HIST
The Roaring Twenties
Prohibition: Created by the 18th amendment, took effect in January 1920. Enforced by the federal Prohibition Bureau because state police were overloaded by crime. Volstead Act deemed what were considered intoxicating liquors. Gave a major boost to organized crime (“bootlegging”). Amount of Americans dying from alcohol poisoning skyrockets due to drinking adulterer alcohol.
1926: 80% of Americans favored repealing or modifying prohibition.
St. Valentines Day Massacre [1929] in Chicago: (spit in to two gangs, south side gang (Al Capone [1899-1947]) hires hitman to pretend to be police and shot up a garage on the north side gang territory.
Repeal of Prohibition: President. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the 21st Amendment on Dec. 5, 1933.
Nativism in the 1920s: Stimulated by WWI and the Sacco and Vanzetti case of 1920. Accused them of killing a parole man and his guard at a shoe factory. Convicted them based on the fact that they were Italian, anarchists, and didn’t speak English well. Sentenced to death. Led congress to pass two laws restricting immigration into the U.S. - the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 and the Immigration (or National Origin) Act of 1924.
Second Ku Klux Klan: Formed atop Stone Mountain in 1915 by “Colonel” William J. Simmons (wanted to get rich off of nationalism). Became a national organization for a brief period in the 1920s - at least 3 million members in 1924. Not only anti-black but also anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti Hispanic.
Marcus Garvey: Jamaican born black Nationalists. Leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Encouraged a “back to Africa” movement among black peoples in the USA. Convicted of mail fraud; spent five years in jail and was then deported.
The Harlem Renaissance: Musicians, artists, community leaders, and writers.
Scopes trial (July 1925, Dayton, Tennessee): At issue - Tennessee ’s law against teaching evolution in schools. Defendant - John T. Scopes. Defense lawyer - Clarence Darrow. “Expert witness” for prosecution - William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was convicted and fined $100, but the Tennessee Supreme Court later overturned the verdict on a technicality. Bryan was subject to much public ridicule and died one week after the trial ended.
1920s National Politics: Dominated by the Republican Party. Economic policy shaped by Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury (1921-320 - low taxes and high tariffs, “trickle-down economics”. Efforts at maintaining world peace - Five-power Navel Treaty of 1922 and Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 ( agreed to outlaw war - Signed by most established nations in the world on August 27, 1928 and is still in effect today according to international and U.S. law.
Warren G. Harding: 29th president, republican 1921-1923.
Teapot Dome Scandal: Involved Harding’s Sec. of the Interior, Albert Fall, who took bribes from oil companies in exchange for granting them leases on oil fields in WY and CA. Fall became the first Cabinet member in U.S. history to be imprisoned (one year +$100,000 in fines).
Calvin Coolidge (1923-29): 30th President. Wanted a hands off approach to government.
Election of 1928: Herbert Hoover (R Sec. of Commerce) vs Al Smith (D, governor of NY). Smith opposed Prohibition; he was also the first Roman Catholic ever nominated by a major party.
1924 Ford Model T AD: Can start buying cars on credit.
Birth of Radio: KDKA, East Pittsburgh Works of Westinghouse.
Movies - From Silent to Sound: 1920s The Jazz Singer - Warner Bros Production.
Charles Lindbergh: First transatlantic solo flight , NYC to Paris, 1927.
The End of the Roaring 20s: Black Tuesday and the stock market loses millions.
Causes of the Great Depression: Grossly unequal distribution of income. Agricultural depression of the 1920s. Instability of the banking industry. Defaults by European nations on their debts to the US.
The Great Depression
“Hoovervilles” (homeless camps)
Bonus Army: In 1924, Congress voted to give WWI veterans a “cash bonus” in 1946; unemployed vets began demanding immediate payment in 1932 and marched to D.C. Hoover sent the Army to disperse them.
FDR’s inaguration, March 4, 1933: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
Banking Reform: FDR declared a four-day “national bank holiday” on March, 1933/ Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act in 8 hours, which permitted sound banks to reopen and provide money and managerial assistance to banks in trouble. FDR’s first “fireside chat”.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Created in June 1933 by the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.
Job Creation (1933): Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - Provided conservation related jobs for young men aged 18-25.
Relief for Farmers: Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) - Paid landowning farmers to produce less crops or meat or poultry or dairy products. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court but replaced by a 2nd AAA in 1938.
