Created By:
Michael Crews

• Wilson hoped to avoid conflicts in Europe
– Propaganda from Europe eventually arrived inside U.S.
– This split public opinion
• Sinking of the Lusitania and Sussex
– U.S. and Germany maintained political relations after these attacks by U-boats
• Unrestricted submarine warfare
– Caused us to cut off diplomatic relations with Germany
• Zimmerman Note
– Telegram that basically granted Mexico U.S. territory if they joined forces with the Germans and invaded U.S.
• Wilson forced to declare war (April 1917)

• Selective Services Act (1917) - required all able bodied men ages
21-30 to register for the military
– The military drafted nearly 3 million men to prepare for WWI
• Liberty Bonds were sold to finance the war effort
• War Boards created under Army Appropriations Act (1916)
– Council of National Defense (oversee the production of food, fuel and railroads)
– War Industries Board (coordinated military purchases)
– National War Labor Board (settled disputes between labor and industry)
• Committee on Public Information
– Produced propaganda in favor of the war effort
• Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918)
– Effectively banned public criticism of governmental policy during the war
– Over 1,000 people convicted under these acts (Eugene V. Debs)

• Women in the labor force
– Women assumed the positions vacated by men who were off fighting
– This helped them gain influence in their quest for suffrage
– Ultimately their role during this time would lead to Congress passing 19 th
Amendment = women’s right to vote (1920)
• African Americans in the workforce
– Many African Americans migrated to northern urban centers during this time

• Inclusion of American troops quickly ended the war
• Wilson gives his 14 points speech
– Freedom of the seas
– Armament Reduction
– Open Diplomacy
– Free Trade
– Impartial Negotiation regarding Colonies
– Creation of a League of Nations
• Paris Peace Conference
– Germany faced harshest punishments
• Accept full responsibility for war
• Pay $33 billion in reparations for entire cost of the war
• Accept foreign troop presence for 15 years
• Give up some of its territory
• Abandon its overseas colonies
– Had to formally end the war through a joint resolution in 1920

• Presidents = Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover
• Harding promised a return to ‘normalcy’ after the horrors of war
– There was significant resistance to the League of Nations
– Harding wanted to reduce and avoid future dealings in Europe
– Scandal would tarnish the Harding administration
• Tea-pot Dome Scandal = secretary of interior allowed private companies to drill for oil on public land
• Top cabinet members routinely accepted bribes
• Coolidge took over after Harding died in 1923
– He was re-elected in 1924
– His support of big business and higher tariffs and de-regulation of business and the economy ended Progressivism
• Hoover elected in 1928 on a similar platform of big business and small government
– He was President at the beginning of the Great Depression (more on him later)

• 18 th amendment (1920) = outlawed the production, sale and transportation of all intoxicating beverages
– Instituted as a result of growing complaints against alcohols destruction of
‘decent society’
– Led to the development of a lucrative black market for alcohol
– Speakeasies were illegal bars
– Bootleggers were people who smuggled alcohol to speakeasies
– Home distillery became common in rural America (Moonshine)
– Organized Crime greatly increased
• Primary bootleggers of alcohol and developers of speakeasies
• ‘Scarface’ Al Capone basically controlled Chicago, Il. In the 1920’s
– His gang executed the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on a rival gang
– Prosecuted for federal tax evasion in 1931
• Prohibition repealed by 21 st amendment (1933)

• Radio – became wildly popular during the 1920’s
– Softened regional differences
– Brought news, sports, politics, music, talk-shows and advertising to a much wider audience
• Motion Pictures – also gained tremendous popularity
– Provided an escape from everyday life
– By the end of the decade most people visited the movies weekly
– ‘Movie-stars’ became a figure of fame and glamor
• Mass produced automobiles
– 23 million cars were on the road by the end of the 1920’s
– Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company developed the idea of mass producing cars so that everyone could afford them
– Citizens in rural areas could now take advantage of nearby cities
• Many small towns disappeared and some small businesses died as a result of increased competition

• Aviation was brought to civilian life by Charles Lindbergh
– His flight across the Atlantic in 1927 foreshadowed the introduction of commercial airline companies
• Modernist Literature
– Lost generation = Hemingway, Stein, and Pound
• Lived in Europe
• Wrote cynical pieces about U.S. potential for progress and perceived misguided values
• Southern Renaissance
– Faulkner, Wolfe, Tate, and Glasgow
– Wrote about the transformation of the south from agrarian to modern

• The Red Scare – fear of communist and socialist ideas corrupting America
• Emergency Quota Act (1921 – limited the amount of immigrants to 3% of foreign born members of any given nationality
• Immigration Act (1924) – reduced it to 2%
• Sacco and Vanzetti trial
– Italian anarchists who were convicted of robbery and murder 1920
– Judge was openly bigoted
• Did not offer a fair trial
– Never offered a retrial
– Executed in 1927
• KKK – reemerges as a misdirected effort to protect American values
– Still targeted blacks, immigrants, Jews, Catholics, other minorities
– Had more political power compared to 19 th century Klan
– Fizzled out by the end of the decade
• Scopes “Monkey” Trial – John Scopes, a biology teacher in Tennessee was placed on trial for teaching the theory of evolution
– His defense lawyer was Clarence Darrow
– Scopes lost and was forced to pay a fine of $100

• Jazz became a very popular form of musical entertainment
– Helped reduce racial barriers among musicians
• Marcus Garvey led the “Negro Nationalism” movement
– Celebrated black history and culture
– Created United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) – sought to resolve the racial issues
– Introduced a bill that helped end lynching
• Harlem Renaissance – Claude McKay, Langston Hughes , Neale
Hurston and Alain Locke
– Exposed the cultural heritage of blacks from urban Manhattan to rural
Georgia

• Traditional roles rapidly changed during the 1920’s
• Traditionally socially unacceptable female behaviors such as drinking, smoking, sexual promiscuity became more accepted
• Women’s fashion also changed
– Short hair
– Short skirts
– Bold make-up
– Dangling jewelry
• 19 th Amendment passed in 1920 = women gained the right to vote
– New contingency had very little impact on voting trends
– Many female southerners and immigrants chose not to vote
• They did not want to challenge traditional authority of their husbands