HOW DID PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP

1
HOW DID PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP INFLUENCE U.S.
POLICY DURING THE 1920'S?
2

• The business of America is business. The man
  who builds a factory builds a temple. The man
  who works there worships there

President Calvin Coolidge
3
Presidential Leadership in the 1920s

• President Warren G. Harding
• Harding wins landslide election promising a
  return to normal
• Return to isolationism
• Pro-business policies
• Make economy grow and create jobs
• Americans were war weary wanted a return to
  pre-war days

"Return to Normalcy"
4
How did Harding Disappoint the People?

• Political Scandals
• Hardings political appointees were corrupt
• Cabinet secretary was bribed and secretly leased
  land to oil companies at Teapot Dome, Wyoming
• First time a cabinet secretary was sent to prison
• Harding dies in office of a heart attack before
  scandals are connected directly to him

5
Calvin Coolidge Takes Office

• Silent Cal
• Sworn in after Hardings death
• Coolidge was different from Harding
• Not a big speech maker or party thrower
• Coolidge repaired damage caused by scandals

6
Coolidge Prosperity

• The business of America is business. The man
  who builds a factory builds a temple. The man
  who works there worships there
  
• Calvin Coolidge
• What was Coolidges priority as president?
• Pro big business
• Business was the most important part in creating
  the American way of life
• Began a period of rapid economic growth

Silent Cal
7
Coolidge Prosperity

• Industry Booms
• Quantity of goods made by industry doubled
• More jobs were made and incomes rose
• People spent money on new products
• Refrigerators, radios, phonographs, vacuum
  cleaners
• Installment buying (credit) allowed people to
  spend more money than they could afford
• Overspending became a serious economic problem

8
Coolidge Prosperity

• A Soaring Stock Market
• More people invested in the stock market than
  ever before. (Bull Market)
• Stocks were bought on margin
• For 10 down payment, buyers held stocks until
  the price rose and sold it for a profit
• Margin buying works as long as stock prices rise
• Margin buying became a cause for The Great
  Depression of the 1930s

9
Foreign Affairs

• Presidents Harding and Coolidge kept the U.S. out
  of European affairs (Isolation)
• US remained out of the League of Nations
• The US intervened in Latin America when American
  business interests were threatened
• US signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact
• This treaty outlawed war, but had no means of
  keeping the peace

10
Conclusion

• How did presidential leadership influence US
  policy during the 1920s?
• Presidential leadership
• Created a strong economy
• Created a bull market
• Returned the nation to pre-WW1 isolation
• Increased jobs and family income
• Created an era of peace prosperity