books are:

1. My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers
Parks ISBN 092389196X

2. The President's Daughter by Nan Britton ISBN 0923891234

3. Dolly Gann's Book by Dolly Gann ISBN 0923891080

The first book above was by two domestic servants who worked in the
White House for a total of 50 years, including the years when Harding
was president. They personally liked both President Harding and his
wife, Florence, saying that Florence was plagued by =93bad luck=94. It was
this book that caused me to re-think my views about President Harding.

The second book was by President Harding's mistress, Nan Britton. She
definitely liked, loved and admired President Harding. There is
absolutely no doubt that she really was the President's Mistress.
However, the book did a lot of harm to the president's reputation,
especially the part about how she used to have sex with the President
in the White House while the wife was away. In view of what we now
know about other presidents who did the same thing, including
Presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy and, to some extent, Clinton, this
hardly seems shocking any more.

The third book, by the sister of Charles Curtis, the Vice-President
under Herbert Hoover, was also by someone who knew and liked Harding.

A book I am in the process of reprinting right now and will be out
soon is =93A Dead President Makes Answer to The President's Daughter=94
ISBN 0923891013

This is a rare book. Very few copies were sold, but I have been able
to obtain one in mint condition.

Finally, I will reprint the book =93WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING: PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES=94 by William Estabrook Chancellor, if I can ever
find one, but, no, I am not willing to pay the $2550.00 demanded for
the only copy available for sale.

Returning to this book, =93The Strange Death of President Harding=94 by
Gaston B. Means, I have a special reason for interest in it which has
to do with the game of chess. This will seem surprising, but most of
the main characters in =93The Strange Death of President Harding=94 had an
impact on the world of chess.

This was because of an International Chess Master named Norman T.
Whitaker who was, at one time, one of the top two or three chess
players in America. Whitaker lived in Washington DC on M Street, near
the White House and was a close associate of Gaston B. Means. Whitaker
also knew Evalyn Walsh McLean, who was a close personal friend of
Florence Harding and whose name is frequently mentioned in this book.
Evalyn Walsh McLean later wrote a book entitled =93Father Struck it
Rich=94, which is still popular.

I do not know whether Whitaker knew Harding personally, but I believe
that Whitaker probably did know him, as he lived nearby and both
Whitaker and Harding tended to know people like each other and to
frequent similar places.

Norman T. Whitaker and Gaston B. Means later became involved in a side
con related to the Lindbergh Kidnapping. The Lindbergh Kidnapping was
=93the crime of the century=94. On March 1, 1932, the 20 month old baby of
famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and held for ransom.
Evalyn Walsh McLean knew that Gaston B. Means was a former FBI agent
who also often associated with criminals (like Whitaker) and she asked
Means if he was in contact with the kidnappers and knew how to get the
baby back.

Means, realizing that Evalyn Walsh McLean was a =93mark=94, replied that
yes, indeed, he was in contact with the kidnappers and could arrange
the return of the baby if the ransom was paid.

Evalyn Walsh McLean agreed to pay. In fact, she agreed to pay, and did
pay $104,000, even more than the real kidnappers were demanding.

However, Gaston B. Means was not really in contact with the kidnappers
and had no idea who they were. He just wanted the ransom money.

Therefore, he called in his friend, chess master Norman T. Whitaker,
to impersonate one of the kidnappers and to collect the ransom money.

Here, there are at least two different versions of what happened.
According to the 1955 book =93The FBI Story=94 by Don Whitehead, pages
94-96, Whitaker was the bag man. Means gave Whitaker the code name
=93The Fox=94 and, as =93The Fox=94, Whitaker went to the home of Mrs. McLe=
an
and collected the ransom money.

However, Means then got greedy. He told Mrs. McLean that the
kidnappers were demanding even more money. Mrs. McLean had no cash
left independent of her husband, but she owned a lot of jewels and had
even once been the owner of The Hope Diamond. When she went to pawn
the jewels to raise the ransom money to give to Means, her husband
found out and called in the FBI who arrested Means and Whitaker. Means
and Whitaker were both convicted. Means died in prison. Whitaker got
out after only serving a few months. The Lindbergh baby was found
dead, having been killed only a few hours after being kidnapped. The
body was immediately cremated, which contributes to many current
conspiracy theories. The money was never recovered.

