Republican Decade

1
Republican Decade

• 14-1

2
Postwar 1920s

• Memory of War still fresh
• Economic decline
• Warren G. Harding wins election of 1920
• Return to Normalcy

3
Red Scare

• Russian Revolution
• Czar Nicholas forced to give up power 1917
• Alexander Kerensky leads to more problems
• Vladimir Lenin and followers (Bolsheviks)
• Overthrow gov. and make peace w/ Germany
• Farms, industries, land, transportation under
  gov. control

4
Russian Rev.

• Civil War (Reds v. Whites)
• Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
  Soviet Union
• Communism is official ideology
• Against American beliefs (capitalism, private
  ownership, 1st Amend.)

5
Communism

• Gov. owned all land and property
• Single political party controlled gov.
• Needs of country always took priority over rights
  of individuals
• Classless society
• Wealth is shared according to need
• Stalin would use terror

6
American Fears

• Spread of communism
• Already blamed Europeans for War
• Immigrants
• Strikers called revolutionist
• Mail bombings
• Newspapers write stories
• (Red Scare) fear of communism and other
  politically radical ideas

7
Court Cases

• Schenck v. U.S.
• Mailed letters to draftees urging to not report
• Guilty of breaking Espionage Act
• Gitlow v. New York
• Convicted of publishing calls to overthrow gov.
  by force
• Gitlow appealed 1st Amendment
• Upheld (approved conviction)

8
Palmer Raids

• Raids to find people trying to overthrow gov.
• Said May 1, 1920 (Socialists Holiday) would bring
  strikes and crisis
• Nothing happened and people lost faith in him

9
Sacco and Vanzetti

• Italian immigrants arrested for robbery and
  murder
• Anarchists, did have same gun used in crime
• Americans thought they were arrested because they
  were immigrants and radical beliefs
• Many say trial was unfair
• Electrocuted in 1927

10
Labor Strikes

• Blamed communism
• Because of lower standard of living
• Boston Police Strike
• Steel and Coal Strike
• Unions decline in 1920
• Public and gov. opposition
• Anti-American
• Economic decline of 1920

11
Political Consequences

• Americans trust Republicans more than Democrats
• Harding, Coolidge, Hoover
• Republicans controlled Congress
• Supreme Court
• Republicans believed in social stability promoted
  economic growth

12
Warren G. Harding

• Foreign Policy
• Isolationism avoid political or economic
  alliances
• Opposed League of Nations
• Disarmament nations would voluntarily give up
  weapons to promote peace
• Promoted trade
• Dawes Plan help Germany recover

13
Domestic

• Become more nativist because
• Patriotism- never be loyal
• Religion- Catholics and Orthodox
• Urban Conditions- slums and corruption
• Jobs- take jobs away
• Red Scare
• Passed quota for immigrants
• National Origins Act reduced quota

14
Teapot Dome

• 1923 economy growing
• Gov. official stole gov. funds
• Other took bribes to get contracts or laws passed
• Sec. of Interior secretly gave oil drilling
  rights on gov. oil fields (Elk Hills, CA Teapot
  Dome, WY) to private oil comp.
• Fall (the Sec.) got 300,000

15
Calvin Coolidge

• Takes over when Harding dies
• Laissez Faire
• Leave business alone
• Fueled economy

16
Kellogg-Briand Pact

• Sec. of State (Frank Kellogg)
• Idea from France
• 15 nations pledged not to use threat of war in
  dealings with one another
• 60 would join
• Outlawed War
• Had no provisions for enforcement
• Many would be at war by 1941