World War One and the 1920’s Chapters 30-32

1. World War One and the 1920’sChapters 30-32 1917- 1929

2. The War to End War Chapter 30

3. I. War by Act of Germany • Wilson won re-election in 1916 by keeping America out of the war • Three groups • Isolationists- Not intervene in European affairs • Internationalists- Work for peace, not enter war • Interventionists- Enter war on side of Allies, protect interests • Wilson supported internationalists • 1917 three events led U.S. to war • Unrestricted submarine warfare by Germans • Zimmerman note intercepted- German proposal to Mexico to be allies and after German victory territory lost in Mexican-American War (1848) would be returned • Russian Revolution toppled tsar, America could now focus on war for democracy not despotism • April 2, 1917 U.S. declares war on Germany

4. II. Wilsonian Idealism Enthroned • War shattered American tradition of isolationism • Wilson had to frame war as “making world safe for democracy’, more glorified aim • War not for territorial conquest or riches, but to shape international order • Modern world could not afford destructive wars • Presidents appeal fired up Americans to support war • Wilson recognized as moral leader of war • Jan. 1918 Fourteen Points Address • Abolish secret treaties • Freedom of the seas • Removal of economic barriers • Reduction of Armaments • Get rid of colonialism • Organize a system of collective security • Idea was to delegitimize colonial powers, open world to political and economic freedom, not popular with many European powers

5. III. Gaining American Support and Enforcing Loyalty • During war government assumed new powers • Changed relationship with federal government • War relied on voluntary compliance more than formal laws • Build military Congress passes Selective Service Act (1917) drafts men for war • 4.8 million serve in WWI • 1917- Committee for Public Information (CPI)- educate public on causes and nature of war • Advertising to “sell America” on war • Not all Americans supported war • Government took away individual liberties to quiet dissent • Resistance to the draft • Seen as illegal intrusion into private lives, did not cooperate with draft boards • Conscientious objectors- moral or religious reasons forbid fighting in wars

6. III. Gaining American Support and Enforcing Loyalty • CPI stifled free expression • 1917- Espionage Act- penalties for obstructing war effort (print, mail, resisting draft) • 1918- Sedition Act- unlawful to speak out about government. Used against socialists, political radicals and pacifists • Supreme Court ruled acts constitutional (Schenck v. U.S. 1919) During wartime freedom of speech does not apply (if it presents a clear and present danger) • Germany seen as primary foe against U.S. • Harassment, violence against German Americans • Stopped teaching German in schools, playing German composers music

7. IV. The Nations Factories go to War • Wilson organized an effort to supply American in the war effort • Many Americans had fear of government control and balked at the government effort • Overall cooperation, not competition marked industrial effort • To combat this Wilson formed the War Industries Board (1918) to oversee industrial production • American workers threatened by “work or fight” to combat unemployment • Labor was given a boost by war, wages rose and work days standardized to eight hours, still no government guarantee to organize into unions • War effort supported by AF of L but not by more radical groups (IWW) who committed acts of sabotage • Wartime prices rose and this negated most wage gains • 1919 steel strike was met with resistance by factory owners who brought in scabs and setback the union movement

8. V. Changes for Women and African Americans Women • Men left workforce , labor shortage filled by women • Took jobs previously open to men • Women served Red Cross, Army Corps of Nurses in Europe during war • Many progressive era feminists were pacifists • Efforts and sacrifices during war led Wilson to support passage of 19th Amendment • Economic gains proved fleeting, many women gave up wartime jobs

9. V. Changes for Women and African Americans African Americans • Many served in military, in segregated units and mostly behind the lines • Many went north during the war for employment • Caused racial strife in some cities (Chicago riots 1917) • Movement from rural South to Chicago, Detroit, industrial Northeast • Escape racism, poverty of life in south, promise economic advancement • Called “Great Migration” (1.2 million moved 1910-1920)

10. VI. Forging a War Economy • America had to feed themselves and allies, went into it haphazardly • Herbert Hoover was put n charge of food production effort, effort relied on voluntary cooperation rather than legal means • Used propaganda campaign to save food for export, promoted “victory gardens” • Spirit of self denial led to decline in consumption of alcohol and eventually the passage of the 19th Amendment • Food production and export rose during war • Other wartime administrations copied Hoover’s lead • Treasury Department held “liberty bond” drives to raise money for the war effort • Involuntary increase in taxes raised the rest of the money to fund the war • Government exercised power of railroads and nationalized them during the war

