(AH 15-16)
The Roaring Twenties
The Search For Peace At Home
I. American Isolationism After WWI
Source: The Americans (Cd-Rom)
A. Basic idea:
- The U.S. does not want to get pulled into another world war.
- During WWI, we lost 120,000 dead and had many, many injured in less than 18 months. The American
public had no urge to get into another conflict like this anytime soon.
- The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles partially because signing it would mean that the U.S. would
Become an automatic member of the League of Nations.
- This concerned the U.S. Senate because the League could require its members to get involved in
foreign conflicts/wars. The Senate was concerned that this would take away its constitutional right to declare war. It found this to be unacceptable so it rejected the treaty.
II. Problems at Home (post-WWI)
A. What were Wilson’s fears concerning the effect(s) that WWI would have on Americans and their society? Were his fears
justified? Explain.
- he feared war would make Americans ruthless and brutal; feared war would change America;
- his fears were somewhat exaggerated; some of them, however, were also well-founded
- a time of turmoil (strikes and labor unrest, Red Scare, radicalism, Prohibition/organized crime, KKK, nativism,
corruption, etc.
B. Economic Problems:
1. What caused the massive inflation that took place immediately after WWI? Explain.
- going from “guns to butter” (from making war products to consumer products) resulted in high demand
and low supply of products for a period of time;
- soldiers returning with money to spend, and people needing to buy replacement products, led to increased
demand;
- 1919 cost of living rose 77% beyond pre-war levels; in 1920, it rose another 28%
2. Why were there suddenly more labor strikes following the end of the war than there were during the war?
- workers and unions had put-off labor disputes during the war but now wanted improvements in “bread
and butter” issues (esp. wages due to inflation)
- management/owners connected unions/striking workers with radicalism to make them lose public support
- government began once again to side with management
Visual:
Notice the massive increase in the percentage of non-agricultural (non-farm) workers during
the same period. This crippled the economy.
Graph #1:
Percentage of Non-farm Workforce on Strike
3. Identify some of the more notable strikes that took place immediately following the end of the war.
Notable Strikes:
a)Boston Police Strike (Aug. – Sept. 1919):
- strike put down by Calvin Coolidge with use of national guard; he gained fame from this;
- “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.”
b)Coal Strike (Nov. 1919)
c)Steel Strike (Sept. 1919)
d) Seattle General Strike (Feb. 1919)
4. What were the demands made by the labor unions at this time? Be specific.
- mainly “bread and butter issues”; pay increases needed because of inflation
5. What effect did the police strike in Boston have on the career of Calvin Coolidge?
- shot him into national spotlight;
- eventually became president
NOTE: Sections III-V of the packet involve extreme groups/people.
radicalism (definition):(from our “Political Spectrum” PowerPoint):
– favor a rapid, fundamental change in the existing social, economic and/or political order (situation); usually use
revolutions to bring about this massive and fast change
- will use extreme measures including violence to achieve their goals. (Communist)
III. The Red Scare
Note: The following website has some decent Red Scare-related propaganda cartoons.
A. Who was Vladimir Lenin? The Bolsheviks? How did America react to them? Why?
- founder of communist Russia; led the Bolsheviks (“the majority”)
- goal of communists was to create a worldwide revolution that would result in the overthrow of capitalism
everywhere (private property would be taken – was seen as being extreme in U.S.)
- many Americans, most of whom leaned towards capitalism) reacted in fear, especially once 70,000 radicals joined
the Communist Party in the U.S.;
- several dozen bombs were sent to the government and businesses; people feared Communists were taking
over
Visual: A pro-Lenin painting depicting Lenin’s leadership of the Russian people. (Source: The Americans Cd-Rom)
B. What was the “Red Scare” and when did it take place?
- fear of communism spreading to the U.S. during years of 1919-1920
C. What had caused this fear to come about in America at this particular time?
- communist and radical movements Europe
- associated with radicalism, anarchy, random violence, srikes
- some people believed they were seeing signs of these things in U.S. (being brought over by immigrants?)
- in reality, communists in U.S. quite few (made up less than ½ of 1% of U.S. population)
- violence (bombs sent to important people); it was later determined not to be done by communists
D. What groups were people becoming increasingly more afraid/suspicious of during this time? (Be sure to focus especially
on the connection between the negative public reaction to labor unions and a fear of communism and, in general,
radicalism.)
- immigrants (especially from “New” wave countries), anarchists, unions/strikers, radicals
- capitalists/business owners viewed an increase in number of strikes to be a sign that communism and
radicalism was spreading in the U.S.; led to a widespread negative views of unions and strikes by the
public
Political Cartoon Analysis:
Analyze the political cartoon shown to the right. Consider the following:
1. Who are the people? Are they symbolic
of a type of person, symbolic of a group,
or do they represent real, specific
historically important individuals?
2. What is the significance of the writing
in the cartoon? The boards over the
window? The rays of light coming through
the boards. The title shown at the bottom?
