Transcript 1: americans struggle with postwar issues

1: AMERICANS STRUGGLE WITH POSTWAR
ISSUES
In 1919, inflation, wage cuts, and layoffs caught
up with workers. The country witnessed over
3,600 strikes.
A major strike in Seattle led by the radical
Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) led
newspapers across the nation to claim the
intent of the strike was to start a “Bolshevik
Revolution” (The “Bolshevik Revolution” was
begun by VLADIMIR I. LENIN in Russia.
Followers were known as COMMUNISTS
[economic and political system based on a
single-party government ruled by a dictator]) in
the U.S. Negative public opinion from the strike
contributed to the destruction of the IWW
shortly afterward.
Followers were known as COMMUNISTS
[economic and political system based on a
single-party government ruled by a dictator])
in the U.S. Negative public opinion from the
strike contributed to the destruction of the
IWW shortly afterward.
In Boston, underpaid and over worked
policemen gained little public sympathy when
they went on strike. Looters took advantage,
sacked the city, bringing it to near anarchy.
THE RED SCARE
Many feared anarchism
or Bolshevism would
seize the United
States.
During this period,
"alien" residents were
targeted and deported.
A “EUROPEAN ANARCHIST” STALKS LADY LIBERTY.
The First Amendment
rights of Americans
were sometimes
supplanted as the
country succumbed to
anti-communist
hysteria.
The Governor of Massachusetts, CALVIN
COOLIDGE, called the state national guard to
restore order. The public, in Massachusetts
and around the country, welcomed Coolidge’s
anti-union assurance that “there is no right to
strike against the public safety by anybody,
anywhere anytime.”
Coal Miners Strike, led by JOHN L. LEWIS, was
in protest for low wages. Workers would
eventually receive a 27% wage increase.
Labor unrest was only one of the
ingredients that mixed a nativist fear in 1919
that became known as the RED SCARE. (Red
refers to the color of the Bolshevik flag)
A communist revolution in the United States
was extremely unlikely, but fearful Americans
faced a flurry of ‘TERRORIST ACTS’, most
notably 38 bombs mailed to prominent
individuals. (Holmes, Palmer, Rockefeller, etc.)
Fear, anger and uncertainty
led swiftly to a hunt for
terrorists by ATTORNEY
GENERAL MITCHELL PALMER.
In January 1920, Palmer
ordered a series of raids that
resulted in 6,000 ‘SUBVERSIVES’
arrested.
Most were immigrant Jews, Slavs associated
with unionism. Some had communist and
socialist connections, about
500 were deported.
Anti-foreign hysteria did get a final jolt with the
arrest of NICOLA SACCO AND BARTOLOMEO
VANZETTI. They were practicing ANARCHISTS
(one who does not believe in any form of
government) from Italy, who were arrested for
robbery and murder in Massachusetts.
At their trial, their anarchism was used as
evidence against them
– evaded the draft,
voiced anti-Americanism,
owned guns –etc.
they were sentenced
and executed.
Nativist sentiment against radicals and immigrants expanded
in the 1920s. In the early 1920s, industrialists no longer
needed new “cheap” factory workers. Protestants were
particularly alarmed about immigrants because of immigrant
CATHOLICISM, Judaism , OR ATHEISM.
•In the 1920s Congress passed a series of immigration acts
that set quotas on immigration into the U.S. The quotas
favored NATIONAL ORIGINS NATIONS. For example,
the JOHNSON-REID ACT of 1924 gave quota preference
to nations based on the immigrants to the U.S. before 1890.
Under this act Britain was allowed to send in 63,000
immigrants to Russia’s 2,000. These acts clearly favored
old immigrant Protestant nations over new immigrants and
Eastern European cultures.
In the wake of the world war, the Red Scare and the
Progressive movement, Americans wanted to simply return to
‘normalcy.’ The election of 1920 defined the term.
EMERGENCY QUOTA ACT OF 1921 created a quota
system (established the maximum number of immigrants
who were allowed into the United States from each foreign
country). No quota was set on MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS.
