Postwar Havoc
Although the end of World War I brought peace, it
did not ease the minds of many Americans, who
found much to fear in the post war years.
• Causes and effects of the first
Red Scare.
• Growing labor strife in the
postwar years.
• U.S. limited immigration after
World War I.
Learning Targets
• New Problems at Home
• 1919 Influenza Epidemic
• Farms & Factories out of business
• Returning soldiers could not find
jobs
• Anti-foreigner feelings
The First Red Scare
• 1917 Russian Red Army
of the Bolsheviks led a
revolt.
• Led by Vladimir Lenin
• Communism- political
system that called for no
economic classes and no
private property
The Rise of the
Bolsheviks
Vladimir Lenin
He believed all people should
share equally in society’s wealth.
• Scared of communism
• Soviets called for
overthrow of capitalism
• American system built
on capitalism
• Americans feared
“Reds” threatened
American way of life.
American Reaction
• Red Scare
• Widespread fear of
communism gripped
the United States
American Reaction
• Palmer Raids
• Led by Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer
• Federal government antiCommunist campaign
• Raided suspected radicals
• Deported 250 aliens
The First Red Scare
LABOR STRIFE GROWS
Postwar difficulties, Labor’s losses, Major
Strikes in the Era
•1919 the worst year for Labor
in U.S. History.
• 4 million workers went on strike
• 3,000 Strikes
• Labor lost in almost every case.
Labor Strife Grows
• Labor Loses Gains After the War
• WHY?
• Sinking postwar demand for goods hurt
industries
• Returning soldiers needed jobs but they
weren’t there
• Unhappy workers were replaced
• Red Scare weakened labor by damaging its
reputation
Postwar Difficulties
• Seattle General Strike of 1919
• Ignited the first major general nationwide strike
• Boston Police Strike (September 1919)
• Brought chaos to the city
• Protesting low wages and poor working conditions
• Governor Calvin Coolidge (future president) called in the
state militia to end the strike
• United Mine Workers
• Led by John Lewis
• “We cannot fight the
government
Major Strikes of the Era
• Backlash Against Foreigners
• Competition for jobs
• Red Scare
• Nativism
• Distrust of foreigners
Limiting Immigration
• Nativists
• were Protestant Christians
• From Northern and
Western Europe
• New immigrants
Nativism
• From southern and Eastern
Europe
• Jews and Catholics
• Nativists said new
immigrants less willing to
be “Americanized”
• Federal Govt. Limits
Immigration
• Immigrant quotas
• National Origins Act of
1924
• Set quotas at 2% of number of
people from that country living
in the U.S.
• Goal was to reduce # of
immigrants from southern and
eastern Europe
• Eliminated ALL immigration
from Asian countries.
Immigration Control
• Nativism produced
resurgence in the KKK
• Targeted Jews, Catholics,
and radicals of all types
• “Native white, Protestant
supremacy” became their
slogan
• Moved out of the South
into other parts
Immigration Control
• Nicola Sacco &
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
• Arrested for armed robbery
and murder.
• Proclaimed they were
anarchists
• Radicals who sought the
destruction of the government
• Convicted and sentenced to
death. Executed in 1927
• Many protested!
Sacco and Vanzetti
New products, new industries, and new ways
doing business expanded the economy in the
1920s, although not everyone shared in the
prosperity.
Learning Targets

Explore the role of the Ford Motor
Company and Henry Ford in
revolutionizing American industry.
Identify how the auto industry and the
nation changed during the 1920s.
Discover the qualities of the new consumer
of the 1920s.
Identify some of the weak parts of the
economy in the 1920s.
Ford Revolutionizes the Industry

Henry Ford
Began selling the Model T
in 1908.
Ford’s Model T
The Assembly Line

Ford made his cars identical and simple
Created the first large-scale moving
assembly line.
A production system in which the item being built
moves along a conveyor belt to various
workstations.
Produced a car every hour and a half!
The Assembly Line

Model T sold for
$500
 By 1929 22 million
cars had been built.
Ford raised salaries
of his workers to $5 a
day. Far above
average.
The Effect on Industry

