I. Roaring Twenties
A. Introduction

1. Census of 1920 revealed that more Americans lived in urban centers than in rural settings
   a. 51% of the population lived in centers of 2500 or more
   b. Urban centers began to dominate American culture.
   c. The prosperity of this era illustrated the new urban dominance with the rise of skyscrapers, new housing starts and over 600,000 miles of road construction.
   d. The "progress of the age," automobile, radio, movies, and numerous new electrical appliances, centered in the metropolis and reached rural areas much later.
2. The end of World War I brought a cumulative disillusionment as Americans wondered if the sacrifice of the conflict was worth the fragile and questionable peace.
3. Frederick Jackson Turner had predicted that with the closing of the frontier, the US would become more urbanized and change its values, previously rooted in a large frontier setting.
   a. A resurgence of US business undermined reforms won by the previous generation.
   b. A national best seller for 2 years was Bruce Barton 's Man Nobody Knows , depicting Jesus Christ as the founder of the modern business system and the Apostles as a type of corporate Board of Directors, emphasizing values thought lost by 1900.
   c. A rush toward rampant materialism and hedonism replaced the idealism and social consciousness of the progressive era as Americans took what many feared to be a turn for the worse away from the best American values and idealism.
B. Major Changes of the 1920s
1. Growth of Science and Technology
   a. The Automobile changed life more than any other invention
   (1) Ford perfected the assembly line -- component parts at one end were fully assembled within 93 minutes, reducing the cost to $295 for a Model T by 1923.
   (2) With the faster, more cheaply produced cars, more people could afford to own a car, and this produced increased demands for related industries - roads and highways, auto parts stores, service stations, hotels and restaurants.
   (3) It aided the development of suburbia, because it was no longer necessary to live near work or near shopping areas.
   (4) Extended cities emerged like Los Angeles CA or Dallas-Ft Worth TX
   (a) As people moved out of inner cities, businesses moved in and real estate values skyrocketed.
   (b) Businesses built up, not out, and ultra tall skyscrapers emerged with the use of the steel beam -- the walls were non-load bearing.
   (c) The development of a fast, safe elevator followed.
   (5) Suburbs were not cut off from the excitement of the inner city.
   b. Development of a Mass Culture
   (1) The rise in popularity of the radio homogenized American culture by the mid-20s with coast-to-coast hookups.
   (a) Although expensive at first, everyone bought a radio
   (b) Station KDKA aired the first commercial broadcast in Pittsburgh PA, giving the results of the 1920 presidential election.
   (2) The growth of the motion picture industry
   (a) At the end of WWI, motion pictures were primitive and about 30 minutes long, but in the 1920s, a plot emerged as the method of making pictures evolved.
   (b) W.D. Griffith made the first feature length (11/2 hour) film.
   (c) 1927 - Jazz Singer was the first such film with sound tract.
   (3) An improved phonograph came into wider usage in the 1920s.
   c. Changes in the Home
   (1) Labor-saving devices in the home, previously available to only the rich, were now mass marketed, such as small compact vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, clothes washing machines (which became indispensable), electric irons and toasters.
   (2) These time-saving devices freed many women from the home, allowing them to attend the college or university for the first time.
   (3) Safe and reliable contraceptives became available for the first time.
   (a) Nov 1921 - Margaret Sanger , NY nurse, + Mary Ware Dennett's Voluntary Parenthood League formed the American Birth Control League (forerunner of Planned Parenthood) to dispense information on birth control methods
   (b) But society still dictated that married women have children and remain at home.
   (4) Changes in Food Preservation
   (a) By 1929, canned food was universally used by the middle class.
   (b) Clarence Birdseye perfected a quick freezing food process that did not cause food cells to burst, allowing previously frozen food to taste good.
   (c) By the end of the decade, plastics and cellophane were in widespread use.
   (5) Other changes
   (a) Cigarette lighters were developed
   (b) Telephones, popular in the home, but still only for the super rich
   (c) Air conditioning used in businesses and theaters and by the rich.
2. Industrial Changes
   a. Construction - number one industry in the 1920s
   (1) As America fell in love with the automobile, a construction boom resulted.
   (2) First high speed roadway Pennsylvania Turnpike , built with divided all concrete, all-weather highways.
   (3) First coast-to-coast highway, US 66, was completed.
   b. Electrification
   (1) In 1929, 1/2 of the families living in private homes had electricity
   (2) As the steam engine disappeared, the use of electricity increased.
   (3) Its increase led to a 75% increase in worker efficiency (1920-29).
   (4) By 1930, electricity was the major power source in the home and shop.
   c. Big Business continued to expand.
   (1) General Electric - Radio Corporation of America
   (a) 1919, GE created a wholly-owned independent subsidiary, RCA
   i) Its purpose -- to dominate the building of radio and phonographic equipment, controlling patent rights and high technology of the 1920s.
   ii) By 1929, 90% of all radio equipment had RCA tubes, or were built with equipment on which RCA held patent rights.
   iii) An improved 17-year patent could be reissued for 17 years.
   (b) RCA also had future markets and made a pooling agreement with Westinghouse and AT&T, who together dominate the telecommunications industry
   (c) RCA established an international cartel with British Marconi (inventor of the first wireless) -- in exchange for a British agreement to sell no products in the Western hemisphere, RCA agreed to market nothing in the Eastern hemisphere.
   (2) By 1930, 200 giant manufacturing companies controlled by 2,000 men produced 50% of America's non-food consumer goods. (Source: A.A. Merle & Gardner Means Modern Corporations and Private Property ).
3. Marketing Changes
   a. Installment buying increased when the torrent of consumer goods reached a saturation point and new methods of buying goods were expanded to include even smaller purchases
   (1) Installment buying previously was limited to large purchases (land or homes).
   (2) By the end of the 1920s, it will be the acceptable way to buy all kinds of goods.
   b. Birth of the Modern Advertising Industry - Advertising sophistication created demands for products previously not heard of, like cigarettes, bathroom fixtures, central heating.
   c. Subtle Changes in the Automobile Industry
   (1) In 1920, Ford offered one standard, affordable model, Model T, in one color.
