Unit IX Condensed

1920-1945Domestic

The Presidents

• Harding Republican 1921-1923• Coolidge Republican 1923-1929• Hoover Republican 1929-1933• FDR Democrats 1933-1945

• NOTE: Harding and Coolidge were conservative

• Hoover was a progressive Republican• FDR was elected 4 times!

After the War

• The Esch-Cummins Act: Railroads were returned to rightful owners

• Price and wage controls were lifted• Consumer goods in demand• Prices way up…inflation• LOTS of strikes for higher wages

Recession 1921-22

• Then Roaring 20’s

• Big Business Boomed• Anti-trust laws not enforced• Not everyone was doing well• Farmers, textile workers, coal miners, the

elderly and minorities were not roaring

1921 The Budget Bureau

• To pay off war debt• Cut military spending and raised taxes

1922 Fordney-McCumber tariff

• Very high• Made it difficult for other countries to sell

stuff to us and so they could not pay debts owed to the U.S.

• Caused international resentment

The Red Scare

• Fear of communism due to Russia becoming the world’s first communist country

• Public still distrusted unions due to above

• Attorney General: A. Mitchell Palmer and his sidekick, J. Edgar Hoover (later headed the FBI) went after commies

New Year’s Day 1920

• The Palmer Raids• 5 pistols found• 555 were deported!

• Palmer wanted to be President one day

Fear of Communism

• The Sacco and Vanzetti trial

• Two Italian immigrants …admitted anarchists• Accused of killing a paymaster in Braintree,

Mass. • quick (and unjust) trial• Quick execution…appeal was denied

The New KKK

• Continued to harass Black population• But now turned on immigrants, Catholics• Claimed to be defenders of the American Way

against foreign influences

• By mid 1920’s 5-6 million members• Harding joined too!• 1927…Scandal for KKK and downfall

Marcus Garvey

• First American Black Nationalist of note

Election 1920

• Republicans…Harding (Ohio Senator) campaigned on “Normalcy”

• Democrats…Cox (Ohio Governor) running mate was a young pre-polio FDR

• Stuck coamaigning for joining the League of Nations

• Americans did not want to join the League

Harding

• Known for scandals• Drinking, skirt chaser

• Appointed friends to government positions and they did him wrong

• Some good appointments: Taft to the Court• Hoover to Sec of Commerce

Andrew Mellon

• Sec of the Treasury• Spent his time giving tax cuts to the wealthy

Teapot Dome Scandal

• Albert Fall (Sec of the Interior) took $300,000 iome, n bribes from 2 oil millionaires and allowed them to lease oil fields in Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills, California

• Harding was not aware• Also problems with Justice Dept and Veterans’

Bureau

Harding’s Death 1923

• Went on a tour of Alaska• Was visited by Albert Fall’s wife• Became ill on his way back• Surgeon General said it was due to tainted

crab meat• Wife came to California• Harding died and was quickly cremated, his

papers burned…was it shady?

Immigration Restriction

• Big Business feared communist workers from Eastern Europe

• Asked Government to restrict immigration• 1917 Literacy test required• 1921 Emergency Quota Act• 1924 National Origins Act • 1927 only 150,000 adnutted annually

Immigration Restrictions

• National Origins Act said that only 2% of those who were here in 1890 could enter

• Chinese Exclusion Act 1882• Gentleman’s Agreement• African Americans• Most immigrants now came from N. and W.

Europe

Coolidge

• Silent Cal…but first on the radio• Said: The business of America IS business• Fired the Boston police while governor of

Mass.• Said: There is no right to strike against the

public safety by anyone, anywhere, at anytime

• Cleaned up the White House

The Farm Bloc

• Republican Congressmen (progressives) tried to help farmers:

• The Stockyards and Packers Act• The Intermediate Credits Act• The Copper Volstead Act: farmers were not

subject to anti-trust laws

The McNary-Haugen Bill

• To have the government buy up farm surplus• Sell it cheap abroad• Tax the producers (who could now afford the

taxes)

• Was vetoed by Coolidge twice• He lost the support of Republican Progressives

Election of 1924

• Republicans: Coolidge fought Democrats AND progressive Republicans

• Democrats: Davis (was a compromise candidate)

The Roaring 20’s

• Was investment driven• Regular people bought shares of stock• Easy credit• Margin buying

• The automobile cost $290 in 1924• Supporting industries

Big Business Booming

• Radio: KDKA 1920 first broadcast nation-wide• Motion Pictures• The Golden Age of Sports• Charles Lindbergh: American Hero• First to fly solo from NY to Paris• Was an anti-semite• 1932 Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping

Wages up

• Union membership up• Benefits available

• But farmers, coal miners, textile workers, elderly, minorities still suffering

Twenties trends

• Prohibition…Popular Nullification• Women the flapper• Writers: The Lost Generation• Social critics…Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Others• To Europe for inspiration and to escape

Oppression

The Harlem Renaissance

• Talented Black musicians, writers• Langston Hughes• Countee Cullen• Jellyroll Morton• The Jazz Age

Split in Protestant Religious

• Darwin’s Origin of Species• Evolution controversy

• Fundamentalists rejected the new science as it contradicted Genesis

• Modernists could blend the new science with religious beliefs

The Scopes Monkey Trial

• Was broadcast over the radio• The ACLU wanted to challenge the Butler Act

and all state laws that banned the teaching of evolution in public schools

• Clarence Darrow v William Jennings Bryan• The Butler Act is still on the books in Tenn.

Election 1928

• Republicans: Herbert Hoover• Dems: Al Smith...did not have a chance as he

was Catholic

• But democrats knew they could not beat Herbert Hoover

Hoover…a Progressive Republican

• Wanted child labor laws (the Court struckthem down)

• Wanted Old Age Pensions

• Had promised a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage

• When the depression hit he did not know what to do

Prohibition

• Hoover like it• Created the Wickersham Commission to

investigate

• Reported that it CAUSED organized crime and it was impossible to enforce

• But Hoover supported Prohibition anyway