The Red Scare after WW1

• After World War I, America shifted towards isolationism and anti-foreigner sentiment.
• Radicals faced shunning.
• Foreigners were pressured to assimilate into American culture.

The Red Scare

• A "Red Scare" arose amid anxieties about communism, driven by:
  • The Russian Revolution.
  • Rising numbers of Eugene Debs' supporters.
  • Numerous strikes.
  • Mail bombs.
• Communism was associated with Europe, intensifying the rejection of foreigners.
• Attorney General Mitchell Palmer led efforts to arrest suspected radicals.
  • Approximately 6,000 people were arrested, some deported.
  • Palmer's efforts diminished after a bomb exploded at his house.
• Free speech faced restrictions, as states outlawed advocating violence for social change.
• Some elected officials were barred from legislative seats due to their socialist views.
• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian immigrants and anarchists, became symbols of the Red Scare.
  • Their murder trial was perceived by some as biased due to their political beliefs.
  • Despite some evidence against them, they were convicted and executed.

The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s

• The KKK resurged, expanding its targets beyond African Americans.
• The KKK opposed Catholics, Jewish people, pacifists, communists, internationalists, revolutionists, bootleggers, gamblers, those committing adultery, and those using birth control.
• The KKK advocated for white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant supremacy and opposed anything else.
• Exploiting societal anxieties, the KKK reached a peak of about 5 million members during the 1920s.
• The KKK used tactics like fear, lynchings, and intimidation.
• Internal financial scams eventually weakened the KKK's power.

Immigration Restrictions

• Congress responded to anti-immigrant sentiment by restricting European immigration, particularly from southeastern Europe, targeting "New Immigrants".
• The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 limited immigration to 3% of a nationality's U.S. population based on the 1910 census.
  • The act inadvertently favored New Immigrants.
• The Immigration Act of 1924 further reduced the quota to 2% of a group's U.S. population based on the 1890 census, before the arrival of many New Immigrants.
  • The act excluded Japanese immigrants and did not restrict Canadians and Latin Americans, who were desired for labor.
• For the first time since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, by 1931 more foreigners were leaving America than entering.
• The change marked a departure from open immigration policies.
• Despite restrictions, ethnic diversity remained, especially in cities.
• Two schools of thought emerged regarding cultural assimilation:
  • Horace Kallen: ethnic groups should maintain traditions and harmonize like an orchestra.
  • Randolph Bourne: groups should interact to create a trans-nationality.

Prohibition

• The Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 prohibited alcohol.
• The Volstead Act was enacted by Congress to enforce the amendment.
• Prohibition was more popular in the South and West.
• Many Americans opposed Prohibition, challenging the weak government.
• Illegal alcohol trade led to increased production of potent, dangerous moonshine.
• Positive results such as increased bank savings and reduced work absences occurred.

The Rise of Gangsterism

• Prohibition created opportunities for organized crime to distribute liquor.
• Gangs emerged, controlling territories for liquor, gambling, narcotics, and prostitution.
• Chicago became a hub for gang activity, with around 500 gangsters murdered in the 1920s.
• Arrests and convictions were rare due to gang loyalty.
• Al Capone, "Scarface," was the most notorious gangster, leading to his classification as "Public Enemy Number One".
• The authorities convicted him for tax evasion.
• By 1930, gang income was estimated at $12-18 billion, surpassing the income of Washington D.C.
• The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby led to the "Lindbergh Law," which made interstate kidnapping a federal crime.

Changes in Education and Science

• Education shifted towards hands-on learning, promoted by John Dewey's ideas of "learning by doing".
• The Rockefeller Foundation funded healthcare and nutrition initiatives that increased life expectancy from 50 years in 1901 to 59 years in 1929.
• The Scopes Monkey Trial highlighted conflicts between scientific and traditional religious views.
  • Tennessee banned teaching evolution in public schools.
  • John T. Scopes, a biology teacher, challenged the law.
  • Clarence Darrow argued for evolution, while William Jennings Bryan argued for creationism.
• The trial gained national attention.
• After Darrow questioned Bryan about Jonah and the whale, the former was ridiculed.
• Scopes lost the trial, but Fundamentalism was strengthened.

The Mass-Consumption Economy

• The 1920's saw economic growth after a post-war recession.
• Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's low-tax policies encouraged growth.
• Industrial machinery improved, reducing production costs.
• Henry Ford's assembly line at the Rouge River Plant produced a new car every 10 seconds, reducing costs and enabling mass consumption.
• New advertising techniques, including persuasion and sex appeal, stimulated demand for new products.
• People bought goods on installment plans and credit, leading to consumer debt.
• Mass media, like newspapers, magazines, and radio, encouraged mass consumption.
• Sports gained popularity through mass media, featuring popular figures like Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey.