However, a relatively recent book, Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of
Norman Tweed Whitaker, Chess Master, by John Samuel Hilbert, published
in 2000, pages 114-128, tells an entirely different story:

Hilbert had access to the complete papers of Norman Tweed Whitaker,
who died in 1975. According to his account, Whitaker may not have been
guilty. The first ransom money of $104,000 that had been paid had been
in marked money. The kidnappers had realized it (and indeed this part
was true, as the first money that had been paid to the real kidnappers
had been marked which is how they were caught). Also, unlike the
account in =93The FBI Story=94, Whitaker had not been the one who had
picked up the money. In fact, Whitaker had a perfect alibi, because at
the time of the Lindbergh Kidnapping and the payment of the $104,000 a
few days later, Whitaker had been on trial in Florida for Grand Theft
Auto and thus could not have been involved. Whitaker thereafter for
the rest of his life made his living by suing and winning judgments
against newspapers, every time they reported that he had collected the
Lindbergh Kidnapping ransom money.

According to Hilbert's book and other sources, Evalyn Walsh McLean had
a summer home in Aiken, South Carolina. Whitaker went there to see
her. He told her that the Lindbergh baby was in Juarez, Mexico, across
the border from El Paso, Texas. He then proceeded to drive Mrs.
McLean in his (possibly stolen) car from Aiken South Carolina to El
Paso, Texas, a distance of 1586 miles. There, he told her that the
kidnappers, who were safely across the border in Mexico, had offered
that if Mrs. McLean provided $35,000 in new ransom money, they would
exchange it for $49,500 of the old ransom money plus the baby. The
kidnappers did not want the money they had previously received because
they knew it was marked.

According to Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of Norman Tweed Whitaker,
Chess Master, by John Samuel Hilbert, page 121, what Whitaker was
really convicted of was =93attempted=94 extortion. He or Means had claimed
that the Lindbergh kidnappers had refused $49,500 of the ransom money
paid by Mrs. McLean because the serial numbers on the money had been
published. Therefore, they demanded replacement money in the amount of
$35,000, in exchange for which he promised to return the original
$49,500 plus the baby. This exchange was supposed to take place in
Juarez, Mexico.

However, Mrs. McLean did not have any more money, so she returned to
Washington DC to pawn her jewels. That was when her husband, who was
the owner and publisher of The Washington Post, found out and called
in the FBI.

Also, according to another source, =93The Fox=94 was not a code name for
Whitaker. Rather, Mrs. McLean mistakenly believed that Whitaker's name
was Fox. Albert Fox was a well-known chess master and a friend of
Whitaker, and he or a person with the same name had also been a
reporter for the Washington Post. Perhaps due to a mistake or
confusion, Mrs. McLean thought that Whitaker was Fox. Albert Fox was
also the name of her attorney who was representing her in her divorce
case against her husband, who was the owner of the Washington Post.
Later, the newspapers, including The New York Times, picked up the
story and mistakenly reported =93The Fox=94 as a code name for Whitaker.

The book by Hilbert also found a noteworthy coincidence. Albert Fox,
the attorney, later sued Mrs. McLean for $35,000 in attorney's fees.
However, $35,000 was the same amount of money that Mrs. McLean was
trying to raise as ransom money to pay the Lindbergh kidnappers. Was
this just a coincidence?

Now, here is the killing point: Once, when I was researching chess
history, I spent many days in the San Francisco Public Library looking
for tournament newspaper reports of the 1923 Western States Chess
Championship in San Francisco, which had been won by Whitaker. Looking
at an aging issue of the San Francisco Call, I saw the headline
=93HARDING DEAD=94. I discovered that at the very moment that Warren G.
Harding had died in San Francisco, Norman T. Whitaker, chess master
and notorious international criminal, had been virtually at the scene
of the crime. Harding had died in a private hotel room in the Palace
Hotel on Market Street in San Francisco, which is now the Sheraton
Palace Hotel. Whitaker had been, at that very moment, right across the
street on the 4th floor of the Mechanics Institute at 57 Post Street
playing his game for what was regarded as the US Open Chess
Championship, which he won.

Therefore, having discovered this coincidence, I wrote a spoof or joke
newspaper story that Whitaker, who was in fact a notorious womanizer
in addition to being a criminal, had been the lover of Florence
Harding and, while playing his chess game against Samuel D. Factor, in
between moves, while his opponent's clock was ticking, he had walked
across the street to the Palace Hotel, where, by prior arrangement,
Florence Harding had let him into the private hotel room where
Florence and President Harding were staying. They had planned to make
love but, when President Harding discovered this, Whitaker had killed
Harding, and then had gotten back to the chess game before his
opponent, Samuel Factor, had yet moved, and therefore Whitaker had
been able to kill Harding with such a perfect alibi that nobody had
even suspected this, until I, the super-sleuth Sam Sloan, had
discovered this 70 years later.

