Hist 112 1st EditionExam # 3 Study Guide Lectures 24-37In 1924, the Republican Warren G. Harding was elected as President. He reduced the federal government’s role in the economy, lowered taxes, and raised the tariff. His presidency was plagued with scandal because of the Ohio Gang, a group of his old allies. He used his power to get them government jobs that they exploited to get money. When Harding died in 1923 of a heart attack, Calvin Coolidge became President. Along with Andrew Mellon (the Secretary of the Treasury) he worked to reduce taxes, limit federal expenditures, and retire part of the national debt. At the same time, people were investing in the stock market. They would buy on margin, which means they put 10% down on a loan to buy stocks, expecting to pay the other 90% off with their earnings from the stock market. Everyone (except farmers) seemed to be doing well economically under the stock market started declining and people would take out more loans to pay for what they already owed. Hoover was elected in 1928, and on October 29, 1929 the stock market crashed. America fell into a deflationary spiral because there wasn’t enough money in circulation. Because economists feared inflation, they took even more money out of circulation. In 1930 Hoover signed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, despite people’s warnings against it. It was disastrous for the economy, and unemployment reached 16% in 1931 and 24% in 1932. Hoover eventually created the Reconstruction Finance Administration, which was a bailout program, but most saw it as too little too late.By 1932, Americans didn’t trust Republicans anymore. They elected FDR and his New Deal, which called for relief, recovery, and reform. In the First 100 Days of his presidency, he wanted to bring widespread relief to the nation. He put together a Brain Trust or a group of advisors to help him decide how to approach economic relief. One of the first things they did was create the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Farmers needed relief because there was an overproduction of crops. The AAA destroyed a significant amount of crops and livestock to decrease supply and increase demand, and compensated farmers for the destruction. Many Americans were mad that they had to pay more for food when the government was throwing food away. The Tennessee Valley Authority was another form of relief that built a massive dam and brought electricity to the extremely poor parts of the Tennessee Valley. However, 15,000 families were replaced, and many people didn’t even care about life with electricity. The third form of relief FDR created was the National Recovery Administration, whichimposed standards such as prices and minimum wage on companies. The NRA led to a Supreme Court case, Schechter Poultry v. US, in which the Supreme Court found the NRA and AAA unconstitutional. FDR was angry, so he tried to use a loophole by creating the Court Packing Scheme (AKA the judiciary reorganization bill of 1937). If passed, the bill would allow FDR to appoint one new justice for every justice over the age of 70 (but no more than 6 new justices). The bill did not pass, but it was unimportant because the old justices started retiring anyway. In response to FDR, some people started supporting Huey Long, the governor of Louisiana. He had an extremely radical “share our wealth” idea that had a lot of support, but he was assassinated in 1935. Had he lived and gone on to run for president, America might have taken a more socialist turn.Meanwhile, in Europe, the Germans were bitter about the repercussions of the Treaty of Versailles. The believed in Lebensraum (German for living space), meaning that Germans needed and deserved expansion. Between 1933 and 1939, Hitler pushed the boundaries of the Treaty to gain more and more power for Germany. He left the League of Nations in 1922 and started building a military in 1935. In 1936 he signed the Rome-Berlin Axis, an alliance with Italy (and later Japan in 1937). In March of 1938 was the Anschluss, when Germany annexed Austria. Shortly after, WWII began. America was not involved until December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan. The US fought in two fronts:On June 6, 1944 (AKA D-Day) US troops led by Eisenhower invaded northern France to push back the Germans. Douglas MacArthur was the US naval leader, and in 1942 led the Battle of Midway, which is considered the battle that turned the war in the Pacific to favor the allies. The Manhattan Project was the code name for the atomic bomb project. In 1945, Truman ordered atomic bombs to be dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On the home front, Americans were pushing the Double V Campaign, which meant victory against foreign enemies and victory against domestic discrimination. In 1948 Truman desegregated the military. Rosie the Riveter was a propaganda symbol that women were vital to an American victory as well. The film Casablanca was another form of propaganda about defeating the Nazis. Japanese descendants in America were forced into Relocation Camps. Many had to sell their homes and businesses. The government eventually apologized to the families and gave them reparations.In 1945, FDR, Churchill and Stalin held the Yalta Conference to discuss postwar reorganization of Europe.It becomes clear that there will be tension about democracy vs. socialism. FDR dies, and Truman replaces him as president. Truman, Stalin, and Churchill attend the Postdam Conference in July 1945.Truman is fiercely opposed to communism and proposes a policy of containment. Containment meant that communism would not expand west beyond the Iron Curtain, a symbolic line that divided the communist and democratic nations in Europe. To implement containment, Truman created the Truman Doctrine in 1947, which provided financial support to Turkey and Greece so that they would not turn socialist. Similarly the Marshall plan (also in 1947) gave 13 billion dollars to Western Europe and even offered money to the Soviet Union. Berlin had been divided into two: the West was capitalist and the East communist. The Soviet Union blockaded Berlin in 1948 to prevent them from getting supplies, hoping to force them to accept Soviet aid. Instead, the US and GB airlifted supplies into West Berlin. The planes were called Raisin Bombers because they brought candy. This was a humiliating defeat for the Soviet Union. In 1050 the Cold War