1. CHANGING POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
1. Woodrow Wilson (13-21)
2. Warren Harding (21-23 died in office)
3. Calvin Coolidge (23-29)
4. Herbert Hoover (29-33)
5. FDR (33-44 died in office)
6. Harry Truman (44-53)
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower (53-61)
8. JFK (61-63 died in office)
9. LBJ (63-69)
10. Richard Nixon (69-74)
11. Gerald Ford (74-77)
12. Jimmy Carter (77-81)
13. Ronald Reagan (81-89)
14. George H.W. Bush (89-93)
Declaration of Independence 1776 – created a constitution (rules/systems that make a country work - the federal government)
PRESIDENT (leader) Congress (law makers) Supreme Court (law deciders)
Minimum 35, 4 years elected, Divided into house of No formal requirements - 9
electroroal college vote representatives & senate judges appointed by president
SEPERATION OF POWERS – Can check and balance one another – no one person with too much
- Congress is changing all the time (new every six years) – so it is difficult for a president to have a stable congress that
coincide with the presidents views.
- Senate re-election every two years means people can change their views (no longer agree with the president) & vote the
opposite party.
The Changing Political Environment (1917-33)
WW1 Impact
- Under Woodrow Wilson (despite campaigning to keep out) in 1917
- After several German attacks on US shipping & the discovery Germany was sounding out Mexico as an ally against US
Many felt involvement had been a mistake. Liked even less that Wilson tried to involve US more closely in international affairs
once the war was over.
Return to ‘normalcy’
- Harding promised ‘normalcy’. Blacks may have hoped this meant equality but WASPS understood it as life before WW1
- Post WW1 – short economic depression. (unemployment at 5 million by 1921 VS >1 million in 1919)
- Huge amounts of social discontent: strikes, protests, riots (Harding defined normalcy as ‘a stable, steady way of life’ – a shift
in focus back to the US)
- Government needed to: balance the books, reduce taxation, introduce tariffs, countrywide radio. Also needed a committee
to study ‘the race question’ & how to solve it.
Isolationism
- USA should be supportive but not ‘entangled’ with other nations / They had to focus on themselves and ‘Buy American’
- Introducing trade tariffs that favoured US businesses (BUT, tariffs on imports – Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act – people went
to consumerism& hire purchase as parts of the economy prospered)
- Not joining League of Nations, not setting up colonies, cutting back on the number of immigrants (1921 Emergency Quota &
its extensions)
- The 30s also had a number of Neutrality Acts that restricted the help US could give to countries if they went to war
BUT, US weren’t entirely Isolationist. They helped rebuild Europe economically & without the Great Depression may have
become Internationalist.
, President Changes
- Wilson the 2nd democrat since civil war. But people thought he took too big a part in government decisions making (US into
war despite campaigning to stay out & didn’t consult congress on promoting League of Nations)
- He drafted bills & took them to congress himself. An unwelcome change in presidential behaviour (close to breaking
separation of powers system)
Appeal of Republicanism
- Wilsons behaviour & WW1 aftermath led people to Republican ideals (even some Southern democrats)
- Harding voted for: ‘Less government in business and more business in government’
- He held laissez-faire (leave well alone) policies: government not to control or manage businesses or economy
- Republican – the party of big businesses (no controlled wages, hours, prices)
- Didn’t try to draft laws or drag USA into International politics
BUT, he did give corrupt friends positions of power (making administration look corrupt)
After Harding, republican Calvin Coolidge combined Laissez Faire & a dignity/morality that would restore faith in the party.
- Entered a period of recovery & prosperity, people felt republicanism may be working (the ‘boom’ economy had major flaws
– but people didn’t know this at the time)
- It was only when Hoover took over that people recognised growing problems (BUT his campaign encouraged the public the
republicans had eliminated poverty, restored economy & Democrats would destroy this)
Influences of the political landscape
1. The First Red Scare (1919/20)
1917 Bolshevik Revolution – the monarchy was toppled & replaced by a communist government (Soviet Union/USSR). It
sent shockwaves around the world & encouraged worldwide revolution (Hungary/Italy). People worried it would spread
to the US.
Strikes – 1919 3,000 strikes (1/4 workers) – conditions hadn’t improved post war
Steel Strike (1919) – 98% of union workers voted for strike, shut down half the steel industry BUT collapsed in January
Seattle General Strike (1919) – 5 day work stoppage by more than 65,000.
Bombings – Anarchist bombings (1919)
Series of bombings by anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani
- 16 bombs found in NY post office (addressed ‘enemies of revolution ‘)
- Bombs exploded in 8 cities, one targeted head of Judiciary A. Mitchell Palmer
- Anti-communist feeling escalated. People were sacked if suspected to hold left-wing ideologies. People suspected their
neighbours & worried for themselves.
- (Sacco & Vanzetti – Italian born anarchists) sentenced to death for an armed robbery & murder 1920 despite a full
confession later being given from someone else.
- KKK – targeted all people & groups considered ‘Un-American’ – pure Americanism
- 556 deported, Palmer’s prediction of a Red Revolution filed to occur. People/Media began to react to communism in a more
balanced way BUT the feeling didn’t leave
Rugged Individualism
Herbert Hoover gave ‘laissez faire’ a twist – Less on inaction & more on people taking responsibility for themselves
- In American Individualism (pamphlet he wrote 1922): outlined the things he would bring to the presidency, this being one
term.
- People who could look after themselves would make their own way in the world & prosper, realising the American dream
Rugged Individualism felt:
People were weakened by government support (even the poor) because it sapped their self-reliance.
Government should not interfere to help with jobs & homes or regulate hours or conditions (businesses to be free)
USA should isolate itself from other countries
USA should restrict immigration (rising unemployment – they made this worse)
The Great Depression
1929 – Underlying problems with the boom + out-of control share trading = The Wall Street Crash
