The Good Old Days- 1920s America

A Return to Normalcy Rejection of Woodrow Wilson and his

international policies Election of Republican presidents

Return of scandal and corruption Isolationist policies High tariffs Wide-scale prosperity Prohibition Era Rise in organized crime (the mob) Jazz Age

Harding Administration

Republican Warren G. Harding was elected President in 1920

Surrounded himself with the “best minds” (reality was that they were his “cronies” known as the Ohio Gang) Secretary of State- Charles Evans Hughes Secretary of Commerce- Herbert Hoover Secretary of the Treasury- Andrew Melon Secretary of Agriculture- Henry Wallace Secretary of the Interior- Albert Fall Attorney General- Harry Daugherty

Harding’s Foreign Policy

1921- Ignored the Treaty of Versailles and signed a separate peace with Germany

1921- Washington Naval Conference Armaments reduction meeting of major countries Five Power Treaty- England, Japan, US, France, and Italy

Agreed to limit the number of war ships being produced and scrap existing ships and to not build forts or naval bases in the Pacific

Nine Power Treaty- US, Japan, China, France, England, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Portugal Agreed to observe the Open Door in China and to respect

China’s integrity Four Power Treaty- US, England, Japan, and France

Agreed to respect one another’s possessions in the Pacific

Harding’s Domestic Policy

Republican Platform under Harding Higher tariffs Lower taxes Less government spending Aid to disabled soldiers Aid to farmers

Harding’s Domestic Policy

Budget and Accounting Act Set up the Bureau of the Budget and a General

Accounting Office Allowed US citizens to see how the government

intended to spend their moneyFordney-McCumber Tariff

Raised duties on agricultural and industrial products

Adversely affected the flow of foreign trade European nations responded with high tariffs of

their own

Harding’s Domestic Policy

Congress repealed the wartime excess profits tax on industry, reduced the top level of taxes on the wealthy from 65 to 50% (eventually down to 25%), and lowered taxes for middle and lower-income people

Bonus Bill War veterans asked for increased benefits Harding vetoed this bill and Congress could not

override Eventually passed during Coolidge’s

administration as the Adjusted Compensation Act

Harding’s Domestic Policy

War debts and reparations Harding called for the repayment of war debts

owed by the Allies to be paid in installments 1922- United States War Debt Commission

Created to negotiate repayment plans with 17 Allied nations who owed the US money due to WWI

1924- The Dawes Plan Reduced Germany’s reparations and allowed for

payment over time US banks and financiers lent money to Germany to

pay their reparations

Scandal and Corruption

Veteran’s Bureau Headed by Charles Forbes In charge of the hospitals and all other forms of

veterans’ relief $250 million wasted or stolen from this program Forbes left the country and resigned his position,

but later would serve 2 years in federal prison Charles Cramer, the Bureau’s legal advisor,

committed suicide Jesse Smith, Justice Department aid, was

wrapped up in this scandal and committed suicide as well

Scandal and Corruption

Alien Property Custodian Headed by Thomas Miller In charge of taking and maintaining German

property in the US during WWI Miller sold much of this land and pocketed

millions of dollars

Scandal and Corruption

Teapot Dome Scandal Involved Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall US had set aside oil fields as reserves and Fall

leased two of these fields (Teapot Dome in Wyoming and Elk Hills in California) to private businesses in exchange for $325,000

Fall was imprisoned Supreme Court canceled the leases

Harding’s Death

Warren Harding fell ill on a trip to the West Coast and Alaska in the summer of 1923

He succumbed to his illness and died on August 2, 1923