A World Power
1897-1930
1.
America and the World - 1898 – 1917
2. The Great War - 1914 – 1920
3. A Turbulent Decade – 1919 - 1929
•After more than a century following George Washington’s
advice and avoiding entangling alliances, the United States
became deeply involved in events abroad, from nearby Cuba and
Mexico to distant China and Japan.
1897-1930
A Turbulent Decade
1919 - 1929
1.
Post War Problems
2. The Republicans in Power
3. A Nation Divided
•The Great War affected the lives of many Americans.
The government mobilized industry to produce
necessary goods for the allies, who finally achieved
victory against the Central Powers in 1918. Although
peace and prosperity returned to the United States,
economic benefits and political freedom was not
enjoyed by everyone.
1897-1930
1. Postwar Problems
•“We danced in the streets, embraced old women and
pretty girls, swore blood brotherhood with soldiers . . .
[and] reeled through the streets.”
•-Malcolm Cowley, Exile’s Return
•Literary critic Malcolm Cowley recalled the spirit of
celebration many Americans had after hearing news of
the end of the Great War. This carefree spirit was
short lived as for many Americans, postwar life did not
appear promising.
1897-1930
Demobilization
•
•
The process of shifting from wartime to
peacetime caused social and economic strain.
• It affected all facets of life from factory life
to farm life.
The impact of demobilization affected the nation.
1897-1930
Labor Strife of 1919
•Many workers protested in response to the difficulties
of demobilization. Demands – higher wages and shorter
hours – Yes, the American way of Life mo money less
work!!!
•More than 3,600 work stoppages-involving some 4
million workers took place in 1919!
1897-1930
Seattle General Strike
•The first major strike of 1919 was well organized – 60,000
walked off a job to protest more money and fewer hours
•“It was the most beautiful thing I [had] ever seen.” – one
shipyard worker
•The strike occurred without a single incident of violence.
1897-1930
Boston Police Strike
•
Edwin Curtis, Police
Commissioner refused
recognition and fired 19
members.
• 75% of the squad
went of strike.
• Calvin Coolidge,
governor of
Massachusetts,
ruled in favor of
the commissioner.
“There is no right
to strike against
the public safety by
anybody, anywhere,
any time.”
Calvin Coolidge, governor of Illinois
1897-1930
The Steel Strike
•365,000 steelworkers in western Pennsylvania went of
strike for better working conditions – many of them
immigrants.
•They demanded recognition of their union and
protested low wages and long working hours.
1897-1930
The United Mine Workers
Strike
•
The last major strike of 1919 - 400,000 coal miners
• John L. Lewis - new president of UMW- well
experienced
•
December 6, 1919, President Wilson designed
a compromise package (14% increase for the
workers)
John L. Lewis-
The Red Scare
•
1897-1930
Period of anti communist hysteria during 1919 and 1920;
sparked by labor unrest.
• Communism -Marxist government owns and controls all
private property, including factory and industry.
• Russian Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin -Communist
International
Vladimir Lenin
1897-1930
Marxists in America
•
•
Working class revolutions spark interests in the United
States
Eugene V. Debs – Socialist Party 1902 (1912 900,000
votes)
1897-1930
The Palmer Raids
•
•
•
36 bombs were discovered in the mail targeting prominent
citizens.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s house was bombed
and he launched anticommunist crusade.
He placed J. Edgar Hoover in charge of a government
office that led the Palmer raids, in which thousands of
suspected radicals in 33 cities nationwide were arrested.
J. Edgar Hoover
A. Mitchell Palmer
1897-1930
Sacco and Vanzetti
•
•
Nicola Sacco and Bartholomeo Vanzetti were tried and eventually
found guilty of murder.
The trial divided liberals and conservatives during the 1920’s.
•
Some believed that the two should be punished because of
their radical beliefs.
•
Others thought it violated civil liberties.
•Supreme Court Jusice Judge
Webster Thayer sentenced the
two to death.
•“This man {Vanzetti},
although he may not actually
have committed the crime . . .
is an enemy of our existing
institution.”
1897-1930
2. The Republicans in
Power
•“Keep Warren [G. Harding] at home. Don’t let him make any
speeches. If he goes out on a tour somebody’s sure to ask him
questions, and Warren’s just the sort of . . . fool that will try to
answer them.”
•- Boies Penrose, The Perils of Prosperity,
William E. Leuchtenburg
1897-1930
The Election of 1920
•
•
Republican nominated Senator Warren G. Harding
• Pro business platform
• high tariff, limits on immigration, and some aid
to farmers and a return to “normalcy”
Democrats- Governor James Cox -League of
Nations
1897-1930
Harding’s Pro Business
Administration
•
•
Andrew Mellon
•
Herbert Hoover
“Less government in business
and more business in
government.”
Andrew Mellon, Secretary of
Treasury and Herbert Hoover,
Secretary of Commerce had a
two-fold plan; reduce the
national debt caused by the
war and promote economic
growth through pro business
legislation.
Fordney-McCumber Tariff
Act pushed tariff rates to an
all time high to protect
American manufacturing.