   (2) Chevrolet perceived the demand for personalized automobiles in multiple colors
   (3) Chevrolet created such a demand that Ford lost its dominant position.
   (a) 1928 - Ford shut down completely for 18 months, converting to produce a Model A
   (b) It emerged again as the best auto, but just weeks before the stock market crash.
4. Changes in Working Conditions
   a. Reduction in Hours
   (1) 1923 - US Steel offered its workers three eight-hour shifts instead of a 12-hour shift, partially because of pressure from Harding.
   (2) By the mid-20s, steel making was so efficient that workers were given more time off.
   b. Welfare Capitalism - An American Plan of Business
   (1) If workers are taken care of, no unions or strikes would be needed.
   (a) Increased employee benefits included one-week paid vacations (two-weeks for seniority), basketball courts and baseball diamonds near factories where workers could play for an hour, a nurse or doctor available at the factory to treat injuries or illnesses, and company cafeterias offering good food at reasonable prices
   (b) Union membership declined in the 1920s -- AF of L had 5 million members in 1920, but only 3,444,000 by 1929.
   (2) Only one major flaw -- Unions could not compete with industrial prosperity, so that wages were not raised significantly.
   (a) Workers had more time off but no money to spend
   (b) Prices increased faster than wages so that workers could not buy many of the products they manufactured themselves.
   (c) Attempts were made to sell US products overseas, but trade barriers on foreign imports entering the US prevented capital from going overseas so US goods could be bought.
5. Changes in Foreign Investment
   a. The flow of US capital out of the country was significant as investments were made in several foreign countries -- Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe.
   b. Trade barriers, however, hindered the expansion of the US economy, because it kept US goods out of those countries, where trade barriers were raised in response to our barriers and increased the price of US goods entering them.
6. Results of these Changes on American Society
   a. Rural isolation disappeared
   b. The Age of automation was well underway by the end of the decade.
   c. Labor-saving devices liberated women from the kitchen and the home -- the beginning of the modern women's rights movement
   d. Growth of the Cosmetic Industry
   (1) Beauty, youth and thinness were portrayed for women in advertisements era.
   (2) Women were usually portrayed at home using the new modern conveniences.
   (3) Artificial means were needed to make one attractive, creating a burgeoning cosmetic industry.
   (4) 1921 - first Miss America Pageant encouraged tourism for Atlantic City NJ
   (5) 1929 - 1 in 6 marriages ended in divorce, probably not due to the women's liberation movement, but more than likely the result of increased consumerism which raised expectations in marriage to unrealistic levels.
   e. No real significant gains for women in the market place occurred in the 1920s.
   (1) Most job opportunities for women were clerical -- telephone and telegraph operators, clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, secretaries and sales persons.
   (2) Although 1/3 of all graduate degrees went to women, only 4% of full professors were women, and women were still denied access to law and medical schools.
   (3) 75% of Black women were limited to domestic service, laundry work or agricultural jobs.
   (4) Although women in Congress increased, in most cases they were widows who filled the vacancies of their dead husbands.
   (a) Alice Robertson (OK) presided over the House of Representatives (for thirty minutes), the first woman to do so.
   (b) Rebecca L. Felton (GA) symbolically filled a vacancy in the US Senate (although such a vacancy lasted only one day).
   (5) Successful business women usually ran or owned companies that designed and marketed products for women.
   (6) The growing airline industry at first had women pilots as a novelty, but as the end of the decade approached, increasingly, women were used, not as pilots, but as "hostesses" during the flights to serve the passengers.
   (7) The American work force in 1920 had 23% women but only 24% in 1930.
   f. Women failed to make real gains because the goal of many remained "To Catch A Man!"
C. Lingering Allied War Debt
1. American dissatisfaction with the outcome of the recent crusade in Europe left no desire for foreign entanglements which might pull the US into another war.
   a. Return to Normalcy meant a return to isolationism.
   b. Tired of high idealism, they accepted a second rate president
2. Lingering as a gentle reminder of the previous war was the massive war debt being passed to Germany
   a. Britain owed the US $4 billion, France $3 billion and Italy $1.6 billion and many countries owed Great Britain $10 billion.
   b. Germany was handed a bill for 132 billion gold marks.
   c. Although Great Britain offered to remit some of its debt, if the US would, Wilson insisted upon full payment from its Allies.
   d. A World War Foreign Debt commission determined the exact amount of Allied war debt owed to the US, $11.5 billion to be repaid over 62 years at 2.135% average interest rate.
3. Dawes Plan 9 April 1924
   a. 26 Dec 1922 - Germany was declared in default and again on 9 January 1923.
   b. 11 Jan 1923 - troops from France and Belgium occupied Germany's Ruhr Valley for non-payment of its debt
   c. 26 Sept - Germany's passive resistance had resulted in the mark becoming worthless and the French franc depreciating by 25%.
   d. US began loaning Germany money so that it could pay its Allied war debt.
   e. Charles F. Dawes (1865-1921) rescheduled the debt for Germany and the Allies.
   (1) To stabilize German currency, the Reichsbank was placed under Allied supervision
   (2) A schedule of payments was graduated so Germany could pay 1 billion gold marks in 1924-25 and increase the payments to 5 billion gold marks by 1928-29.
   f. Germany inflated its currency and US loans to Germany resolved the issue briefly.
   g. 14 Nov 1925 - 80.2% of Italy's debt was canceled; its interest rate was reduced to .4%
   h. Apr 1926 - 60.3% of France's debt was canceled; its interest rate was reduced to 1.6%
   i. Dawes received a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his reparation plan.
4. Young Plan 1929
   a. Owen D. Young (1874-1962), reduced Germany's debt to $8,032,500,000, payable over 58 1/2 years at 5 1/2 % and set up a Bank for International Settlements from the profits of which Germany's payments during the final 22 years should be made.
   b. German war bonds were sold in the US to help pay the German war debt
5. These plans, shored up by US dollars to Germany, collapsed when world-wide depression began in 1929.
6. 19 June 1932 - Lausanne Conference - over 90% of the required reparations was canceled.
D. Struggles within American Society
1. Between Rural and Urban American (The Revolt of the Town )
   a. Prohibition - 18th Amendment - 29 Jan 1919
   (1) WWI aided the push toward prohibition, already in 19 states by 1917, by patriotically condemning Germans, prominent in brewing and distilling.
