CHAPTER 12 Section 1 Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues

1. CHAPTER 12 Section 1Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues MAIN IDEA: A desire for normality after the war and a fear of communism and “foreigners” led to postwar isolationism.

2. POSTWAR TRENDS • Public exhausted • Debate over League of Nations divided America • Returning soldiers faced unemployment or took their old jobs from women and minorities • Cost of living doubled • Farmers and factory workers suffered as wartime orders diminished • NATIVISM- prejudice against foreign-born people • ISOLATIONISM- policy of pulling away from involvement in world affairs

3. Fear of Communism • COMMUNISM- an economic and political system based on a single party government ruled by a dictatorship • Communists put an end to private property, substituting government ownership of factories railroads and other businesses

4. RED SCARE • 1919 Revolutionaries in Russia overthrew czar • Bolsheviks established a communist state • RED FLAG • Called for a worldwide revolution to abolish capitalism everywhere • 70,000 radicals joined the communist party in the U.S

5. THE PALMER RAIDS • Bombs mailed to government • U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer & J. Edgar Hoover hunted for communists, socialists and anarchists • ANARCHIST- People who opposed any form of government • Trampled people’s rights, invaded homes, jailed without legal counsel

6. Sacco and Vanzetti • Italian immigrants • Anarchists • Evaded draft during WWI • Arrested and charged with robbery and murder of a factory paymaster • Found guilty and sentenced to die • 1961 ballistic tests showed the pistol found on Sacco was the one used in the murder but no proof that Sacco pulled the trigger

7. LIMITING IMMIGRATION • “Keep America for Americans” • The need for unskilled workers in America decreased • Klu Klux Klan (KKK)-100% Americanism • 1924 reached 4.5 million • Drove foreign born out of the country • QUOTA SYSTEM- Emergency Quota Act 1921-established the maximum # of people who could enter the U.S

8. A TIME OF LABOR UNREST • During war strikes were limited b/c they disrupt production • Employers did not want to give raises • 4 million walked off the job • BOSTON POLICE STRIKE- police had not been given a raise since beginning of WWI • Denied right to unionize • When asked for a raise=fired • Coolidge declared no right to strike • New officers were hired

9. STEEL MILL STRIKE • Workers wanted the right to negotiate for shorter working hours • Wanted union recognition and bargaining rights • US Steel corporation refused to meet with union leaders • 300,000 walked off the job • Hired strike breakers/agreed to work during strike • Striking workers beaten by police • Linked strikers to communists • Ended Jan. 1920 w/ 8 hour day but without a union

10. COAL MINERS’ STRIKE • John L. Lewis-leader of The United Mine Workers of America • Protested low wages and long workdays • Nov. 1, 1919 Strike, Attorney General ordered them back to work • President Wilson appointed and arbitrator to settle the dispute • Miners received a 27% wage increase • John L. Lewis became a national hero

11. LABOR MOVEMENT LOSES APPEAL • Union membership declined because… • Much of the workforce consisted of immigrants willing to work in poor conditions • Immigrants spoke in multiple languages so unions were hard to organize • Farmers were use to relying on themselves • Most unions excluded African Americans