Of course, this was a joke, or at least was intended as such, but all
of the basic facts were true. Harding really did die on August 2, 1923
in a private hotel room in the San Francisco Palace Hotel while
Whitaker was across the street in the Mechanics Institute at 57 Post
Street playing his game for the US Chess Championship against Samuel
D. Factor.

All of these facts were completely true.

Now, all I had to do was make up a few invented facts, which were that
Whitaker knew both Florence Harding and President Harding, which I
believe was probably true based on what we know about Whitaker and
Harding, since Harding was known to frequent gambling dens and illegal
drinking parlors on K Street, only two blocks from where Whitaker
lived on M Street. So, the only really invented fact was that Whitaker
had been the lover of Florence Harding, and even that was not
impossible as Florence had been a woman whose virtue was suspect.

So, now I had it all. I even added that Whitaker had actually lost the
chess game to Samuel D. Factor. This was explained by the fact that he
had been distracted from the chess game by the break he had taken to
go across the street to kill the President of the United States, and
he had become flustered, which had caused to him to lose to Factor,
but he had won the rest of his games and had won the championship
anyway.

Now, of course, you will want to see the chess game that proves all of
this. So, here it is:

[Event "Western Association Championship"]
[Site "San Francisco, Cal."]
[Date "1923.08.02"]
[White "Factor,Samuel D"]
[Black "Whitaker,Norman Tweed"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D64"]

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.Nc3 Be7 6.e3 O-O 7.Rc1 Re8 8.a3
c6 9.Qc2 a6 10.Bd3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 b5 12.Bd3 c5 13.Bxf6 Nxf6 14.dxc5 Bxc5
15.Ne4 Be7 16.Nxf6+ Bxf6 17.Bxh7+ Kh8 18.Be4 Rb8 19.O-O b4 20.Bc6 bxa3
21.Bxe8 axb2 22.Bxf7 bxc1=3DQ 23.Rxc1 Qd7 24.Qg6 Rb5 25.Be8 Rc5 26.Re1
Qd8 27.Ba4 Bb7 28.Bc2 Kg8 29.Qh7+ Kf8 30.Rd1 Rd5 31.Nd4 Bxd4 32.exd4
Qg5 33.f4 Qg4 34.h3 Qg3 35.Rd3 Qe1+ 36.Kh2 Qf2 37.Rg3 Qxd4 38.Qh8+ Ke7
39.Rxg7+ Kd6 40.Qb8+ Kc5 41.Rxb7 1-0

It can clearly be seen from this chess game that Whitaker was playing
below his normal strength and thus proves that Whitaker killed Harding
while the game was being played.

Needless to say, I knew Whitaker. The last time I met Whitaker (before
he died) was in 1962 and he had given me a ride in his VW bug from a
chess tournament in Raleigh North Carolina to Virginia where I lived.
I finally got up the nerve to ask Whitaker about Gaston B. Means and
about the Lindbergh Kidnapping. I had never had the courage to do this
before. One does not just say, =93By the way, Norman, how did the old
Lindbergh Kidnapping go?=94

Whitaker answered my question by talking about all the dirty tricks
Means had done to Whitaker. I am so sorry that I did not write down
his exact words. All of us chess players knew Whitaker and knew about
his side involvement in the Lindbergh Kidnapping, but I know of no
other chess player who ever asked him about this. I did not write it
down and do not remember what he said, except he started talking about
all the dirty tricks Means had done. Whitaker was driving his VW at
the time and I really wish I had taken notes on what he said, but alas
I did not. I now believe that Whitaker may not have been in on the
scam and possibly really believed that the Lindbergh Baby was being
held in Juarez, and thus was not guilty. Why would he drive 1586
miles, a trip of three or four days, with a fabulously wealthy woman,
if he knew that it was all just a scam?

One person who obviously must have asked Whitaker about this was Al
Horowitz, owner of Chess Review magazine. The often told joke is that
whenever Whitaker came to see Horowitz in his office, Horowitz would
say, =93Hello Norman. Pull up an electric chair!=94

Now as you read this book, The Strange Death of President Harding, you
will see how this all comes together. Means apparently wrote this book
while serving time in prison for perjury. He passed the sheets to an
accomplice, May Dixon Thacker. I believe that few of the facts in this
book are true. However, I believe that Means constructed this story in
much the same way that I created the story proving that Whitaker
killed Harding. Means knew all the people in this book. Means
certainly knew Florence Harding and her husband, President Warren G.
Harding. Almost without doubt, he knew everybody or almost everybody
whose name is mentioned in this book. Conveniently, by the time this
book was published in 1930, almost everybody whose name is mentioned
in this book was dead and no longer available to refute Means'
accounts.

