The Major Conflicts and Events of the 1920s

Modernists vs. Traditionalists and Beyond

The Boston Police Strike of 1919

The Background– In 1919, Boston Policemen were angered at the

following aspects of their jobs: » Long hours» Working conditions» Low wages

– They received a raise in 1913. But due to inflation (the value of money decreased), their raise had little impact. The policemen barely had enough to make ends meet.

• In an attempt to voice their anger to the appropriate superior, the police force turned to The Boston Social Club, a fraternal group founded by Police Commissioner Stephen O’Mera in 1906

The Opposition– Police Commissioner Edwin U. Curtis said he was

“sympathetic to the policemen’s demands, but he refused to deal with the Boston Police Union.

– Curtis actually fired 19 policemen simply because they worked in conjunction with the union!

The Strike• On Tuesday, September 9, 1919, outraged

policemen walked off the job in protest of Curtis’ actions.

• ¾ of the police force participated in the strike. Leaving a very small amount of policemen to secure all of Boston.

Question-With only ¼ of the police force available…

what do you think what happened next???

Gimme the loot, gimme the loot!

• Once Bostonians realized what was going on, they began to loot, vandalize and pillage through the streets of Boston and South Boston until 1:00 am.

• An estimated 10,000 Bostonians flooded the streets smashing store window fronts and taking what they wanted. Most of the damage was done in South Boston.

“One of the few loyal policemen on guard in Boston during the ‘Reign of Terror’”

  

Effects of the Boston Police Strike

• Once the violence and looting began, Governor Calvin Coolidge called in the National Guard.

• Though the looting and major acts of violence ceased within a few hours, “order” wasn’t restored for a few days.

• The nation reacted in horror to the riot. They believed it was the work of Bolsheviks (Red Scare).

                                                                                                                                                   

More Effects…• Once the riot had ended, the Boston Police Union

asked that all striking officers be reinstated.• Due to the returning troops from WWI, there were

plenty of willing men to fill the voids in the police department.

• A new police forced was hired, wages were increased, better working conditions were achieved.

• No Striking officer was allowed to return to his job after the Boston Police Strike of 1919.

Questions for Discussion…

• Using the BPS as a model, how effective were unions in the 1920s?

• Who would typically favor a union? Who would not? Why?

• Why would Americans think this was a act of Bolshevism?

• Do you think it was fair for the striking policemen NOT to be reinstated? Why?

The Red Scare and Sacco and Vanzetti

The Background– Due to the Russian Revolution of 1917, Russia was

transformed into a communist country. (Marx, Lenin)– Americans were deathly afraid of communism due to

it’s lack of civil liberties, economic freedoms, religious freedoms and other oppressive communist ideals.

– Essentially, the United States dramatically feared anything Russian. And since the nickname for Communists were “Reds” due to the color of the communist flag of Russia, we call this period the “Red Scare.”

The Crime• On April 15, 1920, two

payroll clerks working for a shoe factory in South Braintree were shot dead. After the two robbers took the $15,000, they got into a car containing several other men and drove away.

• A witness described the two robbers as “speaking Italian” and one had a mustache.

This is a police file photo of the actual crime scene. The two menwere walking from one building tothe next when they were attacked and killed.

The Trial• Three weeks later, Italian immigrants and

known anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were accused and

arrested for the crime despite the circumstantial evidence against them.  Following a seven-week trial, Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted of murder and

sentenced to death. • Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted because they were immigrants and well

known and active anarchists, not because of the evidence.

International Fervor

• There was an international outpouring of support for both Sacco and Vanzetti. People from all over the globe petitioned for the men not to receive the death penalty.

• The public sentiment was cast a side as both men, after numerous attempts to appeal, were sentenced to death on August 23, 1927.

A Sacco and Vanzetti Rally in London

Questions for Discussion…

• Could two Italian immigrants receive a fair trial in light of the anti-immigrant social background of the 1920s?

• Did the events of the Red Scare and

the Palmer Raids play a large role in their deaths? 

The Scopes Triala.k.a The Monkey Trial

• Charles Darwin wrote On the Origins of Species which outlined his scientifically based theory that man has developed over thousands of years from one celled organisms to their current state.

• This theory is the opposite of the Christian Bible which states that God created man via Adam and Eve.

Modernists vs. Traditionalists• As we have studied (or will study), we know that

modernists embrace change and in this case--it is a major change. Darwin and modernists expect people to accept a radically different theory as to how exactly man came to be.

• Traditionalists, especially in southern states, absolutely refuse to accept this theory on the basis that is goes against what is nearest and dearest to their hearts and minds, the bible.

