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(First) Red Scare
Fears of Communism and Socialism prompted nativist immigration policies and mass arrests as in the Palmer Raids. Deb's Socialist Party was challenged, and Italian immigrants convicted of murder, Sacco & Vanzetti, became the face of immigrants to Americans. To native-born Americans, immigrants were non-Protest, anarchists, and Socialist. -
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Prohibition
The 18th Amendment and Volstead Act essentially outlawed alcohol. However, speakeasies and bootleggers allowed people to drink illegally. Officials were paid to look the other way, and some, like Harding, even served it at parties. Organized crime began under leaders like Al Capone and later evolved into modern crime organizations doing other illegal activities. By 1933, prohibition clearly decreased alcoholism but increased crime. The 21st Amendment repealed it in 1933. -
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Women in the 1920s
The flapper movement was born as young women embraced independence and sexuality. They had "bobbed" hair, wore hats, and had shorter hemlines. Their new values included cigarettes, alcohol, makeup, and dancing at clubs. Birth control and unsupervised dating increased sexual activity. Furthermore, advertisers targeted sexuality and appearance. -
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KKK 2.0
The KKK had a resurgence. While the old KKK oppressed A.A.s only, the new one attacked immigrants, A.A.s, Catholics, and Jews. They were responsible for lynchings as portrayed in the song "Strange Fruit" popularized by Billy Holliday. The revamped KKK had 4.5 million members, including elected politicians. -
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Leisure in the 1920s
Leisure boomed in the 1920s as popular heroes transitioned from political legends like TR and Wilson to celebrities like Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh (who made the first nonstop flight from NYC to Paris). "Talking movies," books, sports, radio broadcasts, new shopping centers, and music like jazz all became popular. Phonographs allowed people to listen to music alone. -
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Prosperity in the 1920s
Prosperity consumed the U.S. in the Roaring 20s due to increased productivity (with Ford's assembly line), energy tech like oil and electricity, gov't policies favoring Big Business (like tax cuts and a relaxed Fed), and a consumer economy (involving automobiles, advertising, consumer appliances, and buying on credit). -
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Labor in the 1920s
Labor Unions struggled as wages increased but membership decreased. Companies had an "open shop" (keeping jobs open for nonunion workers) and some used "welfare capitalism" (offering benefits and higher wages to reduce interest in unions). Strikes typically failed. Additionally, farms struggled as they lost their wartime boost and emerged from the war with heavy debt. New tech could not save them from failing to share in the prosperity of the decade. -
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Harlem Renaissance
Prompted by the Great Migration and continued inequality, A.A.s experienced a cultural renaissance centered in Harlem in NY. Poets like Cullen, Hughes, Johnson, and McKay discussed A.A. heritage. Jazz emerged through musicians like Ellington, Armstrong, Smith, and Robeson. W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey advocated Black pride/Black nationalism, which would return in the 1960s. -
Washington Conferences
Sec. of State Hughes organized naval disarmament talks with GB, France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Japan, and China. The Five-Power, Four-Power, and Nine-Power Treaties were all signed. -
Five-Power Treaty
The U.S., GB, Japan, France, and Italy agreed to battleship ratios. -
Four-Power Treaty
The U.S., GB, Japan, and France agreed to respect each others' Pacific territories. -
Nine-Power Treaty
All nine powers agreed to the Open Door Policy and the integrity of China's territory. -
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Harding Presidency
Harding was a newspaper publisher who was liked but not very presidential. Recognizing his mediocrity, he appointed a strong Cabinet (Hughes, Hoover, Mellon). Also, he made Taft Chief Justice. He mostly signed Rep legislation like an income tax reduction, the increased Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act (1922), and the Bureau of the Budget. He pardoned Deb out of generosity. After his death, Cabinet members Fall and Daugherty were implicated in scandals like the Teapot Dome Scandal. Harding was not. -
Mussolini in Italy
Italy's Fascist (aggressive nationalism) Party marched on Rome in 1922 to make their leader, Benito Mussolini, leader. -
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Coolidge Presidency
VP Coolidge succeeded Harding. He was nicknamed "Silent Cal," and provided the political summary of the decade: "The business of America is business." In the Election of 1924, after serving briefly, he beat Dem. John W. Davis and Progressive La Follette. Basically, Coolidge watched the budget and spending while ensuring limited government. All three Rep presidents of the Roaring 20s mimicked the laissez-faire policies of the Gilded Age presidents, though many Progressive changes remained. -
