The Roaring 20s: Presidential Politics

Ch 8.1

Friday, March 23, 2012

• Daily goal: Understand the significance of the Teapot Dome Scandal and the Ohio gang in the Harding Presidency and President Coolidge’s approach to business.

• Ch 7.3 Notes Analysis-• Explain what significant gains and set backs

African Americans encountered in the 1920s.• Oscar Depriest, Harlem Renassaince, NAACP.

The Harding Presidency

• Harding ran for President promising “a return to normalcy” or a return to normal life after the War.

• Pres. Harding marked an end to the Progressive Era.

• Normalcy=Laisseiz-Faire

Just making an honest living…

Why do they have their hands out behind them?

The Ohio Gang

• Pres. Harding picked his close friends (the Ohio Gang) for important gov’t jobs and they were very corrupt.

• Veteran’s Bureau was caught selling medical supplies from the Veteran’s bureau.

Teapot Dome Scandal

• Pres Harding’s Secretary of the Interior Alfred B. Fall took bribes from Oil Companies in exchange for Navy Oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wy. and Elk Hills, Ca.

Discussion Questions

• Does gov’t regulation hurt the economy or help the economy?

• Example regulation: The gov’t increases the minimum wage to $10/hour

• Consequences:• Business owner costs go up, so they have to raise

prices which could hurt sales.• On the other hand workers now have more

money to spend in the economy.

President Coolidge

• When Pres. Harding died in 1923 Coolidge became Pres.

• Coolidge kept most of Harding’s policies, but replaced most of the remaining Ohio Gang.

• Coolidge practiced laissez-faire economics, and believed the gov’t shouldn’t regulate business.

Coolidge in his own words

• “The chief business of the American people is business. The man who builds a factory builds a temple. The man who work there worships there.”