Life and Politics in the Roaring Twenties The Americans, Chapters 12 and 13

Social Issues during the 1920s  Union Unrest  The Red Scare  Immigration Restriction  Racial Tension  The Rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan  Tension between traditional and modern ideas, as well as rural and urban lifestyles.

Union Unrest  After WWI, major strikes made headlines and paralyzed some industries.  The most famous of these was the United Mine Workers (UMW) strike in 1919, led by John L. Lewis.  Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer declared the strikes illegal and blamed strikes on communists.  Union membership declined throughout the 1920s.

The Causes of the Red Scare  Successful Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in Could we be next?  There was a socialist political party in the U.S., as well as people who called themselves communists or anarchists.  Labor unrest and race riots were seen as a communist plot to overthrow U.S.  Mysterious bombings were seen as proof that the “revolution” had started.

Anti-Immigrant Sentiment  Americans tended to associate immigrants with communism.  Nativism and xenophobia resurfaced.  A. Mitchell Palmer raided meetings, arresting and deporting aliens.  Immigration Restriction League formed.  Anti-Immigration legislation passed.

The Sacco and Vanzetti Case  Two Italian anarchists put on trial for robbery and murder in  Found guilty despite lack of solid evidence.  Verdict called the nation’s attention to the unfair treatment of immigrants.

Racial Tension  Demographic shifts caused by the Great Migration led to racial tension after WWI.  Competition for jobs  Housing Shortages  Race riots broke out in many cities  Chicago 1919  Tulsa 1921

Rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan  Since the days of Reconstruction the KKK had become far less popular and was very seldom in the news.  During the 1920s it was resurrected by a new national organization, selling memberships in every part of the U.S.

 In each location, the Klan promoters appealed to the local prejudices.  Klans were pro-“American”, anti-black, anti-Hispanic, anti-Catholic, anti-Jew, anti-immigrant, and anti-communist.  Klan membership grew to 5 million.  The national organization collapsed after a scandal in the late 1920s.  The Klan’s temporary popularity illustrated the prejudice and intolerance of many people who feared the changes going on in America.

Traditional vs. Modern Values

The Era of Prohibition  The Temperance Movement had long worked to ban alcohol throughout the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.  The 18 th Amendment went into effect in 1920, prohibiting the manufacturing, transporting, and selling of alcohol.  However, the federal government was unable to enforce this effectively. Not enough funds were allocated and too few enforcement agents were hired.

The Prohibition Experiment Fails  Organized crime made easy profits supplying alcohol to eager buyers.  Speakeasies were illegal bars that continued to operate throughout the Roaring Twenties.  Prohibition was repealed in 1933 with the passage of the 21 st Amendment.

 The “flapper” was a young woman who challenged traditional fashion and behaviors.  Conservatives feared what they saw as a decline in morals.  Fundamentalists feared the impact of scientific study on religious beliefs.  They believed that the Bible should be interpreted literally.

The Scopes “Monkey” Trial  One example of this clash between modern and conservative beliefs was the much-publicized Scopes Trial.  John Scopes was a science teacher who was charged with breaking a law which banned teaching the theory of evolution in Tennessee schools.  This trial received wide-spread publicity and sparked an international debate.

William Jennings Bryan  The prosecuting attorney, Bryan, presented the fundamentalist argument that, since the Bible said the world was created in seven days, the theory of evolution contradicts the Bible’s creation story.  Furthermore, he believed man could not have come from monkeys.

Clarence Darrow  The American Civil Liberties Union hired Clarence Darrow, a famous lawyer to defend Scopes.  Trial sparked world-wide debate. It was really a fight over the role of science and religion in public schools and in American society.  Scopes was convicted and made to pay a small fine, but the debate continues...

Charles Lindbergh  Lindbergh’s flight from New York to Paris thrilled the world.  He symbolized the true American hero: smart, independent, modest, courageous, and willing to explore new possibilities.

Henry Ford  Ford was a new kind of industrialist.  His assembly line process produced affordable cars for average Americans, transforming our lives.  He employed thousands of workers, preventing the formation of unions by giving his employees higher wages and benefits.

Mass Production Lowers Costs  Mass manufacturing of automobiles also led to the expansion of related industries (i.e. steel, rubber, glass, gasoline, road materials, and road construction).  Most major industries adopted the assembly line process.

Other Causes of 1920s Prosperity  The development of electricity led to the invention of all types of new appliances.  Radio and print advertising became a major industry, boosting product sales.  The availability of credit led people to buy items they otherwise couldn’t afford.  Even investing in the stock market could be done using credit. This lead to an enormous boom in stock sales.  Economy grew along with consumer debt.