A Republican Decade

1. A Republican Decade Angela Brown Chapter 11 http://www.fcps.edu/westspringfieldhs/academic/english/1project/99gg/99gg2/clothe2.htm

2. The Red Scare • “Normalcy” appealed to American in 1920 • Events convinced people U.S. threatened by political violence. http://www.fcps.edu/westspringfieldhs/academic/english/1project/99gg/99gg2/clothe2.htm

3. Russian Revolution • Czar Nicholas II forced to abdicate March 1917 • Vladimir Lenin and Bolsheviks took control • Bolshevik government put all privately owned farms, industries, land, and transportation under government ownership.

4. http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/lenin.gif

5. 1918 Civil War Lenin forces “Reds”, opponents “White” • Britain, France Japan, U.S. whose investments had been seized – backed Whites (farmers/landowners) • Reds triumphed in 1920 = Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)/Soviet Union

6. Soviet Union Map http://depts.washington.edu/caict/images/map.gif

7. Communism as practiced in Soviet Union • government owned all land-property • single political party controlled government • Individuals had no rights • government vowed to spread communism

8. Redscare – intense fear of communism and other extreme ideas • Known communists jailed or driven out of country.

9. Schenck Vs U.S. • Government justified in silencing free speech when “clear and present danger” stated Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. • Charles Schenck – letters to draftees urged them not to report to duty • Convicted of violating espionage act

10. The Palmer Raids • 1919 Attorney General Mitchell Palmer of Justice Department set up special force to overthrow “subversives” – targets included communists, socialists, anarchists • Thousands jailed, 500 immigrants deported most innocent – none convicted of any crime

11. http://www.kirkwood.k12.mo.us/parent_student/KHS/plattes/topics17and18/topics17and1821.jpghttp://www.kirkwood.k12.mo.us/parent_student/KHS/plattes/topics17and18/topics17and1821.jpg

12. At first supported – went to far • 1920 NY State assembly expelled (5) socialists (had done nothing wrong – legally elected)

13. Sacco and Vanzetti http://thegurglingcod.typepad.com/thegurglingcod/cheffelation/ • 1920 gunman robbed /killed guard and paymaster of shoestore • Nicola Sacco, shoemaker; Bartolomeo Vanzetti, fish peddler – both carrying guns when arrested • Drew international attention/controversy

14. Americans suspected/accused because they were immigrants (Italian) • Many appeals upheld conviction – electrocuted 1927 • Labor Strikes • Americans believed communists behind strikes • Simpler cause, cost of living double prewar levels

15. Boston Police Strikes • Strike – no pay increases since before WWI • Rioting began – Calvin Coolidge (Governor) called out state guard

16. Steel and Coal Strikes • 1919 U.S. Steel Corp. used force to break strike (private police force) – killed 18 – beat hundreds • United mine Workers of America – no strike agreement during war • Governor Court ordered strikers back to work • UMW cancelled strike – got raise • 1920’s economy boomed – strikes/unions decreased

17. Republican Leadership • Republican Party dominated all (3) branches of government (President Harding, Coolidge, Hoover 1921-1933) • William H. Taft – Chief Justice of Supreme Court • Favored business, social stability = economic growth

18. The Harding Presidency • Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce • Many appointments to friends – incompetent and dishonest – overwhelm his presidency and life

19. Isolationism • Foreign policy reflected Americans’ postwar desire for isolationism • Isolationism – a policy of avoiding political or economic alliances with foreign countries • No attempt to join League of Nations

20. Support disarmament – program for nations to voluntarily give up weapons • 1921 Washington Conference nations signed treaties limiting size of navies • 1922 Fordney – McCumber Tariff – raised rates on a number of imports – discouraged imports that competed with goods made by U.S.

21. Limiting Immigration • Nativist movement became stronger • immigrants could never be fully loyal • mostly protestants – disliked Catholics, Orthodox Christians, or Jews • Blamed immigrants for city problems (slums, corruption)

22. feared would take away U.S. jobs • came from unstable parts of Europe – might hold or adopt dangerous political ideas • 1921, 1924 Congress passed laws restricting immigration at Harding’s request • 350,000 total immigrants

23. quotas, numerical limits form each foreign nation • low quotas for southern/eastern European countries – Asian immigration banned altogether

24. Teapot Dome Scandal • Harding died of heart problems Aug 2, 1923 • Possibly due to upset from corruption scandals of his administration- stolen government funds, bribes taken, two committed suicide.

25. Sec. of Interior, Albert Fall, secretly gave oil drilling rights on government oil fields (Elk Hills, California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming) • Fall received $300,000 disguised as loans – jailed

26. The Coolidge Presidency • Vice- President Calvin Coolidge’s father, a justice of the peace administered him oath of office of President of the United States by kerosene lamp • Coolidge respected as governor of Mass. – not part of Harding scandals

27. 1924 election won in own right “Keep Cool with Coolidge” slogan • skilled public speaker, privately man of few words (could be silent in (5) languages

28. Laissez Faire • “The business of the American People is Business” • Republican decade – theme – do not interfere with big business – tried to make federal government smaller • Coolidge’s efforts to have government do less drew criticism from those who saw it as failure to take action

29. Continued Isolationism • Sec. of State, Frank Kellogg – French Foreign minister, Aristide Briand • Kellogg-Briand Pact – 15 nations agreed not to use the threat of war in their dealings with one another – more than 60 nations joined (unrealistic, unworkable – no way to enforce) • 1941 many nations that signed at war

30. Election of 1928 • Coolidge chose not to run again. • Herbert Hoover Republican Nominee • Won by large margin against Alfred E. Smith first Roman Catholic to run – Governor of NY. • U.S. hoped Coolidge prosperity would continue.