APUSH 31,32

Describe the factors that caused the Red Scare. Describe the consequences on American society.

CAUSES: The Bolshevik Revolution (the second stage of the Russian Revolution in November 1917 when Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik party seized power and established a communist state)

The Bolshevik Revolution spawned a tiny communist party in America. Tensions were further heightened by an epidemic of strikes in the US after the war, with "upstanding Americans" jumping to the conclusion that the strikes were incited by Bolsheviks.

CONSEQUENCES: There was a crusade against left-wingers whose Americanism was in question. Resulting "Palmer raids" resulted in 6000 arrests or deportations of people suspected of subversive activities.

Criminal Syndication Laws were passed by many states; they outlawed the mere advocacy of violence to secure social change and targeted members of the IWW.

In 1920, five members of the NY legislature (lawfully elected) were denied their seats because they were socialists.

Conservative businesspeople used the Red Scare to stop unions, developing the American Plan.

Describe the factors that resulted in increased membership and activity in the KKK.

This revival of the KKK was not only anti-black, but also anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-foreign, anti-pacifist, anti-communist, anti-birth control, anti-pretty-much-everything. It was an unltraconservative response against the many forces of reform, diversity, and modernity that had been transforming American culture in the previous decades.

The resurgence was strongest in the Midwest and the Bible Belt in the south (where Protestant fundamentalism thrived.) \\n The KKK capitalized on its camaraderie and secret rituals to further attract members.

Describe the government policies restricting immigration. Why did the government develop these restrictive policies?

800,000 immigrants came to the US in 1920-21, following WWI, with ⅔ from Southern and Eastern Europe. "100 percent" Americans recoiled at what they felt was the "wretched refuse" of Europe's shores. Nativists favored Northern and Western European immigrants as superior, and so US immigraion laws targeted the people coming from the seemingly less favorable regions. (The Japanese were specifically targeted, but Canadians and Latin Americans were often exempt due to their close proximity to the US)

Also, war hysteria demanded the 100-percent Americanization of immigrants, particularly those from Austria and Germany.

Emergency Quota Act of 1921: temporarily stopped the influx of immigrants; newcomers from Europe restricted to 3%

Immigration Act of 1925: Quotas cut to 2% of what they had been in 1890

Immigration Act of 1924: marked the end of an era, a period of virtually unrestricted immigration

Why is the “Scopes Monkey Trial” symbolic of other modernism issues dividing the nation in the 1920s. What is another issue that was similar to the Scope Trial?

Even as increasing numbers of Christians were coming to reconcile religion with modern science, fundamentalism remained a vibrant force in American spiritual life. Fundamentalism was strongest in the Bible Belt south (where the Scopes trial took place and where the KKK's resurgence was most prominent.)

Both science and progressive education in the 1920s were under attack from fundamentalists, despite advances in both fields (as symbolized by the trial's religious attacks on the teaching of evolution.)

Describe the “mass consumption” economy developing in the 1920s.

After the war and the recession of 1920-21, the economy grew for 7 years. Both the war and Andrew Mellon's tax policies favored the rapid expansion of capital investment.

New machines and assembly lines increased efficiency and the capacity for profit.

New industries emerged: electricity, automobiles, etc.

American manufacturers had mastered production, they now worried about consumption and finding markets.

The advertising industry thus developed and encouraged Americans to want "more, more, more" through persuasion and seduction.

Sports became big business in this economy, as did buying on credit. People would buy fridges, vacuums, cars, and radios now with no regard to frugality.

Describe the impact of the automobile on the economy/manufacturing and the lives of Americans.

Heralded a new industrial system based on assembly line methods and mass-production techniques.

Sprang an enormous industry into being, with Detroit becoming the motorcar capital of America.

Ford was able to utilize assembly lines and standardization (see Fordism!) to produce a vehicle for about $260 (affordable for a thrifty worker)

By 1929 and the start of the GD, 26 million motor vehicles were registered in the US → far more (proportionally) to any other country in the world.

The new automobile industry displaced steel as kingpin and employed 6 million people. It was a major wellspring of the nation's prosperity and created jobs in other industries (rubber, fabric, glass, etc.)

The US's standard of living rose sharply.

New industries boomed (petroleum, oil) while older ones suffered (railroads)

Speedy market of perishable food, prosperity for farms, nation quickly constructed roadway system.

America developed further suburbs, became a country of commuters to work, school, and church.

Safety was an issue. There were a LOT of automobile deaths in the 20th century.

Motorcars came to be seen as a necessity and a sign of self respect. People could use them to travel more and transform their leisure time, and cars also provided women with more independence from men.

Describe the impact of the radio on the economy/manufacturing and the lives of Americans.

The advertising industry utilized radio as another tool for American free enterprise and radio helped make labels and brands household names/common purchases.

Radio drew Americans back into the home, with families gathering around their radio like a hearth.

