politics of a thin prosperity-1920-1929 chapter 25
TRANSCRIPT
Politics of a Thin Prosperity-1920-1929
Chapter 25
Postwar Controversy
Boston Police Strike of 1919 had not had a raise since before the war
and cost of living had doubled 4 went to meet and were fired, rest went
on strike no police protection looting, open gambling mayor calls on Governor Calvin Coolidge
for National guard-peace restored and police call off the strike
police commissioner refused to let them return to the job and gave the new police force everything the old one wanted
Samuel Gompers appealed for the fired men: Coolidge response- “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
made him famous <A mass frenzy while the strike took place
Communism
Economic and social system that seemed to threaten our way of life
one political party, state over individual, all property owned by state
1919-attempts to overthrow the government in Germany, Hungary, successful in Russia
Russian Communists encouraged worldwide overthrow of capitalism
abolition of free enterprise and private property
<Lenin-leader of Russian Communism
The Red Scare
Red is symbolic color of Communism
many US radicals are Communist, more are not
public couldn’t distinguish between the two
radical support of unions was attack on the American way of life-fed by strikes
1919-3000 strikes, 4 million walk off job
employers-unions are planning overthrow
<Political Cartoon from the Boston Police Strike
The Red Scare
April of 191-Bombs appear in the US mail
addressed to various government and business leaders
along with violence in some cities-caused panic
fall-two strikes closed down steel and coal mills(winter coming)
United States Attorney General- <A. Mitchell Palmer raids the offices of anarchists, communist, socialist
The Red Scare
Many members are recent immigrants
foreign sounding names meant-un-American and undesirable
Palmer squashed people’s rights searches w/o warrants, locked
up for long periods w/o seeing a lawyer, many arrested because they were friends of suspicious
249 deported people lose interest after the
riots Palmer predicts do not happen
The Ku Klux Klan
Grew swiftly during the 1920’s reached peak in 1924 with 4.5
million white males, native-born, gentile
citizens hoods and burning crosses keeping blacks in their place, drive
Catholics, Jews, and any other “foreigners” from the land
Grand Wizard Hiram Evans people who felt threatened by the
changes in American society some frustration through racial
violence, influence national and state politics
<Klan March on Washington in the 1920’s
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
Italian immigrants and anarchists “a good shoemaker and a poor fish
peddler” May 5, 1920-arrested for a payroll
robbery-South Braintree, Massachusetts
paymaster and guard shot and killed evidence-circumstantial- found guilty and sentenced to death protests in US, Latin America, Europe executed August 23, 1927 1961-ballistic evidence points to
Sacco but others would say it is inconclusive
<Sacco and Vanzetti on trial Sacco and Vanzetti web link
Return to Normalcy
The Election of 1920 Republicans chose-<Warren
G. Harding handsome, good-natured,
“looked like a President ought to look”, not respectable
Calvin Coolidge-VP Democrats-James Cox and
Franklin Roosevelt Harding: return to the time
before the Progressives and stay out of European affairs
won by a landslide
Arms control and Peace
Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State-calls for a Naval Holiday-10 years without building a ship
ratio of 5:5:3(500,000 tons for Britain and US; 300,000 tons for Japan)
Five Power Treaty(France and Italy-175,000) Washington Naval Conference-sign both the Four
Power Treaty (US, Britain, Japan, France)and Nine power Treaty(added to above-China, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal)
head off problems in Asia and a costly arms race
United States wants reparations
Britain and France borrowed $10 billion from American bankers
both expected to have some of the debt written off
US wants payment in full only two ways to raise funds-raise
through reparations from Germany or exports
Fordney-McCumber Tariff-aimed at keeping foreign goods out of American markets
The Dawes Plan-<Charles Gates Dawes-American Banker and Owen Youn-President of General Electric loans, through investors, Germany $2.5b, Germany pays Britain and France $2bwho paid US $2.6b
Nativists
Nativist sentiment began to grow in 1880 with the growth of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe
Emergency Quota Act of 1921-quota system-based on national origins
Immigration Act of 1924-2% of nationals living in the US in 1890-discriminated against Southern and Eastern European
Japanese are not eligible for citizenship-wipe out gentleman’s agreement with Japan and Teddy Roosevelt
National Origins Act of 1929-base year shifted to 1920-not applied to North Americans
<Ellis Island
Scandals of the Harding Presidency
Scandal caused by graft among the President’s friends
spring of 1923-Jesse Smith exposed as a “bagman”(carries bribes person to person-assistant to Attorney General <Harry Daugherty
banished from DC-Smith committed suicide in May-Charles Cramer--legal advisor to the Veterans Bureau did the same
Charles Forbes-head of the Veteran’s Bureau-swindled the Us of $250m-kickbacks on Veteran’s hospitals-sentenced to prison for fraud in 1925
Colonel Thomas Miller-Office of Alien Property-taken valuable German Chemical patents that were seized by America and sold them to private firms
Teapot Dome Scandal
Most daring-concerned Naval Reserves
oil-rich public lands of Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hill, California set aside as a result of Progressivism and use by US Navy
Secretary of the Interior-<Albert Fall-got some of the land transferred from control of the Navy to the Interior
secretly leased the land to two private oil companies
got equal to $325,000 in bonds and the like
Fall convicted on fraud-1 year and $100,000
Coolidge Takes Over
Scandals begin to break Harding- “I have no trouble with my enemies….But my damned friends,…they’re the ones that keep me walking the floors nights!”
