The Guardian was the first to write about Ellroy's intended project: With one more book in the current trilogy to complete, Ellroy is casting around for a change of direction. He's looking to write a historical-political novel on the life of Warren Harding, US president between 1916 and 1924. Language and style will have to be adapted and changed but the essential theme of all his books the morally and socially corrupted, white Anglo-Saxon heterosexual American man in extremis will remain intact."
The Scotsman also found Ellroy mulling the Harding book in early May, 2001: "After this trilogy is done and dusted Ellroy predicts that 'my writing will undergo a radical departure.' Hes planning a novel about Warren G. Harding, US president between 1921-23.
"'Purely historical fiction,'" claims Ellroy. But is it possible to write about the history of America without reference to crime? Its the only question that gives him pause. 'No, I dont think it is,' he says finally. 'You know what Balzac said? Behind every great fortune theres a great crime, and I think behind every great moment in history or political movement, crime lurks.'"
In May 2001, the author restated his intent to write the Harding book to Time Magazine's Terry McCarthy. He told McCarthy a possible plot point would hinge on rumors that some of Harding's family "was black."
Ellroy has also said that his "instincts are taking" him toward this tale, and that Harding represents "the second most corrupt president of the 20th Century." Ellroy rightly reserves the top spot not for Richard M. Nixon, but Bill Clinton, for whom he reserves "a biblical passion." Of Hate. Ellroy has vowed to "outlive" Clinton in order to write about him. There were also rumors that Mrs. Harding poisoned Mr. Harding. The Harding administration provides a bridge of sorts, to Ellroy's "Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy": Harding's attorney general, the infamous Harry M. Daugherty, appointed J. Edgar Hoover assistant F.B.I. director (allegedly, because of Masonic connections....As previously noted, Harding himself was a Mason and many of his Masonic mementos are on display adjacent to his Marion, Ohio home). In an exclusive interview with James Ellroy's World, the author stipulated that his Warren G. Harding novel would be written in a more "traditional style" than some of his more recent books. He also projected that volume 3 of "The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy" would be completed approximately four years from the date of May 29, 2001. The Harding book, he theorized, would follow two years after, or, approximately 2007. Learn more about Ohio's own Warren Gamaliel Harding at these sites: White House Presidential Page Nan Britton/Monica Lewinsky Parallels Putting the lie to the Harding/Britton love-child myth? The People Theory Interview