Adjusting to peace time Chapter 22 section 1 Adjusting to peace time By: Hannah Bos

Return to normalcy When Wilson returned from Paris he might of thought he would return as a popular hero but instead him and democrats were denied at the next election By 1920 between the mishandling of the peace treaty at Versailles and a failing economy Wilson and the democrats were not liked very much During the great war our domestic economy had expanded greatly to produce enough supplies that were needed by the military Then the war ended and munitions factories shut down and many people lost their jobs So when the soldiers returned it was very difficult to find a job Labor unions had made a no-strike pledge as a patriotic gesture in wartime But when the was ended labor disputes led to many people going on strike

Return to normalcy continued By 1919 four million workers equivalent to one fifth of the labor force took a part in the strikes The newspapers were filled with violence caused by the strikes America also feared the communists would over throw the government like Russia did Some were also afraid of radical violence Americans hoped that change in leadership would bring peace and prosperity back

The Harding Administration The election of 1920 Warren Harding of Ohio was the republican nominee Harding promised the public “a return to normalcy” which is what we wanted He won by a landslide Harding was a strong supporter of business and he filled his administration with people of the same mind set For secretary of treasury Harding choose one of the nations richest men Andrew Mellon Mellon was a banker and a industrialist Mellon got congress to lower taxes on businesses and the wealthy He also helped “splash the federal buget”

The Harding Administration cont. Some other people Harding appointed were personal friends Some saw their government jobs to make personal fortunes whether they were made legally or illegally Harding's presidency was marred by several major scandals involving these men One case Charles Forbes the head of the veterans Bureau was convicted of taking bribes totaling about $200 million The biggest scandal was the scandal at Teapot Dome ,Wyoming a government owned oil reserve when the secretary of the department of the interior, Albert B. Fall received a bribe of $400 million Fall was the first cabinet member ever sent to prison Harding was never linked to any of the crimes Harding did not live to see if he would be linked to the crimes because in 1923 he died from a massive heart attack leaving vice president Calvin Coolidge to deal with all the scandal of Teapot Dome and many other crimes

The Coolidge Administration Coolidge was very different from Harding Coolidge was soft-spoken, serious guy from new England who was know for his integrity and honesty Coolidge helped to restore trust in the white house In the 1924 election Coolidge was elected president As the 1920’s started to “roar” voters wanted to keep republicans in power

Foreign policy World war one made the united states an international power Many people did not want their nation to play a lead role world affairs this sentiment was known as isolation throughout the 1920’s the united states participated in national conferences intended to promote world peace and disarmament The united states joined the Washington Naval Arms Conference of 1921 The conference resulted in a treaty limiting the navies of the united states, Britain ,France ,Italy ,and japan In 1928 the untied states joined France in sponsoring the Kellogg-Braid Pact This pact condemned military aggression and outlawed war

Foreign policy cont. However it imposed no punishment on a country that acted aggressively on so it was ineffective at preventing war President Coolidge believed that the government had a right to intervene in foreign matters that affected American business In 1926 a revolution broke out in Nicaragua, Coolidge sent American troops to protect American business interests there The following year Mexico announced plans to take over all foreign oil owned lands including those owned by the united states Many people wanted to send troops but Coolidge managed to resolve it with a different method

Foreign policy cont. 2 In the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 communists had taken power in Russia They created the Soviet Union which is the worlds first communist state In an effort to weaken the Soviet government the United States refused to grant it diplopic recognition In 1918 president Wilson sent troops to aid the opponents of communism In 1921 a famine hit Russia Wilson sent troops The troops saved 10 million from starving to death

The red scare Alarm about communist affected not only the Foreign Policy but also things people did on daily basis The postwar strikes made some Americans fear that a revolution was about to start in the United states The fears reached a fever pitch in the spring and summer of 1919 when a series of bombings occurred The bombings were the work of anarchist or someone who opposes the government many of the bombers were foreign born and the bombing sled to an outcry against foreigners During the red scare thousands of anarchists and communists or “Reds” were hunted down and arrested Once they were caught they were deported from the country

Sacco and Vanzetti In may 1920 at the height of the Red Scare two Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested They were charged with robbing and murdering two payroll employees in Massachusetts At the trial there was little evidence that they were guilty of the charges But the judge didn’t care if they were guilty or not he only focused on that they were anarchists and immigrants They were convicted in 1921 and executed in 1927

Limiting immigrants Many Americans worried that the cultures of immigrants was overwhelming to American culture as well as the finding jobs with immigrants was hard An emergency immigration law was passed in 1921that only limited how many immigrants could be in the united states In 1924 and 1925 congressed made the number of immigrants even smaller But that did not include Canada or Mexico because in the 1920’s 500,000 from Mexico and 950,000 from Canada