Normalcy

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 11th grade February 2002

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"Normalcy" Running on the campaign slogan of "return to normalcy", Warren G. Harding stole the popular vote in the 1920 election. As a reaction against Woodrow Wilson's idealism and troubling international affairs, the American public eagerly elected a president that promised them as little inconvenience as possible. Feeding on public outcry for "normalcy", Harding and his successor, Calvin Coolidge, encouraged many policies that proved to be popular at the time. Nonetheless, these policies of isolationism and laissez faire lacked foresight and are still negatively debated over. Responding to American desires for "normalcy", Presidents Harding and Coolidge restricted foreign immigration, retracted from international affairs, and reduced government involvement in business.

Following wartime, one of the first measures of "normalcy" was to restrict foreign immigration. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 allowed only three percent of the people of each nationality who had been living in the United States in 1910.

This act was particularly favorable to the nontraditional immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, who had arrived in great numbers just prior to 1910. The Immigration Act of 1924, however, cut quotas for foreigners to two percent and used the census of 1890 rather than 1910. In a flagrant display of discrimination, this act severely limited immigration form southern and eastern European countries such as Italy, and banned all Japanese immigrants. Besides obviously shutting out foreign immigration, Harding and Coolidge helped to shut in the United States through their international policies.

Tariff increases were particularly abundant under the big business sympathizers Harding and Coolidge. Believing that they would strike it rich in a prosperous home market, shortsighted businesspeople prompted the presidents to create extreme tariffs on foreign goods. During their stay in office, Harding and Coolidge approved thirty-two tariff increases while approving only six reductions. Impoverished European nations were unable...