Chapter 15 study questions



Chapter 15 study questions (answer any 30)

1. Summarize the common conclusion of many textbooks about the 1920’s and the Great Crash of 1929 and evaluate the accuracy this common conclusion. 533-34

2. High tax rates raise less money than low tax rates. ATVOTS. In your response reference the Democratic Presidential nominee Cox and Sec. of Treasury Mellon. 535.

3. Evaluate the actions and performance of Mellon as Sec. of Treasury. 536

4. Compare the behavior of Mellon to the behavior of other members of Harding’ cabinet like Forbes and Fall. 536

5. Silent Cal Coolidge was thoroughly American. ATVOTS 537-48

6. Summarize the status of Unions in the 1920’s and identify reasons that contributed to this status. 538

7. Summarize the decisions of the Supreme Court on in relation to government involvement in private sector business. 538

8. Summarize and evaluate the impact of the automobile in America. 539

9. Summarize and evaluate the impact of the following on America: radio, movies, telephone. 540

10. What factors led to the repeal of the 18th Amendment with the 21st Amendment? 541-42

11. What was prohibition designed to do and where did the movement originate? 542

12. Are you a critic or supporter of prohibition? In your response reference personal rights. 542

13. The Bull stock market of the 1920’s was the result of frenzied uncontrolled speculation. ATVOTS. In your response reference stock prices. 542

14. Summarize the criticisms of F.S. Fitzgerald and assess the validity of his criticisms. 544

15. Identify and explain the economic notion of John Maynard Keynes and then assess its validity. 544

16. Evaluate the following quotes of President Coolidge: 544-45

“the business of America is business”

“the man who builds a factory builds a temple”

“We live in an age of … abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first.”

17. Republican administrations sought isolationist’s policies. ATVOTS 545

18. Summarize what happened to the German $ mark$. 545

19. Summarize the Dawes Plan and assess its effectiveness and appropriateness. 546

20. Summarize the Washington Disarmament Conference assess its effectiveness and appropriateness. 546

21. The Washington Disarmament Conference was a wrongheaded utopian approach towards peace. 546-47

22. Summarize the Kellogg-Briad Pact and assess its effectiveness. 547

23. What was Coolidge’s approach to arms limitations? 547

24. Compare and contrast the views of Coolidge and Hoover. 547-48

25. Hoover believed in rugged individualism. ATVOTS 549

26. Al Smith was more conservative than Hoover. ATVOTS 549

27. The US economy just dropped off the table on October 29, 1929. ATVOTS 550

28. Summarize and evaluate the USDA’s parity price formula. 550

29. Summarize the McNary-Haugenism Bill and Coolidge’s response to it. 550-51

30. Summarize and evaluate the money contraction policies of the FED in the 1920’s 550-51

31. Compare the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1921 to Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1928. 552

32. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff was a major contributing factor to the Great Crash of 1929. ATVOTS 552

33. Summarize the reaction of Europe to America’s high tariffs. 552

34. What are some fairly obvious conclusions about the tariffs? 553

35. Hoover accelerated the economic decline of America. ATVOTS 553-54

36. Summarize the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of Hoover and its effect. 554

37. What did Hoover do with taxes and what was its effect? 554

38. What happened to money supply in America and why? 554

39. Summarize unemployment figures by 1933. 554

40. What was the Bonus Army march and what was Hoover’s response? 554-55

41. Hoover stood for small government. ATVOTS 555

42. Summarize the social gospel and evaluate its impact on the beliefs of FDR. 555

43. How did FDR summarize the cause of the Great Depression and what is your opinion on his position? Explain 556

44. How did FDR use the radio? 556

45. The New Deal of FDR was 1st started by Hoover. ATVOTS 556-57

The Roaring Twenties and Great Crash of 1929

America after WWI

1 Internationally = America became somewhat less involved in world affairs

2 Domestically

1 America returned to laissez faire and the government was pro big business

2 America became intolerant of anything “un-American” and this intolerance in America in any form.

1 the Communism of WWI helped to create an intolerant American society to a large degree and as President Wilson commented, “It is hard to turn off prejudice once it has been turned on.” George Creel did an outstanding job. The prejudice against Germany had ended for the most part when the war ended but the prejudice created did not and this prejudice targeted Communists. Some believe it was the beginning of the Cold War of America v. Russia (of democracy v. communism). Democracy and Communism are on two opposite ends of the political spectrum.

