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The Red Scare. Fears of Russian Communism (Socialism) coming to America Small Communist party in America. Post War Strikes. Because of high prices -- will cause the strikes of 1919 and 1920s But many blamed them on the communists. Why?. BIG RED SCARE 1919 - 1920.
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The Red Scare • Fears of Russian Communism (Socialism) coming to America • Small Communist party in America
Post War Strikes • Because of high prices -- will cause the strikes of 1919 and 1920s • But many blamed them on the communists. Why?
BIG RED SCARE 1919 - 1920 • Nationwide crusade against left wingers • Attorney General Mitchell Palmer led the attack (palmer raids) 6000 rounded up • Bomb blast on wall street kills 38 • State legislatures pass anti-red laws – unlawful to advocate violence to secure social change. • Boon to Conservative businessmen – the closed shop was seen as Sovietism in disguise
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial • Convicted of the murder of a Mass. Paymaster and his guard • Jury probably prejudiced because they were known anarchists, atheists, draft dodgers, and Italian. • Six year trial ends in electrocution • Martyrs to the red scare
KKK • Anti Foreign nativist movement during the 20s • They were anti -- foreign, Catholic, black, Semitic, pacifist, communist, internationalists, evolutionist, bootlegger, gambling, adultery, and birth control. • They were pro – WASP • Spread rapidly in the 1920s – 5 million • Died out in scandal in late 20s.
Immigration • Southern and Eastern Europeans most objectionable • Emergency quota act 1921 • 3% of persons of their nationality living in the U.S. in 1910 • Still allowed too many southern and eastern • Europeans
Immigration Act of 1924 • Ouotas cut from 3% to 2% • National Origin base shifted to 1890 • Slammed the door to all Japanese • Quota system was an important departure in American practice of immigration • Exempted from the system – Canadians and Latinos
Prohibition • 18th amendment – progressive • Strongest in the mid-west and south • Weakest in the east • Many people still wanted alcohol • Too few to enforce it • Prohibition simply did not prohibit • Volsted Act
Speakeasies Rumrunners Home brew and bathtub gin Not a complete failure bank savings increase absenteeism in industry decreases
Gangsterism • Gang wars to corner the booze market • Chicago’s Al Capone • Serves time for income tax evasion • Organized crime became one of the nations most gigantic businesses
Education • John Dewey makes great strides in Progressive education • learn by doing • Greater permissiveness – workbench as essential as the blackboard • The battle between Modernist and Fundamentalists leads to the Scopes Trial
Scopes (Monkey Trial) • Tennessee law outlawed the teaching of Darwinism 1925 • Biology teacher Scopes indicted for teaching evolution • Became a newspaper event • Defended by Clarence Darrow • Prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan • Scopes found guilty fined $100
Consumer Society • Except for the recession of 1921 – 22 the 20s enjoyed tremendous prosperity • Mellon’s tax policies were to cut taxes on the rich • Sec. of the Tres. Andrew Mellon’s tax policies favor the rich (trickle down) and the rapid expansion of capital investment
Henry Ford • Frederic Taylor – Father of scientific management • Assembly line reaches perfection under Ford • Auto became affordable to all Americans • Any color as long as it was black. Why?
Growth in Advertising • Bruce Barton – founder of the new profession of Advertising “The Man Nobody Knows” • Makes American’s dissatisfied with what they have.
Buying on Credit • American’s went into debt over consumer goods • The economy became increasingly vulnerable to credit disruptions.
The Car • Hurts the Railroad industry • Major Prop in the nations prosperity gasoline age • 1920 10,000,000 cars • 1929 26,000,000 cars • 1920 369,000 miles of surfaced road • 1929 662,000 miles
The Airplane • Used in WWI • Next used in stunt flying and mail carrying • Lindberg’s flight across the Atlantic
Radio • KDKA • News, politicians, comedy, sports, symphony.
Hollywood • 1903 Great Train Robbery • Birth of a Nation • Used in anti-German propaganda • 1927 first talking motion picture • Eclipsed all other forms of entertainment.
Changes in Lifestyles and Values • Parallels the upsurge in the economy • Women’s movement • Attempt at ERA 1923 National Women’s Party • Birth Control – Margaret Sanger • Flappers • Even the Church turns to entertainment and advertising to lure back the fold – Billy Sunday
Literature • H.L. Mencken • Criticizes American Society, marriage, patriotism, democracy, prohibition, do-gooders • F. Scott Fitzgerald • New code of morals • “The Great Gatsby” • On the glamour and cruelty of the achievement oriented society. • “This side of Paradise”1920 • a bible for the young • Full of melancholy – “All wars fought, all gods dead all faith in mankind shaken”
Theodore Dreiser “An American Tragedy” same theme -- achievement and cruelty • Freud • Much of the reason for the sexual revolution • Ernest Hemmingway • “the Sun Also Rises” • A Farewell to Arms” about war and how people were changed by it. • Sinclair Lewis • “Babbitt” 1922 • “Main street” 1920 • Captures the hypocrisy and the materialism of the middle class • Faulkner • “A Soldiers Pay” • “The Sound and the Fury” • As I Lay Dying
Poets and Playwrights • Frost • T.S. Elliot • Eugene O”Neal • Laid bare the Freudian notions of sex