11. VII. American Entry into the War • At the beginning of the war, most Americans thought America would contribute naval power and supplies to Allies • 1917- Central powers gained an edge on Western Front • March 1917 Czar of Russia overthrown in revolution • November 1917 Vladimir Lenin and socialists take over Russian government, sign treaty with Germany and leave war • Spring 1918 Germans begin new offensive on Western Front • Early 1917 Allies ask for manpower and draft was instituted, believed the US could not raise enough men to fight in time • Draft was more effective with fewer loopholes than during Civil War draft • By early 1918 the first poorly trained American soldiers began to arrive in Europe

12. Technology, Trench Warfare and a Stalemate War unlike others • Trench warfare- built trenches, attacked, counter- attacked each other across “no-mans land” • High death toll-machine guns, artillery, tanks, poison gas produced massive causalities • Effective defensive weapons led to stalemate- no side could gain advantage

13. VII. American Entry into the War • Early 1918 American troops arrive in large numbers • Commanded by John J. Pershing • German offensives became less effective, troops became exhausted • American troops gave Allies military advantage • Fall 1918 German troops were running out of food, many mutinied, deserted, refused to fight • Germans surrendered Nov. 11, 1918

14. VIII. End of the War • The main US contribution to the war was food, munitions, credit, oil and manpower • Prospect of endless US troops and material contributed to the end of the war • Wilson wanted the peace based on the Fourteen Points, he was seen at the end of the war as the moral leader of the world • By the time Wilson went to the peace conference he was a diminished leader in the US due to Republican victories in the Congressional elections of 1918 • Going to Paris personally seemed to many like grandstanding and Wilson made a political mistake by not including a single Republican in the peace delegation

15. VIII. End of the War • European leaders kept the new hero Wilson at arms length, they felt that he would disrupt the status quo • Big Four of Paris Peace Conference Wilson, David Lloyd George (Great Britain), Georges Clemenceau (France), Vittorio Orlando (Italy) • Russia stayed out, Lenin thought the war was an imperialist land grab • Wilson’s main goal was to establish the League of Nations controlled by the great powers • Wilson did not want the victors to be vengeful to their former enemies, he wanted “peace without victory” • Promoted openness, independence • Move to end colonialism • National self- determination (right of people to choose their own form of government) • Disarmament • Asked for League of Nations to promote peaceful cooperation among nations, collective security • The European countries had different ideas

16. VIII. End of the War • European allies blamed Germany for starting war, wanted them punished • Suffered more than Americans • Germany had to pay reparations (payment for war damages) • Rejected ideas to end colonialism, disarm Europe, free trade • Allied powers were torn by conflicting aims and the peace was a fractured one • French claims in the Ruhr region caused tension with Germany • France signed a pact with Great Britain and US to provide for aid in case of another German invasion • New nations emerged in Europe, liberated millions • Austrian, German people found themselves as part of new countries • Breakup of Ottoman Empire clustered different ethnic groups together • Middle East broken up by European powers, not allowed to practice self- determination • Wilson did get League of Nations in a compromise with the European leaders

17. IX. Selling the Treaty to the US • Many Americans thought US was entering into “tangling alliances” of European affairs, the League of Nations was also seen as a “super state” and was opposed by the isolationists • Some thought treaty was not harsh enough • German and Italian Americans thought treaty was too harsh • Some thought treaty gave British too much influence • Republicans and isolationists in Senate (led by Henry Cabot Lodge) used delay tactics to keep treaty from being passed • Eventually apathy and confusion crept in to the treaty debate • Wilson tried the direct appeal method to get support for the treaty, during his tour he had a stroke and could not actively campaign for the Treaty of Versailles • Lodge took control of the proceedings and would not pass the treaty if it included the League of Nations • Wilson urged Democrats to reject the treaty Lodge proposed, it was defeated • The Treaty of Versailles was also defeated by traditions of isolationism, disillusionment with the war and partisanship

18. X. A Return to “Normalcy” • Public desire for change from the progressive politics and high minded ideals of Wilson • Elected Republican Warren G. Harding of Ohio as president • Opposite of Wilson, back slapper and dull minded • With the election of Harding the idea of the League of Nations was dead • America emerged from the war a changed country nationally and internationally • 1920America world economic giant, largest creditor nation • Compared to Europe, U.S. came out of war strong and prosperous

19. American Life in the Roaring Twenties 1919-1929 Chapter 31

20. I. Seeing Red • After war Americans turned inward • Shunning diplomatic commitments, denounced radical foreign ideas and “un-American” lifestyles • Shut out immigration (passed literacy requirement for immigrants) and sealed off economy from the outside world • New technologies, forms of entertainment and leisure first appeared in the US, but there were fears that America was losing their traditional ways