National Industrial Recovery Act: The NIRA (1933) - The purpose of the NIRA was to put people back to work, raise the purchasing power of labor and elevate labor standards. Most importantly it was to create a unified American front in the domestic was against the Great Depression.
Tennessee Valley Authority: Created in 1933 by the TVA Act. Created economic development in the TN Valley through flood control and cheap electricity.
The New Deal and American Indians: Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 - Decreased federal control of American Indian affairs and increased Indian self-government and responsibility.
Second New Deal (1935-38): FDR’s response to three things - The Supreme Court striking down the NIRA and the AAA. Liberal critics who claimed the New Deal was doing too little for poor people (Charles Coughlin, Frances Townsend, Huey Long). The fact that the Great Depression was still going on.
Social Security Act (1935): Old-age pensions. Unemployment and disability insurance (in conjunction with the states).
Works Progress Administration (WPA): Provided federal funding for public construction projects, arts programs, and other job creation programs that would also be of benefit to the public.
National Labor Relations Act of 1935: Also called the Wagner Act. Guaranteed labor unions the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining.
The United Auto Workers and “sit-down strikes”
FDR’s “court packing” plan: After his second inauguration, FDR proposed (without success) increasing the number of Supreme Court justices from 9 to 15.
Dust Bowl: Kills thousands and completely ruins farms causing a mass migration to western stated in search of a better life. CCC planted millions of trees to prevent another one.
Fair Labor Standards Act 1938: Created the federal minimum wage. Established the 40-hr. work week and overtime pay. Banned child labor (<16 yrs. old in manufacturing and mining).
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962): Niece of Theodore Roosevelt; married Franklin (a distant cousin) in 1905. Worked as a volunteer social worker in NYC in the early 1900s. First “activist” First Lady - particularly as a champion for the impoverished, women, and minorities.
Results of the New Deal: Unemployed rate of 25% in 1933 was 17% in 1939. More “big government,” large tax increases, and increased federal deficit spending. The New Deal did not end the Great Depression; World War II did. But the New Deal created jobs for millions of American workers and saved millions of farmers from bankruptcy.
WWII (1939-1945)
The Allies: The top 5 - Great Britain, France (under German occupation, June 1940-August 1944), USSR (1941-1945), USA(1941-1945), Italy (1943 - 1945).
The Axis: The top 3 - Germany, Italy (1940-1943), Japan (1941-1945).
American Isolationism, 1930s: Nye Committee (led by Sen. Gerald Nye [R-ND], 1934-36). Suggested that USS entry into WWI had been unduly influenced by “merchants of death” (munitions makers) and bankers who loaned money to Allies.
FDR’s “Good Neighbor” Policy: Important to have all nations in the Western Hemisphere united in lieu of foreign aggressions. FDR - The good neighbor respects himself and the rights of others. Policy of non-intervention and cooperation.
Neutrality Acts: Congress enacted the Neutrality Acts as follows - No sale r shipment of arms to belligerents, no loans or credits to belligerents, no travel by U.S. citizens on Belligerents’ ships.
German Aggression, March 1936 - March 1939
Munich Pact, Sept. 1938: Agreement between Germany, Great Britain, and France - Germany could keep the Sudetenland but would make no further territorial demands. British PM Neville Chamberlain - “peace in our time”.
U.S. Declares neutrality: FDR’s fireside chat, Sept. 3, 1939 - said US would remain neutral but “cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought.”
Neutrality Acts 1939: Purchase of nonmilitary goods by belligerents to be paid in cash and transported in their own ships (cash-and-carry). Purpose - to limit U.S. involvement in future wars.
“Blitzkrieg” in Europe, spring 1940: April-June - Germany conquered Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.
Presidential election of 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt (D). “Don’t switch horses in the middle of the stream.” Wendell Wilkie (R, Indiana).
USA prepares for war, 1940: Selective Service Act of 1940 - first peacetime draft in U.S. history. Congress ordered 19,000 new war planes and 150 new warships.
Japanese aggression in East Asia, 1931-41: French Indochina conquering to get the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii.
Tripartite Pact of 1940: Japan, Italy, and Germany pact, if someone declares war against one the other two must declare war against the aggressor.
Lend-Lease Act of 1941: Allowed Great Britain (and other Allied nations) to make military purchases from the USA on credit.
