Politics of the Roaring Twenties
U.S. History
Chapter 12
Postwar Problems
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Divided America over League of Nations
Progressive Era led to changes in American life
Economy adjusting back to consumer goods
Soldiers returning to unemployment,
readjustment to life
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Cost of living doubled
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Work orders for factories and farmers
dramatically reduced
• Many began to fear outsiders. Led to an
increase in nativism
• Many people pushed for isolationism –
pulling away from involvement in world
affairs.
Fear of Communism
• Communism – economic and political
system based on a single party government
ruled by a dictatorship.
– Put an end to private property, government
ownership of factories, RR, other businesses.
The Red Scare
• Russian revolution led to panic
– “Reds” in Russia - worldwide
revolution.
• Communist party formed in the
US – 70,000 members.
– Bombs mailed to government and business
leaders.
• Public became scared – Red Scare.
• U.S. Attorney General – Mitchell Palmer.
The Palmer Raids
• Hunted down suspected communists
and anarchists – people who opposed any
form of government.
• No evidence of any conspiracy
Sacco and Vanzetti
• Italian immigrants - anarchists
• Arrested and charged with robbery(stole over
$17,000) and murder of factory paymaster and his
guard.
– Provided alibis and said they were innocent
• Jury – guilty, sentenced them to death.
• Led to protests around the world. Many thought
they were sentenced b/c of their radical
beliefs/immigrants.
• They died in the electric chair.
Limiting Immigration
• Need for unskilled labor had decreased, so need
for immigrants decreased. Nativism increased.
• Immigrants – seen as radicals and anarchists.
• Ku Klux Klan - Devoted to “100% Americanism.”
– Anti Everything - against blacks, saloons, unions,
Catholics, Jews. Anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, antiblack, anti-Jewish, anti-pacifist, anti-communist, antiinternationalist, anti-evolutionist, anti-bootlegger, antigambling, anti-adultery, and anti-birth control. It was
pro-Protestant, pro-Anglo-Saxon, pro-“native”
American.
• 1919 – 1920 - # of immigrants increased 600%.
• Emergency Quota Act of 1921 – quota system –
maximum number of people who could enter the
U.S. from each foreign country.
– Goal – cut down dramatically the # of people coming
from Europe.
• 1924 – 2% of # living in the U.S. in 1890.
– discriminated against Catholics and Jews.
• Prohibited Japanese immigration – led to ill will
between the U.S. and Japan.
• Did NOT apply to the Western Hemisphere Mexico and Canada increased a lot.
A Time of Labor Unrest
• War – no strikes. 1919 – 3,000 strikes due to no
wage increases, refusal to allow workers to join
unions (employers determined to halt war-time
gains).
• The Boston Police Strike
• The Steel Mill Strike
• The Coal Miner’s Strike
• Propaganda used to link strikers to communism.
Section 2 The Harding
Presidency
“Return to Normalcy”
Harding Struggles for Peace
• Sec. of State – Charles Evans Hughes
• Washington Naval Conference –major European
powers, except Russia (communism), invited to
Washington.
– No more warships to be built for 10 years, 5 major
powers (U.S., BR, FR, Japan, and Italy) will reduce
battleship tonnage, cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
• Kellogg-Briand Act – renounced war as a
national policy. Couldn’t enforce though,
so really didn’t work! We can reduce our
military.
High Tariffs and Reparations
• FR and GB owed the U.S. $10 billion. Needed to
get the money from Germany.
– Worried that there would be a flood of cheap goods
from recovering Europe, businesses wanted to put a
wall of protection around the U.S.
• Fordney-McCumber Tariff – raised tariffs to 60%.
Made it impossible for FR and GB to sell goods to
the U.S., therefore making it hard for them to raise
money to pay us back.
• They looked to Germany and their reparations.
Germany couldn’t pay
• Dawes Plan - scaled back war debt and reparations
to $250 million/year (would increase as German
economy improved)
• $200 million in loans - money paid to G.B. and
France in reparations payments. The money
would then come to the U.S. as war debt payments
(This will end with the crash in 1929).
• The U.S. never did get it money, but it harvested a
bumper crop of ill will from the French.
Scandal Hits Harding’s
Administration
• Warren G. Harding elected in 1920
• laissez-faire
• Harding had few qualifications for the
presidency. He was in the Senate, but only
because political machine put him there.
Same for President – they wanted someone
they could control.
• “Ohio Gang” - close group of friends
• Cabinet members – Sec. of Commerce –
Herbert Hoover, Sec. of State – Charles
Evans Hughes, Sec. of Treasury – Andrew
Mellon, Attorney General – Harry
Daugherty.
• Charles Forbes – director of Veterans Bureau –
went to prison for swindling the government out
of $200 million in hospital supplies.
• Attorney Gen. Harry Daugherty – faced two
criminal trials for bribery (illegal sale of pardons
and liquor permits), but burned incriminating
documents and did not go to jail.
The Teapot Dome Scandal
• Secretary of Interior Albert Fall
leased critical government oil
reserves to two private oil
companies
• Fall received illegal payments
and so-called loans that totaled
over $300,000
• Went to jail
• WGH depressed, suffered a heart attack in
1923, and died. VP Calvin Coolidge
became president.
Section 3 The Business of
America
• Calvin Coolidge –taxes low,
business profits up, give businesses
more credit to expand.
• Increased tariffs, reduced income
taxes so people would spend more
money.
• Coolidge – supported
business!!!!
The Impact of the Automobile
• 1920 – 8 million on the roads. By 1929 – 27
million.
• Paved roads –Route 66 –
• Architectural styles changed –
Houses now had driveways with
garages/carports.
• New businesses – gas stations, repair stations,
motels, tourists attractions, shopping centers.
• Tunnels – 1st one – Holland Tunnel – NYC to NJ.
• Brought rural people
to the cities.
• Vacations
• Independence for the
young
• Urban sprawl – spread
out of the cities.
Route 66 – Chicago to California
America’s Standard of Living
Soars
• Annual income rose 35%.
• Electricity spreading over bigger distances. # of
houses with electricity increasing. Mid 20s – 60%
of nation’s homes wired for electric power.
– Irons, refrigerators, ranges, toasters – freed women to
do other things.
• Advertising - Played on people’s conscience
– Targeted middle class women the most.
Buying Goods on Credit
• Easy credit – installment plan – buy goods
over an extended period of time with a low
interest rate.
• By 1930 – 15% of all purchases were made
on installment plans