Chapter 20 PowerPoint

• A desire for normality after the war and a fear of communism and “foreigners” led to postwar isolationism.

I. Postwar Trends• The economy was down.• *Nativism- prejudiced against foreign-born people.• *Isolationism- a policy of pulling away from involvement in

world affairs.

Fear of Communism• *Communism- an economic and political system based on

a single party government ruled by a dictatorship.• In order to equalize wealth and power, Communists would

put an end to private property, substituting government ownership of factories, railroads, and other businesses.

The Red Scare• -Began in 1919, after the Bolsheviks overthrew the czarist regime in Russia.• -Led by Vladimir Lenin.

• -A Communist Party formed in the US and the American public grew fearful that Communists were taking over.

• -US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer took action to combat this “Red Scare.”

• -In 1919, Palmer appointed J. Edgar Hoover as his special assistant.

• Palmer Raids• -Palmer, Hoover, and other agents hunted down suspected

communist, socialist, and *Anarchists- people who oppose any form of government.

• *Sacco and Vanzetti- although short-lived, the Red Scare had people suspicious of foreigners and immigrants. These were two of the most famous victims.

• -In May 1920 the men (both Italian) were arrested and charged with robbery and murder of a factory paymaster and his guard in MA.

• -Even though the evidence against them was circumstantial, the jury still found them guilty and sentenced them to death. 1927: executed still pronouncing their innocence.

A Time of Labor Unrest• After the war, striking became common once again.• Employers labeled striking workers as Communists.• Three strikes in particular grabbed public attention:

1. The Boston Police Strike- over a pay raise - Governor Calvin Coolidge called out the National Guard. The strike ended, but the strikers could not return to work.

2. The Steel Mill Strike- (September 1919 - January 1920)• Wanted shorter working hours and a living wage.• Over 300,000 workers walked off their jobs. Police, federal troops, and state

militias beat the strikers.• Again, the strikers were propagandized as communists.• In the end, the steel companies agreed to an 8-hour day, but the steelworkers

remained without a union.3. The Coal Miners Strike- (November 1919)• The United MineWorkers of America, with their new leader, *John L. Lewis, they

pushed for a raise and shorter working hours.• The court ordered the miners back to work and Wilson appointed an arbitrator to

put an end to the dispute.

• During the 1920, labor union movements lost their appeal. Membership decline for several reasons:

• Much of the work force consisted of immigrants willing to work for less in poor conditions.

• Since immigrants spoke a multitude of languages, unions had difficulty organizing.

• Farmers who had migrated to cities to find factory jobs were used to relying on themselves.

• Most unions excluded African-Americans.

Immigration/Nativism

• -The Klan Rises Again- as a result of the Red Scare. Targeted the freed African Americans, Southern and Eastern immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and any other groups believed to have “un-American” values.

• Emergency Quota Act: 1921, Harding, limited immigration to 3 percent of the total number of people in any ethnic group already living in the U.S. Discriminated heavily against Southern and Eastern Europeans.

• National Origins Act of 1924: made immigration restriction a permanent policy. Lowered the quotas to 2% of each national group living in the U.S. in 1890. Exempted immigrants from the Western Hemisphere from the quotas.

• Both acts helped reduce the labor pool in the U.S.

II. The New Morality• Challenged traditional ideas and glorified

youth and personal freedom. • Flappers: young, dramatic, stylish, and

unconventional woman, exemplified the change in women’s behavior.

III. Fundamentalist Movement• Fundamentalism: religious movement; worried

about the new morality and America’s social decline. Rejected Darwin’s theory of evolution, and believed in the theory of Creationism.

• Evolution vs. Creationism• Evolution: humans developed from lower forms

of life over millions of years ago.• Creationism: God created the world as described

in the Bible.• Tennessee passed the Butler Act: made it illegal

to teach anything that denied creationism and taught evolution instead.

• Scopes Trial/Monkey Trial

Aimee Semple McPherson

• “Sister Aimee”• Media Sensation of

1920s• Showy and drew huge

crowds• Pentecostal Preacher

Billy Sunday

• Former baseball player• Most influential

evangelist of the 1920s• Conservative: Literal

interpretation

Margaret Sanger

• Birth Control activist• Family Planning clinics• Criticized religion for

holding back progress• “No woman can call

herself free who does not own and control her own body”

IV. Prohibition• 18th Amendment: outlawed the manufacture

and sale of alcohol.• Volstead Act: made the enforcement of

Prohibition the responsibility of the U.S. Treasury Dept.

• Speakeasies• 21st Amendment: 1933 ended Prohibition –

victory for modernism; defeat of traditional values.

Speakeasies

• Illegal bars during Prohibition

Bootleggers

• Illegal sale and manufacture of alcohol

Section 2: Art and Literature• Challenging traditional ideas as they searched for

meaning in the modern world.• Bohemian: lifestyle of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village

and Chicago’s South Side attracted artists and writers. • F. Scott Fitzgerald: greatest author of the 20s; The

Great Gatsby: story of the Jazz Age

• Ernest Hemmingway: Pulitzer Prize; Nobel Prize for Literature:“The Old Man and the Sea”; “A Farewell to Arms”

Popular Culture• The economic prosperity of the 1920s afforded

many Americans leisure time for enjoying sports, music, theater, and entertainment.

• Radio, motion pictures, and newspapers gave rise to a new interest in sports. Babe Ruth-baseball

• Motion pictures: first “talking” picture, The Jazz Singer; the golden age of Hollywood began.

• Mass media

Silent Films and Talkies

• “The Great Train Robbery”

• First full length film

• “The Jazz Singer”• First Talking Picture

Motion Pictures

-Hollywood emerges

-Charlie Chaplin

“Little Tramp”

-Clara Bow

“It Girl”

-Rudolph Valentino

-talking films, 1927

“Jazz Singer”

-Mickey Mouse, 1930

Radio in the 1920s

• United the Nation culturally

Babe Ruth

• Greatest sports star of the 1920s

Charles Lindbergh

• First non-stop Atlantic flight to Europe

• Superstar!• Spirit of St. Louis

Section 3:The Harlem Renaissance• Great Migration: thousands of African Americans

from the rural South headed to industrial cities in the North with the hope of a better life.

• Harlem Renaissance: African Americans created environments that stimulated artistic development, racial pride, a sense of community, and political organization, which led to a massive creative outpouring of African American arts.

• Langston Hughes: leading voice of African American experience in the U.S.

• Louis Armstrong: introduced jazz; became the first great cornet and trumpet soloist in jazz music.

• Cotton Club: famous Harlem nightspot; Duke Ellington: got his start here.

Zora Neal Hurston

• Author during Harlem Renaissance

• “Their Eyes were Watching God”

• Origins of black culture

African American Politics• After WWI, many African Americans wanted a

new role in life and in politics.• The Great Migration led to African Americans

becoming powerful voting blocs.• NAACP• Marcus Garvey: “Negro Nationalism”-glorified

black culture and traditions; plan to create a settlement in Liberia in Africa for African Americans caused middle class African Americans to distance themselves from Garvey. His ideas led to a sense of pride and hope in African Americans that resurfaced during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.