Soviet entry into the war, 1941: June: Germany invaded the USSR. The USSR declared war on Germany and joined the Allied forces.
Atlantic Charter (Aug. 1941): Agreement between FDR and Churchill (UK) in which they agreed upon some mutual war aims, such as achieving peace, freedom of the seas, and establishing what in 1945 became the United Nations (UN).
Manhattan Project: Initiated in 1941 to develop and build atomic bombs.
Pearl Harbor and US entry into the war, December 1941: December 7, 1941 - Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - “a date which will live in infamy” (FDR). 2,400 Americans killed , 1,200 more wounded, 119 US Navy ships sunk or damaged. USA declared war on Japan, Dec. 8; at war with Germany and Italy by Dec. 11.
The Homefront - World War II and Civil Rights: Executive Order 8802 (1941) - Barred racial discrimination in hiring in defense industries. Executive Order 9066 (1942): Ordered the relocation on 112,000 Japanese Americans to prison camps. (US Armed Forces = still segregated then).
American Women at War: Women’s Army Corps (WAC) - 150,000 women enlisted, 1942-1945. Women held 1/3 of US manufacturing jobs. Rosie the Riveter.
World War II in the Pacific, 1942: Jan.- March - Japan took control of SE Asia and the Dutch East Indies. June - USA defeated Japanning the Battle of Midway.
World War II in Europe, 1944: D-Day, June 6 - The Allies landed at Normandy, France (156,000 British, American, and Canadian troops).
Election of 1944: FDR (D) defeated Thomas Dewey (R-NY). New Vice President - Harry Truman.
Yalta Conference, Feb. 1945: Key issues - Soviet aid in the US’s war against Japan. Political future of Germany and Eastern Europe.
Death of FDR: April 12 - FDR died; Truman became president.
The end of the war in Europe, 1945: The fall of Germany - Hitler committed suicide, April 30th. Germany Surrendered, May 7th.
Potsdam Conference, July 17-August 2, 1945: Germany and Berlin were divided into zones of Allied occupation. Truman warned Japan to make an “unconditional surrender” or face “prompt and utter destruction”.
The Roaring Twenties
Prohibition: Created by the 18th amendment, took effect in January 1920. Enforced by the federal Prohibition Bureau because state police were overloaded by crime. Volstead Act deemed what were considered intoxicating liquors. Gave a major boost to organized crime (“bootlegging”). Amount of Americans dying from alcohol poisoning skyrockets due to drinking adulterer alcohol.
1926: 80% of Americans favored repealing or modifying prohibition.
St. Valentines Day Massacre [1929] in Chicago: (spit in to two gangs, south side gang (Al Capone [1899-1947]) hires hitman to pretend to be police and shot up a garage on the north side gang territory.
Repeal of Prohibition: President. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the 21st Amendment on Dec. 5, 1933.
Nativism in the 1920s: Stimulated by WWI and the Sacco and Vanzetti case of 1920. Accused them of killing a parole man and his guard at a shoe factory. Convicted them based on the fact that they were Italian, anarchists, and didn’t speak English well. Sentenced to death. Led congress to pass two laws restricting immigration into the U.S. - the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 and the Immigration (or National Origin) Act of 1924.
Second Ku Klux Klan: Formed atop Stone Mountain in 1915 by “Colonel” William J. Simmons (wanted to get rich off of nationalism). Became a national organization for a brief period in the 1920s - at least 3 million members in 1924. Not only anti-black but also anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti Hispanic.
Marcus Garvey: Jamaican born black Nationalists. Leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Encouraged a “back to Africa” movement among black peoples in the USA. Convicted of mail fraud; spent five years in jail and was then deported.
The Harlem Renaissance: Musicians, artists, community leaders, and writers.
Scopes trial (July 1925, Dayton, Tennessee): At issue - Tennessee ’s law against teaching evolution in schools. Defendant - John T. Scopes. Defense lawyer - Clarence Darrow. “Expert witness” for prosecution - William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was convicted and fined $100, but the Tennessee Supreme Court later overturned the verdict on a technicality. Bryan was subject to much public ridicule and died one week after the trial ended.
