Transcript POLITICS OF THE ROARING 20’S

POLITICS OF THE
ROARING 20’S
SECTION 1: AMERICAN
POSTWAR ISSUES
• The American public was
exhausted from World War I
• Public debate over the
League of Nations had
divided America
• An economic downturn
meant many faced
unemployment
• A wave of nativism swept
the nation
• Unions create a stir,
clashing with business
Return to “Normalcy”
• Three trends in American society
result from this desire
– Renewed isolationism
– A resurgence of nativism, suspicions of foreign-born
– Trend toward political conservatism, turn away from
progressive era
FEAR OF COMMUNISM
• One perceived threat to
American life was the
spread of Communism
– Fear of this ideology
coming to America
– “REDS” – were identified
and excluded
– Communist party in USA
grows = fears rise
SOVIET UNION
COMMUNISM
• Russia was transformed
into the Soviet Union in
1917, a Communist state
• Vladimir Lenin led the
Bolsheviks and
overthrew the Czarist
regime
• He was a follower of the
Marxist doctrine of
social equality
• A Communist party was
formed in America, too
Lenin
THE RUSSIAN BOLSHEVIK
REVOLUTION IN 1917 LED
TO WIDE SCALE FEAR IN
THE U.S. THAT
COMMUNISTS WOULD TRY
TO TAKE OVER THE
COUNTRY
BOLSHEVIKS, COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONARIES
WHO TOOK OVER RUSSIA IN 1917 AND
PREDICTED COMMUNIST TAKEOVERS IN OTHER
NATIONS
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RED SCARE
EVENTS IN RUSSIA AND EUROPE AND MASSIVE STRIKES AT
HOME LED TO A FEAR THAT THE U.S. WOULD BE THE NEXT
TARGET OF COMMUNISTS
RED SCARE, 1919-1920, THE LARGE NUMBER OF
VIOLENT STRIKES SCARED MANY AMERICANS
WHICH LED TO A TIME OF WIDESPREAD ANXIETY
AND FEAR OF A COMMUNIST TAKEOVER
PALMER RAIDS
PALMER RAIDS, ATTORNEY GENERAL
STAGED A CRACKDOWN ON SUSPECTED
RADICALS INVOLVING MANY VIOLATIONS
OF CIVIL RIGHTS ON INNOCENT VICTIMS
- Possibly a campaign issue
A. MITCHELL PALMER
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AS A RESULT OF THE
PALMER RAIDS HUNDREDS
OF IMMIGRANTS WERE
FORCIBLY DEPORTED TO
THEIR HOME COUNTRIES
“SHIP OR SHOOT” WAS THE SLOGAN OF THE TIME
MEANING SHIP THEM OUT OF THE COUNTRY OR SHOOT
THEM.
GIANT CONSPIRACY, AMERICAN PEOPLE SAW THE WAVE
OF BOMBINGS, STRIKING WORKERS, COMMUNISTS AND
ANARCHISTS AS A PLOT TO OVERTHROW THE GOVT IN
1919-1920 – May Day never happens!!!
“SHIP OR SHOOT”
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SACCO & VANZETTI
• The Red Scare fed
nativism in America
• Italian anarchists Sacco &
Vanzetti (a shoemaker and
a fish peddler)
– Convicted of robbery and
murder despite flimsy
evidence
– Execution was symbolic of
discrimination against
radical beliefs during the Red
Scare
• Were they guilty?
