chapter 31 - the politics of boom and bust

adkins v. children’s hospital

• court decision that federal minimum wage legislation for women was an unconstitutional infringement of liberty of contract, based on ideas of gender equality

  • declared unconstitutional a minimum wage law for women on the grounds that it denied women the freedom of contract

steel strike of 1919

• work stoppage that began when some 365,000 steelworkers in pennsylvania walked off the job to demand recognition of their union, higher wages, and shorter working hours

• post ww1, greatest in american history, strike

  • led by the AFL that eventually failed under the pressure of the red scare

american legion

• ww1 veterans’ group that promoted patriotism and economic benefits for former servicemen

washington disarmament conference

• an international conference on the limitation of naval fleet construction begins in washington

• under state leadership of the american secretary of state charles evans hughes, the representatives of the united states, great britain, france, italy, and japan pledge not to exceed the designated sizes of their respective naval fleets

four-power treaty

• 1921

• treaty between the united states, great britain, france, and japan to maintain the status quo in the south pacific, that no countries could seek further territorial gain

five-power treaty

• naval limitation treaty set a ship ratio for the countries involved and called for the scrapping of 1,900,000 tons of warships

• signed by the united states, great britain, japan, france, and italy

nine-power treaty

• 1922

• treaty that was essentially a reinvention of the open door policy

  • all members to allow equal and fair trading rights with china

• signed by 9 nations

  • the united states, japan, china, france, great britain, italy, belgium, netherlands, and portugal 

kellogg-briand pact

• treaty signed in 1928 that outlawed war → agreed not to pose the threat of war against one another

  • but:

    • cannot enforce it

    • allowed defensive wars

• linked 62 nations in the supposed “outlawry of war”

fordney-mccumber tariff

• 1922 and 1930

• raised tariffs extremely high on manufactured good

• benefited domestic manufacturers, but limited foreign trade

teapot dome scandal

• 1929

• the naval strategic oil reserve at elk hills → known as “teapot dome”

  • was taken out of the navy’s control and placed it in the hands of the department the interior → leased the land to oil companies

• several cabinet members received huge bribes

• due to the investigation, government officials daugherty, denky, and fall were forced to resign

mcnary-haugen bill

• a plan to rehabilitate american agriculture by raising the domestic prices of farm products

  • effects of the protective tariff and burdens of debt and taxation had created a serious agricultural depression and grew steadily worse

dawes plan

• a plan to revive the german economy

• the united states loans germany money which then can pay reparations to england and france, who can then pay back their loans from the united states

  • circular flow of money was a success

“hoovercrats”

• “dry” → protestant southern democrats who rebelled against their party’s “wet”

• catholic presidential nominee in 1928 and voted for the republican candidate

agricultural marketing act of 1929

• established the federal farm board

  • a lending bureau for hard-pressed farmers

• aimed to help farmers help themselves through new producers’ cooperatives

  • as the great depression worsened, the board tried to bolster falling prices by buying up surpluses, but it was unable to cope with the flood of farm produce to market

hawley-smoot tariff

• charged a high tax for imports thereby leading to less trade between american and foreign countries along with some economic retaliation

black tuesday

• october 29, 2929

• date of the worst stock-market crash in american history and the beginning of the great depression

muscle shoals bill

• hoover fights all schemes he regards as socialistic

• designed to dam the tennessee river and was ultimately embraced by franklin roosevelt’s tennessee valley authority

  • hoover thinks that it is suspiciously socialistic and vetoed this measure → opposed the government selling electricity in competition with its own citizen in private companies

hoovervilles

• the great depression shantytowns

  • named after hoover, the president whom many blamed for their financial distress

rugged individualism

• herbert hoover’s belief that people must be self-reliant and not dependent on upon the federal government for assistance

trickle-down basis

• hoover gave relief to big corporations thinking that they would spend money and give it to the bottom of the economic pyramid relieving all nation

pump priming

• economic theory that favored public works projects because they put money into the hands of consumers who would buy more goods

  • stimulating the economy

reconstruction finance corporation (RFC)

• agency established in 1932

• provided emergency relief to large businesses, insurance companies, and banks

norris-laguardia anti-injunction act

• hoover attempted to improve the lot of the union worker

  • outlawed yellow dog contracts

  • banned the federal courts from issuing injunctions against workers in non-violent strikes

  • protected the rights of workers to unionize

bonus army

• facing the financial crisis of the great depression, ww1 veterans tried to pressure congress to pay them their retirement bonuses early

  • congress considered a bill authorizing immediate assurance of $2.4 billion, but it was not approved

• 1932 → angry veterans marched on washington, d.c

  • hoover called in the army to get the veterans out of there

bonus expeditionary force

• thousand of ww1 veterans who insisted on immediate payment of their bonus certificates

