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"yellow jounalism"
The press more than kept pace with demand, but competition sparked a new brand of journalism called “yellow journalism,” in which newspapers reported on wild and fantastic stories that often were false or quite exaggerated: sex, scandal, and other human-interest stories. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were known as the lurid yellow press. The purpose of yellow journalism was to simply sell papers.“yellow journalism” also influenced overseas expansion. -
Monroe Doctrine
British Guiana and Venezuela had been disputing their border for many years when gold was discovered, the situation worsened. The U.S. told Britain they were trespassing the Monroe Doctrine and the U.S.controlled things in the Americas. British replied that the Monroe Doctrine didn’t exist and almost went war. The Monroe Doctrine was strengthened, the Latin American nations appreciated the US’ effort to protect them, and Britain sought better relations with the US since it had enemies in Europe. -
"Influence of Sea Power Upon History"
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan’s 1890 book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783, argued that every successful nation had a great navy, and started a naval race among the great powers and moving the U.S. to naval supremacy. -
Hawaiian Annexation
Treaties signed in 1875 and 1887 guaranteed commercial trade and US rights to Pearl Harbor while Hawaiian sugar was very profitable. In 1890, the McKinley Tariff raised the prices on this sugar. Americans felt that the best way to offset this was to annex Hawaii a move opposed by its Queen Liliuokalani but in 1893, desperate Americans in Hawaii revolted. They succeeded. Grover Cleveland became president again investigated the coup, found it to be wrong, and delayed the annexation. -
Period: to
Time Period 7
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Cuban Revolt
In 1895, Cuba revolted against Spain, citing years of misrule. The Cubans torched their sugar cane fields in hopes that such destruction would either make Spain leave or America interfere.
America supported Cuba, and the situation worsened when Spanish General Valeriano “Butcher” Weyler came to Cuba to crush the revolt and ended up putting many civilians into concentration camps that were terrible and killed many. The American public clamored for action but Cleveland would do nothing. -
"jingoism"
Jingoism is aggressive, nationalistic and patriotic expansion. Theodore Roosevelt, among many others, believed in this extreme form of expansion -
Spheres of influence
Following its defeat by Japan in 1894-1895, China had been carved into “spheres of influence” by the European powers. Americans were alarmed, as churches worried about their missionary strongholds while businesses feared that they would not be able to export their products to China. -
Open Door Policy
Secretary of State John Hay dispatched his famous Open Door note, which urged the European nations to keep the fair competition open to all nations willing to participate. This became the Open Door Policy. All the powers already holding spots of China were squeamish, and only Italy, which had no sphere of influence of its own, accepted unconditionally. Russia didn’t accept it at all, but the others did, on certain conditions, and thus, China was “saved” from being carved up. -
Radio & phonographs
Edison was the perfector of the incandescent light bulb, and many other inventions such as the phonograph, mimeograph, dictaphone, and moving pictures. Much of his work was done at his New Jersey lab, Menlo Park. Allowed the reproduction of sounds that could be heard by listeners -
De Lome Letter
Dupuy de Lome was a Spanish minister in Washington. He wrote a private letter to a friend concerning President McKinley and how he lacked good faith. He was forced to resign when William Randolph Hearst discovered and published the letter. This publishing helped to spark the Spanish-American War. -
Teller Amendment
Congress also adopted the Teller Amendment, which proclaimed that when the U.S. had overthrown Spanish misrule, it would give the Cubans their freedom and not conquer it. -
Sinking of Maine
On February 15th of that year, the U.S. battleship U.S.S. Maine mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 260 officers and men. Despite an unknown cause, America was war-mad and therefore Spain received the blame. Actually, what really happened was that an accidental explosion had basically blown up the ship a similar conclusion to what Spanish investigators suggested but America ignored them. The American public wanted war, but McKinley privately didn’t like war. -
Anti-Imperialist League
Upon the U.S. taking of the Philippines, uproar broke out, since until now, the United States had mostly acquired territory from the American continent, and even with Alaska, Hawaii, and the other scattered islands, there weren’t many people living there. The Anti-Imperialist League sprang into being, firmly opposed to this new imperialism of America, and its members included Mark Twain, William James, Samuel Gompers, and Andrew Carnegie. -
Insular Cases
In the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court barely ruled that the Constitution did not have full authority on how to deal with the islands (Cuba and Puerto Rico), essentially letting Congress do whatever it wanted with them. Basically, the cases said the island residents do not necessarily share the same rights as Americans -
Square Deal
