AIM Question: Why was there a call for a “return to normalcy” after World War I ended? Essential Question: What impact did the Red Scare have on America’s domestic policies during the 1920s? Lesson Plan for Tuesday, February 3, 2009: Warm-Up Q, Rural Attack notes & video, Urban v Rural activity

The world was transformed by World War I 22 million soldiers and civilians died; 20 million were wounded; 10 million were refugees

1920: Republican Warren Harding ran for president promising a “return to normalcy” and rejection of the League of Nations Most Americans want to go back to neutrality, isolation, laissez-faire, & business growth Is that possible? With Harding’s victory in 1920, the Senate voted against the Treaty of Versailles and membership in the League of Nations 22

The BIG PICTURE in the USA The end of World War I led America into a decade of wealth, prosperity, and social change known as the “Roaring Twenties.” America’s “return to normalcy” meant a retreat into neutrality and return of laissez-faire policies and encouragement of business growth. Mass production and new technologies led to an increase in consumer goods, urbanization, new forms of transportation such as the automobile and airplane, new forms of entertainment such as radios and “talking” movies, and an increase in standard of living for most citizens. African-Americans and women experienced new cultural opportunities. However, fears of such rapid social and cultural changes, especially changes in American cities, led to an anti-socialist “Red Scare,” a rise in nativism and new immigration restrictions, and a commitment to religious fundamentalism.

First Red Scare – 1920’s There was significant American fear of world problems at this time Fear of recent immigrants (particularly those who embraced communist, socialist, or anarchist ideologies) Led to a RED SCARE

Initial CAUSES of the First Red Scare – 1920’s World War I: nationalistic and anti-immigrant sympathies The Bolshevik Revolution (Russia): immigrant overthrow of United States government?? END of World War I: production needs decline and unemployment rises… Leads to labor strikes Are radicals trying to spark a revolution??  Lenin becomes dictator

Document Activity Describe the “Palmer Raids”…what resulted? Read and analyze the documents in the set you and your group members are given. Take turns looking over the documents and sharing your findings and opinions about the material. Based on the documents, answer the following in your notebooks: Describe the “Palmer Raids”…what resulted? Summarize the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. What was the significance of the trial? Why did the 2nd KKK form in the 1920s? Overall, how did nativism affect American society in the 1920’s? (Immigration Act 1924)

“ The blaze of revolution was sweeping over every American institution of law and order… eating its way into the homes of American workman, its sharp tongues of revolutionary heat… licking at the altars of the churches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawling into the sacred corners of American homes,… burning up the foundations of American society.” -A. Mitchell Palmer

Palmer Raids VIDEO In response, Mitchell Palmer (President Wilson’s attorney general) without authority, conducted an illegal search for suspected communists and anarchists called PALMER RAIDS 1920: invaded homes, clubs, union halls, and coffee shops, rounding up nearly 5,000 people.

(Industrial Workers of the World – international labor union)

What was the significance of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial? Sacco and Vanzetti are Italian immigrants and anarchists April 1920: factory paymaster and his guard are shot, $15,000 is stolen… Witnesses say the criminals “looked Italian” Sacco and Vanzetti are arrested without sufficient evidence Sacco and Vanzetti Trial 1920 (MA) Found guilty 1927 – both executed by electric chair

The 1st KKK disbanded when Reconstruction ended in the 1870s, but the 2nd KKK formed in 1915 to protect rural, Christian values

The 2nd Ku Klux Klan (1st disbanded in 1869) 2nd KKK aimed to ease rural anxieties in the face of changing cultural attitudes Violence, kidnapping, murder, & politics to affect change 3 distinct lives of the KKK: 1st Klan aimed at Reconstruction was disbanded in 1869. 2nd Klan aimed at cultural changes of early 20th century existed from 1915 to 1944; 3rd Klan emerged in 1946 aimed at growing civil rights movement & communism

Klan violence met resistance & membership declined by 1925 The KKK provided a sense of identity to its members: Women’s Order, Junior Order for boys, Tri-K Klub for girls, Krusaders for assimilated immigrants The state gov’ts of TX, OK, OR, IN were heavily influenced by KKK members Klan violence met resistance & membership declined by 1925

D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) was one of the most controversial films in movie history. Set during & after the Civil War, the film glorifies white supremacy & the KKK

Quotas on Immigration Emergency Quota Act 1921 Set strict limits on immigration Immigration Act/National Origins Quota System 1924 Specifically targeted Southern and Eastern Europeans – mostly Catholics and Jews

Emma Goldman – outspoken Russian Jew and radical