How did the political environment change 1917-33 - key facts

Unemployment

• 1919 - 950,000

• 1921 - 5,000,000

1921 Emergency Quota Act

Limited immigration to 357,000 a year

1935-39 Neutrality Acts

Restricted help the USA could give to other countries if they went to war

Washington Conference 1921-22

Brokered by the USA, set limits on national navies

1922 Fordney-McCumber Tarriff Act

Tariffs on imports → encouraged people to ‘buy American’

Woodrow Wilson (1913-21)

• Took America to war despite campaigning to keep out of it

• Didn’t consult Congress about promoting League of Nations

• Drafted bills and introduced them to Congress

Harding’s approach to government (1921-23)

Laissez-faire

1919 Strikes

• More than 3600 strikes

• ¼ workers (about 4 million people) on strike

• On 21 January, 35,000 shipyard workers went on strike in Seattle → escalated to a general strike of 60,000 on 6 February

• Rumours of communist revolution spread

Klu Klux Klan

• Suppressed in 1870s

• Refounded in 1915

• Racist, anti-communist, anti-immigrant

Red Scare 1919-20

• 5000-10,000 arrested

• Only 556 deported

Hoover’s election campaign in 1928

Rugged individualism

Rugged individualism beliefs

• People were weakened by government support

• Isolationism

• Restriction of immigration

1930 President’s Emergency Committee for Employment

Temporary organisation set up by Hoover to find work projects for the unemployed and to persuade businesses to create more jobs on a local, voluntary basis

Government debt

In the last year of Hoover’s presidency, the government received $2000 million and spent over $5000 million

Hooverville in Seattle

• Set up in 1931 and remained there for 10 years

• At its biggest, it covered 9 acres and held over 1000 residents

1932 Bonus Army

• 150,000-250,000 veterans marched to Washington to demand their bonuses as the Depression bit

• Troops were sent in with tear gas, bayonets, cavalry, tanks and machine guns

1932 election

• Hoover only won 6 states

• More than 40 million voted

• Republicans only won 2 states in 1936