Return to Normalcy (1920 - 1932) Flashcards
List the Presidents from this era
Harding: 1921-1923
Coolidge: 1923-1929
Hoover: 1929-1933
Describe Harding’s achievements
- Number of effective appointments
- Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act
- Successful cuts to government spending
- Reduced federal government intervention, achieving ‘return to normalcy’
Describe Harding’s effective appointments
Andrew Mellon as Treasury and Hoover as Secretary of Commerce
Describe the Sheppard-Towner Maternity Aid Act
- 1921
- Provided federal aid to states to encourage the building of infant and maternity health centres
Describe how Harding cut government spending
- Budget and Accounting Act made departments present budgets for presidential approval
- Government spending down from $5,000 million in 1920 to $3,333 million by 1922
Describe Harding’s limitations
- Traditional policies and values
- Return to before the war
- Isolationism and conservatism
List the controversies under Harding
- Teapot Dome Scandal
- ‘Ohio Gang’
- Harding’s behaviour
Describe the Teapot Dome Scandal
- An oil reserve, originally reserved for the Navy, was put under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall
- Fall was later accused of leasing oil drilling rights in return for bribes
- Assistant Attorney General committed suicide in 1923 during investigations
Describe the ‘Ohio Gang’
Harding’s close friends became notorious for their poker parties in the White House, and boozy meetings at a private house on K Street
Describe Harding’s scandalous behaviour
Renowned for drinking during prohibition and having affairs with many women, some of whom were married
Describe the 1927 Immigration Act
Under Coolidge
- Implemented a literacy test that require immigrants over the age of 16 to demonstrate basic reading comprehension in at least one language
- Increased the tax paid by new immigrants upon arrival
- Excluded entry for anyone born in the ‘Asiatic barred zone’ except for Japanese and Filipinos
Describe the initial immigration quota introduced by Dillingham
- Set at 3% of the total population of the foreign-born of each nationality in the US as recorded in 1910 census
- Total number of new immigrant visas each year = 350,000
- Initially vetoed by President Wilson but later passed by President Harding
- 1922, the act was renewed for another two years
Describe how the immigration quota changed in 1924
- The existing quota was lowered from 3% to 2%
- The year on which the quota calculations were based was pushed back from 1910 to 1890
- The % of visas available to the British Isles and Western Europe increased, but visas to Southern and Eastern Europe were limited.
Describe the impact of the immigration quotas on international relations
The Japanese were particularly offended by the Act:
- The Japanese government protested but the law remained
- Tensions between the two countries increased
Relations with Europe remained positive despite the restrictions:
- The global depression of the 30’s and WW2 limited European immigration anyway
Describe the strengths of Coolidge’s presidency
- Made more speeches and met more people than any of his predecessors
- He excluded confidence and appeared calm and unflappable
- He was honest and incorruptible (he did not smoke, drink or chase women)
- He extended Republican pro-business policies, including low taxation, low interest rates and minimal government spending
Describe the weaknesses of Coolidge’s Presidency
- Was criticised for doing very little during his presidency
- Slept a lot and said very little, nicknamed ‘Silent Cal’
- Some believe he suffered a severe depression in 1924 following the death of his son
- He appeared to have a superiority complex
- Coolidge refused to stand as president in 1928 due to health concerns
Describe the aims of foreign policy during this period
- Avoid involvement in any future European conflict
- Fear of communism following October 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia
- Maintain the most powerful navy in the world
- Protect trade interests and maintain ‘Open Door’ policy
- Maintain Monroe Doctrine and political and economic interests in Latin America
Describe the Washington Conference
- Peace conference
- November 1921
- Attended by the US, Great Britain, Japan, France and Italy
Describe the achievements of the Washington Conference
- 1921
- Disarmament Agreement signed by US, GB, Japan and France with Italy signing in 1922
- Four key countries signed Four Power Treaty, agreeing to respect each others interests in the Far East
- Japan promised to remove troops from Chinese province Shantung and US agreed not to strengthen military presence in Guam
Why did the US attend the 1921 Washington conference?
- The US wanted to prevent the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance as they feared the spread of Japanese influence
- Secretary of State was a keen supporter of disarmament
- Wanted to maintain current relations with China
Describe the limitations of the 1921 Washington Conference
- Disarmament Agreement only applied to naval battleships and aircraft carriers
- DA had no method of enforcement
- Japan broke the DA by the 1930’s
Describe the Kellogg-Briand Pact
- 1928
- The pact was signed by 15 countries which agreed not to wage war except in self-defence and to seek peaceful means to resolve disputes
- Not enforced and no sanctions for countries that broke the treaty
Why did the US sign the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact?
- Placate the French, who wanted a much stronger alliance with the US than they were willing to offer
- Increasing peace movements
Describe US loans to Europe
- US was prepared to lend money to post-war countries to restore prosperity and prevent the spread of Communism
- Insisted all war debts had to be repaid and even used this to threaten Europe
- Britain tried to force up the price of rubber by restricting exports but was forced to back down when the US threatened harsher repayments for war debts