THE PROSPERITY DECADE AND
ERA OF WONDERFUL NONSENSE
ENDS IN A CRASH
Monkeys, Traitors, Consumers, and The
Economics of the
Roaring Twenties – Stock Market Crash
1919-1929
MY BEST JUDGMENT OF AMERICA'S NEEDS IS
TO STEADY DOWN, TO GET SQUARELY ON OUR
FEET, TO MAKE SURE OF THE RIGHT PATH.
LET'S GET OUT OF THE FEVERED DELIRIUM OF
WAR,. . . . LET US STOP TO CONSIDER THAT
TRANQUILITY AT HOME IS MORE PRECIOUS
THAN PEACE ABROAD, AND THAT BOTH OUR
GOOD FORTUNE AND OUR EMINENCE ARE
DEPENDENT ON THE NORMAL FORWARD
STRIDE OF ALL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. ...

Warren G. Harding "Return to Normalcy,"
Boston, MA, May 14, 1920
RETURN TO NORMALCY?
Could the nation return to what life was
before the United States’ involvement in
WWI?
Let’s take a look at the United States in
1919 …
FOREIGN POLICY

“My Fellow Countrymen: the armistice was signed
this morning…. It will now be our fortunate duty to
assist by example, by sobering friendly counsel, and
by material aid in the establishment of just
democracy throughout the world.”

We would not have our politics distracted and
embittered by the dissensions of other lands. We
would not have our country’s vigor exhausted, or her
moral force abated, by everlasting meddling and
muddling in every quarrel which afflicts the world.”
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. (R-MA)
Nothing is too good
for you, my boy!
What would you like?
A job.
Returning soldiers faced
unemployment or took their
old jobs away from women
and minorities.
INFLATION: INCREASED COST OF LIVING
Product
1914 Price
1919 Price
Milk
9 cents per
Quart
15 Cents per
quart
Steak
27 cents per lb. 42 cents per lb.
Butter
32 cents per lb. 61 cents per lb.
Eggs
34 cents per
dozen
62 cents per
dozen
MANY AMERICANS RESPOND TO THE
STRESSFUL CONDITIONS BY BECOMING
FEARFUL OF OUTSIDERS.
FEAR OF COMMUNISM
“The nation went on thinking with a mind of a people
at war. They had learned during the preceding
nineteen months to strike down the thing they hated;
not to argue or hesitate, but to strike. Germany had
been struck down, but it seemed that there was
another danger on the horizon. Bolshevism was
spreading from Russia through Europe; Bolshevism
might spread to the United States. They struck at it –
or at what they thought was it.”
- Frederick Lewis Allen
Only Yesterday
THE RED SCARE

Where does it come from?
 1919
revolutionaries led by Vladimir Lenin
overthrew the monarchical czar government
 Established a communist state
 Waved a symbolic red flag – a.k.a. “Reds”
 Cried out for worldwide revolution that would
abolish capitalism everywhere
THE RED SCARE

Where did it show up here?
 Communist
Party forms
 Some members of the Industrial Workers of the
World (IWW) Union joined the Communist Party
THE RED SCARE
A Series of bombs being
sent to government and
business leaders
increased fears of the
spread of communism.
 Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer’s
residence was bombed

PALMER RAIDS
Attorney General Palmer appointed J. Edgar
Hoover as special assistant
 Hunted down suspected Communists,
socialists, anarchists

PALMER RAIDS TRAMPLED PEOPLE’S
CIVIL RIGHTS
FEAR OF OUTSIDERS

Nativism – Favoring the interests of nativeborn people over foreign-born people
 Need
for unskilled labor decreased
 1919-1921 immigration increased from
141,000 to 805,000 (600%)
LIMITING IMMIGRATION

Quota System – maximum number of people who
could enter the US from each country
 Limited
immigration to 2% of a country’s nationals
living in the US in 1890.
 Discriminated
against Eastern and Southern European
countries
 Prohibited Japanese immigration
RETURN OF THE KLAN
“100 percent Americanism”
 Discriminated against blacks, Jews, RomanCatholics, immigrants, Communists, unions,
saloons
 4.5 Million members

FEAR OF LABOR


During WWI the
government did not allow
strikes and unions
promised to adhere to
this policy in support of
our nation at war.
Following WWI –


Management wanted a
return to laissez-faire
Workers pressed for
higher wages, etc.
“PLOTS TO ESTABLISH COMMUNISM”
OR
FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHTS

Boston Police Strike




Demanded higher wages
Leaders fired; Officers strike
Governor Calvin Coolidge
brings in National Guard to
end strike
Striking police replaced

U.S. Steel Mill Strike





Demanded higher wages
and shorter work hours
Managements refused to
negotiate
300,000 workers on strike
Management used
propaganda to paint strikers
as Communists
Public report displayed poor
conditions – workers got 8hour work day, but no Union

Coal Miner’s Strike
 Led
by John L. Lewis
demanding better
wages and shorter
workdays
 Disobeyed court order
to stop strike
 President Wilson
appointed an
arbitrator
 Coal Miners received
wage increase
LABOR LOSES APPEAL
Much of the workforce were immigrants willing
to work in poor conditions
 Immigrants spoke many different languages
making it difficult to organize
 Migrating farmers used to hard work
 Most unions excluded African Americans
 Connected publicly to Communists

SACCO & VANZETTI

Italian immigrants and anarchists tried for
the robbery and murder of a factory
paymaster in South Braintree (Boston)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNlS2ucaLIo
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0sYAU96FY0


Sacco and Vanzetti footage
Why did Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
launch a series of raids against suspected
Communists?
 He believed Communists wanted to overthrow
the government and ruin our economy. He also
may have hoped to ride the wave of public
support all the way to the White House.

Communism – Economic and Political
system based on a single-party led by a
dictatorship
 Bolshevism – Majority, Worker – Name
attributed to the communist revolution in
that it was a “worker’s revolution.”
 Arbitrator - a person chosen to decide a
dispute or settle differences
 Anarchist – one who believes in no
established government
