Chapter 27 Study Guide
The Politics of Normalcy
1
• Warren G. Harding seemed, to many Americans to be the perfect
postwar president because he believed in an economic system
based on the idea of private ownership. Businesses operate for
profit and goods are determined by supply and demand that
Americans, tired of war and radicalism, wanted peace and quietnormalcy. He instituted fiscal policies that ended the recession and
brought prosperity. His ideas , actions, and cheerful attitude
appealed to the average citizen. He promoted the politics of
Normalcy which was the idea of what is expected or regular. It was
President his call to return to pre-war America. Americans did not
see the corruption that took place during the Harding
Administration, during the Teapot Dome scandal when oil reserves
were sold to companies that bribed Secretary of Interior Fall.
2
• Coolidge’s statement that, “The chief business
of the American people is business showed he
believed that the nation, and especially the
government, should focus on supporting
business in order to achieve prosperity. He
cut taxes and decreased government
spending.
2
Herbert Hoover cared so much about poverty and
that attitude affect the course of his life because he
was orphaned at a young age, worked his way
through college, and became wealthy by his own
efforts. His Quaker background reinforced an
interest in helping others. He headed President
Wilson’s Food Administration and set up postwar
programs in Europe to feed the hungry. As
president, Hoover made ending poverty as a goal.
He promoted business, believing that as business
flourished poverty would disappear.
4
•
German economy was shattered in order to pay off their 11 billion
in debt an American Banker Richard Dawes created The Dawes Plan
where American banks loaned money to Germany which in turn
paid Britain and France so they could repay American lenders,
addressed Europe’s war debt and made the United states a world
banker because Britain and France relied on reparations payments
from Germany. Although the United States got involved in financial
matters in Europe many people believed in Isolationism which is
the idea or policy that the country is better off staying out of
international Affairs. Thus we Signed the Kellogg Briand Pact, an
agreement between the United States and France which rejected
war as an instrument of national policy and Took part in the
Washington Naval Conference which took place in 1921 between
Britain, France, Italy, Japan and The United States. Signed by 62
countries It represented the desire for reductions in militaries after
WWI. It limited the building of large navel vessels.
5
• Isolationist sentiment influence U. S. policy toward
Latin America under Harding, Coolidge and Hoover
because in 1921 the United States had troops in
Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti: both
Harding and Coolidge tried to reduce such
entanglements, reflecting the country’s isolationist
mood. Harding settled a long dispute with Columbia
over the Panama Canal. Coolidge withdrew troops
from the Dominican Republic and from Nicaragua.
Hoover took a goodwill tour and rejected the Roosevelt
Corollary by refusing to intervene militarily even when
revolutions shook Cuba, Panama and Honduras.
6
• The rise of mass production techniques and
development of new technologies helped bring
about prosperity. Ford’s development of a moving
assembly line cut car production time
dramatically, allowing him to drastically cut the
price of his cars. In turn, more people were able
to buy them, and Ford raised worker’s pay. The
rapid rise of the car industry led to growth in
related industries such as steel, rubber, and oil,
and to the development of new industries.
7
The Republican presidents’ claim that consolidation of businesses
made the economy more efficient can be illustrated in two ways.
A single big business would need just one marketing department,
one engineering department and so forth. Mass production would
be possible, saving money. When the auto industry consolidated,
cars became more affordable. Large utility holding companies
wired two thirds of American homes by 1929 and the cost of
electricity declined. The large A&P grocery store chain grew more
rapidly and was more cost –efficient than mom-and-pop grocery
stores. These profits were seen in the rise of the Dow Jones
Average which is a measure of the stock values of the top American
Companies it indicates the health of the economy. With many
people attempting to get rich fast there were failures like the
Florida Land Boom , the attempt of people to get rich by investing
in Florida real estate. The plans often ended in being taken for their
money