C33 - The Politics of Boom and Bust 1920-1932

Question 1

Andrew Mellon

Answer 1

Multimillionaire businessman who was chosen by President Harding as Secretary of Treasury. He was friendly toward business and generally did a good job. The economy boomed. He believed in the principle of Government staying out of the way of business…less regulation.

Question 2

trade associations

Answer 2

x

Question 3

Kellogg-Briand Pact

Answer 3

1928: Pact signed by many countries - pledged to solve disputes peacefully, not through war.

Question 4

Harry M. Daugherty

Answer 4

Chosen by President Harding to be Attorney General. He was a crook. Bad choice by Harding to choose a crook as the main law enforcer of the US.

He was strongly anti-union and took actions that severely hurt the Labor movement in the 1920s.

He was forced out of office and tried related to allegations of selling liquor licenses, and other illegal acts while in office.

Question 5

Alfred E. Smith

Answer 5

1928 Democratic candidate for President. He was “wet” (thought alcohol should be legal) during this time when the country still believed “dry” was better.

Radio first made a big difference in this election, and Smith did not sound as good on the radio as his opponent, Republican Herbert Hoover.

Question 6

“Ohio Gang”

Answer 6

President Harding’s cronies. They had influence, even though many were dishonest, because Harding liked to be friends and hated to say no.

People said that Harding could not spot a “liar”

Question 7

Charles R. Forbes

Answer 7

1923. Spent 2 years in prison after steeling from the US Government in his position as head of Veterans affairs.

Question 8

Teapot Dome Scandal

Answer 8

1921. Crooked Secy. of the Interior, Albert B. Fall, made a shady transfer, where the Teapot Dome land in WY, which was rich in oil reserves was transferred to the Dept. of the Interior and therefore under his control.

He then took bribes from oilmen (Sinclair and Doheny) who wanted to drill the oil.

Fall later spent 1 year in jail.

Question 9

Bonus Army

Answer 9

Bonus expeditionary force. 1932 - 20,000 WWI veterans marched on Washington DC to demand a law be passed by Congress to give them their pensions early. They were mostly unemployed during the Depression and desperate for money. Some stayed a built camps in DC. They became unsanitary and eventually all men were forced to leave…some by forces led by Douglas Macarthur.

Question 10

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Answer 10

1930. Tariff passed by Congress. Initially the goal was to help farmers, but the law ended up with so many amendments from so many special interest groups, that it became the largest Tariff ever passed during peacetime.

This angered foreign nations (high tariffs stunt the ability for other countries to sell their goods in the US).

Caused the US to become more isolated economically and helped to sink the US and foreign countries into an economic depression. This played into the hands of Hitler and helped his rise to power.

Question 11

Robert LaFollette

Answer 11

Senator from WI who ran for President in the 1924 election with support of Progressives and Socialists and Labor leaders. “Fighting Bob” was his nickname. Farmers also supported him.

Question 12

John W. Davis

Answer 12

Democratic Presidential candidate in 1924 election.

Question 13

McNary-Haugen Bill

Answer 13

Pushed by farmers from 1924-1928. Twice passed by Congress and twice vetoed by President Coolidge, who thought it would be too expensive.

The bill was a way to raise prices for agricultural goods so farmers could make more $. They were losing $ as surpluses built after the war ended also after machines made it easier for farmers to harvest more crops. This caused a surplus, which caused prices to drop.

Question 14

Charles Evans Hughes

Answer 14

Harding’s choice for Secretary of State (responsible for foreign policy and relations).

He helped secure rights for America re: oil drilling in the middle east.

1921: He led the Disarmament Conference, a meeting meant to get agreement from world powers to reduce large Naval ships and arms.

Question 15

American Legion

Answer 15

Soldier/Veteran’s association that got together socially and also lobbied the Federal government for money and benefits for Veterans.

Question 16

Dawes plan

Answer 16

1924. Negotiated by Charles Dawes, who ended up as Coolidge’s VP.

Helped to solve the world financial problem that existed after WWI.

During WWI, the Allies (Britain and France) had borrowed $ from the US. The Allies were having a hard time paying US back due to economic problems (and high tariffs passed by the US, making it harder for Europeans to sell their goods). The Allies were demanding reparations from Germany for the damage done during WWI. Coolidge refused to forgive any of the debt owed by the Allies, which kept this constant pressure on Britain, France and Germany.

