Unit III

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Unit III A Modern Nation

• Chapter 9 Section 3
• The Harding and Coolidge Presidencies

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The Harding and Coolidge Presidencies

• The Main Idea
• The nations desire for normalcy and its support
  for American business was reflected in two
  successive presidents it choseWarren G. Harding
  and Calvin Coolidge.
• Reading Focus
• What political events and ideas marked the Warren
  G. Harding presidency?
• What political events and ideas marked the Calvin
  Coolidge presidency?
• What were the lingering effects of World War I on
  politics in the 1920s?

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Warren G. Harding (0443)
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Warren G. Harding

• Hardings Rise
• Warren G. Harding grew up in Marion, Ohio, where
  people believed in taking care of one another
  without government help.
• Harding was elected as a U.S. senator from Ohio
  in 1914 but actually skipped more sessions than
  he attended, including historic debates on
  Prohibition and womens suffrage.
• As president, Harding regarded the job as largely
  ceremonial and told friends that the job was
  beyond his skills.
• His friendly, backslapping manner and his
  avoidance of taking hard stances on issues made
  him very popular.

• Hardings Election
• When Wilsons term ended, Republicans wanted to
  win back the White House.
• Harding was not the leading candidate, but his
  message about a return to normalcy appealed to
  Americans.
• There was no dominant Republican leader, and
  Harding was nominated.
• In his race against James Cox of Ohio, Hardings
  vision of normalcy and refusal to take a stance
  on the League of Nations assured him an
  overwhelming victory at over 60 percent of the
  vote.

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President Harding and Return to Normalcy

• President Harding was out of his depth in dealing
  with most foreign affairs. But he tried to be
  decisive. He would not join the League of
  Nations and ignored the Versailles Treaty.
  Instead the U.S. made a separate peace with
  Germany- July 2, 1921.
• When the world was at war no one could feel at
  peace.

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Hardings Presidency

• Hardings answer to the postwar economic troubles
  was less government in business and more
  business in government.
• He sought to cut the federal budget and reduce
  taxes for wealthy Americans, believing that the
  wealthy would start businesses and pull America
  out of hard times.
• Harding offered little to farmers, though he
  signed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff, which raised
  the cost of foreign farm products.
• The tariff also raised prices for American farm
  products, helping U.S. farmers in the short term
  but making it even harder for European nations to
  pay back their war debts.
• The tariff was the only measure Harding took to
  help American agriculture.

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Hardings Scandal and Sudden Death

• Harding compensated for his poor governing skills
  by hiring highly skilled cabinet members.
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon reformed
  the tax system.
• Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and
  Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover were also
  incredibly successful cabinet members.
• Some cabinet members, however, were old friends
  from Ohio, called the Ohio Gang, who were later
  convicted of taking bribes.
• Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was
  convicted and jailed for accepting bribes to
  allow oil companies to drill federal reserves on
  government land called the Teapot Dome in
  Wyoming.
• Harding, distressed by rumors, took a trip to
  Alaska, and collapsed giving a speech in Seattle
  and died not too long after.

Hardings popularity was high when he died, but
his own failings and the corruption of his
administration soured his reputation over time.
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Harding asks for advice

• When the rumors about the Teapot Dome scandal
  reached him, President Harding asked Sec. of
  Commerce Herbert Hoover for advice If you knew
  of a great scandal in our administration, would
  you for the good of the country and the party,
  expose it publicly or would you bury it?
• Hoover urged him to make the scandal public, but
  Harding was worried about it would affect his
  political career.

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The Harding Presidency

• What political events and ideas marked the Warren
  G. Harding Presidency?
• How did Hardings tendency to avoid taking
  positions on issues affect his presidency?
• In what way did the Fordney-McCumber Tariff
  backfire?

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The Harding Presidency

• Considering Hardings position about business and
  government, should the Teapot Dome scandal have
  been a surprise?
• Name three respected member of Hardings cabinet
  and the positions they filled.
• Why did the Teapot Dome incident cause a scandal?

