The 1920s Immigrants and the Red Scare…

President Warren G. Harding promotes a return to “normalcy” Renewed isolationism Resurgence of nativism Trend toward political conservatism

A New Threat to Normalcy After the Russian Revolution, the newly formed American Communist Party in the United States attracts some members –What does this lead to? –How do Americans feel about communism today?

Communists advocate worldwide revolution –Encourage the overthrow of all capitalist systems and the abolition of free enterprise and private property In response to the widespread Red Scare, the government hunts down suspected Communists, socialists, and anarchists.

Sacco and Vanzetti The Red Scare feeds people’s suspicion of foreigners and immigrants, sometimes leading to ruined reputations and wrecked lives… Sacco and Vanzetti, two anarchists and Italian immigrants are executed for a crime they may not have committed

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are Italian immigrants and anarchists who evaded the draft during WWI. April 1920: factory paymaster and his guard are shot, $15,000 is stolen –Witnesses say the perpetrators appeared to be Italian –3 weeks later, Sacco and Vanzetti are arrested Provide alibis Evidence is circumstantial Judge makes several prejudicial remarks –Jury still finds them guilty and they are sentenced to death. –August 23, 1927: Both men are executed in the electric chair amid international protest

The Immigration Act of 1924 Establishes quotas –Discriminates strongly against people from outside Western Europe

“ 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 A. Mitchell Palmer: Attorney General of the United States –August 1919: J. Edgar Hoover appointed to head the antiradical division of the Justice Department (a.k.a. The F.B.I.) Government officials sent to hunt down suspected Communists, socialists, and anarchists Civil Rights are trampled…

The re-emergence of the KKK Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan use anti-communism as an excuse to harass ethnic and religious minorities

The New Klan Devoted to “100% Americanism” –1924: Membership rises to 4.5 million “white male persons, native-born gentile citizens” who believed in keeping blacks “ in their place,” destroying saloons, opposing unions, and driving Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreign-born people out of the country.

Threatened by the changes happening in society. Resent small advances made by African Americans during WWI Feel moral values are being attacked by urban intellectuals Fear job competition from immigrants Convinced foreigners are going to overthrow the American way of life.

The KKK asserts power Racial violence Try to influence national and state politics –Indiana