The Calvin Coolidge Administration - Research Paper Example

The Calvin Coolidge Administration A brief biography of the president. Calvin Coolidge born in Plymouth, Central Vermont on July 4, 1872 his closest friend was sister Abigail. His father was a farmer, storekeeper and very active in local politics. His mother loved poetry and taught him and his sister how to read. She however died when Calvin was twelve years old. He helped his father in the farm but also had time to play and have fun. He loved to skate, swim, ride horses and fish. Calvin went to school in Ludlow, Vermont. He attended the Black River Academy and his favorite subjects were Latin and History. Shortly before he graduated in 1890, his sister Abigail passed away. He went to the Amherst College in Massachusetts in 1891 and graduated in 1895. He then went to Northampton to study law at a law firm called Hammond and Field, and became a lawyer in 1897. He opened a law office seven months later (Elston 10). Around this time, he became active in the Republic Party. In 1898, Coolidge got elected to the Northampton City Council and two years later became the City’s solicitor. Coolidge met a woman called Grace Anna who taught at a school for the deaf known as the Clarke School. They got married in 1905 and had two sons. During that time, Coolidge was still active in politics. He was different from other politicians, as he did not smile all the time. People appreciated his honesty, as he never flattered anyone for their votes. He was very smart and trustworthy. He was elected to the Massachusetts house of representative in 1906. He fought for the rights of women and workers and reduced working hours. He also supported the women’s right to vote and was re-elected the following year. Coolidge was elected mayor of Northampton in 1909 where he increased the wages and helped to lower the taxes imposed on workers (Elston 11). In 1912, people elected him to the Massachusetts State Senate (Elston 12). From 1916-1918 he served as the lieutenant governor before moving to the executives chair. Coolidge as governor supported the pay increment for public workers and reduced working hours for women and children. He also limited outdoor advertising. In the 1920 presidential nominations, he was voted in as Warren Harding’s running mate. As a vice president, he kept a low profile but dedicated a lot of time towards public speaking. In august 2nd 1983, President Harding died because of a heart attack. Coolidge was administered the oath of office by his father, as his father was a justice of peace. He then became the 30th president of the US. 2. A detailed explanation of the administrations policies– include domestic, foreign, and economic Coolidge was one of the U.S presidents who put the interest of their country at heart. He was not willing to let the state get involved in any international relationships that did not address its interests. This was congruent with his pledge of ensuring that his country would not be in a position entangled with any other state. It was with this respect that he was reluctant for his country to join the League of Nations (Laone, Ronald & Laone 93). He believed that it could not favor his state in any way. Coolidge did not agree with the notion that legislation may uplift all problems. He saw it as a pernicious doctrine. As governor and eventually being a president, Coolidge favored no legislative agenda in the broad sense because he generally did not believe in any legislation. His skepticism about new laws was built on the fact that he believed that presidency was not a means to an end but protection of public safety and defending of rights (Johnson 16). On the subject of unemployment bills, Coolidge declared the Boston journal on 29 March 1921. He argued that no one who was not capable of supporting himself was fit for self-government. He argued that if people could not support themselves, then the self-government would have to end. He supported the creation of the Federal Radio Commission, which was responsible for regulating radio use in the U.S. at the public’s necessity, public interest and convenience (Laone, Ronald & Laone 93). Economic forces, captains of capitalism, pushed the Act so that the federal government could be in charge of radio. This was because radio offered a very easy solution of passing legislative impacts to the people. It helped the federal regime to communicate its agenda. Coolidge displayed very little interest in foreign policy. He delegated all decisions to the state department where possible. The most notable treaty in his era was the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. It was a well-meaning but futile effort to eliminate war between the major powers. He considered the pact to be naïve but endorsed it because of the pressure from domestic anti-war lobbying groups, foreign diplomats and a combination of progressives and isolationists in congress (Folly, Martin, & Palmer 73). The pact naming was after Frank Kellogg, the secretary of state and French diplomat Aristides Brand. They called for states to shun war and try to resolve disputes in a peaceful manner. More than sixty states agreed to the terms. For this effort, Kellogg received the Nobel peace prize in 1929 (Hudson, David & Matuz 322). The Coolidge era witnessed one of the strongest economic growth and stability, which influenced his economic strategies and foreign policy. His policy towards Latin America encompassed protection of U.S economic interests and investments through own military conventions. Latin America was a region prone to evolutionary uprisings. It was ripe with U.S economic interests and investments. Therefore, he enacted a policy to protect U.S interests in Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua with the use of military powers (McPherson 113). The sugar industries in Haiti and Dominican Republic attracted great attention from U.S corporations and investors. In Central America, U.S interests and investments their bases was on canal rights. Coolidge supported the idea that if a canal was to be built in Nicaragua, it would be done by U.S. The policy was to be upheld by the establishment of a stable, pro American government in Nicaragua. In 1925, the U.S marines ended their thirteen-year presence in Nicaragua but returned shortly afterwards in 1926 after the threat of rebellion and instability returned. His administration sided with the right-wing government and when the rebels seemed to be on the verge of winning, it sent thousands of marines to Nicaragua. This designed was to protect the American lives, property and prevent foreign infiltration of the region. He then sent special envoy to Nicaragua in an attempt to end the crisis. The envoy succeeded in getting both sides to agree to an American supervised election. The elections satisfied both the left wing and right wing elements (Hastedt 103). Coolidge’s foreign policies comprised of mixing with with isolationism and internationalism. While opposing the American participation in the League of Nations and the United States recognition of the Soviet Union, Coolidge favored U.S participation in the world court. Moreover, in 1927, he insisted on compensation from china for the American property destroyed in the riot in Nanjing (Hastedt 103). He also sent envoy to Mexico to defuse a tense political standoff over the rights of American oil firms. Coolidge was unsympathetic to the European calls for reducing the debt they owed the U.S. believing that the German economic recovery was central to the stability of post World War I Europe, he supported its efforts to reduce war debts. The most notable initiative was the Dawes plan, which provided Germany with an infusion of private investment funds and in return for a re-scheduled debt repayment program (Hastedt 103). He used the public and private loans from American banks to underwrite Germany payments, which in turn guaranteed a constant influx of money to stimulate the international credit market. Coolidge placed a high priority on economy in government. In 1924, he passed the payment of cash to veterans of World War I (Folly, Martin, & Palmer 72). The payment used much of the country’s resources. This led to Coolidge cutting down on other important stuff to reduce the expenditure by the government. Moreover, he came up with policies that exempted some people from paying tax (Laone, Ronald & Laone 93). This had negative effects on the nation’s economy as people had more money to save. In addition, it led to the stock market’s failure. Moreover, the burden was now on the middle-class. This was a step backward as he had previously done so well in trying to improve the economy. According to Hastedt (103), Coolidge’s fiscal policy boasted unprecedented and equaled accomplishments. It reduced the national debt by $22.3 billion in 1923 to $16.9 billion in 1929. It also reduced the nation’s expenditure from $5.1 billion in 1921 to $3.3 billion in 1921. Coolidge cut taxes in four out of his six years as president. By 1927, around 98 percent of the U.S population did not pay any tax. Coolidge’s policies helped trigger a widely based economic boom where from 1922-1928, the unemployment rate averaged 3.3 percent, the GDP augmented annually by 7 percent and the per capita income’s growth was thirty percent. Moreover, the industrial production increased by seventy percent, the average workweek decreased by four percent and the number of automobiles on the road grew by threefold. In addition, the consumer prices rose at just 0.4 percent but the nation’s wealth increased by 17.5 percent. The illiteracy levels fell nearly in half. This was a golden age in any standard (Hastedt 103). Coolidge constitutional impact is significant. He shaped the balance of power on appointments and foreign affairs and supported landmark laws that regulated broadcasting and commercial aviation. He was the first 20th century president to advance two constitutional convictions key to modern conservatives. The first was the constitution restricted regime’s power to regulate the economy and the second was that the federal government’s limited powers include cultivating the moral character of Americans. Coolidge conceived legislative powers in ways that resonate more with modern conservatives. Years later, George Bush and Reagan both meld these two conceptions in their respective presidencies (Gerhardt 191). 3. A discussion of significant pieces of legislation passed during this time period with an explanation of how this legislation impacted the nations economic growth Coolidge enacted the Revenue Act of 1926, which lowered taxes across the board significantly. He kept corporate taxes lower than his predecessors did. The policy seemingly helped the economy as unemployment dropped and businesses profited. The stock market rose during Coolidge’s time in the White House (Hudson, David & Matuz 322). In 1924, Coolidge enacted the legislation making Indians U.S citizens. He was a civil rights activist and strongly objected the beliefs that America belonged to the whites only. He fought for the rights of the non-whites and the Catholics. He deemed each American had equal rights according to the constitution, regardless of their color (Laone, Ronald & Laone 93). These helped in growing the economy, as there was more labor required to help in building the economy. Moreover, he passed the Jones-White Act of 1928 for construction of merchant ships. This made the economic structure