U S HISTORY 1 The Roaring Twenties Part

U. S. HISTORY 1 The Roaring Twenties Part 1: Postwar Economic Downturn, Red Scare and the Republican Decade

Postwar Economic Downturn � Post-War �War-time jobs disappear � Less jobs meant more competition �Racial/ class tensions � Who lost their jobs as soldiers came home?

Labor Unrest � � � 1919: 4 million workers held 3, 600 strikes (wage cuts, long hours, and no overtime pay). State/ federal troops broke strikes Americans sympathized w/ employers � Felt strikers were subversive Communists and radicals � Most Americans felt unions threatened U. S. stability

Russian Revolution Causes Concern in the U. S. � � � Communist Russia, with Lenin in charge, becomes the Soviet Union is openly hostile to American beliefs and values (capitalism, freedom of speech) Lenin pledges to inspire worldwide revolution among the working class

Red Scare � � Red Scare = intense fear of communism and its potential spread throughout the U. S. Americans felt Communists were behind labor strikes

Palmer Raids � � � Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s conducted Palmer Raids on the headquarters of suspected anarchists, communists, and socialists across America Between 4, 000 -10, 000 suspected radicals were jailed � No formal charges made � over 600 were deported. Goal of raids was to “purify” and restore peace to the United States

American Civil Liberties Union � � � ACLU, formed in 1920, protested the illegal methods and prejudices targeted at foreigners and radicals with the Palmer Raids ACLU would represent the rights of both individuals and minorities whose rights were being violated ACLU had no court victories by 1925

Republican Decade � 1920’s � Republican Presidents � Warren G. Harding � Calvin Coolidge � Herbert Hoover � � Friendly to big business Laissiezz Faire (Hands off) policy

Warren G. Harding (Rep. 19211923) � � Campaign slogan = “a return to normalcy” Isolationism = avoiding alliances with foreign nations Pushed for stronger antiimmigration laws Tea Pot Dome Scandal = corruption involving some of his Cabinet members’ in abuse of power and misuse of federal funds � Sec. of Interior illegally sold oil reserves

Calvin Coolidge (Rep. 19231929) � � � “The business of the American people is business” Government should interfere as little as possible with American businesses Policy of isolationism continued

Herbert Hoover (1929 -1933) � � � Most Americans expected the good times of the 1920 s would continue Stock Market reached an all-time high in 1929 Value of wages had risen by more than 40% since 1914

Vocabulary #1 � � � � Red Scare Palmer Raids Emergency Quota Act (1921) Roaring Twenties Nativism Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti

Warm-up 1/29 � Why did the public turn against strikers? � Do you think Americans were justified in their fear of radicals and foreigners in the decade following WWI?

U. S. HISTORY 1 The Roaring Twenties Part 2: Changing Society