Transcript The Politics of Boom and Bust

The Politics of Boom and Bust
Chapter 33
1920-1932
1920’s Presidents
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Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
All retreated from Progressive reforms,
less government action and more
cooperation with big business
Highlights of the 1920s
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KKK revived with Birth of a Nation
Prohibition (18th Amendment) passed in
1919 – Volstead Act
Scopes Trial in Dayton, TN
The New Women
Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, automobiles,
airplanes, radio, Hollywood, the flapper
“Old Guard”
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Harding’s administration urged business
to regulate themselves rather than be
regulated by big business
“Ohio Gang” – poker playing cronies
from home became cabinet members
and advisors
1920s
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Supreme Court axed progressive
legislation
Killed federal child labor law
Took away labor gains made in the
previous decades
Restricted government intervention in
the economy
Protections given to women in the
workplace were taken away because of
th
Harding
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Businesses and
Corporations expanded
under Harding
Anti-trust laws were
ignored
Example of most
bureaus: Interstate
Commerce Commission
– run by friends of RR
executives
After the War
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Wartime controls over
the economy were
lifted
War Industries Board
was dismantled
Government returned
Railroad to private
management in 1920
Labor
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Labor had NO
government support
during the 1920s
Linked to Communism
The steel strike of
1919 gave unions a
major setback in the
post war decade
Harding Makes Peace with Central
Powers
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1921 Congress passes a
joint resolution that
declared the war officially
over
Harding did not support
the League of Nations
America and Britain
developed a rivalry over
oil from the Middle East.
The League of Nations
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The US did not
participate
The US did send
“unofficial observers”
League of Nations
met at Geneva,
Switzerland
Disarmament
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Harding promoted disarmament
US, Britain, and Japan all had large naval
programs
“Disarmament” Conference – 1921 – 1922
Washington, D.C. – invited all naval powers
except Communist Russia to discuss disarming
Sec. Hughes proposed naval “holiday” –
moratorium on building destroyers for 10 years
Five Power Treaty (1922)
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US, Britain, Japan,
France, and Italy
United States and
Britain agreed not to
fortify Far Eastern
territories, including
the Philippines
Four Power Treaty (1921)
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Bound Britain, Japan,
France, and US to
preserve, protect and
respect rights in the
Pacific.
Arguments and
disputes would be
handled by the four
countries in the
treaty.
Nine Power Treaty (1922)
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Nailed wide open the
Open Door Policy in
China
Trade was to be kept
alive and open with
the Asian continent,
and China
Down Fall of the Conference
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No restrictions had been made on small
war ships and other powers constructed
cruisers, destroyers and submarines
Frank B. Kellogg
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Secretary of State
(1928)
Signed the KelloggBriand Pact with
French foreign
minister
Pact of Paris – ratified
by 64 nations
“the outlaw of war”
Teapot Dome Scandal
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1921 – Sec. of Interior
Albert B. Fall
Transferred holdings of
naval oil reserves at
Teapot Dome, WY to
Interior Dept
Harding signs
Fall leased lands to
oilmen Harry Sinclair and
Edward Doheny
Received a $100,000
Warren Harding
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Died in San Francisco,
CA while on a crosscountry speaking tour
August 2, 1923 – died
of pneumonia and
thrombosis
Millions mourned, not
yet aware of all the
scandals
Harding not strong
enough to be president
Calvin Coolidge
becomes president
International Relations
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Allies force Germany to pay reparations.
Germany is in financial ruins
Coolidge refused to forgive debt
1924 – Dawes Plan
Hoover in ‘28
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Coolidge chooses not
to run in ’28
Hoover selected b/c
of his belief in
individualism, free
enterprise, and small
government.
Hoover defeats
Catholic Al Smith by a
landslide
Hoover’s Response
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Promoted self help
Agricultural Marketing Act – loans to farm
cooperatives
Hawley Smoot Tariff – farmers want tariff;
ended up being the highest protective
tariff in our nations history
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Public Works projects – Hoover Dam
Crash Ends The Prosperous 20s
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The 1920s were marked by high growth and
prosperity
October 29, 1929 – millions of stocks were
sold in panic
2 months later – Americans had lost $40
billion
Millions lost their jobs and thousands of
banks closed. No other industrialized nation
suffered so severe a setback as the United
States.
Causes of Depression
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Overproduction of
farm and factory
Ability to produce out
ran the need
Overexpansion of
credit
1930s – terrible
drought