“Well, you make it sound as though this is the first time we’ve had a black president.”

“Warren G. Harding was a negro.”

–John McLaughlin of The McLaughlin Group

I’ve never watched The McLaughlin Group, but I didn’t think John McLaughlin was some sort of crazy person. In fact, had someone told me they had heard John McLaughlin say these things, I would not have believed them. I saw it for myself while watching last night’s episode of The Colbert Report tonight during The ThreatDown.

Anyway, I was quite shocked to be informed that Harding was a negro … about as shocked as I was to even hear the word negro on TV. Even more shocking was that it was on a show, that even though I have never watched, I thought was a reasonable and thoughtful program, seeing as it has been on TV for 26 years. Strange, crank-like shows usually don’t last that long. Maybe there was more after the clipped they showed and he was just trying to be funny, but it didn’t seem that way. He seemed serious … and slightly insane or senile.

So, was Harding black?

During the campaign, rumors spread that Harding’s great-great-grandfather was a West Indian black and that other blacks might be found in his family tree. In response, Harding’s campaign manager said, “No family in the state (of Ohio) has a clearer, a more honorable record than the Hardings, a blue-eyed stock from New England and Pennsylvania, the finest pioneer blood.”The rumors, perhaps based on no more than local gossip, were circulated by William Estabrook Chancellor. Rumors may have been sustained by an alleged response of Harding to a friendly reporter, perhaps meant merely to be dismissive: “How do I know, Jim? One of my ancestors may have jumped the fence.” (Wallechinsky and Wallace, The People’s Almanac)
– Wikipedia

Most people seem to believe it was just a rumor meant to damage him during the election. In the 20′s, the One-drop Rule was very much in effect, and being considered “black” would most certainly have harmed his campaign for the presidency. All the same, it seems sort of outrageous that John McLaughlin would still be spreading rumors from the 1920′s as though they were fact.

It also seems silly to me that anyone ever thought about race the way people used to think about it. That having a great-great-grandfather from the Caribbean made you black? That’s just so crazy! But then … if the One-drop Rule was still in effect today, I’d be much, much more black than Warren G. Harding.