1. Turbulence Through the 1920s

2. Inflation
Government agencies removed their controls from the American economy
Rapid inflation occurred
Cost of living increased greatly
Workers needed higher wages to keep up with cost of living
Companies wanted lower wages from increased operating costs
STRIKES!!

3. “If Capital & Labor Don’t Pull Together” – Chicago Tribune
Anti-Labor
“If Capital & Labor Don’t Pull Together” – Chicago Tribune

4. Seattle General Strike
35,000 shipyard workers walked off the job demanding higher wages and shorter hours
Started first “general strike”-involves all workers in the community
60,000 people joined and paralyzed the city for 5 days
Strikers returned and made all Americans scared

5. Boston Police Strike -no pay increase since start of war
-organized a union though against its department rules
-rioting and looting broke out
put back in order for public safety by the National Guard by Governor Coolidge
-Coolidge fired them & new police force was hired to replace them

6. “He gives aid & comfort to the enemies of society” – Chicago Tribune
Boston Police Strike
“He gives aid & comfort to the enemies of society” – Chicago Tribune

7. “Striking Back” – New York Evening World
Boston Police Strike
“Striking Back” – New York Evening World

8. The Steel Strike
350,000 steelworkers went on strike for higher pay, shorter hours, and recognition of union
Hired enough strike breakers to keep mill operating
Complete failure that set back the union cause in the steel industry

9. Who to Blame for this Social Unrest????
COMMUNISTS

10. “What a Year Has Brought Forth” – NY World
What is Communism?
Social, political and economic ideology that aims at a classless society structured upon common ownership
“What a Year Has Brought Forth” – NY World

11. They Always Takes The Blame
Immigration-importing radical communist ideas
WWI- criticism of the war seen as communist and effectively silenced by Espionage and Sedition Acts
Now it had seized control of entire nation (Communist International)

12. The Red Scare Response to the wave of strikes
Fear of communists or ‘reds’ spreading radicalism in US from Soviet Union
Americans associated communism with disloyalty and unpatriotic behavior

13. Consequences of Labor Unrest
“While We Rock the Boat” – Washington Times

14. Palmer Raids
Postal service intercepted more than 30 packages addressed to leading business people and politicians
Triggered to explode when opened
June 8 bombs in eight cities exploded within minutes of one another

15. Palmer Raids
One bomb damaged the home of US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
No one took responsibility for the packages
…communists trying to destroy Americans way of life

16. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Palmer set up special division in the Justice Department
Called the General Intelligence Division
J. Edgar Hoover was the head of department
Palmer organized raids on various radical organizations, mostly rounding up immigrants
Police Arrest “Suspected Reds’ in Chicago, 1920

17. Sacco and Vanzetti Case
Racism and nativism increased with people competing for jobs
Ethnic prejudice was the basis of this case
Two immigrants from Italy accused of murder and theft

18. The Crime: Armed Robbery, Murder & Association with Radicals?
At 3:00 P.M. on April 15,1920, two men are shot and killed with $15,776 stolen from a company in South Braintree, Massachusetts.
Two Italians, Nicola Sacco a shoemaker and Bartolomeo Vanzetti a fish peddler, fell into a police trap that had been set for a suspect in the Braintree crime.
Sacco & Vanzetti were carrying guns at the time of their arrest with the same bullets found in the men who were shot. As a result they were held and eventually indicted for the South Braintree crimes.
Both associated with anarchists involved in labor strikes, political protests, and antiwar propaganda.

19. Injustice Protested Around the World

20. The Trial
Fred H. Moore politicizes the case using mass media. Effective but Expensive!
Both men found guilty of robbery & murder!
Protests throughout America and around the world by Italian government, liberals, radical anarchists, socialists, and communists in protesting the verdict against Sacco and Vanzetti.
Sentenced to death and in 1927 executed still proclaiming their innocence

21. Fear of Immigrants
Emergency Quota Act 1921
Immigration Act of 1924

22. Controlling Immigration
Emergency Quota Act 1921
National Origins Act 1924
Made immigrant restriction a permanent policy
Lowered the quota to 2% of each national group living in the U.S
Limited immigration to 3% of the total number of people in any ethnic group already living in the United States
Discriminated against southern and eastern Europeans

23. Eugenics
Nativist movement focused on the superiority of the “original” Americans of Northern European descent.
Eugenics- a pseudo-science that deals with improving hereditary traits.

24. KKK Returns!!! 1st Clan: Freed African Americans
2nd Clan: immigrants, Catholics, Jews and others with “un-American” values
Led the movement to restrict immigration
1924: Over 4 million members

25. “At the top of the list of enemies were Roman Catholics
“At the top of the list of enemies were Roman Catholics. Centuries-old tales and prejudices revived under Klan propaganda, with emphasis on a foreign-led church intent on destroying Protestantism and American democracy. The foreign-born themselves constituted a second Klan enemy, for they too threatened Protestantism and democracy. Blacks were a third enemy, though less dangerous than Catholics, except in a few cities where their segregated neighborhoods were expanding. And the enemy included all those immoral and indecent who put the roar into the Roaring Twenties: adulterers, gamblers, prohibition violators, corrupt politicians, and undisciplined youth.”

26. William J. Simmons William J. Simmons founder
Simmons pledged to preserve America’s white, Protestant civilization
Klan publicity claimed they are fighting for “America”

27. Popularity
Simmons hired public relations entrepreneurs Clarke and Tyler
Paid a commission of $8 of every $10 initiation fee for a new Klan recruit
Membership reached nearly 4 million by 1924

28. Parades
Klan overrules them with their intensive protests around the nation
Hellfighters become a new African American band after the war

29. Freedom: A History of US: Episode 11: Safe for Democracy 14:30-18:00
Hellfighters 8:00-12:00