As a result of the Red Scare, bigoted groups formed such as
the KU KLUX KLAN (its membership sharply increased
as a result of the Red Scare and nativism, but its power
declined once its criminal activity and racial violence
became exposed)
Feelings were reinforced by the beliefs of the EUGENICS
MOVEMENT, a science that lent authority to racist
theories and reinvigorated the nativist argument for strict
immigration control
•Emphasized that human inequalities were INHERITED
•Warned against breeding the “UNFIT” OR
“INFERIOR”
•Supported by political, intellectual, and cultural figures
such as WOODROW WILSON AND HENRY CABOT
LODGE
II: THE HARDING PRESIDENCY
Democrats – JAMES COX – OHIO (Governor)
Republican – WARREN HARDING – OHIO (Senator)
Issues: the Democrats viewed the election as one last
chance to vote for the League of Nations. A vote for Cox
would signal for Congress to approve the treaty.
Warren Harding ran on the campaign slogan: “RETURN
TO NORMALCY” and he won in a landslide. Return
to Normalcy became a mandate to turn away from
Progressive activism and foreign involvement. “Normalcy”
described American’s desire to:
Return to its beloved policy of ISOLATIONISM
Forget about spreading
democracy or chasing
grand schemes of world
peace
Forget about fixing the
ills of society and move
away from reform and
progressive
movements
Concentrate on their
own individual problems
and be left alone
Scandals shook his administration as some of the members
of Harding's OHIO GANG, a group of close Harding
friends and associates:
accepted BRIBES,
pocketed TAXPAYERS' MONEY,
sold government jobs and PARDONS, and were
involved in scandals such as the TEAPOT DOME
SCANDAL OF 1923.
It involved Harding’s Secretary of the Interior ALBERT B.
FALL, who leased government oil reserves at Teapot
Dome, Wyoming in exchange for kickbacks. Fall would be
sentenced to one year in prison; the FIRST CABINET
MEMBER TO GO TO PRISON
People were extremely cynical of the world situation and
war results. They were pessimistic and distrustful,
with a return to normalcy, it was assured that the U.S. was
to return to its policy of isolation – but the policy ‘had’
to be modified to deal with the post-war new world order.
Examples of the U.S. modifying its isolationism policy
to adjust its foreign policy include:
•
Forget about spreading democracy or chasing grand
schemes of world peace
• Forget about fixing the ills of society and move away
from reform and progressive movements
• Concentrate on their own individual problems and be left
alone
• The WASHINGTON NAVAL
CONFERENCE OF 1921 was an
international conference called by the U.S.
• to address the powers interest in the PACIFIC.
The Washington Naval Conference resulted in
several treaties between the Nine Powers that
attended.
Agreements included:
•
Respect for China’s territorial integrity
•
Respect each other’s rights over island possessions
•
Declare a ten year “holiday” on military ship
construction
CHARLES EVANS HUGHES, Secretary of State, urged
that no more warships be built for ten years.
The Washington Naval Conference is accredited with
‘slowing’ hostilities between the ‘powers’ in the Pacific. In
1921, the United States again stepped out of the policy
of Isolationism concerning the payment of Germany’s
war debt. Germany owed Britain and France war
reparations for damages according to Article 232 of the
Treaty of Versailles. Britain and France borrowed
money from the U.S. to help fight the war – to make the
‘collectable process’ more difficult, Germany was
BANKRUPT and POLITICALLY UNSTABLE.
American CHARLES DAWES headed a committee to
work out an international plan to enable Germany to afford
to pay its war debts.
The Dawes Plan cycle:
The U.S. would loan Germany money to rebuild and
pay reparations to Britain and France
The money Britain and France were paid would be
paid to the U.S. for war debts
The cycle created a movement of money that eased
tensions
In 1929, the Dawes plan was replaced with the YOUNG
PLAN to further lower German reparations.
The U.S. again stepped out of isolationism with the signing
of the KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT OF 1928 – the act
was pushed by post-war peace movements in the United
States and France.
U.S. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French foreign
minister Aristide Briand drafted the document as an
international agreement not to use war as an
instrument of national policy except in defense. (62
nations signed)
•The purpose of the policy was to essentially ‘OUTLAW
WAR’ to prevent a recurrence of the carnage of World
War I.
No one really believed that the harsh TREATY of
Versailles solved the issues that brought the world to war
in 1914.
While in San Francisco on
vacation in 1923, Harding
died from an EMBOLISM.
