Politics 1920-1932
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Hoovers response to the great depression
won the election in 1920 as a republican likeable and was popular with female voters- liked golf drinking and other men's wives
Reputation was tarnished by scandals
Political corruption
Republicans had a close relation to big business ' less gov in business more business in gov'
Secretary of the Treasury was Mellon supporting high protective tariffs
Ford-McCumbers Act 1922 highest ever tariff levels with high support due to the brief post war recession and the following years of prosperity
Historians arguing for good
had important budgeting reforms ( presidential budget committed|)
Supported anti-lynching and did good work with foreign policy
Ignored the prohibition and had affairs with other women
Teapot Dome Scandal
Harding started in the republican politics of Ohio , many hung on during the presidency holding offices called the 'Ohio gang' playing poker and enriching themselves
In 1922Federal oil reserves were being secretly sold to make profit for politicians such as Albert Fall. The assistant Attorney General killed himself in 1923
In 1923 Harding died in San Fransisco
Cautioned conservative that followed big business dry dull but respectable
Hardings Vice President
Small gov and low taxes
Revenue Act 1924- Big cuts in income tax
Progressive support declined, La Follette ran in 1924 asnd failed
Declined to run again in 1928 and set up Hoover aginst Smith
Republican dominance bigger than ever
Al Smith was a great politician but his Catholicism was a great downfall, anti Catholicism in his own party - no Catholic president until 1960's
inaugurated in 1929 known as the Great Engineer and it was assumed he would be a great success
Rising economy and stock market boom
The Great depression meant republican defeat in 1932 elections
Wasn't really Hoovers fault, would have happened to anyone
Hoover-blankets - newspaper blankets used by the homeless
Hoovervilles- shanty towns of unemployment
Depression was not a result of the wall street crash of 1929 but it added to it a-lot
Didnt become the great depression until mid 1931
Allen White argues that Hoover was an innocent bystander
The whole system of reperation and war debt had failed
Britian abandoned Gold standard and European banks were failing
Hoovers responses were mainly passive
leave business to sort itself out
Andrew Mellon (treasury) though it would be benificial and purge the system
Believed that deflation was the answer NOT Keynism ( government intervention.
No immediate collapse in 1930 - proved them right ?
Hoover later changed his mind and intervened - 'too little too late '?
Crisis in banking so bad they needed to suspend for whole days - bank holidays however bank failures were common and okay about 600 every yr
Agricultural and rural economy, relucant to give farmers direct subsidy
Agricultural Amrketing Act - set up a federal Farm Board to provide loans
The Grain stabilisation Corporation 1930 to guarantee fair prices, but prices went lower and farmers were broke.
Farmers damaged by the Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act increasing import duties and harmed national trade
Many belive he sould have vetoed it and tat this was his biggest mistake
dost-bowl conditions - heat waves that caused drought and soil erosion. in mid west in 1930's Hoover provided loans but it wasnt enough
Industry and business
voluntarism, not gov intervention ,balancing the budget by reducing federal spending
By 1931 industry was at a standstill and 7 million unemployed so hoover finally accepted intervention
Reconstruction Finance Corporation offering millions of emergency loans to banks and corperations
Federal Home Loan Bank Act to encourage mortgages
The Emergency Relief and Construction Act 1932 - federal funding for states to run public works schemes for jobs
Revenue Act increased tax on business , slowing down consumer spending
Army veterans The Bonus expeditionary force came to Washington to demand increase in bonus veteran payments but hoover refused and a big clash made hoover look bad
By 1932 the Great Depression was at its worst and democrats position improved