HIS 206
WORLD WAR I & 100% AMERICANISM
THE MELTING POT IN WARTIME
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World War I (1914-1918) = turning point in campaign to restrict
immigration
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Gov’t officials & prominent Americans regarded as treasonous all
lobbying by immigrants on behalf of homelands
Denunications of “hyphenism” cowed ethnic group leaders into
silence or compliance with campaign for “100% Americanism”
Rumors of spying & sabotage convinced many that melting pot wasn’t
working
Postwar Red Scare strengthened impression of melting pot’s failure
Pres. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) played ambivalent role in
hysteria
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Privately condemned excesses of campaign against German
Americans
Failed to curb lawlessness & abuse of civil liberties
Blamed Irish & German Americans for Senate’s failure to ratify Treaty
of Versailles (1919)
THE LIMITS OF LOYALTY
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Many immigrants lobbied on behalf of homelands
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Wilson insisted immigrants demonstrate primary loyalty to
U.S.
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Irish & German Americans realized U.S. would never join Central
Powers, so worked to make sure neutrality didn’t favor Allies
Bartholdt organized American Independence Union in 1915
with 58 Irish & German American leaders
Irish nationalists like Jeremiah O’Leary & Daniel Cohalan
received assistance from German Ambassador Johann von
Bernstoff
Made Flag Day official holiday in 1916
Pledge of Allegiance became more widespread
Endorsed Americanization efforts of Frances Kellor & others
Theodore Roosevelt likewise endorsed 100% Americanism
PASSING THE LITERACY TEST
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House passed Burnett’s literacy test bill in
Dec. 1913
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Anthony Caminetti
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1917 Immigration Act included literacy
test & created Asiatic Barred Zone
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Frederic C. Howe
Senate raised head tax to $6 & excluded
blacks
Wilson vetoed bill in 1915 as “radical
departure” from traditional policy
Raised head tax to $8, but waived for kids
Excluded alcoholics & vagrants
Wilson’s veto overridden
WARTIME TREATMENT OF ALIENS
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World War I drastically reduced
European immigration
Ellis Island became detention center
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Wilson used 1798 Alien Enemy Act to
detain thousands of German aliens
during war
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Bureau held those awaiting deportation
because unsafe to send them back to
Europe
Frederic Howe paroled many on due
process grounds
Hot Springs, NC
Ft. Oglethorpe, GA
Ft. Douglas, UT
Braceros program (1918-1921)
admitted 73,000 Mexicans as
temporary laborers
German Internment Camp,
Hot Springs, NC
HOT SPRINGS, N.C. DETENTION CAMP
Barracks
Concert Band
German Village
SUPPRESSION OF CIVIL LIBERTIES
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George Creel’s Committee on Public
Information produced propaganda
Anti-German sentiment went wild
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language banned
thousands of German nationals detained as
enemy aliens
Amish persecuted
Espionage Act (June 1917) - $10,000/20
years in prison for inciting disloyalty or
insubordination
Sedition Act (May 1918) - extended to
opposing Liberty Bonds, questioning
constitutionality of conscription, or
criticizing American gov’t in any way
George Creel
C.P.I. PROPAGANDA POSTERS
THE RED SCARE & THE PALMER RAIDS
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Immigration Act of 1918 broadened
definition of anarchism & removed 5-year
time limit for deportations
A. Mitchell Palmer scared by suicide & mail
bombings in 1919
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A. Mitchell Palmer
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Over 4,000 alleged alien radicals rounded
up in 33 cities in 23 states on Jan. 2, 1920
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Louis F. Post
called for sweeping peacetime sedition law
Caminetti & J. Edgar Hoover planned “Palmer
Raids” to thwart Communist rev.
Howe resigned in protest over lack of due
process
Louis F. Post reviewed each case & dismissed
2,200 – only 556 alien Communists deported
THE SACCO & VANZETTI CASE
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Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti were
Italian-American anarchists
Convicted of payroll robbery & murder in
1921
Defense Attorney Fred Moore turned it into
international celebrity case
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Liberals convinced prejudice against Italians
and anarchists motivated prosecution
Mass. Gov. Alvan Fuller had 3-man
commission chaired by Harvard Pres. A.
Lawrence Lowell investigate – found
evidence convincing
Later ballistics tests & testimony show
Sacco guilty; Vanzetti probably not directly
involved, but knew of plot
Nicola Sacco &
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Fred Moore