WARREN G. HARDING

The Harding Presidency

“Normalcy”

Ohio Senator that assumed the Presidency in 1921 - Republican

Harding yearned for “normalcy” or the simpler days before the Progressive Era and the Great War

His words or peace and calm comforted the healing nation

Harding as President

Harding had limited knowledge and poor judgment

He was considered good-natured and good-looking and “looked like a president ought to look”

Struggling for Peace after WWI

Washington Naval Conference 1921 Harding invites major naval powers to DC, appealing

for peace Russia was left out because of its Communist government

Secretary of the State Charles Evans Hughes urged that no more warships be built for ten years

Suggested five major naval powers—U.S., Great Britain, Japan, France and Italy– scrap many of their battleships, cruisers, and aircraft carriers

***First time in history that powerful nations had agreed to disarm

Kellogg-Briand Pact

By 1929, US succeeds in having 64 nations sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact

Pact “renounced war as an instrument of national policy”

Americans loved it, but there was really no way to enforce the agreement.

Harding’s Foreign Policy

ISOLATIONISM:

pulling the U.S. away from involvement in world affairs

Paying the Reparations

Britain and France could not pay back money they borrowed from U.S. (owed $10 billion+) Do so in 2 ways:

By selling goods to the U.S. Collecting reparations from Germany

In 1922, America adopted Fordney-McCumber Tarriff Raised taxes on U.S. imports to 60% (highest level ever) Tax protected U.S. businesses (chemical and Metal

industries) from foreign competition This made it impossible for Britain and France to sell

enough goods in the U.S. to repay its debt

Paying the Reparations

France and Britain turned to Germany for Reparations

Germany could not pay and French troops marched in

To avoid another war, Charles G. Dawes, an American banker negotiated a loan, known as the Dawes Plan

The U.S. arranged to be repaid with its own money

Paying the Reparations

Dawes Plan caused resentmentFrance and Britain believed U.S. was not

paying a fair share of the costs of W.W. I. U.S. had benefited from the German defeatEuropeans paid for the victoryU.S. considered Britain and France financially

irresponsibleBad feelings all around……

Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration

Harding’s Cabinet Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of the State

Later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce

Had done a great job handling food distribution and refugee problems during W.W.I.

Andrew Mellon, Secretary of Treasury Drastically cut taxes Reduced national debt

Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration

“Ohio gang”: President’s poker-playing cronies

The cabinet included members of President Harding’s poker playing friends

They often caused a great deal of embarrassment

Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration

Harding’s administration unraveled as his corrupt friends used their offices to become wealthy through graft Graft: bribe

Charles R. Forbes, head of the Veterans Bureau Caught illegally selling government and hospital

supplies to private companies

Colonel Thomas W. Miller, head of the Office of Alien Property Caught taking a bribe

TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL

The worst case of corruption was the Teapot Dome Scandal. The government set aside oil-rich public land in Teapot, Wyoming. Secretary of Interior Albert Fall secretly leased the land to two oil companies. Fall received $400,000 from the oil companies and a felony conviction from the courts

Scandal Rocks Harding’s Administration

In the summer of 1923, Harding declared, “I have no trouble with my enemies…But my friends, they’re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!”

August 2, 1923 President Harding died suddenly

The crimes of his Administration came to light as his Vice-President Calvin Coolidge took over