San Francisco (JFK+50) At 7:30 p.m., August 2, 1923, the 29th President of the United States, Warren Gamaliel Harding* died "suddenly and with no warning" according to a news report by Lawrence Martin of the United Press.
Mr. Martin reports that the President "was definitely on the road to recovery" from food poisoning, acute indigestion and infection when death came as he lay in bed at the Palace Hotel here in San Francisco.
President Harding, Martin continues, died as a result of being "struck in the brain with apoplexy**."
At the time of death, the President was being read to by First Lady Florence Harding. She had paused in her reading to look at her husband and he had said "That sounds good, go ahead."
As she continued reading, Mr. Harding "threw up one hand over his head...stiffened and...dropped back limply. " Mrs. Harding called out, "Warren!" The President didn't hear, he was dead. With two of the President's nurses in the room at the time, the First Lady summoned the doctor.
The plans at this time are for the remains of President Harding to be placed on a special train this evening at 7 o'clock bound for Washington, D.C. After lying in state in the Nation's Capital, the President will be laid to rest in his hometown of Marion, Ohio.
Vice-President Calvin Coolidge, at his home in Plymouth, Vermont, was told of Mr. Harding's passing at midnight Eastern time.
*Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio & served as Ohio State Senator 1900-1904, Ohio Lt. Gov. 1904-1906, US Senator (R-Ohio) 1915-1921, POTUS 1921-1923.
**Apoplexy, unconsciousness or incapacity resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke; a rupture of an internal organ and accompanying symptoms. Apoplexy as a medical term has been replaced by "hemorrhagic stroke" the result of a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.
SOURCE
"PRESIDENT DIES, Death Comes At Lightning Speed As Mrs. Harding Reads To Patient," by Lawrence Martin, Imperial Valley Press, El Centro, California, August 3, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