Progressivism touched President Roosevelt, and his “Square Deal” control of the corporations, consumer protection, and the conservation of the United States’ natural resources.1902 a strike broke out in the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania workers demanded a 20% pay increasethe reduction of the workday to nine hours. After the owners refused to negotiate TR threatened to seize mines operate them with federal troops to keep it open. Workers got a 10% pay increase and 9-hour workday -
Newlands Reclamation Act
Roosevelt, a sportsman in addition to all the other things he was, realized the values of conservation, and persuaded by other conservationists like Gifford Pinchot, head of the federal Division of Forestry, he helped initiate massive conservation projects. The Newlands Act of 1902 initiated irrigation projects for the western states while the giant Roosevelt Dam, built on the Arizona River, was dedicated in 1911. -
Platt Amendment
In 1902, the U.S. did indeed walk away from Cuba, but it also encouraged Cuba to write and pass the Platt Amendment, which became their constitution. This amendment said that the U.S. could intervene and restore order in case of anarchy, that the U.S. could trade freely with Cuba, and that the U.S. could get two bays for naval bases, notably Guantanamo Bay. -
Support of Panamanian Revolt
In 1903, a revolution in Panama began with the killing of a
Chinese civilian and a donkey, and when Columbia tried to stop it, the U.S., citing an 1846 treaty with Columbia, wouldn’t let the Columbian fleet through. Bunau-Varilla, the Panamanian minister, signed the Hay-BunauVarilla Treaty that gave Panamanian zone to the U.S. Roosevelt didn’t actively plot to tear Panama away from Columbia, but it seemed like it to the public, and to Latin America. -
Russo-Japanese War
In 1904, Japan attacked Russia, since Russia had been in Manchuria, and proceeded to administer a series of humiliating victories until the Japanese began to run short on men. They approached Theodore Roosevelt to facilitate a peace treaty. New Hampshire, in 1905, both sides met, Japan got half of Sakhalin but no indemnity for its losses. However, due to the Russo-Japanese incident, America lost two allies in Russia and Japan, neither of which felt that it had received its fair share of winnings -
Great White Fleet
To impress the Japanese, Roosevelt sent his entire battleship fleet, “The Great White Fleet,” around the world for a tour, and it received tremendous salutes in Latin America, New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia, and Japan, helping relieve tensions. -
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle enlightened the American public to the horrors of the meatpacking industry helping to force changes. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act tried to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals. Another reason for new acts was to make sure European markets could trust American beef and other meat. -
Meat Inspection Act
In 1906, significant improvements in the meat industry were passed, such as the Meat Inspection Act, which decreed that the preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to federal inspection from corral to can. -
Scientific management
A theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. Scientific management theory is important because its approach to management is found in almost every industrial business operation across the world. Its influence is also felt in general business practices such as planning, process design, quality control, cost accounting, and ergonomic -
NAACP
W.E.B. Du Bois, the first Black to get a Ph.D. from Harvard University, demanded complete equality for Blacks and action now. He also founded the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) in 1910. -
Triangle Shirtwaist fire
Progressives also made major improvements in the fight against child labor, especially after a 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in NYC which killed 146 workers, mostly young women. The landmark case of Muller vs. Oregon (1908) found attorney Louis Brandeis persuading the Supreme Court to accept the constitutionality of laws that protected women workers. On the other hand, the case of Lochner v. New York invalidated a New York law establishing a ten-hour day for bakers. -
Initiative, referendun & Recall
The Progressives favored the “initiative” so that voters could directly propose legislation, the “referendum” so that the people could vote on laws that affected them, and the “recall” to remove bad officials from office -
Bull Moose Party
Roosevelt got the Progressive nomination, and entering the campaign, TR said that he felt “as strong as a bull moose,” making that animal the unofficial Progressive symbol. -
Socilaist Party of America
Debs represented the Socialist Party in the 1908 and 1912 elections. Debs, was accused of espionage and sent to a federal penitentiary for ten years. All this came about because of a speech that he made in Columbus, Ohio at an anti-war rally. Despite his imprisonment he ran for presidency in 1920. Although he didn't win, he had many votes; in fact, he had the most that any candidate of the Socialist party had ever had. -
Roosevelt Corollary
Roosevelt feared that if European powers interfered in the Americas to collect debts, they might then stay in Latin America, a violation of the Monroe Doctrine, so he issued Roosevelt Corollary, which stated that in future cases of debt problems, the US would take over any intervention in Latin America on behalf of Europe, keeping Europe away and Monroe Doctrine intact. However, this corollary didn’t do well with Latin America, whose countries once again felt that US was overbearing. -
