Transcript Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues

Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues
and The Harding Presidency
Chapter 12, Sections 1 and 2
Post-War “-isms”
• Nativism
• Isolationism
• Communism
– Economic and political system based on
a single-party government ruled by a
dictatorship
The Red Scare
• Fear of communism
• Communist Party in
U.S.
• Palmer Raids
– Palmer and Hoover
– Hunted communists,
socialists, and
anarchists
– Invaded many civil
rights
Sacco and Vanzetti
• Italian, anarchist immigrants
• Arrested and charged with robbery
and murder of two men
• Alibis, circumstantial evidence
• Executed on August 23, 1927
Sacco and Vanzetti
The Klan Re-Appears
• “Devoted to 100% Americanism”
– “White male persons, native-born gentile
citizens”
• Other duties
– Keep blacks “in their place”
– Destroy saloons
– Oppose unions
– Driving out Roman Catholics, Jews, and
foreigners
• Race Riots
– Tulsa, OK
– Rosewood, FL
KKK Parade, 1925
KKK Ceremony
The Quota System
• Emergency Quota Act of 1921
– Set up quota system that est. a max.
number of people who could emigrate
from each country
Labor Unrest
• During WWI, laborers could not strike or
interfere with the war effort
– Boston Police Strike 1919-20
– Steel Mill Strike 1919
– Coal Miners’ Strike 1919
Labor Strikes
Labor Movement Looses Appeal
• Reasons Why Labor Union Membership
Declines
– Much of the pop. was willing to work in
poor conditions for low wages
– Different languages caused
disorganization
– Unions excluded African Americans
President Warren G. Harding
• Ohio senator took
office in1921
• Yearned for
“normalcy”
• “Smooth speeches,
poor decisions”
• “One of the least
successful
presidents in history”
Struggles for Peace
• Washington Naval Conference
– 1921 Several major powers except
communist Russia
• Agreement to disarm
– No more warships for 10 years
– U.S., Britain, Japan, France, and Italy
scrap many of the largest warships
High Tariffs and Reparations
• Repaying War Debts
– France and Britain
owe U.S.
• Fordney-McCumber
Tariff (1922)
– Raised taxed on U.S.
imports to 60%
Teapot Dome Scandal
• U.S. Navy Sec. of
Interior secretly sold
gov’t. oil reserve
land to private
companies
• First American to be
convicted of a
felony while in the
cabinet
Teapot Dome Scandal
Harding to Coolidge
• “I have no trouble
with my
enemies…But my
friends, they’re the
ones that keep me
walking the floor
nights!”
• VP Coolidge
become President
and was elected
president the next
year