• they marched on washington in 1932

  • violence ensued when president herbert hoover ordered their tent villages cleared

“ohio gang”

• group of poker-playing

• men that were friends of president warren harding

  • harding appointed them to offices and they used their  power to gain money for themselves

• involved in scandals that ruined harding’s reputation even though he was not involved

good neighbor policy

• franklin d. roosevelt’s foreign policy of promoting better relations with latin america by using economic influence rather than military force in the region

stimson doctrine

• hoover’s secretary of state said the united states would not recognize territorial changes resulting from japan’s invasion of manchuria

old guard

• one of two major factions largely within the republican party

  • composed of the party regulars and professional politicians 

• preoccupied with building up the party machinery

  • developing party loyalty

  • acquiring and dispensing patronage

• challenged by progressives from around 1896-1930s

esch-cummins transportation act of 1920

• encourages private consolidation of the railroads and pledges the interstate commerce commission to guarantee their profitability

merchant marine act of 1920

• authorized the shipping board, which controlled about 1500 vessels, to dispose of much of the hastily built wartime fleet at bargain-basement price dispose of much of the hastily built wartime fleet at bargain-basement prices

railway labor board

• ordered a wage cut of 12% in 1922

• provoked a two-month strike

  • ended when attorney general daugherty clamped injunctions of strikers → the union wilted and membership dropped to 30%

veterans bureau

• a federal bureau created in 1921 to provide hospitals and services to disabled veterans

adjusted compensation act of 1924

• gave every veteran a paid-up insurance policy due in 20 years

  • adding another $3.5 billion to war costs

capper-volstead act

• act driven through congress by the “farm bloc” of congressmen

• exempted farmer’s marketing cooperatives from antitrust prosecution 

warren g. harding

• president in 1921

  • supported laissez-faire → little regard for the government or the presidency

• “return to normalcy” 

  • after woodrow wilson and his progressive ideals

  • continuation of the republican dominance during the fourth party system

• office became corrupt

  • allowed drinking during prohibition

  • had an affair

  • surrounded himself with cronies → used office for his own private gain

• died three years into office

  • vice president coolidge took over

charles evans hughes

• a reformist republican governor of new york

• gained fame as an investigator of malpractices by gas and insurance companies and by the coal trust

• later ran against wilson in the 1916 election in a third party → progressive party

andrew mellon

• american financier

• appointed secretary of of the treasury by president harding in 1921

  • served under coolidge and hoover

• while in office, the government reduced ww1 debt by $9 billion and congress cut income taxes substantially

• often called the greatest secretary of the treasury after alexander hamilton

herbert hoover

• won election of 1928 → republican nominee

• approach to economy known as voluntarism 

  • avoid destroying individuality/self-reliance by government coercion of business

• stock market crash of 1929

  • tried to fix it through creating the emergency relief and construction act and the reconstruction finance corporation → did not really work

albert b. fall

• secretary of the interior for warren g. harding

• caused the teapot dome scandal

harry m. daugherty

• american politician

  • best known as a republican party boss

• member of the ohio gang

  • name given to the group of advisers surrounding president warren g. harding

frank kellogg

• united states secretary of state in 1928

• credited with arranging an international treaty that was designed to renounce war and promote peace

charles r. forbes

• skimmed money as chief of the veterans bureau

• he and his crowded pilfered about $200 million while building veterans’ hospitals

• spent two years in jail

calvin coolidge

• president from 1923-1929

  • only democratic president during the fourth party system

  • elected only because of the GOP split in 1922

• taciturn

• small government conservative

• laissez-faire ideology

• in favor of immigration restriction → immigration act

• reduced the tax burden

• the bonus bill was passed over his veto

• revenue act of 1924

• kellogg-briand pact

john w. davis

• clarksburg native

• democratic party presidential nominee in 1924

• represented the school systems in the historic united states supreme court case brown v. board of education

robert lafollette

• progressive wisconsin senator and governor

• staunch supporter of the progressive movement

• vocal opponent of railroad trusts, bossism, ww1, and the league of nations

charles dawes

• american banker and diplomat

• negotiated an agreement between france, britain, and germany that american banks would make loans to germans which would enable them to meet their reparations payments

  • known as the dawes plan

douglas macarthur

• general who commanded a broad offensive against the japanese that would move north from australia, through new guinea, and eventually to the philippines

• tasked with taking down the bonus army

henry stimson

• hoover’s secretary of state

• sought sanctions against japan for its aggression in manchuria

alfred e. “al” smith

• first catholic nominee for president

  • sought democratic presidential nomination in 1924

  • ran as democratic candidate in 1928

  • ties with tammany hall

• known as the “common man”

• elected to the new york state assembly in 1903