scandals involving republicans (WGH - CC)

what was the teapot dome?

a large oil reserve that US government owned and had decided to lease to private companies

who was albert fall?

minister in charge of leasing process of teapot dome

what did albert fall do during the teapot dome scandal?

he decided to lease the oil to 3 companies without carrying out a competitive bidding process

how were albert fall's actions during the teapot dome discovered?

clues began to appear after fall had become rich very quickly and important records disappeared rapidly

what happened to the democrat senator who was investigating the teapot dome issue?

he had his office ransacked

what was the outcome of the teapot dome scandal?

albert fall was later convicted of taking bribes in the scandal and got imprisoned

what were sacco and vanzetti accused of in 1920?

carrying out an armed robbery near boston

who were sacco and vanzetti?

italian immigrants who spoke very little english and claimed to be anarchists - they were however instead accused of being communists due to the russian revolution

what happened to sacco and vanzetti in 1927?

they were executed after 2 failed appeals even though there was little evidence against them

how did many liberals in the cities react to the execution of sacco and vanzetti?

they were horrified by the outcome of this case, especially when someone else confessed to the crime

over the course of the 1920s, what happened to several business practices that were technically illegal? (trusts and monopolies scandal)

they were ignored

large companies that all produced the same thing often worked together to do what? (trusts and monopolies scandal)

to set their prices the same, reducing competition and forcing consumers to pay similar prices no matter what products they were buying; consumers often lost out

while there was less regulation of the markets, what did that also mean? (trusts and monopolies scandal)

that poor business practices e.g. low wages and exploitation of child labour carried on unhindered - with nobody to stop these practices and no government interventions, child labour and 56 hour weeks carried on

when was the ku klux klan relaunched?

1915

how many members did the ku klux klan have by 1921 across the south?

over 100,000

who did the ku klux klan attack?

black americans and anyone they saw as 'different'

what did the ku klux klan uphold?

traditional family values, plain living, church attendance and prohibition through terror in rural communities

what kind of influence did the ku klux klan have in the cities vs in small rural towns?

very little in cities but more in small rural towns

though many would not go to the violent lengths that many klansmen (KKK) did, what was true despite this?

that they had influence over many politicians and officials in areas that they controlled

what kind of policy was the prohibition?

one of the government flagship policies and it was popular with the republicans

how was prohibition viewed?

as a return to sober, traditional family values and clean living

why did the government's plans to police prohibition falter from the beginning?

there was only 3,000 law enforcement agents to help police the system, meaning that the sale of alcohol was under policed at all times

what was there a growth of which contributed to failure of prohibition?

speakeasies - small jazz clubs that served alcohol and organised crime

how did gangsters like al capone contribute to failure of prohibition?

he smuggled alcohol into the cities through canada, making a huge profit and using this to help bribe officials and pay them off to continue importing alcohol