Finally, this 1924 law was passed that rescheduled some of Germany’s debt.

In the end, the US was never repaid.

Question 17

Hoover-Stimson doctrine

Answer 17

1931: Said that the US would not recognize any territory taken by force by Japan. This was a way to deal with the problem of Japanese aggression in the Far East, without the US getting its military involved.

Question 18

Calvin Coolidge

Answer 18

VP under Harding, who became President in 1923 when Harding died. He was honest, moral and frugal.

Nickname “Silent Cal” - not a good speaker of leader, but he did start to get rid of some of the crooks from Harding’s administration.

Question 19

Agricultural Marketing Act

Answer 19

1929. Bill passed to help farmers to help themselves (Hoover’s and the Republican’s philosophy), rather than give a handout.

Federal Farm Board was created with $ that could be lent to farmers.

Question 20

Warren G. Harding

Answer 20

Became President in 1921. Republican. Friendly and well liked, but had a mediocre mind. He admitted this and promised to surround himself with a Cabinet of great minds. He chose: Andrew Mellon (multimillionaire businessman) as Secy. of Treasury; Charles Evans Hughes as Secy. of State; Herbert Hoover as Secy. of Commerce.

2 bad choices for his cabinet were: Albert Fall (big anti-conservationist) as Secy,. of Interior and Harry M. Daugherty (turned out to be a crook) as Atty. General.

Harding was well-intentioned but weak willed - did not stop corruption around him.

Harding packed the courts, especially the Supreme Court with justices that thought like him. Progressive laws were shot down.

Big business did well under Harding. His administration pushed pro-business policies, but went too far in terms of not stopping wrongdoing by some business leaders. The hopes of Progressives of having more Federal Government Regulation of business were dashed. Harding and his group favored leaving business alone.

Scandals were prevalent in his administration due to some of the crooked people he put in positions of power and due to inability to see the corruption around him.

Before he could fully see the outcome of the scandals, Harding died in 8/1923 of pneumonia during a speaking tour.

Question 21

Black Friday + Black Tuesday

Answer 21

Black Tuesday: 10/29/1929. The Stock market crashed.

Question 22

Herbert Hoover

Answer 22

President Harding’s chose him for Secy. of Commerce.

Ran for President as Republican when Coolidge did not want to run in 1928.

An orphan who had worked his way through college (Stanford), he became a very successful engineer and businessman. Believed in American individualism, free enterprise and small government. Hoover won the election of 1928 by huge margins, even becoming the first Republican to win in a state that had formerly seceded from the Union.

Question 23

Muscle Shoals Bill

Answer 23

Law that would pave the way for the Tennessee River to be dammed and therefore produce electricity. Hoover did not support this because he didn’t believe the government should be involved in producing electricity and therefore competing against private electricity providers.

It was embraced later by President Roosevelt.

Question 24

Albert B. Fall

Answer 24

President Harding’s choice for Secretary of the Interior. Bad choice. His job was to oversee National Parks, etc., but he was a big anti-conservationist.

Question 25

Fordney-McCumber Tariff

Answer 25

1922: Tariff hike (increase) passed by Congress.

Big Business and the Harding administration were supported higher Tariffs because it was temporarily good for American business.

This was a sign of the Isolationist Foreign Policy beliefs of Harding, his administration and supporters, including Big Business.

A high Tariff makes foreign goods more expensive (that’s why US business liked these laws). But the downside is that other countries could become more Isolationist too and not trade with the US (or raise tariffs of their own on US goods). This practice furthered world-wide economic distress (and partly smoothed the way for Hitler in Germany to rise to power).

Question 26

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Answer 26

Formed in 1932, this government body lent $ to insurance companies, RRs, banks, etc. to help ease the problems related to the Depression.

Question 27

Henry Sinclair

Answer 27

Oilman who was part of scandal/bribe in Teapot Dome Scandal.

Question 28

Douglas MacArthur

Answer 28

Army general who had orders from President Hoover to force all men from the “Bonus Army” to leave DC…their camps were burned, etc.

Question 29

Republican “Old Guard” in the Presidency

Answer 29

1920s: 3 Republican Presidents: Harding, Coolidge, Hoover.

Return to more traditional ideas of smaller government (let business improve the economy/provide jobs).

Retreat from more Progressive ideas of the past where Government was more involved/bigger.