1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. Harding’s Domestic Policy
Republican Platform under Harding
Higher tariffs
Lower taxes
Less government spending
Aid to disabled soldiers
Aid to farmers
5. 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 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
6. 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Congress repealed the wartime excess profits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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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