Adjusting to Peace After
WWI
1919-1921
What do you know about the 1920’s?
No talking, just think in your head and create a list…
Ready?
Write down anything you kinda sorta think maybe might
have happened in the 20’s
Immediate Post-War Issues
The Great War is over, what now?
Americans are disillusioned with foreign affairs…
What do they do?
Why, they return to isolationism, of course!!!!
Immediate Post-War Issues
Economically…
soldiers come back and need jobs,
no more need for war supplies,
factories close
farmers don’t have armies in Europe to feed
What happens when there are no jobs and no one to sell
things to?
Recession (economic downturn) 1919-1921
Immediate Post-War Issues
Politically…
Time for a new President
Republican Warren Harding is elected in 1920
Read the bottom of p. 174
List the ways that President Harding justifies returning to
isolationism.
Red Scare
In 1917 the Russian Czar was overthrown
Who’s seen “Anastasia”?
Later that year, Communists seized power
What does a good Communist do?
Seek more power!
They threatened to spread their revolution
It started in the US in 1919
And what did our fine citizens do?
People freaked… “Red Scare” created a panic
Sorry to ruin the
story, but she
actually died with
the rest of the
family
Red Scare
In January 1919 Italian anarchist sets off bomb
Where you ask?
Outside US Attorney General Mitchell Palmer’s house
This was one of several in 8 American cities
All attacks on judges, politicians, law enforcement
Whatever should be done?
Hmm… Lets think, what happened after 9/11?
We changed laws and started gathering up “terrorists”
Red Scare
Palmer Raids
Palmer was convinced there was a plot to overthrow the US
gov’t
In 1920 he ordered round-up of 4,000 suspects
In
several cities
WITHOUT
Directed
warrants
by J.Edgar Hoover, his assistant
Most released later, but 600 deported
Red Scare
Sacco and Vanzetti Case
Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti – Italian immigrants
Convicted of murder during a robbery
Robbery supposedly to get funds for anarchist revolution
World demanded their release
Did we release them?
Of course not! We can’t look weak!
With insufficient evidence, they were convicted and executed
Modern science says Sacco was probably guilty, but not
Vanzetti
Red Scare
Sacco and Vanzetti Case
Your turn to think… It shouldn’t hurt too bad…Oh, but you do
have to write…
Given the situation of fear and panic, do you think Sacco
and Vanzetti got a fair trial?
Why or why not?
Rise of Nativism and Racism
Oh My.mp4
Red Scare, bombings, and trials, Oh My…
Red Scare, bombings, and trials, Oh My…
Red Scare, bombings, and trials, Oh My…
I am afraid, who should I blame?
Foreigners!
Nativists (think they’re native and don’t like foreigners)
Believed White Protestant Americans were superior
Eventually leads to immigration restrictions
Rise of Nativism and Racism
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Had been dead for decades
Comes back in 1915
Why? What changed?
Where were most African Americans before the war?
After?
Racial tensions in cities grew after the war
Major race riots in cities
Lynching continued and segregation in the South
Did the KKK only target non-whites?
Nope, they pretty much didn’t like anybody unless you were
white, protestant, & “native”
They harassed: immigrants, Catholics, and Jews too
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