WW1 After

Perfect 🥷 you want a deep info-dump note sheet, so I’ll make each section as fact-heavy as possible with names, dates, stats, causes, and consequences. Think of this as your master study sheet for the 1920s.

1920s Events & People – Master Notes

Red Scare / Palmer Raids (1919–1920)

  • After WWI, fear spread that communism, socialism, and anarchism would spread in the U.S. (especially after the Russian Revolution of 1917).

  • Triggered by strikes (steel strike, 1919), bombings by anarchists, and labor unrest.

  • Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and his assistant J. Edgar Hoover (future FBI head) led raids to arrest suspected radicals.

  • About 6,000 people were arrested; many were immigrants and labor activists.

  • People often arrested without warrants or fair hearings; due process was violated.

  • 249 immigrants deported on the “Soviet Ark” to Russia.

  • Civil liberties groups (like the ACLU, founded 1920) protested these abuses.

  • Impact: Strengthened nativism, distrust of immigrants, and limits on free speech.

Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover

  • Warren G. Harding (1921–1923):

    • Campaign slogan: “Return to Normalcy.”

    • Favored low taxes, high tariffs, and business growth.

    • Scandals hurt his presidency: Teapot Dome Scandal (Secretary of Interior Albert Fall secretly leased oil-rich land to private companies in exchange for bribes).

    • Died suddenly in 1923.

  • Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929):

    • Nicknamed “Silent Cal.”

    • Pro-business policies, promoted laissez-faire capitalism.

    • Oversaw rapid economic growth: stock market soared, wages rose, consumer culture grew.

    • Quote: “The business of America is business.”

  • Herbert Hoover (1929–1933):

    • Former Secretary of Commerce.

    • Advocated “rugged individualism” (belief people should help themselves, not rely on gov).

    • Took office just before stock market crash of 1929.

    • Tried voluntary measures and limited gov aid, but Depression worsened.

Prohibition (1920–1933)

  • Began with 18th Amendment (ratified 1919, effective 1920) and enforced by Volstead Act.

  • Goal: reduce crime, corruption, and improve morals/health.

  • Alcohol production, sale, and transport became illegal.

  • Result: Rise of speakeasies (secret bars), bootleggers smuggling liquor, and organized crime.

  • Al Capone became one of the most notorious gangsters, controlling Chicago’s liquor trade.

  • Law enforcement was often corrupt or bribed.

  • Many Americans continued drinking; law was widely ignored.

  • Repealed in 1933 by 21st Amendment.

Harlem Renaissance (1920s–1930s)

  • Cultural, social, and artistic explosion in Harlem, NYC.

  • Literature: Langston Hughes (poetry), Zora Neale Hurston (novels/folklore), Claude McKay.

  • Music: Jazz and blues flourished — Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith.

  • Art: Aaron Douglas, Archibald Motley celebrated African American life.

  • Magazines like The Crisis (NAACP publication) and Opportunity spread ideas.

  • Celebrated Black pride and identity, challenged racism.

  • Laid groundwork for Civil Rights Movement.

Scopes Trial (1925)

  • Tennessee passed the Butler Act banning teaching of evolution.

  • John T. Scopes, high school teacher, tested the law by teaching Darwin’s theory.

  • Trial in Dayton, Tennessee became national spectacle.

  • Prosecution: William Jennings Bryan (former presidential candidate, religious traditionalist).

  • Defense: Clarence Darrow (famous lawyer, defender of free thought).

  • Trial was broadcast on radio, symbolizing clash between science and religion.

  • Scopes convicted, fined $100 (verdict later overturned).

  • Highlighted cultural divide: modern urban vs. traditional rural America.

19th Amendment (1920)

  • Ratified August 18, 1920, gave women the right to vote.

  • Result of decades of activism: Seneca Falls Convention (1848) → suffrage campaigns by leaders like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul.

  • Women first voted in national election in 1920.

  • Helped women gain a larger voice in politics (though Black women in the South still faced voter suppression).

  • Sparked more activism for equal rights and economic independence.

Flappers

  • Young women who symbolized freedom and independence in the 1920s.

  • Fashion: short skirts, bobbed hair, makeup, sleeveless dresses.

  • Lifestyle: smoked, drank alcohol, danced to jazz, drove cars.

  • Challenged traditional expectations of femininity.

  • Represented cultural rebellion against older generations.

  • Became icons of the Jazz Age.

Economic Prosperity (The Roaring Twenties)

  • Economic boom fueled by mass production, especially automobiles.

  • Assembly line (Henry Ford) made goods cheaper and faster to produce.

  • Industries: radios, household appliances, movies, steel, oil.

  • Stock market grew rapidly; many invested on margin (buying with borrowed money).

  • Widespread use of credit and installment plans made consumer goods more accessible.

  • Impact: Raised standard of living but led to overproduction and consumer debt, contributing to Depression.

New Urban Scene

  • By 1920, more Americans lived in cities than rural areas for the first time.

  • Cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit became cultural and industrial hubs.

  • Entertainment: movie theaters, jazz clubs, Broadway shows.

  • Skyscrapers rose, symbolizing growth.

  • Contrast: Rural areas clung to tradition, religion, and prohibition.

  • Cultural divide grew between rural vs. urban America.

Impact of the Automobile

  • Henry Ford’s Model T (first sold in 1908) revolutionized life; by 1929, 26 million cars on U.S. roads.

  • Assembly line production lowered costs, making cars affordable for average families.

  • Growth of industries: steel, rubber, oil, glass, road construction, motels, gas stations.

  • Created suburbs, as families could live outside cities but commute to work.

  • Social change: teenagers gained independence, dating culture changed (“car as freedom”).

  • Symbol of economic prosperity and modern America.

Limiting Immigration

  • Emergency Quota Act (1921): Limited immigrants from each country to 3% of that nationality in U.S. as of 1910 census.

  • Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act): Stricter — only 2% allowed, based on 1890 census (favored Northern/Western Europeans).

  • Practically ended immigration from Southern/Eastern Europe; banned all Asian immigration (except Philippines).

  • Reflected nativism, racism, and fear of radicals.

  • Ku Klux Klan (revived 1915) supported restrictions.

  • Immigration remained limited until 1965 reforms.

Sacco and Vanzetti Case (1920–1927)

  • Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian immigrants and anarchists, accused of armed robbery and murder in Massachusetts (1920).

  • Trial was highly controversial: evidence was weak, but their political beliefs and immigrant status biased the jury.

  • Convicted and executed in 1927 despite worldwide protests and appeals.

  • Famous intellectuals (Albert Einstein, H.G. Wells) spoke out against the verdict.

  • Case symbolized injustice, prejudice, and anti-immigrant hostility in the 1920s.