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An American Empire 1823 “Monroe Doctrine”: Europe mustn't get involved in Latin American affairs Stay away from our neighbors! 1890s: Should the USA give up “isolationism” and have colonies, as Britain, France and Germany do? 1898: Warship The Maine explodes in the harbor of Havana, Cuba Hearst’s newspapers blame Spain 1904 “Roosevelt’s Corollary”: USA will intervene in Latin America whenever it is “necessary” The Maine

REMEMBER “THE MAINE”!

An American Empire Results of Spanish-American War: Spain hands over the Philippines, Guam, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to the USA. Cuba: 1. forced to give land at Guantanamo Bay 2.Forced to accept permanent USA military base there 3. forced to accept USA military intervention at any time Cuba still refuses to cash the US rent checks for use of the base, maintaining that the US military is there illegally.

War and Peace Why did the USA get involved in the war? Germans invaded neutral Belgium Germans sank the Lusitania German submarines sank US ships carrying supplies to the Allied forces, as well as neutral ships The Zimmerman telegram “To make the world safe for democracy!” (President Woodrow Wilson, 1917) Results of the war: Wilson’s Fourteen Points; idea for “League of Nations” Many factories because of war production Other countries owe the USA money; the USA is richer than ever before Distrust of foreigners and suspicion of “un-American” ideas

The Roaring Twenties Characteristics: America’s love affair with The Car Huge increase in consumer goods Credit cards and installment-plan payments Businessmen are heroes Stocks and shares bought “on the margin” Organized crime: “Scarface” Al Capone Alcohol: Prohibition and bootlegging Sacco & Vanzetti executed: Xenophobia Flight: Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart New music, new fashions, new dance styles, new literature Jazz! Black Americans find their “voice”

“New” Women: The Flapper by Dorothy Parker The Playful flapper here we see, The fairest of the fair. She's not what Grandma used to be, -- You might say, au contraire. Her girlish ways may make a stir, Her manners cause a scene, But there is no more harm in her Than in a submarine. She nightly knocks for many a goal The usual dancing men. Her speed is great, but her control Is something else again. All spotlights focus on her pranks. All tongues her prowess herald. For which she well may render thanks To God and Scott Fitzgerald. Her golden rule is plain enough - Just get them young and treat them rough.

Motion Pictures Motion picture production became one of the ten largest industries in the United States during the 1920s. In 1922, theaters sold 40 million tickets a week. By 1929, that number had grown to 100 million a week.

FARMING TROUBLES New machinery led to overproduction Fewer immigrants meant less population growth: less food needed Less horse feed needed because of cars European imports dropped Farmers and their families didn’t benefit at all from the surge in industrialization: the “trickle-down” theory didn’t work for them Sharecroppers had to turn over most of their profits to the landowners More than a half-million farms went bankrupt in the 1920s

WALL STREET CRASH BLACK THURSDAY: OCTOBER 24, 1929

Crash and Depression: 1929 ~ 1940 Breadlines and soup kitchens for the unemployed A “Hooverville” outside Chicago

Crash and Depression:1929 ~ 1940 Brother, can you spare a dime? (1931) They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob, When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job. They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead, Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread? Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime? Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime; Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime? Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell, Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum, Half a million boots went slogging through Hell, And I was the kid with the drum! Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time. Why don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Crash and Depression: 1929 ~ 1940 Franklin Delano Roosevelt vs. Herbert Hoover: 1932 FDR: American Government needs to take charge of the situation: jobs, welfare, agricultural reform, social security, unemployment insurance Hoover: Business needs to take charge of the situation: open factories, begin producing and selling things again; don’t spend Federal money! Is the current U.S. government under President Obama leaning more towards FDR or Hoover? What about the USA under George W. Bush?

Homeless and Unemployed Christmas Eve, New York City, 1937 The End