history 9/22

The Sacco and Vanzetti Case ($05/05/1920$): Anti-Immigrant Fever

• Nicola Sacco (shoemaker) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (fish peddler) were Italian immigrants who self-identified as revolutionary anarchists aiming to overthrow capitalism and the U.S. government.

• They were arrested and accused of an armed robbery of $16,000$ from a shoe factory, during which the paymaster and a security guard were killed.

• Upon arrest, both men were armed and lied to the police about multiple issues; however, the stolen money was never recovered.

• There were conflicting eyewitness accounts: some placed them at the crime scene, while others claimed they were far away.

• The case occurred during a peak of Italian immigration to the U.S. and amidst several terrorist attacks (some of which Sacco and Vanzetti had participated in), leading to high public hysteria.

• Despite a lack of direct evidence linking them to the specific crime, they were convicted and sentenced to death.

• They spent six years appealing their death sentence, consistently maintaining their innocence for that particular incident. Their guilt or innocence remains debated today.

• Significance: This case represented the extreme anti-immigrant sentiment and fear that gripped the country during this period.

The Rise and Fall of the New Ku Klux Klan (1920s)

• Reinvention: The Ku Klux Klan ($KKK$) was revived and reinvented in $1915$, coming to national prominence in the $1920s$.

• Original Klan vs. New Klan: The original $KKK$ emerged after the Civil War during Reconstruction, was embedded in the Deep South, and focused on maintaining African Americans in a state close to slavery. It had largely faded by the late $19^{th}$ century.

• National Scope: By $1920$, the "invisible empire of the knights of the Ku Klux Klan" became a nationwide organization, unlike its Southern-centric predecessor. It was devoted to maintaining white supremacy across America.

• Membership Criteria: Members had to be white, Anglo-Saxon, evangelical Protestant, and born in the United States.

• Membership Numbers: By $1924$, there were over $4,000,000$ Klan members nationwide, making it the largest far-right extremist movement in American history.

• Ideologies and Targets: The $KKK$ embraced militant patriotism, advocated for restrictions on immigration and voting, opposed illegal liquor and labor unions. They preached hatred against African Americans, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, communists, atheists, and other groups.

• In the Southwest, they attacked Hispanics.

• In the Pacific Northwest, they targeted Asian immigrants.

• In New York City, they focused on Catholics and Jews.

• Political Influence: Klan members were elected as governors in Oregon, Texas, and Colorado, and as mayors in dozens of towns and cities.

• Geographic Spread: Surprisingly, the reborn Klan was not primarily based in the Deep South. It was especially large in Midwestern states like Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Only $16\%$ of new Klan members were from former Confederate states.

• Public Display: In August $1925$, approximately $25,000$ white-robed and hooded Klansmen marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.

• Rapid Collapse: The Klan's downfall was as quick as its rise.

• David Stevenson Scandal: The Grand Dragon of Indiana, David Stevenson, was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping, raping, and mutilating a young woman on his staff, who later committed suicide.

• Corruption Exposure: Stevenson, who had bribed the Indiana governor and many other state officials, expected a pardon. When it didn't come, he exposed widespread political corruption.

• Indictments: The scandal led to the indictment of the governor, the mayor of Indianapolis, a congressman, county sheriffs, and many other Indiana state government officials, with many going to prison.

• Membership Plummet: Klan membership plummeted to about $100,000$ by $1930$, primarily concentrated in the Deep South.

• Anti-Klan Laws: Many states also passed anti-Klan laws in reaction to its activities.

Fundamentalism vs. Modernism: The Scopes Trial

• Old Time Religion: The Klan, while fighting against perceived national immorality, also defended "old time religion" against "dangerous ideas" from progressive or liberal Protestant churches.

• Dangerous Ideas Opposed: These included the notion that the Bible was not literally the word of God and the theory of Darwinian evolution.

• Militant Fundamentalism: Conservative Protestants in the $1920s$ embraced a militant fundamentalism characterized by hostility towards science and insistence on the literal truth of every word in the Bible.

• Religious Civil War: This led to a "religious civil war" in the country, dividing congregations and denominations, similar to the division over slavery in the $1840s$ and $1850s$.

• Modernism's Aim: Modernists in Protestant churches sought a middle ground to reconcile Christian teaching with modern science.

• William Jennings Bryan: A three-time presidential candidate and politician, not a minister, became the most notable national defender of fundamentalism, transforming it into a crusade. Bryan was a complex figure, a pacifist and liberal progressive on some issues, yet a right-wing crusader for literal biblical interpretation. He supported state laws banning the teaching of evolution.

• The Scopes Trial ($1925$):

• Context: Bills banning Darwinian evolution in public schools were introduced in several state legislatures, passing in a few Southern states.

