WW1, 1920s, New Deal

When did the US join WW1?

1917-1918; they watched from 1914-16; they were only in the war for 1.5 years; they let the European countries fight themselves to exhaustion, so the US suffered a lot less casualties

Reasons US joined WW1

German u-boats sunk a US ship, killing many women and children

also US does a lot of trade with Britain and loans them a lot of money, so if Britain loses the US would lose a lot of money; plus if that side wins the war, the US could get a lot of money

Reasons people in the US didn’t want to join the war

the only people who would benefit from the war are the rich people who sell weapons and loans overseas

A lot of people will die, and so much is being sent there just for it to be destoryed

Pacificists, communists, and Jewish were anti-war

Was freedom of speech prohibited during WW1?

Yes; US passed laws that made it a crime to speak out against the war; all propoganda is pro-war; communist groups and groups against the war were shut down during it

Great Migration

started in 1917-1970; AA moved out of South into Northern cities to get away from lynching and get jobs in factories

Did the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations pass in the US?

No; even though they were American ideas, many Americans didn’t want to join because they didn’t want to get entangled in European affairs

19th amendment

1920 women get the right to vote

Alice Paul

big women’s rights advocate; fought for the Equal Rights Amendment which got introduced to Congress in 1923 but never got ratified

18th amendment

prohibition 1919

First Red Scare

1919-20; severe crackdown on left-wing radicalism because people became very afraid of German spies and thought foreigners might be communist and try to overthrow the US government

Economy in 1920s

recession before it, economy growth during, depression after; a lot of the 1920s prosperity was concentrated at the top, which is why it was easier to bring the boom to a halt since it’s not shared evenly

Technology during 1920s

America was the only country to have cars and working class families could afford them; flushing toilets, radios, tractors caused there to be less farming jobs available

Scopes Monkey Trial

1925; public school teacher taught Darwin’s theory of evolution; known as a big clash between rural, conservative America and urban, modern America

Second KKK

1915; inspired by “The Birth of a Nation;” anti-black, immigrants, Catholics, anti-semmitic, and pro-prohibition; declined after 1920s

Johnson Reed Act (Immigration Act)

1924; severe restrictions on total number of immigrats, national quotas favoring western Europe; ban on immigration from Asia; remained until 1965

Herbert Hoover

won 1928 presidential election; republican; ran his campaign on promising to make American rich

solution to the depression was to just let the economy economy collapse and fix itself; it didn’t work

Reasons for Great Depression

stock market boom followed by disastrous collapse in 1929

credit was new and people went into debt quickly and couldn’t pay back their loans, and banks were lending too many loans

no FDA, so if banks went bankrupt you lost all your money

consumers lost faith in the economy and stopped spending money

started by the stock market crash but trickled into all parts of economy

Bonus Army protests

1932; WW1 soldiers who were promised a pension but weren’t old enough to claim it but needed it early due to the depression; protests forcibly dispersed by police and US army

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

1930; much higher tariff rates to protect American agriculture and industry as an attempt to get the US out of the depression; made the depression worse

Dust Bowl

mid 1930s; crop price boom in 1920s led to a lot more land being farmed; unusually hot weather and drought caused people to abanon their farms, so bad storms blew all the dust away

Franklin D. Roosevelt

1933-1945 Democrat; New Deal, immediate goal is to get the country back up and running and restore America’s faith in democratic capitalism; ended prohibition 1933

FDR’s banking reforms

Emergency Banking Act: gave gov more power to supervise banks and regulate them

Glass-Steagall Act: banks couldn’t use depositors’ money to gamble

FDIC: insured depositors’ money

all these things convinced American’s to trust banks

First New Deal

1933 FDR’s strategy for getting US out of depression; lots of different government organizations

Public Works Administration (PWA): built dams and other government projects

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): built dams

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA): protected farmers and raised crop prices

United Auto Workers (UAW) “sit down strike”

1937; their strikes worked in raising wages and lowering hours

Second New Deal

1935-38

National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act): easier to join labor union

Works Progress Administration (WPA): built roads, bridges, supported artists and writers

Rural electrication Administration: brought electric power to the country

Social Security Act 1935

Eleanor Roosevelt

most prominent first lady they ever had; took on liberal projects 1933-45

Frances Perkins

secretary of labor 1933-45; first woman appointed to the US cabinet

1934 Indian Reorganization Act

restored traditional rights to NA tribes

Scottsboro Boys

accused of rape in 1931 under weak evidence because they were black and didn’t get a fair trial

HOLC Redlining

1930s-60s; segregated towns and made it easier to get mortgages in some than others

New Deal Summary

new democratic party coalition

new style of political outreach with FDR talking to Americans through radio

Expansion of US federal gov: more spending and regulation

Reduced the impact of the depression, but WW2 ends it

Unemployment dropped but remained pretty high through the 1930s

Limited progress on racial equality