The Politics of Frustration: The 1920s
#25
Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the 1920s. Many servicemen had trouble
finding jobs when they returned home from World War I. Furthermore, the nation experienced an upswing
in racism and xenophobia. Moreover, by the 1920s, many Americans had grown weary of two decades of
crusades for reform, seemingly endless attempts to pass moral legislation, and involvement in a brutal war.
Many longed for a time when life was simpler, even if these "good old days" existed only in the popular
imagination. This lecture highlights the frustrations and anxieties that many Americans dealt with during the
1920s.
Some questions to keep in mind:
1.
2.
3.
Warren G. Harding promoted a "return to normalcy." What sort of "normalcy" was
Harding referring to? Did America return to "normalcy" in the 1920s?
How can we distinguish "Cultural Fundamentalism" from religious fundamentalism?
How did the rise of the "Invisible Empire" foster a new definition of "Americanism?"
The "Good Ol' Days"
Many people longed for the lost elements of a "Bygone America:"
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Free of labor and racial strife
Fewer "foreigners"
No radical ideologies
More attuned to the rhythms of small-town life
More devout in Fundamentalist Christianity
Less government interference in their lives
The Return to "Normalcy"
In 1920, Warren G. Harding was elected President of the United States. Harding, a Republican, appealed to
popular feelings of nostalgia in his 1921 inaugural address by promising a return to "normalcy," a word
Harding himself had coined. As the decade unfolded, it became clear that "normalcy" included three major
trends:
1.
2.
3.
Redefinition of "Americanism"
Resumption of racial antagonism
Resurrection of "old-time religion"
"Cultural Fundamentalism"
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) was a widely read
journalist and satirist. Mencken mocked American
society for its Puritanism ("the haunting fear that
somebody, somewhere may be happy"), antiintellectualism, and conformity. He summed up his
attitudes about the naiveté and moral righteousness of
popular American attitudes when he wrote:
"It was Americans who invented the curious
doctrine that there is a body of doctrine in every
department of thought that every good citizen is
duty-bound to cherish and accept. It was
Americans who invented the right thinker."
Mencken also found the American public to be extremely gullible:
"No one ever went broke underestimating the
intelligence of the American people."
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956),
journalist, editor, and critic
The 1920s was a time when many held on to the idea of "Cultural Fundamentalism" which attempted to
ensure that all Americans followed the right patterns of thought:
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Quest for certainty and predictability in social relationships
An order in human affairs that was at once familiar, comfortable, and unthreatening
Nostalgia for the idealized, non-industrial society of their parents
The Politics of Frustration
A suspicion and fear of anything foreign was the driving force behind some notorious events and trends in
the United States during the 1920s. We will focus on four particular events and trends:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Red Scare
Sacco and Vanzetti trial
The rise of a new Ku Klux Klan
The Scopes Trial
The Red Scare
World War I saw the fall of the German Kaiser, the Russian Tsar, and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor. But
if Americans no longer feared the power of unrestrained monarchs, they now feared the unrestrained mob,
exemplified by the "Bolsheviks." The Bolshevik--or October--Revolution of November 1917, brought the
doctrine of Communism to Russia. It was supposed to be the first in a chain of workers' revolutions that
would spread throughout the world under the slogan "Workers of the World Unite." In March 1919,
Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, founded the Communist International to rally far-left Socialists abroad.
Bourgeois Europeans and Americans, however, withstood post-war unrest, strikes, and rallies. Moreover,
with a bloody civil war to fight at home, the Russian Communist Party had neither the time nor the
resources to really work for global Communism.
Only a handful of Americans knew who Lenin was; even fewer had heard of Karl Marx. However, growing
numbers of Americans tied the "Bolshevik menace" to domestic labor unrest and mob violence. They feared
that, given the right circumstances, America would also fall to Communism. A huge wave of strikes
occurred in the United States in 1919 and reinforced such fears. There was a general strike in Seattle, then a
nationwide strike of steelworkers, followed by a walkout by the Boston police force. In the case of the
steelworkers' strike, the protesters were unskilled and semiskilled workers, many of whom were recent
immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Therefore, many opponents of labor labeled the strike
“un-American” and claimed that unrest was being fomented solely by radical immigrants.
