Despite the image, all was not well during the Twenties 1920s Issues/Problems Despite the image, all was not well during the Twenties

Unit Objectives To learn why America’s attitude toward immigration became negative To learn the cause of Nativism To learn what other issues faces 1920s society

Prohibition: Era during which the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol was illegal (but NOT consumption) Result of the Temperance Movement 18th Amendment (passed in 1919, took effect in 1920): STARTED PROHIBITION Volstead Act: LAW PASSED BY CONGRESS TO ENACT PROHIBITION  

Speakeasies: SECRET ILLEGAL TAVERNS   Impossible to enforce/Rise of organized crime (Al Capone)

Why did Prohibition not work? -Unenforceable (no one followed it) -It did more harm than good (led to the rise of organized crime and bootlegging) -Government corruption (officials and police were often bribed) -During the Depression, eliminating Prohibition could provide needed jobs and tax income for the government

21st Amendment (1933): ENDED PROHIBITION—ONLY AMENDMENT THAT RESCINDS A PREVIOUS AMENDMENT

The Red Scare FEAR OF COMMUNISM Led by A. Mitchell Palmer  

Discrimination (Nativism) against immigrants (seen as competition for jobs and dangerous due to political beliefs) Led to immigration restrictions like the National Origins Quota Act of 1924 (limited the number of immigrants to 2% of that nation’s population already in the country in 1890

Sacco and Vanzetti (ID): TWO ITALIAN ANARCHIST IMMIGRANTS WHO WERE CHARGED WITH ROBBERY AND MURDER IN 1921 (TRIAL IN 1927) IN SOUTH BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS

Return of the KKK: EXPANDED TARGETS OF PERSECUTION (CATHOLICS, JEWS, IMMIGRANTS, AND OTHER “UNAMERICAN” GROUPS) Black Migration north during and after war in search of factory jobs  

Farmers Farmers hit hard after WWI (production had increased to supply Allies during war and still high after war when production no longer needed) Farmers never really experienced the “Roaring Twenties” and were the first hit by the Great Depression  

Labor Problems Workers wanted higher wages, shorter hours Led to many strikes (Boston Police Strike of 1919), most of which failed and made unions look bad Led to racial tension as many whites returned from the war to find their jobs taken by African-Americans

1920’s Presidents Warren G. Harding (1921-23)—Died in office: Campaigned on a “Return to Normalcy” platform—get life back to normal (the public was tired of war and Wilson’s moral crusades)  

Harding Harding’s Administration was plagued by scandal; Though he himself was never linked to any of it, it may have caused his death (stress) Ohio Gang: GROUP OF CORRUPT POLITICIANS BEHIND THE SCANDALS

Harding Scandals Salary Grab: Congress tried to double its own salary Corruption in Veteran’s Bureau Teapot Dome: AMERICAN OIL RESERVES IN WYOMING SECRETLY AND ILLEGALLY SOLD TO OIL COMPANIES

Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (1923-29), Nicknamed “Silent Cal”: MAIN JOB—DAMAGE CONTROL (RESTORE IMAGE OF THE PRESIDENCY)

Coolidge He believed in Supply-Side Economics (lower government spending and taxes to make more money available for private investment and expansion)

Hoover Herbert Hoover (1929-32); Great humanitarian: IF HE HAD RUN EARLIER, MAY HAVE GONE DOWN AS BEST EVER BUT WAS BLAMED FOR DEPRESSION

Hoover and the Depression He raised taxes and created programs to provide services and jobs He refused to give direct aid to people (welfare)

American Foreign Policy Before and during WWI America was still struggling to find its identity and its foreign policy wavered between Isolationism and Interventionism After WWI it became Isolationist because most Americans felt America had been dragged into a war that had nothing to do with the U.S. Problem: The U.S. did not intervene when world problems developed, neither did the European powers, and that led to the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, and Japan and WWII