1. Mr. Wells Hickory Ridge HS
Trends in the 1920s
Mr. Wells
Hickory Ridge HS

2. Trends Develop in American Society

3. NATIVISM

4. The Russian Revolution and Communism (continued)
A. Mitchell Palmer- appointed U.S. Attorney General – combat communists in US
J. Edgar Hoover hunts down suspected Communists/Anarchists
Hoover’s division would later become known as the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Eco and poli system based on single party gov ruled by dictatorship
End private property and put gov in charge
Response to 1919 Russian Revolution
70k join

5. The Red Scare Fuels Nativism
Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti – both were Italian, anarchists & evaded WWI draft
Charged with murdering a paymaster & stealing $15,000
Evidence circumstantial – found guilty & sentenced to die by electric chair on Aug. 23, 1927
Eco and poli system based on single party gov ruled by dictatorship
End private property and put gov in charge
Response to 1919 Russian Revolution
70k join

6. The Ku Klux Klan Rise of nativism & communism gives them power
By 1924 – 4.5 million members
Supported prohibition – opposed unions
Hated Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners
Believed in 100% Americanism
Eco and poli system based on single party gov ruled by dictatorship
End private property and put gov in charge
Response to 1919 Russian Revolution
70k join

7. The Ku Klux Klan

8. Limiting Immigration
Emergency Quota Act (1921): establish minimum number of immigrants from any one country
EQA discriminated against immigrants from southern/eastern Europe & Japan
No discrimination against Western Hemisphere immigrants
1920s: 1 million Canadians – 500,000 Mexicans enter US
National Origins Act (1924) set limit at 2% for each country

9. Emergency Quota Act

10. ISOLATIONISM

11. “Normalcy” and Isolationism
Warren G. Harding: runs for president – motto becomes “return America to simpler days”
Harding invites Great Britain, Japan, France & Italy to Washington D.C. – scrap military arms
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1929): renounces war as an instrument of national policy
Harding pursuing an isolationist policy

12. Kellogg-Briand Pact (1929)
15 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and war as tools of foreign policy.
Problems  lack of enforcement and gave Americans a false sense of security.

13. Reparations
United States demanding Great Britain/France pay debts ($10 billion to U.S).
G.B./France demand Germany (bankrupt) pay reparations
U.S. banks loan Germany $2.5 billion to pay reparations to G.B. & France
 Called the Dawes Plan (Charles Dawes – banker)

14. European Debts to the US

15. Hyper-Inflation in Germany: 1923

16. Dawes Plan (1924)

17. POLITICS

18. Poor President Harding
President Harding: good man but surrounded by bad people (Grant – 50 years ago)
Teapot Dome Scandal – oil in Wyoming/California – Harding’s friends pocket $400,000 in bonds

19. Teapot Dome Scandal
Harding: “ I have no trouble w/ my enemies… But my damned Friends… They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor at nights!”

20. Unions and Labor Unrest
Strikes not allowed during WWI
1919 – 3,000 strikes; wages not keeping up with prices
Ex. – Boston Police Strike – The Steel Mill Strike – The Coal Miners Strike
Many Afr. Am. from Great Migration were excluded from union membership
1920 – union membership was 5 million
1929 – union membership was 3.5 million

21. Boston Police Strike (1919)
No raise since WWI
Prohibited unionizing
Coolidge used National Guard
Hired new officers
Labor strikes in K with 4 mil walk off the job
Strike began after workers fired for asking for a raise
Strikers were not allowed to return and Coolidge was praised for saving Boston from communism and anarchy 21

22. Steel Mill Strike (1919) Sept. 1919 walked off job Said were commies
Ended in Jan. 1920
1923: Got 8 hour workday
Wanted shorter hours, increase in wage, union with collective bargaining
Walked off after refused to meet with union
Used strike breakers, police, military used force
Wilson wrote a plea to the deadlocked negotiators in Oct 1919
Report on harsh conditions in the steel mills shocked the public and steel companies agreed to reduced hours but no union 22

23. Coal Miners Strike (1919)
United Mine Workers elected John Lewis their new President.
He organized a nationwide strike and was able to get a 27% wage increase, but could not win shorter hours.
1919: UMWA elected John Lewis as their new leader
Protested low wages and long workdays
Lewis declared it over but quietly told the workers to continue and stopped for another month
Did not achieve shorter workday and shorter workweek until 1930 23

24. WEALTH

25. President Coolidge “The business of America is business.”25

26. Rising Standard of Living
President Calvin Coolidge favored government policies that kept taxes and business profit up
Goal: limit government interference & allow private enterprise to flourish
United States owned 40% of the world’s wealth

27. Superficial Prosperity
National income grew from $64 billion to $87 billion by 1929
Three factors for superficial prosperity
 income gap be/ workers & managers
iron/railroad/farmers not doing well
 installment plan: people buying on credit