1920s Presidents
Objective: Compare the
Administrations of Harding, Coolidge,
Hoover
APK
• Before the Progressive movement how was
government run?
• How can the progressive idea of efficiency
apply to the government?
• How would a war affect the America’s views
towards other countries?
• What is the main reason we have a
government?
Importance
• Government’s job is to protect the people
from themselves. Governments are suppose
to regulate business so that they do not do
stupid things that end up hurting people in
the end.
• What happened in 2007, 2008, 2009
– Business made decisions that hurt their
consumers
– Deregulation lead to corruption and looking out
for money
During times of prosperity how do citizens feel about the government?
During times of recession how do people feel about the government?
Importance
• The "trickle down" economic theory of President
Herbert Hoover was based on the idea that
– 1. balanced budgets are essential to economic success.
– 2. the Federal Government needs to assume more
responsibility for solving economic problems.
– 3. economic growth depends on making increased
amounts of money available to business.
– 4. economic stability is the responsibility of Federal
monetary agencies.
Vocab
• Normalcy
– consequence of being usual or regular or common
• Isolationism
– a policy of nonparticipation in or withdrawal from international affairs
• Disarmament
– the reduction of offensive or defensive fighting capability, as by a
nation
• Tariffs
– A list or system of taxes imposed by a government on imported or
exported goods.
• Laissez-Faire
– opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce
• Subsidies
– Financial assistance given by one person or government (mainly for farmers)
• Efficiency
– The degree to which this quality is exercised
• Regulate
– To control or direct according to rule
The Worst President in American History?
• Warren Harding (1921-1923)
– Return to Normalcy after World
War I
• Isolationism—avoided foreign
alliances but…
• Called for Disarmament of
European nations
• War Debts—Europe debts were
scaled back to allow their
economies to recover
• What do you believe Harding
meant by a return to Normalcy?
• What does that say about
America
Harding(ly) a President
• Attempted to disarm and
don’t use war as national
policy
• Kellog-Briand Pact
– Signees should not use war
for foreign policy
• How does disarmament
help a return to
Normalcy?
Scandal
• Teapot Dome
– Officials stealing $$
– Officials taking bribes
– Harding's Interior
Secretary Albert B. Fall
• Let an oil company
drill on government
land in exchange for
$300,000 and gifts
Coolidge scrubbing the Republican
party clean after the scandal
• Ohio Gang –
Presidents friends get
power
• President was
clueless
• Friends sold
government goods to
private companies
• Others caught taking
bribes
• Died of a heart attack
after scandal broke
Scandal & Harding
How do you believe the public would view a scandal?
• Harding’s VP and won reelection in Calvin Coolidge aka
1924
“Silent Cal”
• Laissez-Faire
– “The chief business of the American
people is business”
– Pair share- What do you believe this
statement means?
– Leave business alone and the nation
will thrive
– Lowered income taxes, increase
protect tariffs
– Did not help the depressed agriculture
industry
Fordney-McCumber Tariff
Continued to use as Isolationist tool
up to 60% tax on imported goods
What was Coolidge
know for?
• Followed Harding and
Coolidge as business
policy
• Efficiency movement
Hoover
– Experts find inefficiency
and fix it
– Increase volunteerism
• Stock Market Crashes
• Action for Farmers
– Pushed for farm
subsidies
• Started to regulate
financial institutions
• What role did Hoover play
in leading to a depression
Labor Problems
• During war illegal to
strike because it hurt
the cause
• 1919 – 3,000 strikes w/
4 mill workers
• Believed strikes were
started by communists
• Union members were
planning a revolution
- Why was labor hurt during WWI?
- Do you believe a Laissez Faire policy would hurt of help labor?
Loss of power that was never there
• 1920s hurt labor movement
• Membership dropped from 5
to 3.5 mill
– Workforce were immigrants
– Difficult to organize w/
language barrier
– Farmers moved to factories
– Excluded African Americans
• What could a possible affect
be if labor could not
unionize?
• How would this affect
people’s income?
Importance
• The "trickle down" economic theory of President
Herbert Hoover was based on the idea that
– 1. balanced budgets are essential to economic success.
– 2. the Federal Government needs to assume more
responsibility for solving economic problems.
– 3. economic growth depends on making increased
amounts of money available to business.
– 4. economic stability is the responsibility of Federal
monetary agencies.
Closure
• "The business of America is business.”
• President Calvin Coolidge
• By making this statement, President Coolidge
was expressing his support for
– 1. higher taxes on corporations.
– 2. banking regulations.
– 3. democratic socialism.
– 4. the free-enterprise system.
Closure
• In 1920, when Presidential candidate Warren
G. Harding called for "a return to normalcy,"
he was advocating
– 1. increased support for Progressive Era programs
and the League of Nations.
– 2. increased farm production and an emphasis on
the rural lifestyle.
– 3. reduced international involvement and less
government regulation of business.
– 4. reduced racial segregation and the elimination
of discrimination against women.
Closure
• Which economic practice became significantly
more widespread during the 1920s?
– 1. Governmental regulation of business.
– 2. Stock market investment.
– 3. Dependence on government welfare programs.
– 4. Reduction of tariff rates.
Closure
• The Teapot Dome scandal centered around
– 1. gold mines.
– 2. union members.
– 3. high tariffs.
– 4. oil-rich lands.