Normalcy and Good Times

1
Normalcy and Good Times
2
The Harding Administration

• 1919 Campaign slogan a return to normalcy
• Very Popular president
• Appointed his poker playing friends to the
  cabinet. The Ohio Gang
• Corrupt government

3
The Harding Administration cont . .

• Teapot Dome Scandal
• Harding's secretary of the interior, Albert Fall
  allowed private interests to lease lands
  containing U.S. Navy oil reserves in Teapot Dome,
  Wyoming
• Received bribes totaling over 300,000
• Scandal! Fall ends up in Prison
• Harding dies in 1923.

4
Coolidge Administration

• V.P. Calvin Coolidge becomes President after
  Harding's death
• Coolidge is re-elected in 1924
• Coolidge promised to give the United States the
  normalcy that Harding had not.

5
The rise of new industries

• New standard of living
• Wages increased and work hours decreased
• Mass production of goods and services
• Greater productivity led to the emergence of new
  industries.

6
New industries

• Assembly Line Henry Ford
• Increased manufacturing efficiency by dividing up
  operations into simple tasks that unskilled
  workers could perform.
• Model first produced
• 850
• After mass production
• dropped to 295
• Garages and gas
• stations opened
• Petroleum industry expanded

7
New Industries cont . . .

• Ford increased workers' wages and reduced the
  workday to gain workers loyalty and undercut
  union organizers
• 1926 National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
  established a permanent network of radio stations
  to distribute daily programming

8

• Isolation of Rural life ended!

9
The Consumer Society

• Higher wages and shorter workdays led to an
  economic boom as Americans traded thrift for
  their new role as consumers
• Attitudes about debt changed (installment plans)
  
• Advertising was used to convince Americans that
  they needed new products

10
Farm crisis

• Farmers were not as prosperous as the rest of
  America.
• Prices dropped dramatically while the cost to
  improve farmers technology increased.
• Farmers borrowed money and bought land and
  machinery at inflated prices
• Europeans stopped buying American farm products
  because congress raised taxes.

11
Promoting prosperity

• Govt spending and the federal budget was cut
  during the Harding adminstration
• Taxes were lowered to allow businesses and
  consumers to spend and invest their extra money
  which resulted in Economic growth.

12
Trade and Arms control

• U.S.A. was the dominant economic power in the
  world.
• Allied powers owed the U.S.billions of dollars in
  war debt.
• Many Americans favored isolationism rather than
  involvement in international politics and issues
• U.S. was too powerful and interconnected in
  international affairs to remain isolated

13
Trade and Arms Control

• The end!