2. Politics of the 1920s CH 12

3. Section 1: America Struggles with Postwar Issues
MAIN IDEA: A desire for normality after the war and a fear of communism/foreigners led to a period of isolation.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW: Americans today continue to debate political isolationism and immigration policy

4. Harding’s Return to Normalcy
After WWI, the U.S. went back to isolationism
WHY?
horrors of war
nativism
fear of communism

5. The Red Scare fear of communism leads to the “Red Scare”
Palmer Raids ( ): Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer begins to crack down on suspected radicals
civil rights were often violated (searches without warrants, suspects were denied lawyers); hundreds deported
led to the creation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

6. Sacco & Vanzetti case: anarchist immigrants convicted of murder with little evidence – executed in 1927

8. Racial/Ethnic Tension
soldiers come back & have to compete for jobs (remember the ‘Great Migration’)
increase in immigration = nativism

9. Result of racial/ethnic tension:
Ku Klux Klan grows to 5 million members
attacked all minorities (immigrants, Catholics, Jews)
new immigration laws:
Quota System: set a maximum number of people who could enter the U.S. from each country

10. Warm-up! Answer the following questions on your index card.
How are the two men in the cartoon different? What statement might this cartoon be making about their roles?
Why might Soviet doctrines be written on one of the boards used to “shut out the light”?
What do you think is the main idea of this cartoon?
How do you think the cartoonist felt about radicals? Support your opinion with details from the cartoon.

11. Section 2: Political Scandals
MAIN IDEA: The Harding administration appealed to America’s desire for calm and peace after the war, but resulted in scandal.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW: The government must guard against scandal and corruption to merit public trust.

12. The Harding Administration
President Warren G. Harding
wanted to return to “normalcy”
BUT, his administration was
corrupt; they were known as
the “Ohio Gang”
accepted bribes and kickbacks
cheated government out of millions of dollars

13. The worst scandal was known as the “Teapot Dome Scandal”
Secretary of Interior Albert B. Fall leased government land in Wyoming to oil companies for kickbacks and property
He was the first cabinet member to be convicted of a felony and go to prison

14. When Harding died in 1923, Calvin Coolidge became President (1923-1929)