Dawes Plan
After WWI, the U.S. became a creditor nation. It demanded the Allies repay their $10 bil war debts, but they could not because Germany was too unstable to pay them $30 bil in war reparations. The Dawes Plan suggested U.S. banks would loan money to Germany for rebuilding and repaying reparations to the Allies. The Allies could then pay their debts to the U.S. The Plan fell apart after Black Tuesday (1929). -
Scopes Trial
John Scopes was arrested for violating the Butler Act by teaching evolution in his class. The ACLU's Clarence Darrow backed Scopes against Bryan. Although Scopes won, Darrow claimed victory for getting Bryan to admit Creation may not have taken 7 literal days. The trial represented the conflict between rural America (fundamentalism) and urban America (modernism). Fundamentalist ministers like Sunday and McPherson took to radios to attack new leisure activities. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The U.S. and France arranged and almost all nations signed this pact that renounced war as a tool of national gain. However, it did not address defensive wars and had no real force behind it. -
Stock Market Crash (Black Tuesday)
Due to buying on credit, overproduction, layoffs, WWI debt, weak farming, and millions invested in a 1928 stock boom that rose DOW-J to its record high, fluctuating stock prices suddenly plummeted on Black Thursday as selling drastically increased. Bankers tried to stabilize it by buying tons of stock, but this only delayed the inevitable. On Black Tuesday, the bottom fell out and investors tried to sell but couldn't. People stormed the banks, which had to close, deleting many savings accounts. -
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Hoover Presidency
Won in 1928 after Coolidge declined to seek another term. He appealed to Protestants to beat his Catholic opponent, Alfred E. Smith. He promised to end poverty, which soon became bitterly ironic. -
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Hoover's Response to the GD
Hoover initially advocated self-reliance, believing prosperity would return. He urged businesses not to cut wages, unions not to strike, and charities to help the needy. To increase revenue, Hoover signed the very high Hawley-Smoot Tariff in 1930. Europe retaliated with its own, decreasing trade. Additionally, Hoover proposed a suspension of war debts. GB and Germany agreed, but France denied and massive loan defaults occurred. He also made the Federal Farm Board and RFC. -
Election of 1932
In the worst year of the depression, Gov. FDR (D-NY) destroyed Hoover to win the election. He had promised a "new deal" (which wasn't completely fleshed out), the repeal of Prohibition, aid for the unemployed, and spending cuts. As a "lame-duck" president, Hoover was powerless. He offered to work with FDR, but FDR did not want to be associated with any more blunders by Hoover. In 1933, the 20th Amendment was ratified, shortening the "lame-duck" period. -
President FDR
FDR had admired TR and followed in his footsteps but as a Dem. He lost the VP in 1920 and was paralyzed by polio in 1921 but rebounded into a wheelchair. As gov. of NY from 1928 to 1932, he helped the jobless. Though they had a strained relationship, FDR and his wife Eleanor were a powerful team. Eleanor was a very active first lady and influenced FDR to support the less fortunate. -
Early New Deal
The New Deal philosophy was still forming in 1932, but FDR knew it would include Three R's: relief for the jobless, recovery for businesses and the economy, and reform of economic institutions. For economic advisors, he had a group of professors called "Brain Trust." Additionally, his administration was diverse for the time; it included Sec. of Labor Frances Perkins, the first female Cabinet member. -
Stimson Doctrine
After Japan invaded Manchuria in 11/1931, set up a puppet government, and named it "Manchukuo," violating the Open Door Policy and the Nine-Power Treaty, the League of Nations did nothing but condemn the invasion. A slightly stronger response came from Hoover's Sec. of State Stimson, who refused to recognize any governments established by force. -
First 100 Days
During his first 100 days in office, FDR called a 100-day special session of Cong. that enacted all of his requests. He announced a bank holiday, ended Prohibition, began fireside chats, signed relief for the unemployed (PWA, CCC, TVA), initiated financial recovery and reform programs (Emergency Banking Relief Act, Glass-Steagall Act, FDIC), created the National Recovery Administration, and created the Farm Production Control Program. After the 100 days, he made the CWA, SEC, and FHA. -
Bank Holiday
At the very beginning of his term, FDR closed all banks to allow the gov't time to reorganize them. Banks were evaluated and those that passed inspection were allowed to reopen, promoting trust in the banks. If people deposited money, the economy would grow. -
Hitler in Germany
The Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler rose in popularity by using anti-Semitic and Fascist ideals. They appealed to a devastated country seeking someone to blame, and Hitler became chancellor in 1933. A year later, he became "Fuhrer." -