16th Amendement
Wilson stepped into the presidency already knowing that he was going to tackle the “triple wall of privilege”: the tariff, the banks, and the trusts. To tackle the tariff, Wilson successfully helped in the passing of the Underwood Tariff of 1913, which substantially reduced import fees and enacted a graduated income tax (under the approval of the recent 16th Amendment). -
Federal Reserve Act
In 1908, Congress passed the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, which authorized national banks to issue emergency currency backed by various kinds of collateral. This would lead to the momentous Federal Reserve Act of 1913. -
17th Amendmnet
Progressives were mostly middle-class citizens who felt squeezed by both the big trusts above and the restless immigrant hordes working for cheap labor that came from below. They the initiative so that voters could directly propose legislation, the referendum so that the people could vote on laws that affected them Progressives also desired to expose graft, and have direct election of U.S. senators to curb corruption. 1913, the 17th Amendment provided for direct election of senators. -
Panama Canal
During the Spanish-American War, the battleship U.S.S. Oregon had been forced to steam all the way around the tip of South America to join the fleet in Cuba. Such a waterway would also make defense of the recent island acquisitions easier. However, the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with Britain had forbade the construction by either country of a canal in the Americas without the other’s consent. nullified in 1901 by the Hay Pauncefote Treaty. The U.S. chose Panama, finished in 1914. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
The 1914 Clayton Anti-Trust Act lengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust Act’s list of practices that were objectionable, exempted labor unions from being called trusts (as they had been called by the Supreme Court under the Sherman Act), and legalized strikes and peaceful picketing by labor union members -
Federal Trade Commission
In 1914, Congress passed the Federal Trade Commission Act, which empowered a president appointed position to investigate the activities of trusts and stop unfair trade practices such as
unlawful competition, false advertising, mislabeling, adulteration, & bribery. -
Submarine Warfare
Germany announced its use of submarine warfare around the British Isles, warning the U.S. that it would try not to attack neutral ships. Wilson thus warned that Germany would be held to “strict accountability” for any attacks on American ships -
Lusitania
German subs, or U-boats, sank many ships, including the Lusitania, a British passenger liner that was carrying arms and munitions as well. The attack killed 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans. Notably, the Germans had issued fliers prior to the Lusitania setting sail that warned Americans the ship might be torpedoed. America clamored for war in punishment for the outrage, but Wilson kept the U.S. out of it by use of a series of strong notes to the German warlords. -
Jones Act
Wilson signed the Jones Act in 1916, which granted full territorial status to the Philippines and promised independence as soon as a stable government could be established. The Filipinos finally got their independence on July 4, 1946. -
Zimmerman telegram
Written by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman, it secretly proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico. It proposed that if Mexico fought against the U.S. and the Central Powers won, Mexico could recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona from the U.S. -
Selective Service Act
Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which Wilson signed into law on May 18, 1917. The act required all men in the U.S. between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for military service. Within a few months, some 10 million men across the country had registered in response to the military draft -
Comittee on Public Info
The Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel, was created to “sell” the war to those people who were against it or to just gain support for it. The Creel organization sent out an army of 75,000 men to deliver speeches in favor of the war, showered millions of pamphlets containing the most potent “Wilsonisms” upon the world, splashed posters and billboards that had emotional appeals, and showed anti-German movies like The Kaiser and The Beast of Berlin -
Sussex Pledge
In this pledge, Germany agreed not to sink unarmed passenger ships without warning. The pledge was named after the French ship Sussex which the Germans sank and caused the U.S. to roar. They eventually broke this pledge, since issuing a warning before attacking essentially wiped out the advantage of a sub (surprise attack). Wilson threatened to break diplomatic relations because of this return to unrestricted submarine warfare -
Espionage Act
The Espionage Act of 1917 showed American fears and paranoia about Germans and others perceived as a threat. Antiwar Socialists and the members of the radical union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were often prosecuted, including Socialist Eugene V. Debs and IWW leader William D. Haywood, who were arrested, convicted, and sent to prison. Fortunately, after the war, there were presidential pardons (from Warren G. Harding), but a few people still sat in jail into the 1930s. -
Fourteen Points
1917, Wilson delivered his Fourteen Points Address to Congress.
