U5L1 Harding and Cooling Flashcards
After the war, what caused a recession?
When the war ended, more than 2 million soldiers came home and began to look for jobs. At the same time, factories stopped turning out war materials.
What is the definition of recession?
Economic slump
How did the recession affect democrats?
The recession fed voter discontent with the Democrats
How won the 1920 election?
Warren Harding
Who did Harding chose for Secretary of the treasure?
Andrew Mellon, a wealthy banker, became secretary of the treasury. Mellon balanced the budget and lowered taxes.
Who became the Secretary of commerce?
Herbert Hoover
What did Herbert Hoover do in world war 1?
Hoover had earned the world’s admiration by organizing efforts to supply food to millions of starving Belgians.
What did Hoover do as Secretary of commerce?
As secretary of commerce, he worked to help American businesses expand overseas.
To fill most often Cabinet posts, who did Harding bring?
His old friends
Who was the Ohio Gang?
Harding friends who he brought into the Cabinet
How was Harding different from the Ohio Gang?
Harding himself was honest and hard-working, but the Ohio Gang saw government service as a way to enrich themselves.
Due to the Ohio Gang being in office, what happened?
A series of scandals occurred
Harding made his friend, Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans Bureau. What did Forbes do instead of doing his job?
Forbes was later convicted of stealing millions of dollars from the bureau.
How did Harding see Forbes’s crime as?
A betrayal
Why do people think that the scandal contributed to President Hardings sudden death?
When rumors of new scandals surfaced, President Harding grew even more distressed. In August 1923, Harding died of a heart attack. Many believed that the scandals contributed to his sudden death.
After Harding died, what scandal came to light?
Teapot Dome Scandal
Who did the Teapot Dome Scandal?
Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall
…
It was a group of people but the most seriously involved was Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall.
What was the Teapot Sandel?
Two oil executives had bribed Fall. In return, he secretly leased them government land in California and at Teapot Dome, Wyoming. As a result of the Teapot Dome Scandal, Fall became the first Cabinet official ever sent to prison.
How was President Harding and Vice President Coolidge different?
Harding loved throwing parties and making long speeches. Coolidge was tight with both money and words. A woman reportedly told Coolidge she had bet that she could get him to say more than two words. “You lose,” Coolidge replied.
What did President Coolidge work towards?
Coolidge set out to repair the damage caused by the scandals. He forced the officials involved in scandals to resign.
What happened to the economy when the soldiers came home from World War I?
a recession
How did Harding bring in to fill most cabinet positions?
His old friends
How was Coolidge different from Harding?
He was tight with money and words.
Like Harding, what did President Coolidge believe in?
Business
Coolidge believed that prosperity for all Americans depended on business prosperity.
How did President Coolidge’s pro-business policies change the government?
Coolidge cut regulations on business. He also named business leaders to head government agencies.
How did President Coolidge’s pro-business policies change the economy?
Coolidge’s pro-business policies contributed to a period of rapid economic growth. People referred to this boom as “Coolidge prosperity.” As factories switched to consumer goods, the postwar recession ended. From 1923 to 1929, the quantity of goods made by industry almost doubled.
Electric refrigerators, radios, phonographs, vacuum cleaners, and many other appliances took their places in American homes. How were many Americans able to buy which things?
Due to Coolidge’s pro-business policies, for most Americans, incomes rose. As a result, they were able to buy a flood of new consumer products.
Why did businesses begin allowing installment buying?
Faced with so many goods, people often wanted to buy things they could not afford.
What is installment buying?
Buying on credit
What is interest?
A percentage of the price charged as a fee for the loan
Due to installment buying what happened?
The new policy of “buy now, pay later” increased the demand for goods. At the same time, however, consumer debt jumped. By the end of the decade, consumers owed more than the amount of the federal budget.
What were stocks?
Shares of ownership
The economic boom of the 1920s gave the stock market a giant boost. Corporations sold stocks, or shares of ownership, to investors. Investors made or lost money depending upon whether the price of the shares went up or down.
That’s it.
The economic boom of the 1920s gave the stock market a giant boost. How did this affect people?
By the late 1920s, more people were investing in the stock market than ever before. Stock prices rose so fast that some people made fortunes almost overnight.
What made drew people to the stock market?
Stories of ordinary people becoming rich drew others into the stock market.
What period is known as the bull market?
Such a period of increased stock trading and rising stock prices is known as a bull market.
Many people bought stocks on margin. What are margins?
Under this system, an investor bought a stock for as little as a 10 percent downpayment, or margin. The buyer held the stock until the price rose and then sold it at a profit. Margin buying worked as long as stock prices kept going up.
In 1928 and 1929, however, the prices of many stocks rose faster than the value of the companies themselves. What did experts warn investors about?
A few experts warned that the bull market could not last forever. Still, most investors ignored the warnings.
After World War I, the United States was the world’s leading economic power. Because of this, what did Europeans expect of them?
Europeans expected the United States to take a major role in world affairs.
Even though President Coolidge wanted to keep the hard-won peace in Europe, where did he draw the line?
However, they did not want to commit the United States to the job of keeping world peace.
Instead of joining the League of Nations, what did the U.S. do instead?
The United States sent observers to the League of Nations but refused to join.
During the WW1, why did U.S. trade and investment in Latin America increase?
During the war, Latin American nations had been cut off from Europe because of wartime threats to shipping.
Even though U.S. trade and investment in L.A. increased, the United States limited its role abroad. Why?
fear that more involvement might push the country into another war
Describe times when America got involved with Nicaragua (1926) and Mexico (1927).
In 1926, for example, a revolution broke out in Nicaragua, where Americans owned plantations and railroads. Coolidge sent marines to oversee new elections.
In 1927, Mexico announced plans to take over foreign-owned oil and mining companies. American investors called on President Coolidge to send in troops. Instead, Coolidge sent a diplomat, Dwight Morrow, to Mexico. After much hard bargaining, Morrow was able to work out a compromise with the Mexican government.
What was the world’s first communist state?
The Soviet Union
What is the definition of communism?
Communism, as practiced in the Soviet Union, was an economic system in which all wealth and property were owned by the government.
Who was leading the Soviet Union?
Lenin
What did the Soviet government do that shocked Americans?
It shocked them when the Soviet government did away with private property and attacked religion.
Congress voted to provide $20 million in aid when famine threatened the Soviet Union in 1921. How many Soviet lives did the possibility save?
About 10 million
An arms race in Europe had helped cause World War I, because of this what did people do after the war?
Many people in the 1920s favored the reduction of armed forces and weapons of war, or disarmament.
Which groups led the disarmament movement in the United States and Europe?
Pacifist groups such as the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, founded by Jane Addams, led the call for disarmament in the United States and Europe.
To help peace efforts, what did the United Stares, Britain, and Japan agree to do?
(1921)
Limit the size of their navies
What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
This treaty agree to renounce war as an instrument of national policy and to settle all international disputes by peaceful means.
Which nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
The United States and 61 other nations
What was the fatal flaw of the Kellogg-Briand Pact United States and 61 other nations?
It did not set up any means for keeping the peace. One nation could still use force against another without fear of punishment. Still, many hailed the Kellogg-Briand Pact as the beginning of a new age of peace.
What is the period of rapid economic growth under President Coolidge?
Coolidge Prosperity
What was one of the few parts of the world where the United States would sometimes intervene politically?
Latin America
How did the United States, Britain, and Japan agree to back peace-keeping efforts?
Each of them agreed to limit the size of its navy.