– Executed in 1927
– Ballistics in 1961
DESPITE MASSIVE PROTESTS AROUND THE GLOBE SACCO AND
VANZETTI WERE EXECUTED IN AUGUST OF 1927
THE FUNERAL
DEATH MASKS 11
THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION WAS FORMED IN
1920 TO FIGHT GOVERNMENT DISREGARD OF
CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED RIGHTS
ROGER
BALDWIN,
FOUNDER OF
THE ACLU
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THE KLAN RISES AGAIN
• As the Red Scare and antiimmigrant attitudes reached a
peak, the KKK was more popular
than ever
– 100% Americanism
•
•
•
•
•
Membership rises to 4.5 mill
Oppose unions
Help enforce prohibition
“kleagling” – sales $
Members were ordinary people
who were threatened by changes
in society
• Influence politics
EXTREME FEAR OF FOREIGN INFLUENCES
BREEDS HATRED
KKK, DURING THE 20'S IT ENJOYED A REBIRTH, IT WAS
DEDICATED TO PERSECUTING MINORITIES IN AMERICAN
SOCIETY, HAD OVER 2 MILLION MEMBERS BY 1924, USED
TERROR AND MURDER, ELECTED MANY KKK MEMBERS TO
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WOMEN KKK MEMBERS MARCH
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IN 1915, THE KKK EXPANDED ITS HATRED FROM ONLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO
ALSO INCLUDE:
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JEWS, ROMAN CATHOLICS, FOREIGNERS,
“IMMORALS” ALCOHOLICS, ADULTERERS, AND CRIMINALS
THE KLAN SHOW ITS POWER AND STRENGTH BY
ORGANIZING A MARCH IN WASHINGTON D.C. IN 1925
50,000 KU KLUX KLAN MEMBERS MARCHING
BY AUGUST OF 1925 THE KLAN HAD 5 MILLION
MEMBERS AND CONTROLLED THE SEVERAL STATE
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GOVERNMENTS
BACKGROUND INFO ON KKK: FORMED AFTER THE CIVIL WAR BY 6
COLLEGE STUDENTS. THEY WOULD DRESS UP AND RIDE
THROUGH TOWN AT NIGHT. THEY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE FEAR
IT INSPIRED IN PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY FORMER SLAVES. The policies
of Reconstruction -- aiming to extend the rights of Southern blacks -- had
the unintended effect of pushing hundreds of resentful and anxious
veterans into the Klan, which soon began instituting a systematic policy of
violence in opposition to the new social order. Former slaves were the
obvious target of this terrorism, but the Klan also harassed, intimidated
and even killed Northern teachers, judges, politicians and "carpetbaggers"
of all ilk. By late 1867, the movement had spread throughout the small
towns of the South, though it did not take hold in urban areas, perhaps
because at that time the cities were not suffering the economic hardships
of rural regions. Klansmen began waging guerilla warfare against what
they perceived as a corrupt system depriving them of rights. This feeling
of grievance, which began during the time of the first Klan, would
characterize Klan sensibility and ideology throughout the 20th century.
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ANTI SEMITISM IN THE 1920s
ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE
FOUNDED, 1913
"THE IMMEDIATE OBJECT OF THE LEAGUE
IS TO STOP, BY APPEALS TO REASON AND
CONSCIENCE AND, IF NECESSARY, BY
APPEALS TO LAW, THE DEFAMATION OF
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. ITS ULTIMATE
PURPOSE IS TO SECURE JUSTICE AND
FAIR TREATMENT TO ALL CITIZENS ALIKE
AND TO PUT AN END FOREVER TO UNJUST
AND UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
AND RIDICULE OF ANY SECT OR BODY OF
CITIZENS."
ADL CHARTER
OCTOBER 1913
LEO FRANK, JEWISH
BUSINESSMAN, WAS LYNCHED IN
ATLANTA IN 1915 FOR A CRIME HE
DID NOT COMMIT
LOGO FROM:
www.adl.org
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THE NAACP, WHICH WAS FOUNDED IN 1909, REFUSED TO BE
INTIMIDATED BY THE KLAN. THEY HELD THEIR ANNUAL
CONFERENCE IN 1920 IN ATLANTA, ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE
KLAN AREAS AT THE TIME. TWO YEARS LATER, THE NAACP
PLACED LARGE ADS IN MAJOR NEWSPAPERS TO PRESENT THE
FACTS ABOUT LYNCHING.
LOGO FROM
www.naacp.org
THIS CARTOON
SHOWS THE
ANTI-LYNCHING
BILLS BEING PUT
OFF BY
CONGRESS. THE
NAACP LOBBIED
CONGRESS
UNSUCCESSFULL
Y FOR
LEGISLATION.