 An anti-tariff American cartoon of the time, linking the tariff to
isolationism. The French man is saying: 'But Monsieur, where
does it end.
1897-1930
The Effects of Republican
Policies
•
•
•
•
Over 1,000 mergers -combining of two or more
companies – federal government support
Workers did not share in business prosperity.
Farmers and organized labor suffered.
Feminism-promoting women’s rights emerged.
1897-1930
The Enduring Republican
Presidency
•The Harding Scandals
•
•
Charles Forbes, personal
friend pocketed millions of
dollars.
Attorney General Harry
Daugherty was taking bribes and
forced to resign.
Harry Daugherty
1897-1930
The Teapot Dome Scandal
•
•
•
Secretary of Interior Albert Fall received naval
oil reserves from Department of Navy Edwin
Denby.
Fall received personal loans, cattle, and cash.
Fall was convicted and sentenced to jail.
Albert Fall
President Harding
•Edwin Denby.
Photo of the Day: Indecency in Washington. Dr. X's Free Associations
psychology, great vintage photos and more. www.drx.typepad.com (accessed March 2, 2010).
•D.C. cop enforces Washington's decency code. No more than
6 inches above the knee may be exposed.
1897-1930
Coolidge Takes Charge
•
On August 2, 1923,
President Warren
Harding suffered from a
heart attack and Vice
President Coolidge took
office.
• First on agenda –
firing members
involved in scandals
• Continued pro
business agenda
• won the presidential
election of 1824
1897-1930
Coolidge’s Pro Business
Position
•
•
•
“The business of America is business”
Favored legislation to aid business
Low government spending
•
I love the hat!
1897-1930
The Election of 1928
•
•
Republicans -Herbert Hoover – pro business politics
Democrats – Al Smith (Catholic) moderate
progressive
Herbert Hoover
Al Smith (Catholic)
1897-1930
3. A Nation Divided
“Doubtless you have learned of the great exodus of our people to the north
and west from this and other southern states. I wish to say that we are
forced to go when . . . A grown man[‘s] wages is only fifty to seventy five
cents per day for all grades of work. He is compelled to go where there is
better wages and sociable conditions, believe me. . . . Many places here in this
state. . . . As a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church . . . I am on the
verge of starvation simply because of the above conditions.”
-Alabama minister, letter to Chicago defender, April 7,1917
1897-1930
African Americans Move
•
•
1930 – 2.5 million African Americans moved north and
west.
Violence erupts as a result of the great migration north.
Return of the KKK
•
1897-1930
William Joseph Simmons -Stone Mountain Georgia
• Targeted African Americans, Catholics, immigrants,
Jews and radicals.
• Up to 5 million by mid 1920’s.
• Klan loses popularity as the Red Scare dies down.
• Major Grand Dragons were forced into hiding.
• Grand Dragon from Indiana David Stephenson was
convicted of murder.
David Stephenson
William Joseph Simmons
Founding of the Ku
Klux Klan Atlanta,
1915, William
Joseph Simmons,
Atlanta, Georgia
Stone Mountain
1897-1930
African American Defend
Their Rights
•
•
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) fought for anti-lynching legislation and to
end discrimination against African Americans.
Its monthly magazines, The Crisis, contained accounts of
atrocities against African Americans.
1897-1930
African Americans and the
Union
•
•
Black Socialist A Philip
Randolph founded
Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters to
improve working
conditions for all
Pullman car workers.
The company finally
recognized the union in
the 1930’s.
Black Socialist A Philip Randolph
1897-1930
Black Nationalism
•
•
•
Pan Africanism – aimed at uniting people of
African descent worldwide
Marcus Garvey supported black nationalism
aimed to create a new political state for
African Americans in Africa
founded Universal Negro Improvement
Association to foster African Americans
economic independence and to establish an
independent black homeland in Africa.
1897-1930
Immigration Act of 1924
•
•
1920-25% of nation’s population was foreign –
led to citizens to demand federal legislation on
immigration.
• 1921-Congressional law limiting the number of
immigrants from each country – 3% and Asian
barred.
Immigration Act of 1924 2% quota limited southern
or eastern European immigration, excluded all Asian
immigrants.
1897-1930
Mexican American Migration
•
•
•
The restrictive legislation did not affect Mexicans
1920-s 500,000 Mexicans arrived in America
In the 1920’s many Mexican immigrants moved into
the cities.
•“Shelters were made of almost every conceivable thing-burlap,
canvas, palm branches. . . . We found one woman carrying water in
large milk pails from the irrigation ditch. . . . This is evidently all the
water which they have in camp.” – minister Who Built America,
Joshua Freeman
1897-1930
American Indian Life
•
•
Bursum Bill – legalized non Indian claims to Pueblo
land; Indians fought the bill and did not pass
1924-Congress granted citizenship to Native
Americans.
•“This bill will destroy our common life and will
rob us of everything which we hold dear-our
lands, our customs, our traditions. Are the
American people willing to see this happen.”
•-member of the American Indian Defense
Organization, Native Testimony, Peter
Nabokov