Return to Normalcy Harding Coolidge and Hoover 1920 1932 11 1 12 Major characteristics of this period Political conservatism Progressivism as a movement came to an end People desired to return to the good old days Called the return to normalcy Warren G Harding Red Scare A Mitchell Palmer Attorney General arrested alleged radicals and agitators violating their constitutional rights Economic conservatism Harding Coolidge and Hoover all favored close relations between business and government but also laissez faire and rugged individualism pull yourself up by your own bootstraps Boom and bust Cultural Change Time of unparalleled economic growth and prosperity Farmers and unskilled workers were not included in this success The Jazz Age The Harlem Renaissance Rebellion against traditional standards New forms of cultural expression Important advances in science and thought Motion Pictures The Jazz Zinger Starring Al Jolson Commercial Radio KDKA in Pittsburgh came on air broadcasting the 1920 general election returns Mixed Foreign Policy Isolation International cooperation U S did not join League of Nations U S helped to sponsor Kellogg Briand Pact 1928 Pact to outlaw war Warren G Harding 1921 23 Republican From Ohio Ran against James Cox with running mate FDR Harding won by a landslide winning Tennessee s electoral vote and breaking the solid south for the first time since reconstruction Not a good judge of character a running joke was that the difference between George Washington and Harding was that Washington could not tell a lie and Harding could not tell a liar Now considered one of the least effective Presidents neck in neck with Grant Achievements Veterans Bureau created in 1921 today known as Veterans Administration Immigration restrictions Bureau of the Budget Corruption Director of Veterans Bureau Charles Forbes was found guilty of waste and misconduct and was sent to prison Alien Property Custodian Thomas Miller was found guilty of cheating the government by illegally selling liquor permits Attorney General Harry Daughterty was accused of favoritism towards employees and of selling pardons and was forced to resign Interior Secretary Albert Fall involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal Calvin Coolidge 1923 1928 Finished out Harding s term and then was elected in his own right Defeated John Davis with running mate Charles W Bryan William Jennings Bryan s brother Achievements Reduction in taxes Reduction in national debt Kellogg Briand Pact 1928 Herbert Hoover 1929 1933 Defeated Al Smith in this election Favored a minimum of government involvement in business rugged individualism Achievements Agricultural Marketing Act 1929 Congress made an attempt to purchase farm surpluses to help farmers Hawley Smoot Tariff 1930 Raised the tariff on over 20 000 imported goods to record levels Highest tariff ever in U S history In the opinion of most economists this measure is responsible for or at least worsened the Great Depression and is the greatest policy blunder Stock Market Crash 1929 Hundreds of thousands of Americans were buying securities on credit Prices of stocks and bonds dropped very quickly to low levels Great Depression followed The Great Depression Hoover kept saying Prosperity is just around the corner but it only grew worse and he was forced to accept the doctrine that the welfare of the people in a time of a national depression was the direct concern of the federal government Reconstruction Finance Corporation RFC loaned money to businesses Public Works Program New taxes Growing public resentment of Hoover for doing too little too late almost guaranteed a democratic election
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