betrayed by his friends-broken man-takes trip to Alaska from San Francisco-on return-tired and distracted-becomes critical ill and dies on August 2, 1923
<Calvin Coolidge is the person the Republicans need to restore integrity
Speculation about Harding’s death at this link
Silent Cal
“The chief business of the American people is business.”
The man who builds a factory, builds a temple.”
Election of 1924-Republicans put Coolidge-Democrats are divided-Prohibition the issue-John Davis-wealthy lawyer
no chance-16m to 8m <Election of 1924
Americans are prosperous
1. Household electricity-alternating electrical current made it possible to carry current over long distances
2. Competition-Ford-Model T had not changed since 1908-General Motor’s Chevrolet-Ford answers with <Model A-not a hit
3. retailers-A & P, United Drug, Thom McCann, J.C. Penney, United Cigar all adopted Woolworth’s method of quantity
Retailing and Advertising
Sears Roebuck and company go away from catalogs
<Piggly Wiggly introduced-forerunners to the supermarkets
pay on installment plan- “a dollar down and a dollar forever”
planned obsolescence-goods only last months or years before they are replaced
advertisers create the desire-hired psychologists for color and appeal and how to make you buy
Not Everyone is Prosperous
1. Railroads-Esch-Cummins Act of 1920-government control rates and service but privately owned-Government would not let Companies abandon lines that were losing money
2. Textiles-shifted south-less of Labor unions, cheaper labor, closer to source-foreign competition, radical change in women’s dress, eliminated yards of fabric
<Matchbook Ads of the 1920’s
Not Everyone is Prosperous
3. Coal Mining-expanded to meet demands of WWI-other sources are now available
4. Farmers-overproduction-expanded during the war-cultivated lands that don’t get enough rainfall-replaced humans with machines-paid with borrowed money-1920-prices tumble 50%-clothing went from cotton to rayon-
Farm Bloc-improvement of their constituents-<McNary-Haugen bills-federal government buy surplus wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco at a reasonable price-set a floor for price-price supports-introduced in 1924 and 1928-passed by Congress, vetoed by Coolidge
Rich Get Richer, Poor get Poorer
3/5ths of nation’s wealth was owned by 2% of population
27,500 wealthiest families had as much as 12 million poorest
miners-$10/week-<Andrew Mellon’s income tax was $2m and Henry Ford was $2.6 m
nearly half the nation’s poor made less than $1500/year-minimum amount to leave decently
Rich couldn’t spend money fast enough so bought into stocks
those trying to get rich quick bought on margin-paid only a percentage for the stock
more speculators made the prices rise above their real value
Election of 1928
In 1927, Calvin Coolidge decides not to run again
Herbert Hoover is chosen for the Republicans
Democrats chose New York Governor <Alfred Smith
Ku Klux Klan attacks Smith for being Catholic, call for repeal of Prohibition cast votes, rasping voice, New York accent, Republicans were at peak of prosperity
The Economy goes sour
The Great Depression not brought about solely by Stock Market Crash
signs there-shrewd stock market speculators began to unload stocks
October 29, 1929-Black Tuesday-bottom falls out-$30B had blown away by mid-November, the same amount spent in WWI
Great Depression had begun