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Calvin Coolidge (0438)
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Calvin Coolidge
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The Coolidge Presidency

• What political events and ideas marked the Calvin
  Coolidge presidency?
• What did Coolidge see as the driving force in the
  growth and development of the nation?
• How was Calvin Coolidge able to avoid being
  tainted by the scandals that had surfaced in the
  Harding Administration?

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Lingering Effects of World War I

• During World War I, European nations had borrowed
  more than 10 billion from the U.S.
• Americans expected that Europe would pay the
  money back when the fighting ended, but this
  proved difficult.
• The Fordney-McCumber Tariff made it hard for
  European farmers to sell their goods to the U.S.,
  and they could not earn the debt money.
• Instead they turned to Germany, demanding the
  Germans pay high reparations, or payments for war
  damages.
• Germany was unable to pay what the Allies
  demanded, leaving the Allies unable to pay their
  debts.
• To solve this problem, the U.S. lent money to
  Germany, assuming the role of banker to Europe.
• This continued through the 1920s, until German
  reparations were highly reduced.

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World Finances- 1930

• The Depression of 1930 left a mark on foreign
  affairs. US banks had made large loans to
  European Banks. Many of these were on the verge
  of financial collapse after World War I.
• Debt Moratorium- the US and banks would postpone
  for one year any payments by our former allies.
  Hoover asked the same for German reparation
  payments. This did not save the situation.
• Nations gave up the gold standard.- the value of
  their money no longer tied to gold
• Hoover would not just cancel the war debts.
• All of the nations that owed us money defaulted
  on the loans except Finland.
• Europeans felt their own depression was brought
  on worse by the war debts and high U.S. tariffs.
  The U.S. should be more charitable.

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The Washington Naval Conference
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Washington Naval Conference 1921

• Arms race was too expensive for America so a
  peace conference was a better idea.
• Five power treaty- Great Britain, Japan, France,
  U.S.A and Italy agree to limit their ships to
  500,000 tons. Japan 300,000, and France and
  Italy 175,000 tons. No more naval bases or
  forts in the Pacific.
• Nine Power Treaty- Protected western interests in
  Asia by binding all nine countries to the Open
  Door policy regarding China
• Four Power Treaty- US, Great Britain, Japan and
  France.- respect each others possessions in the
  Pacific
• Washington Conference was the first successful
  disarmament conference in modern history. But,
  there was no way to enforce the agreements and
  Japan began to organize and become a great Asian
  power.

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Billy Mitchell Argues for Air Power

• While the U.S. was scuttling some of its fleet,
  Brigadier General Billy Mitchell argued that the
  U.S. should invest more in building its air
  power.
• Mitchell commanded U.S. air combat operations in
  World War I and firmly believed in the military
  potential of aircraft.
• Mitchell conducted tests using planes to sink two
  battleships, but other military officials werent
  convinced of the superiority of air power over
  naval power.
• Mitchells confrontational style hurt him, and he
  was eventually punished for saying the military
  had an almost treasonable administration of
  national defense.
• He left the military and continued to promote air
  power until his death in the 1930s.

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The Kellogg-Briand Pact
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Kellogg-Briand Pact- 1928

• Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan
  and 60 other nations signed a peace pact
• They all promised to renounce war as an
  instrument of national policy in their relations
  with one another.
• The agreed to seek the solution of all disputes
  or conflicts by peaceful means.
• Signed in Paris- August 1928
• Opponents- Pact was just pious hope. America is
  not secure just because it hates war.
• Proponents- Had confidence in the peace pact to
  now make it safe to reduce the size of the costly
  American navy

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The Lingering Effects of World War I

• What were the lingering effects of World War I on
  politics in the 1920s?
• What was the purpose of the Washington Naval
  Conference of 1921?
• How did lending money to Germany indirectly
  benefit the United States after World War I?
• Do you think most Americans would agree with
  Hughess comment about the agreement reached at
  the Naval Conference?

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