NORTHWESTERN STORY—SCANDAL.

NORTHWESTERN STORY—SCANDAL. I have been unable, after a somewhat diligent search on the internet, to find confirmation of this Northwestern story, but I have a distinct memory of Arthur Link, the distinguished biographer of Woodrow Wilson, telling the story in class. After Warren G. Harding died, Nan Britton published a book entitled THE PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER which alleged that she had had a long-term affair with Harding and that Harding had fathered her daughter. The book was a path breaker in describing Presidential shenanigans. There were scandalous details. Harding was much older than Britton, who claimed to have been only 20 when she lost her virginity to him. Britton claimed that many of their sexual encounters had taken place in a coat closet in the White House. The Northwestern connection was that Britton had been a secretary at Northwestern. I recall that Link enjoyed reading out two statements from Britton about her first encounter with Harding: that there had been no improprieties and that she had been gratified after the encounter to find money in her stocking.