America: A Narrative History (Ninth Edition) Tindall/Shi
Chapter 26 -

I. The transformation of progressivism o A. Wilson’s progressive coalition had dissolved by 1920

1. Disillusionment over World War I

2. Organized labor unhappy over strikes of 1919–1920

3. Farmers dissatisfied with wartime price controls

4. Intellectuals disillusioned by Prohibition and anti-evolution movements
 5. Many of progressivism’s major goals had been reached o
B. Progressivist impulse transformed to move for good government and public services
 II. Harding’s administration o
A. The election of 1920

1. Warren Harding won the Republican nomination after the convention deadlocked
 a. Promised a “return to normalcy“
 b. Old-fashioned, folksy, insular, and somewhat reactionary
 c. Influence of Florence, “the Duchess“

2. James Cox won the Democratic nomination
 a. Nominated on 44th ballot by a fragmented party
 b. Party nominated Franklin D. Roosevelt as vice president

3. Victory for Harding, with 60 percent of the popular vote
 a. First presidential election for women voters
 b. Cox only won states within the Democratic South o
B. Harding as president

1. Appointments included good and bad choices
 a. Good

(1) Charles Evans Hughes—secretary of state

(2) Herbert Hoover—secretary of commerce

(3) Andrew Mellon—secretary of the treasury

(4)] Henry Wallace—secretary of agriculture
 b. Bad
 (1) The “Ohio gang“

2. Harding lacked self-confidence as president

3. Supreme Court appointments
 a. Appointed four justices, all very conservative, to “reverse a few decisions“ and roll back progressivism

(1) Struck down federal child labor laws

(2) Moved to limit the power of unions

(3) Limited federal regulation of business

4. Pro-business policies of Andrew Mellon
 a. Limited government spending

(1) Established the General Accounting Office
 b. Tax reductions for the rich

(1) Resisted by western Republicans and southern Democrats
 c. A higher tariff

(1) Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922
 d. Federal budget balanced

5. Harding named conservative advocates of big business to head major regulatory agencies
 6. Harding’s progressive streak
 a. Race

(1) Federal job opportunities for African Americans

(2) Spoke against vigilante racism

(3) Urged nation to deal with “race question“

(4) Verbally attacked Ku Klux Klan

(5) Supported anti-lynching legislation o
C. Administrative corruption
 1. Scandals of the “Ohio gang“
 a. Veterans Bureau
 b. Attorney General Harry Daugherty

2. The Teapot Dome scandal
 a. Albert Fall of the Interior Department allowed private companies to exploit government-owned oil deposits
 b. Harding troubled by the scandals
 3. Harding’s death spared him from public disgrace

America: A Narrative History (Ninth Edition) Tindall/Shi

4. Recent assessments of Harding
 a. Nan Britton
 b. More active than once assumed
 c. Supporter of diversity and civil rights

III. The rise of Calvin Coolidge o A. Became president at Harding’s death o B. Coolidge’s character
 1. “Silent Cal“

2. Inactive, provincial, simple, and business-oriented o
C. Election of 1924

1. Coolidge, who controlled the party machinery, won the Republican nomination

2. John W. Davis named candidate of divided Democratic party

3. Progressive party, American Federation of Labor, and Socialist party named Robert La Follette

4. Landslide victory for Coolidge; La Follette polled largest vote ever for third-party candidate

IV. The New Era o
A. Economic stabilization

1. Herbert Hoover (secretary of commerce)
 a. Hoover’s
American Individualism (1922)
 b. Standardization in industry and business
 c. Promoted trade associations

2. Supreme Court upheld trade associations o
B. Agricultural policies

1. Agriculture still weak in the 1920s

2. Commodity-marketing associations

3. The Federal Farm Board represented corporate attitudes of commercial farmers

4. The McNary-Haugen bill
 a. Plan to dump surplus crops on world market to raise prices in home market
 b. Vetoed by Coolidge o
C. Labor policies

1. Employers used various devices to keep out unions
 a. “American plan“—the open shop allowed employers not to hire unionists
 b. “Yellow-dog“ contracts—workers forced to agree not to join union
 c. “Industrial democracy“ and “welfare capitalism“—offered workers alternatives to unions

2. Union membership declined in 1920s

3. Gastonia strike of 1929
 a. Loray Mill, Gastonia, North Carolina

(1) Governor dispatches National Guard

(2) Vigilante response

(3) Company victory
 V. Hoover’s administration o
A. Election of 1928

1. Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover
 a. Engineer, public servant, esteemed bureaucrat

2. Democrats nominated Alfred Smith
 a. Catholic, rural, anti-Prohibition

3. Similarities in Republican and Democratic platforms

4. The images of the candidates

5. Victory for Hoover o
B. Hoover as progressive and humanitarian o
C. For farmers, Hoover endorsed the Agricultural Marketing Act, which supported farm cooperatives

1. Federal Farm Board
 a. Manipulated crop prices and larger market o
D. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff raised duties to all-time high

1. Crippled farm prices o
E. The economy out of control

1. The Florida real-estate boom

2. Increased speculation in the stock market

3. The stock market peaked on September 3, 1929

VI. Hoover in the Depression o
A. The stock market had its worst day on October 29 o B. Hoover’s first action was to express hope, though wages fell and unemployment rose o
C. The economy out of control

1. Economic factors

America: A Narrative History (Ninth Edition) Tindall/Shi

2. Governmental policies

3. The gold standard o
D. The human toll of the Depression o E. Hoover’s attempts at recovery

1. Asked businessmen to let profits suffer before purchasing power

2. Increased opportunities for credit
 3. The “Hooverization“ of America

4. Hoover kept to his philosophy of volunteerism o
F. In elections of 1930, Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress o
G. More attempts at recovery

1. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, to keep financial institutions open

2. Glass-Steagall Act increased loan opportunities

3. Federal Home Loan Bank Act provided financing for home mortgages

4. The Emergency Relief Act provided funds for public works programs

VII. Global Concerns o
A. Japan invades China

1. The Japanese takeover of Manchuria

2. Kellogg-Briand Treaty
 VIII. Protests against Hoover’s policies o
A. Farmers

1. Legislative programs brought farmers little relief

2. Farmers protested by striking and blocking delivery of produce o
B. Communists

1. Some successes

2. No significant increase in party membership o
C. Veterans

1. Congress in 1924 had voted veterans’ bonus payable in 1945
 2. The “Bonus Expeditionary Force“ marched on Washington demanding immediate payment of the bonus

3. Congress rejected their demands, but many veterans stayed in Washington

4. Army used to evict veterans

IX. From Hooverism to FDR o
A. The parties in 1932

1. Republicans
 a. Renominated Herbert Hoover
 b. Mood of defeat

2. Democrats
 a. Nominated FDR
 b. FDR promised “a new deal for the American people“ o B. FDR’s rise

1. Early political career

2. Platform

3. Voters had confidence in FDR o
C. The election of 1932 o
D. FDR takes office

1. The long wait
 a. Four months until inauguration
 b. Depression’s panic spread