WARREN G. HARDING The Harding Presidency. Normalcy Ohio Senator that assumed the Presidency in 1921...
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Transcript of WARREN G. HARDING The Harding Presidency. Normalcy Ohio Senator that assumed the Presidency in 1921...
WARREN G. HARDING
The Harding Presidency
“Normalcy”
Ohio Senator that assumed the Presidency in 1921 - Republican
Harding yearned for “normalcy” or the simpler days before the Progressive Era and the Great War
His words or peace and calm comforted the healing nation
Harding as President
Harding had limited knowledge and poor judgment
He was considered good-natured and good-looking and “looked like a president ought to look”
Struggling for Peace after WWI
Washington Naval Conference 1921 Harding invites major naval powers to DC, appealing
for peace Russia was left out because of its Communist government
Secretary of the State Charles Evans Hughes urged that no more warships be built for ten years
Suggested five major naval powers—U.S., Great Britain, Japan, France and Italy– scrap many of their battleships, cruisers, and aircraft carriers
***First time in history that powerful nations had agreed to disarm
Kellogg-Briand Pact
By 1929, US succeeds in having 64 nations sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact
Pact “renounced war as an instrument of national policy”
Americans loved it, but there was really no way to enforce the agreement.
Harding’s Foreign Policy
ISOLATIONISM:
pulling the U.S. away from involvement in world affairs
Paying the Reparations
Britain and France could not pay back money they borrowed from U.S. (owed $10 billion+) Do so in 2 ways:
By selling goods to the U.S. Collecting reparations from Germany
In 1922, America adopted Fordney-McCumber Tarriff Raised taxes on U.S. imports to 60% (highest level ever) Tax protected U.S. businesses (chemical and Metal
industries) from foreign competition This made it impossible for Britain and France to sell
enough goods in the U.S. to repay its debt
Paying the Reparations
France and Britain turned to Germany for Reparations
Germany could not pay and French troops marched in
To avoid another war, Charles G. Dawes, an American banker negotiated a loan, known as the Dawes Plan
The U.S. arranged to be repaid with its own money
Paying the Reparations
Dawes Plan caused resentmentFrance and Britain believed U.S. was not
paying a fair share of the costs of W.W. I. U.S. had benefited from the German defeatEuropeans paid for the victoryU.S. considered Britain and France financially
irresponsibleBad feelings all around……
Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration
Harding’s Cabinet Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of the State
Later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce
Had done a great job handling food distribution and refugee problems during W.W.I.
Andrew Mellon, Secretary of Treasury Drastically cut taxes Reduced national debt
Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration
“Ohio gang”: President’s poker-playing cronies
The cabinet included members of President Harding’s poker playing friends
They often caused a great deal of embarrassment
Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration
Harding’s administration unraveled as his corrupt friends used their offices to become wealthy through graft Graft: bribe
Charles R. Forbes, head of the Veterans Bureau Caught illegally selling government and hospital
supplies to private companies
Colonel Thomas W. Miller, head of the Office of Alien Property Caught taking a bribe
TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL
The worst case of corruption was the Teapot Dome Scandal. The government set aside oil-rich public land in Teapot, Wyoming. Secretary of Interior Albert Fall secretly leased the land to two oil companies. Fall received $400,000 from the oil companies and a felony conviction from the courts
Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration
In the summer of 1923, Harding declared, “I have no trouble with my enemies…But my friends, they’re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!”
August 2, 1923 President Harding died suddenly
The crimes of his Administration came to light as his Vice-President Calvin Coolidge took over