Politics of a Thin Prosperity-1920-1929

Chapter 25

Postwar Controversy

Boston Police Strike of 1919 had not had a raise since before the war

and cost of living had doubled 4 went to meet and were fired, rest went

on strike no police protection looting, open gambling mayor calls on Governor Calvin Coolidge

for National guard-peace restored and police call off the strike

police commissioner refused to let them return to the job and gave the new police force everything the old one wanted

Samuel Gompers appealed for the fired men: Coolidge response- “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

made him famous <A mass frenzy while the strike took place

Communism

Economic and social system that seemed to threaten our way of life

one political party, state over individual, all property owned by state

1919-attempts to overthrow the government in Germany, Hungary, successful in Russia

Russian Communists encouraged worldwide overthrow of capitalism

abolition of free enterprise and private property

<Lenin-leader of Russian Communism

The Red Scare

Red is symbolic color of Communism

many US radicals are Communist, more are not

public couldn’t distinguish between the two

radical support of unions was attack on the American way of life-fed by strikes

1919-3000 strikes, 4 million walk off job

employers-unions are planning overthrow

<Political Cartoon from the Boston Police Strike

The Red Scare

April of 191-Bombs appear in the US mail

addressed to various government and business leaders

along with violence in some cities-caused panic

fall-two strikes closed down steel and coal mills(winter coming)

United States Attorney General- <A. Mitchell Palmer raids the offices of anarchists, communist, socialist

The Red Scare

Many members are recent immigrants

foreign sounding names meant-un-American and undesirable

Palmer squashed people’s rights searches w/o warrants, locked

up for long periods w/o seeing a lawyer, many arrested because they were friends of suspicious

249 deported people lose interest after the

riots Palmer predicts do not happen

The Ku Klux Klan

Grew swiftly during the 1920’s reached peak in 1924 with 4.5

million white males, native-born, gentile

citizens hoods and burning crosses keeping blacks in their place, drive

Catholics, Jews, and any other “foreigners” from the land

Grand Wizard Hiram Evans people who felt threatened by the

changes in American society some frustration through racial

violence, influence national and state politics

<Klan March on Washington in the 1920’s

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

Italian immigrants and anarchists “a good shoemaker and a poor fish

peddler” May 5, 1920-arrested for a payroll

robbery-South Braintree, Massachusetts

paymaster and guard shot and killed evidence-circumstantial- found guilty and sentenced to death protests in US, Latin America, Europe executed August 23, 1927 1961-ballistic evidence points to

Sacco but others would say it is inconclusive

<Sacco and Vanzetti on trial Sacco and Vanzetti web link

Return to Normalcy

The Election of 1920 Republicans chose-<Warren

G. Harding handsome, good-natured,

“looked like a President ought to look”, not respectable

Calvin Coolidge-VP Democrats-James Cox and

Franklin Roosevelt Harding: return to the time

before the Progressives and stay out of European affairs

won by a landslide

Arms control and Peace

Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State-calls for a Naval Holiday-10 years without building a ship

ratio of 5:5:3(500,000 tons for Britain and US; 300,000 tons for Japan)

Five Power Treaty(France and Italy-175,000) Washington Naval Conference-sign both the Four

Power Treaty (US, Britain, Japan, France)and Nine power Treaty(added to above-China, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal)

head off problems in Asia and a costly arms race

United States wants reparations

Britain and France borrowed $10 billion from American bankers

both expected to have some of the debt written off

US wants payment in full only two ways to raise funds-raise

through reparations from Germany or exports

Fordney-McCumber Tariff-aimed at keeping foreign goods out of American markets

The Dawes Plan-<Charles Gates Dawes-American Banker and Owen Youn-President of General Electric loans, through investors, Germany $2.5b, Germany pays Britain and France $2bwho paid US $2.6b

Nativists

Nativist sentiment began to grow in 1880 with the growth of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe

Emergency Quota Act of 1921-quota system-based on national origins

Immigration Act of 1924-2% of nationals living in the US in 1890-discriminated against Southern and Eastern European

Japanese are not eligible for citizenship-wipe out gentleman’s agreement with Japan and Teddy Roosevelt

National Origins Act of 1929-base year shifted to 1920-not applied to North Americans

