DNA Is Said to Solve a Mystery of Warren Harding’s Love Life

[Wild Bill]

At the risk of offending everyone I offer the following:

Deep South white children used play a game in a dark room where they turn on a bright light and ask each other to put their hand in it to see if their fingernails turn purple to show they are of black descent somewhere back when. It really does not work. Everyone's nail turn purple. Of course the secret is to see who refuses to do it and knows that someone jumped the broom in their past.

My Hungarian friend and I often can tell someone is of Jewish descent just by looks or by name with a high degree of accuracy. My father did the same. I suspect that such is not in vogue since WW II. People always ask how can you do that? It is in the culture. Central and Eastern Europeans ferret out Jews, Americans do the same with blacks.

In America in the olden times one drop of "Negro Blood" blackened, hence the Harding stories, which now are proven false. Supposedly he had a picture of his grandfather that showed him as a black man. It was probably something in the photo processing that had changed over the years. I always thought it rather brilliant that Harding just laughed the whole thing off, saying it could be true but he did not know.

"Polish" jokes are told in every society, with some minority group substituting for the Poles. When I was in the Netherlands the Belgians or Germans were the fall guys. Down South it was Damnedyankees. Out West it is Californians or Easterners. It may not be politically correct but that's the way people are.

The opposite was experienced by my wife at work (university hospital). One woman was talking about someone else. Several missed out of the start of the tale and asked "Who are you talking about?" The speaker said the girl in the laboratory with the dark hair. That included everyone but my wife. When queried again and again the story teller reluctantly admitted it was the black girl.

Did I miss anyone?