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FDR's "Good Neighbor" Foreign Policy
FDR wanted to establish a "Good Neighbor" foreign policy because Taft's Dollar Diplomacy did not make sense in the GD and militarist regimes in Germany and Italy meant allies were needed. He got Congress to nullify the Platt Amendment, keeping only a U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay. He did not respond when Mexico tested the U.S. by seizing the properties of U.S. corporations. He recognized the Soviet Union to increase trade in the GD. He made reciprocal trade agreements to mutually lower tariffs. -
Wheeler-Howard Act
A.k.a. the Indian Reorganization Act, this act repealed the Dawes Act of 1887, returned reservation land to Amerindians, and encouraged tribal organization and culture. As for Mexican Americans, New Deal programs and job competition forced many back into Mexico. -
Tydings-McDuffie Act
Created to establish Filipino independence by 1946. FDR did this because maintaining the Philippines was not worth the expense. This would finally give Filipinos independence, which they sought but failed to win through a violent revolution against the U.S. after the U.S. acquired the Philippines after the Spanish-American War (1898). -
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Second New Deal
Following a Dem victory in 1934, FDR created the WPA under Hopkins, the RA under Rexford Tugwell, government aid for workers and farmers, the Wagner Act (1935), the REA, a 1935 revenue act increasing the income tax (on the wealthy) and capital gains tax, and the Social Security Act. -
National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act
Guaranteed the right to join a union and collectively bargain and created the National Labor Relations Board. This granted rights to workers not guaranteed in the Gilded Age. -
Social Security Act
Set up a system in which a part of an individual's salary is collected by the government to be redistributed when the individual is a senior. It greatly expanded the scope of the federal government alongside the rest of the New Deal acts, which people were ready for after Big Business failed them in the Roaring 20s. Although Hamilton, Lincoln, and Wilson all intervened in the economy, FDR created a limited welfare state, laying the basis for modern American liberalism. -
Mussolini invades Ethiopia
In 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, drawing only objections from the U.S. and the League of Nations. The Allies and U.S. adhered to appeasement policies to avoid confrontation with the Fascist Axis Powers. -
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Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, & 1937
Since the U.S. felt WWI a mistake, and Sen. Gerald Nye concluded it was motivated by economic interests, the U.S. expressed nationalism through isolationism. In 1935, it said the POTUS can block arms shipments and travel on belligerent ships. In 1936, it blocked the extension of loans and credits to belligerents. In 1937, it forbade arms shipments to either side of the Spanish Civil War, where Loyalists (supported by many Americans) lost to Gen. Franco's Fascists. -
Election of 1936
FDR was loved by the common people but hated by Big Business due to regulation and pro-union measures. In 1936, FDR was challenged by Gov. Alf Landon (R-KS). FDR destroyed Landon, revealing the power of the New Deal Coalition which supported Dems--the solid S, White urban folk, Midwestern farmers, labor unions, liberals, and even A.A.s. While opponents on the Left saw the New Deal as favoring Business and ignoring the helpless, opponents on the Right felt it bordered on Socialism. -
Hitler takes the Rhineland
Hitler defied the Treaty of Versailles and sent troops to the Rhineland, a demilitarized area in Germany. The Allies and U.S. adhered to appeasement policies to avoid confrontation with the Fascist Axis Powers. -
Demagogues
Influential demagogues in the New Deal included Father Charles E. Coughlin, Dr. Francis E. Townsend, and Sen. Huey Long (LA). Coughlin attacked the New Deal but grew anti-Semitic and fascist in his radio broadcasts. Townsend proposed the Townsend Plan, which would create a 2% federal sales tax to give the elderly an income. Sen. Long proposed a base income for every family by taxing the wealthy, but FDR did not need to worry about him because he was assassinated by a local political rival. -
Court Reorganization Plan
FDR was frustrated the conservative SCOTUS was undermining parts of the New Deal like the NRA and AAA, so he proposed the Court Reorganization Plan. If it were passed, it would allow him to pack the Court with liberal justices. This alarmed Reps and Dems alike, and it was defeated with bipartisan support. SCOTUS backed off its resistance to avoid interference, but the Senate grew less amenable to FDR's ideas. Regardless, several justices retired and FDR replaced them with liberal justices. -
Fascist Japan
Japanese nationalists and militarists convinced the Emporer to invade China and Asia for raw resources, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7/7/1937. -
Japan invades China
