Chp. 12
Politics of the Roaring Twenties
Americans Struggle w/ Postwar Issues

Postwar Trends o Progressive era led to many changes o Economy was slowed by postwar transition o Returning soldiers faced unemployment o Americans respond with a new heightened nativism

Isolationism also becomes a popular policy

Fear of Communism o Communism: economic and political system based on a single-party government ruled by a dictatorship o Red Scare
 Begins in 1919 with Lenin’s take over in Russia

Communists called for world wide revolution against capitalism

A communist party formed in the
US


Mailed bombs to government and business leaders

US Attorney General Mitchell
Palmer took action to prevent the Red Scare

Palmer Raids o August 1919, Palmer appointed J. Edgar
Hoover as a special assistant

Hunted down suspected
Communists, socialists, and anarchists
 Trampled people’s civil rights

Invaded homes, businesses, jailing suspects w/out legal counsel

Foreigners were deported

Sacco and Vanzetti o Italian immigrants that evaded the draft during WWI o May, 1920 they were arrested and charged with robbery and murder

Had alibis, evidence was weak, judge was prejudiced


Despite national protests the men were executed via electric chair on
August 23, 1927

1961: ballistic tests proved that
Sacco’s pistol was the gun used to kill the guard. But, can’t prove he did it.

Klan Rises Again o Red Scare and anti-immigrant feelings gave a new rise to KKK o 100% Americanism

Anti: Black, Saloons, Unions,
Catholics, Jews, Foreign born

Quota System

Emergency Quota Act of 1921 established a quota

Maximum number of people from each country that could enter the US

1927 law restricted total number of immigrants in any year to 150,000

Japanese immigration prohibited; causing tension b/w Japan and US

Japan angered b/c this violated the gentlemen’s agreement signed in 1907 by TR


A Time of Labor Unrest o By 1919 3,000 strikes with some 4 million workers walked off the job o Strikers looked at as communists

Boston Police Strike o No raise since beginning of war o Police decided to strike

Governor Calvin Coolidge called in
National Guard
 “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.”

New police were hired
 Coolidge would become Harding’s running mate in 1920 election

Steel Mill Strike o Workers wanted to negotiate for shorter hours and a living wage o In 1919 US Steel Corporation refused to meet with union reps

300,000 workers walked off their jobs

Steel companies hired strikebreakers and used force


Strikers were beaten by police, fed troops, and state militias

President Wilson pleaded w/ negotiators to find an agreement

Strike ended in 1920
 Coal Miners’ Strike o 1919, United Mine Workers of America was led by John L. Lewis

Attorney General Palmer obtained court order

Strikers told to return to work
(Lewis secretly said they should continue)

Miners received a 27 percent wage increase

Labor Movement Loses Appeal o Membership drops for several reasons:

Immigrants willingness to work in poor conditions

Language variances make it difficult to unite

Farmers who now have city jobs used to self-reliance


Most unions excluded African
Americans
Harding Presidency

Harding struggles for peace o Arms control, war debts, and the reconstruction of war torn countries o Washington Naval Conference

Sec of State Charles Evans Hughes urged a limit on warship construction for a ten year period

GB, Japan, France, Italy, and the US encouraged to scrap their warships

First disarmament agreement in history o 1928, 15 countries signed the Kellogg-
Briand Pact

Renounced war as a national policy

High Tariffs and Reparations o Britain and France owed US 10 billion

Sell products to US or collect reparations from Germany o Fordney-McCumber Tariff


Raised taxes on some imports to
60% o Germany experiencing terrible inflation

France marched on Germany when they were unable to pay

Charles Dawes sent to negotiate loans

Dawes Plan: o American investors loaned
Germany 2.5 billion o Germany paid debt and countries then paid US back o France and England considered the US a miser for not paying a fair share of the costs of WWI o US benefited from defeat of
Germany while thousands of Europeans lay dead
 Scandal hits Harding’s Administration o Harding’s Cabinet

Ohio Gang

Charles Evans Hughes appointed
Sec of State


Herbert Hoover appointed Sec of
Commerce

Andrew Mellon Sec of Treasury

Cut taxes and reduced national debt

Cabinet also included the Ohio
Gang: friends of Harding o Scandal plagues Harding

Friends used offices to become wealthy through graft
 Charles Forbes, head of Veteran’s
Bureau, caught illegally selling government and hospital supplies to private companies

Thomas Miller, head of Office of
Alien Property, caught taking bribes

Teapot Dome Scandal o Oil rich lands in Teapot Dome,
Wyoming and Elk Hills, California for use by US Navy o Sec of Interior Albert B. Fall managed to transfer reserves to Interior Dept.

Fall leased lands to two private oil companies


Received 400,000 in loans, bonds, and cash

Found guilty of bribery and became the first American to be convicted of a felony while holding a cabinet post o “I have no trouble with my enemies…but my…friends, they’re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!” o Harding died suddenly on August 2,
1923 o Calvin Coolidge assumed the presidency

The Business of America o American Industries Flourish

Coolidge and Hoover supported limited government interference in business

Placed high tariffs on imports, wages rising, technology improved, and productivity increased o Impact of the automobile

Landscape changed; paved roads

Houses added carports and garages, driveways, smaller lawns


Gas stations, repair shops, motels, tourist camps, shopping centers

First automatic traffic signals began in Detroit in the early 1920s

Holland Tunnel: 1 st underwater tunnel for motor vehicles opened in
1927, connects NY City and Jersey
City, NJ

Woodbridge Cloverleaf, 1 st cloverleaf intersection built in NJ in
1929

Vacations

Urban Sprawl

Economic base for cities such as
Akron, Ohio, Detroit, Dearborn,
Flint, and Pontiac Michigan

Oil production increased

1920s, 80% of all vehicles in the world were in the US

New Car cost $275
 Will Rogers to Henry Ford, “It will take a hundred years to tell whether you helped us or hurt us, but you certainly didn’t leave us where you found us.”


Standard of Living Soars o 1920-1929 prosperous years o 40% of world’s wealth in the US o Incomes rose nearly 35% from $522 to
$705

Electrical Conveniences o Electricity begins to reach suburbs o Electric irons, refrigerators, cooking ranges, and toasters now possible o Made ladies work easier and provided free time for leisure or work outside of home

Modern Advertising o Increase of products and brands required marketing strategy o Psychologists hired to study how to appeal to people’s desires for youthfulness, beauty, health, wealth
 “Say it with flowers”
 “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet” o Luxury items began to become necessities


1923: Listerine convinced people that without mouthwash you stood the chance of having halitosis

Superficial Prosperity o Producing Great Quantities of Goods

Production increases resulted in business increases

Stores and factories increased in number

As numbers grew so did disparity in wealth b/w workers and managers

Iron and RR industries were not prosperous and farmers were suffering large losses due to overproduction

Buying on Credit or On Margin o Installment plans o Banks provided money at low interest rates o Some worried that installment buying was getting out of control

People were unable to meet
 payments when due