The facial expressions? The physical actions?
3. What is the overall message of the cartoon?
How does the artist want you to feel about the
individuals and this situation? To be against
it/them? To be supportive?
4. How does the cartoon and its content fit into the
historical context (the date of the cartoon
1920)?
Other Examples of Anti-Communist/Radical Propaganda:
“STEP BY STEP” “COMING OUT OF THE SMOKE” “HE WOULD TURN THE CLOCK BACK 1,000 YEARS”
E. Palmer Raids:
1. Who was A. Mitchell Palmer and why did he conduct the raids?
- series of raids (1919-1920) in search of communists that were ordered by Attorney General Palmer
- Palmer gave some insight into his fears. Read the following quote. Be knowledgeable about the
contents of this quote.
“The blaze of revolution was sweeping over every American institution of law and order … eating its way
into the homes of the American workman, its sharp tongues of revolutionary heat … licking the alters of
the churches, leaping in to the belfry of the school bell, crawling into the sacred corners of American
homes … burning the foundations of society.”
2. Describe the importance of the raids, focusing especially on their effects.
- effects:
- the constitutional rights of thousands violated; hundreds of innocents deported; some states
had passed sedition acts stronger than those passed during war; nativism lingered (resulting in
new immigration restrictions), and added to the rise of KKK
3. What organization was created to oppose (fight against) the actions taken during the Palmer Raids?
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Critical Thinking Question:
Is it ever okay for the government to take away some of the civil rights of people in times of a perceived
emergency? Explain your reasoning.
IV. The Sacco and Vanzetti Case
A. Who were Sacco and Vanzetti and with what crime were they charged?
- immigrants (Italians) and anarchists (radicals); charged with murder of workers at shoe factory;
Visual: Sacco and Vanzetti; (Source: The Americans Cd-Rom)
B. Why did this case cause so much controversy?
- little solid evidence to support the charge, but still resulted in conviction
- judge, who privately referred to them as “those anarchist bastards”, basically stated that they may not be guilty of
this crime, but were still guilty because their beliefs went against the government
- they were singled-out mostly because of who they were (immigrants), where they came from, and what they
believed (anarchism)
C. What was the verdict of the case? What happened to the men?
- guilty; sentenced to die by electric chair, which they did
D. Describe the connection of this case to the Red Scare.
- immigrants, like them, became increasingly more associated with communism and radicalism by the public;
- their trial was a symptom of the anti-communism and anti-immigrant hysteria that had gripped the U.S.
E. Did the U.S. government and society learn from the mistakes that were made during this trial? Explain.
- no; Japanese internment camps were created out of fear following bombing of Pearl Harbor
- fear of Arab-Americans and Arab immigrants following 9/11
- McCarthyism of the 1950’s (fear of communists once again)
V. The Return of the KKK
A. What is the KKK and what were its goals back in the 1920’s?
- an extreme organization formed after end of Civil whose original goal it was keep W.A.S.P.s in power and
“keeping blacks in their place”
REASONS WHY IT’S POPULARITY AND POWER ROSE:
The KKK reemerged around the time of WWI due largely to:
-increased immigration from southern and eastern Europe (“New” immigrant areas), which brought in people who were very different from the WASP members of the KKK.
-the Great Migration (the movement of African-Americans to the North)
T
The members of the KKK were scared of the changes that these people might bring to their way of life.
The Great Migration
The map below shows the flow of African-Americans from the South to the North during the period of WWI and the 1920’s.
The KKK reacts to this migration of African-Americans by renewing its focus on keeping African-Americans from exercising their existing rights and from gaining any additional ones.
Which of the following statements is supported by the
data in the graph?
a) Between 1860 and 1930, many African-Americans
migrated to the North.
b) Between 1860 and 1930, African-American declined.
c) In 1910, more than half of African-Americans worked
in factories.
d) By 1930, most African-Americans lived in the North.
B. Who did the KKK persecute (attack)? Why?
- African-Americans, Jews, Catholics, immigrants
- they blamed many of these people for the country’s various problems
- some whites had come to feel threatened (economically, politically, socially, etc.) by these groups
C. What methods did the KKK use to expand its membership and to try to achieve its goals during the 1920’s?
- terror/violence: lynching, beatings, tarring-feathering, branding)
- paid members to recruit new members
- got elected into government; also got in law enforcement
D. Identify some of the successes and failures of the KKK at this time.
- got elected to local, state, and federal governmental positions (including law enforcement)
- membership climbed to about 4.5 million by 1925 out of a population of about 125 million (1 of every 26 people)
Visual: Members of the KKK march through the heart of Washington, D.C. in 1925. The Capitol Building is in the
background. (Source:
E. What do you think? Should the KKK have the right to come to your community and preach ideas of hate and prejudice?
Explain your answer on the back side of this paper.
