Download Review Packet Notes 1914-1928

WWI-Great Depression
List the Progressive Presidents, the parties they were elected to, and their inaugural years.
President
Party
Inaugural Years
Theodore Roosevelt
Republican
1901-1909
Taft
Republican
1909-1913
Wilson
Democrat
1913-1921
List the presidents elected in the 1920s, their parties, and their years in office (inaugural).
President
Party
Inaugural Years
Warren Harding
Republican
1921-1923
Calvin Coolidge
Republican
1923-1929
Herbert Hoover
Republican
1929-1933
List the years FDR was elected president as a Democrat.
1932, 1936, 1940, 1944
1
WWI: 1914-1918: Allies v. Central Powers
 WWI breaks out in 1914 b/c of secret alliances, arms race, imperialism, nationalism
 Germany invades neutral Belgium pulling Great Britain & France into war
 Central Powers (Triple Alliance) = Germany, Austria-Hungary & the Ottoman Empire
 Allies (Triple Entente) = Great Britain, France, Russia (later U.S., Italy, Japan…)
 Wilson declares U.S. neutrality in 1914 & U.S. trades will all belligerents (fighting countries)
o U.S. traded with Allies more (90% more) than Central Powers before entering the war in 1917 b/c
of British blockade of Germany cutting off trade with Central Powers.
 Between 1914 and1917, what foreign policy problem did Wilson fear the most?
o No “Freedom of the Seas” or unrestricted submarine warfare being implemented & pulling U.S.
into war.
 1915 Lusitania sunk by Germany U-Boat killing 128 Americans
 Sussex Agreement (1917) = Germans promise to have restricted submarine warfare (i.e. respect U.S.
neutrality) when Wilson asks them to.
 Russian Revolution = 1917 Bolsheviks (communists)take over Russia & Lenin takes charge = U.S.S.R.
pulls out of WWI (Anastasia is murdered )
 Zimmerman Telegram = Germans promised (in secret alliance telegram intercepted by U.S. government)
to return SW part of U.S. to Mexico if Mexico joined Germany as an ally in WWI (only necessary if U.S.
joined Allies after unrestricted submarine warfare began)
 1917 U.S. declares war on Germany b/c of unrestricted submarine warfare
 Committee on Public Information (CPI)
o headed by Creel
o starts a propaganda campaign against Germany to convince Americans Allies = good
o methods the CPI used: radio messages, public speakers known as 4 minute men, billboards, songs
(NOT movies)
 Selective Service Act = conscription or draft
o Causes Great Migration of African Americans to the northern cities during & after WWI.
o Why? Industrial Factories need labor when men go fight in WWI, wages higher in the north;
hundreds of thousands move during & after WWI; more blacks still live in the South, though.
Leads to northern urban race riots & Harlem Renaissance in 1920s.
 Sergeant York is U.S. hero for service during WWI
 Most American soldiers who fought in WWI:
o Saw action in France (Battle of Argonne Forest)
o Were NOT high school graduates
o Units were NOT integrates by race (they were segregated)
o Over 100,000 U.S. soldiers died in active service
o U.S. forces exceeded 4 million total deployed
o U.S. joins in 1917, but most soldiers saw action in 1918
 War Boards:
o What was the purpose of the war boards during WWI? To increase cooperation between business,
labor and government
o War Industries Board = Baruch = collaboration b-w business & gov’t
o National Labor Relations Board = Taft = collaboration b-w business, labor & gov’t
 Progressives in U.S. during WWI believed the war in Europe occurred b/c of the greed of financiers,
munitions manufacturers, stockbrokers & others eager for wartime profit manipulated a war for money.
(leads to Nye Report in 1930s)
 Civil Liberties limited during WWI:
o Espionage (1917) & Sedition Act = made it a crime for a person to convey information with
intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to
promote the success of its enemies. It was punishable by a maximum $10,000 fine and 20 years in
prison. It passed at the urging of Pres. Wilson, who feared any widespread dissent in time of war,
thinking that it constituted a real threat to an American victory.
 Eugene Debs, Socialist Party presidential candidate in 1904, 1908, and 1912 was
arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for making a speech that "obstructed
recruiting". He ran for president again in 1920 from prison. He was pardoned by Pres.
Harding after serving nearly 3 years.
2






