Postwar Havoc Review

US

100% Americanism

celebration of all things American while it attacked ideas—and people—it viewed as foreign or anti-American

(a) Red Scare

The widespread fear of Communism that gripped America after the rise of the Bolsheviks (Soviet Union)

Vladimir Lenin

leader of the Bolsheviks, which eventually took over Russia and became the Soviet Union. Established communism as the new social system. Predicted that communism would inspire in Americans to end capitalism

A. Mitchell Palmer

-US Attorney General

-led the Palmer Raids (anti-communist raids)
-used wartime laws to justify them

Assembly Line

conveyor belt stations which streamlined the factory process of mass production items. First used by Henry Ford in making the Model T automobile. Created jobs due to the simple repeatable tasks they required.

Post WW1 Labor

Major Strikes:
-Seattle General strikes- workers of all industries took part, it shut down the whole city- detriment for Seattle’s economy afterwards

- Boston Police Strike- low wages and poor working conditions
Calvin Coolidge (Massachusetts governor) called the state militia to shut it down

-United mine workers- led by John L. Lewis, increased wages but didn’t get other perks, like 5 day work week.

Productivity

a measure of output per unit of input, such as labor. American workers were producing more in less time.

Installment buying

paying for an item over time in small payments- bought on credit

Welfare Capitalism

a system in which companies provide benefits to employees in an effort to promote worker satisfaction and loyalty
(most explicitly seen in Henry Ford’s 5 a day)

Auto Industry

Henry Ford made the Model T, which was affordable not to all, but MANY MANY MANY. Standardized automobiles- by making them identical and simple.

This boosted other economies such as steel, rubber, glass, etc

Scandals

Teapot dome scandal
Sec of Int Albert Fall accepted bribes in return for allowing oil companies to drill federal oil reserves on a piece of federal land known as Teapot Dome

Senator Harding

From Ohio
Skipped sessions than he attended
missed important Senate debates on Prohibition and Women’s suffrage

1920s Politics/ Business

“Less government in business and more business in government”- Harding’s slogan
Federal budget cuts and reduce taxes on wealthy Americans

WWI Vets/ Farmers

both came home to limited job opportunities. Farm economy was tanked

Ohio Gang

Harding named a number of old friends from OH to lower level govt posts, this ‘Ohio Gang’ was later convicted of taking bribes.

Sacco and Vanzetti

1920s court case in which s&v were arrested for armed robbery and murder, trial was really about their “anarchist” (anti govt) beliefs and them being Italian immigrants - sentenced to death—caused public outrage.

arms race

competing nations build more and more weapons in an effort to avoid one nation gaining a clear advantage.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

While the US wasn’t in the League of Nations, they still wanted to prevent war

It’s an agreement bound only by the word of over 60 different nations to avoid war

Tariffs

Fordney-McCumber Tariff- boosted the cost of foreign grown products, helped farmers only in the short term. It hurt EU (made it harder for them to pay back their war debts)

Immigration

New immigrants vs old
New- SE Eu
Old- NW Eu
national origins act (2% of ppl from that count living in us)

Washington Naval Conference

Major naval powers agreed to cut back sharply on the size of their navies
-plans to avoid competition amont he world’s military powers for the control of china
Sec of State Charles Evan Hughes

League of Nations

us was left out of the league of nations, people thought it wouldn’t work without the US

Post WWI

Immediate- nation desires ‘normalcy’
-farmers struggle to recover from postwar slump
-EU countries can’t pay war debts
-desire to avoid future wars

Long Term
-Harding and Coolidge
-Fordney McCumber Tariff
-US becomes banker to EU
-Kellogg Briand Pact
Us lending money to Germany