Background
Gardiner was born in Newton, Massachusetts on June 12, 1892, the youngest of five children born to Robert Hallowell Gardiner III and Alice (Bangs) Gardiner.
Gardiner was born in Newton, Massachusetts on June 12, 1892, the youngest of five children born to Robert Hallowell Gardiner III and Alice (Bangs) Gardiner.
He studied at the Groton School. He went to Harvard University for his higher studies and completed his law degree in 1917.
During the, Gardiner served in the army. He later became the first lieutenant of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery. After his military service, he established his law career in Portland, Maine.
He held that position for six years.
In 1928, he was nominated by the Republican Party for the governorship of Maine. He was successful in his re-election bid in 1930.
During his administration, when the stock market crashed, the crippling economic problems were dealt with. He left office on January 4, 1933.
During World World War II Gardiner returned to the Army, serving in the United States Army Air Forces as a staff officer
While assigned as Intelligence Officer of the 51st Troop Carrier Wing in North Africa, he joined Brigadier General Maxwell Doctorate. Taylor, artillery commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, on a clandestine mission behind Axis lines in Italy on September 7-8, 1943. Meeting with Italian prime minister Marshal Pietro Badoglio and General Giacomo Carboni, the pair had been sent to assess the chances of success of an airborne operation to seize two airfields near Rome in advance of the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno, and the credibility of Italian assurances of cooperation. As a result of the meeting, the proposed operation was cancelled at the last minute and a disaster averted.
Gardiner was elected as a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1920.