   (2) National Prohibition Enforcement (Volstead) Act, over Wilson's veto (28 Oct 1919), provided the enforcement apparatus for the 18th amendment, and placed its administration under the Bureau of Internal Revenue, creating the post of Commissioner of Prohibition.
   (3) Although the law until 1933, the noble experiment failed in many ways.
   (a) It did not cure the social evils of alcoholism
   (b) Numerous violations of the law occurred at all levels of society.
   i) The US legal system was corrupted
   ii) The cop on the beat, judges and detectives often looked the other way.
   iii) 1/12 of the FBI's Prohibition Bureau were dismissed for corruption.
   iv) General public disrespected the law -- 300,000 violations of the Volstead Act alone
   (c) Organized crime emerged as a national force (largely financed by boot-legging liquor)
   (4) Attempts to modify the Volstead Act, to permit beer and wine, were always rejected by extreme prohibitionists until the 18th amendment was repealed by the 21st amendment
   b. Scopes Monkey Trial - Dayton Tennessee 10-21 July 1925
   (1) Tennessee's Butler Law made it illegal to teach evolution in public schools.
   (2) The ACLU sought a teacher, and found John Scopes willing to defy the law.
   (3) Clarence Darrow , an agnostic, was hired by the ACLU to defend Scopes.
   (4) Brought in to boost the prosecution was William Jennings Bryan , Fundamentalist Christian.
   (5) The only real winners were the businessmen of Dayton Tennessee.
   (a) Clarence Darrow, who had defended Eugene Debs in 1894, also lost this case.
   (b) Fundamentalist Christianity was ridiculed by the press
   (c) When Scopes' $100 fine was overturned on a technicality, the ACLU could not take this case to the Supreme Court
   (d) Scopes was forced to leave Tennessee in order to teach.
2. Social and Ethnic Tensions within American Society
   a. Rise of Black Nationalism
   (1) Blacks faced two options at the end of World War I
   (a) Booker T. Washington - accommodationism or gradualism
   (b) W.E.B.Du Bois (NAACP) - interracialism or confrontationalism
   (2) A third option emerged from a Jamaican Marcus Garvey , who in 1914 in Jamaica founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) , the first important American Black nationalist movement
   (a) Garvey was influenced by Egyptian Nationalist Suse Muhammed Ali in l912 in London.
   (b) The UNIA relocated to New York City in 1916.
   (c) Aug 1920 - the UNIA's national convention in Harlem soon attracted broad support from American Blacks with a message of Black nationalism .
   (d) Emphasizing separatism , Garvey established the Black Star Line (chartered in DE) to transport members back to Africa.
   (e) Although planning to transport the first group of American Blacks to Africa by 1924, the mismanaged shipping line fell into serious financial difficulties in 1922.
   (f) Because many whites were unnerved by this surge of racial pride, the Justice Department investigated possible mail fraud.
   (g) A 5-year legal battle financially drained the UNIA before Garvey was convicted of mail fraud (defrauding shareholders of the Black Star Line).
   (h) 1927 - Coolidge commuted his 5-year sentence and Garvey was deported to Jamaica as an undesirable alien.
   (3) Other Gains by Black Americans
   (a) The NAACP turned its focus on lynching of Blacks in the South
   (b) Oscar De Priest was the first Black congressman.
   (c) Blacks successfully fought John J. Parker's Supreme Court nomination
   b. Revival of the Ku Klux Klan - embodied rural, fundamentalist concerns politically
   (1) Nov 1915 - History teacher Colonel William J. Simmons revived the KKK in a secret meeting near Stone Mountain GA
   (2) While still only a local affair in GA and Alabama in 1920, racist Texas dentist, Hiram Evans promoted it into a national organization
   (3) It became politically potent in 1922-25 in several Southern and Midwestern states, reporting almost 6 million members at its peak.
   (4) It championed several rural causes which was the basis of its appeal.
   (a) Anti-Black in the South, anti-Catholic in the Midwest and West, anti-Semitic in the East and anti-Urban when fighting Los Angeles CA over rural water rights.
   (b) Anti immigrant almost anywhere.
   (c) It supported prohibition and disapproved of sexual immorality, saloon keepers, Darwinism, birth control, internationalism (or the League of Nations) and pacifism.
   (5) Klan Scandals
   (a) A reign of terror was linked to the KKK in Morehouse Parish LA where torture and murder were practiced but the Grand Jury refused to indict.
   (b) In Vincennes IN, Grand Dragon David C. Stephenson was convicted of kidnapping, raping and ultimately being the cause of the death of a white woman.
   (c) Having been rebuffed by a political ally, Governor of Indiana, when not pardoned, Stephenson gave key Klan documents to the government, revealing corruption and bribery at the top of the Klan hierarchy.
   (6) Membership dwindled to no more than 9,000 members nationwide by 1930.
   c. Plight of the American Farmer in the 1920s
   (1) Wartime prosperity had faded by the beginning of the 1920s.
   (2) The end of guaranteed high prices by the government coupled with the increased efficiency of farm machinery resulted in overproduction and a further decline in prices, forcing 300,000 farm foreclosures in 1921-22 alone
   (3) Capper-Volstead (Cooperative Marketing) Act 18 February 1922 (exempting agricultural associations from antitrust legislation) and the Intermediate Credit Act 4 March 1923 (facilitating loans for crop financing) did not help.
   (4) McNary Haugen Bill - Farm groups pressured Congress to solve two problems (overproduction and stable farm prices) and Congress passed another relief bill
   (a) Sen Charles L. McNary (OR) and Rep. Golbert N. Haugen (IO) proposed legislation in Congress (Jan 1924) to create a federal farm board to purchase surplus crops from farmers, and sell the products overseas at world prices or hold the crops off the market until the price increased.
   (b) If the world price was below the domestic price, farmers would pay a token equalization fee to the government.
   (c) Feb 1927 - After debate in both houses of Congress for two years, it finally passed both houses 1927 but was vetoed by Coolidge as a special interest bill.
   (5) No program dealt with the real problem -- overproduction.
