3 Rs of the 20s
COOLIDGE
HARDING
HOOVER
OPEC
3 Rs of the 20s
Wacky Warren G. comments
• “I am not fit for this office and never should have
been here.”
• “I don’t think I’m big enough for the presidency.”
• “I don’t know what to do or where to turn on this
taxation matter. Somewhere there must be a
book that tells all about it, where I could go to
straighten it out in my mind. I don’t know where
the book is, and maybe I couldn’t read it if I
found it!”
Wacky Warren G. comments
• “I love to meet people, it’s the most pleasant
thing I do.”
• “Harry Daugherty has been my best friend from
the beginning of this whole thing. He tells me
that he wants to be attorney general and by God
he will be attorney general.”
• “My God, this is a hell of a job! I can take care
of my enemies all right. But my friends, my ___
___ friends, they’re the ones that keep me
walking the floor nights!’
Warren Harding
• “Return to Normalcy”?
– WWI
Peace/End War Economic Reforms
– Imperialism
Isolationism
– Progressivism
Conservatism
Laissez-Faire+
Post-War Conservatism
• War Industries Board eliminated
– Railroads privatized
– Antitrust legislation softened
• War Labor Board eliminated
– Unions restricted/membership declined
Conservative Court
• 4 Appointments
• Chief Justice William Howard Taft
Chief Justice John Roberts
• 2005
• Bush (#2)
John Paul Stevens/Elena Kagan
• 1975
• Ford
2010
Obama
Antonin Scalia
• 1986
• Reagan
Anthony Kennedy
• 1988
• Reagan
David Souter/Sonia Sotomayor
• 1990
• Bush (#1)
2010
Obama
Clarence Thomas
• 1991
• Bush (#1)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• 1993
• Clinton
Steven Breyer
• 1994
• Clinton
Samuel Alito
• 2006
• Bush (#2)
Conservative Court
• 1921- industry leaders sue labor unions for
“restraint of trade”
• 1922- business leaders challenge new
federal child labor law
• 1923- business leaders challenge federal
minimum wage for women
• 1930- US steel is charged with an illegal
horizontal merger
• 1930- Workers sue US Steel for
labor violations
Conservative Court
• 1921- unions prosecuted for restraint of
trade
• 1922- struck down child labor laws
• 1923- struck down women’s min wage
• 1930- sided with US Steel in antitrust and
labor dispute
Harding- The Good
Andrew Mellon- Sec. of Treasury
Charles Hughes- Sec. of State
Herbert Hoover- Sec. of Commerce
Harding- The NOT so Good
• Harding’s Ohio Gang
Albert Fall- Sec. of the Interior
Harry Daugherty- Attorney General
• Campaign Manager
Jess Smith- ???????
Charles Forbes- Veteran’s Bureau
Harding Scandals
• Teapot Dome
• Justice Department
• Veteran’s Bureau
Harding Scandals
• Teapot Dome
– Albert Fall (interior)
– Naval Oil Reserves in Wyoming
• Justice Department
– Daugherty and Smith
– Bootlegging
• Veteran’s Bureau
– Charles Forbes
– Inflated construction costs
• GOP Reaction
– _________ v. Children’s Hospital invalidated
minimum wage law for women.
• “Aftermath of War”
– _______________ Bureau created in 1921
• “Benefits without Burden”
– 5 Power Treaty created an
American : British : Japanese naval vessel ratio of
5:5:___
– 1928 agreement between 62 nation for the
“outlawry of war”
• Hiking the Tariff
– 1922 Tariff Law
Coolidge Sworn In
“Silent Cal”
• If you don't say anything,
you won't be called on to
repeat it.
• I have noticed that
nothing I never said ever
did me any harm.
Silent Cal
• “Mr. President, I bet by the
end of the night I can get
you to say more than three
words!”
• “You lose.”
• -Dinner guest to Calvin
Coolidge and his response
Return of the Tariff
• Payne Aldrich Tariff (Taft)
• Underwood Tariff (Wilson)
• Several Tariff Laws of the 20s
Conservative Cal
• After all, the chief business of the
American people is business.
• Collecting more taxes than is absolutely
necessary is legalized robbery.
• Don't expect to build up the weak by
pulling down the strong.
