7.1 The Progressive Era and World War 1 (1900 - 1920)
The Populist and Progressive Movements
- Populists:
- Aggrieved farmers advocating radical reforms
- Raised possibility of reform through government
- Successes in local and national elections
- Encouraged others to seek change through political action
- Progressives:
- Built on Populism's achievements and adopted some of its goals
- Urban, middle-class reformers seeking government's role in reform
- Greater success due to more economic and political power
- Less intensification of regional and class differences compared to Populists
- Roots of Progressivism:
- Growing number of associations and organizations
- Members were educated and middle class, offended by corruption and urban poverty
- Boost from muckrakers' exposés of corporate greed and misconduct
- Progressives' Successes:
- Both local and national level changes
- Campaigned for education and government regulation
- New groups for fight against discrimination with mixed success
- Women's suffrage movement gave birth to feminist movement
- Wisconsin governor Robert La Follette led the way for Progressive state leaders
- The Progressive Movement:
- Prominent leader: President Theodore Roosevelt
- Progressive income taxes to redistribute nation's wealth
- Work-class Progressives' victories: work day limitations, minimum wage, child labor laws, housing codes
- Adoption of ballot initiative, referendum, and recall election
- President Theodore Roosevelt:
- Prominent Progressive leader
- Republican Party's choice for running mate in 1900 election
- Succeeded McKinley after assassination in 1901.
Progressive Era
- Progressive Era marked increasing involvement of federal government in daily life
- Progressive presidents: Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson
- The Progressive Era resulted in many reforms, including conservation, regulation of monopolies and trusts, and the establishment of federal standards in food and drug industries.
Teddy Roosevelt
- Early on, showed liberal tendencies and was the first to use Sherman Antitrust Act against monopolies
- Nicknamed "Trustbuster" for his efforts to break up monopolies
- Encouraged Congress to pass Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act to protect workers and consumers
- Created National Park Service and National Forest Service to conserve natural resources
William Howard Taft
- Pursued monopolies even more aggressively than Roosevelt
- Known for "dollar diplomacy" - securing favorable relationships with Latin American and East Asian countries by providing monetary loans
- Became the only former president to serve on Supreme Court of the US as the 10th Chief Justice (1921-1930)
- Split from Roosevelt in the 1912 Republican primary due to opposing policies
Woodrow Wilson
- Distinguished himself from Teddy Roosevelt with his policies referred to as New Freedom
- Argued that federal government had to assume greater control over business to protect man's freedom
- Committed to restoring competition through greater government regulation of the economy and lowering the tariff
- Created Federal Trade Commission, enforced Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, and helped create Federal Reserve System
- Progressive movement ended after World War I, Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918, and a Red Scare
End of Progressive Era
- Achieved many of its goals, which resulted in loss of support from interest groups whose ends were met
- Some say the Progressive movement was brought to an end, in part, by its own success
7.2 Foreign Policy and U.S. Entry into World War I
- Roosevelt's domestic policy differed from his predecessor, but he concurred with his foreign policy.
- Roosevelt was an even more devout imperialist than McKinley, strongarming Cuba into accepting the Platt Amendment which committed Cuba to American control.
- ==The US occupied Cuba for 10 years (1906-1922), causing anti-American sentiments.==
- Roosevelt's actions in Central America were equally interventionist, building a canal through the Central American isthmus and supporting the revolution in Panama for a better deal.
- The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, also known as the Big Stick Policy, was used to justify repeated military intervention in Latin America due to the assertion of a threat to American security.
- American foreign policy adhered to the Monroe Doctrine which asserted America's right to intervene in the Western Hemisphere to protect national security.
- Woodrow Wilson won the election of 1912 with a policy of neutrality, but it posed immediate problems due to close relationships with England and relatively distant relationship with Germany and Austria-Hungary.
- When war broke out in Europe, Wilson declared US policy of neutrality, but it was complicated due to the close relationship with England and their effective blockade.
- Germany attempted to counter the blockade with submarines, but the sinking of the Lusitania led to condemnation from the government and public.
- Wilson's efforts to stay out of the war and the events that ultimately drew the US into the conflict.