The Fourteen Points were idealistic goals for peace. The main points were. No more secret treaties. Freedom of the seas was to be maintained. Removal of economic barriers among nations. Reduction of armament burdens. Adjustment of colonial claims in the interests of natives and colonizers. “Self-determination,” or independence for oppressed minority groups who’d choose their government. -
National War Labor Board
Congress imposed a rule that made any unemployed man available to enter the war and also discouraged strikes. The National War Labor Board, headed by former president William H. Taft, settled any possible labor difficulties that might hamper the war efforts. -
Sedition Act
Sedition Act of 1918; reflected current fear about Germans and
antiwar Americans; Among the 1,900 prosecuted under these laws were antiwar Socialists and members of the radical union
Industrial Workers of the World; were enacted during WWI to keep Americans united in favor of the war effort. -
WWI Armistice
At 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Germans laid down their arms in armistice after overthrowing their Kaiser in hopes that they could get a peace based on the Fourteen Points. This “Armistice Day” later became “Veterans’ Day.” -
War Industry Board
America was unprepared for war, though Wilson had created the Council of National Defense to study problems with mobilization and had launched a shipbuilding program. In trying to mobilize for war, no one knew how much America could produce, and traditional laissezFaire economics still provided resistance to government control of the economy. In March 1918, Wilson named Bernard Baruch to head the War Industries Board, but this group never had much power and was disbanded soon after the armistice -
League of Nations
In 1919, after the war, Wilson proposed the League in the 14th point of his peace plan. The US voted not to join the League because in doing so, it would have taken away our self-determination, and Congress could not decide whether to go to war or not. The U.S. did not cooperate much with the League of Nations, but eventually, “unofficial observers” did participate in conferences. The lack of real participation though from the U.S. proved to doom the League. -
Schenck v. U.S.
During World War I, socialists Schenck and Baer distributed leaflets declaring that the draft violated the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. The leaflets urged the public to disobey the draft but advised only peaceful action. Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of 1917 by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment. Schenck and Baer appealed the statute violated the First Amendment. -
Red Scare
The Red Scare severely cut back free speech for a period, since the hysteria caused many people to want to eliminate any Communists and their ideas. Some states made it illegal to merely advocate the violent overthrow of government for social change -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was forced upon Germany under the threat that if it didn’t sign the treaty, war would resume, and when the Germans saw all that Wilson had compromised to get his League of Nations, they cried betrayal, because the treaty did not contain much of the Fourteen Points like the Germans had hoped it would. Wilson was not happy with the treaty, sensing that it was inadequate. -
Palmer Raids
Palmer was the Attorney General who rounded up many suspects who were thought to be un-American and socialist. He helped to increase the Red Scare and was nicknamed the "Fighting Quaker" until a bomb destroyed his home. He then had a nervous breakdown, backed off, and became known as the "Quaking Fighter." -
Assembly line
Ford made assembly line production more efficient in his Rouge River plant near Detroit where a finished car
would come off the line every 10 seconds. He helped to make cars inexpensive so more Americans could buy them. Taylor was an engineer, an inventor, and a tennis player. He sought to eliminate wasted motion. He was famous for scientific-management, especially time-management studies where he mastered movements and wasted movements and therefore helped master the assembly line. -
Lost Generation
Ernest Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises, and Farewell to Arms, and became a voice for the “Lost Generation”—the young folks who’d been ruined by the disillusionment of WWI -
Harlem Renaissance
Black pride spawned such leaders as Langston Hughes of the Harlem Renaissance and famous for The Weary Blues, which appeared in 1926, and Marcus Garvey (founder of the United Negro Improvement Association and inspiration for the Nation of Islam). -
Volstead Act
The Volstead Act implemented the 18th Amendment. It established alcohol as illegal at above .5% by volume -
20th Amendment
Women also found more opportunities in the workplace, since the men were gone to war. Most women supported the war and concluded they must help in the war if they want to help shape the peace (get the vote).Their help gained support for women’s suffrage, which was finally achieved with the 20th Amendment, passed in 1920 The 20th Amendment had cut the lame-duck period down to six weeks, so FDR began his second term on January 20, 1937, instead of on March 4. -
Sacco & Vanzetti Case
In 1921, Nicola Sacco, a shoe-factory worker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a fish peddler, were convicted of murdering a Massachusetts paymaster and his guard. In that case, the jury and judge seemed prejudiced in some degree, because the two accused were Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft dodgers. In this time period, anti-foreignism (or “nativism”) was high. Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men, but they were executed anyway. -