Radio was significant for education and culture, sports, political speeches and voting, and it brought music and art to individual homes.

Describe the impact of the movies on the economy/manufacturing and the lives of Americans.

CA became the movie capital of the world.

Films were used as an engine of anti-German propaganda during WWI with "hang-the-kaiser" films.

Movies eclipsed all other amusements in terms of popularity. Movie stars became rich and famous and were more well known than politicians.

Movies and radio eroded ethnic communities' isolation as immigrant children turned to American media for entertainment. Both forms of entertainment standardized American mainstream tastes and the American language.

Explain why the book says that the 1920s were a “dynamic” age for women and African Americans.

\-”taboos” out of the question, women wore “flapper dresses”

\-”sexual” and “scandalous” topics now more openly talked about

\-racial pride blossomed in the black community

\-big push for women’s suffrage during this time

Provide specific examples to show literature reflected 1920s American society.

Modernism

New generation of writers and artists burst onto the scene, hailing from different ethnic and regional backgrounds than the Protestant New Englanders who had dominated literature and culture.

These new artists bestowed new creativity, artistic daring upon literature. They were idealistic and rejected prewar standards.

The war had jolted many young writers out of their complacency about traditional values and literary standards.

Experimented with the breakdown of traditional literary forms and exposed the losses associated with modernity.

Still, many Americans continued to employ a regionalist style that was both celebratory and critical.

Bolshevik

Members of Lenin's party during the Russian Revolution who established a communist state. Fears over Bolsheviks in the US led to the Red Scare.

Mitchell Palmer

The US attorney general during the height of the Red Scare (1919-1920). He led raids against suspected radicals. Reacting to terrorist bombings, fear of Bolshevism, and his own presidential aspirations, Palmer arrested 6,000 people and deported others. He was known both as the "Fighting Quaker" and the "Quaking Fighter".

Billy Sunday

A fire and brimstone evangelist who railed against Bolsheviks, calling for their arrest. His speeches reflected the fear of foreign and leftist ideas that pervaded the Red Scare.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Two Italian immigrants accused of murder in Massachusetts and who were the targets of attention because they were foreign, draft dodgers, anarchists, and atheists. Left-wingers flocked to their cause, but the pair was ultimately found guilty and executed in 1927. The evidence against them had some merit, but their fate was pretty much decided because the judge and jury were biased against their leftist beliefs. Their trial highlighted the fatal tensions of the Red Scare.

Margaret Sanger

Fiery feminist leader of the unorganized birth control movement, openly championed the use of contraceptives and believed in eugenics.

Flappers

A representation of new American feelings regarding sex and women, young "flappers" wore bobbed hair and shorter dresses, taped down their breasts, used obvious makeup, smoked, etc. Their antics flummoxed America's "guardians of respectability" and symbolized independence in American women.

Marcus Garvey

Harlem-spawned, charismatic political leader. He found UNIA and though most of his enterprises failed financially and he was convicted/deported by the US gov in 1927, he inspired self-reliance and confidence in black Americans. Also influenced the later Nation of Islam (black Muslim) movement.

Langston Hughes

a renowned poet in Harlem who graduated from Lincoln University in 1929; he wrote "The Weary Blues", "Mother to Son", etc. His work emphasized the black experience

The Harlem Renaissance

a creative outpouring among African-American writers, jazz musicians, and social thinkers, centered around Harlem in the 1920s, that celebrated black culture and advocated for a "New Negro" in American social, political, and intellectual life

Did President Harding achieve his goal of gathering the “best minds” for his cabinet? Explain.

It was a bit of a mix... \n \n The BEST MINDS: Charles Evans Hughes (a dominating though conservative secretary of state), Andrew W. Mellon (multi millionaire secretary of the treasury), Herbert Hoover (raised the position of secretary of commerce to one of importance in drumming up foreign trade for US manufacturers).

\n The WORST MINDS: Senator Albert B. Fall (scheming anti conservationist secretary on the interior who failed to protect the nation's natural resources), Harry M. Daugherty (a small town lawyer, but big town croo who failed in his duties as attorney general)

Explain how the Harding Administration facilitated “demobilization” after World War I.

Wartime government controls on the economy were dismantled. \n \n The US got out of the shipping business; the US Shipping Board was authorized to dispose of much of the country's hastily built wartime fleet \n \n Harding hosted the "Disarmament Conference" in 1921-22 with all the major naval powers (except Russia). Its agenda included naval disarmament and concerns over the Anglo-American rivalry over the seas in the Far East. \n \n At the conference, they created the Five-Power Naval Treaty, which said that American, British, and Japanese battleships would exist in a 5-5-3 ratio. \n \n The Four-Power Treaty, replacing the Anglo-Japanese alliance, bound Britain, the US, France, and Japan to preserve the status quo in the Pacific. \n \n The Nine-Power Treaty: Signatories agreed to abide by the Open Door Policy in China \n \n Still, there were no restrictions placed on small warships. World powers, besides the US, continued to build submarines, cruisers, and destroyers.