3. Rising Fear of Immigrants and Radicalism
   a. In the 1920s, anyone whose Americanism was suspect was distrusted and many immigrants, especially from Eastern and Southern Europe, were feared as radicals.
   b. Immigration Legislation
   (1) 1890 - 1917 - almost 18 million immigrants arrived in the US (27% from Northwest Europe, 18.5% Eastern Europe, 27% Central Europe and over 24% Southern Europe).
   (2) Concentration of sizable foreign-born blocs appeared in larger cities
   (3) In the peak year 1914, 73.4% of immigrants were Southeastern Europeans.
   (4) 1906 - Bureau of Immigration established to keep statistical records.
   (5) Congress's literacy requirement on immigrants was vetoed by Cleveland (1896), Taft (1913) and Wilson (1915) before Congress overrode a veto in 1917.
   (6) Emergency Quota Act May 1921 - first quota law permitted only 3% of a nationality to enter based on the number in the US according to the 1910 Census, limiting the total number of immigrants to 375,000 per year
   (7) Immigration Act of 1924 - Because this still favored too many Southeastern Europeans, it was modified to cut the quotas to 2% and based the ethnic breakdown on the 1890 Census (before sizable numbers of Southeastern Europeans arrived).
   (8) Quotas exempted the Western Hemisphere but effectively froze out immigrants from Japan because not many were in the US before l890.
   (9) Immigration Act of 1929 further limited the total number of immigrants to 152,574 with no country allowed to use another's quota which reduced the real annual immigration into the US to 60,000 by 1930.
   (10) Congress abolished quotas in 1965 with the McCarran-Walter Act.
   C. Sacco-Vanzetti Case
   (1) 15 Apr 1920 - A Massachusetts shoe factory payroll of $15,000 was robbed by five men, during which a guard and pay officer was killed
   (2) After eyewitnesses reported that the robbers appeared to be Italians, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti , both anarchist and Italians, were arrested.
   (3) Although both men had fairly good alibis, Sacco possessed a gun that ballistics showed was used in the robbery.
   (4) 14 July 1921 - Both men, before the "unbiased" Judge Thayer who reportedly referred to them as "dagos" and "sons of bitches," were found guilty largely on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to death by electrocution.
   (5) The case polarized the nation, causing many high-standing American leaders to deplore this "trial by atmosphere."
   (6) While in prison for six years, demonstrations were held in their behalf in the US, Latin America and Europe, Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller, under pressure, formed a commission to review the case.
   (7) Jul 1927 - Massachusetts Review Commission upheld the guilty verdict.
   (8) 23 Aug - Sacco and Vanzetti were executed at Charlestown State Prison.
E. Harding (29th) and Coolidge (30th) Administrations
1. Harding's Early Actions - Harding knew that he lacked great leadership qualities, and was no intellectual like ex-President Wilson, but he desired popularity.
   a. He pardoned many still in jail for violating the Sedition Act including Eugene Debs, home for Christmas 1921.
   b. He pressured businesses like US Steel to move to an eight-hour shift.
   c. Although it was rumored that he was part Black in the newspapers, Harding ignored the rumors, neither reacting nor threatening suit
2. Good Men Under Harding
   a. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover promoted efficiency through trade associations.
   b. Charles Evans Hughes , Secretary of State, oversaw a foreign policy which was cautiously interested in world affairs, but basically isolationist.
   (1) The US ended its declaration of war with Germany in April 1921
   (2) Washington Naval Conference - 12 Nov -6 Feb 1922
   (a) Five-Power Treaty - Allied Naval Disarmament
   i) A moratorium on building large new ships for ten years.
   ii) A certain level of tonnage of ships (over 10,000 tons displacement or having guns larger than 8-inch caliber)
   iii) Agreed to scrap ships already built or in construction: US 845,000 tons, Britain 583,000, Japan 480,000
   iv) Agreed to limit the amount of tons that could be built by the signatories to 5/5/3/1.67/l.67 for Great Britain, the US, Japan, France and Italy.
   (b) Four-Power Treaty (US, GB, Japan, France) agreed to respect each other's rights to Pacific island possessions
   (3) Nine-Power Treaty (Japan, US + seven others) brought formal recognition to the US Open Door Policy and guaranteeing China's independence.
   c. Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon served all three Republicans in the 1920s
   (1) His tax policies favored the rich, believing investments would benefit the entire economy.
   (a) In four years, one making $4000 whose income doubled also faced a doubling of his taxes, while those making several hundred thousand had no tax increase
   (b) Many of his ideas were too radical and a coalition of Midwestern Republicans joined with Southern Democrats to halt further damage to the economic structure of the US economy.
   (2) Revenue Act 1921
   (a) abolished the excess profits tax.
   (b) cut the top rate to only 50%
   (c) raised corporate taxes only slightly
   (d) inheritance taxes remained the same
   (3) Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922
   (a) protected infant industries like toys, rayon, china, chemicals
   (b) raised the average tariff to 38.5%
   (c) put heavy duties on many agricultural products.
   d. Other positive events - November 11 was declared Armistice Day in 1921 with the first burial ceremony held at the tomb of the unknown soldier, Arlington National Cemetery VA
3. Harding Scandals.
   a. Attorney General William Daugherty ("Darty") did not vigorously pursue investigations of his buddies as scandals began to surface involving many of them.
   (1) He allowed much alcohol stored in government warehouses after having been seized, to disappear at an alarming rate
   (2) He allowed the return of seized German assets to their original owners
   (3) He was forced to resign from office at the request of Coolidge in 1924 but was acquitted of any wrongdoing in 1927.
   b. Although having only a minor position in the government, Jessie Smith , Daugherty's best friend and a good friend of Harding, became an influence peddler, selling political offices and procuring government favors.
   (1) As the bag man he delivered money to corrupt judges for favorable disposition of cases
   (2) When exposed in 1923, Smith committed suicide.
   c. Veterans Bureau -- Charles R. Forbes and assistant Charles F. Cramer siphoned off millions of dollars in hospital construction, allowing overcharges for buildings and supplies.
   (1) When exposed, Charles Cranmer committed suicide on 15 March 1923.
