Warren G. Harding wanted the United States to return to normalcy. In his first year in office, Harding scored a number of impressive successes. He reduced the wartime federal budget and established the Office of Management and Budget to help departments to modernize their budgeting processes. Since the USA did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles ending the World War, Harding opened negotiations with Germany; a new peace treaty was signed five months after he took office as President. Government control of railroads was drastically curbed, and Congress raised the tariff once again. In 1922, Harding was responsible for an international agreement to reduce armaments among the major powers and to limit the growth of armaments in the future.

Unfortunately, Harding’s administration is not known for its accomplishments. His campaign manager of 1920, Harry L. Daugherty, was appointed Attorney General; he developed a reputation for selling influence in the Harding administration. The new Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was later convicted of receiving bribes for the leasing of the naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome (Wyoming) and Elk Hills (California).

Harding’s administration ended with a string of setbacks. The Democrats rebounded in the 1922 midterm elections, winning a larger share (though still a minority) of the two houses of Congress in addition to several governorships (including Vic Donahey’s win in Ohio). The western Republicans were more interested in the

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Warren G. Harding wanted the United States to return to normalcy. In his first year in office, Harding scored a number of impressive successes. He reduced the wartime federal budget and established the Office of Management and Budget to help departments to modernize their budgeting processes. Since the USA did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles ending the World War, Harding opened negotiations with Germany; a new peace treaty was signed five months after he took office as President. Government control of railroads was drastically curbed, and Congress raised the tariff once again. In 1922, Harding was responsible for an international agreement to reduce armaments among the major powers and to limit the growth of armaments in the future.

Unfortunately, Harding’s administration is not known for its accomplishments. His campaign manager of 1920, Harry L. Daugherty, was appointed Attorney General; he developed a reputation for selling influence in the Harding administration. The new Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was later convicted of receiving bribes for the leasing of the naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome (Wyoming) and Elk Hills (California).

Harding’s administration ended with a string of setbacks. The Democrats rebounded in the 1922 midterm elections, winning a larger share (though still a minority) of the two houses of Congress in addition to several governorships (including Vic Donahey’s win in Ohio). The western Republicans were more interested in the difficulties facing the agriculture industry, and they blocked many of Harding’s programs. The President embarked on a visit to Alaska in the summer of 1923; during the trip his health declined, and he died on 8/2/1923.

Calvin Coolidge was quick to remove the rot left over from the Harding administration. He convinced Attorney General Daugherty to resign, and he prosecuted Fell and other members of Harding’s adminstration who violated the public trust. Two of Harding’s appointees, including Fell, were sent to prison.

The race for the Republican nomination was never in doubt. President Coolidge won 15 of the 17 primaries, carrying the home state of his chief opponent, Hiram W. Johnson CA (54%–46%), and winning 36% of the votes in an unsuccessful write-in campaign in the home state of his other opponent, Robert LaFollette WI. At the national convention, 96% of the delegates voted for his nomination. Charles G. Dawes was chosen to run for the vacant vice presidency.

The Democratic Party had not recovered from the divisive 1920 convention when it met at Madison Square Garden in 1924. The primary issue facing the convention was the best means of addressing the growth of the Ku Klux Klan. The delegates were about evenly split between those who wished to condemn the KKK in the platform and those who wanted to encourage the Klan. When the issue came to the floor of the convention, an emotion-filled debate resulted in a vote of 543.15 to 542.35 not to mention the Klan in the platform (Ohio’s 48 delegates voted 32.5 to 15.5 to condemn the Klan). Another controversial issue was the plank on the League of Nations. The Republicans used their majorities in Congress to prohibit American participation in the League, and many Democrats realized that the public in general favored isolationism. In the proposed platform, the Democrats called for a referendum on the League in order to test the public sentiment on the issue. Advocates of American involvement in the League offered a substitute which strengthened the wording to state that the Democratic Party heartily endorsed the League as a step towards world peace. The convention voted against the amendment 742.5–353.3 with Ohio’s 48 delegates all voting in favor of the stronger wording. After the adoption of the platform, the Democratic Convention began one of the most bizarre scenes in convention history. Two thirds of the delegates were pledged either William G. McAdoo (supported by the pro-Klan delegates) or Alfred E. Smith (the liberal NY Governor). The deadlock continued for days as neither candidate would back down. The previous record number of ballots was 57 in 1860; in 1924, John W. Davis of WV was finally nominated on the 103d ballot as a compromise candidate. The brother of William J. Bryan was chosen for the VP slot.

As the balloting continued in the Democratic National Convention, a third party entered the race. U.S. Senator Robert M. LaFollette, who had lost five campaigns for the Republican nomination, called a convention which met in Cleveland just before the Socialist Party National Convention (which also met in Cleveland). The new Progressive Party nominated LaFollette for President and U.S. Senator Burton K. Wheeler for VP. The Socialist Party endorsed the LaFollette campaign.

LaFollette brought more interest to the election than either of his opponents. Davis was a Wall Street lawyer who agreed with most of Coolidge’s domestic policies. LaFollette, however, advocated public ownership of transportation, the election of federal justices, and a provision for overriding a judicial review through an act of Congress.

President Coolidge easily triumphed over Davis and LaFollette. He won every state outside of the South except Wisconsin; Davis polled an embarrassingly small 29% of the popular vote; in four states (including California), he did not reach 10% of the statewide vote. LaFollette carried his home state of Wisconsin. The Republicans also picked up 22 U.S. House seats from the Democrats. Gov. Vic Donahey was re-elected in Ohio in spite of the Republican landslide, although the Republican control of the legislature was strengthened.

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