Bell Work: Read the following quote from Warren G. Harding and answer the subsequent questions.

 Republican president Warren G. Harding was famous for long-winded, convoluted oratorical style, which he called- “bloviating”. Below is an example of this style.

 From Harding’s Inaugural Address:  “We have mistaken unpreparedness to embrace it to be a challenge of the reality, and due concern for making all citizens fit for participation will give added strength of citizenship and magnify our achievement.”

 Bell Work:  1) What does this statement mean?  2) Where does Warren G. Harding rank in terms of presidential rankings?  3)Where else have you seen this style of speaking in this day and age?

Lecture Outline  Return of the Old Guard  Warren G. Harding  Cabinet Members (Harding Cabinet)  Scandals  Harding’s Death  Calvin Coolidge  Mellon’s Policies (Trickle Down Economics)

Return of the Old Guard  Movement away from Wilson idealism: Normalcy  End of the Progressive Movement  Retreat from international foreign policy (America 1 st )  Corruption (Again)

Warren G. Harding  In consideration for the worst president (mental capacity?)  Pro business (decline in taxation for the rich- trusts and railroads)  Less Government

Harding Cabinet:  “The Best Minds” “Ohio Gang”  Treasury- Andrew Mellon (trickle down)  State- Charles Hughes (disarmament)  Commerce- Herbert Hoover (WWI Food Administrator)  Agriculture- Henry Wallace (Dust Bowl)

Scandals  Veterans Administration Hospital (money siphoning)- 200 million  Teapot Dome (Elk Hills, CA + Teapot Dome, WY)- Albert Fall (Sec. Interior)  Harding’s Death (Food poison – heart attack)

Calvin Coolidge  Silent Cal- leadership style  “business of America is business”  Negative Government  Presiding president throughout the 20’s

Andrew Mellon Secretary of the Treasury  Trickledown Economics  Taxation policy- 1) tax the rich less; 2) money will “trickle” down to the poor through spending  Debt policies  Tariffs (Fordney – McCumber Tariff)

Lecture Outline Continued  Labor Strikes  Red Scare  Nativism/Xenophobia  Ku Klux Klan  Prohibition

Labor Strikes  Boston Police Strike (Calvin Coolidge- crackdown)  Seattle General Strike

Red Scare  Radical Hysteria: Anti-Communist, Anti-Anarchist= Anti- Foreign

Attorney General Mitchell Palmer  House is bombed- blamed communists  Palmer Raids  General Intelligence Division: J. Edgar Hoover  Sacco and Venzetti Trial Italian, Immigrant, Anarchist “nail the Anarchist Bastards”

Nativism and Xenophobia  Fear of the outsider  WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant)  Quotas/Ceilings (Pre-1890’s level)

Klu Klux Klan (Klu Klox)  D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation”  Fascination with secret order- hierarchy Imperial Wizards Grand Goblins King Kleagals Kreatures Konclaves

KKK Targets:  Blacks, Jews, Catholics, Foreigners  National Following- March on Washington DC  Decline- Trail of David Stephenson (financial corruption)

Prohibition  Volstead Act 1919  Enforce 18 th Amendment  Eliminate social instability (inefficiency)

Drinking Habits  Gold Fish, White Lightning  Dealers, Speakeasies, Rum Runners, Moonshiners, Bootleggers  Mob and the Rackets  Al Capone (payroll and violence)  Enforcement  Repeal- 21 st Amendment