Harding, of course, is consistently rated at or near the bottom of the list of U.S. presidents, largely because of the well-documented corruption that pervaded his administration. This unhappy fact should keep President Clinton and his loyalists awake at night.

For whether the president and his defenders know it or not, the ghost of Warren G. Harding truly haunts the Clinton administration, most likely dooming any hope for a positive Clinton "legacy". One reason to believe this is that when Harding had the good fortune to die in office, he was, like Bill Clinton, an extremely popular and well-regarded president. It was only as the corrupt underside of his administration was exposed that Harding’s standing with the American people fell into irreparable disrepute.

The history of the Harding administration belies the claim prevalent among defenders of President Clinton that there is no relationship between private and public actions in political life. Harding was a serial philanderer and a heavy drinker, a vice rendered illegal as well by the fact that Prohibition was the law of the land during his presidency. Harding’s many paramours and those who pried into his affairs had to be paid off or roughed up. The bribes and intimidation were carried out by individuals close to the Hardings, working in conjunction with federal agencies, including the Bureau of Investigation, an early version of the FBI.