2 Communism is an extension of socialism where the goal is to make all people in a society equality. There are no classes and there is a common ownership of all things. The government basically owns and controls everything and can tell its citizens what to do. The country as a whole is more important than the individual. Capitalism, free enterprise, and capitalism do not exist. The government is usually led by a strong military class and often a military dictatorship rules all.

3 Russia ousted Czar Nicholas in 1917 Revolution during WWI. They dropped out of the war and became a Communist country and America’s intolerance was largely directed at Russia as Russia was the leading communist country in the world. The communists in Russia were called the Bolsheviks and their leader was LENIN. They formed an international group of Communist countries called the Comintern and their goal was to eventually overthrow all governments of the world and make them communist. Attempts to make Germany and Hungary into Communist countries had already been made. The US did not officially recognize the Communist Government of Russia until 1933. In 1919 after WWI America and its allies sent troops to Russia to remove Communism in the Archangel expedition but it failed. America feared Communism and this fear led to a domestic paranoia.

The RED Scare was America’s belief that commies were seeking to overthrow the US Govt. and so America decided to remove or restrict all things COMMIE “like”

1 Restriction of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe (countries like Poland, Italy, and Russia) because of their communistic tendencies.

1 XENOPHOBIA ensued which was a fear of immigrants (a paranoia of “RED”)

2 the QUOTA System was created to officially restrict immigration from those areas. Only a certain percentage from each country was allowed to immigrate to America. America was trying to put up a constant “no vacancy" sign to immigrants.

1 The 1921 Immigration Act = it only allowed 3% of the 1910 number of the people who immigrated to America from each country into America in 1921. (also called the Emergency Quota Act of 1921)

2 The 1924 Natural Origins Act = it only allowed 2 % of the 1890 number. (also called the Immigration Act of 1924)

3 Summary = the acts discriminated against immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. The acts were based on nationality and ethnicity.

2 Restriction of Unions because of their “supposed” communistic tendencies. Unions were seen still by many Americans as “killers” of capital especially with the return of laissez faire politics.

1 a union phobia ensued as many connected the Communist desire to end capitalism and free enterprise with unions. Most laborers in unions just wanted to improve their working conditions and decrease hours and increase wages. It is believed that big business used the RED Scare to break up unions. The closed shop was banned, union membership in the 1920’s declined and workers from southern and eastern Europe had to overcome an ethnic bias.

2 the many strikes that took place after WWI were seen by many to be an attack by the Communists on capitalism and free enterprise. 3000 strikes took place in 1919 alone involving four million workers. Wages did not increase during WWI to help keep prices down for war materials and so after the war workers wanted long awaited raises especially since the owners got extremely rich from the war.

1 The Seattle strike of 1919 erupted into a fiery problem of which the “Bolsheviks” (commies) were blames and the general public believed it

2 The Steel strike of 1919

3 The coal miners strike led by John Lewis

4 The Boston police strike where Governor Calvin Coolidge said return to work or your fired

5 The Railroad strike of 1922 where the government issued and injunction

6 The IWW’s (Wobblies) went on strike to improve working conditions

(many believed communism was to blame for all the strikes and all the labor violence)

3 US Attorney General A. Micthell Palmer known as the “fighting Quaker” saw it as his duty to rid America of commies.

1 Palmer targeted areas that had new immigrant and union members in them

2 Palmer created the FBI with J. Edgar Hoover as its first director

3 Palmer arrested 10,000 and deported 550. On the Buford ship he had 249 “alleged” radicals deported and it was called the “Soviet Ark”

4 Palmer intensifies the Red Scare after a letter bomb blew up on Wall Street killing 38 people and after a bomb blew up Palmer’s home. Communists were blamed

5 Palmer violated the civil rights of many but he had support by 1/3 of the states and support from the American Legions(a veterans group led by TR) and from carious evangelists like Billy Sunday