VI. The Anti-Immigration Movement (A Quick Review)
A. Be able to answer the following questions; they are the same things on which we focused in our “Immigration” unit.
1. Why were some people against the “new” immigrants who were coming to the U.S.?
2. Identify the two very significant nativist and restrictive immigration laws that were created during the early
1920’s.
3. Explain how these laws discriminated against some immigrants but not others? In your opinion, is it okay to let
some people into our country but not others? Explain your answer.
The following graph and question are from:
Based on the graph, what was the fundamental trend in immigration to the United States from 1921-1926?
a) immigration from all regions decreased
b) immigration from all regions increased
c) immigration from Asia increased more than that from other regions
d) immigration from Northwestern Europe decreased more than that from other regions
The Politics of “Normalcy”
“Return to Normalcy” (definition):
The idea of returning America back to the way things were before Progressivism and WWI. This would
mean a smaller, less active government (more “hands-off” with the economy) and less involvement in
world affairs (isolationism).
Try to decipher Warren G. Harding’s call for a “return to normalcy” in the following speech excerpt. Identify specific passages of his speech that seem to support the previously mentioned definition.
Warren G. Harding calls for a "Return to Normalcy," Boston, MA, May 14, 1920
“There isn’t anything the matter with world civilization, except that humanity is viewing it through a vision impaired in a cataclysmal (devastating) war. Poise (calm) has been disturbed, and nerves have been racked, and fever has rendered men irrational (not thinking clearly); sometimes there have been draughts (sips) upon the dangerous cup of barbarity, and men have wandered far from safe paths, but the human procession still marches in the right direction.
America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums (a fake medicine that makes exaggerated claims about its ability to heal), but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation (disturbance), but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity (peace); not the dramatic, but the dispassionate (calm); not experiment, but equipoise (balance); not submergence (diving into) in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality (focusing on things at home)…
My best judgment of America’s needs is to steady down, to get squarely on our feet, to make sure of the right path. Let’s get out of the fevered delirium of war, with the hallucination that all the money in the world is to be made in the madness of war and the wildness of its aftermath. Let us stop to consider that tranquility at home is more precious than peace abroad, and that both our good fortune and our eminence are dependent on the normal forward stride of all the American people. …”
Source:
VII. The Needs of Americans
A. What three things did Americans want after WWI?
1. peace
2. prosperity
3. limited government
VIII. Attempts to Prevent War: The Washington Naval Conference and the
Kellogg-Briand Pact
A. Washington Naval Conference:
1. When was the Washington Naval Conference held? Who attended? What was it intended to do? Was it
successful?
- held Nov. 1921- Feb. 1922
- attended by major countries, including U.S.
- purpose was to reduced size of navies mostly in the attempt to help prevent a future war (by reducing
militarism)
- led to 9 different treaties:
- one of them led to a 10-year “naval holiday” on the production of large naval ships
- led to some countries being forced to scrap (destroy) existing ships and ones being built
B. Kellogg-Briand Pact:
1. When was the pact signed, who signed it, and what was it intended to do?
- signed by 15 countries in 1928
- essentially declared that war was illegal and that problems had to be solved peacefully
- proved impossible to make countries follow it, so it did not work (the outbreak of WWII showed that)
2. Do you think this was a good idea or foolish?
IX. The Republican Platform (especially Harding and Coolidge)
Visuals: Presidents Warren G. Harding (left) and Calvin Coolidge (right).
Sources:
A. Describe President Warren G. Harding, as well as his plans and policies for the post-WWI U.S.. Focus especially on his
plans for the economy.
- simple man with small-town tastes; senator from Ohio
- government keep hands-off economy (very little governmental interference; laissez-faire)
- make government run more efficiently
B. Important Economic Policy Makers (Mellon and Dawes)
1. Who was Andrew Mellon and what was his plan for creating economic growth in the U.S.? Use the reading
shown below to help you answer the question.
- banker; sixth-richest man in U.S.; appointed Sec. of Treasury (held longer than anyone in history)
- encourage economic growth by cutting taxes on industry (corporations) and wealthy people
- even though tax rates went down, the government collected more tax dollars because of the
increasing economic prosperity
- allowed government to pay its expenses and then spend the surplus (extra money) on
reducing the national debt
2. Who was Charles G. Dawes? Describe his ideas (and actions) for creating economic growth in the U.S.
- job to bring federal spending under control:
- he cut govt. expenses by 1/3 and created a surplus = to almost ¼ of total budget
- used surplus to pay national debt, which had grown by 25 times because of WWI
- How do the plans and policies of these men compare to the plans of the Bush and Obama
administration’s plans and policies for the economy? Explain.
- Bush’s policies were quite similar (“trickle-down” economics) to Mellon’s, but not so
much to Dawes because Bush did not really made it a priority to pay-down the deficit;
the deficit and national debt grew tremendously during his terms
- Obama dramatically increased spending in the attempt to stimulate the economy
(the “Stimulus”);
- deficits have been large for the past few years; claims he did not want to do this but was