1. A Republican decade

2. Setting the Scene Memories of war Economic downturn
Warren G. Harding (R)
Call to normalcy

3. Karl Marx Marxism: Revolution by proletariat (Working Class)
Government run by proletariat
All land owned by government
Everyone lives PERFECTLY equal

4. The Red Scare The Russian Revolution Leninism (Lenin’s Communism)
Civil war between “Reds” and “Whites”
Leninism (Lenin’s Communism)
Government owned all land and property
A single political party controlled government
Needs of the country outweigh needs of individuals
Stalinism
terror

5. American Fears Russia intends to spread communism
Blamed Europeans for WWI
America feared immigrants
Workers strike in America
Viewed as “revolution”
Newspapers sensationalized stories
American fear grew

6. Court cases of fear Schenk v. U.S. Gitlow v. New York
The government is justified in silencing free speech when there is a “clear and present danger”
Espionage act
Gitlow v. New York
Bill of Rights applies to state laws not just federal

7. Palmer Raids A. Mitchell Palmer – Attorney General January 2, 1920
33 cities
Thousands of suspected radicals arrested
No evidence
Charged with anarchy
500+ convicted and deported

8. Labor Strikes 1919-1920 – number of annual strikes from 175 to 370
Seen as Communism (not true)
Cost of living soared
Wages stagnant
Boston Police Strike
Calvin Coolidge condemned strike
Won national attention

9. Labor Strikes Steel and Coal Strikes Strikes decline
Agreed not to strike during war
War is over
Strikes decline
Americans opposed strikes
“Crime against civilization” – President Wilson

10. Review Why do Americans fear communism?
How did the court rule concerning the limits of free speech?
How did Americans view labor strikes?

11. Harding Presidency Gave appointments to office to friends
Foreign Policy
Isolationism – avoid political or economic alliances with foreign countries
Disarmament – program in which the nations of the world would voluntarily give up their weapons
Promoted expansion of trade
Pushed for lessening of all European debts (Germany included)

12. Harding Presidency Domestic Issues Teapot Dome Scandal Nativism
Patriotism, religion, urban conditions, jobs, Red Scare
Placed quota on immigration
White republicans fear immigration
Teapot Dome Scandal
Corrupt administration
Albert B. Fall – Secretary of Interior
Gave secret oil rights to private companies

13. Coolidge Presidency President Harding Died August 3, 1923
Won re-election 1924
Laissez Faire
“The chief business of the American people is business”
Fueled economic boom
Lowered income tax and inheritance tax
Refused to help in natural disasters

14. Kellogg-Briand Pact
Left foreign affairs to Sec of State – Frank B. Kellogg
French Foreign Minister – Aristide Briand
Wanted countries to agree to never go to war against each other
15 nations agreed not to use threat of war
60+ nations eventually joined
No provisions for enforcement

15. Election of 1928 Coolidge did not run
Herbert Hoover republican nominee
Prohibition & Religion
Election demonstrated Rural-Urban split

16. Closure
What are some major differences between Marxism, Leninism, and Stalinism?
Why do Americans fear communism?
What caused the rise in Nativism in the 1920s?
What is Laissez Faire?