Essential Question:
What are some examples of
post World War I tensions?
 WWI Ends in 1918 and Americans
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temporarily rejoice
Economic and political turmoil casts a
dark shadow over victory
Farm and factory production decreases
as demand falls
Returning veterans have trouble finding
employment
100% Americanism movement emerges
 Celebrates all things American
 Attacks ideas and people that are foreign
 Russian Revolution of 1917 begins
 Lenin’s dream is to have an
international worker’s revolution
 Americans embraced capitalism
 Became fearful of Communists and
radicals – known as the Red Scare
 In 1919 radicals played a role in
which bombs were mailed to gov’t
officials – plot failed.
 Mitchell Palmer (Attorney
General of the U.S.) was one of the
targets.
 Led attacks on radicals
 He arrested and deported
hundreds of aliens
 Most explosive times in labor
history – 4 million workers
participated in 3,000 strikes
 President Wilson kept workers
happy to prevent strikes during
WWI
 When war ends his priorities
change
 Red Scare weakens labor
movement
 Competition for scarce jobs and Red Scare lead to the rise
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


of nativism.
Clash between older immigrants (protestant Christians
from N + W Europe) vs. newer immigrants (Catholics and
Jews from S + E Europe)
Push to limit immigration of these groups
1921 passed a quota – est. # of immigrants from each
country allowed to enter
National Origins Act of 1924: set quotas to 2% of the # of
people living in the U.S. at 1890.
Relative proportions of immigrants from Northwestern Europe (red) and
Southern and Eastern Europe (blue) in the decades before and after the
immigration restriction legislation.
 Started as a terror group
that targeted AfricanAmericans.
 Hate group began to
targets Jews, Catholics
and radicals.
 Slogan of 1920s: “Native
White, Protestant
supremacy”
 Spread to other areas of
U.S.
Talk to your neighbor: What
are some examples of post
World War I tensions?