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MARCUS GARVEY
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A TIME OF LABOR
UNREST
• Strikes were outlawed
during WWI, however
in 1919 there were
more than 3,000
strikes involving 4
million workers
• Employers paint union
strikes as revolution
BOSTON POLICE STRIKE
• No raise, no union due to
WWI
• Commissioner fires reps
from union
• STRIKE
• Calvin Coolidge calls on
National Guard
• Commissioner hires new
men
• Gives them everything
the other cops asked for
“There is no right to strike
against the public safety by
– Coolidge backs the
commissioner
– Praised for saving Boston
BOSTON POLICE STRIKE EDITORIAL CARTOONS
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1919 CARTOONS
ON THE WAVE
OF STRIKES
SWEEPING THE
U.S.
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STEEL MILL STRIKE
• In September of 1919, the U.S. Steel Corporation refused to meet with
union representatives
• In response, over 300,000 workers struck
• Scabs were hired while strikers were beaten by police and federal
troops
• The strike was settled in 1920
– Not until 1923 did workers get an 8-hour day but no union
• Americans happy that another “un-American” threat had been turned
back
COAL MINERS’ STRIKE
• In 1919, United Mine Workers led by John L. Lewis
called a Strike on November 1
– Palmer gets court order to send them back to work
– Lewis quietly continues strike: mines stay closed for a month
• Lewis met with an arbitrator appointed by WIlson
– 27% wage increase
– Workday reduced in 1930’s
– Lewis becomes a national figure
1920s: TOUGH TIMES FOR
UNIONS
• The 1920s hurt the labor
movement
• Union membership
dropped from 5 million
to 3.5 million
• Why? African Americans
were excluded from
membership and
immigrants were willing
to work in poor
conditions
Ford Foundry workers in 1926;
only 1% of black workers were in
Unions at the time
Labor movement loses appeal
• Membership declines for several reasons
– Immigrants willing to work poor conditions
– Language barrier hurts recruitment
– Farmers who migrated are independent
– African American excluded
• Overall memberships drop
• Americans change attitudes towards
unions during 1920’s
SECTION 2: THE HARDING PRESIDENCY
NORMALCY, HARDING PROGRAM, HE WANTED LAISSEZFAIRE, GOV’T COULD HELP ECONOMY BY KEEPING ITS
HANDS OFF
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Before his nomination, Warren G. Harding declared,
"America's present need is not heroics, but healing;
Not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration;
Not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity;
Not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment,
But equipoise; not submergence in internationality,
But sustainment in triumphant nationality...."
Harding speaking
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WORKING FOR PEACE
• Warren G. Harding’s
modest successes include
the Kellogg-Briand Pact
which renounced war as a
means of national policy
(signed by 15 nations, but
difficult to enforce), and the
Dawes Plan which solved
the problem of post-war
debt by providing loans to
Germany to pay
France/Britain who then
paid the U.S.
Harding 1920-1924
Pacts, Tariffs & Reparations
• Highly Ineffective Outcomes
– Kellogg-Briand: renounces war as national
policy, but no way to ensure it
– Fordney-McCumber Tariff: raises tariffs to
60% in an attempt to protect American
business, stalls European recovery
– Dawes Plan: WTF (fudge!!). It is a pyramid
scheme to prevent war
FEAR OF OUTSIDE INFLUENCES LED TO RESTRICTIONS
ON IMMIGRATION
IN 1924 CONGRESS ENACTED THE FIRST LAW
LIMITING IMMIGRATION TO THE U.S. AND STATED HOW
THOSE WHO COULD EMIGRATE LEGALLY WOULD BE
IDENTIFIED. ESTABLISHED “NATIONAL ORIGINS”
QUOTA SYSTEMS.
• 1919 – 1920 - # of immigrants increased
600%.
• Emergency Quota Act of 1921 – quota
system –maximum number of people who
could enter the U.S. from each foreign
country.
– Goal – cut down dramatically the # of people
coming from Europe. (mainly Eastern Europe)
• 1924 – 2% of # living in the U.S. in 1890.
– discriminated against Catholics and Jews.
– Later to 2% of 1920 #’s
• Prohibited Japanese immigration – led to ill
will between the U.S. and Japan.
• Did NOT apply to the Western Hemisphere Mexico and Canada increased a lot.