Now, you will ask: Since I obviously do not believe what is written in
this book, why do I publish it?

The answer is that although this book is not about history, it is
history. At the time of this book, two years before the Lindbergh
Kidnapping scam, Gaston B. Means, a former FBI agent, had every
appearance of being a respectable, honest and credible person. Thus,
this book was widely believed and is one of the prime reasons why
Warren G. Harding is widely considered to be the worst president
America ever had.

Secondly, as Means really did know all the people mentioned in this
book, and since this book describes events that could possibly have
happened, it tells us something about those people, even though the
events it describes were often not true.

To me, the tip-off that reveals that the book is not true is that it
contains long dialogs of conversations that supposedly took place. Few
men would be able to remember conversations in such detail years
later, especially since Means was in prison in 1930 when this book was
written.

Therefore, with these caveats, I present it to you:


Sam Sloan
Bronx New York
September 20, 2008




 
Date: 30 Sep 2008 12:04:42
From:
Subject: Re: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
On Sep 21, 1:11=A0pm, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> The Strange Death of President Harding
> by Gaston B. Means
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390
>
> A more important reason for renewed interest in President Harding is
> that it is becoming increasingly apparent that Harding got a =93bum rap=
=94
> when he was called the worst president that America ever had. When I
> was in high school, my American History teacher taught me that the two
> worst presidents America ever had were Grant and Harding. Grant has
> still not been rehabilitated. (My next project?) However, there is a
> strong case to be made that Harding was one of the best if not the
> very best president America ever had.
>
> Largely on the strength of this book, =93The Strange Death of President
> Harding=94 and on the so-called =93Teapot Dome Scandal=94, Harding became
> known as the worst president the United States ever had.
>
> Of late, there has been a re-examination of President Harding, who was
> president from 1921 to 1923. A recent book by John W. Dean, who, as
> the cover blurb notes in a massive understatement, is =93no stranger to
> presidential controversy=94 makes a strong case that not only was
> President Harding not the worst, but he was perhaps the best president
> the US ever had.

An interesting comment about the Harding administration, which also
pertains to the "OT: Russian History" thread going on here recently,
is found on pages 206-207 of George F. Kennan's "Russia and the West
Under Lenin and Stalin." Discussing the question of diplomatic
recognition of the new Bolshevik regime in the 1920s, Kennan first
quotes the position of Bainbridge Colby, US Secretary of State under
Woodrow Wilson:

"...there cannot be any ground upon which [the United States] can
stand with a Power whose conceptions of international relations are so
entirely alien to its own, so utterly repugnant to its moral sense."

Kennan then comments:

"This was a harsh position, and a negative one. But it was one
squarely based on principle ... As such, I believe that the Soviet
leaders understood it and respected it more than any other ... But
this position was overtaken, soon after its enunciation, by the fall
of the Wilson administration and the assumption of power in Washington
by the administration of Warren Gamaliel Harding, an administration
noted neither for its interest in principle or for its resistance to
pressures from wealthy private interests.
"The Harding administration lost no time in supplementing Colby's
clear position with a resounding demand for satisfaction in the matter
of debts and claims. On this now corrupted and dubious foundation, the
United States policy of nonrecognition continued to rest through the
Republican era ..."


 
Date: 30 Sep 2008 10:09:56
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
Ishi Press Proudly announces the reprinting of the book "The Strange
Death of President Harding" by Gaston B. Means.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390

Next, we will be reprinting "Father Struck It Rich" by Evalyn Walsh
McLean at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891048

Evalyn Walsh McLean was a link between President Warren G. Harding
Harding and International Chess Master Norman T. Whitaker, and Gaston
B. Means and the Lindbergh Kidnapping