21. I. Seeing Red • Flu Epidemic (1918-1919) September 1918 virus first appears, Spring 1919 disappears • Killed millions around the world (22m, 500,000 U.S.) • Men and women in 20’s, 30’s hit hardest • Combined with effects of war, gave people a sense of doom • Red Scare- fear of communists and radicals, plotting against the United States • Labor unrest seen as work of communists, radicals • Communist Soviet Union called for international workers revolution and end of capitalism • April 1919 40 bombs intercepted in mail, one sent to Attorney General (Mitchell Palmer) • Government response- Palmer Raids • Arrested thousands of Southern, Eastern Europeans (not all were radicals), many deported, or held in jail without ever being charged with crime • American Civil Liberties Union formed 1920 to protect rights and liberties • Conservative business leaders used this as an excuse to break the back of labor unions

22. I. Seeing Red • Anti- foreignism reflected in Sacco and Vanzetti case • Italian immigrants and known anarchists • Accused of killing two men at a shoe factory • ACLU provided defense counsel • Found guilty, little hard evidence • Bias against immigrants, political climate worked against them • 1927 put to death in electric chair • Gave the radicals two martyrs for their “class struggle”

23. II. Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK • Membership in the organization spiked in the 20’s • Manifestation of intolerance and prejudice from anxiety of changing times • Resembled “nativist” movement of 1850’s • Anti- anything except Anglo, “native” American • Uprising against forces of modernism and forces of diversity shaping American culture • Movement concentrated in Midwest and South • At its peak had about 5 million members • Collapsed in late 20’s after political corruption was exposed

24. III. Stemming the Foreign Flood • Country had little use for immigration in the 20’s, • Immigration Act of 1924- end of open immigration • Government created a quota system to restrict immigration • Geared to keep out southern and eastern Europeans, Japanese immigrants • Employers used racial/ ethnic differences to undermine class and political solidarity

25. IV. Prohibition and the Rise of Gangsterisim • Last spasm of the progressive movement was prohibition of alcohol, legalized with the passage of the 18th Amendment and implemented with the Volstead Act in 1919 • Prohibited sale, distribution and manufacture of alcohol • More popular in South and West • South seen as a way to keep blacks “in their place” • West seen as attack on vice associated with the saloon • Opposition in the east where there were large groups of immigrants and Old World styles of sociability • Conditions that hampered enforcement: ignored tradition of weak control by central government over private lives, disillusionment in aftermath of war and wisdom of further self denial, understaffed federal agents to enforce law • Corner saloon replaced by “speakeasies”, alcohol still available • Did have some positive effect- bank savings increased, absenteeism at work decreased

26. IV. Prohibition and the Rise of Gangsterisim • Prohibition spawned criminal activity • Profits of selling booze led to rivalries between gangs in big cities • Arrests were few, convictions fewer and the bribery of federal agents was rampant • Organized crime developed around sale of liquor and reached into other areas- prostitution, drugs, gambling • Organized crime became one of the most lucrative businesses in the country

27. V. Changes in Society • Split in rural and urban values, Changes in standard of living, religious values • 1920 Census first time more American lived in urban areas than rural areas • Urban- enjoyed new consumer products, • Open to social change, science, secular values important • Formal education more important • Rural- more traditional view of science, religion, culture • Most new consumer products unavailable • Many people, especially in rural areas, felt threatened by the changing values of society--formed ways to react to these changes • Religious fundamentalism grew during the 1920s • World changing in ways people don't understand and can't control • Children reject the values that the parents have lived with all their life • One way this fundamentalism manifested itself came in the laws of a few southern states which mandated creationism, not evolution, be taught in classrooms

29. VI. Monkey Business in Tennessee Scopes “Monkey” Trial • Scopes Trial a battle between two sets of values--the older, rural values and the modern, urban values • 1925, at the urging of local community leaders, John T. Scopes, a high-school biology teacher in Dayton, Tenn. challenged his state's antievolution law • He did so with promise of assistance from the ACLU • ACLU hired team of lawyers headed by Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes • Prosecution assisted by William Jennings Bryan--who argued for inerrancy of Bible, but sometimes found himself not knowing what the Bible said • Scopes convicted by local jury--but received short sentence and small fine • Fundamentalism (and the South) ridiculed by national press-influence of fundamentalism diminished in mainstream churches after the trial, it still retained a large following

30. VII. The Mass Consumption Economy • Cultural issues divided Americans but….. • Decade after war America experienced growth • Changed the way Americans lived • Created modern consumer economy • Rising wages, shorter work weeks • More free time more disposable income • Technology, leisure activities broke down barriers and helped form a common American culture • Consumer Revolution- advertising, buying on credit, electricity made new products available to people • Availability of electric power – washing machines, vacuum cleaners made housekeeping easier • Advertisers- used new methods to sell more products (focused on desires and fears of consumers) • Buying on credit allowed people to buy products they would have needed to save years for • Economy became increasingly venerable to disruptions of the credit structure

