The Return To Normalcy

Front 1

Warren Harding 1921-23

Achievements

Back 1

. "Era of good feelings

. A number of able appointments Andrew Mellon as Secretary of State for the Treasury, Herbert Hoover as Secretary Commerce and Charles Hughes as Secretary of State

. Sheppard-Towner Maternity Aid Act - Provided federal aid to states encourage them to build infant and maternity health centres.

. Cuts to government spending. - Budget and Accounting Act made departments present budgets to the president approval, Government spending, which totalled to $5000 million in 1920, had fallen to $3333 million by 1922

. Addressed Congress for an increased federal government role in the economic and social life of the nation

. Favoured Lassiez-Faire government.

Front 2

Harding's Shortcomings

Back 2

. Described as weak and least effective president.

. Personal rep tainted by extramarital affairs (2 made public)

. Made dubious appointments - 'Ohio Gang' cronies.

. 1923 - Head's of Veterans' Bureau had misappropriated or waster $250 million and the Alien property Custodian had accepted bribes.

Front 3

Teapot Dome scandal

Back 3

. Secret leasing of federal oil reserves by Secretary of the Interior, Albert Bacon Fall.

April 1922 - Fall granted Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome reserves.

. Congress forced Harding to cancel leases when it came public

. Supreme court declared leases fraudulent and ruled illegal Harding transfer of authority to Fall.

. Harding not directly implicated in scandal.

Front 4

Calvin Coolidge 1923-29

Back 4

. Man of the people

. Believed in little government intervention

.'The business of America is business'

. Honest and incorruptible.

. Pro-business policies, low taxation, low interest rates and minimum government spending.

. Low work rate

. Recognised USA had problems, did very little to address them.

. Determined to do less instead of more.

Front 5

Washington Conference

Back 5

.USA wanted to prevent renewal of Ango-Japanese Alliance in 1922.

. wished to maintain status quo in China - open Door Policy

. Fear of growing Jap influence

.Success - brought stability and peace in pacific.

. Disarmament agreement was made between four powers: USA , Britain, France Japan and Italy.

. Signed Four Power Treaty - Agreed to respect each country's interests in the Far East as well to maintain Open Door policy in China. Japan promised to remove its troops from China.

. Imposed no limits on the size of armies or air forces.

. Agreement was 'toothless' with no method of enforcing agreement.

Front 6

Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928

Back 6

. International Agreement

. French were keen on an alliance with USA

. America did not ant any commitments in Europe and used the pact as a means of placating French.

.Strong movement for peace - growing support for peace societies

.Signed by 15 countries - agreed not to wage war except in self-defence.

. Another toothless agreement.

Front 7

Dawes and Young Plans

Back 7

. USA keen on stable Germany to prevent a Communist revolution and directly involved with D+Y plans.

. Dawes, US banker, asked by Allied Reparations Committee to investigate in the fact Germany could not afford payments.

. 1924 proposed a plan for instituting annual payments on a fixed scale.

. reduced German payments to $250 million a year - payments increased if German economy increased.

. Germany given an immediate load of 800 million marks

. Young plan 1929 scaled reparation payments to $26 billion payed over a period of 59 years.

Front 8

Lassiez-Faire

Back 8

Government should be less involved in the day-to-day running of the economy. Business left alone to run their own decisions.

high profits, more jobs and good wages

Under Harding and Coolidge this was executed,

Low taxes, few regulations meant that businessmen were able to chase profits without fear of interference.

Front 9

Rugged Individualism

Back 9

Successive Republican presidents believed in 'rugged individualism'

Hoover believed people achieved success by their won hard work.
Originated with the early Americans who moved to the West.

Front 10

Protectionism

Back 10

Republican governments put tariffs on imported goods in order to limit competition from foreign importers.

Imports became more expensive encouraging the purchase of American goods.

Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922 raised import duties on goods coming into the USA to the highest level ever, Protecting American industry.

Reduction of income tax rates left people with more money to spend on consumer goods.