SCANDAL HITS
HARDING
• The president’s main
problem was that he
didn’t understand
many of the issues
• Several of Harding’s
appointee’s were
caught illegally selling
government supplies
to private companies
Harding’s administration was rocked by scandals. He said, of the friends
he had appointed to high office,
"My god, this is a hell of a job! I have no trouble with my enemies . . . but
my damned friends... They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor
nights."
Three major scandals:
1. In the Veterans' Bureau 2. In the Departments of the Interior and
Justice 3. Office of Alien Property
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Harding’s Cabinet
• Appoints some good and bad people
– Charles Harding as Sec. of State, Herbert
Hoover as Sec. of Commerce, and Andrew
Mellon as Sec. of Treasury
– Bad: Ohio Gang = Attorney General Harry
Daugherty who was a lobbyist for tobacco and
meatpacking; Albert B. Fall close friend of many
oil executives appointed as Sec. of Interior
• Charles Forbes head of Veterans Bureau allows govt.
to be overcharged by $250 million
• Col. Thomas Miller, head of the Office of Alien
Property, takes German chemical patents from the
war and sells them to American companies
TEAPOT DOME
SCANDAL
• The worst case of corruption
was the Teapot Dome
Scandal
– The government set aside oilrich public land in Teapot, WY
– Secretary of Interior Albert Fall
secretly leased the land to two
oil companies
– Fall received $325,000 from the
oil companies and a felony
conviction from the courts
• Harding finally realizes
corruption, but dies shortly
after
SECTION 3: THE
BUSINESS OF AMERICA
• The new president,
Calvin Coolidge, fit the
pro-business spirit of
the 1920s very well
• His famous quote:
“The chief business of
the American people is
business . . .the man
who builds a factory
builds a temple – the
man who works there
worships there”
President Calvin Coolidge
1924-1928
AMERICAN BUSINESS
FLOURISHES
• Both Coolidge and his
Republican successor
Herbert Hoover, favored
governmental policies
that kept taxes down and
business profits up
• Tariffs were high which
helped American
manufacturers
• Government interference
in business was minimal
• Wages were increasing
THE IMPACT OF THE
AUTO
The Ford Model T was the first car in
America. It came only in black and
sold for $290. Over 15 million were
sold by 1927.
• The auto was the
backbone of the
American economy
from 1920 through
the 1970s
• It also profoundly
altered the
American
landscape
and
society
IMPACT OF THE
AUTO
Among the many changes
were:
• Paved roads, traffic lights
• Motels, billboards
• Home design
• Gas stations, repair shops
• Shopping centers
• Freedom for rural families
• Independence for women
and young people
• Cities like Detroit, Flint,
Akron grew
• By 1920 80% of world’s
vehicles in U.S.
AIRLINE TRANSPORT
BECOMES COMMON
• The airline industry
began as a mail
carrying service and
quickly “took off”
• By 1927, Pan American
Airways was making
the transatlantic
passenger
flights
When commercial flights
began, all flight attendants
were female and white
AMERICAN STANDARD
OF LIVING SOARS
• The years 1920-1929
were prosperous ones
for the U.S.
• Americans owned 40%
of the world’s wealth
• The average annual
income rose 35% during
the 1920s ($522 to $705)
• Discretionary income
increased
ELECTRICAL
CONVENIENCES
• While gasoline
powered much of
the economic
boom of the
1920s, the use of
electricity also
transformed the
nation
Electric refrigerators, stoves, irons, toasters,
vacuums, washing machines and sewing
machines were all new
MODERN ADVERTISING
EMERGES
• Ad agencies no longer
sought to merely
“inform” the public about
their products
• They hired psychologists
to study how best to
appeal to Americans’
desire for youthfulness,
beauty, health and wealth
• “Say it with Flowers”
slogan actually doubled
sales between 1912-1924
A SUPERFICIAL
PROSPERITY
• Many during the
1920s believed the
prosperity would
go on forever
• Wages, production,
GNP, and the stock
market all rose
significantly
• But. . . .
PROBLEMS ON THE
HORIZON?
• Businesses
expanded
recklessly
• Iron & railroad
industries faded
• Farms nationwide
suffered losses due
to overproduction
• Too much was
bought on credit
(installment plans)
including stocks