1. The policies of Republican presidents in the 1920s
“A Return to Normalcy”
The policies of Republican presidents in the 1920s

2. What is “Normalcy”? Return to “the good old days”
Get things back to “normal”
Americans tired of war, strikes, recession, race riots, fear…
Warren G Harding used this to become president
Gave simple, but emotional speeches
Promised isolation and less government

3. Popular, but secretly disrespected…
“Keep Warren at home. Don’t let him make any speeches. If he goes out on a tour, somebody’s sure to ask him questions, and Warren’s just the sort of… fool that’ll try to answer them.” - Senator Boies Penrose
Harding described himself as “a man of limited talents from a small town.”
“He looks like a president.” – Harry Daugherty, Harding’s political manager.
Harding was handsome, friendly, healthy looking, and focused on simple topics Americans liked hearing.

4. The Republican Era begins…
Free Enterprise System – All about private ownership of land and resources. Focus on competition for profit and success.
Harding lowered war-time taxes and reduced government spending. Extra money paid the national debt. This was his fiscal policy.
Prices of goods went down and unemployment dropped from 12% to 2%.
Overall policy: Less taxes, less government

5. Scandals! Harding gave top jobs to his close friends They betrayed him
Attorney General Daugherty took bribes from accused criminals
Sec. of the Interior (Albert Fall) gave oil-rich land in CA and WY to companies for bribes
Teapot Dome, Wyoming: known as Teapot Dome Scandal
Harding stood by friends, but died of heart attack in 1923

6. The Teapot Dome scandal

7. Coolidge and Hoover, the next Republicans
Calvin Coolidge
Believed in business without government interference
Cut all taxes and gov spending
Herbert Hoover
Self-made man, orphan from poverty
Worked for Wilson and Harding
Believed that if businesses prospered, there would be an “end to poverty as we know it”

8. Presidents are pressured to keep the US out of world affairs…

9. International Policy – Isolationism and Peace
After war, Americans want Isolationism
US still refused to join League of Nations, Harding wouldn’t even open mail from them
US promotes disarmament – reducing the military
Washington Naval Conference (1921) – US, GB, France, Italy, Japan agree to scrap large warships, limit navies
It had little real effect, countries kept building smaller ships
US, France, and 62 others sign Kellogg-Briand Pact, agree to outlaw war
Kind of pointless because it still allowed defensive wars

10. Debts from WWI US banker Charles Dawes creates the Dawes Plan
US banks loan money to Germany
Germany pays their war reparations to GB and France
GB and France repay their loans from WWI to US banks
Everyone wins… for a little while, but now Germany owes a lot of money to the US…

11. US in Latin America
Harding and Coolidge both said they wanted stay out of Latin America
However, they both sent marines to stop revolutions that threatened American business investments
Only Hoover really embraced “non-intervention”
He did not send in troops even when Panama, Cuba, and Honduras had revolutions in 1931

12. The Boom Years Henry Ford and mass production
Ford took cars from luxury item to something all families owned
Assembly lines made cars faster and cheaper, price went from $950 to only $290!
Mass production was so cheap that Ford doubled his workers’ salaries and reduced hours. The public loved him.
Innovation leads to new industries
Boom in cars led to other booms: steel, rubber, oil, highway construction, restaurants, gas stations, motels, and repair shops
By 1930 there were 38 domestic airlines and 5 international
Invention of plastic leads to cheaper clothes, cellophane, and RADIOS

13. Big businesses get BIGGER
Rep Presidents ignored anti-trust laws, allowed businesses to consolidate
Ford, General Motors, Chrysler made 90% of cars by 1929
Large business like A&P supermarket drove small “mom-and-pop” grocery stores out of business
An “anti-chain” movement starts, but most people just go to the big stores

14. Speculation: Get Rich Quick!
US was doing well. Prices were low, jobs were up, and new inventions were making life easier.
People become speculators, taking the risk of buying something in the hope of selling it for more money later
Florida Land Boom – Speculators bought land in Florida without even seeing it, most of it turned out to be worthless and they lost all their money
Stock Market – Middle class people invested in stocks hoping to get rich, which made stocks increase in value… for a while

15. Meet Charles Ponzi… Ponzi Scheme
Offers to invest your money and double it
People give him their money
Ponzi gives a lot of money back to some early investors, so it looks like he knows what he is doing
After a lot more people invest, he takes the money and leaves town

16. Left out of the boom: Not wealth for all
Wealth was unevenly distributed
A family of four needed $2,500 a year to live a good life back then
More than half of families earned only $1,500
Farmers were deep in debt as crop prices decreased
Farmworkers (mostly Mex American and Asian American) suffered very low wages and poverty
African Americans were last to be hired, first to be fired, paid less than whites, and blocked from most unions
New tech meant less jobs for workers in old industries