A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover

The three presidents of the Republican Era of 1921–1933 – Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover – have frequently been caricatured, defamed, or dismissed in popular history. This companion provides a historical approach to these administrations and the country they governed. Top scholars on this era provide 29 historiographic essays that fully demonstrate how scholars have addressed the political, economic, diplomatic, cultural, ethnic, and social history of this period, and how historians have wrestled with the controversial figures and issues of this age.  The text includes chapters on popular culture, technology, eugenics, nativism, and the biographical treatment of the presidents and first ladies of the era.

Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Katherine A.S. Sibley   Part I: The Background of Progressivism 1 The Wilson Legacy, Domestic and International Christopher McKnight Nichols 2 Progressivism in an Age of Normalcy: Women’s Rights, civil service, veterans’ benefits, and child welfare John Fox 3 US–Foreign Relations Under Harding, Coolidge and Hoover: Power and Constraint Alex Goodall                    Part II: Warren G. Harding and the Early 1920s 4 Harding’s Biographies Justin P. Coffey 5 The Front Porch and the Harding Election Richard G. Frederick 6 Harding Presidency:  Scandals, Legacy and Memory Phillip G. Payne 7 The Opposition: Labor, Liquor, and Democrats Kristoffer Shields 8 No Immigrants or Radicals Need Apply: Varieties of Nativism in 1920s America Alexander Pavuk 9 New technologies, Communication and Mass Consumption Jason N. Brock and R. Emmett Sullivan   Part III: Calvin Coolidge and His Era 10 The Biographical Legacy of Calvin Coolidge and the 1924 Presidential Election Jason Roberts 11 From “Coolidge Prosperity” to “Voluntary Associationalism”: Andrew Mellon, Herbert Hoover, and America’s Political Economy in the Republican–Era Twenties Daniel Michael Du Bois 12 Country and City, 1921–1933: Fundamentalism; Scopes Trial; Urbanization and Suburbanization; the Middletown Study Scott A. Merriman 13 Native Americans: Experiences and Culture Mary Stockwell 14 Military interventions and foreign affairs in the Coolidge Administration: Latin America and Asia Theodore J. Zeman 15 Race Relations and the Consequences of the Great Migration Carol Jackson Adams 16 Eugenics, Immigration Restriction and the Birth Control Movements Ruth Clifford Engs 17 Popular Culture during the “Jazz Age” and After Jennifer Frost 18 Sports and Pastimes in the 1920s Martin C. Babicz   Part IV: Herbert Hoover and His Era 19 Hoover Biographies and Hoover Revisionism Brian E. Birdnow 20 The Election of 1928 Nicholas Siekierski and Richard G. Frederick 21 The Economic Historiography of the Great Depression (1929–1933) Daniel A. Schiffman 22 The Worsening of the Great Depression: Hoovervilles, Farm Troubles, Bank Crises Dennis S. Hoff 23 Hoover’s Vision and His Response to the Great Depression: Voluntary Efforts, Public Works, the Gold Standard, the RFC, The Farm Board, Hoover’s Reputation Glen Jeansonne 24 Herbert Hoover’s Diplomacy Toward Latin America Paul Kahan 25 Ironies of Character: Hoover’s Foreign Policy with Asia Michael E. Chapman 26 Women and Minorities Nancy Beck Young   Part V: In Retrospect 27 Historians’ Views of the Republican Era: Was Roosevelt an Entirely New Turn? Justus Doenecke

Katherine A. S. Sibley is Professor of History at Saint Joseph’s University. She is the author of four books, most recently First Lady Florence Kling Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy (2009) and Red Spies in America: Stolen Secrets and the Dawn of the Cold War (2004). Sibley is also editing a forthcoming Companion on First Ladies, and serves on the editorial board of American Communist History as well as on the Historical Advisory Committee for the U.S. State Department.