Researching the 1920’s POLITICS

Warren Harding

0 Described as someone “who looked presidential” 0 Charismatic, easy-going, amiable 0 He was compared to Grant 0 Corrupt cabinet 0 “Weak, inept interior” 0 His policies would put an end to the progressive movement

Warren’s Presidency ( ) 0 Economic policies: 0 Represented a return of the enterprising industrialist 0 Laissez-faire 0 The government’s control should help guide the government toward profits 0 Corporations relaxed and expanded 0 Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law: raised the tariff from 27% to 35%

Presidency (cont.) 0 Social policies 0 Supreme Court axed progressive legislation 0 Adkins v. Children’s Hospital 0 Foreign policies: 0 Isolationism returned as the foreign policy 0 Took a new interest in the Middle East and the oil

Calvin Coolidge

0 Republican 1. Senator of Massachusetts 2. Vice President of President Warren Harding 3. President 0 Harding died 0 Took office in 1923

Farmers 0 Farmers were producing more crops 0 Capper-Volstead Act McNary-Haugen 0 Proposed in 1920’s 0 Passed in 1928

Coolidge (cont.) 0 Won 1924 election 0 Isolation 0 Dawes Plan of Coolidge decided not to run again for reelection

Herbert Hoover

0 Was the Secretary of Commerce -had the support of the masses and lacked popularity of the with political bosses 0 Campaign -ran against Alfred E. Smith -Hoover used the advantage of the radio and had the idea of an American success story

Hoover’s Presidency 0 Stocks were “soaring” on the market: problems for wage earners and farmers 0 Farmers -Agriculture Marketing Act (1929) Opposed anything socialist, paternalist, and the idea of a “planned economy” Some progressive attitudes -endorsed labor unions -fed. regulation of radio broadcasting agency

The Harding scandals and the Bonus Bill Veto

Harding Scandals 0 Colonel Charles R. Forbes was caught stealing $200 million from the Veterans Bureau 0 Teapot Dome scandal 0 Regarded as the “greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics” 0 Albert B. Fall, secretary of the interior, took a bribe of $100,000 0 Then leased oil reserves to oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward l. Dohney 0 Corrupt Attorney General Daugherty 0 Harding died

Bonus Bill Veto 0 Bill: World War Adjusted Compensation Act 0 Granted benefits to veterans who fought in WWI 0 In 1921, Harding visited the Senate to fight against it 0 September 19, Harding vetoed another version of the act 0 Harding opposed the bill, but Congress still passed it 0 Significance: not a complete retreat from progressivism

The effects of the Nineteenth Amendment on society

Effects of the 19 th Amendment on Society 0 Women were more independent and confident : ERA is first introduced in Congress 0 Women in politics First woman governor in US 0 More voters 0 Impacted results of elections

0 Women in Society First time women compete in Olympic events 0 Women and Labor 0 AF of L did not support women workers 0 Jobs 0 Women and education 0 Women could now obtain an education, go to college, and get a job

Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923) 0 Reversed reasoning in Muller v. Ogden 0 Invalidated a minimum-wage law for women 0 How 19 th Amendment changed view

Hoover and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Hawley-Smoot Tariff of Began in the House as a reasonable protective measure for farmers 0 About a thousand amendments were added 0 Became the highest protective tariff EVER 0 Average duty of non-free goods was raised to 60% 0 Angered foreigners!!! 0 Increased American and other nations depression 0 US went into even more isolationism

The Great Crash 0 Prices on the stock exchange continued to “spiral upward” 0 Crash in October partly caused by British interest rates and overproduction in the farms and industries 0 16,410,030 shares of stock were sold 0 Many were left jobless= suicides rates increase

Fighting the Depression 0 Hoover feared that a government “doling out doles” would eventually destroy the US 0 Forced to assist the railroads, banks, and rural credit corporations 0 Used $2.25 billion from Congress for public appropriations: Hoover Dam 0 Muscle Shoals Bill Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)= became a leading government bank 0 Labor=Norris-La Guardian Anti-Injunction Act

Problems with Congress 0 Republicans were uncooperative for the first two years 0 By 1930 Democrats had the majority in House and partially the Senate 0 Congress “played with politics with human misery” 0 Veterans= “Bonus Expeditionary Force” (BEF) veterans made demands on Congress, summer of 1932

Foreign Policy = “Good Neighbor Policy” 0 Investments in Latin America were no longer worth anything 0 New treaty with Haiti which with drew American platoons by Problem with Japan lunging themselves into Manchuria= violation of the League of Nations -Stimson doctrine

Were the 1920’s a retreat from progressivism or an extension of reform?