Normalcy and the Great Depression: The Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age

In this paper I will discuss the topics and issues presented in chapters twenty seven and twenty eight of America, A Narrative History by Tindall and Shi. I will discuss Normalcy and the Great Depression while exploring the contradictions of the "Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age" during the conservative Presidencies of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. The decade of the twenties went from an economic boom defined by the Roaring Twenties to financial disaster of the Great Depression. Each of these Presidents was involved in the transitions found during the twenties. Wether or not they were personally responsible for what transpired during their individual tenure is open for debate with a few exceptions. My personal insight is, our Presidents of the time made some horrific mistakes and mishandled some policies both foreign and domestic that did not benefit the common citizen as they did big business.

In 1920, after World War l, Warren Gamaliel Harding was elected President of the United States. His promise was a "return to normalcy". The American people needed to hear this approach after enduring WWl. To the public he was an old fashioned plain man, a son of an Ohio farmer, with conservative values. However, his personal life was quite the opposite; he drank bootleg liquor during the prohibition, smoked, played poker and was a womanizer. His design was to lower war time taxes and gets a better handle on government expenditures. The result was that Government expenditures fell as did national debt. Mellon, his Secretary of the Treasury, favored high tariffs. This ultimately had negative effects on agriculture. Regrettably, Harding surrounded himself with cronies referred to as the Ohio Gang. These members of his "gang" used White House connections to line their own pockets. Harding wanted to be remembered as the beloved president. Because of his poor judgment and bad habits he was remembered not so favorably. He did however; lay the foundation for the decade's economic boom. In 1923 he left on a Western speaking tour and died of food poisoning. Harding's hard charging, private lifestyle would be indicative of the Roaring Twenties attitude prevalent of the day exemplified by the wealthy of the time.

Harding's death found then Vice President, Calvin Coolidge, in line to assume the Presidency. Coolidge was a staunch conservative. He managed to distance himself from the scandals of the Harding administration. The Presidential campaign of 1924 found Coolidge a huge favorite and a landslide victory. Economic and social life was booming in the mid-twenties. Coolidge saw this as a confirmation of his promotion of big business. Technology was advancing rapidly as was consumer spending fueled by the advent of advertising. Radio made its debut during this era and served as a medium for sharing news bulletins and Coolidge was the first President to address the nation by radio. Other advances came in the form of the airplane and the automobile. The innovation of installment buying made creature comfort consumption a reality for many that would not have been able to purchase luxuries in the past. Efficiency was key to production as was modeled by Henry Ford in his production line auto assembly. The trade association movement helped business leaders share information on sales, pricing, costs and wages. This was supposed to be a good thing, but as is often the case, greed stepped in and price-fixing and other abuses raised their ugly heads. Farming was not so fortunate. As commodity prices dropped, crop prices from bumper crops dropped also. Many farms went into foreclosure and bankruptcy while the largest and most successful got larger. Urban workers did well during this period while union laborers suffered a twelve hour work day and six day week. The unions were attacked by business with yellow dog contracts that forced workers to stay out of the union. This was the foundation of what was to be the Great Depression. All in all, Coolidge did a lot of good during his term.

Once again, in 1928, a republican won the Presidential election. Herbert Hoover was elected in yet another landslide victory. Hoover is quoted as saying, "I have no fears for the future of this country. It is bright with hope". Woops, he missed that one. Hoover's program to stabilize business and agriculture did nothing more than raise prices paid by consumers. Once again greed entered the picture and get rich quick scams prevailed and the Florida real estate boom began. In 1926 the bubble burst and many lost everything. Treasury Secretary Mellon's tax cuts had given people discretionary income they were able to invest in the stock market. Many speculated recklessly and were caught in the crash of October 29, 1929, the largest drop in history. The already shaky foundation of the nation's financial structure could not cope with the economic down turn associated with big business still charging high prices, paying low labor wages and plowing profits back into expansion that could not be supported by the present economy. This coupled with the collapse of the gold standard entered the United States into the Great Depression.

The Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age were exemplified by the economic boom of the twenties caused by a return to normalcy and the New Deal in the 30's. The actions of the Republican Presidents of the time were; if not poorly timed, misguided, benefiting big business rather than the people who elected these men. The recovery efforts after WWI, some poor decisions in international trade and banking coupled with our own internal mishandling of our own affairs led to the ground work of the Great Depression. Shamefully, we did this to ourselves. We can not blame any one else. Have we learned from this? Only the next ten years will tell as we witness our own financial environment.

Tindall, George, and David Shi. America A Narrative History, Seventh Edition, Volume 2. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.