POLITICS, FEAR, & SCANDALCHAPTER 14, SECTION 1

President Warren G. Harding

• 1920, won election (replaced W. Wilson) on a call to ‘return to normalcy’

• Issues of the election were:

1. recover from the war

2. restore pre -war

economy

• Besides the issues, why do you think Wilson was easily defeated?

*SCHENCK VS. U.S.• Schneck was a WW1 soldier who wrote letters to

draftees trying to convince them not to report for duty.

• Was jailed & convicted of espionage.• Schenck claimed he was protected by the 1st

amendment.• *Supreme Court ruled that it was

the court’s right to silence free speech when there was a ‘clear & present danger’.

Do you believe his 1st amendment rights were violated?

Which column represents examples of a ‘clear and present danger’?

#1

a. Yelling ‘fire’ in a theatre

b. Threatening to kill someone

c. Burning a flag beside a building

d. Throwing a white powder up in the mall & yelling ‘anthrax’

#2

a. Calling the President a bad name

b. Burning draft tickets in a barrel

c. Writing a letter to the newspaper in protest of a law.

*Communism• *Ideology that significantly influenced the 20th

century, which saw intense rivalry between the “communist world” & the "capitalist world" (countries with market economies & democratic forms of government), culminating in the Cold War between the Eastern bloc & the "Free World".

• Single Political party• Country 1st; Individual 2nd

• Lenin, Russia, pledged to spread communism around the world

American Fears

• 1919, Russia took over Hungary, spreading Communism in Europe.

• In the U.S., violent labor strikes were ‘tied’ to communism.

• Bombs were sent to government officials

• Communism seemed to be spreading everywhere acrossthe world & in the U.S.

*The Red Scare

• 1918-21

• The press increased American anxiety with sensational stories.

• *The U.S. was in a “Red Scare” - intense fear of a communist takeover.

• *Americans called for communists to be jailed & limits on immigration!

The Palmer Raids

• Attorney General Palmer’s house was destroyed by a bomb

• He began a campaign to hunt down groups who posed a ‘clear & present danger’ to the U.S.

• Set up special forces to arrest subversives like Communists, Socialists, & Anarchists.

• Thousands of radicals were arrested without evidence.

• Many were innocent immigrants & were deported.

*Immigration Restrictions

• *Congress reacted to the chaos of the times & public outcries for Nativism to limit immigration.

• Quotas were set at 3%• *Immigration Act of

1924 - reduced the number of people who could enter the U.S.

*Sacco & Vanzetti Trial

• *Italian immigrants, with radical Anarchist beliefs.

• Arrested for murder.• Tried & executed.• *Many thought they were executed because of

their radical beliefs• Example of intolerance & nativism.

• Pseudo-scientific belief that the human race could be improved by breeding. Social Darwinism

• *1920s = belief in the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon “race”

• *Led to new restrictions on immigration from ‘low IQ’ countries

• Decreased after WWII

• Positive Eugenics aimed to increase birth rates of genetically superior individuals through genetic testing, ‘better baby contests’ & designer babies

• Negative Eugenics tried to reduce birth rates through sterilization of the ‘feeble or unfit’, marriage restrictions, & extermination.

What would be some positive benefits of this movement? Negative?

*Domestic Issues*• Nativism flared due to: -Patriotism

-Religion-Urban Conditions-Jobs-Red Scare

-Trial of Sacco & Vanzetti

• Result = revival of KKK

1. The Supreme Court decision Schenck vs the U.S. ruled?

2. Why were Americans so concerned about Communism?

3. Sacco & Vanzetti were executed because?4. Americans response to the Red Scare

included the passage of?5. Nativism led to the revival of what hate

group?6. The Red Scare, Nativism, & Palmer Raids

were all based on the idea of racial superiority & that some ethnic groups are inherently bad. This is known as?

*Republican Leadership

• Republicans ruled the decade in all branches• *Return to Isolationism & Laissez-faire business

policies.• Harding died in office & C. Coolidge became

president.• Both presidents believed

in Isolationism, expandingtrade, & world disarmament afterWW1

*Coolidge Presidency

• *“The business of America is business,” demonstrated Coolidge’s belief in Laissez-Faire government.

• So adamant about this, refused grant $ to flood victims.

*Fordney McCumber Tariff

• *Raised import taxes• Discouraged certain imports• Angered European nations• France & Great Britain argued to call off war

debts• Congress agreed to scale back war debts• *Result: Hurt both

U.S. Industry & European Nations

During Harding’s Administration (1922-23), his Secretary of Interior received $300, 000 for granting government land to private drilling companies. This bribery scandal further tarnished Harding’s presidency.

*Kellogg-Brand Pact, 1928

• American Women took the lead in a peace movement committed to outlawing future wars.

• Renounced the aggressive use of force “as an instrument of national policy”.

• *15 nations pledged not to use the threat of war in their dealings with other countries.