In addition to workers' strikes, bomb threats also fueled the Red Scare. In April of 1919, a United States
Senator from Georgia, Thomas Hartwick, received a package which exploded when his maid opened it.
Thanks to an observant New York City mail clerk, similar packages were discovered before they reached
their targets. In all, authorities found sixteen homemade bombs wrapped up and addressed to such
prominent members of commerce and government as J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Supreme
Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Although there was no evidence, many claimed this was part of
a radical, Bolshevik conspiracy to take over the nation. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer was one of
the targets of an attempted bombing, which made him a convert to the Red Scare. Beginning in the fall of
1919, Palmer organized a new group of crime fighters, whose job it was to arrest and deport potential
radicals. (called Palmer Raids). Palmer appointed J. Edgar Hoover--the future director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation--head of the General Intelligence Division. Palmer made use of the wartime
Sedition Act (1918) to arrest and prosecute so-called "radicals." (Supreme Court case: Shenck v. US).
On January 2, 1920, the Red Scare reached its climax in the United States. On this day, simultaneously in
thirty three American cities, Justice Department agents arrested 3,000 "communists, anarchists, and
aliens." In actuality, most of these persons had broken no law and were, in fact, American citizens. The
government violated their constitutional rights by detaining them without bail and by preventing their
contact with lawyers or family members. Government agents also apprehended other Americans for "guilt
by association." This series of arrests brought the total number to around 7,000. Of these 7,000, the
government deported or imprisoned only 556. Almost no liberal organization escaped Palmer's sweeping
crackdown on radical political views. Proponents of the Red Scare, for example, called Hull House founder
Jane Addams a communist sympathizer because of her pacifism during the Second World War. Some of
Palmer's supporters, moreover, denounced the League of Women Voters as a radical organization. The
government also revoked the mailing rights of respected publications like The Nation and The New
Republic based on their provocative political views.
Eventually, Palmer's tactics went so far as to offend even conservative Americans, and support for the Red
Scare collapsed. Palmer had even tried to exploit the raids to promote his unsuccessful run for the
Democratic presidential nomination, but revelations about his abuses of power turned the public against
him. Because so much public protest was focused on Palmer, J. Edgar Hoover emerged from the Red Scare
of 1919 and 1920 relatively unscathed. After Warren G. Harding was elected President, he appointed
Hoover assistant director of the Bureau of Investigation (the future FBI). He became director in 1924 and
held that post until his death in 1972.
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
Public distrust of radicals, and especially of foreigners suspected of holding revolutionary political beliefs,
reached its peak with the trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two anarchists who were arrested
for a 1920 robbery and murder. The two men were immigrants from Italy who had lived in the United States
for many years by the time of the trial. The trial, which began in July of 1921, was a travesty of justice.
Many Americans felt that the prosecution had railroaded the two into, not because they were guilty of the
charges brought against them, but because they were immigrants and self-proclaimed radicals. Public
opinion was divided: some Americans felt that anyone professing a belief in radicalism was already guilty
and should be hanged. Others believed that the true test of a democracy was its ability to protect the rights
of those who express unpopular opinions.
Because of protest both at home and abroad, the appeals process continued for six years. Finally, in 1927,
the governor of Massachusetts appointed an advisory committee to review the case. The committee charged
the original presiding judge of a "grave breach of official decorum," but maintained that Sacco and
Vanzetti were guilty as charged. (say what??)
In his final statement on April 7, 1927, Vanzetti claimed that the trial had not been about murder, but rather
his ideology and ethnic heritage:
"I am suffering because I am a radical. Indeed I am a radical. I have suffered because I was an Italian.
Indeed, I am an Italian. I have suffered more for my family and my beloved than for myself. But I am so
convinced to be right that if you could execute me two times, and if I could be reborn two other times, I
would live again to do what I have done already. I have finished. Thank you."
On August 23, 1927, the state executed Sacco and Vanzetti for their alleged crimes. The trial revealed the
shameful side of Cultural Fundamentalism and forced many American intellectuals to be disillusioned with
their government and the nation's justice system. This disillusionment pushed many of them away from
liberalism towards more radical political beliefs in the 1930s.