Tennessee Law• The Tennessee anti-evolution law, which had been

proposed by state legislator John Washington Butler, declared:

"... that it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."

Breakin’ the Law• The ACLU (American Civil Liberties

Union) offered to defend anyone accused of teaching the theory of evolution in defiance of the Butler Act.

• A local mine owner convinced a group of businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, that the controversy of such a trial would give Dayton much needed publicity. John Scopes was asked to be a willing participant and he agreed.

Scopes Goes to Trial

• Willingly admitting that he had taught evolution in a high school biology class, Scopes openly admitted that he was guilty. However, the crux of the case was: Was the Butler Act enforceable seeing as though the book Scopes used to teach the course was mandated and approved by the state!

• The plot thickens…

The Prosecution

• Devout Catholic and staunch Traditionalist William Jennings Bryan served as lead Prosecution and also as an expert witness. His expertise? The Bible!

The Defense

• Once Clarence Darrow, a modernist, found that Bryan was on the defense team, he jumped at the chance to work for the ACLU. He saw this as away to fight Religious “fanaticism,” as he called it. It threatened “public education and the spirit of inquiry and skepticism that sustained civilization.”

The Trial• The courtroom was packed with on-lookers and

interested parties. It got so hot inside the courtroom, the judge moved the trial outside.

• In a surprising move, Darrow put Bryan on the stand as an expert on the bible. Darrow grilled Bryan on the stand for more than two hours. Darrow tricked Bryan into stating that not everything in the bible was to be taken literally. (ex: 6 days)

• The judge struck Bryan’s testimony as he deemed it “irrelevant”.

Darrow questions Bryan during the Scopes Trial (July 20, 1925)

The Aftermath• Darrow asked the jury to convict Scopes because

the facts were incontrovertible. He saw the bigger issue was the impact of religion on public school education.

• The jury took 9 minutes to come back with a guilty verdict.

• Scopes was fined $100 dollars.• The appeal went to the supreme court where the

case was overturned on a technicality.• The Anti-evolution “Butler Act” stayed in place

for another 40 years.

Question for Discussion…

• How does the Scopes trial embody the conflict between the modernists and traditionalists?

The Palmer Raids

• In 1919, Woodrow Wilson appointed A. Mitchell Palmer to the position of attorney general. Palmer was extremely paranoid of a possible communist take over in the United States.

• Palmer appointed J. Edgar Hoover his “special assistant” (Hoover became the famed leader of the FBI). Palmer and Hoover took their “red scare” to a whole new level.

“The Palmer Raids”• The Palmer Raids are literally a series of

government backed raids of anarchists, communists and other types of individuals that “threatened the security of the United States”. These individuals were usually simply immigrants being harassed by the U.S. government.

• This is an example of how the Red Scare truly changed the way people and law inforcement looked at “minorities”.

Mass Exodus

• On 7th November, 1919, the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists were arrested. Palmer and Hoover found no evidence of a proposed revolution but large number of these suspects were held without trial for a long time. The vast majority were eventually released but 247 other people were deported to Russia.

• On January, 2 1920, another 6,000 were arrested and held without trial. These raids took place in several cities and became known as the Palmer Raids

• When Palmer announced that the communist revolution was likely to take place on May 1, mass panic took place. In New York, five elected Socialists were expelled from the legislature.

• When the May revolution failed to materialize, attitudes towards Palmer began to change and he was criticized for disregarding people's basic civil liberties.

Questions for Discussion…• Pictured to the left: A. Mitchell Palmer and

the aftermath of one of his Raids.

Questions for Discussion…

Can we equate the Palmer Raids to post 9/11 racial profiling or anti-terrorist fears? Why ? Why not?

He used the Espionage and Sedition Acts as the basis for his Raids? Can we equate this to the Patriot Act and its infringement on our civil liberties today?

The Teapot Dome Scandal• In 1921, during the

presidency of Warren G. Harding, Alfred B. Fall was appointed to the position of Secretary of the Interior

• Once appointed, Fall leased the Navy’s oil reserve located at Teapot Dome, Wyoming

to an oil operator. The lease was awarded after NO competitive bidding.

• The Oil Operator, Harry Sinclair gave Fall interest free “loans” in excess of $100,000. Fall acutally received over $400,000 from other oil operators as well for leasing other oil reserves.

Effects of the Teapot Dome Scandal

• The loan piqued suspicion from the federal government.

• Fall was tried and convicted of accepting bribes and fined $100,000 by the federal government.

• The Teapot Dome Scandal has gone down in history as one of the biggest political scandals in history