(S1) Unit 7: The 1920s

Question 1

Nativism

Answer 1

• Belief that native born WASP Americans should populate and control the country
• Immigrants and minorities should be deported or receive limited rights from the government
• KKK returns to prominence & attempts go to mainstream. Targets include Jews, Catholics, immigrants and African Americans

Question 2

Isolationism

Answer 2

• Following WWI, the US Senate failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles
• As a result, US wasn’t apart of the League of Nations
• Congress & public were shocked by 20 million deaths during WWI and didn’t want to be forced into another European war

Question 3

Communism

Answer 3

•After WWI the Soviet Union (USSR) proclaimed desire to spread communism throughout the world
•Communism, as a political & economic system is opposite of the US:
- No voting
- No free speech
- No rights of the accused
-Command economy (government run)

Question 4

Red scare

Answer 4

•In response to the Bolshevik Revolution and Soviet desire for world communism, the US government took action:

- Russian-Americans deemed a threat were deported
- Communist propaganda and organizations were outlawed

Question 5

Anarchists

Answer 5

•European political movement that grew in the aftermath of WWI
•Associated with communism
-Both movements believe that ultimately there will be no need for government
•Communism-Classless society, Anarchy-Stateless society

Question 6

Sacco and Vanzetti

Answer 6

•Italian immigrants and anarchists
•Charged with the murder of 2 men during an armed robbery
-Public and historical dispute over their guilt or innocence
•Contradictory evidence and fair trial debate

Question 7

ACLU

Answer 7

• Founded in 1920

* Interest group that advocates for the constitutional and human rights of individuals and groups

Question 8

Xenophobia

Answer 8

• Discrimination against foreigners

* Based on the fear of strangers and the concern that foreigners will take jobs from native-born Americans

Question 9

President Warren G. Harding

Answer 9

• “Return to Normalcy”
• In office 1921-1923
• Significant arms reduction under his administration

Question 10

Ohio Gang

Answer 10

•Following Harding’s landslide victory in the election of 1920, he appointed his political allies from Ohio and major campaign contributors to key positions in the executive branch

Question 11

Teapot Dome Scandal

Answer 11

• Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, was convicted of taking bribes in order to secure oil rights, including at Teapot Dome, WY, for his friends and business colleagues
• Tarnished the Harding Administration
• Soon after this, Harding dies in office (1923)

Question 12

President Calvin Coolidge

Answer 12

• Vice president to Harding
• Took office in 1923, following Hardin’s death, and was elected in 1924
• In office 1923-1929

Question 13

Return of Big Business

Answer 13

• Coolidge, like Harding, was pro-business and opposed many of the progressive reforms of the 1910s
• Big business regulations were permitted to expire or weren’t enforced
• big business boomed with an onslaught of new technology and products that made daily life easier

Question 14

1920s Big Business Boom

Answer 14

• Automobiles (Model T, Henry Ford, assembly line)
• Radios
• Oil companies
• Investment banks
• Power and utility companies
• Railroad companies
• Telephones

Question 15

Installment Plan

Answer 15

•Buying on credit

- Customer makes down payment, then pays off the remaining balance over time plus interest
- Not unheard of for seller to make 150% of original price
- This method of sale became widely used as middle and working class Americans began investing in the stock market and receiving dividends from their investments

Question 16

Prohibition

Answer 16

•18th Amendment- Banning of alcohol in america
•Criminal enterprises began to control the bootleg industry (ex. Al Capone in Chicago and Lucky Luciano in New York)
•Massive profits and corruption gave organized crime too much power
•21st amendment - Repealed the 18th
-Organized crime bootlegging stops
-Alcohol industry could now employ people and be taxed (Great Depression)

Question 17

Fundamentalism

Answer 17

•Strict religious belief

- Living your life according to religious doctrine
- Straying from the doctrine is a sin
- Some local jurisdictions passed laws in order to protect Christian doctrine

Question 18

The Scopes Trial

Answer 18

• Infamous trial in which Clarence Darrow defended Mr. Scopes right to teach evolution in a Dayton, TN public school
• Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan won the case, but the debate concerning Creationism and evolution continues today

Question 19

Ku Klux Klan

Answer 19

• Rose to prominence in 1920s (peak of their power)
• Grew to 7 million members including white clergymen, political leaders and businessmen
• Marched on Washington in the name of white power
• Used peaceful and violent tactics to stop the immigration of Catholics, Jews and other non-WASPs
• used violence to intimidate African Americans in order to keep them politically inactive

Question 20

Quota System

Answer 20

•During the 1920s, Congress set limits on immigration
-Decreased immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe
-Banned immigration from the Middle East, East Asia and India
•Why? Congress felt the pressure of the nativism movement; also realized that ethnic tensions helped to cause WWI

Question 21

Great Migration

Answer 21

•During WWI, millions of African Americans migrated North in order to fill the factory jobs that were available due to the draft of 4 million men
•Migrant workers were paid less; after the war many veterans didn’t get their old jobs back
-Resulted in racial tensions and white working class resentment of blacks and new immigrants