The Rise of a New KKK
The Ku Klux Klan first emerged
during Reconstruction. In 1915,
Colonel William Joseph Simmons
revived the organization. The Klan
received a charter of incorporation
from the Georgia legislature, but it
remained little more than a small,
regional organization until 1920. In the
spring of 1920, however, two New
York con men, hoping to capitalize on
the membership fees the Klan charged,
started the Southern Publicity
Association to promote the Klan's
views. In the fall of 1921, some
members of the House of
Representatives began to investigate
this new phenomenon. As often
happens, the House investigation
provided the Klan with free publicity
and its membership grew from 100,000
to 1 million in 1922; by 1925 duespaying members numbered 2 million.
This new KKK promoted "100%
Americanism":
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Protestantism
Charity
Motherhood
Morality
Temperance
Education
Poster for the KKK inviting citizens to a summer 1924 rally
So what's not 100% American? While officially denying all hatreds, the Klan's qualifications for
membership embraced all hatreds. Their main targets were:
1. Roman Catholics. Members of the Klan called the Pope a "political autocrat" intent on taking over the
world. They insisted that it was impossible for anyone to be a good American citizen and a good Roman
Catholic at the same time.
2. Jews. Klan members denounced Jews as internationalists who could never form the deep attachments to
America that came "naturally" to Protestant, Anglo-Saxon Americans.
3. African-Americans. Like its predecessor, this new KKK was also militantly anti-Black. According to
Hiram Wesley Evans, an "Imperial Wizard" of the KKK:
"Every instinct, every interest, every dictate of conscience and public spirit
insists that white supremacy forever shall be maintained."
Despite popular perceptions, the Klan was not limited to the Deep South. The KKK, in fact, enjoyed its
greatest public support in Indiana, Texas, and Ohio. Klan members were elected to the city councils of
such diverse places as Chicago, Indianapolis, Denver, and Dallas. The Klan also captured six governorships,
including those of Oregon, Indiana, and Colorado. Although the Klan never won the presidency, they
managed to split the 1924 Democratic National Convention.
Permitted KKK march down Pennsylvania Ave… 1925
At its height, the Klan had more than 4 million active members, but many more believed in the Klan’s
principals without wearing the sheet and going to the meetings. Believe it or not, even a Supreme Court
Judge was a former KKK member.
Difficult to believe a Supreme Court Justice was a member of the KKK
From 1925 on, rates of membership fell off and the influence of the Klan declined. For one, leaders had
promised far more than they could deliver. Second, they lacked a systematic program of action for their
goals of restoring the Bible to its place in public schools and returning African-Americans to rural docility.
Yet, the Klan's ultimate weakness was its reliance on passions rather than reason. The Ku Klux Klan would
regain strength in the mid-1930s and then again after World War II. The rise of the new Klan, in the 1920s
and after, demonstrated how obvious Americans' fear of outsiders remained, and how easily savvy people
could manipulate this fear for personal and political gain.
The Scopes Trial (the Monkey Trial)
On the surface, the Scopes Trial--known popularly as the Monkey Trial--was about academic freedom. In
actuality, it pitted two opposing views of society. On one side stood modern, urban, intellectual rationalism
and secularism. On the other stood religious dogma and conservative, rural values. By the 1920s,
universities and schools around the nation taught Darwin's theory of evolution.
The Tennessee legislature, however, passed a law prohibiting public school instructors from teaching any
theory that conflicted with the Bible's story of Creation. John T. Scopes, a 25-year old teacher in Dayton,
Tennessee, challenged the law by teaching evolution in his high school biology class. As a result, police
arrested Scopes for violating state law in 1925. At trial, Clarence Darrow, one of the nation's leading
lawyers, and a team financed by the American Civil Liberties Union, defended Scopes. The prosecuting
attorney was William Jennings Bryan, the former Populist, presidential candidate, and Secretary of State,
who had become a leader of the "fundamentalist" movement in American Christianity.