31. VII. The Mass Consumption Economy • Radio and Phonograph- result of technological advances, business enterprise • Americans listened to same music, learned same dances- contributed to mass popular culture • Radio- 1920 first commercial radio station (KDKA Pittsburg, PA)- within three years over 600 stations • Brought events into millions of homes- sporting events, news • Politicians had to learn the “art” of media to reach millions at once that heard promises and pleas • Advertising and commercials made radio a vehicle for selling American free enterprise • Phonograph- people could listen to music whenever they wanted • Regional music styles were made national

32. VIII. Sports and the Rise of the Airplane • Sports created nationally famous athletes • Increased newspaper readers, radio audience boosted popularity • Sportswriters captured excitement of events • Sports became big business • Sports feats showed people capable of great feats, idealized self • 1903 first successful airplane flight • During WWI used in combat • After war first passenger lines operated, mostly used for mail service, stunt fliers traveled across country • 1927 Charles Lindberg flies solo across Atlantic Ocean, became American hero • Feat popularized flying more than any other event, increased idea of it being a commercially viable industry • Removed some of the “isolation” of the American psyche

33. IX. Movies • Movie industry began to grow in early 1900’s and it blossomed in the 1920’s • Hollywood was the movie capital of the world • Used during the war to promote anti-German propaganda • Local theaters became cultural classroom for Americans • Americas democratic art, most popular form of entertainment • First movie stars • 1927 first “talkie” Jazz Singer • Movies represent fantasies, desires, of Americans • Help create a common American culture

34. X. Advent of the Automobile Age • Caused biggest change to lifestyles during the 1920’s and beyond • Scientific managementtechniques- reduce time, effort, cost to produce cars (“Taylorisim” sought to eliminate wasted motion) • Cars put on assembly line- inspired by meatpacking industry • Best known carmaker Henry Ford, had a one track devotion to standardization that he used to produce cars • Idea of mass production used for automobiles • Model T- only car Ford sold ($ 260 by mid-1920’s) • Ford also doubled wages of workers, weekends off, 8 hr workday

35. X. Advent of the Automobile Age • Steel, glass, rubber, asphalt, gasoline, insurance, road construction industries all benefitted • Oil discoveries in Southwest US • 1926 national highway system first appeared • Service stations, motels • Created new jobs, helped national prosperity • Made commerce speedier • Gave people more freedom, car became a necessity • Go where they wanted, not tied to tracks or train schedule, hurt railroads • Altered residential patterns • Suburbs grew, people could live farther from jobs • Communities linked by highways to cities • Improved mass transportation, car led to development of suburbs • Suburbs drain resources from cities

36. XI. Science, Social Thought and Modernism • Rational, mechanical ideas of how world worked changed • Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Heisenberg's Theory of Uncertainty showed absolute values of how things worked were not true • Freud explored subconscious, subconscious regions seen as more potent than reason • Also demonstrated that repression was responsible for a variety of social ills • Fundamentalist lost ground to the modernists

37. XI. New Roles for Women • New Woman” of 1920’s more liberated, Victorian morality rejected • Dresses shorter, wore makeup, danced, drank • Flapper symbolized new , modern woman • Wanted same political, social, economic rights as men • Alice Paul and the National Women’s party began a campaign for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution • Lived longer, had fewer children, freed time to peruse other interests • Many entered professional workforce, although they went into low paying jobs (“women’s work”) • Elected as governors (TX, WY) • Differences in material culture made life for urban and rural women distinct

38. XIII. The Jazz Age • Emerged in South (New Orleans) where different traditions and cultures came together • Based on improvisation, blues and European traditions • Spread north with Great Migration, became theme music of 1920’s • Radio, phonograph spread influence • Bridged races, inspired white songwriters and musicians (who stole style and made a huge profit)

39. XIV. The Harlem Renaissance • African American migration continued 1920’s • Many found a better life, jobs, political voice • Did not escape oppression, had worst jobs, housing • Period of cultural expression in music and literature • Development of “new black consciousness” • Center was Harlem, NY, blend of cultures, ideas • Spawned charismatic political leader Marcus Garvey • Jamaican immigrant, promoted idea of black nationalism, “Back to Africa” Movement • Called for black separatism- businesses, communities • Founded Universal Negro Improvement Assn. promoted black pride • Put in prison 1925 for mail fraud, deported • Inspired Nation of Islam, Black Panther Movement later in century

