The Roaring Twenties!

Post WWI U.S. exhausted from WWI, and deeply divided over

the League of Nations.

Returning soldiers faced: Unemployment Doubled costs of living

Wartime orders stopped, hurt production in: Farmers Factory workers

Paranoia Nativism: Prejudice against foreigners

Isolationism: Pulling away from involvement in foreign affairs.

Americans were seeing threats around every corner…

Communism scare, aka… RED SCARE!

Several bombs delivered gov’t buildings and businesses added to fears.

Palmer Raids J. Edgar Hoover conducted raids against

the following groups: Anarchists Socialists Communists

Efforts to find explosives and other revolution evidence unsuccessful: Deported hundreds of foreign born

radicals Civil rights violated

Jailed subjects without legal counsel Invading private homes and offices.

J. Edgar Hoover

Fear of the Outside Sacco and Venzetti (1920)

Italian immigrant anarchists accused of murder Witnesses claimed criminals appeared to be Italian

Both gave alibis and pleaded innocence. Jury found the pair guilty, death by electric chair

Anti-immigrant sentiment was spreading “Keep America for Americans”

The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) Established in 1846, but gained popularity with nativist sentiment.

1924 – 4.5 million members. All white male, natural born citizens.

Opposed: African Americans Catholics Roman Catholics Jewish citizens Foreign

Viewed as a social group, not hate group at the time.

KKK baseball

Removing ingredients from the pot.

Quota system: established a maximum number of people who could enter the United States from a foreign country. Ended up discriminating mainly against Roman

Catholics and Jew

Specifically prohibited Japanese immigration to the United States.

Strike 3…thousand Workers weren’t permitted to strike during WWI.

Would damage the war effort.

During 1919 there were 3,000 strikes The papers used Communism as the scape goat for

these strikes

Real reasons? Wanted raises Wanted to join unions.

1 Strike Boston Police Strikes

Police hadn’t been given a raise since the beginning of WWI

Police who asked for raises were fired. Police force of Boston then went on strike Gov. of Mass. Calvin Coolidge ordered in National

Guard Police who went on strike weren’t rehired, new

policemen were hired.

Strike 2 The Steel Mill Strike

Workers wanted to negotiate three things: Living wage Shorter working hours Union recognition and collective bargaining

300,000 workers went on strike Companies hired scabs

Striking workers were beat After a report of harsh working conditions was released,

public sympathized. Steel companies agreed to wages, but no unions.

Strike 3!!! Coal Miner’s Strike

1919 United Mine workers went on strike for higher wages

New leader for the group: John L. Lewis Agree publicly to end the strike

Quietly told workers to continue Eventually President Wilson assigned a judge as a

mediator. Coal workers received a 27% raise.

No goods for you After WWI, France and Britain had to pay back

debts to the U.S. 2 Ways:

Through selling goods to the US Getting the money from Germany

The US passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff. Raised tariffs by 60%

How is this bad?