6 Palmer used laws such as the criminal syndicalism laws which said it is unlawful for any American to support violence of any kind to get social change and the Immigration Law of 1818 which said no immigrant can join a group that supports the overthrow of the US Government

4 The Sacco and Vanzetti case illustrated the intensity of the RED Scare well. Sacco was a poor shoe salesman and Vanzetti was a poor fish peddler. They were both recent immigrants immigrants, both draft dodgers, and both avid anarchists. They were arrested for a payroll robbery and the killing of the payroll guards. They were seemingly “guilty until proven innocent” because their Italian background and their support for anarchism. The evidence was presented and they were found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death by electrocution. Any other time they may would have served a moderate prison term. The judge was very bias and despite appeals Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death.

5 The revival of the “KKK” in the 1920’s also illustrated how prejudice through the Red Scare had taken hold of America. Grand Wizards such as Hiram Revels and others like Goblins and Kleages rose to prominence and membership in the KKK rose to approx. 4.5 million by 1924 mainly in the Midwest and south. In fact, at one time the state of Indiana was literally controlled by KKK leaders. The goals of the KKK appealed to many who wanted to keep America 100% American and 100% commie free (Jingoistic and nativistic):

1 keep blacks in their place in American society

2 keep Catholic, Jews and other foreigners out of America (restrict immigration)\

3 restrict the power of unions

4 support the prohibition of alcohol

5 support fundamentalism

(the resurgence abruptly ended after it was revealed that leaders like H. Evans were charging $10.00 for membership and then depositing $4.00 of it into their bank accounts)

** a Communist Party did exist in US but only had 300 to 600 members**

Changes in American society and culture in the 1920’s

1 The PROHIBITION “experiment” = the Volstead Act and then the 18th Amendment made it illegal in America to manufacture, sell, or transport alcohol in America. Imports and exports of alcohol were banned as well. America went “bone dry” at midnight on Jan. 6, 1920.

1 the goal was to remove a prime source of “corruption” (saloons) from society. It was believed that removing alcohol would reduce crime, and domestic abuse and neglect, and job accidents.

2 many women were ecstatic. Women like Francis Willard (WCTU), Carrie A. Nation, and others. After the passing of Prohibition women then began to target cigarettes.

3 numerous people in America were skeptical about Prohibition

1 Herbert Hoover called it was a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far reaching in purpose.

2 Mark Twain believed in only drove drunkenness behind closed doors

3 Resistance to Prohibition mainly came from the eastern cities

4 the results of Prohibition

1 the percentage of people drinking alcohol actually decreased according to some studies but people liked having a choice and felt it was none of the Governments business and many people including women frequented illegal bars called speakeasies.

2 Speakeasies sprang up all over America which were clubs selling alcohol illegally. In N.Y.C alone there were approx. thousands of clubs in 1926. People flocked to these clubs to drink and listen to JAZZ.

3 Bootleggers were producing alcohol illegally throughout the country and gangsters were dominating the underground alcohol market. The most notorious gangster of the time was Al (Scarface) Capone who dominated the Chicago scene. Capone eliminated his main Chicago rival, Bugsy Moran, in the St. Valentines Day Massacre and he like many gangsters used violence and was involved in other criminal activities like prostitution, narcotics, gambling, protection $ rackets, and much more. He was called Public Enemy # 1 and Eliot NESS went after him and finally put him in jail for tax evasion. Chicago was considered Americas most lawless city.

4 The police found it almost impossible to enforce and in many instances police were paid off by gangsters, club owners, and bootleggers. Alcohol was being smuggled in from Canada and Mexico and all the coasts. People were hiding their beer in the following:

- spare tires - medicine bottles

- bath tubs - hip flasks

- teddy bears - binoculars etc…..

5 in 1933 after over 13 years, prohibition of alcohol was repealed by the 21st Amendment in President FDR’s first term. The “wets” had finally defeated the “drys.” It was repealed mainly because it cost too much money to stop it. The crime rate rose and the sheer number of people breaking the law forced the govt. to repeal it. During the Prohibition bank deposits of people increased and absenteeism in the workplace decreased proving some good did come from it.

