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Chapter 19
From War to Peace
Section 1 – Post War Havoc
The Main Idea
Although the end of World War I brought peace, it did not
ease the minds of many Americans, who found much to
fear in postwar years.
Reading Focus
• What were the causes and effects of the first Red
Scare?
• How did labor strife grow during the postwar years?
• How did the United States limit immigration after World
War I?
THE FIRST RED SCARE
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After World War I ended, many people lost their jobs in
the United States, and a deadly flu epidemic spread
across the world.
It became a time of fear. Wartime hatred of Germans
led to a postwar movement called 100 Percent
Americanism.
The movement supported all things American and
opposed or attacked ideas or people it viewed as
foreign or anti-American.
After World War I, many Americans viewed as
enemies people identified as “reds” and socialists.
In Russia the Red Army of the Bolsheviks, led by
Vladimir I.
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Lenin, took control and later created the Soviet Union.
This caused fear in Americans because the Bolsheviks
believed in worldwide communism.
One of the basic principles of communism is that
everyone should share equally in society’s wealth.
The Soviet Union wanted to replace capitalism with
communism.
Although capitalism was the foundation of American
life, Communist parties formed here, too.
Newspaper stories spread fear of “reds,” as
Communists were called, across the nation.
This caused the 1919 Red Scare.
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During World War I, Americans hated the Germans.
After the war, the new enemies were “reds” and other
radicals.
The government began an anti-Communist campaign.
Widespread fear of communism resulted in the
Palmer raids.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer rounded up
suspected radicals in Palmer raids.
Many radicals were aliens.
These were people who lived in the United States but
were foreign citizens.
Many were faced with deportation, being sent back to
one’s country of origin.
Referring to nearly 250 aliens who were being
deported, Leonard Wood once said “I believe we
should place them all in ships of stone, with sails of
lead.”
LABOR STRIFE GROWS
• The return from war of about 4.5 million soldiers
increased the demand for jobs and unemployment
rose.
• Many people suspected unions of being Communist.
• In 1919 some 4 million workers took part in over
3,000 strikes.
• In 1919 Seattle was virtually shut down because of
a wide range of labor strikes.
• They almost always lost. Job seekers were plentiful,
and striking workers could easily be replaced.
• In Boston, Governor Calvin Coolidge put down a police
strike and suddenly became a national hero.
• A miners’ strike won wage increases but not a five-day
work week or safer working conditions.
• The mine workers’ union leader, John L. Lewis, knew
that their demands would have to wait.
LIMITING IMMIGRATION
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The Red Scare and lack of jobs led to nativism, the
distrust of anything foreign.
Both nativists and labor leaders wanted to limit
immigration.
In 1921 new federal laws reduced the number of
immigrants allowed.
In 1924 the numbers were set for specific countries,
favoring immigrants from some places over others.
The goal of the National Origins Act of 1924 was to
reduce immigration to the United States from
European countries.
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Nativism helped revive the Ku Klux Klan, a hate group
from the South.
It also led to the unfair trial—for armed robbery and
murder—of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
The two Italian immigrants were anarchists, people
who want to destroy government.
The trial focused on their backgrounds and political
beliefs.
Although the evidence against them was weak, they
were convicted and, in 1927, executed.
Section 2 – A New Economic Era
FORD REVOLUTIONIZES INDUSTRY
 Henry Ford’s success in the 1910s and 1920s
inspired competitors and helped the economy grow.
 The first cars were made by hand. Only the wealthy could
afford them.
 Henry Ford began making cars that most people could
afford.
 He did this by making car manufacturing simpler and
cheaper.
 He used an assembly line, in which the car would pass
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through many work stations as workers at each station
performed specific tasks.
Ford also paid his workers well.
This allowed the workers to buy the cars.
Other automakers and industries learned from Ford.
They began using assembly lines.
This raised worker productivity, the amount of products a
worker or machine can produce.
The success of businesses in the 1920s led to the
growth of welfare capitalism.
They gave their workers extra benefits such as retirement
pensions and recreation programs.
They wanted to keep workers out of unions and away
from higher pay demands.
INDUSTRY CHANGES SOCIETY
 The automobile industry led to the growth of spin-off
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industries. These were businesses that made the
materials and parts for the cars such as glass, steel,
and rubber.
