Dec 28, 2009

Babbitt | Historical Context

The Roaring Twenties
After World War I, American politics and social life became increasingly conservative. Republican Warren G. Harding defeated Woodrow Wilson in the 1920 presidential election on a very conservative platform claiming to be a “return to normalcy.” Cutting government expenditures, vetoing bonuses for World War I veterans, and lowering income taxes for the wealthy, Harding vigorously supported private enterprise and suppressed labor unions. Harding’s conservative administration also, in some ways, set the stage for a decade that enjoyed unprecedented...