1920s National Politics: Dominated by the Republican Party. Economic policy shaped by Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury (1921-320 - low taxes and high tariffs, “trickle-down economics”. Efforts at maintaining world peace - Five-power Navel Treaty of 1922 and Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 ( agreed to outlaw war - Signed by most established nations in the world on August 27, 1928 and is still in effect today according to international and U.S. law.
Warren G. Harding: 29th president, republican 1921-1923.
Teapot Dome Scandal: Involved Harding’s Sec. of the Interior, Albert Fall, who took bribes from oil companies in exchange for granting them leases on oil fields in WY and CA. Fall became the first Cabinet member in U.S. history to be imprisoned (one year +$100,000 in fines).
Calvin Coolidge (1923-29): 30th President. Wanted a hands off approach to government.
Election of 1928: Herbert Hoover (R Sec. of Commerce) vs Al Smith (D, governor of NY). Smith opposed Prohibition; he was also the first Roman Catholic ever nominated by a major party.
1924 Ford Model T AD: Can start buying cars on credit.
Birth of Radio: KDKA, East Pittsburgh Works of Westinghouse.
Movies - From Silent to Sound: 1920s The Jazz Singer - Warner Bros Production.
Charles Lindbergh: First transatlantic solo flight , NYC to Paris, 1927.
The End of the Roaring 20s: Black Tuesday and the stock market loses millions.
Causes of the Great Depression: Grossly unequal distribution of income. Agricultural depression of the 1920s. Instability of the banking industry. Defaults by European nations on their debts to the US.
The Great Depression
“Hoovervilles” (homeless camps)
Bonus Army: In 1924, Congress voted to give WWI veterans a “cash bonus” in 1946; unemployed vets began demanding immediate payment in 1932 and marched to D.C. Hoover sent the Army to disperse them.
FDR’s inaguration, March 4, 1933: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
Banking Reform: FDR declared a four-day “national bank holiday” on March, 1933/ Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act in 8 hours, which permitted sound banks to reopen and provide money and managerial assistance to banks in trouble. FDR’s first “fireside chat”.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Created in June 1933 by the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.
Job Creation (1933): Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - Provided conservation related jobs for young men aged 18-25.
Relief for Farmers: Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) - Paid landowning farmers to produce less crops or meat or poultry or dairy products. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court but replaced by a 2nd AAA in 1938.
National Industrial Recovery Act: The NIRA (1933) - The purpose of the NIRA was to put people back to work, raise the purchasing power of labor and elevate labor standards. Most importantly it was to create a unified American front in the domestic was against the Great Depression.
Tennessee Valley Authority: Created in 1933 by the TVA Act. Created economic development in the TN Valley through flood control and cheap electricity.
The New Deal and American Indians: Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 - Decreased federal control of American Indian affairs and increased Indian self-government and responsibility.
Second New Deal (1935-38): FDR’s response to three things - The Supreme Court striking down the NIRA and the AAA. Liberal critics who claimed the New Deal was doing too little for poor people (Charles Coughlin, Frances Townsend, Huey Long). The fact that the Great Depression was still going on.
Social Security Act (1935): Old-age pensions. Unemployment and disability insurance (in conjunction with the states).
Works Progress Administration (WPA): Provided federal funding for public construction projects, arts programs, and other job creation programs that would also be of benefit to the public.
National Labor Relations Act of 1935: Also called the Wagner Act. Guaranteed labor unions the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining.
The United Auto Workers and “sit-down strikes”
FDR’s “court packing” plan: After his second inauguration, FDR proposed (without success) increasing the number of Supreme Court justices from 9 to 15.
Dust Bowl: Kills thousands and completely ruins farms causing a mass migration to western stated in search of a better life. CCC planted millions of trees to prevent another one.
Fair Labor Standards Act 1938: Created the federal minimum wage. Established the 40-hr. work week and overtime pay. Banned child labor (<16 yrs. old in manufacturing and mining).
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962): Niece of Theodore Roosevelt; married Franklin (a distant cousin) in 1905. Worked as a volunteer social worker in NYC in the early 1900s. First “activist” First Lady - particularly as a champion for the impoverished, women, and minorities.
Results of the New Deal: Unemployed rate of 25% in 1933 was 17% in 1939. More “big government,” large tax increases, and increased federal deficit spending. The New Deal did not end the Great Depression; World War II did. But the New Deal created jobs for millions of American workers and saved millions of farmers from bankruptcy.
