1.  11.6.15

2.  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.

3.  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

4.  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

5.  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 http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/warren-g- harding/videos/president-waren-g-harding

6.  ∴ 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.

7.  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…

8.  Gov’t set aside oil-rich lands for the Navy @ 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

10.  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

11.  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

12.  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

13. 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.

14.  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.

16.  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