The Aftermath of World War I
#62
Changes in American Society
Passage of the 19th Amendment/Women’s Suffrage
- Was made easier because of the efforts by women
o As nurses, working at jobs previously held by men
 During the war
- Women’s clothing also changed significantly
o Material was required for the war effort
 This led women to shorten their hems
 And eliminated the corset and bustle
The war had eliminated immigration from Europe
- But workers were needed in the war related industries
o This started mass movement of blacks to the North
- Called the Great Migration, African Americans moved to
o Kansas City, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York
 Paralleling the spread and evolution of Jazz
In 1922, Lenin renamed Russia
- The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Communism became the official ideology of the Soviet Union
- Communism was viewed as opposite and hostile to
o American values
Capitalism represented private ownership
- And First Amendment freedoms
Communism meant the government owned all property
- Few individual freedoms and rights
o One political party controlled the government
For communism to survive
- Lenin believed
o That Communism must be spread to other countries
Spreading communism to other countries alarmed Americans
After the war, immigration, from Eastern Europe, resumed
- Nativism and anti-immigrant attitudes began to rise again
This time, Americans feared the immigrants were communists
- Or anarchists – plotting to overthrow the government
o Just like the growing numbers of Communists in
 Russia, Germany, Italy, France and Britain
Political violence posed a real threat to the US
- Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1922
o Setting limits or quotas on the number of
 Immigrants allowed from each country
 And sharply cutting immigration
- Ellis Island was closed in 1924
Although 88,000 joined the American Communist Party
- They never gained any real power
o There were too many different factions
 Members of labor unions like the IWW
 Immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe
 Radicals wanting to destroy capitalism
 Socialists wanting changes through political action
 Anarchists wanting to overthrow government
 Pacifists who were against violence
 Liberals who though revolution was “cool”
A “Return to Normalcy”
The election of 1920, became a referendum on Wilson
- On the Treaty of Versailles and
o US membership in the League of Nations
Republican Presidential nominee Warren G. Harding
- And Vice Presidential running mate Calvin Coolidge beat
o Democrat James Cox and
 VP nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Harding wanted “a return to normalcy”
- He wanted to prevent future wars
o And return the US to an isolationist foreign policy
In 1921, Harding and Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes
- Sponsored the Washington Naval Conference
o Signed by the US, Britain, Italy, France, and Japan
 They agreed to limit the size of their navies by:
 Placing a moratorium on building
battleships
 Destroy part of their navies
 Put a limit on the number, size of battleships
Harding and US bankers also wanted Britain and France
- To repay all their loans from the US
o Britain and France had borrowed $10 billion
- To pay their debts to US banks they could:
o 1- export more goods to the U S
o 2- pay the US from reparations paid by Germany
Congress passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff in 1922
- The tariff kept Britain and France from
o And paying off their debts by exporting more
By 1923, the German economy was failing
- Inflation was severe, the government was broke and
o Unable to make their reparation payments
As a result, the French army occupied Germany's Ruhr Valley
- It was part of the demilitarized zone
o And the center of Germany’s coal and steel industry
The French wanted to hold the Ruhr for ransom
- Until Germany could resume their payments
o Germans resented foreign control of their country
 And tensions almost started another war
 Between France and Germany
To avoid another conflict,
US banker Charles Dawes was sent to negotiate a settlement
Under the Dawes Plan,
- Reparation payments would be rescheduled
- German banks would be reorganized
- And US investors would loan Germany $2.5 billion
Then Germany could continue to make their payments
- To Britain and France
o Britain and France could repay their debts to US
The plan worked, France withdrew their troops in 1925
- The German currency was stabilized
- And Germany made their reparation payments for 5 years
The problem was:
- The US was paying back the debts owed to the U S
o With its own money
In 1927, President Coolidge’s Secretary of State Frank Kellogg
- And France’s Foreign Minister, Aristide Briand
o Began work on an agreement
 Not to declare war on each other
By 1929, 64 nations had joined the US and France
- To sign the Kellogg-Briand Pact, an agreement that
o Renounced war as an instrument of national policy
 It condemned the use of war
 To solve international disputes
 Nations should negotiate disputes peacefully
o But, there was no way to enforce compliance
In 1930, at the London Naval Conference
- Britain, the US, Italy, Japan and others agreed to
o Limited the number of ships and guns
 On cruisers, destroyers and submarines
The US was trying to avoid war through
- Arms reduction treaties and
o Returning to a policy of isolationism