   (2) Forbes was sentenced to 2 years for bribery, fraud, and conspiracy and fined $10,000
   (3) John Thompson, chief of hospital construction, and COL Thomas W. Miller, Alien Property Custodian, went to prison for conspiracy to defraud the government.
   d. ***Major Scandal*** - Teapot Dome Scandal
   (1) Secretary of Interior Albert F. Fall in 1921 arranged to transfer naval oil reserves from the Department of the Navy (Edwin Denby) to his department including reserves at Teapot Dome WY and Elk Hills CA.
   (a) Apr 1922 - These reserves were then secretly leased to Harry Sinclair's Mammouth Oil (Teapot Dome) and to Edward L. Doheny (Elk Hills)
   (b) Fall received at least $400,000 in "loans," cash and negotiable securities.
   (2) Sen John B. Hendricks asked Fall to explain the highly questionable transaction.
   (3) An 18-month Senate investigation, headed by Montana Senator Thomas J. Walsh , released its report on 25 Oct 1923 which uncovered the scandal.
   (4) Fall was indicted for bribery and conspiracy and was sentenced to one year in prison, and a $100,000 fine, the first cabinet member to go to prison (AG John Mitchell, Watergate, second)
   (5) Sinclair and Doheny were acquitted of bribery, but Sinclair was sentenced to nine months in jail and $1000 for contempt of court.
   (6) The Supreme Court voided the leases in March 1927.
4. Harding's Death 2 August 1923
   a. By the summer, Harding realized that his administration was full of thieves, and that he had more to fear from friends than from enemies.
   b. Increasingly he worried about the effect that revelations of the scandals had on public opinion about him, and his health suffered, but took action against no one.
   c. While vacationing in Alaska and Washington, Harding took ill and returned to Seattle, where his Surgeon General, another good buddy, misdiagnosed food poisoning from a Japanese crab.
   d. He developed pneumonia and died of an embolism in San Francisco.
   e. On vacation in Plymouth VT, Coolidge was sworn in as 30th President by his Justice of the Peace father.
F. Coolidge Presidency - Era of Wonderful Nonsense
1. Coolidge the Man
   a. Born on the Fourth of July in Vermont 1872, he went to college in Massachusetts where he was elected LT Governor in 1915 and Governor in 1918.
   b. His actions in the Boston police strike in 1919 propelled him to national attention and the Republican ticket in 1920
   c. His idea of a good time was a long nap in the afternoon.
   d. He was shy, favored the traditional values of hard work, industry, thrift and morality.
   e. His facial expression looked like he had been weaned on a dill pickle.
2. Coolidge Administration -- Domestic Policy - 1st Term
   a. Dec 1923 - Addressing the US Congress, Coolidge supported Mellon's tax policies, adherence to the world court, prohibition, non-cancellation of the Allied war debt and no veterans' bonus, although Congress on 18 March 1924 passed over his veto, the World War Adjusted Compensation (Soldiers Bonus) Act
   (1) The bill authorized adjusted compensation to all veterans (excluding officers above captain) a bonus of $1.25 per day for overseas duty and $1 per day for stateside duty.
   (2) Although to be paid in 20 years, ex-servicemen could borrow 25% of its full face value
   b. Coolidge favored less government expenditure, little government interference with business and government aid to industry and commerce.
   c. Fortunately, Coolidge forced out of office all Harding appointees tainted with scandal which was challenged in the Supreme Court.
   (1) Coolidge pushed the government prosecutor, Harlan Stone, to prosecute all govern-ment officials guilty of fraud and bribery.
   (2) As a result of his vigorous pursuit of wrong doers, Coolidge emerged without the hint of scandal, and was very popular by the election of 1924.
G. Presidential Election of 1924
1. Major Candidates
   a. Republicans in Cleveland renominated Coolidge for reelection, adding Gov Charles G. Dawes (IL) as Vice-President.
   (1) The platform called for reduced taxes, fewer government expenditures, Fordney-McCumber Tariff, arms reduction, adherence to the World Court and international action to prevent war.
   (2) Their slogan was Keep Cool With Coolidge
   b. Democrats in New York city
   (1) A split was apparent between followers of William McAdoo (hurt by the Teapot Dome scandal because he defended Edward Doheny) and Governor Alfred Smith (NY) (opposed by the strong midwestern-based Ku Klux Klan because he was Catholic).
   (2) On the 103d ballot, Wall Street lawyer John W. Davis (WV) was nominated for president and Gov Charles W. Bryan (NE), brother of William Jennings Bryan, for Vice-President.
   (3) The platform denounced Harding's scandals and called for a competitive tariff, disarmament and a League of Nations, but surprisingly denounced the Ku Klux Klan.
   c. Progressive Republicans, National Convention of the Conference for Progressive Political Action, in Cleveland nominated Sens. Robert La Follette (WI) and Burton K. Wheeler (MN).
   (1) This new Progressive Party, mainly dissident agrarians + labor elements, got the endorsement of the Farmer labor Party, some Socialists and the AF of L.
   (2) The platform called for government ownership of railroads and water power sources, no use of the injunction in strikes, the right of labor and farmers to bargain collectively, a child labor amendment, controls on future trading in agricultural commodities, and denounced both the Mellon tax policies and the Harding administration scandals.
2. Results
   A. Coolidge won 382 electoral (15,725,016 popular) votes to Davis' 136 electoral (8,385,586 popular) votes (La Follette carried Wisconsin [13 electoral and 4,822,856 popular votes]).
   b. Republicans retained control of both Houses of Congress.
H. Coolidge Administration
1. Domestic Issues - 2d Term
   a. Income taxes were further reduced with the Revenue Act 1926.
   b. A.child labor amendment was sent to the states in June 1924, but was abandoned in 1950, still 10 states short facing strong resistance in the South.
   c. The Supreme Court struck down the Tenure of Office Act in Oct 1926, allowing the president to remove Cabinet appointees from the Harding administration.
   d. Flood Control Act 15 May 1928 - Congress appropriated $325 million for controlling floods on the Mississippi River, a ten-year project.
   e. Overall, confidence in the government was restored and the national debt was reduced by $2 billion.
   f. Other Events
   (1) Charles A. Lindbergh (1902-75) flew the Spirit of St. Louis solo from Roosevelt Field in NY to Orly Airport, greeted by a crowd of 100,000 in Paris, covering 3600 miles in 33 1/2 hours on 20-21 May 1927, the first such Atlantic crossing.
