A Republican Decade

Angela BrownChapter 11

http://www.fcps.edu/westspringfieldhs/academic/english/1project/99gg/99gg2/clothe2.htm 1

The Red Scare

□“Normalcy” appealed to American in 1920

□Events convinced people U.S. threatened by political violence.

http://www.fcps.edu/westspringfieldhs/academic/english/1project/99gg/99gg2/clothe2.htm

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Russian Revolution

□Czar Nicholas II forced to abdicate March 1917

□Vladimir Lenin and Bolsheviks took control

□Bolshevik government put all privately owned farms, industries, land, and transportation under government ownership.

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http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/lenin.gif

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□1918 Civil War Lenin forces “Reds”, opponents “White”

□Britain, France Japan, U.S. whose investments had been seized – backed Whites (farmers/landowners)

□Reds triumphed in 1920 = Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)/Soviet Union

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Soviet Union Maphttp://depts.washington.edu/caict/images/map.gif

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□Communism as practiced in Soviet Union

□government owned all land-property□single political party controlled

government□Individuals had no rights□government vowed to spread

communism7

□Redscare – intense fear of communism and other extreme ideas

□Known communists jailed or driven out of country.

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Schenck Vs U.S.

□Government justified in silencing free speech when “clear and present danger” stated Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

□Charles Schenck – letters to draftees urged them not to report to duty

□Convicted of violating espionage act

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The Palmer Raids

□1919 Attorney General Mitchell Palmer of Justice Department set up special force to overthrow “subversives” – targets included communists, socialists, anarchists

□Thousands jailed, 500 immigrants deported most innocent – none convicted of any crime

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http://www.kirkwood.k12.mo.us/parent_student/KHS/plattes/topics17and18/topics17and1821.jpg

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□At first supported – went to far□1920 NY State assembly expelled (5)

socialists (had done nothing wrong – legally elected)

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Sacco and Vanzetti

□1920 gunman robbed /killed guard and paymaster of shoestore

□Nicola Sacco, shoemaker; Bartolomeo Vanzetti, fish peddler – both carrying guns when arrested

□Drew international attention/controversy

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□ Americans suspected/accused because they were immigrants (Italian)

□ Many appeals upheld conviction – electrocuted 1927

□ Labor Strikes□ Americans believed communists behind

strikes□ Simpler cause, cost of living double

prewar levels

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Boston Police Strikes

□Strike – no pay increases since before WWI

□Rioting began – Calvin Coolidge (Governor) called out state guard

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Steel and Coal Strikes

□1919 U.S. Steel Corp. used force to break strike (private police force) – killed 18 – beat hundreds

□United mine Workers of America – no strike agreement during war

□Governor Court ordered strikers back to work

□UMW cancelled strike – got raise□1920’s economy boomed – strikes/unions

decreased

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Republican Leadership

□Republican Party dominated all (3) branches of government (President Harding, Coolidge, Hoover 1921-1933)

□William H. Taft – Chief Justice of Supreme Court

□Favored business, social stability = economic growth

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The Harding Presidency

□Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce

□Many appointments to friends – incompetent and dishonest – overwhelm his presidency and life

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Isolationism

□Foreign policy reflected Americans’ postwar desire for isolationism

□Isolationism – a policy of avoiding political or economic alliances with foreign countries

□No attempt to join League of Nations

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□Support disarmament – program for nations to voluntarily give up weapons

□1921 Washington Conference nations signed treaties limiting size of navies

□1922 Fordney – McCumber Tariff – raised rates on a number of imports – discouraged imports that competed with goods made by U.S.

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Limiting Immigration

□Nativist movement became stronger□immigrants could never be fully loyal□mostly protestants – disliked Catholics,

Orthodox Christians, or Jews□Blamed immigrants for city problems

(slums, corruption)

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□ feared would take away U.S. jobs□ came from unstable parts of Europe –

might hold or adopt dangerous political ideas

□ 1921, 1924 Congress passed laws restricting immigration at Harding’s request

□ 350,000 total immigrants

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□quotas, numerical limits form each foreign nation

□low quotas for southern/eastern European countries – Asian immigration banned altogether

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Teapot Dome Scandal

□Harding died of heart problems Aug 2, 1923

□Possibly due to upset from corruption scandals of his administration- stolen government funds, bribes taken, two committed suicide.

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Sec. of Interior, Albert Fall, secretly gave oil drilling rights on government oil fields (Elk Hills, California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming)

Fall received $300,000 disguised as loans – jailed

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The Coolidge Presidency

□Vice- President Calvin Coolidge’s father, a justice of the peace administered him oath of office of President of the United States by kerosene lamp

□Coolidge respected as governor of Mass. – not part of Harding scandals

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□1924 election won in own right “Keep Cool with Coolidge” slogan

□skilled public speaker, privately man of few words (could be silent in (5) languages

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Laissez Faire

□“The business of the American People is Business”

□Republican decade – theme – do not interfere with big business – tried to make federal government smaller

□Coolidge’s efforts to have government do less drew criticism from those who saw it as failure to take action

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Continued Isolationism

□Sec. of State, Frank Kellogg – French Foreign minister, Aristide Briand

□Kellogg-Briand Pact – 15 nations agreed not to use the threat of war in their dealings with one another – more than 60 nations joined (unrealistic, unworkable – no way to enforce)

□1941 many nations that signed at war

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Election of 1928

□Coolidge chose not to run again.□Herbert Hoover Republican Nominee□Won by large margin against Alfred

E. Smith first Roman Catholic to run – Governor of NY.

□U.S. hoped Coolidge prosperity would continue.

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