in 1920 republican warren g harding is elected President of the United States after World War one American society tried to recover they were wearied and tired of chaos and war they wanted to return to the simpler times of the Gilded Age one where America was isolated and only cared about the business of America during the campaign of 1920 warren g harding promised a return to those simpler times he assured the American people that America's present need is not heroics but healing no nostrils but normalcy ardennes legacy as president is one of incompetence scandal and hands-off politics Harding looked presidential but he was anything but what Harding really was was a good old boy at the Republican Party he was fond of gambling drinking and womanizing he had extremely poor judgment in his Capitan's selections Harding was simply put up by the Republican Party to win the election because he looked more presidential than his opponent because it was more of a puppet of the old guard conservatives in the Republican Party and Harding was so aloof on matters Harding's presidency was dominated by people behind the scenes and not by Harding himself Harding's political philosophy dealt with the idea of lower taxes and lessening the government's role in business and society Harding didn't really understand political issues Harding appointed corrupt cronies to his cabinet because of this they were referred to as the Ohio gang they're a group of poker playing friends the Harding had running in his cabin they took advantage of Harding's lack of knowledge to take bribes and undo reforms behind his back while in office Harding focused on settling trade war debts and disarmament issues around the world one major political accomplishment during the 1920s was the kellogg-briand pact in 1928 fifteen world powers signed this pact agreeing to disarm their navies and essentially outline war however there was no real way to enforce this pact therefore it was useless how can you really stop war from occurring well it was a good idea anyway the next accomplishment of the politics in the 1920s was the forty McCumber tariffs assigned in 1922 and raised tariffs on on imports coming to the United States the idea was that as products coming from the outside cost more consumers were more likely to buy products built in the United States thus protecting US businesses helping them to succeed the downside to the tariff was the United Kingdom and France were not able to sell their goods to United States thus costing them profits and not allowing them to repay their war debts another political problem of the 1920s was war reparations and war debt this led to the Dawes plan in 1924 US investors loaned Germany 2.5 billion dollars to pay back the war reparations they owed to Great Britain and France here's how the Dawes plan worked with the United States loaning money to Germany to pay off their war reparations to England and France England France can then pay back their war debts to the United States did you see what happened there essentially we were paying Germany to pay print in France to pay us back war debts with our own money the Harding presidency was defined by one of the biggest scandals in US political history this scandal is a Teapot Dome scandal this was committed by Harding's Secretary of the Interior our beef all false old oil rich land to his oil friends for money due to this illegal transaction fall was able to pocket over four hundred thousand dollars from the sale fall illegally move protected land in Wyoming in California in case control he then sold this conserved land to his friends who owned oil companies fall was the first cabinet member in history to be convicted of felony when President Warren G Harding's suddenly dies of a heart attack in 1923 Americans mourned him although he wasn't a great president he was likable in his footsteps came Vice President Calvin Coolidge humble meek and quiet silent cow was the polar opposite to Harding in terms of personality he focused on maintaining and broadening Harding's policies of lower taxes less government higher tariffs and a pro-business stance although he wasn't flashy he did lead a scandal-free administration that restored faith in the Republican Party he was also responsible for signing the kellogg-briand pact Coolidge's presidency is defined by a statement he once made he told the American people the business of America is business Coolidge's philosophy focused on a hands-off approach to government allowing businesses to flourish and the American economy to prosper the legacy of the hardy and Coolidge presidency is to set the agenda for lazy affair politics through the roaring 20s it set the economic climate that would lead to prosperity but ultimately an economic depression this economic depression is one that would change the future of the United States forever