POLITICS OF THE ROARING 20

1
POLITICS OF THE ROARING 20S
2
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

3
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

4
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

5
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
6
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
7
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
8
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
9
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
10
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

11
DESPITE MASSIVE PROTESTS AROUND THE GLOBE SACCO
AND VANZETTI WERE EXECUTED IN AUGUST OF 1927
THE FUNERAL
DEATH MASKS
12
THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION WAS FORMED IN
1920 TO FIGHT GOVERNMENT DISREGARD OF
CONSTITUTIONALLY GUARANTEED RIGHTS
ROGER BALDWIN, FOUNDER OF THE ACLU
13
THE KLAN RISES AGAIN

• As the Red Scare and anti-immigrant 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

14
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
LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL OFFICES
15
WOMEN KKK MEMBERS MARCH
16
IN 1915, THE KKK EXPANDED ITS HATRED FROM ONLY
AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO ALSO INCLUDE JEWS, ROMAN
CATHOLICS, FOREIGNERS, IMMORALS ALCOHOLICS,
ADULTERERS, AND CRIMINALS
17
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 GOVERNMENTS
18
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.
19
(No Transcript)
20
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
21
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.
THIS CARTOON SHOWS THE ANTI-LYNCHING BILLS BEING
PUT OFF BY CONGRESS. THE NAACP LOBBIED CONGRESS
UNSUCCESSFULLY FOR LEGISLATION.
LOGO FROM www.naacp.org
22
MARCUS GARVEY
23
(No Transcript)
24
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

25
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
• Coolidge backs the commissioner
• Praised for saving Boston

There is no right to strike against the public
safety by anyone, anywhere, anytime.
26
BOSTON POLICE STRIKE EDITORIAL CARTOONS
27
1919 CARTOONS ON THE WAVE OF STRIKES SWEEPING THE
U.S.
28
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

29
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 1930s
• Lewis becomes a national figure

30
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
31
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
  1920s

32
SECTION 2 THE HARDING PRESIDENCY
NORMALCY, HARDING PROGRAM, HE WANTED
LAISSEZ-FAIRE, GOVT COULD HELP ECONOMY BY
KEEPING ITS HANDS OFF
33
(No Transcript)
34
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
35
WORKING FOR PEACE

• Warren G. Hardings 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
36
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

37
(No Transcript)
38
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.
39

• 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)

40

• 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.

41
(No Transcript)
42
SCANDAL HITS HARDING

• The presidents main problem was that he didnt
  understand many of the issues
• Several of Hardings appointees were caught
  illegally selling government supplies to private
  companies

43
Hardings 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... Theyre 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
44
Hardings 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

45
TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL

• The worst case of corruption was the Teapot Dome
  Scandal
• The government set aside oil-rich 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

46
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
47
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

48
THE IMPACT OF THE AUTO

• The auto was the backbone of the American economy
  from 1920 through the 1970s
• It also profoundly altered the American
  landscape and
  society

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.
49
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 worlds vehicles in U.S.

50
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
51
AMERICAN STANDARD OF LIVING SOARS

• The years 1920-1929 were prosperous ones for the
  U.S.
• Americans owned 40 of the worlds wealth
• The average annual income rose 35 during the
  1920s (522 to 705)
• Discretionary income increased

52
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
53
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

54
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. . . .

55
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