Sam Sloan

On Sep 21, 1:11=A0pm, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> TheStrangeDeathofPresidentHarding
> by Gaston B. Means
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390
>
> Foreword
>
> The cover photo to this book is one of the last ever taken ofPresidentHar=
dingand his wife, Florence, before their untimely
> deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S. Henderson
> during their trip by ship to Alaska. Behind them is a lifeboat on the
> deck of the ship.Hardingappears to be healthy, yet he died only a
> few days later.
>
> This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion thatHardingh=
ad been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence,
> refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one
> year later.
>
> There is renewed interest inHardingduring the current presidential
> election campaign, for several reasons. One is thatHardingwas a
> United States Senator when electedpresidentand only he and John F.
> Kennedy were electedpresidentwhile they were senators. This year,
> both of the candidates, McCain and Obama, are US Senators, so one of
> them will be elected.
>
> Another reason is the long standing rumor thatPresidentHardingwas
> part Black. This rumor is based primarily on the book entitled =93WARREN
> GAMALIELHARDING:PRESIDENTOF THE UNITED STATES=94 by William Estabrook
> Chancellor, published by The Sentinal Press in 1922. However, shortly
> after publication, the plates and the bulk of books stored by the
> Sentinal Press were taken away by agents and destroyed. It is rumored
> that the plates were dumped into the Ohio river. The book thus became
> one of the rarest bibliographical items in twentieth-century American
> history. Only five copies are known to exist, one of which is on sale
> on the Internet for $2550.00 !!
>
> The destruction of that book did not stop the rumor thatHardingwas
> part-Black from spreading and indeed may have enhanced it. Thus, if
> Barak Obama is electedPresident, it will be said that he was the
> SECOND Blackpresident.
>
> A more important reason for renewed interest inPresidentHardingis
> that it is becoming increasingly apparent thatHardinggot a =93bum rap=94
> when he was called the worstpresidentthat America ever had. When I
> was in high school, my American History teacher taught me that the two
> worst presidents America ever had were Grant andHarding. Grant has
> still not been rehabilitated. (My next project?) However, there is a
> strong case to be made thatHardingwas one of the best if not the
> very bestpresidentAmerica ever had.
>
> Largely on the strength of this book, =93TheStrangeDeathofPresidentHardin=
g=94 and on the so-called =93Teapot Dome Scandal=94,Hardingbecame
> known as the worstpresidentthe United States ever had.
>
> Of late, there has been a re-examination ofPresidentHarding, who waspresi=
dentfrom 1921 to 1923. A recent book by John W. Dean, who, as
> the cover blurb notes in a massive understatement, is =93no stranger to
> presidential controversy=94 makes a strong case that not only wasPresiden=
tHardingnot the worst, but he was perhaps the bestpresident
> the US ever had.
>
> The Fall Guy in the Teapot Dome Scandal had been Albert Fall. However,
> Fall had served as Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court and had
> been for many years a United States Senator before joining theHarding
> Administration, so it seems difficult to understand whyHardinghad to
> take the fall for Fall.
>
> Hardinghad many accomplishments aspresident, far more than most
> presidents. For example,PresidentHardingwas the first to require
> all departments of the government to have a budget.Hardingcut
> government expenditures by one billion dollars.Hardingbrought about
> the economic reforms that started =93The Roaring Twenties=94, a period of
> unequaled economic prosperity in America.
>
> Strangely, Woodrow Wilson is regarded by the general public as being
> one of the best presidents America ever had, but in reality he was one
> of the worst. When Wilson left office, the government was in a state
> of chaotic disarray.Hardingmanaged to clean up most of it during his
> only two years aspresident.
>
> There seem to be only three reasons why Warren G.Hardingis regarded
> as the worstpresident, or at least one of the worst:
>
> 1. The Teapot Dome Scandal
>
> 2. The book =93ThePresident'sDaughter=94 by Nan Britton
>
> 3. This book, =93TheStrangeDeathofPresidentHarding=94
>
> I have now published or reprinted four different books by people who
> knewPresidentHardingpersonally. All but this last one have
> expressed favorable views aboutPresidentHarding. The other three
> books are:
>
> 1. My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers
> Parks ISBN 092389196X
>
> 2. ThePresident'sDaughter by Nan Britton ISBN 0923891234
>
> 3. Dolly Gann's Book by Dolly Gann ISBN 0923891080
>
> The first book above was by two domestic servants who worked in the
> White House for a total of 50 years, including the years whenHarding
> waspresident. They personally liked bothPresidentHardingand his
> wife, Florence, saying that Florence was plagued by =93bad luck=94. It wa=
s
> this book that caused me to re-think my views aboutPresidentHarding.
>
> The second book was byPresidentHarding'smistress, Nan Britton. She
> definitely liked, loved and admiredPresidentHarding. There is
> absolutely no doubt that she really was thePresident'sMistress.
> However, the book did a lot of harm to thepresident'sreputation,
> especially the part about how she used to have sex with thePresident
> in the White House while the wife was away. In view of what we now
> know about other presidents who did the same thing, including
> Presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy and, to some extent, Clinton, this
> hardly seems shocking any more.
>
> The third book, by the sister of Charles Curtis, the Vice-President
> under Herbert Hoover, was also by someone who knew and likedHarding.
>
> A book I am in the process of reprinting right now and will be out
> soon is =93A DeadPresidentMakes Answer to ThePresident'sDaughter=94
> ISBN 0923891013
>
> This is a rare book. Very few copies were sold, but I have been able
> to obtain one in mint condition.
>
> Finally, I will reprint the book =93WARREN GAMALIELHARDING:PRESIDENT
> OF THE UNITED STATES=94 by William Estabrook Chancellor, if I can ever
> find one, but, no, I am not willing to pay the $2550.00 demanded for
> the only copy available for sale.
>
> Returning to this book, =93TheStrangeDeathofPresidentHarding=94 by
> Gaston B. Means, I have a special reason for interest in it which has
> to do with the game of chess. This will seem surprising, but most of
> the main characters in =93TheStrangeDeathofPresidentHarding=94 had an
> impact on the world of chess.
>
> This was because of an International Chess Master named Norman T.
> Whitaker who was, at one time, one of the top two or three chess
> players in America. Whitaker lived in Washington DC on M Street, near
> the White House and was a close associate of Gaston B. Means. Whitaker
> also knew Evalyn Walsh McLean, who was a close personal friend of
> FlorenceHardingand whose name is frequently mentioned in this book.
> Evalyn Walsh McLean later wrote a book entitled =93Father Struck it
> Rich=94, which is still popular.
>
> I do not know whether Whitaker knewHardingpersonally, but I believe
> that Whitaker probably did know him, as he lived nearby and both
> Whitaker andHardingtended to know people like each other and to
> frequent similar places.
>
> Norman T. Whitaker and Gaston B. Means later became involved in a side
> con related to the Lindbergh Kidnapping. The Lindbergh Kidnapping was
> =93the crime of the century=94. On March 1, 1932, the 20 month old baby o=
f
> famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and held for ransom.
> Evalyn Walsh McLean knew that Gaston B. Means was a former FBI agent
> who also often associated with criminals (like Whitaker) and she asked
> Means if he was in contact with the kidnappers and knew how to get the
> baby back.
>
> Means, realizing that Evalyn Walsh McLean was a =93mark=94, replied that
> yes, indeed, he was in contact with the kidnappers and could arrange
> the return of the baby if the ransom was paid.
>
> Evalyn Walsh McLean agreed to pay. In fact, she agreed to pay, and did
> pay $104,000, even more than the real kidnappers were demanding.
>
> However, Gaston B. Means was not really in contact with the kidnappers
> and had no idea who they were. He just wanted the ransom money.
>
> Therefore, he called in his friend, chess master Norman T. Whitaker,
> to impersonate one of the kidnappers and to collect the ransom money.
>
> Here, there are at least two different versions of what happened.
> According to the 1955 book =93The FBI Story=94 by Don Whitehead, pages
> 94-96, Whitaker was the bag man. Means gave Whitaker the code name
> =93The Fox=94 and, as =93The Fox=94, Whitaker went to the home of Mrs. Mc=
Lean
> and collected the ransom money.
>
> However, Means then got greedy. He told Mrs. McLean that the
> kidnappers were demanding even more money. Mrs. McLean had no cash
> left independent of her husband, but she owned a lot of jewels and had
> even once been the owner of The Hope Diamond. When she went to pawn
> the jewels to raise the ransom money to give to Means, her husband
> found out and called in the FBI who arrested Means and Whitaker. Means
> and Whitaker were both convicted. Means died in prison. Whitaker got
> out after only serving a few months. The Lindbergh baby was found
> dead, having been killed only a few hours after being kidnapped. The
> body was immediately cremated, which contributes to many current
> conspiracy theories. The money was never recovered.
>
> However, a relatively recent book, Shady Side: The Life and Crimes of
> Norman Tweed Whitaker, Chess Master, by John Samuel Hilbert, published
> in 2000, pages 114-128, tells an entirely different story:
>
> Hilbert had access to the complete papers of Norman Tweed Whitaker,
> who died in 1975. According to his account, Whitaker may not have been
> guilty. The first ransom money of $104,000 that had been paid had been
> in marked money. The kidnappers had realized it (and indeed this part
> was true, as the first money that had been paid to ...




