Post War
Issues
1919-1921
Revisiting WWI
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Long-term cause of WWI was the system
of alliances
Allies rejected Wilson’s 14 points for not
punishing Germany enough
US Senators opposed joining the League
of Nations to avoid US being dragged into
European conflict
Gains made by American women
increased support for their right to vote
Labor Unions
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What was the public most fearful of
related to organized labor?
Fear of Communism
What was communism (abolition of
private property and equally distribute
wealth and power)
The Election of 1920
Republicans

Warren G. Harding (R)
President
Calvin Coolidge (R)
Vice - President
Essential Question
 American
response to stress
and post-war struggles: Fear!
 Nativism – A prejudice
against foreign-born
people," You could not be
100% American!”
 Nativists opposed the
Emergency Quotas Acts of
1921 as they felt it did not
limit immigration enough
 From
The Quota System
1919 – 1921 the number of
immigrants had grown from
141,000 to 805,000 people.
 The Emergency Quota Act of
1921 set up the quota system
 It set a maximum number that
could enter the US by country
 It discriminated against Eastern
and Southern Europeans, mainly
Communist Fears

Communism –
an economic
and political
system based
on single party
government
ruled by a
dictatorship.
Gov. owns all
property.
Lenin, USSR 1917
Essential Question


What impact did the Red Scare have on
union membership?
It dropped considerably
Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover
The Palmer Raids

Att. Gen. Mitchell A. Palmer appointed
J.Edgar Hoover as a special assistant to hunt
down suspected Communists, Socialists,
Anarchists and Radicals. Thought it was his

job to protect Americans from communists
and anarchists They trampled civil rights,
invaded homes, halls, and offices offered no
legal counsel and deported hundreds. (SS
Buford) “Soviet Ark”
No Conspiracy was found. Palmer was
discredited.
Sacco and Vanzetti
 Famous Victims of the
Nativist Attitude in the US
Sacco and Vanzetti
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Sacco was a shoemaker, Vanzetti a fish
peddler
Both were Italian immigrants and
anarchists
Both evaded the draft during WWI
In May 1920 both were arrested and
charged with robbery and murder in
Mass. The evidence was circumstantial.
Both were sentenced to death, Protests
began
Both were electrocuted on Aug. 1927
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Nativism and the KKK
Red Scare, Anti-immigrant feelings, and
anti-communism gave bigots an excuse to
harass anyone different from themselves
By 1924 membership in the KKK reached
4.5 million who claimed to be 100%
American
They harassed Blacks, Catholics, Jews, and
Immigrants

To increase membership, they (1) played
on fears of political radicals, (2) blamed
national problems on immigrants, (3)
allowed members to profit from recruiting
new members
Tariffs
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Tariffs rose dramatically in the early 1920s
There was the Fordney-McCumber Tariff,
which was meant to raise taxes on goods
entering the US to protect American
businesses
About Prosperity

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Rise in automobile led to urban
sprawl/growth of cities
Examples of superficial prosperity
includes:
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Economic situation on farms
Products purchased on credit
Difference in income between workers and
managers
Political Scandal

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Teapot Dome – scandal around oil-rich
land being set aside for the politically
connected
Anarchists said that the political scandals
were proof that government should be
abolished