Republicans Regain the White House

When the war ended, more than 2 million soldiers came home and began to look for jobs. At the same time, factories stopped turning out war materials. The result was a sharp recession, or economic slump.

A Landslide Victory 

The recession fed voter discontent with the Democrats, who had held power for eight years. In the 1920 election, Warren Harding swamped his Democratic opponent.

For the top cabinet posts, Harding chose able men who strongly followed pro-business policies. Andrew Mellon, a wealthy banker, became secretary of the treasury. Mellon balanced the budget and lowered taxes.

Herbert Hoover became the new secretary of commerce. During World War I, Hoover had earned the world’s admiration by organizing efforts to supply food to millions of starving Belgians. As secretary of commerce, he worked to help American businesses expand overseas.

The Ohio Gang 

To fill most other cabinet posts, however, Harding brought in his old friends. They became known as the “Ohio Gang.” Harding himself was honest and hardworking, but the Ohio Gang saw government service as a way to enrich themselves. A series of scandals resulted. For example, Harding made Charles Forbes head of the Veterans Bureau. Forbes was later convicted of stealing millions of dollars from the Bureau.

Harding looked upon Forbes’s crime as a betrayal. When rumors of new scandals surfaced, he grew even more distressed. In August 1923, Harding died of a heart attack. Many believed that the scandals contributed to his sudden death.

After Harding died, new scandals came to light. The most serious involved Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. Two oil executives had bribed Fall. In return, he secretly leased them government land in California and at Teapot Dome, Wyoming. As a result of the Teapot Dome Scandal, Fall became the first cabinet official ever sent to prison.

Coolidge Becomes President 

On the day Harding died, Vice President Calvin Coolidge was visiting his father’s farm in Vermont. Coolidge recalled, “I was awakened by my father. . . . I noticed that his voice trembled.” Coolidge’s father, a justice of the peace, used the family Bible to swear his son in as President.

“Silent Cal” Coolidge was very different from Harding. Harding loved throwing parties and making long speeches. Coolidge was tight with both money and words. A woman reportedly told Coolidge she had bet that she could get him to say more than two words. “You lose,” Coolidge replied.

Coolidge set out to repair the damage caused by the scandals. He forced the officials involved in scandals to resign. In 1924, Coolidge ran against Democrat John Davis and Progressive Robert La Follette. Voters chose to “Keep Cool with Coolidge” and returned the cautious New Englander to office.

Analyze Images This 1924 cartoon comments on the Teapot Dome Scandal during Warren Harding's administration.

Interpret Cartoons Why is the teapot drawn to look like a steamroller?

READING CHECK 

Identify Cause and Effect What fueled American discontent with Democrats?

Why Did the United States Return to Isolationism?

After World War I, the United States was the world’s leading economic power. Europeans expected the United States to take a major role in world affairs. Presidents Harding and Coolidge wanted to keep the hard-won peace in Europe. However, they did not want to commit the United States to the job of keeping world peace. The United States sent observers to the League of Nations, but refused to join. Most Americans supported this return to prewar isolationism.

Latin American Investments 

During the war, Latin American nations had been cut off from Europe because of wartime threats to shipping. As a result, United States trade and investment in Latin America increased. This trend continued after the war. However, the United States limited its role abroad for fear that more involvement might push the country into another war.

At times, the United States intervened in Latin America. In 1926, for example, a revolution broke out in Nicaragua, where Americans owned plantations and railroads. Coolidge sent marines to oversee new elections.

In 1927, Mexico announced plans to take over foreign-owned oil and mining companies. American investors called on President Coolidge to send in troops. Instead, Coolidge sent a diplomat, Dwight Morrow, to Mexico. After much hard bargaining, Morrow was able to work out a compromise with the Mexican government.

Analyze Images From 1909 until the early 1930s, the United States sent marines like these to Nicaragua to help keep revolutionary groups from taking power there.

Infer How did this vehicle give U.S. troops an advantage?

The First Communist State 

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union became the world’s first Communist state. Communism, as practiced in the Soviet Union, was an economic system in which all wealth and property were owned by the government.

The United States refused to recognize Vladimir Lenin’s government. Most Americans disliked communism. It shocked them when the Soviet government did away with private property and attacked religion. Still, Congress voted to provide $20 million in aid when famine threatened the Soviet Union in 1921. American aid may have saved as many as 10 million Soviet lives.

Analyze Images During a famine in the Soviet Union in 1921, the American Relief Service, funded by Congress, used camels to haul food to remote villages.

Use Visual Information What can you assume about the area this aid caravan is traveling through?

Pursuing Peace 

An arms race in Europe had helped cause World War I. For this reason, many people in the 1920s favored the reduction of armed forces and weapons of war, or disarmament. Pacifist groups such as the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, founded by Jane Addams, led the call for disarmament in the United States and Europe.

Presidents Harding and Coolidge also backed peace efforts. At the Washington Conference of 1921, the United States, Britain, and Japan agreed to limit the size of their navies. Seven years later, the United States and 61 other nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact. This treaty outlawed war.

The treaty, however, had a fatal flaw. It did not set up any means for keeping the peace. One nation could still use force against another without fear of punishment. Still, many hailed the Kellogg-Briand Pact as the beginning of a new age of peace.

READING CHECK 

Identify Cause and Effect Why did the United States intervene in Latin America?