US Presidents: Return to Normalcy [1920-1932]
Thesis
Disillusionment with the idealism of the progressive era and World War I led Americans to
reject progressivism and change for a “return to normalcy” under conservative presidents with a
laissez-faire ideology.
The Republican administrations of the prosperous 1920s pursued conservative, probusiness
policies at home, and economic unilateralism abroad.
Harding
"Dark Horse" candidate
Republican
VP - Calvin Coolidge
Secretary of State - Charles
Evans Hughes
Terms: [
1921-1923
]
Coolidge
Republican
VP – Charles Dawes
Secretary of State - Frank
Kellogg









Led the “return to
normalcy”
A return to laissez-faire, a
pre-progressive
philosophy
“Ohio Gang” – cabinet –
including Mellon, Hoover,
Charles Evan Hughes
Tax policy – Mellon –
“trickle down” theory –
heavy reduction of taxes
on wealthy, repeal
excessive profits tax,
eliminate estate tax
1922 – FordneyMcCumber Tariff (raised
rates from 27% to 38.5%
and allowed President to
alter tariffs up to 50%)
First National Origins
Act establishes quota
principle in immigration,
1921
US and Germany sign a
bilateral peace agreement
in lieu of the Treaty of
Versailles, 1921
Harding releases Eugene
Terms: [ 1923-1929







Hoover
Republican
VP – Charles Brent Curtis
Sec. of State - Henry L.
Stimson
]
Well suited for the role of
restoring confidence as the
Harding scandals are
exposed
Strong pro-business
leaning – laissez-faire
Coolidge tells newspaper
editors, “the business of
America is business,”
1925
Adkins v Children’s
Hospital, 1923 (federal
minimum wage legislation
for women was an
unconstitutional
infringement of liberty of
contract)
Investigation of Teapot
Dome scandal, 1923-1924
Naturalization Act of 1924
excludes Japanese from
citizenship
Second National Origins
Act establishes quota
principle in immigration,
1924
Snyder Act of 1924
extends citizenship to all
Terms: [ 1929-1933








]
National Origins
Immigration Act, 1929
Black Tuesday on New
York Stock Exchange,
followed by Black
Thursday; the New
York Stock Exchange
crashes, October 29,
1929
Panic and Depression,
1929-1940s
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
sharply increases tariffs
on imports, 1930 –
highest tariff in U.S.
history – raised rates to
59.1%
Japanese invasion of
Manchuria, 1931
Moratorium on war
debts (Allied and
German) to alleviate
international depression,
1931
Bank panic and
closings, SeptemberOctober, 1931
Reconstruction Finance





Debs from prison, 1921
(convicted under
Espionage Act – arrested
in 1918 for denouncing
WWI)
Veterans’ Bureau
established, 1921
Scandals plagued
Harding’s presidency,
including the Teapot
Dome Scandal, 19211923
Washington Conference,
1921-1922 – Washington
Naval Treaty disarmament
Agricultural depression,
1921-1943
Harding vetoes a
veterans’ bonus bill (the
differential between their
wages and the wages they
would have earned had
there been no war), 1922










Native Americans
Dawes Plan, 1924
World War Adjusted
Compensation Act
(Soldiers’ Bonus Act)
passes over Coolidge’s
veto, 1924
Gitlow v New York, 1925
Scopes Trial in Dayton,
Tennessee
Revenue Act reduces
personal income and
inheritance taxes, 1926
Eugenics movement
affirmed in Buck v Bell,
1927 (ruling that upheld a
statute instituting
compulsory sterilization of
the unfit, including the
mentally retarded, "for the
protection and health of the
state." It was largely seen as
an endorsement of negative
eugenics—the attempt to
improve the human race by
eliminating "defectives"
from the gene pool.)
Execution of Sacco and
Vanzetti, 1927
Kellogg-Briand Pact
outlaws war as a means to
solve international disputes,
1928
Owen Young and JP
Morgan are names to
Committee on German
reparations suggest
reducing the amount, 1929
(90% were canceled in
1932)









Corporation Act
establishes federal funds
to rescue banks, railroads,
and insurance companies,
1932
A “Bonus Army” of
WWI veterans march on
Washington to demand
payment, 1932
Federal troops drive
“Bonus Army” out of
Washington, DC, 1932
20th Amendment, 1933
Never understood the
magnitude of the
depression – refused to
believe the
unemployment rates
Philosophy rooted in
laissez-faire and rugged
individualism – felt
government intervention
would undermine the
moral fiber of the country
Trickle down economy
was bad politics – aid to
big business seemed
unwarranted when gov’t
wouldn’t respond to the
suffering of the poor
Hoovervilles
Hooverblankets
scapegoat