What are examples to support the American Pageant’s claim that “…a complete lack of realism afflicted foreign policy in the 1920s…”

Business people sought to keep the home market to themselves by flinging up insurmountable tariff walls around the US, spurred into action by a flood of cheap goods from recovering Europe during the recession 1920-1921 \n \n Fordney McCumber Tariff Law \n \n Harding and Coolidge set off on high tariff courses, which set off chain reactions: European producers, their postwar chaos made worse by the American tariff laws, needed to sell their manufactured goods to the US if they hoped to achieve economic recovery and pay off their BIG debts to Washington. (The US was just making it harder to get their money repaid) \n \n Europeans, in turn, set up higher barriers for the US, hurting not only American goods but the products of European countries as well. \n \n This loop of poor business decisions provided Hitler with ammunition during his later rise to power in Germany.

Describe the economic philosophy of the Republican presidents of the 1920s (Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover-before the Great Depression started). Provide evidence to support your claim.

Hoped to improve on the old business doctrine of laissez-faire \n \n They did not simply want to government to take its hands out of business, they wanted the government to help guide business along the "path to profits" \n \n Achieved their ends by putting the courts and administrative bureaus into the safekeeping of fellow stand-paters (for example, Harding appointed 4 out of the 9 SC justices and the SC at this time rigidly restricted government intervention in the economy.) \n \n Corporations under Harding could relax and expand, antitrust laws were ignored, and the ICC became sympathetic to RR managers. Big industrialists had a free hand to set up trade associations. \n \n Secretary Hover had a commitment to voluntary cooperation and thus urged businesses to regulate themselves rather than be regulated by the government.

Describe President Hoover’s attempts to address the economic issues of the Depression.

He feared government handouts would weaken or destroy the national fiber. \n \n However, as relief from local governments broke down, Hoover was forced into action. \n \n He decided to assist the hard-pressed RRs, banks, and rural credit corporations in the hope that financial health would "trickle down" to those in need of help. \n \n Hoover recommended Congress set aside immense sums for useful public works (like the Hoover Dam) \n \n Established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

Describe the Hoover Administration’s Good Neighbor Policy.

Hoover strove to abandon Roosevelt's interventionist addition to the Monroe Doctrine as an advocate of international goodwill. \n \n He negotiated a new treaty with Haiti that provided for the withdrawal of American platoons by 1934. \n \n In early 1933, American marines had finally left Nicaragua after 20 years of occupation. \n \n His policy was successful in that it laid the groundwork for FDR's more comprehensive later policies.

Steel Strike, 1919

A bloody strike in the steel industry, ruthlessly broken in 1919, partly by exploiting ethnic and racial divisions among workers and by framing the workers as "reds."

Washington Conference

A meeting of the major world powers hosted by the US in Washington DC to discuss naval disarmament and control of the Far East. Passed the Five-Power treaty, the Four-Power treaty, and the Nine-Power treaty.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

(1928) a sentimental triumph of the 1920's peace movement, this 1928 pact linked sixty-two nations in the supposed "outlawry of war." However, it still permitted defensive wars and was virtually useless. It accurately and dangerously reflected the American willingness to be lulled into a false sense of security.

Fordney-McCumber Tariff

(1922) a comprehensive bill passed to protect domestic production from foreign competitors; as a direct result, many European nations were spurred to increase their own trade barriers

The Dawes Plan (Coolidge Administration)

(1924) an arrangement negotiated in 1924 to reschedule German reparations payments; it stabilized the German currency and opened the way for further American private loans to Germany. The plan further complicated the financial cycle between Europe and the US.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

(1930) the highest protective tariff in the peacetime history of the United States, passed as a result of good old-fashioned horse trading (complex/shrewd bargaining). To the outside world, it smacked of ugly economic warfare. It plunged America and other nations deeper into the terrible depression that had already begun and increased international economic chaos.

Rugged Individualism

Championed by Hoover in his campaign and presidency; emphasized industry, thrift, and self-reliance. It was a response to fears of US socialism and was a notion deeply rooted in the era of free enterprise. Hoover subscribed to the idea and thus resisted instituting government handouts during the depression.

Trickle Down Theory (Supply-side economics)

Enacted by Hoover during the depression; the president would assist hard-pressed RRs, banks, and rural credit corporations in the hope that if financial health were restored at the top of the economic pyramid, unemployment would be relieved at the bottom on a "trickle down" basis.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

(1932) Reconstruction Finance Corporation / a government lending agency established under the Hoover administration in order to assist insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads, and local governments; it was a precursor to later agencies that grew out of the New Deal and symbolized a recognition by the Republicans that some federal action was required to address the Great Depression

Manchuria

A coveted Chinese province overtaken by Japanese imperialists in 1931, who noted that the West was distracted with the economic depression. The Japanese looted shut the Open Door Policy in the area.