 Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues

 Debate over League of Nations divided the country  The economy was drastically different than before the war  Returning soldiers  faced unemployment or took back old jobs from women + minorities  Cost of living had doubled during the war  Desire for simpler times

 Fall(1918) : flu affected ¼ of US population, killed 550,000 Americans  Devastating impact on the economy as mines, factories, offices, had to shut down  Cities ran short on coffins  ¼ of soldiers infected across the globe, hit the Germans the worst

 Return to the old way of life  women + African Americans now challenged by the soldiers returning home for jobs o Postwar recession = very competitive job market  Women working in 1920 < women working in 1910  Race riots throughout the Midwest b/c soldiers returning home = first large scale competition b/w blacks and whites in North  Hot Summer of 1919: o Chicago  triggered by a young black man being drowned by whites 13 days of riots o Tulsa, OK Armed African American men (many returning soldiers) armed to protect a black man from being lynched 10 whites and 26 blacks killed at the end of the riots

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 Nativism – prejudice against foreign-born people  Isolationism – policy of pulling away from international affairs

 Fear of communism in the U.S. o economic + political system w/ 1 party ruled by a dictator (no private property, gov’t owned industry)  Began when Lenin + Bolsheviks took power in Russia  red flag w/ cry to abolish capitalism worldwide  Communist Party of 70,000 members formed in U.S. o Bombs mailed to gov’t + big business owners  scared the nation o migration+Restrictions,+and+the+Red+Scare migration+Restrictions,+and+the+Red+Scare

 U.S. Attorney General Palmer initiated raids to weed out communists, socialists + anarchists o Raid homes and offices o Jailed w/o legal counsel o Deported hundreds of foreign-born radicals w/o trial  Failed to turn up any revolutionary conspiracy ∴ lost public support

 Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti: Italian immigrants, both anarchists working in U.S.  Sacco + Vanzetti charged with murder  Jury found them guilty regardless of the circumstantial evidence – sentenced to death o Worked against a judge who made prejudice remarks during the trial

 Protests across the world – many believed they were wronged b/c of their radical beliefs and nationality  1961: ballistics tests proved bullet came from Sacco’s pistol, however still no proof he shot the gun

 Decrease in need for low-skilled jobs = immigrants no longer “needed”  People tired of issues – those causing “problems” were immigrant anarchists + socialists o Many thought these ppl were Communists

 Devoted to “100% Americanism”  4.5 million members by 1924: peak of the Klan  Klan opposed blacks, Catholics, Jews, Immigrants, and unions  Dominated state politics in the 1920s  criminal activity lead to their decline

 Emergency Quota Act of 1921 – established the max. # of ppl who could enter the U.S. from each foreign country o Aka National Origins Act  1927 – only 150,000 ppl/country admitted to the U.S. per year

 The Boston Police Strike – all fired, new police brought in  The Steel Mill Strike – companies used propaganda to accuse strikers of being Communists

 Over the 1920s, union membership dropped from 5 mil to 3.5 mil o Immigrants would work in poor conditions o Language barriers = union hard to organize o Farmers used to relying on themselves o African Americans excluded from unions

 Election of Warren G. Harding from Ohio in 1920 = the final rejection of the League of Nations  Called for a return to “normalcy,” stoppage of the progressive reform and progressive foreign policy of Wilson o Return to simpler times o Harding won a landslide election and Rep. took control of Congress

U.S. would not totally w/draw from world affairs  U.S. had become an economic powerhouse o Richest, most industrialization nation in the world!  Trade imbalance: Countries would borrow American $ to buy American goods o ∴ America because the largest creditor nation in the world Other countries owed the U.S. more money than the U.S. owed them  Economic center of the world now Wall Street in NYC not London ∴ the U.S. had to play a role in world affairs

 Austro-Hungary and Ottoman Empires near gone  Br. and Fr. victorious but weak  German and Russian monarchies wiped out o Germany left very weak and vulnerable o Russia nearing communism  U.S. strong, prosperous, confident new leader o World Hegemon! What does this new role mean?!