2/17 Notes

Hoover had some success from bringing business people together.

• He convinced executives to get rid of the 12 hour day
• The Passage of 1926 Railroad Labor Act, which endorsed labors rights to bargain collectively

Hoover used Associationalism in international relations as well.

• He helped set up the Washington conference on the limitation of armaments.
• It concluded the five power treaty in which the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy agreed to scrap more than two million tons of warship.
• In the five power treaty, the parties agreed battleships and aircraft carriers would be reduced to a 5-5-3-2-2 ratio.
• British and the United States would reduce their force to 660 tons each.
• Japan could get 396 tons
• No restrictions were placed on smaller warships.
• The five power treaty was also negotiated and parties agreed to open the open door in China.
• These treaties were mainly the work of secretary of state Hughes who consolidated his control over foreign policy and then turned to Lassez-Faire rather than associationalism.

Franco German Problems - 1923.

• Treaty of Versailles obligated Germans to pay 33 billion in reparations.
• Germany could not pay all that money so they stopped paying in 1923.
• France sent troops to the Ruhr Valley and German workers went on strike.
• To help, Hughes, demanded that France pay in full its debt to the United States.
• To do that, France needed more loans from the United States bankers.
• Hughes used this to force France to negotiate including a reduction in Germany's reparations.
• American Bankers took over and formed the Dawes plan.
• Germany's reparation were reduced to 250 million dollars yearly.
• The German economy got an infusion of 300 million dollars in loans from the United States.

Kellogg - Briand Pact

• Frank Kellogg built on the success of the five power treaty to negotiate the Pact
• fifteen nations signed
• they pledged to avoid war and to settle all international disputes through "pacific means"
• 62 nations ratified the pact

Farming is depressed

• both domestic and foreign demand for farm products increased during the war.
• after the war, European farm production returned, leading to over supply on American farms.
• The introduction of the tractor made it possible for farmers to increase the size of supply leading to over supply of products.
• by 1929 annual pay for farmers was 223 dollars, which was one fourth of that of the non-farming population.
• Many left farming, those who stayed became more vowel in demand
• Congress passed the McNary-Haugen Bill calling for high tariff and for government purchase of United States crops, but president Coolidge vetoed it twice.
• Farmers realized that the economy was in the cities.
• Farmers were eager to participate in the consumer market place.
• Mail order catalogs from stores helped. Radios and magazines broke barriers between country and city.
• Farmers feared that this would expose them to Atheism, immorality, and radicalism
• In response, farmers supported prohibition, KKK, immigration restrictions, and religious fundamentalism.

Prohibition

• 18th amendment went into effect in January 1920
• it first had the support of Farmers, middle class dwellers, feminists, and progressives.
• But it promoted law breaking. violence caused people to turn against prohibition.

The Resurgent KKK

• The new Klan was created in 1915
• The new Klan was anti- Black, Jews, immigrants, gambling, adultery, birth control.
• The new KKK was strong in the old confederacy, the border states, and the north.
• Indiana elected a Klansman Governor and had several in the state legislature.