Republican Governments Were Responsible For The Boom In The 1920s Research Paper

The ‘Republican governments were responsible for the boom in the 1920s’ How far do you agree?

During the 1920s, America experienced a period of economic prosperity known as the ‘boom’. The most important cause for this boom was the Republican governments leading the country at the time, this is shown through the party’s policies such as Laissez-Faire and low taxation that helped America thrive. The idea of Laissez-Faire was that the government should interfere with the public’s daily lives as little as possible, leaving the business people alone to do their jobs. The government believed that the public would work harder without aid, therefore industries would prosper. Low taxation was also a key factor in the boom, by 1928, only 2% of taxpayers

One example of this is Warren Harding’s idea of ‘isolationism’, a type of foreign policy which involves little to no trade or communication with other countries, instead focusing on America’s own industries and interstate trade. Harding’s goal for isolationism was for America to build massive industries, without having to worry about international competition. This was a huge success in strengthening American industry and economy, and was a large contributing cause to the boom, shown by how America alone was able to produce over 40 million tonnes of steel in 1925, compared to Germany’s 15 million tonnes. As well as this, President Herbert Hoover also spread the idea of ‘Rugged Individualism’, meaning that American citizens should look after themselves, without having to rely on help from the government, Hoover believed that aid would encourage laziness, and wanted Americans to be resilient so that they worked harder, increasing the power of industries, in order for the country to prosper. These morals created a strong sense of patriotism in Americans, encouraging them to do as their presidents said, which was able to lead to economic