America1920s Culture

RED SCARE

Overview Fear of Radicalism

Strikes 4 million workers

Violence Red Summer Resulted in deaths of African Americans

due to racial violence Oct 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

Small communist parties (2) 70,000 members total

Large Number of Strikes Wilson lifted price-controls Largest number of strikers in 1919 at

20% of workers Corporate leaders repudiated war-time

concessions Veterans struggle Labor sacrifice in war is now paid back Believed labor troubles were due to

Bolshevik

Seattle General Strike (January 1919)

Most famous general strike 35,000 shipyard workers went on strike after they failed

to get wage increase to compensate for inflation All unions in Seattle, 60,000 additional workers, demand

higher pay for shipyard workers Peaceful and orderly strike

Conservatives fears European-style labor takeover Seattle mayor called in federal troops to put off “anarchy

of Russia” Labor turns to AFL, liberals, and socialists.

Sought permanent federal ownership of railroads Board of directors would represent consumers and set

policy, but workers would manage railroads Public and railroad workers would divide all profits

Results Conservatives viewed this as a blow to representative

government Voted down in Congress in August 1919.

Boston Police Strike September 1919

Over 70% of Boston's 1,500 police men went on strike

Some worked between 73 to 98 hours per week with no pay

Some hailed as another victory for Bolsheviks

Coolidge (Governor) called out National Guard Refused Gompers’ offer to settle strike Demanded police had no right to form a

union Became a national hero

Results Most frightening strike in the minds of

many Americans – Police went on strike in 37 other cities

Police were fired and a new force was recruited from national guard.

“there was no right to strike against the public

safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime…”

Steel Strike AFL attempted to organize steel industry in

September 1919 MAJOR SHIFT: attempting to organize

unskilled labor by industry Sought 8 hour work day 6-day week End to 224 hour shifts every 2 weeks Union recognition

Judge Elbert H. Gary Head of USX refused to negotiate on

grounds that representatives of AFL were not employees

½ of nation’s steel workers worked for USX Strike broken by January 1920

Failure of strike marked hardening of Americans on labor matters.

United Mine Workers of American Strike

John L. Lewis Struck for shorter hours and higher

wages on November 1, 1919 Attorney General Palmer obtained

injunctions and the union called off the strike

Wilson used WWI legislation that prohibited strikes in war industries

An arbitration board later awarded the miners in wage increase.

Palmer Raids Mitchell Palmer

$500,000 from Congress Identities of people who sent bombs

never identified Radicals Bolsheviks Wobblies

Terrorist bombing in 1919 and 1920 Wall Street (38 dead) Palmer’s Washington home

Red Scare Teachers forced to sign loyalty

oaths American Legion went after

dangerous foreigners Jan 2, 1920, 5,000 suspected

communist arrested in 33 cities Seized without warrants, attorneys,

food, bathrooms etc..

“ Tear out the radical seeds that have entangled American ideas in

their poisonous theories”

Public Reaction Most condoned actions Began question the compromising of individual rights

End Summer 1920 alleged May Day strikes never occurred Conservatives used “red scare’ to break the backs of unions. Recession in 1921 weakened unions, prices fell faster than

wages AFL will lose ¼ of its members

Sacco and Vanzetti

1921, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti charged and convicted of killing two people in a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Italians Atheists Anarchists Draft dodgers

Prejudice Jury and Judge Radicalism of defendants an issue Evidence conclusive Many believe sentence was unjust due to prejudice

Judge Webster Thayer Motions for new trial denied by Thayer Massachusetts Supreme Court say no also 1927 sentenced men to death by electric chair

Results of Trial Attracted world attention

Riots in Japan, Warsaw, Paris, and Buenos Aries after executions

Class-Based? Upper class vs. Immigrants

Americans protest Felix Frankfurter Albert Einstein George Bernard Shaw Italian community affected

1977 Gov. Michael Dukakis of Mass Vindicated both men claiming faults existed in the case…

“any stigma and disgrace should be removed from

their names”

Reaction to Red Scare and Americanism…

KKK Resurgence

South, Southwest, and North Central States (Il, IN, OH) Spawned by 1915 movie Birth of a Nation: D.W. Griffith

First blockbuster epic (3 hours) Based on 1905 book: The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the KKK, by Thomas Dixon

More resembled “Know-Nothings” and American Protective Association than anti-black terrorist of 1860.

Anti-foreign, Anti-Catholic, Anti-black, Anti-Jewish, Anti-pacifist, Anti-Communist, Anti-internationalist, Anti-evolutionist, Anti-bootlegger, Anti-gambling, Anti-adultery, Anti-birth control.