• Tennessee Law: In $1925$, Tennessee outlawed the teaching of evolution in public schools and colleges.

• Dayton, Tennessee: Town leaders, seeking publicity for their depressed economy, persuaded substitute science teacher John Scopes to teach evolution for a day.

• Arrest and Trial: Scopes was immediately arrested, leading to a highly publicized trial that brought global attention to Dayton, Tennessee.

• Atmosphere: The town was overwhelmed with reporters ($200+$ newspaper and radio), evangelists, atheists, and sightseers. Main Street merchants mocked Darwinian evolution, street preachers declaimed biblical verses, and a live, piano-playing monkey was paraded.

• Key Legal Figures:

  • Prosecution: William Jennings Bryan volunteered, asserting the trial was about a state's right to determine its public school curriculum and a "duel to the death between evolution and Christianity."

  • Defense: Clarence Darrow, the nation's foremost defense attorney and a champion of the working class, volunteered pro bono, arguing that "civilization itself is on trial."

• Trial Conditions: The trial took place in July $1925$ in Dayton, Tennessee, amidst brutal heat (over $100$ degrees), greatly impacting the proceedings.

• Bryan's Cross-Examination: On the seventh day, Bryan was called as an expert witness on biblical interpretation and cross-examined by Darrow. Darrow pressed Bryan on literal interpretations of biblical stories (Jonah swallowed by a whale, Joshua making the sun stand still, Noah's ark flood, Eve from Adam's rib). Bryan affirmed his literal belief, stating "All things are possible with God."

• Heated Exchange: Bryan grew frustrated, stating "Judge, the bible is not on trial here." Darrow retorted, "No. I'm examining you on your fool ideas that no intelligent Christian believes." The exchange devolved into insults, with the men lunging at each other before being separated, leading to court adjournment.

• Verdict: The jury, instructed to only determine if Scopes taught evolution, returned a guilty verdict in just nine minutes.

• Appeal: The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the anti-evolution law but waived Scopes' $100$ fine.

• Aftermath: Bryan died five days after the trial, which many believed a direct result of the stress. John Scopes left Dayton to study geology and became a petroleum engineer.

• Significance: The Scopes Trial symbolized the $1920s$ clash between tradition and modernity, and between fundamentalism and modernism. This debate remains an important part of the national narrative, a century later.

Prohibition: A Colossal Failure

• The Eighteenth Amendment: Ratified on January $16, 1919$, it made it a crime to manufacture, sell, or transport alcoholic beverages. Drinking alcohol in private and making it for personal consumption at home remained technically legal.

• Causes: The movement was prompted by a perceived rise in alcohol abuse and widespread alcohol-related problems, seen as an urgent social issue. Per capita beer consumption rose $1000\%$ between $1840$ and $1910$. A newspaper called excessive drinking "the largest producer of disease, crime, and poverty in the nation."

• Alliances: Prohibition forged unusual alliances between rural/small-town Protestants and urban Progressives, including fundamentalists who viewed drinking as a sin, and progressive social reformers (mostly women) who believed it would reduce prostitution, domestic violence, and poverty.

• Magnitude: It became the largest social reform movement in the U.S. since the abolition movement.

• Outcome: Prohibition was a "colossal, monumental, epic failure."

• Disregard for Law: The law was widely ignored, leading to the development of an extensive underground industry and economy.

• Illegal Activities: This included speakeasies (illegal bars), bootlegging, organized crime, and widespread police corruption.

• Enforcement Challenges: The law was too sweeping to enforce and too inconvenient for most Americans to obey.

• Organized Crime: Al Capone, the era's most famous crime boss, earned over $60,000,000$ (nearly $1$ billion in today's money) from illegal alcohol in $1927$.

• Presidential Indifference: Even President Warren G. Harding drank bootleg liquor in the White House, famously stating, "I'm unable to see the great moral issue here."

• Unintended Consequences:

• Loss of Revenue: Liquor taxes constituted $10\%$ of the federal government's entire revenue, which was lost.

• Job Losses: The closure of breweries, distilleries, and bars eliminated tens of thousands of jobs.

• Expanded Government: Enforcement agents had to be hired, prisons built, federal agents' powers expanded, and civil liberties violated.

• Repeal: Prohibition was eventually abandoned, repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment, ratified on December $5, 1933$.

Politics of the 1920s: The Harding and Coolidge Presidencies

• Decline of Progressivism: By $1920$, progressivism was in decline, its momentum lost due to World War I. Key progressive leaders like Teddy Roosevelt died in $1919$, and Woodrow Wilson was physically and mentally broken by $1920$.

• The 1920 Presidential Election:

• Republican Candidate: Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding.