2 Women’s Suffrage = the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in the US in 1919. 26 million America women could now vote.

1 Carrie Chapman Catt commented, “it took approx. 52 years of pause less campaign by women to get the right to vote.” Women of the past like Mott, Anthony, Stanton and many others were honored and women of the present like Alice Paul and Lucy Stone who went on hunger strikes and those like Carrie Catt who used more humble means were all given credit. Women’s lives had changed

2 Women saw the first women in Congress, Jeanette Rankin get elected in Montana. Many women saw Margaret Sanger birth control as a way to incorporate more freedom into their lives by having less children and staying at work in their careers longer. Most women still worked in low paying jobs (pink collar jobs) but opportunities were growing. Divorce rates rose in the 1920’s while marriage dropped in the 1920’s.

3 the state of women was summed up well by Anna Howard, “younger women perhaps have the harder task ahead of them and that is seeking to get equality in the workplace.” Younger women in the 1920’s in any case were extremely different from the previous generations as many young women called themselves “flappers” who were described as young rebellious women seeking excitement.

3 The Scopes Trial of 1925 (Evolution v. Creation)

1 in Tennessee it was illegal to teach evolution but a biology teacher named John Scopes goes ahead and teaches evolution to his students.

2 Scopes was brought to trial. W.J. Bryan the 3 time Democratic Presidential candidate, was the prosecuting lawyer and the well known Clarence Darrow was Scope’s defense lawyer.

3 the media coverage was intense and it was called the trial of the century. It was a struggle between modernists (scientific views) and fundamentalists (religious views)

4 the case was not about the guilt or innocence of Scopes as he admitted to breaking the law but was about the freedom a teacher has in teaching various theories like evolution.

5 the jury found Scopes guilty and he was fined $100.00 but the Tenn. State Supreme Court let him off on a technicality. The trial hurt the cause of the fundamentalists and although fundamentalists remained a vibrant force in American life for some time it’s influence was beginning to erode away and eventually would be replaced with modernism and biology.

6 summary = religion in America was facing changes and Aimee McPherson a preacher in Calif. was seeking to modernize church by bringing in Jazz and other pleasantries to attract more people and she was highly criticized.

4 The Harlem Renaissance = a rebirth of black culture in America in the 1920’s.

1 it took place mainly in NYC as over 100,000 lived there in the 1920’s

2 Langston Hughes depicted the dreadful realities of blacks in US culture in poems and spoke about the need for change in other poems.

3 Claude McKay described in poems the race riots that took place after WWI

4 Marcus Garvey created the UNIA (United Negro Improvement Association) and called on blacks to segregate themselves from whites and but and sell only to blacks. If this segregation didn’t work he called for a return to Africa. He was later put in prison for fraud.

5 WEB DuBois continued to advocate total equality (NAACP)

6 black “JAZZ” musicians spread Jazz across America. It started in New Orleans and spread to NYC as more and more blacks migrated north for jobs.

- Louie Armstrong - Joe “King” Oliver

- “Jelly Roll” Morton - Duke Ellington

- Bessie Smith (empress of the blues) - and many more

E. the entertainment revolution of radio, movies, and sports exploded in the 1920’s which helped to create a mass American culture. Regional and immigrant diversities were vanishing. Americans all over the country were seeing and hearing the same things and as a result America was becoming more and more “standardized”

1. the 1st radio station was KDKA of Pittsburg, Penn, 1920. By 1922 there were 30 stations and four years later in 1926 there were 700. 1 in 3 families had radios and listened to shows like Amos and Andy.

2. the first movies were the Great Train Robbery and D.W. Griffiths, Birth of a Nation which was a glorified portrayal of the KKK. Other movies were viewed for 4 cents and viewed in theatres nicknamed “nickelodeons.” Movie starts were born in the 1920’s with stars such as Charlie Chapman (comedian), Mary Pickford(most famous women actor of the decade), Rudolph Valentino, and Rin Tin Tin (famous dog “actor” of the decade). Cecil B. DeMille became the leading producer and director of the decade and the 1st “talkie” movie was the Jazz Singer played by Al Jolsen. Movies hurt vaudeville.