Five-Power Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major nations that had won World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. -
Nine-Power China Treaty
A Nine-Power Pact signed by the above five powers plus the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, and China affirmed China's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and gave all nations the right to do business with it on equal terms. Establishes Open Door Policy -
NWP
The birth-control movement was led by fiery Margaret Sanger, and the National Women’s Party began in 1923 to campaign for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution -
Teapot Dome Scandal
Albert B. Fall leased land in Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, to oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny, but not until Fall had received a “loan” (actually a bribe) of $100,000 from Doheny and about three times that amount from Sinclair. -
Quota Laws of '21 & '24
Emergency Quota Act 1921 -- This law restricted immigration to 3% of each nationality that was in the United States in 1910.
Immigration Quota Act 1924 – This act was passed in 1924 and cut quotas for foreigners from 3 % to 2% of the total number
of immigrants in 1890. The purpose of the year change was to freeze America's existing racial composition (which was largely
Northern European). It also prevented the Japanese from immigrating, causing outrage in Japan. -
Dawes Plan
Calvin Coolidge's running mate, Charles Dawes is responsible for the Dawes plan of 1924. It was an attempt to pay off the damages from WWI. This intricate monetary "merry-go-round," as it was often called, had the U.S. give money to Germany who then paid France and Britain for debts of the war. Former allies then paid the U.S. Finland was the only nation to pay off their debts to the very last penny in 1976. The U.S. never received the money it was owed -
Scopes Trial
Evolutionists were also clashing against creationists, and the prime example of this was the Scopes “Monkey Trial,” where John T. Scopes, a teacher high school teacher of Dayton, Tennessee, was charged with teaching evolution. The trial proved to be inconclusive but illustrated the rift between the new and old. Increasing numbers of Christians were starting to reconcile their differences between religion and the findings of modern science, as evidenced in the new Churches of Christ -
Jazz
Jazz was the music of flappers, and Blacks like W.C. Handy, “Jelly Roll” Morton, and Joseph King Oliver gave birth to its bee-bopping sounds. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby, both of which captured the society of the “Jazz Age,” including odd mix of glamour and the cruelty. Jazz is the most famous example of slave music entering mainstream culture. -
Kellogg-Briand Treaty
This was a 1929 agreement headed by Frank B. Kellogg and Aristide Briand that promised to never make war again and settle all disputes peacefully. Sixty-two nations signed this pact. Though idealistic, the treaty was hard to enforce and had no provisions for the use of economic or military force against a nation that may break the treaty. -
Black Tuesday
Black Tuesday occurred on October 29, 1929, when 16,410,030 shares of stocks were sold in a save-what you can scramble. It marked the beginning of the Great Depression. -
Hawley-Smoot Taiff
This tariff began as a protective measure to assist farmers, but turned out to be the highest protective tariff in the nation's peacetime history. It raised the duty on goods from 38.5 percent to 60 percent in 1930. -
Japan takes Manchuria
In September 1931, Japan, alleging provocation, invaded Manchuria and shut the Open Door. Peaceful peoples were stunned, as this was a flagrant violation of the League of Nations covenant, and a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, was arranged. -
Reconstruction Finance .Corp
Early in 1932, Congress, responding to Hoover’s appeal, established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which became a government lending bank. This was a large step for Hoover away from laissez-faire policies and toward policies the Democrats (FDR) would later employ. However, giant corporations were the ones that benefited most from this, and the RFC was another one of the targets of Hoover’s critics. -
Bonus march/army
Many veterans, who had not been paid their compensation for WWI, marched to Washington, D.C. to demand their entire bonus. The “Bonus Expeditionary Force” erected unsanitary camps and shacks in vacant lots, creating health hazards and annoyance. Riots followed after troops came in to intervene and many people died. Hoover falsely charged that the force was led by riffraff and reds (communists), and the American opinion turned even more against him. -
1st Hundred Days
On Inauguration Day, FDR asserted, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He called for a nationwide bank holiday to eliminate paranoid bank withdrawals, and then he commenced with his Three R’s. The Democratic-controlled Congress was willing to do as FDR said, and the first Hundred Days of FDR’s administration were filled with more legislative activity than ever before. Many of the New Deal Reforms had been adopted by European nations a decade before. -
21st Amendment
One of the Hundred Days Congress’s earliest acts was to legalize light wine and beer with an alcoholic content of 3.2% or less and also levied a $5 tax on every barrel manufactured. Prohibition was officially repealed with the 21st Amendment. -
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
During FDR's presidency, the “Hundred Days Congress” passed the Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act, that provided the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) which insured individual deposits up to $5000, thereby eliminating the epidemic of bank failure and restoring faith to banks. -
Civilian Conservation Corp.
