Republican Ascendancy

The 1920s were filled with sharp contrasts and rapid innovation. A decade in U.S. history saw the country's mass electrification, the growth of the Ford Motor Company and other major enterprises, the expansion of mass consumerism with assembly line production of household appliances, and the solidification of an American middle-class. However, the economic boom would end with the worst economic downturn in the country's history by the decade's end. Throughout this decade, Republican Leadership in politics and policy, especially in the White House. This period of Republican ascendancy saw shifts in political values, bases, and platforms that would define the major political parties in the United States for decades to come. And it set the stage for the expansionist Democratic policies of the 1930s as the Republican party attempted to reconstitute itself after the economic collapse of 1929.

Republican Ascendancy Period

The Republican ascendancy period began with the election of 1920 and the Presidency of Warren G Harding. It ended with the election of 1932 with the victory of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Between 1920 and 1932, Republicans controlled the White House, The House of Representatives, and the Senate.

Republican Ascendancy the 1920s: Facts

The tables below show the control the Republican party had over the elected branches of government from 1920 to the loss of their majority in 1932.

(The Electoral College Votes for each Candidate are in the parenthesis)

Republican Ascendancy: History

The Republican ascendancy begins with two significant events, the Progressive Era of the 1910s and World War I. Both of these events transformed the major political parties of the United States and laid the groundwork for the decade of Republican control of the federal government.

The Progressive Era

In the late 1800s, progressive movements such as Farmers Alliances, the growth of American Populism, suffrage movements, and others split and divided the Democrats and Republican parties. Each party adopted different progressive ideologies into its platforms to gain voters in regions generally dominated by the other party.

From Reconstruction, beginning with President Abraham Lincoln in 1864 to the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1908, the Democratic party only held the White House through the split terms of Grover Cleveland. The Democrats, attempting to gain northern voters after the Civil War, adopted progressive ideals into their party. By the 1910s, the party of the deep south had become the party of the urban worker, the poor farmer, and social reform. In contrast, the Republican party, to gain southern voters, shifted to a party of pro-business, limited regulation, and conservative values.

World War I

World War I ended the progressive era. The growing prosperity during the war alleviated some of the plights of the struggling American worker as business and government worked together towards the war effort.

President Woodrow Wilson's politics and Leadership at the war's end came up against a wave of widespread Republican opposition. Between 1919 and the election of 1920, the U.S. experienced a post-war economic recession, in which Wilson's ailing administration took the brunt of the blame and Wilson's inability to convince the U.S. to ratify the Treaty of Versailles or join his League of Nations was seen as a failure.

The Democratic party ends up in such disarray under Wilson's Leadership that it does not nominate the sitting president as its candidate for the 1920 presidential election.

Republican Ascendancy: Politics

The business-government partnership fostered by World War I expanded throughout the 1920s. The nation's prosperity between 1920 and 1929 seemed to confirm the wisdom of allowing corporate interests to manage economic life. Gone, or at least submerged, were the reform impulse of the Progressive era. Middle-class Americans no longer viewed business leaders as greedy robber barons but saw them as respected public figures. The dominant motif of the 1920s was limited government, championed by the Republicans, which placed responsibility for the nation's wellbeing in the hands of its corporate leaders.

The Presidency of Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)

With the ailing Woodrow Wilson out of the presidential picture in 1920, the Democrats nominated Governor James M. Cox of Ohio for President and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt as Vice president, and their platform echoed that of Wilson's. The Republicans, now led by the conservative, pro-business wing of the party, selected Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge as their candidates. Sensing the desire of many Americans to put the war and stress of 1919 behind them, Harding promised a return to normalcy. On election day, he won in a landslide victory, beginning the Republican dominance that would last until 1932.

A portrait of President Warren G. Harding. Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Harding filled his cabinet with progressives, conservatives, and many known leaders from the corporate sphere. Though some of the departments would benefit from these connections, corruption and cronyism crept into Harding's administration, such as ignoring anti-trust laws, refusal to disassemble the U.S. Steel monopoly, and internal corruption of cabinet officials through scandals such as the Teapot Dome Scandal. The extent of the corruption came to light after Harding died of a heart attack in San Francisco in 1923.

The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge (1923 - 1928)

Following Harding's death, Vice President Calvin Coolidge moved into the White House. In contrast to Harding's political cronyism and outgoing style, Coolidge personified the righteousness of a New England leader, as he was a former Governor of Massachusetts. Coolidge's reserved personality and unimpeachable morality reassured Republican voters, primarily native-born Protestants, business owners, and skilled laborers, but also included propertied farmers and some African Americans.

A portrait of President Calvin Coolidge. Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

The Republicans won an impressive victory with Coolidge over Democratic candidate John W. Davis. After dealing with the fallout of the scandals of Harding's administration, Coolidge's Administration continued to champion the pro-business ideals of the party and began to put them into action. Coolidge oversaw one of the most expansive economic booms of the 1920s with little to no government regulation of industry or commerce, massive tax cuts–especially to corporate taxes–and using a budget surplus to pay down the national debt.

The Presidency of Herbert Hoover (1928-1932)

Calvin Coolidge did not seek re-election in 1928, and the Republican nominee became Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover. In an election divided by cultural conflict as much as economic prosperity, the Election of 1928 between Herbert Hoover and Democrat Alfred E. Smith resulted in another Republican landslide victory, as Hoover rode on the wave of economic growth that he had helped control in his cabinet position.

Fig. 3. President Herbert Hoover.

However, Hoover's administration could not ride the wave of prosperity the previous administrations had. In October 1929, the stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression. Believing the nation was only facing a slight recession due to the collapse of the market, Hoover moved to enact policies to avoid wage reductions and lay-offs quickly. As the economic climate worsened, Hoover attempted to authorize emergency relief loans to corporations and pass the Glass-Steagall Act and the Emergency Relief and Construction Act. None of these measures stemmed from the tide of economic disparity sweeping the nation.

The End of the Republican Ascendancy: Significance

Having campaigned on the prosperity of the 1920s, the Republicans could not escape the blame for the Great Depression. The economic downturn began in 1927. For five years, Americans spent money faster than their incomes. As consumers ran short of cash and credit, spending declined, and housing construction slowed. Soon, inventories piled up, and in 1928, manufacturers began to cut back production and lay off workers, reinforcing the slowdown. By the summer of 1929, the economy was in recession.

Fig. 4- People gather outside of the New York Stock Exchange after the crash in 1929.

With the collapse of the U.S. and World economies, the voting public lost faith in the Republican Leadership, and many blamed the government's corporate culture and the lax corporate governance regulations as the cause of the depression.

The anger at the Republican party is exemplified in the outcomes of the elections of 1932. Not only did Franklin D. Roosevelt win in a landslide, but Democrats also gained nearly one hundred seats in the House of Representatives and nine in the Senate. The message was clear; the American public felt that the Republican party had led the nation into economic ruin. A change in Leadership was necessary for the country to recover.