Japan invaded China without opposition, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Allies and U.S. adhered to appeasement policies to avoid confrontation with the Fascist Axis Powers. -
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Recession
A backward slide began in the winter of 1937 partially due to government policy reducing relief spending. John Maynard Keynes, who created Keynesian Economics, convinced FDR deficit spending was good in tough circumstances. FDR tried it successfully. The bipartisan coalition formed after the battle over the Court Reorganization Plan (1937) blocked further New Deal reforms. Nazi Germany stole attention from New Deal reform anyway. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
This final major New Deal reform established a 1) minimum wage, 2) maximum standard workweek of 40 hours, and 3) child labor restrictions under 16 years old. It was passed in response to union activity. The CIO broke away from the AFL to include a more diverse group of workers, and frequent automobile strikes occurred in response to stubborn companies. Sit-down strikes, in which strikers literally sat on assembly lines to prevent production, became popular. Violent steel strikes occurred. -
Hitler claims the Sudetenland
Hitler claimed the Sudentenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia. In a meeting in Munich, GB, the U.S., and France agreed to allow this to appease Hitler. The Allies and U.S. adhered to appeasement policies to avoid confrontation with the Fascist Axis Powers. "Munich" became synonymous with appeasement. -
Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial
When A.A. singer Marian Anderson was denied use of Constitution Hall due to her race, Eleanor Roosevelt and Sec. of Interior Harold Ickes arranged for her to perform a special concert at the Lincoln Memorial. -
WWII Begins in Europe
Hitler took Czechoslovakia and signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union, shocking the Allies because Fascism and Communism are enemies (they secretly agreed to divide Poland). Hitler invaded Poland on 9/1/1939. GB and France declared war on NG, putting them against Italy and Japan as well. Using blitzkrieg warfare to take Poland, NG had Denmark, Norway, and France by 6/1940. -
FDR's WWII Approach
After failing to convince the public to support a democratic alliance to repel Japan and achieving minor agreement on preparedness, FDR knew he had to counter isolationism in the U.S. so he began aiding the Allies. He developed a strong relationship with PM Churchill of GB, partly b/c he felt GB sovereignty essential to U.S. security. -
"Cash & Carry" and "Destroyers-for-Bases"
FDR convinced Cong. to change the Neutrality Act of 1937 to allow belligerents to buy U.S. arms with cash and their own ships (Neutrality Act of 1939). While this "cash & carry" was technically neutral, it intentionally favored GB b/c GB controlled the seas. To help GB with NG submarines and bombing raids but appease isolationists, FDR traded old battleships to GB for the right to build military bases on British islands in the Caribbean. -
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Groups During WWII
Mexican Americans served in the military and defense industries. Mexican braceros were allowed to temporarily enter the U.S. to help with the harvest. Amerindians also served in the military, and many left reservations permanently. Japanese Americans were viewed as potential spies and 100,000 on the West Coast were sent to internment camps upheld in wartime by Korematsu v. U.S. (1944). Women served in non-combat roles and joined the work face, encouraged by "Rosie the Riveter." -
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Battle of the Atlantic
The U.S. and GB wanted to beat NG submarines and bomb raid NG cities. So, they did so. NG submarines sank many Allied ships, but tech like radar and sonar eventually helped contain NG. U.S. bombers raided military targets during the day through "strategic bombing." -
Axis Powers formed
Fascist dictatorships in Italy, Germany, and Japan signed a treaty to become the Axis Powers in response to the GD and nationalism. -
Selective Service Act of 1940
A peacetime draft isolationists opposed. However, public sentiment was slowly growing less isolationist. -
Election of 1940
In the shadow of war, FDR broke the two-term tradition to seek a third term if nominated. He announced the U.S. would not send troops to the war. Wendell Wilkie challenged him, agreeing with his treatment of the war and GB but criticizing the New Deal and his rejection of the two-term tradition. FDR won due to economic prosperity and experience handling the war. -
Fair Employment Practices Committee
Created to assist minorities in gaining jobs in defense industries in response to a threat to march on DC. A.A.s still faced discrimination during the GD. They were intentionally excluded from New Deal programs, and they were the "last hired, first fired," leading to high unemployment. Lynchings continued. A.A.s were afforded some segregated jobs in the WPA and CCC, and the bureaucracy included about 100 A.A.s. However, civil rights were not the focus in the 1930s. -
Four Freedoms Speech
FDR announced four freedoms in a speech to persuade Cong. to lend money to GB to buy from the U.S. They are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. -