• Democratic Candidate: Ohioan James Cox, a former governor and newspaper editor.

• Outcome: Harding won in a landslide, promising the nation a "return to normalcy" and securing large Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.

Warren G. Harding's Presidency ($1921-1923$)

• Competence: Harding is arguably considered one of the most incompetent U.S. presidents, admitting he was unqualified. He was nominated partly because he "looked presidential" and was willing to follow Republican Party bosses.

• Critique: H.L. Mencken called him "the most dreadful nitwit in American history."

• Personal Conduct: Harding chewed tobacco, drank and served bootleg liquor in the White House, held poker parties, had numerous affairs, paid off mistresses, and fathered at least one illegitimate child.

• Talented Cabinet: Despite Harding's shortcomings, Republican Party bosses assembled one of the most talented cabinets in American history, including:

• Secretary of State: Charles Evans Hughes (former Republican presidential nominee)

• Secretary of Commerce: Herbert Hoover (future president)

• Treasury Secretary: Andrew Mellon

• Secretary of Agriculture: Henry Wallace

• Policy Making: These cabinet members and other Republican leaders in Congress largely dictated federal policy during Harding's presidency, with Harding dutifully signing legislation.

• Economic Policies: Harding inherited an economy burdened by a postwar recession, high wartime taxes, and a national debt that had risen from $1$ billion to $27$ billion.

• Andrew Mellon's Reforms: Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon dramatically reduced government spending and taxes. By $1923$, the national debt was significantly reduced, and unemployment fell to 2.4\%$. Mellon also raised tariffs on imports, pleasing big business and agriculture.

• Mellon's Acclaim: Mellon was hailed as the greatest treasury secretary since Alexander Hamilton.

• Impact on Progressive Policies: Many progressive policies and regulatory measures from the Roosevelt and Wilson eras were scrapped, and federal policies became more business-friendly.

• Harding on Race: Surprisingly, Harding was more progressive on racial issues than his "progressive" predecessors.

• He reversed Woodrow Wilson's exclusion of African Americans from federal jobs.

• In his first speech to Congress (1921$), he forcefully spoke out against racial violence, attacking the$KKK$and calling lynching barbaric. He urged Congress to pass an anti-lynching law, but it was defeated by Southern senators.</p></li><li><p>He was the first American president since the Civil War to deliver a speech on race in the Deep South (Birmingham, Alabama), demanding complete economic and political equality for African Americans, which shocked Southern whites.</p></li><li><p>African American leaders such as Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois applauded his stance, while Southern whites condemned him.</p></li><li><p><strong>Administration Scandals</strong>: Harding's administration was notorious for numerous scandals, though Harding himself was generally oblivious and not a participant.</p></li><li><p><strong>Veterans Bureau</strong>: The head resigned after a probe revealed systematic theft and black market sales of medical and hospital supplies intended for WWI veterans.</p></li><li><p><strong>Justice Department</strong>: A colleague of the U.S. Attorney General was caught selling pardons and judgeships and committed suicide when confronted.</p></li><li><p><strong>Attorney General Harry Daugherty</strong>: Accused of selling seized German assets for personal gain, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment before Congress.</p></li><li><p><strong>Teapot Dome Affair (Most Notable)</strong>:</p><ul><li><p>Teapot Dome was a government-owned oil field in Wyoming managed by the Department of the Interior.</p></li><li><p>Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, deeply in debt, secretly sold special access to the oil to close friends who were oil company executives.</p></li><li><p>Fall accepted$400,000$in bribes for these illicit deals.</p></li><li><p>He was caught, convicted, and sent to prison, becoming the first sitting cabinet member in American history to be imprisoned for misconduct in office.</p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Harding's Death</strong>: In$1923$, while on a West Coast speaking tour, Harding contracted food poisoning in Seattle and died a few days later in San Francisco. His vice president, Calvin Coolidge, succeeded him.</p></li><li><p><strong>Harding Presidency Summary</strong>:</p></li><li><p><strong>Plus Points</strong>: The economy prospered, and Harding surprisingly supported diversity, civil rights, and women's rights.</p></li><li><p><strong>Downsides</strong>: Rampant scandals and his general incompetence.</p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Calvin Coolidge's Presidency ($1923-1929$)</strong></p><ul><li><p><strong>Political Stance</strong>: Calvin Coolidge is arguably one of the most ultraconservative presidents in American history. He was described as "an evangelist for capitalism and minimal government regulation of business."</p></li><li><p><strong>Personal Life</strong>: A traditional New England Puritan, he was horrified by the social changes of the$1920s$$, known as the Jazz Age or Roaring Twenties.

• Values: He believed in hard work, integrity, and public service.