1. Unit 3: Prosperity, Depression, and the New Deal
Content Statement 17 Notes

2. Postwar Trends Nativism - prejudice against foreign-born people
Isolationism - a policy of pulling away from involvement in world affairs

3. Racial Tensions
The Great Migration of African Americans to northern industrial cities heightened racial tensions leading to riots
Many African Americans filled jobs while soldier left to fight in the war but continued to be treated poorly
Many unions did not support black workers

6. Racial Tensions (cont’d)
Lynchings and the enforcement of Jim Crow legislation continued in the South during the post-war era
Racial intolerance also was seen in the revival of the Ku Klux Klan across the United States.

11. Immigration Quotas
Nativism following WWI was illustrated through the passage of immigration quotas
Many believed they were losing jobs to immigrants who were willing to work for less money
Believed with fewer unskilled jobs available, fewer immigrants should be allowed in the country

13. Immigration Quotas
Quota System – established a maximum number of people who could enter the United States from a foreign country (150,000 by 1917)
Discriminated against people from southern and eastern Europe mostly Roman Catholics and Jews
Law also prohibited Japanese immigration causing tensions among the U.S. and Japan
Law did not apply to immigrants from Canada and Mexico

17. Red Scare Fear of Communist activities and takeover in the U.S.
Began in 1919 in the United States following the success of the Bolshevik Revolution
Vladimir Lenin and his followers the Bolsheviks (“the majority”) established the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR or Soviet Union).
A Communist Party formed in the U.S. with approximately 70,000 members
Several dozen bombs were mailed to government and business leaders causing the public to fear Communists causing the Red Scare

18. Palmer Raids Organized by U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
Palmer and his assistant J. Edgar Hoover were ordered to hunt down suspected Communists, socialists, and anarchists
Disregarded civil rights by invading people’s homes and offices
Many people were jailed without lawyers and hundreds of immigrants were deported
No evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy was uncovered

20. SACCO AND VANZETTI
Sacco and Vanzetti were the most popular victims of the “RED SCARE”
Italian immigrants and Anarchists
Both evaded the draft during WWI
Arrested and charged with robbery and murder
Found guilty and sentenced to death

23. LABOR UNREST During the war most unions were unable to strike
By 1919, over 3000 strikes had occurred in the U.S. (employers labeled striking workers as communist)
Boston Police Strike – policeman who asked for a raise were fired and all striking members were replaced and not rehired
Steel Mill Strike – wanted shorter working hours and all strikers were beaten with force
Coal Miner’s Strike – Miners received a 27 percent wage increase

24. Boston Police Strike

25. Labor Movement Loses Appeal
Union membership dropped
Much of the work force consisted of immigrants willing to work for low wages
Since immigrants had several languages unions could not organize them
Most unions excluded African Americans

27. WHY COMMUNISM?
Why were Americans so afraid of communism following WWI?

28. Answer Labor unrest contributed to fear in the American public
High immigration and racism
Communists believed there was a constant struggle between workers and employers which would eventually lead to a revolution.