3.the first real mass sports hero was hero Ruth (Great Bambino, Sultan of Swat) in professional baseball. Baseball because America’s sport even despite the 1919 Black Sox scandal where player were accepted money to lost a game. Jack Dempsey (world heavyweight boxing champ) was another hero known as the “Manassa Mauler.” Red Grange (the galloping ghost) was the main football hero.

F. The advertising revolution complimented the entertainment revolution to help standardize America’s culture. Product after product was being introduced in the 1920’s and advertisers were making people feel “guilty” and inadequate for not having them for themselves and their family. New products like radios, refrigerators, lights, washing machines, and many more. Bruce Barton in his book, The Man Nobody Knows, went so far as to say that Jesus Christ was the best salesman the world had ever known. PSYCHOLOGY was used to sell products as was the placing of women besides products. Standardization was growing in America and being fueled by advertising and the media.

G.The transportation revolution also complimented entertainment and advertising to further standardize American culture.

1. the auto industry replaced steel as America’s #1 industry in the 1920’s

1 Henry Ford through his assembly line produced mass numbers of cars and sold them cheaply for about $250.00 in 1926. The only color was black and his Ford Model T cars were nicknames the Tin Lizzies

2 A.P. Sloan increased General Motors and was Ford’s main competition

3 Ford and GM forced America to “pave” roads and in the 1920’s an average of 10,000 miles of roads were being created a year. People could travel places quicker and were not bound as much to the local communities they lived in.

4 The installment plan was wide spread for people who wanted cars but could not afford it outright. The average monthly payment was $20.00.

5 The Brooklyn Bridge by John Roebling helped transportation as well and symbolized the greatness of America. America could build and do anything.

2. the airplane industry was beginning to take off as well. Many WWI pilots became US postal pilots which was extremely dangerous as 3 of every 4 died in a crash or they became “barnstormers” (dare devils) in air shoes. The first transcontinental air route was from NY to SF in 1920. Planes had come a long ways from the Kitty Hawk of the Orville Brothers.

a. Charles Lindbergh in his plane SPRIT of ST. LOUIS became the first man to fly across the Atlantic and many saw this as a confirmation of US greatness. In 1932 criminals kidnapped his infant son for ransom. The boy was never found and the Lindbergh Law was made making interstate abduction a death penalty offense.

b. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic

H. The youth revolution of the 1920’s = the younger generation was being exposed to a variety of things like radios, movies, music, and such that their parents had not seen or experienced and this produced a wide generational gap and America’s 1st youth culture.

1. young women called flappers exemplified the youth revolution. They did the following which appalled many MOMS and DADS around America:

- elevated hemlines - rouged cheeks

- smoked cigarettes - drank bootleg alcohol

- taped breasts - no undergarments

- eyebrows plucked - hose and beads

- listened to jazz - necked and “such” in car back seat

2. young men wore Oxford baggie pants and greased their hair back and did their best to keep up with the young women

3. the youth of America used the work of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud as an excuse to experiment sexually. Freud concluded that sexual repression created a variety of nervous and emotional sickness. The older generation believed it had stuck (sex o’clock” in America. The car made sexual desired easier to fulfill and the allure and example of movies encouraged it.

4. dance crazes like the Charleston dominated the youth scene

5. other fads and crazed like the following also were common

- dance marathons -swimsuit contests

- flagpole sitting - King Tut dress

- crossword puzzles - gold fish

- maj jong game - JAZZ

- movies - and more

(some if not many in the older generation took to some of these crazes)

6. the main writer who was seen as the youth spokesman of the 1920’s was F. Scott Fitzgerald. He wrote books such as, This Side of Paradise, and The Great Gatsby. He found “all gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.” He fostered a bewildering abandonment towards life.

a. Fitzgerald and other prominent 1920’s writers characterized both the glamour and cruelty of an achievement oriented society like America. These writers were nicknames, “the LOST GENERATION and many of them opposed war, conformity, and consumerism. Also called Debunkers

1. Ernest Hemingway in Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises opposed the glorification of war.

2. Theodore Dreiser in his book An American Tragedy

3. Sinclair Lewis in Babbitt was critical of conformity and materialism

4. T.S. Eliot in Wasteland wrote about the dehumanizing effects of machines

5. H.L. Mencken in his monthly magazine the American mercury assailed and criticized marriage, patriotism, democracy, mid class, south, etc…

I. The “Bull” market on Wall Street in the 1920’s helped change the economic status of many Americans. More and more Americans were becoming part of the growing middle class. America was experiencing a time of substantial economic growth in almost all facets of the economy but especially in the investment sector. The agrarian sector however experienced a prolonged depression in the 1920’s.

