WW1 Homefront, Roaring 20s, Great Depression, New Deal

Civil liberties during WW1

• Restricted rights, such as the freedom of speech

• Prioritized national security and loyalty

• Anti-German sentiment spread through all aspects of life

• Espionage Act of 1917 & Sedition Act of 1918 – imposed harsh penalties on anyone interfering with or speaking against US participation in WW1

• Those jailed included Eugene V. Debs & Big Bill Haywood

• Schenck v. United States upheld restrictions if there is a “clear & present danger”

John Scopes/Scopes Monkey Trial

• Tremendous tension over the idea of teaching evolution/Darwinism from Fundamentalists

• High school biology teacher John T. Scopes was charged with teaching evolution, defended by well-known attorneys, including Clarence Darrow

• William Jennings Bryan was on the prosecution team & died right after the trial

• Scopes was found guilty, but ultimately with no penalty

Warren Harding’s 1920 victory/League of Nations

• WWI ended in 1918

• The League of Nations was established by Wilson as a way to keep peace between countries

• This failed as the US did not officially join

• Partial cause for WWII

• In 1920, during the election

  • Republicans chose Ohio Senator Warren Harding & Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge

  • Democrats choose Ohio Governor James M. Cox & Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Eugene V. Debs ran as a Socialist from jail

  • Harding’s win brought an end to US involvement with the League of Nations

Women’s fight for suffrage

• Women protested outside the white house for Wilson to give them suffrage

• Many were hesitant about doing this during a time of war

• The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, officially giving women the right to vote

Women during WW1

• More women began working in jobs alongside men

• Many women worked in factories and munitions

• Many women worked as nurses assisting soldiers on the front lines

• Women became much bolder & more liberated in the flapper era

Henry Ford/assembly line/automobiles

• A big contributor to the automobile industry

• His motorcar empire grew significantly, creating 8 million passenger vehicles

• Established the technique of the moving assembly line, where semi-skilled or even unskilled workers endlessly performed simple tasks

• Declared history is bunk, and built the great multitude

Margaret Sanger/birth control

• Led a birth control movement championing the use of contraceptives

• Established the idea that women should choose whether or not they want to have children

Jazz music’s origins

• It was a music entertainment that completely changed entertainment and music

• Gave black people the stage during the Harlem Renissance

Buying a stock “on margin”

People would overly invest by putting a small amount of money into it and then buying the whole thing later

Teapot Dome/Albert Fall/Dept of Interior

• Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased naval petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming & Elk Hills, California locations to private oil companies for a cheap price, not allowing any other companies to compete for the deal.

• Harding had signed the deal

• Fall was eventually convicted of accepting bribes from oil companies (about $400,000), while the oilmen were acquitted

Beginnings of motion pictures

• Film revolutionized America, with The Great Train Robbery and The Birth of a Nation initially leading the silent film era, followed by The Jazz Singer as the first “talkie” in 1927

• Combined science and art are to be seen visually

• Allowed people to see moving people and objects

20th Amendment

Ratified in 1933, moved Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20, reducing the “lame duck session” between election day and inauguration day

21st Amendment

• Ratified in 1933, repealed the prohibition (18th Amendment)

• Allowed saloons to operate again

Huey P. Long

Promised to “make every man a king” and for everyone to receive $5000

Dust Bowl - causes, effects, what it was

• The late 1933 drought, plus winds, started tremendous dust storms

• Many trekked from the Great Plains to Southern California to find new opportunities

Court-packing

• Finding the SC not as sympathetic to his interests, FDR asked Congress for a few more justices, but they rejected the request

• Roosevelt wanted to expand the Supreme Court

Wilson & WW1

• Broke off diplomatic relations with Germany once they started practicing unrestricted submarine warfare

• Zimmermann telegram was intercepted – proposed German-Mexican alliance & was a direct threat

• Asked Congress for a declaration of war

• Issued the 14 Points as his ultimate plan for world peace

• Paris Peace Conference – Wilson joined Orlando (Italy), George (Britain), and Clemenceau (France)

• Urgency felt because of the feared spread of communism

• Wilson wanted a League of Nations

• Germany was forced to take on almost all war guilt

• The US never signed the Treaty of Versailles

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer

• Earned the title “fighting quaker” by rounding up six thousand suspects

• When a bomb shattered his home in June 1919, he was dubbed “Quaking Fighter.”

Harlem Renaissance

• The period that celebrated black culture, identity, and creativity

• Many argued for a “new negro” who was socially equal to whites as a full citizen

1932 Election

• Republicans kept Hoover, & the Democrats ran Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor of NY

• FDR won easily in a landslide

• Many were upset with Hoover’s handling of the Great Depression

FDR

• Took office in 1933 after defeating the incumbent, Herbert Hoover

• Implemented the New Deal in hopes of ending the Great Depression

  • 3 Rs

  • Releif

  • Recovery

  • Reform

  • “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

  • Soothed the nation through radio “fireside chats”

• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – provided employment for 3 million young men – had to send home most of their pay to their families

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) – immediate relief given

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) – helped farmers

• Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) – helped nonfarm homeowners

• Civil Works Administration (CWA) – provided temporary jobs

• National Recovery Administration (NRA) – started to assist labor, industry, & the unemployed

Herbert Hoover

• Took office in 1929 after defeating Al Smith in the 1928 election

• He almost immediately had to deal with the effects of the Great Depression

• He supported “trickle-down” economics, but even he realized that wouldn’t save the situation

• Eventually pushed for a large congressional bill to fund public works projects, such as the Hoover Dam

• Reconstruction Financing Corporation was formed by Congress in 1932

• Many were upset with his handling of the crisis, leading to his defeat to FDR in 1932

Great Migration

• Many black people from the South began to move north for more opportunities

• Many went north for wartime industry employment as well as to escape the Jim Crow South

Hoovervilles

• Shacks sprang up in cities around the country during the Great Depression

• In these poor towns, people fought over newspapers, blankets, garbage cans, and oil, they later used this to cook

• This was the result of the devastating economy and war damage

Causes & effects of the Great Depression

• The stock market crashed on October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday)

• Over 5,000 banks collapsed

• 12 million Americans out of work by the end of 1932

• Birth rates dramatically dropped

• Shacks sprang up in cities around the country, dubbed “Hoovervilles”

• A big contributor was the Hawley-Smoot Tariff as duties were raised to 60%