Post WWI Tensions in the 1920’s

Economic Tensions Caused by the end of WWI Demobilization ◦No more need for war materials ◦4 million soldiers discharged  $60  Ticket Home Inflation & Recession ◦Value of dollar drops, prices rise ◦100,000 businesses go bankrupt ◦453,000 lose their farms

Labor Tensions Economic and Labor Tensions are Linked Wages go down, safety decreases, hours increase, unemployment rises More Unions……and Strikes ◦10% of workers went on strike ◦General Strikes (Citywide) People tire of Unions and Strikes

Political Tensions Bombs!!! ◦April 28, 1919 Seattle Mayor ◦April 19, 1919 Former Georgia Senator ◦June 2, 1919…8 bombs…8 different cities ◦NYC Post Office find 34 bombs in the mail  John D. Rockefeller  Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Red Scare People blame Socialists, Communists, Anarchists and Immigrants Palmer Raids ◦No Warrants ◦6,000 Arrested Civil Liberties Suffer

Social Tensions Immigration increases after WWI ◦1920>>430,000 Immigrants>>1921 Over 900,000 ◦Nativism Laws to limit immigration ◦Immigration Act 1921, 1924 ◦Quota System Ku Klux Klan (KKK) ◦Revival of the KKK ◦Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Minorities (Racial and Religious) American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ◦Protect rights, especially freedom of speech in the courts  Protect Immigrants  Protect Unions  Fight Censorship

Racial and Religious Tensions Racial Discrimination ◦Asians  No Citizenship ◦African Americans  High Unemployment  Lynching  Race Riots  Back-to-Africa movement Religious Prejudice Jews ◦Anti-Semitism ◦Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Catholics ◦Fear over the power of the Pope