   (2) The first woman elected governor was Nellie Taylor Ross (WY) although Miriam "Ma" Ferguson was elected in Texas shortly after Ross.
2. Foreign Policy
   a. Latin America
   (1) Troops were withdrawn from the Dominican Republic in July 1925 under a new Treaty ratified in Dec 1924
   (2) Troops were sent into Nicaragua in May 1926 in support of Adolfo Diaz .
   (a) The US failed to recognize the presidency of Chamorro, which assumed power after a revolt on 25 Oct 1925.
   (b) Liberal insurrection, led by Gen Augustine Sandino , brought US support for the Conservative Diaz.
   (c) The US supervised elections in Nov 1928, when Jose Moncado, Liberal, was elected president, after which Sandino left the country.
   (3) Better relations with Mexico were restored through the work of Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow , although president-elect Alvaro Obregon was assassinated in July 1928.
   (4) 16 Jan 1928 - the Sixth International Conference of American States proposed a resolution, primarily aimed at the American Roosevelt Corollary: "No state has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of another"
   (a) US representative Charles Evans Hughes tried to block the resolution.
   (b) 17 Dec 1928 - J. Reuben Clark (US State Department) redefined the Roosevelt Corollary to apply to "a case of the US vs Europe, not the US vs Latin Amer-ica. . . . The Doctrine does not concern itself with purely inter-American relations."
   b. Jan 1926 - Charles Evans Hughes represented the US after joining the World Court of International Justice with some reservations.
   c. Kellogg-Briand Pact or Pact of Paris 27 Aug 1928
   (1) Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand agreed to outlaw war for one year, except for defensive purposes.
   (2) Signatories agreed to no armed aggression before a 1-year cooling off period
   (3) Eventually 62 nations signed this Pact of Paris.
   (4) Unfortunately the agreement contained no provisions for dealing with nations that violated the agreement and went to war, relying instead on the moral force of world opinion, rendering it useless and toothless.
   (5) Kellogg received the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize.
   (6) 29 Jan 1929 - It was ratified by the US Senate by a vote of 85-1
3. Election of 1928
   a. Coolidge Withdrawal
   (1) It was assumed that Coolidge would seek a second term since he had served less than two years of Harding's term and one term of his own, and the two term issue would not be seriously raised.
   (2) 2 August 1927 - while on vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Coolidge issued a statement - "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."
   (3) He retired from public life in 1929 and died in 1933.
   b. Candidates
   (1) Republicans in Kansas City MO
   (a) Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) (CA) was nominated for President on the first ballot with Charles Curtis (KS) on the ticket
   (b) The platform promised continued prosperity and support for prohibition, the protective tariff and the Coolidge foreign policy while rejecting the McNary-Haugen farm relief plan, although pledging support for some farm relief measures
   (c) Their slogan -- Hoo But Hoover
   (2) Democrats in Houston TX
   (a) Four-time New York Governor, Al Smith (1873-1944), was nominated for President but saddled by rural fundamentalists with a pro-dry platform and a pro-dry Vice-Presidential candidate, Joseph T. Robinson (AR).
   (b) Their platform also pledged support for some kind of farm relief and collective bargaining for labor, abolishing the use of injunctions
   in labor disputes, a stricter regulation of water power resources and immediate independence for the Philippines, condemning the Republican foreign policy but called for repealing the 18th amendment, although pledging to enforce it while it was law
   c. Campaign
   (1) In his acceptance speech Hoover stated: "We in America today are nearer the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of the land."
   (2) The prosperity theme emerged for the Republicans with a slogan --A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage .
   (3) Voters were offered a clear choice: Hoover, a Quaker prohibitionist with rural (IA and OR) roots versus the Catholic Urbanite Smith who favored repeal of prohibition.
   (4) The poorly-organized Democratic campaign and unpopular platform stands hurt the party in its traditionally strong region, the South.
   d. Results
   (1) Hoover won 444 electoral (21,392,190 popular) votes to Smith's 87 electoral (15,016,443 popular) votes.
   (2) Republicans won the House of Representatives.
   (3) With Al Smith's blessing, FDR ran for and was elected Governor of NY.
   (4) Because of religious prejudice, many Southern Democrats ("Hoovercrats") abandoned Smith and voted for Hoover, giving him 5 Southern states for the first time since the Civil War.
4. Hoover himself
   a. Having rural roots, Hoover was a "rugged individualist" who believed that thrift, self-reliance, and free-enterprise had made America great.
   b. He was trained as a mining engineer and was known as the Great Engineer .

II. Hoover Administration (31st Presidency)
A. Domestic Policies
Hoover's Inaugural Address
a. "We shall soon with the help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation."
b. He disavowed that the US desired territorial expansion or dominance of any nation.

1. Agricultural Marketing Act 1929
   a. It promoted producers cooperatives and established the Federal Farm Board to loan money to farm groups who desired to buy, sell, and store agricultural surpluses.
   b. The Board purchased surplus grain and cotton in 1930.
2. 31 June 1930 - Hoover suggested a one-year moratorium on the war debt, but did not favor canceling it altogether.
3. 3 July - the Veterans Administration Act established the Veterans Administration
4. Other events
   a. The Star-Spangled Banner was approved as the official National anthem
   b. The Empire State Building opened 1 May 1931
   c. Jan 1932 - Hattie W. Caraway (AR) was appointed to the US Senate to fill a vacancy (the first elected in March 1932)
   d. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932 but she later disappeared across the Pacific in 1937.
   e. The kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh 's 19th-month-old son resulted in the death penalty for kidnapping which crossed state lines
   (1) After a $50,000 ransom was paid, the baby was found dead on 12 May
   (2) Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty of the murder-kidnapping.
   (3) Kidnapping was made a capital offense in 1936.
B. Hoover Administration - Foreign Policy
1. Hoover-Stimson Doctrine
   a. Japanese Aggression
   (1) 1931 - Japan violated the Kellogg-Briand Pact by attacking Manchuria in China.
