Transcript 20.2

DO NOW: Page 667 answer the two questions
under “Analyzing Political Cartoons”
Ch. 20 Sec. 2
The Business of Government
The Harding
Administration
• The Election of 1920
– (R)Warren G. Harding ran on a pro-business platform and a
return to _____________________
– Some see it as a rejection of ______________________
reform/others see it as a return to
____________________economics
(D) James M. Cox-focused
on perpetuating Woodrow
Wilson’s League of Nations
Harding 404-127 domination
•
His Secretary of
the Treasury,
__________, was
for low taxes and
efficiency in
government.
•
He cut the federal
budget from a
wartime high of
$___ billion to
$___ billion.
• Secretary of Commerce ____________sought
voluntary cooperation between labor and
business.
• Instead of relying on legislation to improve labor
relations, he got business and labor leaders to
work together.
Harding was a popular,
fun-loving president
who trusted others to
make decisions for him.
• Some
advisors,
such as Mellon and
Hoover, were
honest, capable,
and trustworthy.
• Others,
including a
group known as the
______Gang, were
not so civic-minded.
Some Scandals of Harding’s Administration
•
Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans’ Administration, wasted
hundreds of millions of dollars. For example, he bought
overpriced, unneeded supplies.
•
Attorney General Harry Daugherty accepted money from
criminals.
•
Secretary of the Interior ________________took bribes in
return for federal oil reserve leases.
The Teapot Dome
scandal was the
biggest scandal of
Harding’s
administration.
•
In 1921, Fall took control
of federal oil reserves
intended for the ______.
•
He then leased those
reserves to private oil
companies.
•
Fall was sent to prison.
•
President Harding did
not live to hear all of
the scandal’s details.
He died in 1923.
After Harding’s death in August 1923, Vice President
__________________became President.
•
Quiet, honest, frugal Vermonter.
•
As President, he admired productive business leaders.
Restoring the Reputation:
• Fired many of those
involved in the scandals
• Won 1924 election in
landslide (15.7 million votes
to 8.4)
• Even more pro-business
than Harding
Coolidge believed that “the chief business
of the American people is business.”
•
Coolidge continued
Mellon’s policies to
reduce ___________
________, trim the
budget, and lower taxes.
•
The country saw huge
industrial profits and
spectacular growth in
the stock market.
•
There was general
prosperity, especially
for urban Americans.
Not everyone shared in the era’s prosperity.
•
Farmers struggled as prices ________.
•
Labor unions fought for higher pay and better working
conditions.
•
____________ ___________ faced severe discrimination.
Coolidge ignored such issues, believing it was not the federal
government’s job to legislate social change.
Under Harding and Coolidge, the United States played an
increasingly important role as a world leader.
Much of U.S.
foreign policy was
a response to the
devastation of
World War I.
“about as effective to
keep down war as a
carpet would be to
smother an
earthquake”
Senator Hiram Bingham
•
The ____________
____________limited
construction of large warships.
•
The__________ __________
______, signed by 62
countries, outlawed war, unless
its in self-defense
During this period, the United States
also
became a world economic leader.
• To
protect
American
businesses,
Harding raised
tariffs on imported
goods by
____percent.
• European
nations
retaliated, creating
a tariff war.
•The
_____________loaned money to ____________
so it could pay reparations to Britain and France; in turn,
those countries could repay the U.S. for wartime loans.
This program damaged the reputation of the United
States.
• Election of 1928
Coolidge decides
not to run
1928 Election
• Hoover takes the republican
nomination
• Promises to continue policies that led
to the economic boom of the past 8
years
• (D) Alfred Smith, NY Governor
– Championed progress and liberal
ideas; core support from urban
immigrants
• Catholicism, prohibition opposition,
and connections to NYC’s Tammany
Hall brought Smith down