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Government agency
responsible for coordinating
pro-war propaganda
Distributed pamphlets,
arranged public speakers,
recorded songs, and made
short patriotic films
Government assumed new
role of manipulating public
opinion, controlling what
information about the war
the public had access to
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Prohibited any attempt to
interfere with military
operations, support
America's enemies during
wartime, to promote
insubordination in the
military, or interfere with
military recruitment
Limited freedom of
speech by making it
illegal to publicly express
any opposition to the
war
 Government could (and
did) prosecute anyone
who criticized the
government
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Charles Schenck, a socialist, had
been sending pamphlets to men
urging them not to report if
drafted
 Schenck was convicted of
violating the Espionage Act
 Supreme Court upheld Schenck’s
conviction and ruled that an
individual’s freedom of speech
can be limited by the
government when it presents a
“clear and present danger,”
such as during times of war
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1855 – 1926
5-time Socialist candidate
for US President
 Gave an anti-war speech in
1918 and was sentenced
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to 10 years in prison
for violating the
Sedition Act (only
served 3 years)
 Appealed to the Supreme
Court; the result of Debs v.
US was the same as
Schenck v. US
Federal agency which
acted to mediate and
quickly settle labor
disputes to avoid
disrupting the war
effort
 Pressured industry to
keep workers happy
with increased wages,
shorter workdays, and
respect for unions
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European immigration halted
during the war
 This created employment
opportunities for minorities
 Many blacks left the South
for factory jobs in the North
(The Great Migration)
 Many Mexicans entered the
US to fill the labor shortage
on farms in the Southwest
and in factories in the North
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As regular factory
production resumed,
demand for consumer
goods skyrocketed,
driving up prices
 Inflation in 1919 alone
was over 15%
 Rising cost-of-living
led to increased wage
demands by labor
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Shipbuilders in Seattle went on
strike for better wages,
inspiring other workers in
Seattle to follow suit
60,000 workers went on strike,
but gained little before
returning to work
Still, the size of the strike and
its effect on the city were
alarming
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1919: 75% of police went on
strike for higher pay, leading to
rioting and looting due to
lawlessness
Gov. Calvin Coolidge sent in
the National Guard to restore
order
When policemen tried to
return to work, they were fired
and replaced with new hires,
with Coolidge’s approval
350,000 steel workers
went on strike
 US Steel blamed the strike
on foreign immigrants,
painted the strikers as unAmerican
 Hired African-Americans
and Mexican immigrants
to replace the workers and
keep the steel mills
running
 Despite several violent
clashes, the striking
workers gained nothing
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Labor unrest led to fears
that Communists were
trying to create a revolt in
the US similar to the one
in Russia
April 1919: dozens of
bombs were sent through
the US Mail to important
government officials and
business leaders, further
encouraging the belief that
communists were plotting
against the US
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Federal agents raided the
headquarters of various
radical organizations, trying
to identify the terror bombers
No evidence was ever found,
but hundreds of immigrants
were deported due to
suspicion
Agents violated civil rights entered homes without
search warrants, jailed
individuals without charges,
and refused lawyers – all
violations of basic civil rights
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1872 – 1936
US Attorney General
Became an assassination
target of anarchists,
survived two bomb attacks
Organized a new branch of
the Justice Department –
the General Intelligence
Unit (GIU) – to investigate
“radical” organizations
1895 – 1972
Hand picked by Palmer
to head the GIU,
remained in charge
until his death in 1972
(the GIU became the
FBI in 1935)
 Well known for using
extralegal methods
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Ferdinando Nicola Sacco
(1891–1927) and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti (1888–1927)
 Italian immigrants
 1920: Convicted of armed
robbery and murder in a highly
controversial trial, many
believed they were blamed
simply due to the fact that they
were immigrants and
associated with anarchists
 Executed in 1927, despite a
confession to the crime by
another individual
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Violent racism erupted in
Northern cities as WWI
veterans returned to work
only to find themselves
competing with blacks and
Mexican immigrants for jobs
Worst was in Chicago where
a two-week long riot killed 38
and injured hundreds
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The KKK was reborn in 1915
as a much more formally
structured organization
Preached on the purification
of America, practiced
racism, anti-Catholicism,
anti-Communism,
nativism, and antisemitism
Strongest in Midwestern
cities like Detroit & Chicago
May have reached
membership of 15 million
Sauerkraut became
“liberty cabbage,”
hamburger became
“Salisbury steak”
 Schools stopped
teaching German
 Orchestras refused to
play works by Germanborn conductors like
Beethoven
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Private citizens’ group
founded in 1917 (with the
approval of the DOJ) to
monitor GermanAmericans for signs of
anti-war sentiments and
to report draft dodgers
 Officially disbanded in
1919, but local branches
continued to operate in
conjunction with other
racist groups such as the
KKK
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The push to ban
alcohol in the US was
also motivated by
discrimination
 Vodka was a Russian
drink, while beer was a
German drink – both
groups who were out of
favor in the United
States
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Election of 1920 was
won by Republican
Warren G. Harding
Harding campaigned
on a return to simpler
times
 Americans had tired of
the reforms of
Progressivism, the
unrest of war and labor
disputes
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1922: Meeting in Washington DC
between the US, Great Britain,
Japan, and other nations with
interests in the Pacific
Purpose of the conference was
to defuse potential future
conflicts in the Pacific
All parties agreed to limit the
sizes of their navies, restrict
certain types of armaments, and
to not fortify islands in the
Pacific
This agreement made it easier
for Japan to expand its empire
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1924: When Germany
could not meet its
reparation debts from
the Treaty of Versailles,
the US loaned Germany
the money to refinance
its debt
US wanted to avoid the
possibility of a new
conflict in Europe