WWII (1939-1945)
The Allies: The top 5 - Great Britain, France (under German occupation, June 1940-August 1944), USSR (1941-1945), USA(1941-1945), Italy (1943 - 1945).
The Axis: The top 3 - Germany, Italy (1940-1943), Japan (1941-1945).
American Isolationism, 1930s: Nye Committee (led by Sen. Gerald Nye [R-ND], 1934-36). Suggested that USS entry into WWI had been unduly influenced by “merchants of death” (munitions makers) and bankers who loaned money to Allies.
FDR’s “Good Neighbor” Policy: Important to have all nations in the Western Hemisphere united in lieu of foreign aggressions. FDR - The good neighbor respects himself and the rights of others. Policy of non-intervention and cooperation.
Neutrality Acts: Congress enacted the Neutrality Acts as follows - No sale r shipment of arms to belligerents, no loans or credits to belligerents, no travel by U.S. citizens on Belligerents’ ships.
German Aggression, March 1936 - March 1939
Munich Pact, Sept. 1938: Agreement between Germany, Great Britain, and France - Germany could keep the Sudetenland but would make no further territorial demands. British PM Neville Chamberlain - “peace in our time”.
U.S. Declares neutrality: FDR’s fireside chat, Sept. 3, 1939 - said US would remain neutral but “cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought.”
Neutrality Acts 1939: Purchase of nonmilitary goods by belligerents to be paid in cash and transported in their own ships (cash-and-carry). Purpose - to limit U.S. involvement in future wars.
“Blitzkrieg” in Europe, spring 1940: April-June - Germany conquered Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.
Presidential election of 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt (D). “Don’t switch horses in the middle of the stream.” Wendell Wilkie (R, Indiana).
USA prepares for war, 1940: Selective Service Act of 1940 - first peacetime draft in U.S. history. Congress ordered 19,000 new war planes and 150 new warships.
Japanese aggression in East Asia, 1931-41: French Indochina conquering to get the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii.
Tripartite Pact of 1940: Japan, Italy, and Germany pact, if someone declares war against one the other two must declare war against the aggressor.
Lend-Lease Act of 1941: Allowed Great Britain (and other Allied nations) to make military purchases from the USA on credit.
Soviet entry into the war, 1941: June: Germany invaded the USSR. The USSR declared war on Germany and joined the Allied forces.
Atlantic Charter (Aug. 1941): Agreement between FDR and Churchill (UK) in which they agreed upon some mutual war aims, such as achieving peace, freedom of the seas, and establishing what in 1945 became the United Nations (UN).
Manhattan Project: Initiated in 1941 to develop and build atomic bombs.
Pearl Harbor and US entry into the war, December 1941: December 7, 1941 - Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - “a date which will live in infamy” (FDR). 2,400 Americans killed , 1,200 more wounded, 119 US Navy ships sunk or damaged. USA declared war on Japan, Dec. 8; at war with Germany and Italy by Dec. 11.
The Homefront - World War II and Civil Rights: Executive Order 8802 (1941) - Barred racial discrimination in hiring in defense industries. Executive Order 9066 (1942): Ordered the relocation on 112,000 Japanese Americans to prison camps. (US Armed Forces = still segregated then).
American Women at War: Women’s Army Corps (WAC) - 150,000 women enlisted, 1942-1945. Women held 1/3 of US manufacturing jobs. Rosie the Riveter.
World War II in the Pacific, 1942: Jan.- March - Japan took control of SE Asia and the Dutch East Indies. June - USA defeated Japanning the Battle of Midway.
World War II in Europe, 1944: D-Day, June 6 - The Allies landed at Normandy, France (156,000 British, American, and Canadian troops).
Election of 1944: FDR (D) defeated Thomas Dewey (R-NY). New Vice President - Harry Truman.
Yalta Conference, Feb. 1945: Key issues - Soviet aid in the US’s war against Japan. Political future of Germany and Eastern Europe.
Death of FDR: April 12 - FDR died; Truman became president.
The end of the war in Europe, 1945: The fall of Germany - Hitler committed suicide, April 30th. Germany Surrendered, May 7th.
Potsdam Conference, July 17-August 2, 1945: Germany and Berlin were divided into zones of Allied occupation. Truman warned Japan to make an “unconditional surrender” or face “prompt and utter destruction”.
