Editor in Chief Bill | 13 Aug 2015 12:44 p.m. PST |
She was denounced as a "degenerate" and a "pervert," accused of lying for money and shamed for waging a "diabolical" campaign of falsehoods against the president's family that tore away at his legacy.Long before Lucy Mercer, Kay Summersby or Monica Lewinsky, there was Nan Britton, who scandalized a nation with stories of carnal adventures in a White House coat closet and endured a ferocious backlash for publicly claiming that she bore the love child of President Warren G. Harding. Now nearly a century later, according to genealogists, new genetic tests confirm for the first time that Ms. Britton's daughter, Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, was indeed Harding's biological child. The tests have solved one of the enduring mysteries of presidential history and offer new insights into the secret life of America's 29th president. At the least, they demonstrate how the march of technology is increasingly rewriting the nation's history books… link |
rmaker | 13 Aug 2015 12:55 p.m. PST |
This is not history. It's gossip. And, after nearly a century, irrelevant gossip at that. |
John the OFM | 13 Aug 2015 1:02 p.m. PST |
But Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings IS news/history, right? |
Texas Jack | 13 Aug 2015 1:08 p.m. PST |
I think it is interesting we finally know for sure. Now if we can only find out if his wife helped him with his death from natural causes. |
Mako11 | 13 Aug 2015 1:12 p.m. PST |
Sorry. Actually, it is confirmed "history", and no longer "gossip, since the DNA results are in, kinda like that little blue dress fiasco a couple of decades back. |
enfant perdus | 13 Aug 2015 1:21 p.m. PST |
This part made me laugh out loud:
"I'm not questioning the accuracy of anybody's tests or anything," said Dr. Richard Harding, 69, another grandnephew and a child psychiatrist in Columbia, S.C. "But it's still in my mind still to be proven." If he's not convinced about Harding's paternity, I presume he's also not convinced about Harding's lack of sub-Saharan African DNA. |
Weasel | 13 Aug 2015 1:38 p.m. PST |
I mean, better late than never I guess. |
John the OFM | 13 Aug 2015 1:43 p.m. PST |
And lets not forget the Blaine Cleveland election of 1884. link "Ma, Ma! Where's my pa!" link I always laugh at people who think today's politics lack civility. We would have had commentators fainting in horros if there was TV in 1884. Or back in Jefferson's time. Vapours all over the place! "Oh! Fetch me the smelling salts!" |
Dynaman8789 | 13 Aug 2015 2:00 p.m. PST |
Pretty sad to have your entire presidential legacy boil down to this. Then again he could be one of those most people don't ever hear of, like whats his name… |
John the OFM | 13 Aug 2015 2:22 p.m. PST |
Harding's legacy does not boil down to that. He is famous for his political scandals too. Allegedly the most corrupt administration since Grant's. Teapot Dome? |
Dynaman8789 | 13 Aug 2015 2:32 p.m. PST |
Now go ask the man on the street about Harding and see what they say… |
dBerczerk | 13 Aug 2015 3:13 p.m. PST |
For millennia, the mark of a successful Alpha Male has been the ability to father numerous offspring with multiple female partners. This perception still holds sway in many parts of the present world. |
Weasel | 13 Aug 2015 5:32 p.m. PST |
dBerczerk – and for said alpha male to then be murdered by angry relatives of said female partners ;-) |
dBerczerk | 13 Aug 2015 5:47 p.m. PST |
Weasel -- possibly. But history is also replete with tales of the relatives of said female partners pledging undying fealty to the successful Alpha Male. |
R Brown | 13 Aug 2015 6:23 p.m. PST |
Was Warren G. Hardon in the last debate? |
Mako11 | 13 Aug 2015 6:28 p.m. PST |
"Allegedly the most corrupt administration since Grant's". Like the Star Wars quote says, "there is another"……. |
Winston Smith | 13 Aug 2015 6:29 p.m. PST |
Was he a Republican? We always (usually) nominate the oldest white guy whose turn it is. It hasn't worked out well. I hope this time our guy is alive. |
The Beast Rampant | 13 Aug 2015 7:29 p.m. PST |
Sure, I could get the chicks with a name like "Gamaliel". I'd tell them all it was elven, recite some of that stuff Aragorn was telling Liv Tyler. Catnip, yo. |
enfant perdus | 13 Aug 2015 8:23 p.m. PST |
He was a Republican, but it definitely wasn't "his turn". A minority of states had primaries back then, so conventions were a big deal. Harding started as an outside chance but his backers won him the nomination after multiple votes. Fun fact; the origin of the political term "smoke filled room" stems from the 1920 GOP convention |
Texas Jack | 13 Aug 2015 11:01 p.m. PST |
He was also thought of as quite handsome, and many folks said he won the election by winning the women´s vote. |
Larry R | 14 Aug 2015 8:07 a.m. PST |
I thought it was Tonya Harding with a pipe to the knees! |