Roosevelt had no qualms about using federal money to assist the unemployed, so he created the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which provided employment in fresh-air government camps for about 3 million uniformed young men. They reforested areas, fought fires, drained swamps, controlled floods, etc. However, critics accused FDR of militarizing the youths and acting as dictator. -
Tennessee Valley Authority
The TVA was the first government-owned corporation. It was started to create jobs and build dams in the Tennessee River Valley to supply electricity to poor areas. -
Dust Bowl
Due to higher wheat prices resulting from crop failures around the world, more people rashly pushed further westward, where it was difficult to grow crops. To counteract the lack of water (and a six year drought in the 1880s), farmers developed the technique of “dry farming,” or using shallow cultivation methods to plant and farm, but over time, this method created a finely pulverized surface soil that contributed to the notorious “Dust Bowl” several decades later. -
Grapes of Wrath
After the drought of 1933, furious winds whipped up dust into the air, turning parts of Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma into the Dust Bowl and forcing many farmers to migrate west to California and inspired Steinbeck’s classic The Grapes of Wrath. -
Good Neighbor Policy
In terms of its relations with Latin America, the U.S. wanted to be a “good neighbor,” In 1933, FDR renounced armed intervention in Latin America at the Seventh Pan-American Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, and the following year, U.S. marines left Haiti. This was established by Herbert Hoover to create good relations with Latin America. It took much of the American military out of these countries. It also nullified the Roosevelt Corollary. -
USSR Recognized
The Washington “Disarmament” Conference of 1921-22 resulted in a plan that kept a 5:5:3 ratio of ships that could be held by the U.S., Britain, and Japan (in that order). This surprised many delegates at the conference (notably, the Soviet Union, which was not recognized by the U.S., was not invited and did not attend). In 1933, FDR finally formally recognized the Soviet Union, hoping that the U.S. could trade with the U.S.S.R and that the Soviets would discourage German and Japanese aggression. -
Holocaust
he Holocaust was a genocide led by Adolf Hitler after he came to power in Germany. The Holocaust began in 1933 and ended in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated by the Allied powers. In addition to Jews being targeted, homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, and the disabled were also targeted. The Jews were sent to camps. The Nuremberg Trials of 1945-46 severely punished 22 top culprits of the Holocaust -
Securities & Exchnage Commission
The role of the Securities and Exchange Commission is to provide transparency in the financial performance of US companies. It ensures that investors can obtain accurate and consistent information on corporate profitability, which is the ability of a company to generate sufficient profits -
Indian-Reorganization Act
Reservation land not allotted to Indians under the act was sold to railroads, In 1879, the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania was founded to teach Native American children how to behave like Whites, completely erasing their culture. The Dawes Act struck forcefully at the Indians by 1900 they had lost half the land than they had held 20 years before. This plan would outline U.S. policy toward Indians until the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act which helped the Indian population rebound and grow. -
Wagner Act
The Wagner Act was the same as the National Labor Relations Act (1935) and set up the National Labor Relations Board. It reasserted the right of labor to engage in self-organization and to bargain collectively. Under the encouragement of a highly sympathetic National Labor Relations Board, unskilled laborers began to organize themselves into effective unions. -
Social Security Act
This law created a federal insurance program based on the automatic collection of taxes from employees and employers throughout people's working careers. They would receive this money in a monthly pension when they reached the age of 65. The unemployed, disabled, and mothers with dependent children would also receive this money. -
Italy invades Ethiopia
In 1935, Mussolini attacked Ethiopia, conquering it, but the League of Nations failed to take effective action against the aggressors.