World War I and Its Aftermath
World War I and Government Expansion of Power
- Government took control of telephone, telegraph, and rail industries
- Created War Industry Board (WIB) to coordinate all aspects of industrial and agricultural production
- WIB had mixed success due to being slow and inefficient
- Curtailed individual civil liberties during the war
The Espionage Act and Sedition Act
- Congress passed the Espionage Act in 1917 and the Sedition Act in 1918 in response to opposition to U.S. involvement in the war
- Espionage Act prohibited interference with the war effort or draft through the U.S. mail system
- Sedition Act made it illegal to try to prevent the sale of war bonds or speak disparagingly of the government, military, or Constitution
- Laws violated the spirit of the First Amendment but were vague, giving the courts great leeway in interpretation
Schenck v. United States
- Supreme Court upheld the Espionage Act in 1919 in three separate cases, the most notable being Schenck v. United States
- Schenck was arrested and convicted for violating the Espionage Act by printing and mailing leaflets urging men to resist the draft
- Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech and civil liberties could be curtailed if actions posed a “clear and present danger” to others or the nation
Suppression of Unpopular Ideas
- Laws soon became useful tools for suppression of anyone who voiced unpopular ideas
- Era of increased paranoia due to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and fear of communist takeover
- Radical labor unions and leaders branded enemies of the state and incarcerated
- New government agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, created to prevent radical takeover
Business and Labor Union Changes
- Business assumed greater power while unions lost power
- Strikebreakers and forceful tactics against unions increased under pretext of stamping out radicalism
The Palmer Raids
- In early 1920, government raided suspected radical groups around the country in the Palmer Raids
- Government abandoned all pretext of respecting civil liberties as agents raided union halls, pool halls, social clubs, and residences
- Over 10,000 arrested in over 30 cities, but few weapons or bombs were found
- 500 immigrants were eventually deported
Committee on Public Information (CPI)
- Government helped create frenzied atmosphere through its wartime propaganda arm, the Committee on Public Information (CPI)
- CPI messages grew more sensational as the war progressed
- Image of Germans as cold-blooded, baby-killing, power-hungry Huns created through lectures, movie theaters, newspapers, and magazines
- Americans rejected all things German, changed name of sauerkraut to “liberty cabbage”
- Acts of violence against German immigrants and Americans of German descent.
Wartime Opportunities for Women
- Change in means of employment
- Many women quit domestic work and started in factories
- At one point, 20% of factory jobs held by women
- End of workplace advances with return of veterans
The Great Migration
- Black Southern people left for North for jobs in wartime manufacturing
- Over 500,000 Black people left South for work
- Many joined army, encouraged by W. E. B. Du Bois for inroad to social equality
- Army segregated and assigned Black people mostly to menial labor
- Fearful of integration, Black combat units assigned to French command
End of World War I
- America's participation tipped balance in Allies' favor
- Two years after America's entry, Germans ready to negotiate peace treaty
- Wilson's Fourteen Points served as basis for initial negotiations
- Called for free trade, reduction of arms, self-determination, end of colonialism, League of Nations
- Treaty of Versailles punished Germany, left humiliated and in economic ruin
- Created League of Nations, but much of Wilson's plan discarded
- Wilson's return home greeted with opposition over League of Nations
- Senate debate over Article X curtailed America's independence in foreign affairs
- Senate split into Democrats (pro-League), Irreconcilables (opposed), Reservationists (compromise)
- Democrats and Irreconcilables defeated treaty with Lodge Reservations
- US not signatory of Treaty of Versailles, never joined League of Nations
- America retreating into period of isolationism
- Wilson attempted to muster popular support, suffered major stroke and treaty failed
Possible Success of League of Nations
- Many wonder if League would have prevented World War II had US been a member
7.3 The Jazz Age and The Great Depression (1920-1933)
After World War I
- Brief slump in American economy
- Rapid growth from 1922
- Electric motor drives prosperity
- New industries arise to serve middle class
Pro-Business Republican Administrations
- Increased comfort with large successful businesses
- Department stores and automobile industry offer convenience and status
- Government increasingly pro-business, regulatory agencies assist business instead of regulating
- Decreased favor for labor unions, strikes suppressed by federal troops
- Supreme Court nullified child labor restrictions and minimum wage law for women
Woodrow Wilson and Race
- Outspoken white supremacist
- Segregated federal government, wrote admiringly of KKK
- Told racist jokes at Cabinet meetings
- Presidents Harding, Coolidge, Hoover pursued pro-business policies
- Teapot Dome Scandal with corrupt cabinet members
- Harding liberal on civil liberty, Coolidge won election on "Coolidge prosperity" and continued conservative economic policies
Decline of Labor Unions
- Pro-business atmosphere led to decline in popularity of labor unions
- Drop in membership levels throughout decade
- Efforts by businesses to woo workers with pension plans, profit sharing, and company events
- Referred to as welfare capitalism.