Ford and other carmakers were located around Detroit,
Michigan.
Their success led to Detroit’s growth.
Between 1910 and 1930 Detroit’s population tripled.
Other cities in the Midwest also grew, especially those
with automotive spinoff industries.
Akron, Ohio, for example, boomed because it was the
center for tire manufacturing.
 Because of cars, suburbs grew.
 These were smaller towns outside of cities.
 Cars allowed people to drive to work from a distance.
 People also began using their cars to visit parts of the
country they had never been to before.
 In Florida this led to a land boom.
 The “tin-can tourists” from the 1920s shows that the
mass production of the automobile opened vacation
spots to people other than the wealthy.
THE NEW CONSUMER
 The business boom of the 1920s was fueled by
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consumers.
New electrical products such as refrigerators, vacuum
cleaners, and radios appealed to people.
The thriving postwar economy especially benefited
advertisers.
The advertising industry persuaded people to buy more.
Installment buying was introduced.
Consumers paid for an item over time in small payments.
This is also called credit, which is borrowing money.
Listening to the radio connected people to the world.
A new form of public transportation, the passenger
airline, also connected people.
WEAKNESSES IN THE ECONOMY
 Not everyone in the United States was prosperous.
 Farmers had done well during the war, when there was
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not much competition from Europe.
The European farm production begins to revive after
the war. Prices then fall in the United States and
farmers lose money, leading to a farm crisis.
Prices only rose when the government passed a tariff on
farm products.
Nature also affected business.
Cotton farmers faced boll weevils that destroyed their
crops.
Florida was hit by a severe hurricane, and the Mississippi
River flooded, causing about a thousand deaths
Section 3 – The Harding and Coolidge Presidencies
THE HARDING PRESIDENCY
 Warren G. Harding was elected president in 1920. He
promised a return to normalcy.
 People understood this as a return to what the country
was like before the war.
 Harding avoided taking a stand on the League of
Nations.
 He favored business and the wealthy because he thought
wealthy people started and expanded businesses and
that would improve the economy.
 The one thing he did to help struggling farmers, signing
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the 1921 tariff on European farm products, only helped
for a short time.
Harding chose some highly skilled people for his Cabinet.
Other choices were not so good.
Some in his administration were dishonest.
There were many scandals.
In the worst one, the secretary of the interior went to jail
for accepting bribes to allow oil companies to drill on
federally owned land.
The land was called Teapot Dome.
In 1923, as rumors of the scandals grew, Harding died
suddenly. Calvin Coolidge, his vice president, took office.
THE COOLIDGE PRESIDENCY
 Coolidge had become nationally known for putting down
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the Boston Police Strike in 1918.
Now his reputation for honesty helped him get rid of the
corrupt officials from the Harding administration.
His success helped him win the election of 1924. T
The direct goal of most of President Calvin
Coolidge’s policies was limiting government and
supporting business.
Coolidge believed that businesses would help the
economy. He thought that business, not government,
should support the arts and sciences, and fund charities.
 Coolidge felt the role of government should be limited.
 He worked to reduce taxes and the federal budget.
 He stopped government plans to help farmers.
 He said the government should not provide bonuses to
World War I veterans.
 In 1928, although popular, Coolidge chose not to run for
re-election.
THE LINGERING EFFECTS OF WORLD WAR I
 During the war the United States had loaned European
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nations $10 billion dollars.
The war-torn nations had difficulty paying it back,
especially after the U.S. tariffs of 1921.
To pay their debts, they turned to Germany’s reparations,
or payments to make up for the damage of war.
Germany was unable to pay and had to borrow money
from the United States.
Many Americans wanted the government to save money
and reduce the threat of war by cutting the armed forces.
 Great Britain and Japan were heading for a naval arms
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race, a competition by nations to build more and more
weapons.
In 1921, the United States called the Washington Naval
Conference. Major naval powers, including the United
States, agreed to reduce their navies.
Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes said it was a
great step towards keeping peace.
Another move for peace was the Kellogg-Briand Pact, in
which 60 countries promised not to use warfare to settle
their problems.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell was trying to
convince the U.S. military to build up its air power.
He was not successful and was court martialed. Later,
in December of 1941, everything he said was proven
true.