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The (Not So) Roaring 20s: Nativism and the Red Scare

The (Not So) Roaring 20s: Nativism and the Red Scare. Pee Dee TAH Institute Fall Meeting 2009 Dr. Witherspoon. Nativism. 1900, new anti-immigrant sentiment The “new immigrants” Not educated Religious conflicts Slow to adopt American ways Crime Radical political groups

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The (Not So) Roaring 20s: Nativism and the Red Scare

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  1. The (Not So) Roaring 20s: Nativism and the Red Scare Pee Dee TAH Institute Fall Meeting 2009 Dr. Witherspoon

  2. Nativism • 1900, new anti-immigrant sentiment • The “new immigrants” • Not educated • Religious conflicts • Slow to adopt American ways • Crime • Radical political groups • Economic arguments • Depressions, 1893, 1897 • Racism

  3. Nativism Ascendant • 1894, Immigration Restriction League • Harvard graduates • Important pressure group • Henry Cabot Lodge, MA Rep. 1887-1924 • Literacy Test • 1917 Immigration Act - Literacy • Results of literacy test: • Deterred a few immigrants • 1920-21: 800,000 admitted; 1400 denied • 1903, political opinion test

  4. The United States at War • The Committee on Public Information* • George Creel • Propaganda • Super-patriotism • Condemned all things German • Espionage Act 1917, Sedition Act 1918 • 1500 Americans arrested

  5. The Red Scare • Communism • Bolshevik Revolution, 1917 • Paranoia = Red Scare • Fear of communism = labor

  6. The Red Scare • Soldiers returning home = turmoil • Problems for workers: • Injury • No regulation • Natural problems • Day and seasonal labor • Unemployment

  7. The Red Scare • 1919 Seattle shipyard strike • Oly Hanson • May-Day plot • Investigations, bombings, strikes • A. Mitchell Palmer bombed, June 1919

  8. The Red Scare • Palmer Raids • Lusk Committee • Boston police strike, Sept. 1919

  9. The Ku Klux Klan, reborn • “Birth of a Nation,” 1915 • The new Klan: • anti-black • anti-Catholic • anti-Jewish • 4.5 million members • peak 1924 • Decline of the Klan, 1924-28 • David Curtis Stephenson

  10. The Red Scare • Ends May, 1920 • Sacco-Vanzetti case, executed 1927

  11. The Red Scare

  12. Nativism Triumphant • Anti-immigration bill, 1920 • Passes House, 196-42 • Senate, Dillingham Quota Bill • Limit total # of immigrants • Determine a % for each ethnic group • Europeans at 5% of Census, 1910 (about 600k) • House again, 3% of Census (about 350k) • Signed by Harding

  13. Nativism Triumphant • Immigration Act of 1924: • 1924, nativists to revise Dillingham • Even fewer immigrants • Based on 1890 Census: effects? • Italians drop from 42,000 to 2,000 • Polish drop from 31,000 to 6,000

  14. Nativism Triumphant • Immigration Act of 1924: • Uses 1890 Census • Reduces totals from 3% to 2% • About 300,000 annually • Japanese “aliens ineligible to citizenship” • Tightened administration • Deportation easier • Albert Johnson • Was it a good thing? • Replaced by Immigration Act, 1965

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