   (2) 4 January 1932 - Japan asked the nations of the world to recognize the independence of its puppet state in Manchuria, Manchukuo .
   b. American Response
   (1) 7 Jan - Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson declared that the US would not "recognize any treaty or agreement . . . which may impair . . . the sovereignty, the independence, or the territorial and administrative integrity of the Republic of China . . . or the Open Door Policy."
   (2) In essence, the US would not recognize any nation created by force.
   c. 11 March 1932 - the League of Nations adopted a resolution which incorporated this doctrine of Non-Recognition.
2. Hoover withdrew the marines from Nicaragua in 1933.
B. Causes of the Great Depression - Hoover is chiefly remembered for the economic collapse known as the Great Depression, the causes of which were not his.
1. Tax Policies of Andrew Mellon , Secretary of Treasury
   a. The rich were favored with tax breaks which produced a widening gap between the rich and poor and led to a poor distribution of wealth -- too much money in the hands of a few -- resulting in fewer who could purchase goods.
   b. Very little capital was returned in the form of wages and salaries, but it was put in the form of factories and expansions of factories which produced even more goods.
2. Overproduction of Goods
   a. Both farm and factory produced more than could possibly be consumed, although farmers inted that underconsumption was caused by a faulty US banking system.
   b. As fewer goods were consumed, persons were laid off, which led to more goods not being purchased which led to more layoffs, and the cycle continued until there were deep problems with the American economy.
   c. More durable goods were produced which meant that the goods were not purchased as often as before, which aggravated the lay off cycle.
3. Higher Tariffs -- Hawley-Smoot Tariff 1930
   a. The US raised the highest trade barriers in US history, an average of almost 60%, which did not protect American business as designed, but further plunged the world into an economic depression
   b. 17 June - Although 1,028 economists recommended the tariff be rejected, Hoover signed it.
   c. Europe raised trade barriers against US products and further dried up overseas markets.
   d. Because Americans were not buying European goods, Europe could not raise the American dollars needed to repay its World War debt to the US.
4. Unwise Speculation in the Stock Market
   a. Tax breaks for the wealthy left too many dollars chasing too few stocks.
   b. Banks were not restricted from using depositor's dollars and entered the stock market, forcing prices up further beyond the true value.
   c. Brokerage firms furthermore enabled smaller investors to enter the market in a greater capacity by allowing buying on margin where as little as 10% could be paid down to secure stocks.
   (1) In other words, for as little as $100 down, $1000 could be bought.
   (2) When the stocks were sold, the balance would be deducted from the profits, and the seller would receive the remainder.
   (3) If there was a loss, the seller was required to pay the difference.
5. Over-Expansion of Credit - Installment buying of goods allowed many persons to purchase goods which they could not really afford, by paying only a little at a time.
6. Drought in the Mississippi Valley
   a. An extended drought in the Mississippi Valley regions resulted in many farmers bankruptcy in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
   b. Farms were auctioned off and there was an increase in farm rentals or tenancy among both Black and white farmers.
7. Unhealthy International Monetary Situation
   a. The Allied War Debt continued to cripple the economic recovery of Europe
   b. Germany had been bailed out with US loans on several occasions which did not end the debt but only transferred it from the Allies to Germany
   c. Americans pulled investment capital out of Germany to chase stocks, hurting its recovery
   d. When the economic depression hit the US economy, no more loans were made to Germany which further crippled its recovery.
C. Great Depression
1. Beginning - A Stock Market Crash triggered an economic collapse on 29 Oct 1929.
   a. 23 Oct 1929 - a steady decline began in the market.
   b. 24 Oct - a collapse known as "Black Thursday" occurred, but men like John D. Rock-efeller and J.P. Morgan bought heavily trying to shore up the market and stop the decline.
   c. Black Tuesday 29 Oct
   (1) Stockholders lost $30 billion in paper value by 13 November, $40 billion by the end of the year and $75 billion by mid-1932 had disappeared.
   (2) The crash did not cause the depression, but was symptomatic of serious problems existing in the US economic system.
   d. Bank Closings
   (1) Numerous banks closed and many financiers committed suicide.
   (2) Between the crash and December 1930, 1300 banks closed.
   (3) By Oct 1931 another 827 had closed for good.
   (4) Although a measure of confidence was restored to the banking community in 1931 it quickly eroded after Great Britain went off the gold standard.
2. Initial Reaction of the Hoover Administration to the Deepening Depression
   a. The humanitarian Hoover was distressed by the widening misery caused by the Depression, but did not know how to deal with it.
   b. He faced two problems
   (1) Overconfidence in the American Industrial Machine
   (a) Hoover believed that the US economy was efficient, and remained undamaged.
   (b) 3 Dec 1929 - In his annual address to Congress, he declared that confidence in the nation's business community had been reestablished
   (c) Hoover sought initially to assist railroads, banks and rural credit corporations, hoping that benefits from their recovery would trickle down to the bottom ranks of society.
   (2) An Extremely Conservative Republican Congress
   (a) His Congress remained hostile to providing direct relief, if he had been inclined to offer it, which he was not, and therefore his initial response was no direct relief.
   (b) Muscle Shoals Project on the TN River could have provided many jobs, but Hoover resisted because the Federal government would compete with private utilities for electricity
   c. He attempted to prime America's business pump
   (1) Public Buildings Act appropriated $230 million for public buildings
   (2) 4 Apr 1930 - an additional $300 million for state road construction projects
   (3) He led Congress to appropriate $2.25 billion for previously- approved useful public works, such as the building of Hoover Dam on the Colorado river
   (a) Work began in 1930 and the dam was completed in 1936.
   (b) It created a man-made Lake Mead , highest in the world at the time.
   (4) Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) - 1932
   (a) Dec 1931 - Hoover asked Congress for emergency aid to business.
   (b) It loaned money to insurance companies, banks, building and loan corporations, agricultural organizations, railroads, and state and local governments for projects which ultimately earned the Federal government a profit of several million dollars.
   (c) It was expanded with an additional $3 billion.
   (d) These type of projects were not direct aid, but indirect relief.
   d. Norris-LaGuardia (Anti-Injunction) Act 1932
   (1) To protect workers' rights in a depressed job market, it outlawed "yellow dog" contracts.
