Transcript Ch.9 Sec. 1 Red Scare, Immigration, & Labor Issues

Chapter 9 Section 1- Labor Issues
and Immigration Control after
WWI
The Red Scare
Rise of the Bolsheviks
• Americans worried about a new
enemy.
• The Bolsheviks, a revolutionary
group led by Vladimir I. Lenin,
gained control of Russia during
World War I.
• Five years later Russia became part
of a new nation called the Soviet
Union.
• The Bolsheviks wanted
communism, a new social system
without economic classes or private
property.
• Lenin believed all people should
share equally in society’s wealth.
• Soviets called for the overthrow of
capitalism and predicted
communism would inspire workers
to rise up and crush it.
American Reaction
• Many Americans were frightened
by communism.
• Americans embraced capitalism
and feared a rise of the working
class.
• The picture of “the Hun,” a
German symbol, Americans
focused hatred on during WWI,
was replaced by a new target:
communists, known as Reds.
• Communist parties formed in the
U.S. after the war, some
advocating violent overthrow of
the government.
• A Red Scare, or widespread fear of
communism, gripped the nation.
Red Scare Events
Schenck v. U.S.
Charles Schenck mailed letters urging men to avoid military service.
Schenck was convicted of breaking the Espionage Act. In his appeals, Schenck
said he was exercising his freedom of speech.
The Supreme Court said that the government is justified in silencing free speech
when there is a “clear and present danger.”
Gitlow v. New York
The Palmer Raids
Sacco and Vanzetti
Socialist Bernard Gitlow published calls for the violent overthrow of the
government. He was convicted of criminal anarchy. The Supreme Court upheld
his conviction, stating that he had urged people to engage in violent revolution.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer ordered the arrest of thousands of
suspected “subversives” (people trying to overthrow the government) without
evidence. Many were innocent, yet more than 500 were deported.
Two anarchists were accused of a robbery and murder. Many people believed
that they were singled out because they were both radicals and immigrants.
After a trial that many believed was unfair, the jury found them guilty and
sentenced them to death.
One mail bomb was sent to Attorney General
A. Mitchell Palmer, who launched the
Palmer Raids in 1920.
•
Police arrested thousands of people.
•
Some were radicals; others were simply immigrants.
•
Hundreds of people were deported without a trial.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
formed in 1920 to protect people’s rights and liberties.
Immigration Control
• Competition for jobs was fierce, and combined with the Red
Scare, a backlash against foreigners struck the nation.
• The rise of nativism, or distrust of foreigners, produced a
culture clash between the country’s earliest immigrants and
its newer ones.
• Many nativists were Protestant Christians whose roots were
Northern and Western European, and they targeted newer
arrivals from Southern and Eastern Europe.
• Many of the newer arrivals were Catholics and Jews, and
nativists argued that these groups were less willing to become
“Americanized.”
• Labor leaders, along with nativists, pushed for immigration
restrictions because new arrivals were usually willing to work
for low wages.
Reactions to Immigration
Government
• A 1921 law established a
quota, or set number, of
immigrants to be allowed
into the U.S. from various
nations.
• Then, the National Origins
Act of 1924 set quotas for
each country at 2 percent of
the number of people from
that country currently living
in the U.S., clearly to reduce
immigration from certain
countries.
• The act nearly eliminated
immigration from Asian
countries.
The KKK
• Nativism produced a
1920s revival of the Ku
Klux Klan.
• The Klan’s terror group
had originally targeted
African Americans in the
South but began also to
target Jews, Catholics,
and radicals.
• The Klan slogan of the
1920s was “Native white,
Protestant supremacy.”
• The Klan moved from the
South into other parts of
the country.
Trends such as urbanization, modernism, and
increasing diversity made some people lash out
against change.
•
Beginning in 1915, there was a
resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.
•
The Klan promoted hatred of
African Americans, Jews,
Catholics, and immigrants.
•
By 1925, the Klan had between
4 and 5 million members.
In 1924, the National Origins Act set up a
quota system for immigrants.
For each
nationality, the
quota allowed
up to 2% of
1890’s total
population
of that nationality
living in the U.S.
Others embraced the idea of racial, ethnic,
and religious diversity.
•
Many valued the idea of the United States
as a “melting pot.”
•
Groups such as the NAACP and the Jewish
Anti-Defamation League worked to counter
the Klan and its values.
By the late 1920s, many Klan leaders had been
exposed as corrupt.
Economic troubles also caused problems in
the United States.
•
A recession, or economic slowdown, occurred
after the war.
•
Many women and African Americans lost their
jobs to returning soldiers.
•
Tension over jobs and housing led to race riots
in some cities.
•
Scarcity of consumer goods and high demand
caused inflation, or rising prices.
Because rising prices made it
harder to make ends meet, inflation
caused labor unrest.
•
Many unions went on strike for higher pay and
shorter workdays.
•
In 1919, more than 4 million workers went on strike.
•
The workers succeeded in some strikes, but lost far
more. Some strikes turned violent.
Labor Struggles After the War
Labor Strikes
In the 1920 presidential election, Republican
Warren G. Harding based his campaign
on a call for “normalcy,” a return to
a simpler time.
•
Voters rejected President
Wilson’s idealism.
•
Harding won the election in a
landslide.
•
Republicans also won control
of Congress.
Harding was a popular, fun-loving president
who trusted others to make decisions for him.
•
Some advisors, such as
Mellon and Hoover, were
honest, capable, and
trustworthy.
•
Others, including a group
known as the “Ohio
Gang,” were not so civicminded.
Some Scandals of Harding’s Administration
•
Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans’
Administration, wasted millions of dollars on
overpriced, unneeded supplies.
•
Attorney General Harry Daugherty accepted
money from criminals.
•
Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall took bribes
in return for federal oil reserve leases.
The Teapot Dome scandal became
public.
•
In 1921, Fall took control of
federal oil reserves
intended for the navy.
•
He then leased those
reserves to private oil
companies.
•
Fall was sent to prison.
•
President Harding did
not live to hear all of
the scandal’s details.
He died in 1923.
In August 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge
became President.
•
Coolidge was a quiet,
honest, frugal
Vermonter.
•
As President, he
admired productive
business leaders.
Coolidge believed that “the chief business
of the American people is business.”
•
Coolidge continued Mellon’s policies to reduce the
national debt, trim the budget, and lower taxes.
•
The country saw huge industrial profits and
spectacular growth in the stock market.
•
The middle and upper classes prospered,
especially in cities.
Postwar Intolerance Video