 
Date: 21 Sep 2008 18:31:26
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
On Sep 21, 7:52=A0pm, Taylor Kingston <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Sep 21, 7:25=A0pm, samsloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
>
> > With a new foreword by Sam Sloan
>
> > The cover picture to this book is one of the last ever taken of
> > President Warren G. Harding and his wife, Florence, before their
> > untimely deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S.
> > Henderson during their trip to Alaska. Harding appears to be healthy,
> > yet he died only a few days later.
>
> > This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion that
> > Harding had been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence,
> > refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one
> > year later.
>
> > As to who would murder Harding and why, at the time of this photo
> > Harding was tremendously popular, one of the most popular presidents
> > ever had. Only a few years later, he came to be regarded as the worst
> > president America ever had. The Teapot Dome Scandal was looming in the
> > far distance, but troubles were starting to appear. Harding had at
> > least two active mistresses, plus an illegitimate child. The General
> > Public did not know about this but his wife probably did.
>
> > Did all this add up to a recipe for murder, or did the robust, young
> > and healthy President of the United States simply drop dead for no
> > reason at all?
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 ISBN =A0 0-923891-39-0
>
> >http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390
>
> =A0 You know, Sam, you're really having trouble with links these days.
> This one takes you to a page that says:
>
> =A0 "We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page
> on our site."