<Ellis Island

Scandals of the Harding Presidency

Scandal caused by graft among the President’s friends

spring of 1923-Jesse Smith exposed as a “bagman”(carries bribes person to person-assistant to Attorney General <Harry Daugherty

banished from DC-Smith committed suicide in May-Charles Cramer--legal advisor to the Veterans Bureau did the same

Charles Forbes-head of the Veteran’s Bureau-swindled the Us of $250m-kickbacks on Veteran’s hospitals-sentenced to prison for fraud in 1925

Colonel Thomas Miller-Office of Alien Property-taken valuable German Chemical patents that were seized by America and sold them to private firms

Teapot Dome Scandal

Most daring-concerned Naval Reserves

oil-rich public lands of Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hill, California set aside as a result of Progressivism and use by US Navy

Secretary of the Interior-<Albert Fall-got some of the land transferred from control of the Navy to the Interior

secretly leased the land to two private oil companies

got equal to $325,000 in bonds and the like

Fall convicted on fraud-1 year and $100,000

Coolidge Takes Over

Scandals begin to break Harding- “I have no trouble with my enemies….But my damned friends,…they’re the ones that keep me walking the floors nights!”

betrayed by his friends-broken man-takes trip to Alaska from San Francisco-on return-tired and distracted-becomes critical ill and dies on August 2, 1923

<Calvin Coolidge is the person the Republicans need to restore integrity

Speculation about Harding’s death at this link

Silent Cal

“The chief business of the American people is business.”

The man who builds a factory, builds a temple.”

Election of 1924-Republicans put Coolidge-Democrats are divided-Prohibition the issue-John Davis-wealthy lawyer

no chance-16m to 8m <Election of 1924

Americans are prosperous

1. Household electricity-alternating electrical current made it possible to carry current over long distances

2. Competition-Ford-Model T had not changed since 1908-General Motor’s Chevrolet-Ford answers with <Model A-not a hit

3. retailers-A & P, United Drug, Thom McCann, J.C. Penney, United Cigar all adopted Woolworth’s method of quantity

Retailing and Advertising

Sears Roebuck and company go away from catalogs

<Piggly Wiggly introduced-forerunners to the supermarkets

pay on installment plan- “a dollar down and a dollar forever”

planned obsolescence-goods only last months or years before they are replaced

advertisers create the desire-hired psychologists for color and appeal and how to make you buy

Not Everyone is Prosperous

1. Railroads-Esch-Cummins Act of 1920-government control rates and service but privately owned-Government would not let Companies abandon lines that were losing money

2. Textiles-shifted south-less of Labor unions, cheaper labor, closer to source-foreign competition, radical change in women’s dress, eliminated yards of fabric

<Matchbook Ads of the 1920’s

Not Everyone is Prosperous

3. Coal Mining-expanded to meet demands of WWI-other sources are now available

4. Farmers-overproduction-expanded during the war-cultivated lands that don’t get enough rainfall-replaced humans with machines-paid with borrowed money-1920-prices tumble 50%-clothing went from cotton to rayon-

Farm Bloc-improvement of their constituents-<McNary-Haugen bills-federal government buy surplus wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco at a reasonable price-set a floor for price-price supports-introduced in 1924 and 1928-passed by Congress, vetoed by Coolidge

Rich Get Richer, Poor get Poorer

3/5ths of nation’s wealth was owned by 2% of population

27,500 wealthiest families had as much as 12 million poorest

miners-$10/week-<Andrew Mellon’s income tax was $2m and Henry Ford was $2.6 m

nearly half the nation’s poor made less than $1500/year-minimum amount to leave decently

Rich couldn’t spend money fast enough so bought into stocks

those trying to get rich quick bought on margin-paid only a percentage for the stock

more speculators made the prices rise above their real value

Election of 1928

In 1927, Calvin Coolidge decides not to run again

Herbert Hoover is chosen for the Republicans

Democrats chose New York Governor <Alfred Smith

Ku Klux Klan attacks Smith for being Catholic, call for repeal of Prohibition cast votes, rasping voice, New York accent, Republicans were at peak of prosperity

The Economy goes sour

The Great Depression not brought about solely by Stock Market Crash

signs there-shrewd stock market speculators began to unload stocks

October 29, 1929-Black Tuesday-bottom falls out-$30B had blown away by mid-November, the same amount spent in WWI

Great Depression had begun