Pro WASP and Pro-”native” Americans Demise

David Stephenson: KKK leader in Indian Jail for 2nd degree murder of a woman he kidnapped and abused. Led to downfall of influence of clan

Klan claim as a protector of the virtue of white women compromised Embezzlement by Klan officials led to congressional investigation

$10 to join

Closing Door on Immigration 1921 Immigration Act

End open immigration with a limit and quota system

350,000 total per annum and no more than 3% of the people already in US: based on 1910 census

Only 158,367 from countries other than N. and W. Europe

1924 National Origins Act (Immigration Act of 1924) Reduced immigration to 152,000 total per annum 3% down to 2%; 21, 847 from countries other than N. and W.

Europe. Reduced numbers from E and S Europe as most had come in 1890s Poles, Italians, Russians seen as “less American” Asians banned completely Irish and Germans not as affected: discriminated against 1850s Canadians and Latin Americans exempt from this quota system Mexicans migrated to LA, San Antonio, and Denver in large numbers

and held low-paying jobs and lived in barrios. Five years later the act of 1929, virtually cut immigration in half by

limiting the total to 152, 574 per annum By 1931 more foreigners left than arrived Congress abolished the national origins quota system in 65.

Scopes Trial

Fundamentalism

Believed teaching of evolution was destroying faith in God and the Bible

Contributing to the moral breakdown of youth in the jazz age

Attempt to pass laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution

THE RISE OF SCIENCE IN 20TH CENTURY FOR MANY TRUTH COMES

FROM SCIENCE. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

OBSERVATION HYPOTHESIS EXPERIMENTATION VALIDATION SCIENTIFIC TRUTH

FUNDAMENTALISM VS MODERNISM

FAITH VS SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE FUNDAMENTALIST BELIEVE THAT THE

BIBLE IS LITERAL TRUTH. GOD SPOKE TO PROPHETS OF THE BIBLE. THE BOOK OF GENESIS DESCRIBES

CREATION.

MODERNISTS

MODERNISTS SEE THE BIBLE A TRUE, BUT NOT LITERALLY TRUE.

THEY TRY TO RECONCILE RELIGIOUS FAITH WITH THE FINDING OF MODERN SCIENCE.

THEY SEE THE BIBLE AS SIMPLY “PLEASANT POETRY”. IT PROVIDES RELIGIOUS AND MORAL TRUTH, BUT THE STORIES ARE ALLEGORIES.

Scopes Trial…

Introduction 1925 Dayton eastern Tennessee High-school biology teacher John Scopes indicted for

teaching evolution Tennessee’s Butler Law of 1924 banned any teaching of

theories that contradicted the Divine Creation of man as taught in the bible (Book of Genesis)

ACLU wanted to fight the case and ran ad in the NY times asking for teacher to volunteer to be arrested for violating the Butler Law

Scopes volunteered Case attracted huge following: broadcast over radio!

Clarence Darrow: defended Scopes William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor: Presbyterian

Fundamentalist Fundamentalism on trial

Darrow put Bryan on the witness stand the last day to defend a literal interpretation of the Bible

Bryan asked at length about his literal biblical beliefs: Did he think the earth was created in 6 days? Bryan: “not six days of 24 hours”

Scopes found guilty Violating Butler Act Fined $100 SC of Tennessee set aside the fine on technicality

Fundamentalism suffered a set back Bryan was aware of his contradictions and died less than a

week after the trial due to a stress-caused stroke

Prohibition

Prohibition

Last Progressive reform 18th Amendment ratified by sates in 1919 Supported by churches and women

Heavy support in Mid-west Southern whites eager to keep stimulants from

blacks Volstead Act 1919

Implemented the amendment Opposed in larger eastern cities where colonies of

“wet” foreign-born peoples

Problem with Enforcement

Federal authorities had problems enforcing a law where majority of people were hostile to it

Most drinkers ignored “dry” laws Lack of enforcement officials Alcohol could be sold by doctor’s prescription Alcohol was necessary for industrial uses (poison was

supposed to be added to it to prevent consumption) Alcohol could be manufactured in small amounts

almost anywhere “Near Beer” was legal (1/2 of 1% of alcohol)

Results Rise in Organized Crime

Huge profits from “bootlegging” became foundation for corruption

Al Capone- most powerful gangster John Dillinger – gangster Increase in gang violence: about 500 gang

members killed in Chicago during 1920s Officials accepted bribes and did not

enforce prohibition Organized crime spread prostitution,

gambling, and narcotics. Speakeasies

Secret bars operated by bootleggers Women can now drink in a saloon

Disappearance of saloons US accustomed to casually breaking the

law Prohibition repealed in 1933

Mass Business, Mass Consumption

Glorification of Business

The Man Nobody Knows by Bruce Barton

Called Jesus the first modern businessman

Businessmen considered the people that “ruled” the nation

“Picked up 12 men from the

bottom of society and forged an

organization that

conquered the world.”

Economy Brief Depression 1920-21 Andrew Mellon’s “trickle down” tax policies favored the

rapid expansion of capital investment Buying on credit became another innovative feature of the

postwar economy 1922 to 1928: industrial productivity rose 70%

New Technology New Industries Inventions Construction Medical Breakthroughs Corporate Revolution