Religious fundamentalists like Bryan were some of the most vocal proponents of cultural fundamentalism
during the 1920s. This growing movement in Protestant Christianity took its name from a series of
pamphlets entitled The Fundamentals: A Testament of Truth, published by Milton and Lyman Stewart of
Union Oil in California between 1909 and 1912. The pamphlets outlined the following principles:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The virgin birth of Jesus Christ
Jesus' physical resurrection
The second coming of Christ was imminent and physical
Every word of the Bible is literally true - from the creation of Eve out of Adam's rib to the visions
in Revelations, there are no allegories in the Bible and no subjects open to interpretation
The Fundamentalist movement was strongest in the South, but also had a significant presence in the
Midwest and West.
One of the most popular preachers of this period
was Billy Sunday, who "hit the gospel circuit
with all the subtlety of a runaway train"
(Stanley Schultz). There is nothing we can say
that can even come close to Professor Schultz's
impersonation of Sunday, so we advise you to
go watch the lecture.
Billy Sunday and wife leaving the home of
Mrs. Alexander in New York where the
evangelist had preached a sermon to a
select four hundred
Meanwhile, back at the Scopes Trial...
The Christian fundamentalist Bryan faced off against the agnostic
Darrow. The judge did not allow any expert scientific testimony
about evolution for the defense, so Darrow's chief witness turned
out to be Bryan himself. In the end, Darrow humiliated Bryan
when he got him to state, under oath, that a "big fish" had
swallowed Jonah, that God had literally created women from a
piece of Adam's rib, and that, God had flooded the world and killed
every creature on Earth except for the fish in the ocean and for the
animals on Noah's ark in 2348 B. C.
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938),
labor lawyer, reformer, and social
critic
Although Darrow made Bryan look ridiculous, the jury found Scopes guilty and he was fined $100. The
Tennessee Supreme Court eventually overturned the decision on a technicality. Nevertheless, many
Americans saw the fundamentalist cause as the true loser in the trial. Bryan had spoken for an older
generation unsettled by the economic and social changes around them. Publicly humiliated, Bryan died
just a few days after the trial.
In the years following World War I, social and cultural conflicts shaped American society. Some of the
most fiscally conservative Presidents in American history governed a nation that more than a few
Americans believed was being taken over by radical anarchists and socialists. As greater numbers of
African-Americans left their rural southern roots and settled in industrial cities, the Ku Klux Klan became a
major force in American politics. The advances of science made institutionalized religion less tenable for
many Americans and introduced new technologies to daily life. Growing numbers of Americans, however,
feared the loss of religious morality and the simplicity of life without machines and rejected science and its
modernist implications. There is one more important story to tell about the clashes between conservative
and liberal interpretations of American freedom during the 1920s.
The Politics of Prohibition: The 1920s
Historians often describe the 1920s as a decade of contrasts and conflicts. Freedoms in dress, behavior, and
sexual attitudes clashed with a new Puritanism. The automobile was replacing the old horse and buggy.
There were conflicts between the traditional small-town way of life and a new urbanism and
cosmopolitanism. In the 1920s, some Americans saw life as a glorious orgy, with the popularization of
Freud, songs such as "Hot Lips" and "I Need Lovin,'" and movies called "Up in Mabel's Room" and "Her
Purchase Price." On the other hand, religious fundamentalism underwent a rebirth, as people tried to latch
onto the traditional moral standards--either real or imagined--of bygone years. Overall, the decline of the
Anglo-Saxon class as the most influential group in American society characterized this time period. Even as
the power of the Anglo-Saxon establishment was on the wane, one of its final attempts at holding onto
control was the passage of national Prohibition.
Some questions to keep in mind:
1. Was there a dominant culture in 1920s American society? Give specific examples to prove your
point.
2. Compare and contrast the techniques and goals of the temperance movement with those of
suffragists and other Progressive feminists.
3. What were the fundamental differences between the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's
Christian Temperance Union? What did these two groups share in common?
4. The prohibition movement was about more than getting Americans to stop drinking. What
other social issues were linked to this movement?
Prohibition in a Nutshell
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution--passed by Congress in 1917, and ratified by 3/4 of states by
1919--prohibited the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages within the boundaries of the United States.
