1.3 Changes in society Flashcards
1.3 Red Scare
1917 Bolshevik Revolution. = first communist state and seen as a direct threat to American politics and economy
Eastern European immigrants were feared within the US - War intensified this resentment
Inflation caused by the war = strikes and industrial unrest and found within leftist trade unions (international workers of the world)
General intelligence Division was create to investigate the unrest of socialist and communist activity in the USA (forerunner of the FBI)
= 1920 Palmer raids were launched against left wing newspapers and activivists - 6000 arrested
= red scare had died down
fear centred on the trial of Italian anarchists Sacco and Venzetti. -avoided conscription and were accused of the murder
The trial divided the nation and the judge showed prejudice against the defendants. Their supporters believed they were being used as scapegoats although there is evidence that Sacco was guilty. Opponents believed they epitomised everything that was wrong with the new immigrants
1.3 Immigration
Opposition to immigration that could not speak English grew in the First World War
- congress overode presidents veto and passed the Immigration Act - denied entry to immigrants that could not read or write English
1921- Emergency Immigration Act = limit on immigration - 3% of total people form a national group already living in the USA - favoured British Isle and Western Europe
- Made permanent by Johnson Reed act and new quotas - 2% = increased bias towards those from British Isle and Eastern and southern Europe- Hispanics workers in California were exempt from act
only 120,000 could enter a year
=confirmed WASPs as the top social and political group. The defeat of Catholic A. Smith in the 1928 presidential election confirmed this.
1.3 Rise and Decline of the Klu Klux Klan
clearest sign of intolerance was rise
(organised and sent up after civil war in confederate states to protect whites and attack and intimate blacks who were freed from slavery
had declined and no longer needed due to legal segregation
1955 KKK was revived by William Simmons
- Publish of “The Clansman”
- first full length feature film Film “Birth of a Nation” - KKK members as heroes of white race
- was seen as a way to defend Small town rural American Wasps who felt threatened by new immigrants and established black Americans + Jews and Catholics Southern communities
feared the return of African American servicemen (a number were lynched in East St Louis). The ‘Red Summer’ (1919) saw major race riots across America.
Edgar Young and Elizabeth Taylor = rapid rise
- public relations to encourage recruitment
$10 joining fee = uniform and elaborate ceremony of burning cross = displaying power and intimating opponents
1924- KKK gad national membership of 4 million
state governments (Indiana and Colorado) were sympathetic to KKK
Attorney General of Maine W. Pattangall denounced the KKK at the 1924 Democratic National Convention he was defeated in November of that year because of Klan opposition.
‘Klaverns’ of Klan members stretched across America to Oregon, Maine and Vermont, as well as to the Old South and the ‘Bible Belt’ of the Mid-West and West.
DECLINE
KKK leader, David Curtis was convicted of rape and murder = damaged reputation as attempting to defend “decent America:
members found guilty of bribery and corruption
1929- 200,000
1.3 prohibition
prohibition of intoxicating liquo/alcohol was introduced by 18Th amendment in 1918 BUT did not define what intoxicating liquor was = passed volstead Act - define intoxicating liquor as any drink with more than 0.5% alcohol
began 1920 but several states had already banned alcohol
Women Christians Temperance Union + anti saloon league (Wayne wheeler was an effective lobbyist of politicians campaigned for prohibition - claimed it ruined lives , men drink away wages and leave children o starve and could Crete a dangerous situation - gambling and prostitution = un christian
= support from rural areas with Wasps (saw drinking alcohol as culture for many immigrant groups they resented + seen as Catholics )
WW1 increased support- complex machinery could be dangerous
German American alcohol brands - Budweiser etc . claimed it was patriotic to support prohibition.
Grain used for alcohol can be used better for food
Split the Democratic Party. Dry from south and wet from west in big cities
Law was widely ignored - even president would have drinks in his office
was seen as part of culture and hard to stop
borders of Mexico and Canada = could import illegally
only had 3000 prohibition officers to stop drinking and on a low salary of $2500 a year = susceptible to bribery
The availability of industrial alcohol and illegal distilleries meant the USA could produce its own supplies without imports.
By the late 1920s women who had supported it campaigned for its repeal. The Association against the Prohibition Amendment claimed that it encouraged crime and undermined the morals of America.
In March 1933 FDR got Congress to pass the Beer Act, amending the definition of intoxicating liquor made in the Volstead Act. This allowed the production of beer, creating jobs.
The failure of the ‘Noble Experiment’ reduced respect for the law and encouraged the involvement of organised crime in politics. On the positive side it altered America’s drinking habits. Prohibition proved a boon for firearms, motorboats and fast cars and produced a lot of work for undertakers.
1.3 Organised Crime
= failure of prohibition
- had been onvolved in gambling and prostituion
profits can be made form importing and selling alcoholic drinks = gangs involved in politics
= bribe police and judges to ensure profits from bootlegging would be maintained
= rivalry between gangs . Chicago - Italian, Jewish and Irish Americans . Al Capone took out leaders of other gangs on St Valentines Massacre - most published example of Ganga violence in America
When arrested, he was convicted of tax evasion, not murder or ‘bootlegging’.
remained even after probation was abolished - control of newspapers politicians and judges = create an immoral country (opposite to aim)
hoover set up Wichersham Commission to investigate national prohibition - should remain but impossible to reinforce
1.3 Changing role of women
1919 right to vote in federal elections
flappers- young independent women , place no longer in the home looking after children
* Hollywood film star C. Bow, known as the ‘It Girl’, symbolised these changes
rise of birth control and the rapid growth of smoking among women
changes in fashion - mini skirts, makeup , hair styles . beauty salons opened across america The industry increased its earnings from $17 million to $200 million per year. Previously associated with prostitutes= control of their sexuality.
economic boom = opportunity for employment - secretaries, telephone operators , typists = 10,000s moved to big cities
BUT women revolution failed to materialise -poltics still dominated by men (145 seats and 2 as state governors
universities were majority male and unis still offered courses in “ wife motherhood and family”
flappers were asoscatiated with urban living - small towns = little change
In 1923 the National Woman’s Party failed to get an Equal Rights Amendment accepted. The campaign came into conflict with groups who fought to protect women’s rights in the Progressive Era.
