CP US - Ch. 22 - Sec. 2

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

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 money
Fordney-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

Congress repealed the wartime excess profits tax on industry, reduced the top level of taxes on the wealthy from 65 to 50% (eventually down to 25%), and lowered taxes for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

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

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

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

http://foresttrail.ilearn-ed.com	31
https://fairmontschools.blackboard.com	13
http://dev.foresttrailacademy.com	2

CP US - Ch. 22 - Sec. 2

by Nick Ochoa

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 46

Statistics

CP US - Ch. 22 - Sec. 2 Presentation Transcript