Modern Culture
- The automobile was a major consumer product in the 1920s and typified the new spirit of the nation
- Henry Ford's assembly line and mass production made cars more affordable, leading to widespread ownership
- Automobiles allowed people to move to the suburbs and transformed into a necessity
- The impact of cars was tremendous, requiring the development of roadways and traffic enforcement
- Radio also changed the nation's culture, with millions of families owning them and gathering to listen
- Consumerism was fueled by the rise of household appliances and the advertising industry
- Single-earner households pushed more women to enter the workforce, although most still remained in traditional roles
- The flapper image emerged as a symbol of the Roaring Twenties and the new freedom for women
- Entertainment saw growth in movies, sports, and literature with world-class authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway
- Literature reflected disillusionment with the opulence and excess of the 1920s
- The Harlem Renaissance was a major cultural development in the largest Black neighborhood in New York City
- The Harlem Renaissance was marked by the growth of theaters, cultural clubs, and newspapers
- Jazz was popularized and became emblematic of the era, with Louis Armstrong as a major figure
Backlash Against Modern Culture
1920s America:
Backlash and Nativism:
- Ku Klux Klan grew to over 5 million members
- Targeted Blacks, Jews, urbanites, and anyone whose behavior deviated from their narrow code of acceptable Christian behavior
- Anti-immigration groups grew in strength
- Targeted southern and Eastern European immigrants
- Accusations of dangerous subversives intensified with Sacco and Vanzetti trial
- US started setting limits and quotas to restrict immigration
- Emergency Quota Act of 1924 set immigration quotas based on national origins
- Discriminated against southern and Eastern European "new immigrants"
Societal Tensions:
- Scopes Monkey Trial
- Tennessee law forbade teaching evolution
- John Thomas Scopes broke the law
- Trial drew national attention with prominent attorneys Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan
- Encapsulated debate over sticking with tradition vs. progress
Prohibition:
- Banned manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages
- Roots in reform campaigns of 1830s
- Mainstay of women's political agendas
- 18th Amendment outlawed American liquor industry
- Resentment of government intrusion in private matter
- Weakened by organized crime in producing and selling liquor
- Gangster Era inspired many movies and television series
- Prohibition repealed by 21st Amendment in 1933
Herbert Hoover and the Beginning of the Great Depression
- Republicans nominate Herbert Hoover in 1928
- Hoover predicts that poverty would soon be eradicated in America
- October 1929 stock market crash triggers the Great Depression
- Hoover and advisers underestimated the impact of the crash
- Hoover believed the economy was sound, reassured public that only speculators would be hurt
- Huge banks and corporations among the speculators, causing bankruptcy and unable to pay employees or guarantee bank deposits
- Factors contributing to the Great Depression: Europe's economy due to WWI and reparations, overproduction leading to lay offs and low market value, production outstripping ability to buy, concentration of wealth and power in a few businessmen, government laxity in regulation
- Depression had a calamitous effect on millions of Americans: job loss, savings loss, homeless and shantytowns, rural farmers struggled, drought and Dust Bowl, agrarian unrest, Farmers’ Holiday Association
- Hoover initially opposed federal relief efforts, but later initiated a few programs and campaigned for works projects
- Hawley-Smoot Tariff worsened the economy
- Hoover had the Federal Emergency Relief Administration established to bail out large companies and banks
- Hoover's most embarrassing moment: army attack on Bonus Expeditionary Force in 1932
- Hoover's efforts not enough to secure re-election, defeated by FDR in 1932 election
- FDR's interventionist government approach contrasted with Hoover's traditional conservative values.
