Consequences
of War
Committee on Public Information
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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
Espionage Act of 1917
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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
Sedition Act of 1918
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

Schenck v. US (1919)
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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Eugene V. Debs
1855 – 1926
5-time Socialist
candidate for US
President
 Gave an anti-war speech
in 1918 and was
sentenced 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.
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US
National War Labor Board
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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Population Shifts
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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
Post-war Inflation
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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Seattle General Strike
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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
Boston Police Strike
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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
The Steel Strike
350,000 steel workers
went on strike
 US Steel blamed the
strike on foreign
immigrants, painted the
strikers as un-American
 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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The Red Scare of 1919-20
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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
The Palmer Raids
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 entered homes
without search warrants,
jailed individuals without
charges, and refused
lawyers – all violations of
basic civil rights
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A. Mitchell Palmer
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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
J. Edgar Hoover
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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Sacco & Vanzetti
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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Urban Race Riots
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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
The Ku Klux Klan
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
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Anti-German Sentiments
Sauerkraut became
“liberty cabbage,”
hamburger became
“Salisbury steak”
 Schools stopped
teaching German
 Orchestras refused to
play works by
German-born
conductors like
Beethoven
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American Protective League
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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th
18
Amendment
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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A “Return to Normalcy”
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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Washington Naval Conference
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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
Dawes Plan
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
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