1. more people were buying stocks and some were buying them on margin , that is buying stocks with a small down payment, and many were becoming wealthy. As the decade progressed few thought the BOOM would end.

2. the Government returned to the policy of laissez faire (hands off of business with little if any government regulation) in the 1920’s under the Presidential terms of Harding and Coolidge. Govt. leaders believed it was the job of government to help big business and Wall St. make profits. Progressivism was out and number of laborers in unions decreased as did the number of strikes.

3. President Harding’s Secretary of Treasury, Andrew Mellon, introduced supply side economics. The formula of SS economics was to reduce taxes on the rich so they would have more money to spend in business ventures which would eventually lead to more jobs and more money for the lower and middle classes. The money of the rich would in essence “trickle” down to the poor. In 1921 a wealthy person who made $1 million dollars paid $663,000 in taxes but in 1926 that same person paid only $200,000 in taxes

J. Summary = the 1920’s brought many changes to America. In a myriad of ways the changes were a tension between old nostalgic traditions and new changing values. The following is a review list of the changes already discussed:

1. alcohol

2. women

3. religion

4. blacks

5. KKK

6. entertainment and advertisement

7. transportation

8. Youth

9. Writers

10. Economy

11. education (Dewey, progressive concentrating on life skills)

12. medicine (hookworm and other preventions)

13. immigration

14. foreign policy

15. cities = most people in America by the 1920’s now lived in cities

IV.Election of 1920 = Republicans nominate Warren Harding , Democrats nominate Cox, and Socialists nominate Debs again.

A. Harding’s campaign slogan, “ Return to Normalcy” proved to be successful as he easily defeated Cox. America appeared to be ready for a change away from progressivism.

1. return to laissez faire in domestic affairs

2. return to less involvement in international affairs (Wilson was too international and Harding and other republicans were not about to pass the League of Nations)

B. Harding was a “good guy” who had a hard time saying NO to his friends because he didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. He could not tell a “liar” and as a result many took advantage of this weakness. Some called him a slob and others called him a boob.

V. the Presidency of Harding

A. Harding realizing his limitations tried to surround himself with some of the “best minds” in the Republican Party

1. Secretary of State = Charles Evans Hughes

2. Secretary of Treasury = Andrew Mellon

3. Secretary of Commerce = Herbert Hoover

B.Harding also appointed some of the “worst minds” in the party and his cabinet became disparagingly known as the “Ohio Gang”. Harding became surrounded by poker playing, beer guzzling cronies and became the worst cabinet since Grant

1. Secretary of the Interior = Albert Fall

2. Attorney General = Harry Daugherty

3. Veteran’s Bureau leader = Charles Forbes

C.Scandals in Harding’s Presidency

1. the Teapot Dome Scandal 1921 = Sec. of Interior Albert Fall, an anti conservationist, leased the naval oilreserves of Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills, Calif to oilmen Harry Sinclair and Ed Doheny for approx. $ 400,000 The illegal transaction was found in 1923. Sinclair and Doheny were acquitted and Fall was put in jail for one year. People began to lose trust in government and in courts. (

2. scandal of Attorney General Harry Daugherty 1923 = he illegally sold pardons of criminals and also alcohol permits. He resigned after a Senate investigation and was released after a jury twice failed to agree. His job was to prosecute not to steal

3. scandal of Charles Forbes 1923 = he looted $200 million from the government mainly in connection with the building of Veterans Bureau. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

4. Harding embarked on a speaking tour across America to Alaska. While returning he dies is San Francisco from pneumonia and thrombosis (blood clot). One of the last things he said was, “my friends hurt me more than my enemies.” Vice President Calvin Coolidge, former Governor of Mass. takes over in 1923.

