in 1920 republican warren g harding is elected President of the United States
after World War one American society tried to recover they were wearied and
tired of chaos and war they wanted to return to the simpler times of the
Gilded Age one where America was isolated and only cared about the
business of America during the campaign of 1920 warren g harding promised a
return to those simpler times he assured the American people that America's
present need is not heroics but healing no nostrils but normalcy ardennes legacy
as president is one of incompetence scandal and hands-off politics
Harding looked presidential but he was anything but what Harding really was was
a good old boy at the Republican Party he was fond of gambling drinking and
womanizing he had extremely poor judgment in his
Capitan's selections Harding was simply put up by the Republican Party to win
the election because he looked more presidential than his opponent because
it was more of a puppet of the old guard conservatives in the Republican Party
and Harding was so aloof on matters Harding's presidency was dominated by
people behind the scenes and not by Harding himself
Harding's political philosophy dealt with the idea of lower taxes and
lessening the government's role in business and society Harding didn't
really understand political issues Harding appointed corrupt cronies to his
cabinet because of this they were referred to as the Ohio gang they're a
group of poker playing friends the Harding had running in his cabin they
took advantage of Harding's lack of knowledge to take bribes and undo
reforms behind his back while in office Harding focused on settling trade war
debts and disarmament issues around the world
one major political accomplishment during the 1920s was the kellogg-briand
pact in 1928 fifteen world powers signed this pact agreeing to disarm their
navies and essentially outline war however there was no real way to enforce
this pact therefore it was useless how can you
really stop war from occurring well it was a good idea anyway the next
accomplishment of the politics in the 1920s was the forty McCumber tariffs
assigned in 1922 and raised tariffs on on
imports coming to the United States the idea was that as products coming from
the outside cost more consumers were more likely to buy products built in the
United States thus protecting US businesses helping them to succeed the
downside to the tariff was the United Kingdom and France were not able to sell
their goods to United States thus costing them profits and not allowing
them to repay their war debts another political problem of the 1920s was war
reparations and war debt this led to the Dawes plan in 1924 US investors loaned
Germany 2.5 billion dollars to pay back the war reparations they owed to Great
Britain and France here's how the Dawes plan worked with the United States
loaning money to Germany to pay off their war reparations to England and
France England France can then pay back their war debts to the United States did
you see what happened there essentially we were paying Germany to pay print in
France to pay us back war debts with our own money the Harding presidency was
defined by one of the biggest scandals in US political history this scandal is
a Teapot Dome scandal this was committed by Harding's Secretary of the Interior
our beef all false old oil rich land to his oil friends for money due to this
illegal transaction fall was able to pocket over four hundred thousand
dollars from the sale fall illegally move protected land in Wyoming in
California in case control he then sold this conserved land to his friends who
owned oil companies fall was the first cabinet member in history to be
convicted of felony when President Warren G Harding's suddenly dies of a
heart attack in 1923 Americans mourned him although he wasn't a great president
he was likable in his footsteps came Vice President Calvin Coolidge humble
meek and quiet silent cow was the polar opposite to Harding in terms of
personality he focused on maintaining and broadening Harding's policies of
lower taxes less government higher tariffs and a pro-business stance
although he wasn't flashy he did lead a scandal-free administration that
restored faith in the Republican Party he was also responsible for signing the
kellogg-briand pact Coolidge's presidency is defined by a
statement he once made he told the American people the business of America
is business Coolidge's philosophy focused on a
hands-off approach to government allowing businesses to flourish and the
American economy to prosper the legacy of the hardy and Coolidge presidency is
to set the agenda for lazy affair politics through the roaring 20s it set
the economic climate that would lead to prosperity but ultimately an economic
depression this economic depression is one that would change the future of the
United States forever