7.4 The New Deal and World War II (1934 - 1945)
- ==Franklin D. Roosevelt's inaugural address declared war on the Depression==
- He asked for the same broad powers that presidents exercise during wars against foreign nations
- Most famous line of the speech: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified fear."
- The New Deal was a result of a powerful presidency and public confidence in Roosevelt
- The First New Deal took place during the first hundred days of Roosevelt's administration
- The Emergency Banking Relief Bill put poorly managed banks under control of Treasury Department and granted government licenses to solvent banks
- The Banking Act of 1933 created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to guarantee bank deposits
- Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) provided payments to farmers in return for cutting production, funded by increased taxes on food processors
- Farm Credit Act provided loans to farmers in danger of foreclosure
- National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) consolidated businesses and coordinated activities to eliminate overproduction
- Public Works Administration (PWA) set aside $3 billion to create jobs building roads, sewers, public housing units, etc.
- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided grants to states for their own PWA-like projects
- The government took over the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and expanded its operations for the economic recovery of the region
- Roosevelt's response to Great Depression was guided by Keynesian economics
- Keynesian economics argued that government should embark on a program of deliberate deficit spending to revive the economy
- Keynesian economics was successful during Roosevelt's administration and led to 30 years of economic expansion from 1945 to 1973
The Second New Deal
New Deal Criticisms
- Conservatives:
- Higher tax rates
- Increase in government power over business
- Removal of incentive for the poor to lift themselves out of poverty
- Borrowing to finance programs, anathema to conservatives
- Leftists, like Huey Long:
- AAA policy of paying farmers not to grow is immoral
- Government policy toward businesses too favorable
- Blamed corporate greed for Depression, calling for nationalization of businesses
Huey Long Threat to FDR
- Senator and governor of Louisiana
- Promoted a plan similar to Social Security, gaining supporters
- Assassinated in 1935
Supreme Court Dismantles First New Deal
- Invalidated sections of NIRA in the "sick chicken case"
- Codes were unconstitutional, executive legislation beyond limits of executive power
- FDR argued that crisis of Depression warranted expansion of executive branch
- Supreme Court struck down AAA in United States v. Butler
Roosevelt's Court-Packing Scheme
- Attempted to increase Supreme Court size from 9 justices to 15
- Wanted to pick justices who supported his policies
- Rejected by Congress
Second New Deal
- Emergency Relief Appropriation Act created WPA (later renamed Works Project Administration)
- Generated over 8 million jobs, funded by government
- Employed writers, photographers, and artists for public works and local/personal history projects
- Summer of 1935 is called Roosevelt's Second Hundred Days
- Passed legislation broadening NLRB powers, democratizing unions, punishing anti-union businesses
- Created Social Security Administration for retirement benefits for workers, disabled, and families
- Increased taxes on wealthy individuals and business profits
New Deal Coalition
- Made up of union members, urbanites, underclass, and Black people (previously voted Republican)
- Swept FDR back into office in 1936 with landslide victory
- Held together until election of Reagan in 1980.
Roosevelt’s Troubled Second Term
Franklin Roosevelt's Second Term:
I. Judicial Reorganization Bill:
- Proposed allowing Roosevelt to appoint new federal judges
- Effort to pack courts with judges sympathetic to New Deal policies
- Defeated in Democratic Congress
- Intense criticism for trying to seize too much power
- Situation worked itself out with retirements and appointment of liberal judges
II. Economic Problems:
- 1937 recession caused by cuts in government programs and tightened credit supply
- Recession lasted for almost three years with increased unemployment rate
- Forced Roosevelt to withdraw money from New Deal programs to fund military buildup
III. New Deal:
- Debate among historians on whether New Deal worked or not
- Arguments for New Deal:
- Provided relief and escaped poverty for many people
- Reforms in banking, finance, management/union relations
- Took bold chances in conservative political climate
- Arguments against New Deal:
- Unemployment rate remained in double digits
- Failed to solve unemployment problem
- Too small and short-lived to have significant impact
- Didn't benefit all equally, minorities particularly hurt by AAA and public works projects
IV. Accomplishments:
- Passed Second Agricultural Adjustment Act and Fair Labor Standards Act
- Remade America in banking, finance, management/union relations
- Social welfare system stems from New Deal
- Took bold chances in conservative political climate
7.5 Foreign Policy Leading up to World War II
- After World War I, American foreign policy focused on promoting peace and independent internationalism.
