Politics of the 1920’s

“A Return to Normalcy”

Objective

• Students will be able to:– Describe the political climate of the “Roaring

20’s.”

Key Question

• What were the political conditions that lead to the economic boom of the 1920’s?

Warm Up

• Describe 3 actions taken by presidents in the first part of the 20th Century/

End of WWI

• Central Powers Casualties: 7.1 million total– Germany, 2.5 million– Ottoman Empire, 2.9 million

• Ally Casualties: 9.4 million total– France, 1.6 million – Britain, 1.2 million – Russia 3.3 million – U.S. 110,000

Treaty of Versailles

• Peace Treaty that ended WWI

• Established punitive conditions for ending the War.

• Required Germany to:– Give up substantial territory– Pay reparations of 132 billion marks (about

$31 billion then).– Accept full responsibility for the War.

Map of Europe before the War

Map of Europe after the War

Republicans

• Dominated all three branches of government during the 1920’s

• Americans were tired of War and wanted to get back to “normalcy.”

• Favored Business • Sought social stability

President Warren Harding

• “Return to Normalcy”

• Took office in March of 1921.

• Passively campaigned

• Part of Ohio “machine” political system

• Delegated much of his authority to the “Ohio gang.”

• “I knew this job would be too much for me.” Shortly after taking office

Harding’s International Policies

• Isolationism- Policy of avoiding political and economic alliances that could threaten Americas independence.– Did not join the League of Nations

• Disarmament- Policy of asking nations to voluntarily give up their weapons.– Washington Conference in 1921-Several

nations agreed to limit their navies.

Harding’s International Policies cont.

• Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922– Record high import tariff– Angered Brittain and France by limiting the market for

goods imported into the U.S.– Led to a scaling back of foreign debt by allies.

• Dawes Plan 1924– Created a payment plan for the German reparations

to be paid back.– Reorganized Germany’s National Bank– Loaned money to Germany

Harding’s Scandals

• President was not directly involved, but his administration was corrupt.

• Attorney General took bribes from Prohibition violators

• Charles R. Forbes took portion of $250 million contract for veterans hospitals.

• Teapot Dome Scandal– Interior Secretary Albert Fall – Secretly leased two Navy oil reserves in Teapot

Dome, WY and Elk Hill, CA to private investors for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

– First Cabinet Member to go to jail.

Post-War World Economy

America invests in German industry

German economy grows Able to pay back England and France

$30 billion

England and France are able to pay back America

$10 billion

Calvin Coolidge (R)

• Sworn in August 3rd 1923 at 2:30am by candle light.

• Came to prominence as Governor of Mass. during the Boston Police strike of 1919.

• Called “Silent Cal.”

• Won re-election in 1924

• “The business of America is Business.”

Coolidge’s Policies

• Laissez-Faire (Hands Off)– Financial policy that involves little government

regulation and taxation.– Fueled tremendous “Boom” of the 20’s/– Higher tariffs to protect domestic

manufacturing.– Lower income and inheritance taxes. – Refused to help Mississippi flood victims

• No duty to protect citizens “against the hazards of the elements.”

Coolidge’s Policies cont.

• Kellogg-Briand Pact– Frank B. Kellogg, Secretary of State– Aristide Briand, French Foreign Minister– Idea- a promise not to declare war on each

other.– Started with 15 nations, ended up with 60.– Good idea, but lacked a tool for enforcement.

Herbert Hoover (R)

• Elected in 1928

• Earned fame during previous administrations as Secretary of Commerce.

• Helped organize food relief following WWI

• Pro Prohibition

• Defeated NY governor Alfred E Smith

• Expectation was continued prosperity

People Politics of the 1920’s

• Nativism

• The Red Scare

• Labor Strikes

• Religion

Nativism

• Movement favoring native-born Americans over immigrants.

• 1921 Law restricting immigration.– Established Quotas limiting 3% of the

population from an immigrant country based on 1910 census

• 1924 National Origins Act – Set quota at 2% according to 1890 census– Impacted Italians, Poland, and Russia

Back to Africa Movement

• Marcus Garvey, African American• Universal Negro Improvement Association• Started a series of black owned businesses.• Encouraged to return to the Motherland of

Africa.– Founded the Black Star Line, steamship company to

return followers to Africa.– Mismanagement and corruption led to Garvey’s jailing

and later deportation.

Red Scare

• Vladimir Lenin and Bolsheviks take control of Russia on November 6th 1917.

• Lenin’s Red Army wins civil war in 1920.• Created U.S.S.R. • Communism becomes official ideology.

– Government owns all land.– Single party control.– Needs of the nation take priority over the

rights of individuals.

Red Scare

• Policy of expanding communism– Attempted over throw in Germany– Communists seize power in Hungary

• Labor unions in America seen as communist.• Palmer Raids 1920

– Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer receives bomb in mail.

– Campaign to root out “subversives” who threaten the country.

– List included Anarchists, Socialists, and Communists.– January 2nd raids in 33 cities, arrested and deported

thousands.

Sacco & Vinzetti

• April 15th 1920 robbery and murder of a paymaster in Massachusetts.

• Weeks later two anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vinzetti arrested.

• Sacco’s gun is the same model, but no other proof is offered.

• Two men are convicted in questionable trial and put to death in April 1927 following numerous appeals.

• Why were they arrested and convicted really?

Labor Strikes

• Wanted higher wages, shorter hours and right to organize.

• Steel and Coal Unions go on strikes.– American Federation of Labor (AFL)– Worked 12 hour shifts and 65 hrs/week– Wanted an 8 hour day and 48 hrs/week– 350,000 workers involved in one walk off

• Federal Government backed Companies.

Religion

• Fundamentalism- response to the questioning of Christian faith.– Return to literal belief in Bible and Jesus.

• Evolution vs God– Scopes Trial- Bans on creationism in public

schools.• Turned into a case of God vs. Monkey• Dayton Tennessee, 1925• Williams Jennings Bryan vs. Clarence Darrow

Assignment

• Pretend you are an American living in the late 1920’s

• Write a letter to a friend explaining what trouble you see developing as a result of the policies of the 1920’s– Examine the political, economic and cultural

events that are developing.

Work Cited

• Wikipedia

• http://www.uoregon.edu/~mccole/303Spring2009/maps/EuropeAfterWWI.jpg