1. Republicans lead the nation in the 1920’s from a roar to a crash, while the country steers back towards isolationism. Chapter 32 – The Politics of Boom and Bust (1920-1932)

2. The Republican 1920’s Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover—the three 1920’s Republican presidents Favored Biz-gov’t cooperation over progressive reform Warren G. Harding wins 1920 election  Lack of oversight over those around him (Ohio Gang) Biz interests make gains under Harding  Anti-trust laws ignored, child labor laws reversed, labor suffers The Republican Old Guard returns, asking for a revised laissez-faire…want gov’t to help them increase profits Harding’s Supreme Court rolls back reform  Adkins v. Children’s Hospital reverses Muller v. Oregon

3. Postwar Economy Wartime gov’t control over economy ends Railroads returned to private hands Labor suffers from a hostile Harding admin  Union membership shrinks Veterans make gains  American Legion lobbies for veterans’ benefits…adopts extreme patriotic beliefs

4. Isolationism returns (sort of) Harding mostly returns to isolationism; rejects the League of Nations US secures oil rights in the Middle East Serious push for disarmament, especially naval  No true progress made; powers still building Kellogg-Briand Pact  62 nations supposedly outlaw war as a policy  Practically useless…defensive war still allowed  US in a false sense of security Fordney-McCumber Tariff passed to compete with cheap European goods  Europe and America suffers from the lack of two-way trade

5. Scandal Head of the Veterans Bureau caught stealing millions Teapot Dome scandal  Sec of Interior Albert B. Fall has naval oil reserves transferred to his department  Fall accepts bribes to lease oil lands to Big Oil  Undermined faith in government and the courts  “In America, everyone is assumed guilty until proven rich” Atty General Daughtery tried for illegally selling pardons and liquor permits

6. President Coolidge Harding dies suddenly; VP Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge ascends to the presidency Serious, bright, frugal Coolidge another great friend to Big Biz  Supports reducing taxes and debts Americans quickly forget Harding-era scandals…blinded by prosperous times Coolidge easily wins 1924 Election  Dems split on prohibition, urban vs. rural, religion, region, immigration…nominate conservative corporate lawyer Davis  LaFollette runs under a weakened Progressive Party

7. Foreign debts US turned from debtor to creditor during WWI Wants to be repaid the $10 billion loaned to Allies French and British protest repayment  that they had paid their debts in blood  Tariffs made it impossible to pay back Allies look to German war reparations to pay back  Sends Germany into hyper-inflation Dawes Plan adjusted German reparations and gave loans to struggling Germany…which was then used to pay back the French and British Resentments build over debts

8. President Hoover Coolidge: I choose not to run!I choose not to run! Popular Sec. of Commerce Herbert Hoover nominated by Republicans  Dems nominate anti-prohibition, brash New Yorker, Catholic Gov. Al Smith  Radio influences the election towards Hoover Hoover another pro-Biz president Hawley-Smoot Tariff intended to help farmers  Highest protective tariff in peacetime history  Increased global econ chaos and US econ isolationism

9. The Great Depression Stock market crashes in October 1929 after a flurry of sell-offs…Black Tuesday (10/29/1929) $40 billion lost in the stock market Global and extreme domestic depression  12 million jobless by 1932; wages slashed 1000s of bank failures; savings lost…homes lost Breadlines, soup kitchens "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime“ Hoovervilles

10. Hoover’s response Hoover plagued by his duel tendencies  The humanitarian stressed by the suffering  The rugged individualist eschews gov’t assistance and worries that it will damage our self-reliant national identity  Focuses on trickle-down recovery Hoover decides to help business in the hopes that it would lead to citizen recovery…ummm, 2008? Hoover Dam Reconstruction Finance Corporation continues indirect gov’t loans Outlawed yellow-dog contracts and banned labor injunctions Hoover at least began a process of gov’t action grown by FDR

11. Bonus Army WWI veterans push for early payment of bonuses Bonus Expeditionary Force marches on D.C. and creates a mass Hooverville Hoover orders army to disperse the Bonus Army Violent evacuation conducted Hoover becomes hated