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The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties. Organizing Principle. Disillusionment with the idealism of World War I led Americans to fear change and difference and to retreat into a superficial shell of self-satisfaction. The “Roaring Twenties”. World War I is over.

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The Roaring Twenties

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  1. The Roaring Twenties

  2. Organizing Principle • Disillusionment with the idealism of World War I led Americans to fear change and difference and to retreat into a superficial shell of self-satisfaction.

  3. The “Roaring Twenties” • World War I is over. • President Harding is elected on the platform “return to normalcy.” • The Roaring Twenties was characterized by: • Major changes in society • Clash of values • Rise in consumer culture

  4. The Red Scare • Communist Revolution in Russia – 1917 • People are afraid Communists will start to expand • Afraid of anything anti-American • Wave of strikes in 1919 • People assume these are Communists trying to start a revolution in the U.S. • The “general strike” was a tactic used in Europe by many Communist groups.

  5. The Red Scare • Red Scare: nationwide panic that Communists were trying to take over the country – 1919-1920 • Bombs intercepted through U.S. mail • Bomb explodes at home of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer • People believed bombings were work of Communists

  6. The Palmer Raids • Palmer establishes a special division within the justice department • Led by J. Edgar Hoover • Series of raids of radical organizations • No solid evidence • Focus: foreigners • Hundreds detained without trial and/or deported.

  7. Palmer Raids • Civil Liberties? • Officers entered homes and offices without warrants. • People jailed for indefinite periods of time. • People not allowed to talk to attorneys. • At first – Palmer seen as a national hero. • But then his popularity fades as raids turn up no hard evidence of a conspiracy.

  8. Nativism Resurges • Nativism: Belief that native-born people are superior; a desire to limit immigration • During WWI, immigration had dropped. • By 1921, it had returned to pre-war levels. • Most from Southern and Eastern Europe. • Americans see immigrants as a threat to stability and order. • Men are coming back from war – immigrants seem to be taking their jobs.

  9. Ku Klux Klan • Resurgence in 1920s • More “American” than anti-black • Anti-black, anti-Jewish, anti-pacifist, anti-Communist, anti-internatinalist, antirevolutionist, antigambling • Pro-Anglo-Saxon, pro- “native” American, Pro-Protestant

  10. Sacco and Vanzetti • Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti: Italian immigrants and anarchists

  11. Controlling Immigration • Emergency Quota Act – 1921 • Temporary quota system limiting immigration • 3% of total number of people in any ethnic group already living in U.S. could be admitted in a single year. • Ethnic identity and national origin determined admission to U.S.

  12. Controlling Immigration • Immigration Act of 1924 • Made immigration restriction a permanent policy • Tightened quota system – 2% • Completely banned Japanese • Used census from 1890 – discriminatory toward Eastern and Southern Europeans • Exempted natives of Western Hemisphere from quota system

  13. The Fundamentalist Movement • Reaction to changes in society • Felt that nation was declining morally • Fundamentalism – religious movement • Bible is literally true. • Bible should determine moral behavior. • Rejection of evolution • Believed in creationism: God created world as described in the Bible.

  14. The Fundamentalist Movement • Fiery preachers • Billy Sunday • Huge crowds with sensational sermons • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykn8YcIbmfo&feature=related

  15. The Scopes Trial • Butler Act: Tennessee law that made it illegal to teach evolution in public schools • Evolutionists vs. Creationists • Reflected clashing values of the 1920s

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