D.Harding began a process of reversals in America

1. he appointed 4conservative Supreme Court Justices, one being ex-President Taft, and they began to allow laissez faire to return:

a. Adkins v. Children’s Hospital 1923 reversed Muller v. Oregon meaning women no longer had special treatment in the workplace

b. The new Supreme Court killed a law restricting child labor

c. They restricted government intervention by not applying the anti-trust laws and many of the past gains of progressives were lost.

2. Harding allowed big business to thrive (laissez faire). In fact laissez faire was revised to allow the governments to get involved in business to help business make profit and $money$.

a. Anti-trust laws were often ignored, the ICA came to be run by those sympathetic to big business like RR’s. In 1920 the Esch-Cummins Transportation Act returned RR’s to private control and allowed the ICC to set rated to guarantee RR profits and created the Railway Labor Board to settle disputes. In 1922 the RLB ordered a 10% cut in wages and so workers went on strike but Attorney General Daugherty then issued an injunction forcing the workers to accept the pay cut.

b. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover allowed big business to operate by using government to promote business efficiency

c. Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon allowed the rich and big business to be taxed less to promote investments, spending, and jobs for all classes. It was called supply side economics.

d. The Bureau of Budget was created in 1921 to reduce the debt of America. The debt was high after WWI mainly because Britain was not paying back its loans. Mellon greatly reduced the debt despite lowering the taxes on the poor and rich.

e. Tariffs were increased to protect American big business from foreign competition:

1. Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922 increased the average rate to38% Wilson’s low Underwood Tariff of 1913 was now gone. The President could however if need be could reduce or increase a particular tariff on a good by 50%

2. Hawley - Smoot Tariff 1930 increased the average rate to 60% which was the highest tariff ever.

3. impact of tariffs= in the long run they hurt US industry by reducing trade with other countries. America focused mainly on domestic economics which was shortsighted according to many. America was now economically and diplomatically isolation. This isolationism of America is said to have helped bring about instability in the world that leg to the Great “world” Depression of 1929 and the horrible war of WWII. (the Depression of 1921 had many causes: inflation after WWI, return of Us troops looking for worked which swelled the un-employed ranks to 5 million, the hundreds of strikes, the farming depression that lasted for years, the Euro loans not being repaid to US, and collapse of Euro markets after WWI.)

(Farmers were protected from the tariffs but they as a whole continued to struggle and so despite resistance from Harding and vetoes from Coolidge the government gave help to the farmers in the form of the following:

-Capper-Volstead Act 1921 stated that farming coops are okay and will not be considered trusts

-McNary-Haugen Bill 1924 although vetoed by Cal began the thought of govt. buying up the surplus good that farmers did not sell

f) the American Legion of war veterans with TR as a main leader lobbied for a Bonus Bill to give veterans money for their service but Harding vetoed it in 1922. The Adjusted Compensation Act 1924 however was passed over Coolidge’s which would give veteran’s payments over 20 years. The veterans were not receiving their money and so in 1932 the Bonus Expeditionary Force marched on Washington DC to get their money. President Hoover sent General MacArthur to put the march down and eventually the vets were paid fully by 1936. (GAR like)

3. summary of Harding = Harding applied the principals of laissez faire and it helped foster a time of frenzied growth and spending in the 1920’s that many thought would continue unhindered. The Warning signs of the coming Great Depression were not heeded. Coolidge and Hoover followed the same thinking for the most part.

VI. The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge (nicknamed Silent Cal)

A. He continued the policies of Harding and was true to the republican philosophy of laissez faire and big business. Some called him “the high priest of the great god of business.” He said, “the governments greatest duty is to not embark on new adventures.”

1. he helped to reduce taxes, raise tariffs, balance the budget, and decrease the power and

number of unions.

2. he gave no aid to the victims of a Mississippi River flood. He said, “if govt. leaves a

situation alone it will usually take care of itself.”

