Patrick Molina

AP US History 4th
3/1/15

Warren Harding
Foreign Affairs
Harding passed over much of the power on foreign affairs to his secretary of state Charles Evans
Hughes. He along with secretary Hoover used the reciprocity provisions of the McCumber Tariff Act to
obtain cheaper rubber in Malaya and oil in the Middle East. They encouraged the U.S oil companies to
participate in what would become an open door policy for U.S investment in the Middle East. Attempts
were made to get European nations to pay back the debt owed to the U.S during WWI, but only a
fraction of the debt with interest was paid (about $22 billion). They Europeans owed about $12 billion
at the beginning of the 1920's, and Germany was expected to repay for the war, but due to the Dawes
Plan, their expected amount to dish out was reduced to 2.5 billion over the next 50 years. A Nine Power
Treaty came out of talks and attempts to quell an arms race between Japan, the U.K, the U.S, Italy,
France and others. The fear of costs and a naval rivalry were driving reasons for this. The countries
were also able to allow the Open Door Policy of trade withing China.

Domestic Affairs
Much of Harding's presidency was ran by the men that he had put in his cabinet, such as Hughes,
Herbert Hoover, and Andrew Mellon. He also surrounded himself with the Ohio gang, which were
some undesirables that he like to hang around with. Harry Daugherty was one, whom he had as a
political adviser that congress had tried to get rid of years prior. Harding was known to not be able to
say no to his friends or to anything that they would need. He tried doing many attempts at reforms,
such as signing a changed Budget and Accounting Act allowing the President to present a budget. He
also was huge on expansion of Civil Liberties and was open about the end of segregation and the unfair
treatments of African Americans. He also pardoned many jailed Americans who had only done peaceful
antiwar protests, including Eugene V. Debs. Sadly, his attempts to save face for the war were
overshadowed by his support of the Johnson Immigrant Quota Act of 1921, which stated that
immigration of a given nationality could not exceed past 3% of those already living in the U.S. Harding
was also very conservative in his economic policies, wanting the U.S Federal Government to serve and
help U.S business interests, even giving tax cuts to the rich and raising the prices of tariffs that had
lowered during the Wilson administration with the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act. He even wanted
more cooperation between government agencies with corporations instead of regulation.

Calvin Coolidge
Foreign Affairs
Coolidge was someone who was neither an internationalist nor an isolationist. He did not care much for
world affairs and let his secretaries Hoover and Melon deal with most of the affairs at the time, such as
maintaining the Monroe Doctrine and finishing the deals with payment post WWI. The passing of the
Dawes Plan was set up to fix the economic problems within Europe. Coolidge signed the KelloggBriand Pact that was largely symbolic in its claims that war was no longer suppose to be used to solve
conflicts, but had no means of enforcing it. The U.S maintained heavy influence in Latin America with
investments raising $2.26 billion dollars during the 1920's. The U.S occupied Haiti, the Dominican
Republic, and the Panama Canal, with many investments in Honduras and Venezuela being controlled
by U.S companies. Many countries wanted the U.S out and were angry with the intense amount of
involvement, even meeting in Cuba to discuss ways to rid themselves of the U.S involvement. Coolidge
made the trip to Cuba to attempt to persuade them otherwise, with former secretary Evans even
speaking to attempt to persuade them not to pass anti U.S policies, which was a step in less

Patrick Molina
AP US History 4th
3/1/15
involvement in the area as the president himself recognized that change needed to happen.

Domestic Affairs
Coolidge attempted to make himself very known and public with the American masses. He held many
press conferences and spoke regularly to the public, even not minding being photographed. He was the
first president to appear on film. He relied heavily on his cabinet and took a very hands off approach to
leadership, which was counter the Wilson-like activism presidency. He had his cabinet and the states
deal with most of the problems and believed that restraint was the wisest course of action. He was
extremely conservative in his economic and tried to maintain the growth that was happening under his
presidency. He did many tax cuts, and caused much prosperity with rising wages and lowering
unemployment, but his optimism and policies led to the economic downturn that caused the Great
Depression. The hands off policies led to the market boom, and never addressed the rising inequalities
that led to the stock market crash. He also ignored the economic plight of the farmers. He didn't fully
address cultural problems that was the rise of nativism and the Klu Klux Klan and caused much
controversy with wanting the states to deal with the problem of the Mississippi River flooding, before
relenting and allowing Hoover to deal with it.

Herbert Hoover
Foreign Affairs
Hoover's policies on every end were centered around the Great Depression, blaming much of the
problems the U.S had on Europeans. He tried signing disarmament treaties and improving the
international economy, and even rethought U.S involvement in Latin America. He tried fixing the debt
issue for Germany, who owed money to Britain and France, by lending money to them, but all of the
countries owed money to the U.S. The British economy wasn't stable enough and left the gold standard,
leading to runaway inflation and unemployment. His attempts to recreate the Foreign War Debt
committee were totally shut down, and due to his becoming a lame duck president, couldn't do
anything with the British to work on and do anything about their worsening economic situation.
Attempts at international disarmament weren't met too kindly, especially when talks at the Geneva
conference with France and other countries were contingent on the U.S and Britain attempting to
further weaken German military power. His Good Neighbor policy towards Latin America greatly
improved relations with speeches and removing of troops in the area making those denizens very
happy. He even contested the legality of the Monroe Doctrine. The rising tensions in Asia between
Japan and China became an issue, with the Stimson Doctrine being an attempt to stop further fighting,
but didn't do much and instead led to something that would grow to become a large foreign policy issue
throughout the 30's.

Domestic Affairs
Due to the stock market crash, all of Hoover's polices dealt with the depression.He entered the presidency
with many programs and reforms to fix the problems at hand. He attempted to help businesses and let
investment and development grow, but he was very tentative towards challenging congress and asserting
political leadership. His trust in the American individual stopped him from embracing the government
intervention. He was known as the Great Engineer for his organizational and managerial skills, but his
strict view of the president's role in leadership prevented him from advancing what he wanted to do. He
claimed constitutional restraints were the reason he couldn't get as involved as he wanted to and claimed
that the private sector would aid the American public, while the government looked weak.