Ford controlled the market in the
1920s
General Motors and Chrysler brought
new designs and colors each year.
Other industries used Ford’s ideas to
make all kinds of consumer goods.
Productivity increased by 60%
The Effects on Industry

The success of business in the 1920s led
to the growth of welfare capitalism
A system in which companies
provide benefits to employees in an
effort to promote worker satisfaction
and loyalty.
Industry Changes Society

The production of cars created other
businesses.
Steel
Glass
Rubber
Automobile repair shops
Filling stations
Motels & restaurants
Industry Changes Society

Created large cities like
Detroit, Michigan
 Home of Ford Motor
Company
Growth of Suburbs
 Smaller towns located
outside urban areas
 Trolley lines made
these possible.
Industry Changes Society

Freedom to
travel created a
tourist industry.
Florida and new
national parks
became popular
for automobile
tourists
The New Consumer

The 1920s saw an explosion of…
New products
New experiences
New forms of mass
communication
New buying habits by Americans
New Products

Electrical appliances
Refrigerators
Vacuum cleaners
Radio
 4 out of 10
Americans had a
radio
Creating Demand

Advertising
 Persuasive advertising
played major role in
economy
 Paid for space in
publications
 Companies sponsored
popular radio shows
 Palmolive Hour
 Maxwell House Concert
New Ways to Pay
Borrowing money
in the early 1900s
looked down on.
1920s saw
installment buying

Paying for an item
over time
Credit
Weaknesses in the
Economy

Many Americans
suffered deeply in
postwar period
Farm prices plunged
Farm failures
increased
Infestation of insects
like the boll weevil
and locusts.
Flood of 1927
Foreclosure sale of farm
Memphis, Tennessee
The Harding & Coolidge Presidencies
Chapter 19 From War to Peace

The Harding Presidency
 From Ohio
 Casual approach to
governing
 Avoided taking
positions on difficult
issues
 Very popular with
Warren G. Harding
voters
The Election of 1920
 Harding had a clear and
logical message.
 “RETURN TO NORMALCY”
 Did not take a firm stand
against the League of Nations.
 Harding won 60% of the vote
Harding’s Policies
 “Less government in
business and more business
in government”
 Wanted to cut the federal
budget and reduce taxes to
the rich. WHY?


It was the wealthy who
started and expanded
businesses.
Taxing them less would
help businesses grow.
Harding’s Policies
 FORDNEY-McCUMBER Tariff
 Purpose was to help farmers
The Tariff Committee meeting at the White House.
In 1922 Congress passed the protective FordneyMcCumber tariff which raised import tax to 40
percent prompting European retaliation.
by raising the cost of
foreign-grown farm
products.
 Hurt Europeans by making it
harder to pay back war
debts.
 It would later help bring on
the GREAT DEPRESSION
Scandal and Sudden Death
Harding’s Cabinet: Andrew Mellon, Sec. of Treasury; Charles Evan Hughes, Sec. of State
and Herbert Hoover, Sec. of Commerce
The Ohio Gang
Old friends of Harding’s that he
brought to Washington . Some
were later convicted of taking
bribes.
Teapot Dome Scandal
President Harding Dies
Calvin Coolidge Becomes President
Coolidge in Office
 “Those who build a factory
build a temple of worship”
“Those who work in the
factory worship there.”
 Believed in lowering taxes
and reducing the federal
budget.
 Vetoed a bonus bill for World
War Veterans.
Lingering Effects of World War I
 War Debt
 Europeans could
not repay debt due
to high tariff in the
United States
 Germany required
to pay huge
reparations.
 U.S. loaned $$$ to
Germany to repay
The Washington Naval Conference
 Public pressure to reduce
the U.S. military after the
war.
 People afraid that Britain
and Japan would start an
arms race
 RESPONSE: The
Washington Naval
Conference
 Reduced size of the
world’s navies.
Kellogg-Briand Pact
 A pact between
60 nations that
outlawed war as a
means to solving
conflicts.
 Not enforceable
but a great idea
in principle.