(1c) Changes in society

Question 1

Immigration and Red Scare:

Answer 1

• Increasingly suspicious of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, as well as those from Asia - ideas threatened the American way.
• Fear of Communism increased after WW1:
  Threat of communist revolution was blamed on immigrants.
  Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer led the ‘The Palmer Raids’: 6,000 immigrants were arrested (largely without reason).
• Industrial unrest was over genuine issues (ie, better pay), not revolution.
• The extent of Communist support was vastly exaggerated.

Question 2

Immigration and Red Scare:

Anti-Immigration Acts

Answer 2

• 1921 Emergency Immigration Law:
  Capped european immigrants to 3% of those nationals that had been in the USA in 1911. This favoured Western Europe.
• 1924 Johnson-Reed Act:
  Banned Japanese immigration (other asian nations had been banned in the 19th century.)

Question 3

Red Scare:

Sacco + Vanzetti case

Answer 3

Sacco and Vanzetti case:

- Two Italian immigrants accused of armed robbery in 1920.
- Executed in 1927 despite there being little evidence.

Question 4

The Ku Klux Klan

Answer 4

White supremacist group - based in the south.
- Feared immigration and felt threatened that blacks would overtake whites in status.
- Influence: The Klan controlled politicians and police in certain areas (at their peak).
- Impact on BA: Increased northern migration. Increased support for civil rights and separatist groups.
- Collapsed due to corruption and scandal involving the leaders of the klan.
- Membership:
1920 = 100,000
1929 = 200,000

Question 5

Changing role of women:

Politics

Answer 5

• 1920: 19th Amendment gave women the vote.

- Only 2 of the 435 delegates in the HoR were women.

Question 6

Changing role of women:

Employment

Answer 6

• More opportunities but not in management.
• Most women still expected to be married and be primary caregiver to children.
• <100 female accountants.
• 700,000 domestic servants
• Many of the lowest paid jobs (domestic service) were help by BA women.

Question 7

Changing role of women:

Birth control

Answer 7

• Republican govt were unsympathetic.
• 1921 Sheppard-Towner Act: Funded healthcare for pregnant women.
• Margaret Sanger (nurse) highly contentious figure in favour of birth control (raving eugenist and anti-semite.)
• Opened first contraception clinic in 1916 - arrested.
• Her ideas on eugenics supported her arguments on birth control.

Question 8

Changing role of women:

Flappers

Answer 8

• ‘Liberated’ young women who would attend public places and parties unchaperoned.
• However, this liberated social persona wasn’t reflected in professional jobs or equal opportunities.
• Female Heroines:
  Coco Chanel
  Clara Bow
• Traditional gender roles remained in the majority.
  Middletown survey 1929: 89% of girls say they would like a job but would give it up after marriage.

Question 9

On the surface, the 1920s _________ women, but the reality was _________.

Answer 9

On the surface, the 1920s liberated women, but the reality was different.

Question 10

Prohibition:

What it was + reasons for

Answer 10

• 1918: 18th Amendment banned the sale, transportation, and manufacture of intoxicating liquor.
• Reasons for:
  Supported by women’s groups (drunk men were violent.)
  Big business saw alcohol as a reason for slow production.
  Religious groups also viewed alcohol as causing negative and abusive behaviour.

Question 11

Prohibition and organised crime:

Successes of prohibition

Answer 11

• Seen mainly in small, rural towns that remained ‘dry’.

- Road safety and safety at work improved.

Question 12

Prohibition and organised crime:

Why prohibition failed

Answer 12

• Impossible to police (18,700 miles of coastline).
• Funding was poor - Kramer only given $2 million to enforce it.
• Smuggling
• Bootleggers
• Moonshine
• Estimate: only 5% of illegal alcohol intercepted.

Question 13

Prohibition and organised crime:

The failure of prohibition

Answer 13

• Criminalised millions who simply wanted a drink.
• Working class saloons closed whilst middle class speakeasies were successful.
• A lot of agents and police were corrupted by gangsters and smugglers (3,000 agents on poor salaries)

Question 14

Prohibition and organised crime:

Crime and gangsterism

Answer 14

• Al Capone did $70 million worth of business in Chicago (went to jail in 1932).
• Police and political corruption in urban areas run by gangs (1 federal agent made $7 million from selling illegal licenses and pardoning bootleggers.)
• Gangsterism continued after Prohibition ended in 1933.

Question 15

Roosevelt _____ Prohibition with the __th amendment in ____ - it was then up to individual states to decide.

Answer 15

Roosevelt ended Prohibition with the 20th amendment in 1933 - it was then up to individual states to decide.