Warren Harding's letters to mistress expose his 'aching hunger'

Here’s a little bit of a history lesson: Prior to becoming the 29th president, Warren G. Harding had a way with words — especially with dirty talk — when it came to his mistress.

A stockpile of letters from Harding was being held at The Library of Congress under court-ordered seal since 1964, but the good news is, you can read them for yourself. The Harding family donated them to the library in 1972 under the order they stay sealed until this year.

Previously, you were only able to get a sneak peek at them, thanks to some microfilm stashed away at Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society and featured in a little-known book by James David Robenalt titled “The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage During the Great War.”

Harding’s lover, Carrie Fulton Phillips, was married to one of Harding’s friends.

In Jan. 1913, Harding wrote Phillps, saying he was thinking about all of the naughty letters, asking her to “have a fire, chuck ’em!”

Obviously, she didn’t. And Robenalt was kind enough to email a bunch of them to The Washington Post.

Here are the top five excerpts from his steamy prose:

1. Harding, on his loss for words … even though he isn’t.

“There are no words, at my command, sufficient to say the full extent of my love for you — a mad, tender, devoted, ardent, eager, passion-wild, jealous . . . hungry . . . love . . .

He continues, “It racks in the tortures of aching hunger, and glows in bliss ineffable — bliss only you can give.”

— Christmas Eve, 1910

2. On showing Phillips the passion:

“My Carrie, Beloved and Adored. . . . I do love you so. . . . I wonder if you realize how much — how faithfully, how gladly . . . how passionately. Yes you do know the last, you must have felt the proof.”

— Jan. 2, 1913

3. On desire:

“I do not know what inspired you, but you . . . resurrected me, and set me aflame with the fullness of your beauty and the fire of your desire. . . . imprisoned me in your embrace and gave me transport — God! My breath quickens to recall it.”

— Sept. 15, 1913

4. He’s a thigh man, apparently:

“I love your poise Of perfect thighs When they hold me in paradise . . .“

— Jan. 28, 1912

5. On needing some relief:

“Honestly, I hurt with the insatiate longing, until I feel that there will never be any relief untiI I take a long, deep, wild draught on your lips and then bury my face on your pillowing breasts.”

— Sept. 15, 1913

Via The New York Times, The Washington Post