Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

====Postwar recession and recovery====
{{Main|Depression of 1920–1921}}
[[File:Chas G Dawes-H&E.jpg|thumb|right|[[Charles Dawes]]—the first budget director and later, vice president under Coolidge]]
When Harding took office on March 4, 1921, the nation was in the midst of [[Depression of 1920–21|a postwar economic decline]].{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=40–41}} At the suggestion of legislative leaders, Harding called a special session of Congress, to convene April 11. When Harding addressed the joint session the following day, he urged the reduction of income taxes (raised during the war), an increase in tariffs on agricultural goods to protect the American farmer, as well as more wide-ranging reforms, such as support for highways, aviation, and radio.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=54–57}}{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=52–55}} It was not until May 27 that Congress passed an emergency tariff increase on agricultural products. [[Budget and Accounting Act of 1921|An act]] authorizing a [[Bureau of the Budget]] followed on June 10, and Harding appointed Charles Dawes as bureau director with a mandate to cut expenditures.{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=51–52}}