While all three presidents (Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover) hailed from the Republican party, they each had subtle difference and goals. This blog will just provide a summary of the character and main policies of each one.
Warren G. Harding:
Character:
-Easygoing, gracious, and loving
-Unable to detect evil associates (appointed Albert Fall and Harry Daugherty, two corrupt men)
-Hated saying "no"
-Overwhelmed; allegedly said "God! What a job!"
Policies:
-Approved of a joint resolution with the Central Powers that declared the war officially ended
-Washington Disarmament Conference in 1922
-Five-Power Naval Treaty led to ship ratios
-Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law: boosted schedules from 27% (in 1913) to 38.5% (in 1922).
Harding died on a speechmaking tour in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. His vice president, Coolidge, took over.
Calvin Coolidge:
Character:
-Stern, honest, moral, industrious, and frugal New Englander
-"Silent Cal"
-mediocre powers of leadership
-boring speeches
Policies:
-Twice vetoed the McNary-Haugen Bill (a bill to help farmers by keeping the agricultural prices high by authorizing the government to buy up surpluses and selling them abroad)
-Half heartedly and unsuccessfully pursued further naval disarmament
-Skillfully negotiated with the Mexicans in 1926 over an oil dispute
Coolidge announced that he would not run in the 1928 presidential election. The obvious Republican nominee was Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover.
Herbert Hoover:
Character:
-Was a poor orphan boy who went to Stanford and became a successful mining engineer
-Wanted to avoid foreign entanglements
-Believed in individualism, free enterprise, and small government
-Shy, standoffish, and stiff
-Talented in administration
Policies:
-Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 was designed to help farmers, largely through producers' cooperatives
-The Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 raised the average duty from 38.5% (in 1922) to 60%! It became the nation's highest protective tariff in the nation's peacetime history.
-During the depression, he had Congress appropriate $2.25 billion for useful public works such as the Hoover Dam
-He also established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation: assisted insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads, and even local and state governmetns
-Refused to help the League in dealing with Japan's flagrant violation in invading Manchuria
-Withdrew U.S. troops from Haiti and Nicaragua
Hope this helps! If you feel like an important policy was left out, or you have some commentary to share, please comment below.
Warren G. Harding:
Character:-Easygoing, gracious, and loving
-Unable to detect evil associates (appointed Albert Fall and Harry Daugherty, two corrupt men)
-Hated saying "no"
-Overwhelmed; allegedly said "God! What a job!"
Policies:
-Approved of a joint resolution with the Central Powers that declared the war officially ended
-Washington Disarmament Conference in 1922
-Five-Power Naval Treaty led to ship ratios
-Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law: boosted schedules from 27% (in 1913) to 38.5% (in 1922).
Harding died on a speechmaking tour in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. His vice president, Coolidge, took over.
Calvin Coolidge:
Character:-Stern, honest, moral, industrious, and frugal New Englander
-"Silent Cal"
-mediocre powers of leadership
-boring speeches
Policies:
-Twice vetoed the McNary-Haugen Bill (a bill to help farmers by keeping the agricultural prices high by authorizing the government to buy up surpluses and selling them abroad)
-Half heartedly and unsuccessfully pursued further naval disarmament
-Skillfully negotiated with the Mexicans in 1926 over an oil dispute
Coolidge announced that he would not run in the 1928 presidential election. The obvious Republican nominee was Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover.
Herbert Hoover:
Character:-Was a poor orphan boy who went to Stanford and became a successful mining engineer
-Wanted to avoid foreign entanglements
-Believed in individualism, free enterprise, and small government
-Shy, standoffish, and stiff
-Talented in administration
Policies:
-Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 was designed to help farmers, largely through producers' cooperatives
-The Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 raised the average duty from 38.5% (in 1922) to 60%! It became the nation's highest protective tariff in the nation's peacetime history.
-During the depression, he had Congress appropriate $2.25 billion for useful public works such as the Hoover Dam
-He also established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation: assisted insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads, and even local and state governmetns
-Refused to help the League in dealing with Japan's flagrant violation in invading Manchuria
-Withdrew U.S. troops from Haiti and Nicaragua
Hope this helps! If you feel like an important policy was left out, or you have some commentary to share, please comment below.
Great post Ashwin! This is a great preview to what will be coming ahead, as these are the presidents before the onset of World War 2. Because World War 2 started under the presidency under FDR, I am wondering is if Herbert Hoover did anything during his office that helped lead into it.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question Oliver, I believe that Hoover's isolationism indirectly led to the start of WW2 (in my opinion). The prime example being Hoover refusing to support the League of Nations in punishing Japan. Without American support, the League simply could not resolve major world issues and showed to other countries (a.k.a. Germany) that the League did not have the power to stop aggressive countries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great overview, Ashwin. I wonder how Harding's easy going nature affected the United States' position and performance at key events such as the Washington Disarmament Conference.
ReplyDeleteAlso I found it interesting that Harding passed away during a speechmaking tour -- he seems to have the same drive as Wilson.
I agree with Maya, I feel like this nature would make it easier to convince him to change his mind on different topics but didn't Wilson get paralyzed after the tour?
ReplyDeleteYes, Wilson did get paralyzed after his tour to attempt to win over the people in hopes to promote his idea of a League of Nations. I find it really interesting that both Wilson and Roosevelt suffer from a major disease that effectively changes their available power as president. As a result, their wives, Edith and Eleanor, became empowered and attempted to do good by making speeches and advocating for rights of the people. Thus, both presidents and the terms of their presidency seem to coincide in many ways.
ReplyDeleteThe format of this post presents information very well to its audience, and is very helpful in dissecting each president of the Roaring Twenties. Thank you for including those personal details for each president that makes history so much more interesting. It is nice to be aware of those human quirks that remind us that these presidents, even as such large figures in history, were still human. President Harding's exclamation "God! What a job!" and President Coolidge's apparent lack of oratory talent are quite amusing. After reading the comments and noting Jason's comparison of Wilson and Roosevelt, I wonder if there are another other parallel events in history that have gone relatively unnoticed?
ReplyDelete