America continued to hide behind the shell of isolationism, believing that everything would stay good if the U.S. wasn’t drawn into any international embroilments. -
Neutrality Acts '35. 36', '37, 39'
To prevent America from being sucked into war, Congress passed the Neutrality Acts stated that when the president proclaimed the existence of a foreign war: no American could legally sail on belligerent ship munitions to a belligerent, or make loans to a belligerent. Neutrality Act of 1939 allowed European nations to buy war materials, but only on a “cash-and-carry” basis, which meant Europeans had to provide their own ships and pay for the arms in cash. -
Court Packing Scheme
Roosevelt tried to put 6 extra justices on the Supreme Court. These justices would be supporters of Roosevelt and there would be a maximum of 15 judges. The plan failed. Congress would not accept it as it would give FDR too much power. -
Quaratine Speech
In 1937, Japan essentially invaded China, but FDR didn’t call this combat “a war,” thus allowing the Chinese to still get arms from the U.S., and in Chicago of that year, he merely verbally chastised the aggressors, calling for “a quarantine” of Japan The Quarantine Speech asked for America to stay neutral but to morally side against the fascist nations.However, this speech angered many isolationists, and FDR backed down a bit from any more direct actions. -
Fair Labor Standars Act
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, setting up
minimum wage and maximum hours standards and forbidding children under the age of sixteen from
working -
Spanish Civil War
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), Spanish rebels led by the fascist General Francisco Franco rose up against the leftist-leaning republican government. In order to stay out of the war, the U.S. put an embargo on both the loyalist government, which was supported by the USSR, and the rebels, which were aided by Hitler and Mussolini. During the Civil War, the U.S. just stood by while Franco smothered the democratic government. -
New Deal
After Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, he decided the U.S. must improve economically to recover from the Great Depression. His plan, the New Deal, focused on relief, recovery, and reform. Short term goals were relief and immediate recovery. Permanent recovery and reform were done by long-range goals. Programs were established to improve unemployment, regulate minimum wage, and reform many other social issues. -
Manhattan Project
Einstein was a German-born scientist who encouraged Roosevelt and America to build the first atomic bomb
and thus start the Manhattan Project, 1st nuclear weapons -
Oil & steel embargo (Japan)
Japan was still embroiled in war with China, but when America suddenly imposed embargoes on key supplies on Japan in 1940, the imperialistic nation had now no choice but to either back off of China
or attack the U.S.; they chose the latter. -
Four Freedoms Speech
In his address, Roosevelt called for the immediate increase in American arms production, and asked Americans to support his "Lend-Lease" program, which gave Allies cash-free access to US munitions. Most importantly, Roosevelt announced his vision for the world, "a world attainable in our own time and generation," and founded upon four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. -
Lend-Lease Act
This was a law passed in March of 1941 by sweeping majorities in both houses of Congress. This law said that the U.S. would lend or lease weapons to overseas countries and victims of aggression who would in turn finish the job of the fighting, and keep the war overseas and thus the U.S. would not have to enter. -
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Conference was held in August 1941, and the result was the eight-point Atlantic Charter, which was suggestive of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Main points included… There would be no territorial changes contrary to the wishes of the natives. The charter also affirmed the right for people to choose their rulers (selfdetermination). It declared disarmament and a peace of security, as well as a new League of Nations. -
Pearl Habor attack
1941, Japanese air bombers suddenly attacked the naval base located there (where almost the entire U.S. fleet was located),
wiping out many ships and killing or wounding 3,000 men. The next day, the U.S. declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.After the attack at Pearl Harbor, national unity was strong as steel, and the few Hitler supporters in America faded away -
Battle of Midway
The Japanese onrush was finally checked in the Coral Sea by American and Australian forces in the world’s 1st naval battle where the ships never saw one another (they fought with aircraft via carriers). And, when the Japanese tried to seize Midway Island, they were forced back by U.S. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz during fierce fighting from June 3-6, 1942.Midway proved to be the turning point that stopped Japanese expansion -
Office of War Info.
