chapter 26: understanding postwar tensions
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Chapter 26: Understanding Postwar Tensions. What effects did postwar tensions have on America’s founding ideals?. Economic Tensions. Demobilization causes massive unemployment During WWI, industrial production doubled, agricultural production tripled And when the war ended? - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
CHAPTER 26: UNDERSTANDING
POSTWAR TENSIONS
What effects did postwar tensions have on America’s
founding ideals?
Economic Tensions Demobilization causes massive
unemployment During WWI, industrial production doubled,
agricultural production tripled And when the war ended?
Inflation after the War Spending spree (after much saving) Inflation
A rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy
When the price level rises, currency buys fewer goods and services
Unemployment + Inflation = Recession
Labor Tensions Businesses return to prewar labor practices
No more cooperation or the mediation of disputes by the War Labor Board
Corporations fought unions and the gains they had made
AFL (American Federation of Labor) Group of unions represented skilled laborers “bread and butter” issues (better wages/better
conditions) The more radical Wobblies (I.W.W.)
wanted more 3600 strikes across the U.S. in 1919
Labor Tensions
In Seattle 35, 000 shipyard workers were
joined by 100,000 more in a general strike
In Boston The police force walked off the
job with the support and sympathy of the citizens, at first
Anarchy resulted Calvin Coolidge as Governor of
Massachusetts “There is no right to strike against the public
safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.”
Unions Lose Public Support and Membership
Americans viewed unions as a threat Strike related violence could lead to
anarchy The strikes didn’t achieve lasting effects “Politics” of union membership
Unskilled workers often were left out Immigrants were not welcomed African-Americans were excluded
The Supreme Court rejected child labor laws and minimum wage laws
Bomb Scares Fuel Fear of Radicals
Senators, mayors, business leaders and even a Supreme Court justice either received bomb packages or were going to
Radicalism = extreme change in the social or economic structures Could be Communists, Socialists or Anarchists
(who are opposed to all systems of government) Communism called for the public
ownership of all means of production leading to a classless society The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia
accomplished this The Red Scare
The Red Scare Leads to Raids on Subversives
Attorney General Mitchell Palmer and his assistant J. Edgar Hoover raid homes, businesses and meeting places often without cause (known as “Palmer Raids”)
Civil Liberties were trampled
Increasing Social Tension Nativism
“they” could never be 100% American “they” are overcrowding our cities and taking our jobs
Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 Set quotas to limit immigration
The Ku Klux Klan Anti-Jewish, anti-black, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic Their membership reached 3-4 million in the 1920’s
In 1920 the ACLU was founded to defend those whose rights were being violated (not always popular)
Enduring Racial and Religious Tension
Race riots exploded as a result of the Great Migration Black veterans couldn’t find jobs (white veterans had
their jobs taken by blacks) Back to Africa Movement
Marcus Garvey Raised the question of a
separate society versus anintegrated one
Anti-Semitism Prejudice against Jews The Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) is founded to combatdiscrimination against Jews
The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti
A Case Study for Understanding Post-World War One America
ECONOMIC TENSIONS: LABOR
TENSIONS: POLITICAL
TENSIONS: SOCIAL
TENSIONS:
CHAPTER 27: THE POLITICS OF
NORMALCY
Did the Republican Era of the 1920’s bring peace and prosperity to all Americans?
CHAPTER 28: POPULAR CULTURE IN THE
ROARING TWENTIESWhat social trends and
innovations shaped popular culture during the 1920’s?
Pop. Culture Trends of the
1920’s
A new consumer culture New appliances,
electricity in homes
Advertising builds demand
Installment buying allows credit
Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s
Americans take to the road and air Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St.
