The Politics of Normalcy Chapter 27 Study Guide The Politics of Normalcy

1 Warren G. Harding seemed, to many Americans to be the perfect postwar president because he believed in an economic system based on the idea of private ownership. Businesses operate for profit and goods are determined by supply and demand that Americans, tired of war and radicalism, wanted peace and quiet-normalcy. He instituted fiscal policies that ended the recession and brought prosperity. His ideas , actions, and cheerful attitude appealed to the average citizen. He promoted the politics of Normalcy which was the idea of what is expected or regular. It was President his call to return to pre-war America. Americans did not see the corruption that took place during the Harding Administration, during the Teapot Dome scandal when oil reserves were sold to companies that bribed Secretary of Interior Fall.

2 Coolidge’s statement that, “The chief business of the American people is business showed he believed that the nation, and especially the government, should focus on supporting business in order to achieve prosperity. He cut taxes and decreased government spending.

2 Herbert Hoover cared so much about poverty and that attitude affect the course of his life because he was orphaned at a young age, worked his way through college, and became wealthy by his own efforts. His Quaker background reinforced an interest in helping others. He headed President Wilson’s Food Administration and set up postwar programs in Europe to feed the hungry. As president, Hoover made ending poverty as a goal. He promoted business, believing that as business flourished poverty would disappear.

4 German economy was shattered in order to pay off their 11 billion in debt an American Banker Richard Dawes created The Dawes Plan where American banks loaned money to Germany which in turn paid Britain and France so they could repay American lenders, addressed Europe’s war debt and made the United states a world banker because Britain and France relied on reparations payments from Germany. Although the United States got involved in financial matters in Europe many people believed in Isolationism which is the idea or policy that the country is better off staying out of international Affairs. Thus we Signed the Kellogg Briand Pact, an agreement between the United States and France which rejected war as an instrument of national policy and Took part in the Washington Naval Conference which took place in 1921 between Britain, France, Italy, Japan and The United States. Signed by 62 countries It represented the desire for reductions in militaries after WWI. It limited the building of large navel vessels.

5 Isolationist sentiment influence U. S. policy toward Latin America under Harding, Coolidge and Hoover because in 1921 the United States had troops in Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti: both Harding and Coolidge tried to reduce such entanglements, reflecting the country’s isolationist mood. Harding settled a long dispute with Columbia over the Panama Canal. Coolidge withdrew troops from the Dominican Republic and from Nicaragua. Hoover took a goodwill tour and rejected the Roosevelt Corollary by refusing to intervene militarily even when revolutions shook Cuba, Panama and Honduras.

6 The rise of mass production techniques and development of new technologies helped bring about prosperity. Ford’s development of a moving assembly line cut car production time dramatically, allowing him to drastically cut the price of his cars. In turn, more people were able to buy them, and Ford raised worker’s pay. The rapid rise of the car industry led to growth in related industries such as steel, rubber, and oil, and to the development of new industries.

7 The Republican presidents’ claim that consolidation of businesses made the economy more efficient can be illustrated in two ways. A single big business would need just one marketing department, one engineering department and so forth. Mass production would be possible, saving money. When the auto industry consolidated, cars became more affordable. Large utility holding companies wired two thirds of American homes by 1929 and the cost of electricity declined. The large A&P grocery store chain grew more rapidly and was more cost –efficient than mom-and-pop grocery stores. These profits were seen in the rise of the Dow Jones Average which is a measure of the stock values of the top American Companies it indicates the health of the economy. With many people attempting to get rich fast there were failures like the Florida Land Boom , the attempt of people to get rich by investing in Florida real estate. The plans often ended in being taken for their money