Politics of the Roaring Twenties

Post-WWI Politics and Social Issues

• 1920 election • Warren G. Harding a

“Return to Normalcy”

Post-WWI Politics and Social Issues

• Politics of the 20’s Characterized by:

1. a conservative reaction to the international and domestic activism of the Progressive Era

2. Renewed isolationism – pull away from involvement in word affairs

Post-WWI Politics and Social Issues

3. Resurgence of Nativism

Post-WWI Politics and Social Issues

• Growth of the culture of consumerism

• Americans began to work fewer hours, earn higher salaries, invest in the stock market, and buy everything from washing machines to Model T Fords

                                                            

Post-WWI Politics and Social Issues

• Paradoxes (inconsistencies) of the era

• Prohibition, flappers, fundamentalists, the Harlem Renaissance and the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan

Revolution Abroad and Reaction at Home

• The Russian Revolution

• Czar Nicholas II, the Russian ruler steps down on March 15, 1917

• November, radicals seized the government and established the world’s first Communist state.

Vladimir Illyich Lenin

• Vladimir Lenin• Established

communism in Russia• Based on the teachings

of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Communism

• In a communist society, labor is the shared equally as well, and the benefits of labor are distributed according to need

Red Scare in the US

• About 70,000 radicals joined called the “Reds” joined US Communist Party

• Communist talked about abolishing private property

• Substituting government ownership of factories

• Caused fear in many people

A. Mitchell Palmer

• Attorney General decided to take action to combat “Red Scare”

• Appointed J. Edgar Hoover in charge of the antiradical division of the Justice Department

Palmer Raids

• Sent agents to hunt down Communists, Socialists and anarchists- oppose any form of govt.

• The agents often disregarded the rights of the people they arrested.

Palmer Raids

• Palmer never found evidence of a conspiracy to overthrow the government, and the fear passed

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Among the more celebrated victims of the Red Scare were two Italian aliens, admitted anarchists named

• Nicola Sacco and Bartolome Vanzetti

• Charged with robbery and murder in 1920.

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Robbed and killed a factory paymaster and his guard

• Arrested 3 weeks later, admitted they were anarchists, but not crime.

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

• The men were arrested in 1920 and executed seven years later, less for the crime they apparently did not commit than for their nationality and radical beliefs

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

• Vanzetti claimed that the trial had not been about murder, but rather his ideology and ethnic heritage

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

• 1961 ballistics tests showed Sacco’s gun had killed the guard

• August 23, 1977, Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis declared unfair trial

Klan Rises Again

• In 1915, Colonel William Joseph Simmons revived the organization

• 1915 Whites climbed up Stone Mountain, Georgia, and burned a huge cross and announced the rebirth of the Klan

Klan Rises Again

• Whereas the old Klan was a Southern instrument of racial oppression, the new Klan was strong in many parts of the country (especially the Midwest)

Klan Rises Again

• This new KKK promoted "100% Americanism": – Protestantism – Charity – Motherhood – Morality – Temperance – Education

Klan Rises Again

• So what's not 100% American?

• Their main targets include:

1. Roman Catholics

2. Jews

3. African-Americans

Klan Rises Again

• According to Hiram Wesley Evans, an "Imperial Wizard" of the KKK:

• "Every instinct, every interest, every dictate of conscience and public spirit insists that white supremacy forever shall be maintained."

Klan Tactics

• Burning crosses outside people’s homes

• Whippings and lynching to terrorize blacks and immigrants

• Supported all efforts to limit immigration

Politics of the Roaring Twenties

Daily Quiz

Who are “Reds?”

Communists

Whose aim was to preserve the United States for white native-

born Protestants?

KKK

The Palmer raids were organized to root out groups whose

activities

• posed a clear danger to the country.

Who were convicted because they were anarchists not for their

crime?

Sacco and Vanzetti

Who called for workers of the world to overthrow their

governments?

Lenin

Why did many Americans fear Vladimir I. Lenin and his

followers, the Bolsheviks?

They promoted a system that was hostile to American values.

Name the first director of the FBI.

J. Edgar Hoover