40. XIV. The Harlem Renaissance • African American literature developed from the Harlem Renaissance • Explored pains and joys of being African American, some called for equality with whites • Langston Hughes- literary voice of HR, captured diversity of AA life • Jean Toomer- Cane looked at rural life in the south and sophisticated urban life in Washington, D.C. • Claude McKay- militant writer, wrote about struggle for dignity • Zora Neale Hurston- collected folktales of rural Florida, called for women’s independence

41. XV. Modernism in Art and Literature • Literature, arts were changed by WWI • War killed millions, left many homeless • Seen as action of irrational people • Began to question ideas of progress, left people pessimistic • Writers and artists expressed lack of faith in a traditional worldview • Painters moved away from traditional representation • Experimented with abstract styles, represented inner mood • Saw artistic honesty in abstract paintings

42. XV. Modernism in Art and Literature • Postwar literature represented the exuberance of youth and the resentment of ideals betrayed • Called “Lost Generation” • Searched for new truths, new ways to express truths • Most were expatriates living in Paris and London • Wrestled with meaning of war and life • F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, T.S. Elliot, Sinclair Lewis, Gertrude Stein • Greatest generation for American writers

43. XV. Modernism in Art and Literature • Earnest Hemmingway- novels feature search for real life • Hard living, athletic, masculine lifestyle • About doomed life after the war • Wrote in a concrete, stripped down style • F. Scott Fitzgerald- first novel This Side of Paradise, age 24 • Wrote about excess of Jazz Age, bible for youth of the 20’s • Great Gatsby about American dream and tragedy • William Faulkner- stories set in Mississippi, reflected southern world • Literature- dying way of life vs. modern way of life • Leader of Southern Renaissance

44. Boom and Bust 1919-1921

45. I. Wall Street’s Big Bull Market • Right after the war scarcity of supplies, increased demand caused inflation • Agriculture- prices fell, farmers could not pay debt • U.S. had a postwar recession • Industrial workers wages could not buy as much after war (inflation) • Many workers went on strike to demand better conditions (1919- 4m), racial unrest across the country in the summer of 1919 • Decade after war America experienced growth • Changed the way Americans live, created modern consumer economy • 1920’s period of rising stock prices (bull market) • Investors take risks, buy on margin (pay small amount up front, pay rest back over time) • Stock was collateral for loan • Thinking boom and bust economy would end, there would always be prosperity • Signals in bank failures and real estate speculation

46. I. Wall Street’s Big Bull Market • More conservative policies to promote growth of business • Presidents wanted to serve the public good through less government • Sec. of Treasury Andrew Mellon, a multimillionaire, favored low taxes on individuals and corporations • Tax burden shifted to the middle class • Herbert Hoover- Commerce Sec. wanted to use business and labor leaders to manage industry, not legislation

47. II. Republicans in Power • Harding used government to guide business to profits • Used courts to back up policies, appointed 4 justices to Supreme Court (would have an effect for years) • Stripped away gains for labor, women in the workplace, anti trust laws ignored • Dismantled progressive and wartime controls over the economy • Close circle of advisers called ‘Ohio Gang” • Saw government service as a way to get rich at expense of others • Teapot Dome Scandal- (1921) Sec. of Interior arranged sale of government oil reserves in Wyo. to private investors for “loans” • Harding signed deal, senate investigated • 1924- Sec. of Interior sentenced to prison • 1923- Harding died before he could finish his term or answer for his role in this and other scandals

48. III. Silent Cal Coolidge • Replaced by VP Calvin Coolidge • “Silent Cal” quiet, honest, frugal, fumigated some of the stench of Harding • Pro- business, creation of wealth was good for all America • Followed same economic policies as Harding • American economy grew, general prosperity for all Americans over next six years

49. IV. Hiking the Tariff Higher • True to idea of American isolationism, business tried to keep out foreign investment in the 1920’s • Put up high tariff walls to keep out a flood of cheap foreign goods from recovering Europe • Tariffs were raised throughout the decade, Republican presidents were far more friendly to tariff increases than the progressives of past decades • Set off chain reaction that kept Europe from being able to pay war debts, spurred Europe to pass tariffs to keep out American goods

50. V. Frustrated Farmers • Farmers caught in boom-bust cycle more than industry • Peace brought an end to guaranteed prices by government and overseas purchases • Wartime boom encouraged them to cultivate new land • Farmers produced surpluses that led to price dampening depression • In 1920’s 25% of all farms were sold to repay debt • Congress tried to help farmers but conservative financial policies allowed farmers problems to not be heard