Chapter 31: American Life in Roaring Twenties

Oh no, it’s COMMUNISM

• Russia turns to Soviet Union and Communism in 1917– What is communism?• a : a theory advocating elimination of private property

b : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed

– Simulation?

Red Scare

• Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer– Rooted out radicals, socialists,

communists, anarchists– House was bombed– Led to anti- communist

hysteria– Liberals and radicals not

wanted in USA– Led to many conservative

victories

Anti- Immigration

• Sacco and Vanzetti– Arrested and killed for

murder– Murky details of case,

probably innocent?– Shows anti

immigration and anti radical feelings

KKK

• More “pro-white” than anti- African American• WASP- White Anglo Saxon Protestant• 5 million join in 20s• Popular in “bible belt” of south• Birth of A Nation

Stopping Immigration

• New Immigrants never really liked• Emergency Quota Act- restrictions • Immigration Act- more restrictions• Immigration Act 1924- no Japanese• Randolph Bourne and Horace Kallen led

attacks on anti- immigration crusades

Questions!

• Why were we so fearful of Communism?• How did America's nativism and isolationism

get out of control?• Construct an argument of a Nativist who

supports anti- immigration measures.• What are the underplaying cause and effects

of this anti- foreign attitude? Make a chart.

Prohibition

• 18th Amendment/ 21st Amendment• Largely ignored– Speakeasies, bootlegging, mafia– Led to increased organized crime, more binge

drinking• Benefits– Bank savings went up, skipping work went down,

spousal abouse down, public drunkenness down

Gangsters

• Bribery, wars, murder, bootlegging

• Al Capone was most famous– Murdered as many as 30,

jailed for tax evasion• After Prohibition ended-

gambling, drugs, etc• Kidnapping was big as well

– Charles Lindbergh’s baby

Scopes Trial• Darwinism a fairly new idea• Taught by John Scopes to challenge the law that said it

can’t be taught– ACLU backed him

• Fundamentalists hated Darwinism– William J. Bryan won the case

• Fundamentalism wins

QUESTIONS

– Is prohibition even possible? Did it make things worse?

– Was Scopes right in teaching evolution?– Were prohibition and scopes liberal events or

conservative events? Why?

Mass Consumption

• Machines perfected, Assembly line used• Henry Ford’s Model T was first affordable car• Advertising meets new demand• Many new products invented and mass produced• Sports were big business• Credit used for first time• Buy now pay later• Huge economic upward swing