   (2) The courts were also forbidden from issuing restraining orders against strikes, boycotts, and non-violent picketing
   e. Conclusion - Although these types of action laid the groundwork for later New Deal legislation under Roosevelt, ultimately they were Too Little Too Late
3. Public Reaction to Hoover's Actions
   a. Bi-Elections of 1930
   (1) Unfortunately, Hoover was unfairly criticized at the polls
   (2) Although initiating several measures that paved the way for later New Deal legislation, his very conservative Congress was hostile toward too many actions
   (3) Democrats won control of the House of Representatives and gained 8 Senate seats, but Republicans retained control of the Senate.
   b. Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF) - Summer 1932
   (1) At least 17,000 veterans marched on Washington in an effort to pressure Congress into passing the Patman Bonus Bill , to pay the previously-approved WWI veterans bonus early.
   (2) Congregating in Washington D.C., the veterans camped in every vacant lot in unsani-tary camps (Hoovervilles ), used a newspaper for cover (Hoover blanket ) and ate an armadillo (Hoover hog ).
   (3) When the bonus bill was narrowly defeated in Congress, Hoover arranged to have the return fare paid for the veterans to go back home.
   (4) Although many veterans took advantage of the fare home, about 2,000 stayed in Washington D.C. and would not disperse as ordered.
   (5) Severely taxing the social relief agencies of Washington D.C., clashes broke out 28-29 July between veterans and D.C. police, riots followed and two police and two veterans were killed.
   (6) The city government of Washington D.C. asked for assistance and Hoover ordered the army to evacuate the remaining BEF members, charging that they were led by "Reds" and ex-convicts.
   (7) Chief of Staff Gen Douglas MacArthur and his young aide Dwight D. Eisenhower , led troops with bayonets drawn against veterans at Anacostia Flats , using tear gas to disperse the crowd, resulting in the death of an 8-month-old baby ("Battle of Anacostia Flats")
   (8) The net result was a tremendous negative public image for Hoover.
4. Election of 1932
   a. Candidates
   (1) Republicans in Chicago renominated Hoover and Curtis on the first ballot, although the once popular Hoover was now the most booed man in America
   (a) The BEF fiasco left Hoover with a greater negative public image, and Hoover was blamed unfairly for the deepening economic depression
   (b) Their platform, stressing that prosperity was just around the corner, called for sharp reductions in public expenditures, balanced budget, expanding the tariff, participation in the international monetary conference, gold standard, immigration restrictions, revision but not repeal of Prohibition and veterans pensions for service-connected disabilities.
   (2) Democrats in Chicago
   (a) Three candidates held delegates at the last Democratic convention to be plagued by the 2/3 rule: John Nance Garner (TX) Speaker of the House, Al Smith , and Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) twice elected in NY
   (b) On the fourth ballot, Garner supported FDR in return for a spot on the ticket.
   (c) FDR -- fifth cousin of Teddy Roosevelt, a Harvard graduate, former assistant Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson, and nominee for Vice-President in 1920.
   i) Struck down by infantile paralysis (polio) in 1921, hia mother desired that he return to the family estate where he could be pampered and cared for, but FDR did not allow the debilitating disease to stop him.
   ii) His struggle to overcome gave him depth of character, patience, tolerance, and strength of will.
   iii) In 1928, Gov. Al Smith encouraged FDR to reenter politics by running for Governor of NY, and in 1930, he was reelected by 700,000 votes.
   (d) Democrats called for a repeal of the 18th amendment, drastic cuts in government spending, a balanced budget, a competitive tariff for revenue, unemployment and old-age insurance, a sound currency, participation in the international monetary conference and veterans pensions for service-connected disabilities.
   (e) Roosevelt's function of government -- to meet the problem of under-consumption, of adjusting production to consumption, of distributing wealth and products more equitably, and of adapting existing economic organizations to the service of the people (but such economic regulation was to be assumed only as a "last resort").
   b. Campaign
   (1) FDR had in his acceptance speech pledged "a new deal for the American people" and his later program would be referred to as the New Deal .
   (2) FDR accused Hoover of "reckless," "extravagant spending."
   c. Results
   (1) Roosevelt won 22,809,638 (57.4%) popular (472 electoral) votes to Hoover's 15,758,901 (39.6%)popular and 59 electoral votes.
   (2) Roosevelt led in 90% of the nation's 3000 counties and a majority of the regions except New England where Hoover carried only 6 states.
   (3) Democrats gained large majorities in both Houses of Congress: Senate 60 Democrats to 35 Republicans; House 310 Democrats to 117 Republicans, 5 Farm-Laborites
   (4) A new voter coalition emerged in 1932 -- Blacks (mostly in the North) abandoning the party of Lincoln + Urban progressives, + laborers + immigrants (mostly women) + depressed farm areas = Democratic landslide.
   (5) For the first time possibly, a class-conscious element was introduced into US politics, which may still be with us in the 1990s.
   d. Hoover as Lame Duck
   (1) No additional legislation to provide relief was passed by the old conservative congress or the newly elected Congress who preferred to wait for the new man.
   (2) Hoover's ineffectiveness following his defeat at the polls amplified the need for the 20th amendment which had been submitted to the states on 3 Mar 1932.
   (3) Ratified on 6 Feb 1933, it moved inauguration from 3 Mar to 20 Jan, reconvened Congress on 3 Jan and designated that the Vice-President-elect would become President if the President-elect were to be disabled before taking office.
   (4) Because FDR won such a landslide, campaigning on a repeal of prohibition, Congress submitted to the states the 21st amendment on 20 Feb 1933, and it became law on 3 Dec 1933 when the 36th state, Utah, ratified it.
   (5) 15 Feb 1933 - FDR was shot at in an open car in Miami FL, but was not hit.
   (a) Bullets hit Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago who died on 6 Mar.
   (b) The assassin, Giuseppe Zangara, was executed on 20 Mar 1934.
   e. Other items of interest 1933:
   a. The first All star game was played - AL 4 - NL 2
   b. The first Professional NFL championship -- Chicago Bears 23 - NY Giants 21