Lend-Lease Act
Allowed GB to buy whatever U.S. arms it needed on credit. Isolationists were defeated by public opinion again, as they were regarding the Selective Service Act of 1940. -
Atlantic Charter
Pro-war document written by FDR and Churchill affirming the principles of peace after the war: self-determination, no expansionism, and free trade. -
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Gov't Action During the War
The WPB was created to manage war industries, and the ORA was created to freeze prices, wages, and rent, and ration to control inflation. Spending shot up 1000% between 1939 and 1945. Essentially, the gov't spent its war out of the GD, accumulating debt and booming businesses. The Manhattan Project worked on the first atomic weapons. To finance the war, the gov't increased the income tax and advertised war bonds (celebrities often did). The Office of War Info controlled news and promoted morale. -
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Workers and Unions in WWII
Unions and corporations agreed on no strikes, but a few occurred over frozen wages. The Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act of 1943 allowed the gov't to take over businesses related to war that are threatened by strikes. -
Shoot on Sight Speech
FDR had the Navy defend GB ships with lend-lease materials. After a German submarine attacked the U.S. destroyer Greer, FDR announced the Navy should shoot NG ships on sight. -
Pearl Harbor
Following poor negotiations with the U.S., Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl harbor in HI in less than five hours in order to cripple the U.S. Navy so it wouldn't impede Japan's plans to take over the Pacific, which it initiated the same day. Three days later, Cong. declared war with only one dissenter. NG and Italy declared war on the U.S. NG broke the pact with Stalin, pushing into the Soviet Union, and the three Allies focused on NG before Japan. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Soviet Union beat NG at Stalingrad, ending the NG advance into the Soviet Union. Combined with the U.S. entry into the war, this ended the NG advance. -
Battle of Midway
Decoding Japanese messages led to U.S. victory at the Battle of Midway. The U.S destroyed 4 carriers and 300 plans, ending Japan's expansion and marking a watershed in the war. "Island-hopping" was the dominant Allie strategy to overtake Japan. It involved slow advances past enemy posts. -
Race riots & equality during WWII
Occurred in the summer 1943 over A.A. urbanization. A.A.s left the S for jobs and served in the military (in segregated units). Civil Rights leaders encouraged the "Double V," victory over Fascism and inequality. NAACP membership shot up. FDR issued an executive order to prohibit discrimination in gov't and businesses with federal contracts. In Smith v. Allwright (1944), SCOTUS ruled it unconstitutional to deny A.A.s party membership to keep them out of primaries. -
Operation Torch
Gen. Eisenhower and GB Gen. Montgomery took North Africa back from NG. Allies took Sicily but failed in an invasion of NG-controlled Italy. -
Casablanca
FDR and Churchill met in Casablanca in North Africa to plan invasions of Sicily and Italy and to demand "unconditional surrender" from the Axis Powers. -
Tehran
The "Big Three"--FDR, Churchill, and Stalin--planned for the U.S. and GB to liberate France while the Soviet Union invaded NG and later joined the war in the Pacific. -
Battle of the Bulge & Victory in Europe
In Belgium, Hilter suffered a setback at the Battle of the Bulge, marking his final attempt to regain control of the war. Allied bombing raids reduced NG industry and the Allies marched from the West as the Soviet Union closed in on the East. Hitler committed suicide on 4/30/1945 and NG surrendered on 5/7/1945. The Allies discovered the Holocaust, which shocked the world. -
D-Day ("Operation Overlord")
Bloody Allied invasion to liberate France; the largest combined military operation in all of history. Paris was liberated in August and the Allies were in NG by September. -
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
After warning Japan consequences were coming, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs, tested by Oppenheimer on 7/16/1945, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many civilians died and Japan finally surrendered. -
Yalta Conference
1) NG would divide into zones and lose 1/4 of its territories to Poland the SU. 2) Liberated Eastern European countries would have free elections. 3) The SU joins against Japan. 4) The SU gets parts of the Pacific and Manchuria. 5) New world peace organization. This conference established the future map of Europe but showcased Stalin as antagonistic. -
Potsdam
The Big Three--now Truman, Attlee, and Stalin. They agreed on 1) unconditional surrender of Japan and 2) division of NG into four zones. The SU wanted to punish Germany more and felt the atomic bombs were a threat. Truman wanted to be tough on Communism. This blend led to the Cold War. -
United Nations
The United Nations, unlike the League of Nations, was accepted by Congress with far less effort than Wilson poured into getting ratification for the League of Nations. The UN was proposed in 1944 by the U.S., GB, SU, and China.