• Unsuccessful because there were no provisions to enforce it.

*ELECTION OF 1928

• *Herbert Hoover was elected president, 1928.

• The public expected continued prosperity as the 20’s roared on!

1. Most Americans felt the labor strikes were fueled by the?

2. Republicans believed in a foreign policy of _____ & a ________ ________ economic policy.

3. Who said, ‘the business of America is business’?4. . What raised import taxes & hurt both the U.S. &

Europe?5. What scandal granted government oil lands to

private oil companies? 6. Pact in which nations pledged not to use the threat

of war as national policy.

A BUSINESS BOOMCHAPTER 14, SECTIONS 2 & 3

*During the 20’s =

development of new consumer industries created an economic

boom.

• A&W Rootbeer opened-1st fast food chain.

• Roadside advertising began.

• Average salaries rose 28%.

• The number of millionaires doubled.

*A Consumer Economy

• *A consumer economy depends on large amounts of spending by the consumer.

• Increased spending larger profitshigher wages

• Many factors cause spending:

1. higher wages

2. clever advertising

3. lower costs

4. easy credit

Buying on Credit

Manufacturers invented installment plans to increase sales.

Installment Plans = buy on credit & make monthly payments.

Electric Power

• Electric power customers quadrupled

• New homes wired to allow electricity

• Electricity=refrigerators, vacuums & washing machines

• Appliance sale competition spurred advertising

• Advertisers began to use celebrities & images to advertise their products

Rise in Productivity

• Productivity needed to rise to meet demands.• GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT(GNP) = the

total value of goods & services produced in the U.S.

• The GNP rose 6% a year during the 20’s

• Productivity rose due to:-new resources-management methods-new technology

*Henry Ford

*Goal: to make the automobile affordable

to ordinary people.

• Ford invented the ‘horseless carriage’

• In 1908, sold 30,000 cars

*Ford’s Assembly Line

• *Made assembly line more efficient

• Cars moved to the workers as each did a specialized job

• Cut assembly time from 14 hrs. to 93 minutes!

• Model T produced every 24 seconds

• *Goal = create cars that ordinary people could afford

*Automobiles = Growth

• The automobile industry caused other industries to prosper: Steel, Leather, Oil

• *The automobile boom resulted in new businesses:1. Garages2. Car Dealerships3. Hotels4. New Roads5. Camp Grounds

• According to the chart, what year did car sales exceed (go over) 3.5 million? 4.0 million?

• What caused this trend?

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Non-Automobile Growth1. Movie Theatres2. Sporting Events3. Airlines4. Shipping IndustriesMost people enjoyed a higher standard of living.

• Farmers were by-passed by the economic boom. • Farm $ plummeted & many gave up.

True or False1. Henry Ford’s modification of the assembly line helped

to make cars more affordable.

2. A consumer economy relies on heavy spending.

3. New inventions caused a decrease in consumer spending

4. The boom in the automotive industry caused a decline in other industries.

5. New roads grew because of the huge growth in the automobile industry.

6. Henry Ford’s goal was to make an expensive car for the rich.

Prosperity

• Market value of stocks = $27 billion• Stock values rose $11 billion• Workers wages rose 40%• Corporate leaders encouraged investment

*Distribution of Personal Income 1929Gross Income Percent of Population

Earning this IncomeOver $10,000 - 1%$6,000 to 9,999 - 3%$5,000 to 5,999 - 2%$4,000 to 4,999 - 4%$3,000 to 3, 999 - 8%$2,000 to 2,999 - 17%Under $2,000 - 65%

1.What % of the population had an income of $6,000 or more?

2.The majority of Americans earned how much $ ?

*PERSONAL DEBT

• *Americans became accustomed to buying & living on CREDIT!

• People relied on future income

• People spoke of unending prosperity

*Stock Market

• Climbing stock prices encouraged speculation, (making high risk investments)

• *People began buying on margin (buying stocks on credit) to get rich quick!

• *Installment (margin) buying & the unregulated market caused an economic boom during the 20’s.

New York Stock Exchange today

*Troubling Signs in the Economy*1. *Overproduction:

-Industries produced too much & people could not buy fast enough

-Industries began to slow down

-Factory workers still worked for low pay

2. *Farmers Hardships:

-Overproduction & competition caused

farmers to default on loans

causing banks to fail!

3. *Uneven prosperity = uneven distribution of wealth among Americans

4. *Rising personal debt. 71% earned minimum wage & 80% had no savings

5. *Stock speculation (buying on credit)

1. T/F The economic boom of the 20’s was caused by a growth in consumer industries.

2. American’s became used to living on?

3. Buying on margin is?

4. Installment buying is the same as buying on?

5. T/F The majority of Americans during this time controlled the majority of the money in America.

6. T/F Both industry & farmers suffered from overproduction during the 20’s.

7. Describe 5 troubling signs of the economy in 1929.