Bill Haywood (IWW leader), socialist and labor leader was jailed as well.
Schenck v. U.S. (1919) = civil liberties can be restricted in times of national crisis; free
speech is limited; “clear and present danger” test: can’t yell fire in a crowded theatre
o Trading with the Enemies Act (1917) = law giving the President the power to oversee or restrict
any and all trade between the U.S. and her enemies in times of war. (We still have this today!! We
don’t trade w/ N. Korea or Cuba still b/c of this!)
Wilson’s 14 Points:
o His ideas to guarantee that WWI would be “the war to end all wars!”
o He wanted these to be in the Treaty of Versailles.
 End all secret treaties/alliances
 End trade barriers
 Have self-determination for countries/colonies (national sovereignty)
 Point 14 = create a League of Nations to keep Peace!
Treaty of Versailles (1919):
o Wilson created idea of League of Nations (14 th Point)
o Art. X = League of Nations = collective security
o Irreconcilables = U.S. Republican Senators opposed to League of Nations/Treaty of Versailles &
unwilling to compromise b/c it gives away too much power over national sovereignty
o Reservationists = leader was Sen. Cabot Lodge = would be willing to compromise on Art. X of
Treaty of Versailles as long as Congress had ultimate say in declaring war. (opposed collective
security requirement)
o Pres. Wilson unwilling to compromise with Reservationists, so 2/3 of Senate never ratified Treaty
of Versailles & U.S. NEVER joined the League of Nations.
Why didn’t the U.S. join the League of Nations?
o Scared of being pulled into another foreign war; want to go back to normal; want to be isolated &
mind our own business
o Personal & political rivalries b-w Pres. Wilson & Sen. Lodge
o Wilson was unwilling compromise with ‘Reservationists’ in the Senate who were willing to
compromise on it to join it
o Wilson had a stroke in 1919, so he couldn’t fight anymore for it (or compromise if he’d have
changed his mind)
o Some Senators, “irreconcilables” refused to join it no matter what
Other Important Wilson stuff:
o Federal Trade Commission = created under Wilson. It’s the federal governments attempt at
curbing the economic influence of big business to protect small businesses & competition.
o Wilson’s foreign policy = Moral Diplomacy = goal was to condemn imperialism, spread
democracy, and promote peace.
 He rejected TR’s “Big Stick” & Taft’s “Dollar Diplomacy.”
 Reality was Wilson was an interventionist & it started when he sent U.S. Marines into
Haiti.
 Wilson intervened (sent in troops) to more countries than any other president in U.S.
History!!!!!
o Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914) = goal was to create more competition in the market by breaking
up trusts; strengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890); exempted labor unions from
restraining trade, therefore, boycotts, peaceful strikes, peaceful picketing, and collective
bargaining are not regulated by this statute. Injunctions could be used to settle labor disputes only
when property damage was threatened. The Federal Trade Commission enforced this act.
o Underwood Tariff (1913) = re-imposed the federal income tax following the ratification of the
16th Amendment and lowered basic tariff rates from 40% to 25%, well below the Payne-Aldrich
Tariff Act of 1909. 
1920s Foreign Policy
 When Harding is elected president in 1921, he says he is going to return America to “Normalcy.” What
does this mean?
 U.S. foreign policy after WWI = isolationism = avoid binding political commitments to other nations!
(example: U.S. doesn’t ratify the Treaty of Versailles)
3





U.S. is the #1 creditor nation in the world after WWI! This means U.S. has the most money & the world
is borrowing from us. (US = Giant Credit Card )
Tariffs rise in the 1920s to protect American goods.
o Fordney-McCumber Tariff = 38% = Harding
o Hawley-Smoot Tariff = nearly 60% (highest in U.S. history) = Hoover
o The U.S. tried to economically isolate its economy from imports with high tariffs in the 1920s.
This hurts both U.S. (under consumption) & European economies (need $ to pay off debts to
U.S.).
U.S. not completely economically isolated though! U.S. intervened in international finance &
reparations.
o Dawes Plan (1924) = cycle of money from U.S. loans to Germany, which then made reparations
to other European nations, which then used the money to pay off their debts to America.
 Background: Treaty of Versailles Germany had to pay $13 billion in reparations. The
amount of these payments proved to be too great for the German economy and in 1923
Germany defaulted. In response to this, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr
River valley inside the borders of Germany. This occupation of the center of the German
coal and steel industries outraged the German people and put a further strain on
Germany's economy, being significantly responsible for the hyperinflation in Germany
that followed. (a loaf of bread in Germany cost like a million dollars )
 Dawes Plan provided short term economic benefits to the German economy. It
softened the burdens of war reparations, stabilized the currency, and brought increased
foreign investments and loans to the German market.
 This plan locked the western world's economy on that of the U.S. So, when U.S. has
the Great Depression it is felt around the world (especially Germany.)
Washington Naval Conferences held to keep peace(1921-1922)
o After WWI, Great Britain had the world's largest and most powerful navy, followed closely by the
United States and more distantly by Japan. All three embarked upon large programs of new ships
(battleships and battle cruisers). 
o Anglo-Japanese alliance (1902) obligated Britain to aid Japan in the event of a Japanese war with
the U.S. (this scared U.S. )
o To stop this, Sec. of States Hughes held the 1st disarmament conference in history (held in U.S.)
o It resulted in three major treaties:
 Four-Power Treaty = replaced Anglo-Japanese alliance!
 Bound Britain, Japan, France, and U.S. to preserve status quo in the Pacific, a
concession to Japan’s favor.
 Five-Power Treaty (more commonly known as the Washington Naval Treaty) =
disarmament agreement with a 5-5-3-1.75-1.75 battleship ratio with U.S. & Britain
receiving five ships for every 3 Japanese ships and Italy and France receive 1.75 ships
each.
 In return, Japan received guarantees that U.S. & Br. would refrain from
fortifying their Far Eastern territories including Philippines.
 Hughes did not realize treaty gave Japan naval supremacy in Pacific as the
Japanese were not subjected to same restraints in their possessions.

