American Life in the Roaring Twenties

1. American Life in the Roaring Twenties Objective: Students will understand how Americans reacted to rapid social change during the 1920s

2. Seeing Red • After the war America became even more isolationist • Standard of living and wages both sky rocketed in the twenties • Americans feared the red Russians after the Bolshevik takeover • This was bolstered by the large number of labor disputes thought to be started by the communists • Red Scare came in 1919-1920 against people whose Americanism was suspect • Fighting Quaker—Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer • Rounded up thousands of suspects • House was blown up by a bomb in June of 1919 • December 1919 249 aliens were deported to Russia • Bomb on Wall Street in September 1920 kept the hysteria alive • States passed criminal syndicalism laws • Anti Red laws made it illegal even to suggest using violence to solve a social problem in dozens of states • Officials elected on the Socialist ticket were even denied their rightful place in government—five in the New York legislature • Business used the red scare to break the labor unions • Murder trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti • Millions worldwide protested against the trial but they were executed anyway

3. Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK • The new KKK of the 1920’s • Very nativist, antiblack, anti-Jewish, antipacifistic, anti-Communist, anti-internationalist, etc. • Pro Anglo Saxon, native American, Protestant • Extremely conservative • 1920 it had 5 million members mostly in the Midwest and South • Still used fear—burning cross, lash, tar and feather, etc. (Terrorism) • Reign ended in late 1920’s but lasted well into the late 20th century

4. Stemming the Foreign Flood • 800,000 immigrants arrived from Europe in 1920 • US was against it, very isolationist, roaring 20’s, etc • Emergency Quota Act of 1921 • Set the amount of immigrants the US would let in at 3% of the people from that country that were already in the US in 1910 • Immigration Act of 1924 • Cut quotas to 2% and changed it to 1890 instead of 1910 • Didn’t allow any Japanese • Canadians and Latin Americans were exempt—could easily sent back when they weren’t needed for labor • Shift in policy from letting anybody in to the idea America was full • 1931 more immigrants left than arrived • Horace Kallen and Randolph Bourne—Cultural Pluralism • Championed alternative roles for the immigrants • Wanted them to maintain their lifestyles and identities • Advocated cross-fertilization of the races to make US a transnationality

5. The Prohibition Experiment • 18th amendment in 1919 • Especially popular in South and West • Many believed the way to end the law was to violate it on a large enough scale • Jazz and booze went hand in hand • Enforcement agencies were understaffed and underpaid • Saloons were replaced with speakeasies—underground clubs • Prohibition made hard liquor more popular because it was too hard to conceal large amounts of alcohol mainly beer • Home brewed, bathtub gin, moonshine, etc became popular • Wasn’t a complete failure • Savings went up—less $ spent on liquor • Absenteeism from work went down • Alcohol consumption as a whole decreased