to become more mercantilist for the economy had to expand to comply with the Act. The Act directly affected the dollar due to cargo exported to far countries. The Act thus helped in growing the economy. Coolidge signed the immigration Act of 1924, which included the Asian exclusion Act and the National Origins Act. The National Origins Act imposed strict limitations on immigration quotas, despite the president’s misgivings (Folly, Martin, & Palmer 72). The immigration Act was a federal statute that limited the number of immigrants, per year, who qualified for admission from any country. The number was limited to two percent of all people from the country in question, who were already living in the U.S. The Act did more harm than good to the American economy as the increase in population at a fast rate led to competition of the available resources. Early in 1924, there was a report, which stated that Coolidge would continue as the Administration’s leader in fighting for the tax reduction legislation so that it could be adopted. Consequently, he continued with his predecessor’s agenda for lowering national debt. The overall federal debt fell impressively by over $3 billion from 1920 to 1924, but during Coolidge’s era, it was much better. He lowered it by over $3.5 billion throughout the four years that followed. He estimated that the reduction of the national debt was a necessity and that it would be the greatest accomplishment that his administration could achieve (Moore 608). During Coolidge’s era, congress passed a bill called McNary–Haugen, not once but twice. The bill was a proposal for the exportation of subsidies to farmers. Both times, Coolidge vetoed the bill. According to Coolidge, the market forces were supposed to be dictating the agricultural output in the long-term, instead of supporting excess production, which was artificial. Coolidge was not successful when it came to the bonus of the veterans’ issue. This was because in 1924, congress passed the bill on soldiers’ bonuses and went ahead to override his veto (Moore 610). He then signed into law the federal-aid highway legislation to cover fiscal years 1926 through 1929. The federal aid to highways played an important role in efforts to respond to the Great Depression (Sky 160). 4. A well developed analysis describing success and failure of the administration in helping to grow the American Economy Calvin Coolidge’s administration (1923–1928) witnessed one of the most productive and successful economic periods in the history of America. He tried to turn around key elements that were introduced into the nation’s economy from 1900 to 1920. His policies motivated the growth of the private sector. They also improved the circumstances facing majority of Americans. It is possible to measure the economic success of America during Coolidge’s administration in several ways. Production is measurable using GDP per capita. Moreover, the wages rose strongly and the rates of unemployment dropped to 5 percent and remained there even after 1924. He helped in lowering the income tax rates and reducing the Federal government costs. The national debt shrank (Moore 598). One of the greatest accomplishments during the Coolidge era was the stabilization of the Federal revenue sources. In contrast to the administrations before him and the subsequent years, the total federal revenues on annual basis from the year 1923 to 1928 ranged between $3billion and $4 billion. All the four major categories of revenue were also very consistent during his administration. After the Fordney–McCumber Tariff was passed, the tariff proceeds increased. The tariffs composed only a small percentage of the federal revenue (10 to 15 percent). The increase had negligible negative effects (Moore 608). A review of the country’s expenditures from 1923 to 1928 showed that Coolidge was very successful when it came to controlling expenditures. All the major spending categories, which included pensions, military and interest, were all nondiscretionary. The Coolidge era witnessed a reduction in discretionary expenses to the levels experienced before the war. All other expenditures were relatively constant from 1923 to 1928. The expenditures ranged around $1 billion annually. Moreover, the reduction of federal spending was a personal agenda, and thus, Coolidge involved himself personally in the reduction efforts. When comparing the state of the economy before and after his term, the results show that from 1923 to 1928, his efforts were a success. In addition, the performance of the state’s economy from1923 to 1928 validates Coolidge’s wisdom and economic agenda. (Moore 611). Other historians have hailed Coolidge’s era as the “Last Arcadia”. His presidency demonstrates the relative speed in which industrial productivity could transform luxuries into necessities and spread them down the class pyramid. Economic facts indicate that the spread of prosperity was more and it was widely distributed than at any time in American history up to that point. Millions of Americans for the first time acquired cars, homes and labor saving appliances. These were middle-class advantages beyond their reach (Tucker 37). Coolidge’s philosophy, from the perspective of the economy, is a benchmark for the reason behind his era’s success. A part of his Commandments listing regarding the Public Service included; protection of the weak, powerful corporations better serving the people and not pulling down the strong for the sake of the weak. Coolidge’s words are still relevant in the 21st century. In the end, the Coolidge administration was very successful, though short-lived. This was because of the political circumstances facing the country. His presidency still stands as proof that any