The Road to Normalcy

the long version

The election of 1920 was one of the most momentous in Ameri¬ can history, with great impact on both foreign and domestic policies. One result was American rejection of membership in the League of Nations. Another was the reversal of the Progressive Movement. The last presidential election before World War I, that of 1912, in which Taft, Wilson, and Roosevelt all championed reform, was a high point of the Progressive Movement. Eight years later, in sharp contrast, the election marked the " advent of the con¬ servative reaction.” Wartime social and intellectual trends were so parallel to the political reaction that the relationship may profit¬ ably be examined.