Conflict in 1920sCh 13, Sec 3

Prohibition• 18th Amendment-prohibited manufacture,

sale, transport of alcohol.– Took effect Jan. 16, 1920.– Volstead Act –Laid out crimes & punishments for

violations.• Goals-End drunkenness, family abuse; close

saloons & other “dens of vice”.• Widely ignored in cities, east coast.• Demand for alcohol led to bootlegging,

organized crime.

• Bootleggers-suppliers of illegal alcohol.– Ran stills, smuggled booze in from Canada,

Caribbean.• People drank in speakeasies.– Illegal bars.– Had to have membership or know someone to get

in.– Often hidden in/behind/under other businesses.

• Prohibition led to increased alcohol consumption.– Pre-1920-Washington, D.C. had 300 saloons.– Prohibition-700 speakeasies, 4,000 bootleggers.

• Organized crime grew to control alcohol & vice trades.

• Local gangs ran bootlegging, then began to organize into large gangs.– Gangs competed for territory, led to gang wars.

• Gangs branched out into gambling, prostitution, racketeering.– Force businesses to pay “protection” money.

• Major cities became war zones over vice trade.

• Biggest gang was in Chicago.– Run by Alphonse “Scarface” Capone.

• Ran huge operation.– $60 million/year just in bootlegging.

• Paid off cops, judges, city officials, basically ran Chicago.

• FBI, headed by J. Edgar Hoover went after Capone.– Untouchables, led by Elliot Ness, worked to break

up Capone’s business.• 1931-Capone busted on income-tax evasion.– Sent to Alcatraz, died there

Capone’s Cell in Alcatraz

• Prohibition was a total failure, ended in 1933.– Alcohol consumption returned to pre-Prohibition

levels.

Religion• Many felt that modern world was moving

away from God and causing people to question if God existed.

• Led to Fundamentalism movement.• Believed:– Traditional ideas about Jesus.– God inspired Bible, therefore no contradictions or

errors.– Bible is literally true from cover to cover.

• Surge of religious feeling led to revivals.– Travelling churches that preached and saved souls.

• Billy Sunday-former pro baseball player.– Influential in passage of Prohibition.– Series of revivals heard by 100 million people.

• Aimee Semple McPherson-very popular.– Used radio to broadcast revival meetings.– Built $1.5 million church in L.A.

• Evolution was a hot-button issue.– All living things began as simpler life forms &

changed.– Disagreed with biblical Creationism.• God created life as it is.

• Some states banned teaching of evolution, including Tennessee.

• TN science teacher John Scopes taught evolution, arrested. (did this by choice)

• Led to Scopes Monkey Trial, or Scopes Trial.

• Trial was big deal.– William Jennings Bryan, Populist, 3-time

presidential candidate, fundamentalist, argued the prosecution.

– Clarence Darrow, defender of Eugene Debs and labor movements, supporter of free speech, argued the defense.

• Case lasted 10 days, first to be broadcast on radio.– Scopes guilty, fined $100.00, but big issue was

religion in modern world.• Seen as setback for fundamentalism, victory for

science & reason.• Bryan died few days after case.

William Jennings Bryan

Clarence Darrow

Issues of Race• Increased racial tension in 1920s.• Summer 1919-”Red Summer”-due to many

race riots.• Worst was in Chicago.– Rock throwing b/t black & white on Lake Michigan

beach.– Black boy drifts into white only swimming area, hit

with rock, drowned.– Led to riots, lasted several days, 23 black dead, 15

white dead, 537 people wounded. Thousands homeless.

– National Guard brought in to stop riots.

• 1920s saw revival of Ku Klux Klan (KKK).– Ended during Reconstruction, revived in 1915 by

Col. William Simmons.– By 1924-4 million members.

• Vowed to defend white Protestant culture from any group that was un-American, not just black.

• Attacked blacks, immigrants, Catholics, Jews, others with beatings, whippings, lynchings, cross-burnings, bombs.

• Police, FBI began to go after KKK.– Began to decline by 1927.

• Frustrated with race issues, Marcus Garvey began new movement.– Created Universal Negro Improvement Association

(UNIA).• Tried to build self-respect & economic power.

– Built Negro Factories Corp,-black-owned businesses.

– Started ship company-Black Star Line.– Created a “Back to Africa” movement to create a

new black homeland.• Later jailed for fraud, deported back to Jamaica.• Garvey not popular with many black leaders, as

he called for separation of races rather than integration.