Period 7 Study Guide: From Progressivism to Global Interventionism

US Neutrality and Entry into World War I

• Initial Stance of Neutrality: Despite being an imperialist power at the time, the United States attempted to remain neutral at the onset of World War I.
• Factors Pulling the U.S. into World War I:     * Unrestricted Submarine Warfare: German U-boats targeted various vessels, leading to the destabilization of maritime safety.     * Sinking of the Lusitania: The Lusitania was an immigrant ship that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boats. A specific anecdotal connection is made to a Mr. Murphy, whose great-great-grandmother was an immigrant traveling on the ship.     * The Zimmerman Telegram: A secret communication intercepted by the U.S. in which Germany proposed a military alliance with Mexico. Germany encouraged Mexico to attack the United States in exchange for the return of the "Mexican Cession" lands—the Southwest American territories lost during the Mexican-American War.

World War II: From Neutrality to Global Conflict

• The Neutrality Acts (1935, 1936, 1937): These legislative acts were designed to ensure the U.S. remained completely neutral in European conflicts. The sentiment was that Europe had "made their bed" and the U.S. should remain separate from the war.
• The Transition from Neutrality to Involvement:     * Cash and Carry: A policy allowing warring nations to purchase munitions from the U.S. if they paid in cash and provided their own transportation to take the goods back.     * Lend-Lease Act: This marked a more aggressive shift away from neutrality. The U.S. began sending convoys of resources and munitions to allies, primarily Great Britain. This required the U.S. to protect those convoys with its own naval ships. The film Greyhound (featuring Tom Hanks) is cited as a significant cultural depiction of these convoy protections.
• The Ultimate Cause: Pearl Harbor: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor served as the final catalyst for U.S. entry into the war.
• The Role of Japanese Imperialism and U.S. Embargoes:     * Japan was also an imperialist nation seeking expansion.     * The U.S. responded to Japanese actions by cutting off trade through a complete embargo on essential goods: oil, steel, and food stuffs.     * Because Japan is an island nation, it was heavily reliant on trade; embargoes are historically considered acts of war. A parallel is drawn to Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807, which nearly drew the U.S. into war with Britain and France.

The Progressive Era and Muckrakers

• Definition & Goal: The Progressive Era was a period dedicated to fixing the problems created during the Gilded Age, including industrialization issues, poverty, and political corruption stemming from "political machines."
• Muckrakers: Journalists who exposed societal problems to provoke reform.     * Ida B. Wells: A Black female journalist from the South and member of the NAACP who exposed the horrors of lynching and the realities of the Jim Crow South.     * Jacob Riis: A photographer and journalist who focused on poverty and the overcrowding of cities. His work (such as portraits of seven people living in a tiny apartment) highlighted how overpopulation was linked to poverty.     * Upton Sinclair: Author of The Jungle, a novel that exposed the unsanitary and dangerous conditions of the meatpacking industry.

Progressive Presidents and Trustbusting

• The Three Progressive Presidents:     * Theodore (TR) Roosevelt.     * William Howard Taft.     * Woodrow Wilson.
• Trustbusting: These presidents focused on breaking up monopolies (trusts). Monopolies were seen as harmful because they stifled competition and gave consumers no choice.
• Labor Reform: Progressives addressed child labor and general labor rights. Theodore Roosevelt was notable for siding with labor unions over large companies during disputes.

Social Movements: Feminism, Temperance, and the Roaring Twenties

• Feminist & Suffrage Movements:     * 19th Amendment: Granted women the right to vote (suffrage).     * Key figures: Alice Paul and proponents of the 19th amendment.     * Margaret Sanger: A leader in the birth control movement.     * Roaring Twenties Social Shifts: The rise of "flapper girls," jazz music, and increased social freedom for women.
• The Temperance Movement: A movement led by figures like Frances Willard to ban alcohol, often linked with broader concerns about child labor and poverty.

The Great Migration and the Jim Crow South

• Definition: The mass movement of Black Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North and West.     * 1st Great Migration: Occurred during World War I.     * 2nd Great Migration: Occurred during World War II.
• Push Factors (Leaving the South):     * Jim Crow Laws: Systemic racism and segregation.     * Black Codes: Laws that replaced slave codes to limit Black Americans' access to property, wealth, loans, and voting.     * Disenfranchisement: Mechanisms like grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and literacy tests designed to prevent Black citizens from voting.     * Violence: Constant threats and acts of violence from the KKK and lynching.
• Pull Factors (Moving to Cities):     * Economic Opportunity: Mobilization for world wars shifted factory production to munitions, creating a high demand for labor in cities.

The First Red Scare

• Origins: Triggered by the Bolshevik Revolution (Russian Revolution) which led to the rise of Communism in Russia under Vladimir Lenin, who was later followed by Joseph Stalin (forming the USSR).
• Domestic Impact:     * Propaganda: Used to fuel fear of communism.     * Targeting of Minority Groups: Nativism led to the targeting of immigrants and union members (who were often labeled as socialists).     * Palmer Raids: Attorney General Mitchell Palmer conducted raids to arrest and deport suspected radicals.     * Sacco and Vanzetti Case: A famous example of the Red Scare/Nativism where two immigrants were arrested, tried, and executed on what many considered to be thin or trumped-up charges.

The Great Depression and the New Deal

• The New Deal: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) program to address the Great Depression through the "Three Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform.
• Expansion of Federal Power: The federal government significantly increased spending to create jobs.
• Economic Context: At the height of the depression, unemployment reached $25\%$, meaning a quarter of the workforce was earning no money and contributing nothing to the economy.
• Financial Reforms:     * SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission): Designed to regulate the stock market and prevent "buying on margin" (speculation) which led to the 1929 crash.     * Banking Holiday: FDR closed banks temporarily to restore public trust. This was necessary because people were "running on banks," withdrawing all funds and causing bank failures.     * Historical Distrust: Many people who lived through the depression (like the speaker’s great-grandmother) hid money in the walls of their houses because they did not trust banks.
• End of the Depression: Note that the New Deal did NOT end the Great Depression; full economic recovery was only achieved through the total mobilization for World War II.

World War II Home Front and Social Groups

• Mobilization: The entire U.S. industry shifted to war production.
• Impact on Social Groups:     * Women: Symbolized by "Rosie the Riveter." Approximately 5 million women entered the workforce; 2.25 million women served in actual military-related jobs.     * Black Americans: Continued to migrate North/West; however, those in the military still fought in segregated units.     * Native Americans: Noted for the contribution of the Navajo Code Talkers, whose language was used to create unbreakable codes.     * Mexican Americans: The Bracero Program was established to bring Mexican laborers into the U.S. with agricultural visas to help meet the demands of war production.

Evolution of American Foreign Policy

• Isolationism to Interventionism: The period marks the definitive shift from the U.S. avoiding international entanglements to becoming a global interventionist power.
• Post-WWII Paradigm: Following World War II, the U.S. abandoned isolationism permanently, leading to involvement in the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran.
• Current Status: The U.S. remains an interventionist power with the strongest military in the world, which serves as the primary tool of its foreign policy.