WWI + 1920s

Neutrality Proclamation and Washington’s Farewell Address

We said we would stay neutral, one of the reasons being washington said we should in his farewell address (saying it is best to be an isolationist country)

Monroe Doctrine

Says we will not get involved in Europe's side of the country if they don’t get involved in ours.

Old + New Immigrant tension

Got controversial because many of the immigrants were from the countries fighting in the war, showing the ties to both sides.

Zimmerman Note/Telegraph

• Offered mexico their territory back from the mexican-american war if they fight for germany in the war

• Mexico says no!

• we find out and want to go to war

Russian Revolution

• Overthrow of Russian government by Lenin and Bolshevik forces 

• “The world made be safe for democracy”

American Expeditionary Forces

Wilson had a prepared campaign, but it was still not nearly enough for a full scale war

John Pershing

Officer responsible for the training of the national guard force

National Defense Act

• A compromise between those who argued for national preparedness and the (mostly rural) people wary of a national army.

• It expanded the federal army and national guard, made provisions for training, and set up training camps for civilians

• started the draft

National Guard

• Created to respond to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions, and more

• supplied training to students to become soldiers

Selective Service Act

• An act to provide for the common defense by increasing the strength of the forces

• the draft

• Required all men aged 21-40 (later 18-45) to be drafted for military service.

• HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL

Black Troops

• Many black people volunteered to go to the war, hoping it would get them white respect (it didn’t)

• militias headed by racist white southerners

• couldn’t fight alongside white soldiers

American V European Involvement

• Americans were much less involved compared to Europeans 

  • America was really only involved for like 7 months

  • Just enough to push the allies over the edge

Committee on Public Information

Created during WWI to educate people on the war and encourage the war effort

Wartime bureaucracy and supplying the war

• Food admin, fuel admin, and RR admin helped to supply for the war

• War Industries Board (WIB) oversaw all factory prices and fixed consumer prices

• YMCA, Wheat girls, Red Cross, etc.

League of Nations

• Association of nations that would support each other

• controversial (goes against isolationism)

Article X

Countries in the League of Nations would protect each other against external aggression

Treaty of Versailles

Formally ended WWI (heavily debated treaty)

Reservationists

Wanted amendments to treaty of versailles before they signed it

Irreconcilables

NO League of Nations no matter what!!!

Espionage Act

• Allowed a citizen to be fined or prisoned for speaking out against the war effort

• CONTRAVERSIAL

Sedition Act

• Made it a crime to publish bad things about the government

• Controversial

Schenck v. US

• 1919 decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during World War I.

• Justice Holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils.

Debs V US

• Eugene Debs delivered a public speech that incited his audience to interfere with military recruitment during World War I.

• He was indicted for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 for allegedly attempting to cause insubordination and refusal of duty in the US military.

• He was also accused of attempted obstruction recruitment and enlistment.

• He appealed his conviction on First Amendment grounds. 

• Debs lost

Red Scare

Fear of Communism —> Rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrants of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920

Gentleman’s Agreement

• An agreement that was negotiated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 with the Japanese government.

• The Japanese agreed to limit immigration

• Roosevelt agreed to discuss with the San Francisco School Board that segregation of Japanese children in school would be stopped.

Eugenics

• An effort to grade races and ethnic groups based on their genetic qualities

• Those with undesirable characteristics were deemed unfit to reproduce because it was believed that human inequalities are hereditary.

1921 National Origins Act

Established national origins formula that calculated a 3 percent quota on each nationality entering the US based on foreign born population data

1924 Asian Exclusion Act

Asians that were allowed to immigrate before–Japanese people in particular–could no longer immigrate to the US

Wartime Economy

organization of a country’s production capacity and distribution during a time of conflict (WWI)

Total War

A war that involves complete mobilization of resources and people, affected all the lives of citizens in warring countries (WWI)

1920s census

Revealed a major and continuing shift of the Population of the US from rural to urban areas

Great Migration

 Black people moved from the South to cities 

Red Summer

Race riots where white people tormented black people. Black people emerged from the bloody summer with a better sense of identity and pride, serving as a vital foundation for a stronger civil rights movement.

Tulsa Massacre

white women claimed a black shoe shiner assaulted her. A white mob assembled to lynch man as an opposing black mob fought against them. Increase in homelessness and 300 black folks killed.

Consumerism / Culture of consumption

Mass produced consumer goods such as fast food, toasters, beauty products, etc.

Assembly Line/ Fordism

• Henry Ford made a way to produce cars significantly faster.

• Each person made one part of the machine instead of building a car each

Radio

• Increased forms of communication led to popular culture.

• By the end of the decade, almost everyone had a radio or broadcaster in their home.

Movies

• Almost everyone was attending movies for entertainment.

• Start of child actors such as Mary Pickford

• Jews create movies

• Started as poor person entertainment —> everyone

Urban/Rural divide

 Conflict between urban and rural because of the differences in wealth. Rural areas were constantly losing migrants to urban areas which had huge populations and wealth.

Harlem Renaissance

 Black expression through arts

Jacob Lawerence

American Black painter

Alan Locke

 Black American writer and philosopher

Langston Huges

Black American poet and social activist

Flapper

new young, single type of woman

19th Amendment + Women’s Roles

women had the right to vote, and single women were starting to get more opportunities to work. They started to work desk hobs, but this became an expected role for women which kind of put them back to square one.

Scopes Trial

Scopes was accused of breaking the law in Tennessee for teaching the kids there Darwin’s theory of evolution. Raised the debate of what we should be teaching and how religion should have to do with it.

Christian Fundamentalism

The Bible is a literal, historic text

The New Negro

Term used to describe the new pride that black people had within their identities

Marcus Garvey + UNIA

Encouraged black people to be proud of their identities

Sacco and Vanzett

Italian anarchists who were charged for a murder, but there wasn’t much proof at the time that they actually did it. It goes to show more about peoples’ fears of immigrants at the time than the two men themselves.

The Birth of a Nation and the 2nd KKK

Second KKK comes back again when a movie shows something that made it reborn. Really racist against many minority groups this time (mostly black people but others too)

central powers

Germany, Hungary, Italy

Triple Entente

great Britain, France, russia

Naval Act

make best navy evaaaa

Unrestricted Sub Warfare

Germans sink any ship in Britain - stops US from giving aid

Harding Presidency

• signed to restore high protective tarrif

• decline of labor unions

• most corrupt presidency

• “Ohio gang” - spoils system pt 2

Teapot Dome Scandal

• several officers conspire to lease gov land to oil companies in exchange for $$

• people involved either resigned or were jailed

• harding dies of heart attack

• VP Coolidge —> pres

Coolidge Presidency

• wanted to remove stain of harding but had similar economic policies

• VERY pro business (HATES unions)

• 18th + 19th amendments

Equal Rights Amendment

• Alice Paul + NWP call for elimination of all legal discrimination on basis of sex

• never gets passed

election of 1928

• Alsmith - dem

  • catholic immigrant (why he didn’t win), anti-prohibition, connections to Tammy Hall

• Hoover- rep

  • all american

  • Protestant

  • won in a landslide

culture of escape

movies, radio, etc