DNA Proves Harding Affair

President Warren G. Harding has a number of claims to fame (or infamy):

• He consistently ranks at the very bottom for presidential performance
• His administration was racked with the infamous Teapot Dome scandal that sent a cabinet secretary to jail
• He was known for his extramarital affairs

Love Letters Unsealed:  In July 2014, the Library of Congress unsealed 15 years of love letters written by Harding to a good friend’s wife, Carrie Phillips.  Click here to read my previous post on these letters.

Affair with Nan Britton:  An affair with a woman named Nan Britton has dogged the 29th President’s reputation for years.  Britton claimed in her book The President’s Daughter, published after Harding’s untimely 1923 death, that he was the father of her daughter, Elizabeth.  Harding’s family and supporters have denied the affair for years.

DNA Tests Prove Harding Affair:  But now, DNA testing between Harding’s grandniece and a grandson of Nan Britton has confirmed with 99.9% accuracy that Harding was the father of Elizabeth Britton, the product of Harding’s affair with Nan who was 31 years younger than Harding.

More Information:  To read news accounts of the DNA testing, click on one of the links below:

• DNA Is Said to Solve a Mystery of Warren Harding’s Love Life, by Peter Baker, August 12, 2015, New York Times

• DNA test reveals President Warren Harding’s affair and love child, by Ben Brumfield and Aparnaa Seshadri, August 14, 2015, CNN

• DNA evidence proves Warren Harding had child with mistress, by Associated Press, August 14, 2015, New York Post