The Politics of Normalcy

Between 1917 and 1920 the US experienced war, strikes, recession and race riots Republican candidate Warren G. Harding knew what most Americans wanted next: peace and quiet “America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums [ineffective remedies], but normalcy;… not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate [calm]; not experiment, but equipoise [balance]; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.” > Warren Harding 1920

Back to Normal Turning away from Wilson’s Idealism changes in culture distractions and entertainment set too high a standard let loose get back to normal pre-war America The horrors of WWI made many Americans want to withdraw from international affairs Isolationism – keep to ourselves (not joining the League of Nations) “We have had Wilson for 8 years and I have not understood him. I understand Harding already.” Harding ushers in the “Republican Dynasty” which lasted through the 1920s

Politics of Normalcy - Harding Supported the free enterprise system – private ownership of property, competition for profit, supply and demand Repealed taxes (Wilson had raised them) Reduced government spending, made the government run more efficiently, paid down the national debt Prices dropped – Americans can buy more! Unemployment dropped – from 12% to 2%

Politics of Normalcy - Harding Filled his administration with friends “the Ohio Gang” The Teapot Dome Scandal – allowed Secretary of the Interior to control oil reserves on federal land, then took bribes from companies wanting to lease and profit from the land/oil Government officials were notorious for corruption and taking bribes (prohibition especially)

Coolidge in Control Harding suffers a heart attack and dies while in office – VP Calvin Coolidge must take the Presidency, reelected in 1924 Called “Silent Cal” – man of very few words: modeled integrity, hard work and thriftiness “The chief business of the American people is business”, “The man who builds a factory builds a temple, and the man who works there worships there.” Cut taxes (corporate, income and inheritance) and eliminated unnecessary spending (even in the White House)

Who But Hoover? Poor upbringing – orphan, worked his way through college and became a wealthy mining engineer Proclaimed “abiding faith in the intelligence, the initiative, the character the courage and the divine touch in the individual.” Associationalism – bringing together industry leaders to improve economic efficiency. As business flourished, poverty would disappear