Actually, you are right. I have been mixing up my book pages.

My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 by Alekhine is here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891498

Masters of the Chess Board by Richard Reti is here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/092389148X

Proof that Trotsky was not Guilty is here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891315

Who Killed Harding is here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390

Chessmen by Donald M. Liddell will be here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891420

Sam Sloan


 
Date: 21 Sep 2008 17:37:31
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
On Sep 21, 7:52=A0pm, Taylor Kingston <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Sep 21, 7:25=A0pm, samsloan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
>
> > With a new foreword by Sam Sloan
>
> > The cover picture to this book is one of the last ever taken of
> > President Warren G. Harding and his wife, Florence, before their
> > untimely deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S.
> > Henderson during their trip to Alaska. Harding appears to be healthy,
> > yet he died only a few days later.
>
> > This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion that
> > Harding had been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence,
> > refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one
> > year later.
>
> > As to who would murder Harding and why, at the time of this photo
> > Harding was tremendously popular, one of the most popular presidents
> > ever had. Only a few years later, he came to be regarded as the worst
> > president America ever had. The Teapot Dome Scandal was looming in the
> > far distance, but troubles were starting to appear. Harding had at
> > least two active mistresses, plus an illegitimate child. The General
> > Public did not know about this but his wife probably did.
>
> > Did all this add up to a recipe for murder, or did the robust, young
> > and healthy President of the United States simply drop dead for no
> > reason at all?
>
> > =A0 =A0 =A0 ISBN =A0 0-923891-39-0
>
> >http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390
>
> =A0 You know, Sam, you're really having trouble with links these days.
> This one takes you to a page that says:
>
> =A0 "We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page
> on our site."

Do not worry. That page will start functioning in about 6 or 7 days
and that will tell you that the book has been printed.

Sam Sloan


 
Date: 21 Sep 2008 16:52:35
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Re: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
On Sep 21, 7:25=A0pm, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
>
> With a new foreword by Sam Sloan
>
> The cover picture to this book is one of the last ever taken of
> President Warren G. Harding and his wife, Florence, before their
> untimely deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S.
> Henderson during their trip to Alaska. Harding appears to be healthy,
> yet he died only a few days later.
>
> This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion that
> Harding had been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence,
> refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one
> year later.
>
> As to who would murder Harding and why, at the time of this photo
> Harding was tremendously popular, one of the most popular presidents
> ever had. Only a few years later, he came to be regarded as the worst
> president America ever had. The Teapot Dome Scandal was looming in the
> far distance, but troubles were starting to appear. Harding had at
> least two active mistresses, plus an illegitimate child. The General
> Public did not know about this but his wife probably did.
>
> Did all this add up to a recipe for murder, or did the robust, young
> and healthy President of the United States simply drop dead for no
> reason at all?
>
> =A0 =A0 =A0 ISBN =A0 0-923891-39-0
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390

You know, Sam, you're really having trouble with links these days.
This one takes you to a page that says:

"We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page
on our site."


 
Date: 21 Sep 2008 16:25:24
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means

With a new foreword by Sam Sloan

The cover picture to this book is one of the last ever taken of
President Warren G. Harding and his wife, Florence, before their
untimely deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S.
Henderson during their trip to Alaska. Harding appears to be healthy,
yet he died only a few days later.