VICE
PRESIDENT
CALVIN COOLIDGE
took office.
III: THE BUSINESS OF AMERICA
A.Reserved and frugal, Coolidge aligned himself with
business. He believed in “THE CHIEF BUSINESS OF
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IS BUSINESS”. He
became famous during the BOSTON POLICE STRIKE
OF 1919.
.
He acknowledged the importance of business by saying,
“THE MAN WHO BUILDS A FACTORY BUILDS A
TEMPLE.”
Coolidge believed that the free enterprise system should
flourish. For this to happen and business reach its
potential, regulation of business must be minimal:
“Government must be limited” in business affairs.
Coolidge also believed that a small limited government
was more efficient.
Under limited government the FREE ENTERPRISE
SYSTEM would thrive, give more power to
CORPORATIONS and PROFITS would increase.
The impact of TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
during the 1920s had a profound effect on the availability
of new consumer products for the American people. The
two most technological advances were:
The perfection of the ASSEMBLY LINE by Henry Ford;
Ford created his SOCIOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, set
requirements that workers employed by Henry Ford had to
meet.
The prophecy of THOMAS EDISON that predicted
“happy electrified homes would free women . . .”
Henry Ford, the innovator of MASS PRODUCTION put
America on wheels.
By installing a conveyor belt system, or “assembly line,”
Ford automobile production produced a car every 93
minutes as opposed to 14 hours.
The cost per car dropped from $850 to $300.
The rugged, cheap, and black “Model T” became the
symbol of the new era.
Tin Lizzie
With the mass production of the automobile, other industries
surged. GLASS, STEEL, OIL, RUBBER AND
CEMENT industries were directly affected.
•NEW ROAD SYSTEMS bypassed some towns and created
others.
Example: Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles
As stated, the impact of ELECTRICITY changed the lives
of every American. The ability of Thomas Edison to “change
night into day” and the ‘fear’ that the electrical current
presented in the 1880s was over come in the 1920s.
Vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines, irons
and radios began to extend across the nation and engulf
America in a baptism of CONSUMERISM. Many
consumers in the 1920s began to feel confident that they
could buy now and pay later, so many bought on the
INSTALLMENT PLAN.
In the frenzy of consumerism, progressive gains were stifled
in areas of workplace bread and butter issues. A ‘CLOSED
SHOP’ is a business where only union members could be
employed. The nation’s business sector was elated by the
court’s support.
Industries hired professional managers, began hiring
people with managerial training from business schools
(MANAGERIAL REVOLUTION), and practiced
WELFARE CAPITALISM (practice where companies
began allowing workers to buy stock, participate in profit
sharing, receive benefits such as medical care and
pensions) helped industrial workers prosper.
Some unions did manage to add another bread and butter
issue to appease members. Since the fear of missing a
paycheck was the top concern of the worker, health care
plans created by companies were cheap and doable.
Influenced by the passage of the 19th amendment giving
women the right to vote, Congress also addressed the
health care for the first time by passing the SHEPPARDTOWNER ACT OF 1921. The Sheppard-Towner Act
or Maternity Act was focused on reducing ‘maternal and
infant mortality.’ The act was significant because:
It encourage states to develop programs to serve women’s
health at lower income levels
It was the nation’s first federally funded social welfare program
The group that faired the worse during the 1920s was the
FARMERS. Their failure to enjoy the economic boom
of the 1920s was a result of the traditional reasons.
IV. MISCELLANEOUS:
A. AIRLINE INDUSTRY
•Inventions by GLENN CURTISS made possible the
airline industry in the 1920s
•Airline industry did not grow at same rate as automobile
industry, because they were thought of as
DANGEROUS NOVELTIES.
•CHARLES LINDBERGH flew first solo flight across
Atlantic Ocean in 1927 in the “SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS.”
Glenn Curtiss takes off
•KELLY ACT - authorized postal officials to contract with
private airplane operators to carry mail; first
flew between Washington, D.C., and New York.
•In 1926 the aviation industry received federal aid for
building airports with the passage of the AIR
COMMERCE ACT
B. Raised the tax on imports to the highest level ever
(60 percent) - designed to protect American
businesses from foreign competition: FORDNEYMcCUMBER TARIFF.