Used soothing speeches to bring people back to the comfort of times before the Progressive Era and WWI. Conflict among world powers + issues w/in Harding’s cabinet caused changes in his politics and character.
Harding nominated Andrew Mellon as Sec. of the Treasury o Wealthy banker – supported pro-business legislation. o Disliked the progressive income tax + favored low taxes on individuals and corporations Reduction of government spending o From $18 billion to $3 billion o Treasury climbed to a surplus Return to laissez-faire economics o Harding and Mellon reduced gov’t regulation of business
Harding increased the protective tariff by 25% o Fordney - McCumber Tariff : 60% tax on some U.S. imports o European countries raised their tariffs in retaliation o ∴ world economy weakened
Harding’s cabinet known as the Ohio Gang Harding: Friendly, likeable, kind, not very intelligent o Harding admittedly did not know much about a lot of the issues he was dealing with harding/videos/president-waren-g-harding
∴ cabinet members (Ohio Gang) took advantage of him o Many were his close friends and he trusted them to do the jobs he knew little about o Unlike Mellon and Harding, the members of Ohio Gang were NOT honest ppl Saw their role in gov’t as a way to get rich quick at the expense of the citizens of the U.S.
Head of Veterans’ Bureau, Charles Forbes, guilty of graft on a number of levels o Wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer $ o Bought $70,000 of floor cleaner at 24x the price it should be Enough to last his department 100 years Attorney General Harry Daugherty used his position to collect $ from criminals Worst scandal of all Teapot Dome Scandal…
Gov’t set aside oil-rich lands for the Teapot Dome, WY and Elk Hills, CA U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, transferred the land and oil reserves at Teapot Dome, WY, from the Navy to the Department of the Interior. Then leased the land out to big oil companies + got $400,000 in kickbacks First American convicted of a felony while in a cabinet position
Passed away in August, 1923 = Cavlin Coolidge assumes presidency. Public mourned his death to the extent they did Lincoln’s o They did not know about all the scandal until afterwards Personality of Coolidge very different than Harding much less outgoing o Known as Silent Cal o Coolidge was old school, non-Progressive, simple, virtuous
Believed that the creation of wealth benefited the whole country o “The business of America is business” Coolidge: supporter of Mellon o Reduce nat’l debt o Decrease gov’t spending o Created a 6 year boom in the American economy
Price of crops fell Farmers struggle to keep their land Labor unions demanded better working conditions + higher wages. Jim Crow + Rise of the KKK Silent Cal did not address any of these issues Did not believe in the use of legislation to address social problems
Seeking an End to War International problems: o Arms control, war debts, reconstruction of war-torn countries At the Washington Naval Disarmament to maintain peace Sec. of State Charles Hughes proposed: o Build no more warships for 10 years o 5 major naval powers scrap many of their warships Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928): international agreement to denounce war signed by 62 nations but not enforceable o Congress refused to join the World Court (to mediate conflict) would rather just isolate.
U.S. insisted it be paid back from Britain and France o ∴ Br. + Fr. Turned to Germany o Germany defaulted on a payment and the French sent troops and marched in… American banker Charles Dawes sent to negotiate: Dawes Plan established o U.S. would loan Germany $2.5 billion o Germany would pay Br. + Fr. o Br. + Fr. would pay U.S.
U.S. considered Br/Fr financially responsible for war Br. and Fr. called U.S. a cheapskate for not paying a fair share of WWI costs U.S. benefited by German defeat while Europeans paid for victory in lives