Building of new battleships would be banned for 10 years.
 Nine-Power Treaty = Open Door in China preserved
o These treaties preserved peace during the 1920s but are also credited with enabling the rise of the
Japanese Empire as a naval power leading up to WWII. 
o Loopholes in treaties:
 No restrictions on small warships; resulted in other powers constructing cruisers,
destroyers, and submarines while U.S. lagged dangerously behind.
 Congress made no commitment to the use of armed force or any kind of joint action when
it ratified the Four-Power Treaty.
 Treaty effectively worthless!
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) = international treaty "providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument
of national policy." So, war is illegal.
4
o

America still has the right of self defense and is not obliged to enforce the treaty by taking action
against those who violate it. (Treaty is worthless )
o The Pact did not live up to its aim of ending war and proved to be ineffective in the years to come;
the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, and the
German invasion of Poland in 1939, were prime examples of this.
o U.S.’s signing this is an example of its desire for isolationism.
Clark Memorandum (1928)
o Sec. of State J. Reuben Clark pledged US would never intervene in Latin American affairs in order
to protect US property rights.
o Repealed the Roosevelt Corollary
o However, US would intervene for own defense.
1920s: Fear, Isolation & Nativism
 Red Scare (1917-1920) = fear of anarchism and communism, as well as the effects of radical political
agitation in American society; promotes nativism
o Major cause = fear of communism from Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (1917) spreading to U.S.
o New Immigrants = Russians, Italians… = eastern & southern Europeans = a lot of people in U.S.
attacked & hated
o Fear fueled by anarchist bombings in mail to government & business leaders (later traced by FBI
to militant followers of anarchist Luigi Galleani, who was later deported because he was a
resident alien who had overtly encouraged the violent overthrow of the government)
o Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer led raids = Palmer Raids = characterized by illegal search
and seizures, unwarranted arrests and detainments, and deportation of hundreds of suspected
communists and anarchists.
 Violates many people’s civil rights 
o The 1920 federal agency to investigate radicals = FBI = led by J. Edgar Hoover
o In response to the bombings, the press, public, and prominent men of business and politics flared
up in a surge of patriotism, often involving violent hatred of communists, radicals, and foreigners.
o Red Scare stopped on May Day 1920.
 Why? Palmer said violent strikes would occur but they never did; Palmer was discredited.

o Red Scare hurt labor unions. IWW (Wobblies) blamed by conservatives for much of violence.
 Labor’s call for "closed" shop criticized as being communist
 Employers’ antiunion campaign for "open" shop: "the American plan."
 AFL lost ¼ of its members.
o Sacco & Vanzetti executions = this exposed the paranoia, xenophobia (a fear or contempt of that
which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign peoples), and fear of anarchism
which much of the U.S. was experiencing.
 Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian Galleanist anarchists, were executed for murder in a trial
seen by many as unfair.
 Prior to their death, both men called for retaliation against the government, and a wreath
left at the funeral parlor where their caskets were exhibited bore the ominous message
Aspetando l'ora di vendetta (Awaiting the hour of vengeance).
 Nativism: Anti-Immigration Acts
o Purpose = to isolate America further, to keep out communists & to promote WASP
o These acts created QUOTAS limiting the # of immigrants arriving annually from eastern &
southern Europe.
o No quotas (unlimited immigration allowed) for people from North or South America. So, LOTS
of Mexicans immigrated into US. 
o 2 major immigration acts:
 National Origin Act/ Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 = 3%; limited the annual
number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 3% of the number of
persons from that country living in the US in 1910
 National Origin Act/Immigration Act of 1924 = 2%; limited the annual number of
immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of persons
from that country living in the US in 1890
5

Nativism: KKK
o Rebirth of the KKK (Ku Klux Klan)
o D.W. Griffith’s 3 hour epic movie The Birth of a Nation (1915) showed the KK as a heroic &
commendable organization & it brought the KKK back to life 
o
o New KKK hated immigration, Catholics, blacks, Jews, Communists,
bootleggers, gambling, adultery, and discussion of birth control
 KKK Pro-WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant)
 Extremist and ultraconservative uprising against forces of diversity and modernity
transforming American culture: nationalist, racist, narrow minded.
 5 million members (mostly from South & Mid-West) at height
 Lost popularity after its leaders had scandals & embezzled.
 This was one causes of 1919 race riots in north like Chicago.


