Politics in the 1920s
Document A: Warren G. Harding’s Inaugural Address (March 4, 1921)
Our supreme task is the resumption of our onward, normal way. […] Discouraging indebtedness
confronts us like all the war-torn nations, and these obligations must be provided for. […] We
can reduce the abnormal expenditures [expenses], and we will. We can strike at war taxation, and
we must. […] Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much of government, and at the
same time do for it too little… We need a rigid and yet sane economy, combined with fiscal
[economic] justice, and it must be attended by individual prudence and thrift[…] [O]ur own
people are turning to resume their normal, onward way. The call is for productive America to go
on. […] I speak for administrative efficiency, for lightened tax burdens, for sound commercial
practices, for adequate credit facilities, for sympathetic concern for all agricultural problems, for
the omission of unnecessary interference of Government with business, for an end to
Government's experiment in business, and for more efficient business in Government
administration. […]
1. Harding’s campaign slogan in 1920 was “Return to Normalcy.” What do you think he
meant by this?
2. How did Harding believe the economy should be managed?
Document B: “The Juggernaut,” (1924)
3. Identify any
symbols used
in the
cartoon.
4. What is the
main idea of
the cartoon?
Document C: Calvin Coolidge, Inaugural Address (March 4, 1925)
[T]he policy that stands out with the greatest clearness is that of economy in public expenditure
[spending] with reduction and reform of taxation. […]
[…]Under this republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them. The only
constitutional tax is the tax which ministers to public necessity. The property of the country
belongs to the people of the country. Their title is absolute. […]
The method of raising revenue ought not to impede [slow down] the transaction of business; it
ought to encourage it. I am opposed to extremely high [tax] rates, because they produce little or
no revenue [government income], because they are bad for the country, and, finally, because they
are wrong... This country believes in prosperity. [...] The wise and correct course to follow in
taxation and all other economic legislation is not to destroy those who have already secured
success but to create conditions under which every one will have a better chance to be
successful. […]
5. What economic policies does Coolidge advocate (support)?
6. Why does Coolidge believe these policies are best?
Document D: “Trim Where You Can” (1920s)
7. Identify any
symbols that are
used in the
cartoon.
8. What is the
main idea of the
cartoon?