B. Election of 1924 = Coolidge easily defeated the “conservative” Democrat John Davis and the Progressive Robert Lafollette

C. Election of 1928 = Coolidge does not run and the Republicans nominate Herbert Hoover while the Democrats nominate Alfred Smith. Hoover handily defeated Smith the former Governor of NY because he was a Catholic, a wet, and too liberal. The radio played a prominent role. Once elected Hoover promoted rugged individualism but changed focused more on government planning especially in farming. He altered laissez faire and began more government planning and controlling. He was a Progressive Republican.

VII. the foreign policy of America in the 1920’s after WWI

A. It was mainly a policy of isolation except in the middle east because of our interest in oil. Secretary of state Hughes procured US rights to drill in the Middle East

B. Knox Resolution 1921 officially ended our war with Germany and America’s refusal to join the League of Nations in a world court basically ended it before it began. The League of Nations attempt to settle issues in the world usually failed.

C. Increase tariffs to protect US industry and agriculture

D. Washington Disarmament Conference in1921 by Secretary of State Hughes which called for the following in a series of treaties:

1.the 5 Power Treaty set a limit on the tonnage of ships that the Us, Britain, and Japan could have. US/Britain 5 battleships and 5 aircraft carriers and Japan 3 each. The treaty also did not restrict the making of other ships like cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, and the US again fell behind in these.

2. the 4 Power Treaty was an agreement by Britain, US, France, and Japan to preserve the status quo in the Pacific and Far East.

3. the 9 power Treaty was an agreement by Britain, France, US, France and Japan to preserve the status quo in the Pacific and Far East.

E. America signed the Kellogg/Briad Treaty of 1928 along with 62 other nations. The Treaty was an agreement to go to war for only defensive purposes.

F. The European Debt problem

1. The Dawes Plan 1924 was created to help European countries to pay off its debt especially Germany. America would loan money to Germany so it could pay off reparations to Britain and France and buy US goods to stimulate the economies.

2. The Young Plan 1929 reduced Germany’s reparations to $16 billion from $33 billion

3. The Hoover moratorium 1931 cancelled all European debt owed to America for one year

4. The Debt-Default Act 1933 cancelled all debt owed to America from WWI.

G. Latin America issues

1. The Clark Memorandum declared the Roosevelt Corollary improper

2. The Good Neighbor Policy of Hoover sought to re-establish good will and better

relations with Latin American countries. US troops were removed throughout the region

3. US ambassador to Mexico, Dwight Morrow improved relations with Mexico and even

after US oil business’ were taken over in Mexico the US did nothing and kept relations good.

VIII. The economy crashes ending the golden twenties. The BOOMIMG US economy goes BUST.

(Great Depression = 1929 to WWII)

A. Oct. 24, 1929 = Black Thursday. Prices started to fall greatly and frantic attempts to sell stocks occurred. There were not enough buyers. The FED (BUS) stepped in and bought as many stocks as it could.

B. Oct. 25, 28, 1929 = President Hoover closed Wall St. on Friday and Monday

C. Oct. 29, 1929 = Black Tuesday. Prices started to fall greatly again and Wall St. crashed. Stockholders had losses in the billions.

D. Other factors along with Wall Street’s Crash led America into a GREAT DEPRESSION.

- Agrarian sector depression that led to bank failures and a greatly reduced money supply

- Reduced investment as a result as less supply of money available

- Hawley Smoot Tariff of 60% that led to less international trade

- US policy of deflating the US currency (contraction)

- Sales Tax created by Hoover

- European countries weak economies

E. Response of President Hoover = he began to shift more away from laissez faire policies and started government planning and organizing of the US economy

- Hawley Smoot Tariff

- Deflated currency

- Demand tax decrease (wealthy tax rates remained the same)

- Sales Tax and Tax on personal checks

- Public Work Projects like the Hoover Dam

- Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) where the Federal Government would loan

money to banks and business’ which would hopefully keep more jobs

* Despite Hoover’s efforts he received much of the blame for the Great Depression and slum

towns were called Hoovervilles

* WWI Vets marched on DC to get their pension payments early but Hoover refused and ordered General Douglas MacArthur to break up the their march which became known as the Bonus Army March

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