To attract U.S. citizens to jobs in support of the war effort, the government created the Office of War Information (OWI) on June 13, 1942, some six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. OWI photographers documented American life and culture by showing aircraft factories, members of the armed forces, and women in the workforce. Using propaganda (photographs and captions with emotional content), the OWI aimed to inspire patriotic fervor in the American public. -
Braceros program
Initiated because of farm labor shortages caused by American entry into World War II, the bracero program brought Mexican workers to replace American workers dislocated by the war. -
War Production Board
The War Production Board halted manufacture of nonessential items such as passenger cars, and when the Japanese seized vital rubber supplies in British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, the U.S.
imposed a national speed limit and gasoline rationing to save tires. Farmers rolled out more food, but the new sudden spurt in production made prices soar—a problem that was finally solved by the regulation of prices by the Office of Price Administration. -
Island-hopping
U.S. began a process called “island hopping,” where the Allies would bypass heavily fortified islands, take over neighboring islands, and starve the resistant forces to death with lack of supplies and constant bombing saturation, to push back the Japanese. -
Japanese internment
Pacific coast, 110,000 Japanese-Americans were taken
from their homes and herded into internment camps where their properties and freedoms were taken away. -
Korematsu v U.S.
The 1944 case of Korematsu v. U.S. affirmed the constitutionality of these internment camps. It took more than 40 years before the U.S. admitted fault and made $20,000 reparation payments to camp survivors. -
"Rosie the Riveter"
With the men in the military, women took up jobs in the workplace, symbolized by “Rosie the Riveter,” and upon war’s end, many did not return to their homes as in World War I. It must be noted that the female revolution into the work force was not as great as commonly exaggerated. At the end of the war, 2/3 of the women did return home; the servicemen that came home to them helped produce a baby boom that is still
being felt today -
Tehran Conference
At the Tehran Conference, the Big Three (Wilson, Churchill, and Josef Stalin, leader of Russia)
met and agreed that the Soviets and Allies would launch simultaneous attacks. The Allies began plans for a gigantic cross-channel invasion, and command of the whole operation
was entrusted to General Eisenhower. Meanwhile, MacArthur received a fake army to use as a ruse to Germany. -
D-Day
D-Day was the first day of the Normandy landing which started the invasion of western Europe and liberated France
from the Germans. The point of attack was French Normandy, and on June 6, 1944, D-Day began—the amphibious
assault on Normandy. After heavy resistance, Allied troops, some led by General George S. Patton, finally clawed their way onto land, across the landscape, and deeper into France. With the help of the “French underground,” Paris was freed in August of 1944 -
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The first atomic bomb had been tested on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, and when Japan refused to surrender, Americans dropped A-bombs onto Hiroshima (on August 6, 1945),
killing 180,000 and Nagasaki (on August 9, 1945), killing 80,000. -
Japan's Surrender
In the early hours of August 15, a military coup was attempted by a faction led by Major Kenji Hatanaka. Emperor Hirohito went on national radio for the first time to announce the Japanese surrender. In his unfamiliar court language, he told his subjects, “we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.” The United States immediately accepted Japan’s surrender -
United Nations
The United Nations conference took place on April 25, 1945. It featured a Security Council dominated by the US, Britain, USSR, France, and China who could veto any measure and a General Assembly that could be controlled by smaller countries. The UN's permanent home was in New York City -
Potsdam Conference
This meeting was held near Berlin in 1945 with Truman, Stalin and Clement Atlee who issued an ultimatum to Japan to surrender or be destroyed. This is where Truman learned about the atomic bomb. -
Yalta Conference
A conference between Stalin and FDR in an attempt to get Russian support in the highly anticipated invasion of Japan. Russia received the southern part of Sakhalin Island that it had lost to Japan and joint control of Manchuria's railroads and Port Arthur on Pacific Coast. The Allies reluctantly allowed Poland to become communist but with the promise that free elections would take place there (they didn’t). Many Americans saw this deal as a failure and the birth of the Cold War -
Filipino Independence
Wilson signed the Jones Act in 1916, which granted full territorial status to the Philippines and promised independence as soon as a stable government could be established. The Filipinos finally got their independence on July 4, 1946 -
SCLC
Martin Luther King, Jr. formed the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, which aimed to mobilize the vast power of black churches on behalf of black rights—a shrewd strategy, since churches were a huge source of leadership in the black community