This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion that
Harding had been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence,
refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one
year later.

As to who would murder Harding and why, at the time of this photo
Harding was tremendously popular, one of the most popular presidents
ever had. Only a few years later, he came to be regarded as the worst
president America ever had. The Teapot Dome Scandal was looming in the
far distance, but troubles were starting to appear. Harding had at
least two active mistresses, plus an illegitimate child. The General
Public did not know about this but his wife probably did.

Did all this add up to a recipe for murder, or did the robust, young
and healthy President of the United States simply drop dead for no
reason at all?

ISBN 0-923891-39-0

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390


 
Date: 21 Sep 2008 15:22:42
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Re: The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means
On Sep 21, 1:11=A0pm, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> The Strange Death of President Harding
> by Gaston B. Means
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/0923891390
>
> Foreword
>
> The cover photo to this book is one of the last ever taken of
> President Harding and his wife, Florence, before their untimely
> deaths. It was taken in July, 1923 on board the U.S.S. Henderson
> during their trip by ship to Alaska. Behind them is a lifeboat on the
> deck of the ship. Harding appears to be healthy, yet he died only a
> few days later.
>
> This plus a variety of other circumstances created suspicion that
> Harding had been murdered, especially since his wife, Florence,
> refused to agree to an autopsy. Then, Florence herself died only one
> year later.
>
> There is renewed interest in Harding during the current presidential
> election campaign,

Really? On what do you base this dubious assertion? I would say
interest in Harding is about at its usual very low level.

> for several reasons. One is that Harding was a
> United States Senator when elected president and only he and John F.
> Kennedy were elected president while they were senators.

This is the sort of trivia that interests only trivia buffs, on a
par with, say, the fact that Franklin Pierce is the only President
from New Hampshire, or that the first three Presidents to be
assassinated were all Republicans.

> This year,
> both of the candidates, McCain and Obama, are US Senators, so one of
> them will be elected.

You have a firm grasp of the obvious, Sam.

> Another reason is the long standing rumor that President Harding was
> part Black.

I doubt that even 10% percent of the US population today could even
tell you who Warren G. Harding was, let alone what silly rumors
circulated about him.

> This rumor is based primarily on the book entitled =93WARREN
> GAMALIEL HARDING: PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES=94 by William Estabrook
> Chancellor, published by The Sentinal Press in 1922. However, shortly
> after publication, the plates and the bulk of books stored by the
> Sentinal Press were taken away by agents and destroyed. It is rumored
> that the plates were dumped into the Ohio river. The book thus became
> one of the rarest bibliographical items in twentieth-century American
> history. Only five copies are known to exist, one of which is on sale
> on the Internet for $2550.00 !!
>
> The destruction of that book did not stop the rumor that Harding was
> part-Black from spreading and indeed may have enhanced it. Thus, if
> Barak Obama is elected President, it will be said that he was the
> SECOND Black president.

It will be said by whom? I doubt that anyone but you would, Sam.

> A more important reason for renewed interest in President Harding is
> that it is becoming increasingly apparent that Harding got a =93bum rap=
=94
> when he was called the worst president that America ever had. When I
> was in high school, my American History teacher taught me that the two
> worst presidents America ever had were Grant and Harding. Grant has
> still not been rehabilitated. (My next project?) However, there is a
> strong case to be made that Harding was one of the best if not the
> very best president America ever had.

You and Kasparov should team up. He will prove that America was
discovered by Russians in the Middle Ages, while you can rate
Presidents based on their sex lives.

> Largely on the strength of this book, =93The Strange Death of President
> Harding=94 and on the so-called =93Teapot Dome Scandal=94, Harding became
> known as the worst president the United States ever had.
>
> Of late, there has been a re-examination of President Harding, who was
> president from 1921 to 1923. A recent book by John W. Dean, who, as
> the cover blurb notes in a massive understatement, is =93no stranger to
> presidential controversy=94 makes a strong case that not only was
> President Harding not the worst, but he was perhaps the best president
> the US ever had.

People will write books about almost anything, Sam.

> The Fall Guy in the Teapot Dome Scandal had been Albert Fall. However,
> Fall had served as Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court and had
> been for many years a United States Senator before joining the Harding
> Administration, so it seems difficult to understand why Harding had to
> take the fall for Fall.

No, it's quite easy. The President is in charge. He is responsible
for supervising his subordinates. Harding was a lousy supervisor. He
appointed and trusted some men he should not have. As Harry Truman
said, the President can't pass the buck.