Louis become heroes Barnstorming air shows with wing
walkers gain popularity Amelia Earhart flies solo across the
Atlantic Henry Ford mass produces affordable
automobiles The isolation of farm life ends Suburbs can grow Roadside advertising becomes big business
Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s
The importance of mass media Newspapers and magazines keep
Americans informed Radio pioneers like David Sarnoff
provide entertainment (NBC) Music, comedies, dramas all on the radio
People flock to movie houses The Jazz Singer was the first full length
“talkie” “Radio told the masses what to do,
movies showed them how to do it.” Fashions, hair styles, behaviors
Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s
Women move toward greater equality League of Women Voters to educate
women on the issues and support political activity
Equal Rights Amendment championed by Alice Paul is proposed but never ratified
Women enter professions, seek greater opportunities and rebel against traditional roles, clothing, behavior and customs
Margaret Sanger opens the country’s first family planning clinic
Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s The “Jazz Age”
Distinctly American form of music African rhythms, European harmonies, African-
American folk music Improvisation not necessarily a written score Harlem in NYC doubled in population with the
Great Migration The most famous club of all was the Cotton Club
Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s (writers and artists)
Harlem Renaissance “revival” or “rebirth” The Great Migration
congregated black populations in large, northern cities war opportunities limits in immigration poor conditions in
the south and oppression by whites
None larger than in Harlem, New York
Mother to Son by Langston HughesWell, son, I’ll tell you:Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.It’s had tacks in it, and splinters,And boards torn up,And places with no carpet on the floor -
Bare.But all the timeI’se been a-climbin’ on,And reachin’ landin’s,And turnin’ corners,And sometimes goin’ in the darkWhere there ain’t been no light.So boy, don’t you turn back.Don’t you set down on the steps‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.Don’t you fall now-For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’,And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s (writers and artists)
Jazz Age Authors F. Scott Fitzgerald
Moral emptiness, lost promises from World War I The Lost Generation
Critical of American life
Many headed to Paris e.e. cummings used
no capital letters Artists like Georgia
O’Keeffe found inspiration in nature
Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s
(sports heroes)
CHAPTER 29: THE CLASS BETWEEN TRADITIONALISM
AND MODERNISM
How did social, economic and religious tensions divide
Americans during the Roaring Twenties?
TRADITIONALISTS MODERNISTS Respect for long held
social, cultural and religious values
Those provide stability and order
A desire for the “simple life”
Embrace of new ideas, styles and social trends
Traditional values were chains that restricted individual freedoms and the pursuit of happiness
Urban Attractions and Rural Problems
Life in the City Wages and
per capita income rose
Standards of living improved
Movies, museums, concerts, clubs
Life in the Country New ideas and
behaviors were cause for suspicion
Crop prices fell after the war and farmers could not pay loans
The Republican administrations did not want to interfere with the markets and help
Urban Modernists vs. Rural Traditionalists
Small town values were mocked by modernists while the traditionalists fought to preserve and defend all that was good in American life
Cities = immoral, materialistic, money-grubbing Fundamentalism in the country = the idea that
religious texts and beliefs should be taken literally and treated as the ultimate authority on behavior
Billy Sunday gained popularity as the most prominent fundamentalist preacher of the day
Rural areas were losing population to the cities
The Young vs. The OldYOUTH PERSPECTIVE ADULT PERSPECTIVE High School and
college enrollment was growing
Fads and trends develop
Flappers w/ their new clothing styles and behaviors
Mass media andcars provide “escapes”
The young were reckless and immoral
The Hays Office issues moral codes for movie behavior
Legislate more conservative behavior
Wets vs. DrysDRY PERSPECTIVE WET PERSPECTIVE Support the 18th
amendment (Volstead Act) for a happier and healthier society
Prohibition would help control “foreign” influences
Government couldn’t (or shouldn’t) legislate morality
Too difficult to enforce
Speakeasies allowed drinking in secret clubs
Bootleggers got rich
Creationism vs. EvolutionEVOLUTION CREATIONISM Charles Darwin The Bible is the word
of God
Creationism vs. EvolutionEVOLUTION CREATIONISM Natural Selection Survival of the
Fittest “Social Darwinism”
The fittest or most powerful should rule the less powerful
Science can explain how the physical world works
Taken literally, “God created the Universe.”
Fear of eugenics The human species
could be improved by forbidding people with undesirable characteristics from reproducing
The Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925)
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution holds that inherited characteristics of a population change over generations, which sometimes results in the rise of a new species. According to Darwin, the human species may have
evolved from an ape-like species that lived long ago. Fundamentalists think this theory is against the biblical
account of how God created humans and that teaching evolution undermines religious faith.
Laws were passed preventing evolution being taught in schools
One group in Tennessee persuaded a young science teacher named John Scopes to violate the law, get arrested, and go to trial.
The Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925)
Scopes was represented by Clarence Darrow, and William Jennings Bryan, three-time candidate for president, represented the prosecution.
John Scopes was obviously guilty, but the trial was about larger issues.
Scopes was convicted and fined $100
The Tennessee law remained in place until the 1960s.