Conservative Cal v. Farmers
• Post War Agriculture
– Demand Down
– Supply Up
– Prices??????
• Proposed Solutions
– Agriculture Cooperatives/Price Fixing
– Government Purchases
• Coolidge Vetoed Every Relief Bill
1920 Election
1928 Election
Causes GD
•
•
•
•
•
Personal Debt
Overspeculation
Overproduction
Uneven Prosperity
Lack of Global Trade
Causes of Depression
• Personal Debt
• Overspeculation
• Overproduction
• Uneven Prosperity
• Lack of Global Trade
Causes of Depression
•
•
•
•
•
Personal Debt
Overspeculation
Overproduction
Uneven Prosperity
Lack of Global Trade
Causes of Depression
•
•
•
•
•
Personal Debt
Overspeculation
Overproduction
Uneven Prosperity
Lack of Global Trade
Causes of Depression
•
•
•
•
•
Personal Debt
Overspeculation
Overproduction
Uneven Prosperity
Lack of Global Trade
1932 Election
Hoovervilles
• Empty pockets
• Newspapers
• Rat meat
1928 Election
• Al Smith
• NY Governor
• 1st Catholic Candidate
Hoover Quotes
• "We in America today are nearer to the
final triumph over poverty than ever before
in the history of any land. The poorhouse
is vanishing from among us."
• 1928
Hoover Quotes
• "a chicken in every pot and two cars in
every garage."
• 1928
Hoover Quotes
•
"The fundamental business of the country,
that is the production and distribution of
commodities, is on a sound and
prosperous basis."2 (October 25, 1929 -the day after the Black Thursday stock
market crash.)
Hoover Quotes
•
"Any lack of confidence in the economic
future and the basic strength of business
in the United States is simply foolish. Our
national capacity for hard work and
intelligent cooperation is ample guaranty
of the future of the United States."3
(November 15, 1929.)
Hoover Quotes
• "I am convinced we have now passed the
worst and with continued unity of effort we
shall rapidly recover."4 (May 1, 1930.)
Hoover Attempts Relief
• Public Works Projects including the
building of Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam)
• Taxes- raised highest tax bracket from
25% to 63%
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation
(RFC)
– Loans to insurance companies, banks,
railroads, and governments
Hawley- Smoot Tariff (1930)
• Raised tariff to historic rates
• Further crippled farmers
• Intensified lack of global trade
Bonus Army
Bonus Army
BONUS ARMY
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
Rugged Individualism
• Hoover’s belief that individuals and local
groups must assist the needy, not the
federal government
Foreign Policy 1920s
• Isolationism
• Post-war Clean-up
Post-War Agreements
•
•
•
•
1921- declaration of “no war”
League of Nations “spies”
Washington Naval Conference (’21-’22)
Kellogg-Briand Pact
5-Power Treaty
• US, Britain, Japan, France, Italy
• 5:5:3:2:2
• Limited fortification of secondary territory
Four-Power Treaty
• US, Britain, Japan, France
• Banned further territorial expansion in the
Pacific
9-Power Treaty
• United States, Japan, China, France,
Britain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands,
Portugal
• “Open Door” in China
Dawes Plan
• US = creditor nation
• 1924
• Which US policy of the 20s
made the least sense?
Kellogg-Briand Pact
•
•
•
•
1928
62 nations
Ban on war (are you serious????)
International pinky swear
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Good Neighbor Policy
• Hoover pulls US troops out of Latin Am.
• Beginning of end of economic/military
interventionism
Sides Game
Name the 3 Rs in Order
Man of Few Words
Harding Campaign Slogan
Something from Which to “Return”
Fed Europe during WWI
Chief Justice Appointed by Harding
1920s Court Rulings favored…
Thought Presidency was above
him
Sec. of Treasury
Sec of Commerce
Blamed for the Depression
Harding Administration Most
Notorious Scandal
Albert Fall
• Sec of …
Coolidge vetoed bills intended to
help…
3 Causes of GD
Ohio Gang
Date of Black Tuesday
Catholic Candidate
Hoover’s Biggest Public Works
Project
RFC gave loans to
Nickname of Veteran Protesters
Kicked out the Bonus Army
Hoover’s Philosophy
Worst President According to
Historians