economic policy that is along the classic-liberal lines, when talking about a modern economy, is very possible (Moore 617). The Coolidge prosperity was real but not permanent. Even though there is an objective record showing the success of the economy during the Coolidge era, many economists criticize Coolidge. Historians continue to debate about the 1920s. They refer to the America of that period as the whore of Babylon. They cite that America prostituted itself to material gains. The decade is further decried as bourgeois, dull and ruthless and they identify Coolidge as the puritan in Babylon. The historians belittle Coolidge’s presidency and refer to it as a drunken fiesta. The historians are repulsed by what they saw as intellectual shallowness (Tucker 37). In general, the revisionist critique is identifiable as a new narrative. Several people admire this new narrative and they claim that Franklin Roosevelt’s fiscal policies were responsible for saving the U.S financial market from collapsing. The policies that are criticized the most are the Republican economic policies. They describe the 1920s as a time of free-market capitalism, which was unbridled (Moore 611). The Coolidge administration is treated harshly. The economists cite that he did not participate in the political experimentation that concerned government regulations. Instead, he preferred individualism, which was sullen. He withdrew from the idealism witnessed in the recent past into irresponsibility and irrationality. The economists further accuse Coolidge’s leadership of failing to do what they had promised when it came to preserving the nation’s economic health. He also failed by ignoring the good social and economic reforms that were put in place by Roosevelt and Wilson (Moore 612). Coolidge is also accused of increasing the income gap, whereby the entire population that benefitted was only 5 percent and the excess capital goods produced increased too rapidly in comparison with the consumer goods. The share of the income that was distributed to the population was not proportional. The growing wealth of the 1920s was not equitably distributed. In addition, critics cite that Coolidge’s economic policies induced an economic “boom” that was not normal, which lead to a “bust” (Moore 613). Coolidge was not able to come up with measures to help control the occurrence of economic depression. As most of the citizens were able to save some money after tax exemptions, it led to the stock market going down. He was also not able to control the floods that devastated the state in 1927. He showed no intention of directing the central regime to come up with measures to control the floods. He did not visit the then affected by the floods as he claimed that visiting them would not help in any way. He was reluctant to use government resources to help them, as he was so concerned with reducing the government expenditure. He believed that citizens were responsible for ensuring that floods did not destroy their property and therefore, they were supposed to withstand the worst of the floods (Laone, Ronald & Laone 93). The nation took a blow as the effects of the flood slowed down the economic growth. Coolidge consistently supported high protective tariffs for the benefit of the U.S manufacturers. His policies had harmful effects to the world economy and the agricultural sector in the U.S. They also had long-term harmful effects on the industries they were intended to protect (Faber & Faber 180). The problem with Coolidge’s presidency is that it left more of an image to be satirized than a record of positive acts to defend. His pride in championing inaction as a principle stance made him an easy target; particularly as the prosperity, the nation enjoyed during his presidency lapsed into the Great Depression. Few people remember, much less take seriously, what Coolidge did as President (Gerhardt 191). Work Cited Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Elston, Heidi M. D. Calvin Coolidge. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub. Co, 2009. Internet resource. Faber, Charles F, and Richard B. Faber. The American Presidents Ranked by Performance, 1789-2012. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co, 2012. Internet resource. Folly, Martin H, and Niall A. Palmer. Historical Dictionary of U.s. Diplomacy from World War I Through World War Ii. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. Print. Gerhardt, Michael J. The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print. Hastedt, Glenn P. Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy. New York: Facts On File, 2004. Internet resource. Hudson, David L, and Roger Matuz. The Handy Presidents Answer Book. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press, 2012. Print. Johnson, Charles C. Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from Americas Most Underrated President. New York: Encounter Books, 2013. Internet resource. Laone, Ronald, and Jay Laone. The Republican Party: A Father and Son Review of RNCHistory. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2012. Print. McPherson, Alan L. Encyclopedia of U.s. Military Interventions in Latin America. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print. Moore, John A. "The Original Supply Siders." Independent Review 18.4 (2014): 597-618. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 July 2014. Sky, Theodore. The National Road and the Difficult Path to Sustainable National Investment. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2011. Print. Tucker, Garland S. The High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election. Austin, TX: Emerald Book Co, 2012. Internet resource. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More