Examples of nativism & xenophobia that occurred after WWI:
o Palmer Raids, Sacco & Vanzetti executions, National Origin Acts, rebirth of the KKK, Pres.
Demo. Candidate Al Smith not carrying South
Conservative Values of the 1920s: Conflict b-w Fundamentalism & Modernism
 Fundamentalists = Protestant Christians that have a strict adherence to and faith in
religious "fundamentals".
o Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)
 John Scopes = high school Biology teacher who taught Evolution violating Tenn.
Law (Butler Act)
 ACLU sponsored this case.
 Lawyer for defense (for Scopes) = Clarence Darrow
 Lawyer for Prosecution (TN & School District) = William Jennings Bryan
 It was also the first U.S. trial to be broadcast on national radio & everybody listened to
trial in Dayton, TN.
 Darrow attacked the literal interpretation of the Bible as well as Bryan's limited
knowledge of other religions and science.
 Darrow, asked "Where are we to find an expert on the Bible who is acceptable to
the court?" Bryan interjected "I am an expert on the Bible." Thus Bryan
volunteered to be a defense witness. (HUGE mistake!!)
 Darrow made Bryan sound like an idiot.
 Winner = William Jennings Bryan = creationism
 He died in his sleep 5 days after the trial ended. 
o Prohibition = 18th Amendment (1919)
 Passes b/c unpatriotic to drink during WWI b/c wastes food (rye, wheat, corn)
 Also passes b/c its anti-immigrant!
 Wets = drinkers = Germans (beer), Irish, Italians (wine), Catholics, cities
 Dry = non-drinkers who support 18th = Protestant Fundamentalists, women,
rural areas (Midwest & South), small towns
 Volstead Act of 1919 = federal law enforcing the 18th amendment. It made it illegal for
anyone to make, sell, or transport any drink that contained more than .5% of alcohol by
volume.
6


Problem w/ enforcement! Federal authorities had never satisfactorily enforced a law
where the majority of the people -- or a strong minority -- was hostile to it. Most drinkers
ignored "dry" laws. (Everybody that continued to drink became a criminal for something
they had done legally before.)
Creates to bootleg liquor, gangsters & the mob.
Red Scare, Great Unrest, and Red Summer:
Why did 20% of the work force go on strike in 1919?
What was the Red Scare of 1919-1920?
How did the “Red Scare” of 1919-1920 lead to the “Great Unrest”?
During the “Great Unrest” of 1919 the Boston Police Force went on strike. Why? How was it
resolved?
Why was the steel strike of 1919 significant?
Explain why the Palmer Raids occurred, what were they, and why did they eventually stop?
Explain how conservative Republicans used the “Red Scare” to hurt unions.
What was the Great Migration and when does it occur?
What was the Red Summer of 1919 and why did it occur?
Nativism:
Nativism is prevalent in the 1920s. Why?
=
Who were Sacco & Vanzetti and why were they sentenced to death?
Why does the KKK reemerge in the 1920s?
Describe the KKK of the 1920s and explain why it fizzles out.
7
Congress passes several anti-immigration acts in the 1920s. The result is that by 1931, more
foreigners left than arrived. Explain why the following two acts were passed, what they did, and
their results on society.
1921 Immigration Act (Emergency Qota Act of 1921)
1924 National Origin Act (Immigration Act of 1924)
The following issues in the 1920s brought modernists and traditionalists into conflict. Explain
for each the issue, who were the modernists & traditionalists, how the issue is resolved, and its
significance/impact on society.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Scopes Monkey Trial
Prohibition
Birth Control
ERA (Equal Rights Amendment)
Economics of 1920s = HALT
H= higher tariffs
A= anti-union
L= laissez-faire
T= trickle-town tax policies (Mellon)
Harding’s administration is filled with scandal. Describe two.
Pres. Coolidge is quoted in saying, “The business of America is business.” Explain.
Pres. Coolidge vetoed the McNary-Haugen Bill twice and it never passed. What was it and did
Coolidge veto it?
Explain Harding & Coolidge’s Sec. of Treasury, Andrew Mellon’s “Trickle Down” Economics.
Isolationism under Harding & Coolidge:
8