Automobiles and Their Impact

• Americans developed the gasoline engine, led by Frederick Taylor's efficient production methods.
  • Early automotive moguls such as Henry Ford and Ransom E. Olds developed cars.
  • Ford's Model A made car ownership affordable.
• 26 million registered cars were on the road when the stock market crashed in 1929, a car for every 4.9 Americans.
• Cars created 6 million jobs, becoming America's primary mode of transportation.
  • They spurred road construction and the gasoline industry.
  • Cars influenced relationships between young people and suburban expansion.
  • Traffic collisions increased, and by 1951, car crashes had killed over a million people in the U.S.

Aviation Development

• Airplanes were created using the gas engine, with the first flight by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903.
• Stunt fliers popularized airplanes.
• Airplanes saw limited use in World War I for reconnaissance and bombing.
• After WWI, planes were used for air mail, like the transcontinental route from New York to San Francisco in 1920.
• Charles Lindbergh became famous as the first to fly solo across the Atlantic.
• His wholesome image contrasted with the Jazz Age.

The Radio Revolution

• Guglielmo Marconi invented wireless telegraphy in the 1890s for use in World War I.
• KDKA in Pittsburgh made the first major radio broadcast happened during the Warren Hardings presidential victory.
• Radio expanded to powerful national broadcasts, exemplified by Powel Crosley's station.
• The car scattered Americans.
• The radio drew people back to their homes for family entertainment like "Amos 'n' Andy".
• Radio became a powerful advertising medium, featuring shows like "A&P Gypsies" and "Eveready Hour."
• Sports broadcasts and politics also increased in popularity.

Hollywood and the Movies

• Thomas Edison helped develop "picture shows."
• 1903's "The Great Train Robbery" was considered the first movie.
• In 1915, D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" depicted the Civil War.
• The film was controversial for glorifying the KKK, but revolutionized battle scenes.
• Hollywood's sunny climate made it the movie headquarters of america.
• Movies became popular with WWI propaganda shorts' help.
• In 1927, The Jazz Singer (starring Al Jolson) was the first "talkie".
• Movies emerged as America's foremost form of entertainment.
• Early stars included Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford.
• Criticism arose about movies turning America away from story-telling to clown-shows.

Social and Cultural Transformations

• The 1920 census marked a societal shift from agrarian to urban as more Americans lived in urban areas than rural ones.
• The decade was marked by a cultural clash epitomized by the Scopes Monkey Trial.
• Margaret Sanger advocated for women's birth control.
• The National Women's Party sought an Equal Rights Amendment in 1923.
• A "Modernist" religious movement countered traditional views, viewing God casually.
• Young people, known as "flaming youth," shocked the older generation.
• The flappers drank booze, bobbed their hair, courted in motorcars, and spoke of sex.
• They studied Sigmund Freud's psychological theories of sexual repression.
• Jazz emerged and gave its name to the era.
• Pioneers: W.C. Handy, "Jelly Roll" Morton, and "Joe" King Oliver.
• Black pride movements in cities led to an increase in urban black populations.
• Poet Langston Hughes voiced black America.
• Marcus Garvey created the United Negro Improvement Association to relocate blacks.
• Garvey's enterprises failed.

The Harlem Renaissance and Cultural Liberation

• Cultural Liberation saw H.L. Mencken use wit to satirize American society in his American Monthly.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald labeled and portrayed the Jazz Age, gaining popularity with novels and short stores.
• Theodore Dreiser wrote of a realist in An American Tragedy.
• Ernest Hemingway depicted the sense of emptiness of youth in The Sun Also Rises.
• William Faulkner explored the Southern experience.
• Poetry by Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, and e.e. cummings adopted new forms.
• Eugene O'Neill explored Freudian themes in plays.
• The Harlem Renaissance flourished in New York, spearheaded by writers, poets, and jazz musicians.
• Frank Lloyd Wright helped make architecture mixed with art and science.
• Frank advocated for the idea of "form follows functions".

Wall Street's Bull Market

• A period of speculation happened in the 1920's that preceded the Great Depression.
• A Florida land boom caused prices to explode, but the aftermath of a hurricane dropped them.
• The stock market was a speculative paradise that lead to people doing risky things such as buying on margin.
• Andrew Mellon disliked high taxes left over from WWI.
• Mellon felt that taxes forced the rich to put their money in tax-exempt securities and not in factories.
• Profits enabled people to over-speculate in risky businesses.