- The Washington Conference was held in 1921-1922 and resulted in a treaty that limited armaments and reaffirmed the Open Door Policy toward China.
- In 1928, 62 nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which condemned war as a means of foreign policy.
- The US tried to adopt a Good Neighbor Policy in Latin America in 1934, but continued to promote American interests through economic coercion and support of pro-American leaders.
- The Platt Amendment was repealed during this time.
- In Asia, the US had limited influence and was unable to stop Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
- The US sold arms to China and called for an arms embargo on Japan when Japan went to war against China in 1937.
- The US maintained a high-tariff protectionist policy throughout the 1920s.
- The Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act allowed the president to reduce tariffs for foreign policy goals.
- Most favored nation (MFN) trade status was granted to eligible countries for the lowest tariff rate set by the US.
- Isolationist sentiment grew due to the results of World War I and the findings of the Nye Commission.
- The Nye Commission revealed unethical activities by American arms manufacturers, leading to the passage of neutrality acts.
- Roosevelt poured money into the military and worked to assist the Allies within the limits of the neutrality acts.
- By the 1940s, US foreign policy became increasingly less isolationist with the Lend-Lease Act and Roosevelt's efforts to supply the Allies.
World War II
- Complicated military strategy and outcome of key battles played a significant role in WW2
- No need to know much about battles, but important to know about wartime conferences between Allies
- Grand Alliance between Soviet Union and West was tenuous
- Manhattan Project of 1942 was research and development effort for atomic bombs
- Soviet spies infiltrated the project
- First meeting of "big three" (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) took place in Tehran in 1943
- They planned Normandy invasion (D-Day) and division of defeated Germany into occupation zones
- Stalin agreed to enter war against Japan after Hitler's defeat
- Allies fought Germans primarily in Soviet Union and Mediterranean until D-Day invasion in France
- Soviet Union incurred huge losses and sought to recoup by occupying Eastern Europe
- Allies won war of attrition against Germans and accelerated victory in East by dropping atomic bombs on Japan
- D-Day on June 6, 1944 was largest amphibious landing
- Government acquired more power during WW2 through War Production Board and control over industry and labor
- Labor Disputes Act of 1943 allowed government takeover of businesses deemed necessary to national security
- Hollywood was enlisted to create propaganda films
- Government size more than tripled during war
- FDR signed Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, creating first peacetime draft in US history
- WW2 affected almost every aspect of daily life and created new opportunities and tensions in American society
- More than a million African Americans served in US military during WW2, but lived in segregated units
- US army was not desegregated until after the war in 1948
- Rosie the Riveter symbolized the millions of women who worked in war-related industrial jobs
- Most women were expected to go back to traditional roles after soldiers returned home
- Government restricted civil liberties, including internment of Japanese Americans from 1942 to end of war
- Over 110,000 Asian Americans were imprisoned without charge based solely on ethnic background
- Supreme Court upheld evacuation and internment of Japanese Americans as constitutional
The End of the War
Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
- Yalta conference held in February 1945 between Allies (US, UK, USSR) to discuss the fate of postwar Europe
- Soviet army occupied parts of Eastern Europe, and Stalin wanted to create a "buffer zone" with "friendly" nations
- Allies agreed on a number of issues concerning borders and settlements and to help create the United Nations
Potsdam Conference
- Held after the end of the war in Europe to decide on implementing the agreements of Yalta
- Harry S. Truman represented the US after Roosevelt's death
- Differences between US and USSR growing more pronounced
- Allies created the Potsdam Declaration to establish the terms for Japan's surrender (removal of emperor from power)
Outcome of Conferences
- USSR given a free hand in Eastern Europe with promise to hold "free and unfettered elections" after the war
- Descent of Iron Curtain (division of Eastern and Western Europe) and beginning of Cold War
- American-Soviet animosity led to US using atomic bombs against Japan
- Fear of Soviet entry into Asian war and display of power, combined with tenacious Japanese resistance, influenced Truman's decision.