The Volstead Act of 1919, also known as the National Prohibition Enforcement Act, gave the 18th
Amendment some teeth. It clearly defined an alcoholic beverage as one with an alcoholic content greater
than 0.5 percent. Speak easies were underground clubs in all major cities visited by all walks of life, even
police officers.
The 21st Amendment, which was ratified in 1933, repealed the 18th Amendment. In order to get around
the traditional process of ratification by the state legislatures--many of which were expected to vote "dry"-Congress instead called for ratifying conventions in each state. At the completion of delegates' voting, the
national count in favor of repeal of the 18th Amendment was 73%.
The Decline of the Anglo-Saxon Class
Before we discuss the decline of the Anglo-Saxon class as the most influential group in American society,
we need to define exactly who was an "Anglo-Saxon."
1. Americans descended from the early European settlers. This included the English (as the name
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Anglo-Saxon would imply), as well as long-settled families of Irish and German stock
People who held positions of respectability and responsibility in their communities
Small-town dwellers
Educated people
Protestants
Republicans
As a group, they wanted less government involvement in the economy.
The Anglo-Saxon class tried to maintain its grip on American society in the following ways:
1. Immigration restriction. In a surge of nativism, Congress passed legislation during the
administrations of Presidents Harding (1921) and Coolidge (1924) that severely restricted
immigration to the United States.
2. Anti-Semitism. Some of the most virulent anti-Semitic attacks came from car maker Henry Ford in
his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. Henry Ford once stated:
"I know who makes wars. The international Jewish bankers arrange them so
they can make money out of them."
3. Joining the Ku Klux Klan. An organization of members who felt threatened not only by Blacks, but
also by Jews and Catholics.
4. Maintaining economic control. According to the book, The Modern Corporation and Private
Property by Adolph Burley; by 1930, 200 of the nation's largest non-financial corporations
controlled between 45-53% of the nation's wealth. The Anglo-Saxon Protestant establishment
controlled manufacturing, railroads, and public utilities. This managerial class also tried to
reinforce their power and status by joining exclusive social clubs and colleges, and by living in
wealthy neighborhoods.
The Melting Pot Bubbles
Under the thin layer of control maintained by the Anglo-Saxon class, however, great demographic shifts
soon remade American society and culture. Perhaps most important, a population explosion, first described
in the Dillingham Commission Report in 1910 and 1911, transformed the nation.
1. The birth rates of immigrants and poor native-born Americans exceeded those of the "old stock."
2. By 1911, two out of every three American schoolchildren had parents who were immigrants.
3. Most of these new Americans settled in states with the most electoral votes and, for this reason,
became an ever-more significant force in American politics.
4. Republicans were not attentive to the needs of this growing group of working-class, urban, firstgeneration Americans. Traditionally, the Republican Party had found its political base among
Protestants in rural areas and small towns. But American cities were growing rapidly, with the
largest gains among the Catholic and Jewish populations from Southern and Eastern Europe.
So the Republican Party found itself on the wrong side of the birth rate and of religious and social
differences.
The Election of 1928
The presidential election of 1928 was one of the most significant in American history. It brought to light the
political consequences of the nation's great demographic transformation.
1. Although the federal government had restricted foreign immigration, the internal migration of
native-born Americans was unbounded. Between 1920 and 1930, 6.5 million Americans moved
from rural to urban areas, and cities became increasingly powerful politically.
2. The Democratic party finally broke the Republican stranglehold on national politics.
3. The Presidential candidates in the election of 1928 represented the transformation underway in
American politics.
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was a representative of the Anglo-Saxon class, born into an
Iowa Quaker family. Supporting business and Prohibition, Hoover was the Republican
candidate for President in 1928. His campaign slogan promised:
"A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage."
Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944) was Hoover's
Democratic opponent. His background and
character were worlds away from that of
the elite Hoover. Born into a lower-class,
Catholic family, Smith grew up in the New
York City tenements known as Hell's
Kitchen. He was a self-made man whose
success came from the so-called "dirty
profession" of politics. Voters identified
Smith with big-city political machines. He
was also an avowed "wet" who called for
the repeal of Prohibition.
Al Smith and his National Chairman, at
John J. Raskob’s home
Prohibition and religion--namely, Smith's Catholicism--dominated the campaign. In the
end, Hoover won by a large margin, although Democrats carried the nation's twelve
largest cities. Before Al Smith ran for president, even East Coast cities had been largely
Republican. Smith's base of support in urban America suggested that the nation was
on the verge of a major political transformation.
Prohibition
Prohibition was not a new phenomenon in the 1920s. There had been various anti-alcohol campaigns since
the colonial period. The Maine Law of 1851, for example, prohibited the manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquors within the state of Maine. By 1855, thirteen of the thirty-one states had adopted similar
prohibition legislation. During the Civil War, moreover, the federal government prohibited alcoholic
beverages in the Union Army as a way to ration grain for hungry soldiers.
The WCTU and the
Anti-Saloon League
Two organizations helped
to foster prohibition
sentiment throughout the
United States: the Women's
Christian Temperance
Union (WCTU) and the AntiSaloon League.
The "Ladies of Logan" sing hymns in front of bars in aid of the
temperance movement
The WCTU fought not only
for the cause of prohibition,
but represented most
progressive reform groups
of the day. Under the
leadership of notable
reformer Frances Willard-national president of the
union from 1879 to 1898-the WCTU took up the
causes of suffrage, the 8hour work day, prison
reform, and the Social
Gospel. The efforts of the
WCTU made temperance
attractive to numerous
reformers. Progressives, for
example, viewed
Prohibition as a way to
attack the bosses of urban
political machines, whose
headquarters were often
located in saloons.
In contrast to the WCTU, the Anti-Saloon League, founded in 1896, focused only on the legal prohibition
of alcoholic beverages. The Anti-Saloon League developed modern lobbying techniques that were hugely
successful. The League, for example, printed and disseminated anti-drinking brochures, appealed to church
members for support, and lobbied both lawmakers and businessmen. The Anti-Saloon League was so
persuasive in its lobbying efforts that 28 states had adopted prohibition laws by 1918, before national
prohibition went into effect.
By and large, Prohibition represented the desires of the Anglo-Saxon establishment. The typical
prohibitionist was:
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A rural or small-town inhabitant
Middle class
Anglo-Saxon
Evangelical Protestant
Fearful of African-Americans, immigrants, Jews, and Catholics
Prohibitionists had various motivations for campaigning against alcohol. Most believed that drinking liquor
was immoral. Others wanted to take away the power of the urban political machines. Still others used the
movement as a springboard for their personal political ambitions.
World War I and Prohibition
The entry of America into World War I aided greatly the cause of prohibition.
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War time hysteria against all things foreign linked prohibition to patriotism. Prohibitionist
propaganda characterized the liquor industry as foreign-controlled and pointed out that GermanAmericans owned and managed many of the nation's breweries.
Centralization of government power. During WWI, the federal government took over railroads
and factories, passed a conscription act, and curtailed liberty and free speech. As an outgrowth of
this centralization of power in Washington, D. C., many Americans increasingly viewed the federal
government as the upholder of American morality, temperance, and sobriety. In their minds, the
federal government should limit individual freedoms for the sake of higher social responsibilities.
Caricature of Herbert Hoover and the "noble experiment" of
Prohibition
Results of Prohibition
For the most part, enforcement of the Volstead Act was extraordinarily difficult. Many Americans, for
example, enjoyed liquor and were more than willing to break the law to acquire alcoholic beverages. As a
result, organized crime and smuggling rings mushroomed and home-brewing of alcohol became
increasingly popular. In the end, Anglo-Saxons' efforts to impose its own moral codes on the rest of the
nation through Prohibition was a failure and their power continued to decline throughout the 1930s.
The repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933 marked the end of an experiment in social engineering. By the
end of the 1920s, another grand experiment--this one promising wealth for all--had also failed. The story of
the growing economic prosperity of the 1920s that ended with the infamous stock market crash of 1929 is a
fascinating and extraordinarily important part of our story.