Difficulties After WWI (The 1920s pt. 1)

• President Wilson eagerly sought American approval of the Treaty of Versailles, with its League of Nations

• Some feared that membership in the League would draw the U.S. into future wars

  • This fear and general lack of concern for foreign affairs brought a return to isolationism

  • Americans desired a return to normal business

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Isolationism and Disarmament

• Presidential election of 1920

  • Republican candidate Warren G. Harding emphasized a "Return to Normalcy" and wins the election

• Disarmament became popular after WWI

  • Reduction in the size of a nation's military and its weapons

• At the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-1922, 9 nations met and agreed to destroy dozens of naval vessel and to limit the size of future navies

  • This agreement said nothing about the size of the armies

• Warren G. Harding died in 1923, and Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president

• In 1928, under Coolidge, the Kellog-Briand Pact was signed

  • Made in 1928 outlawing war as a means of settling international disputes; signed by many nations

  • Virtually worthless

  • No means of enforcement

  • Signing nations agreed war was allowed in cases of self-defense

• Fear of Communism grew when more Americans relaized Communists intended to take control of other countries

• The term Red Scare refers to the time when there was increased public concern about communism within America

  • The first occurred after WWI

  • The second occurred after WWII

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The Red Scare

• 1919 -- Russian leaders organized the Third International

  • Founded by Vladimir Lenin with the purpose of calling for worlwide revolution and to export communism

  • One of the goals was to create a struggle between common workers and property-owning capitalists

• April 1919

  • Bombs mailed to 30 businessman and government officials

• September 1920

  • More than 30 killed from bomb explosion in front of the New York Stock Exchange

  • Fearing these were Communist attacks, Attorney General Palmer increased government investigations (The Million Dollar Question)

• Fear of communism increased Americans' resentment of immigrants

• 1921 -- Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti Case

  • Two Italian immigrants tried on suspicion of murdering two shoe company employees in a payroll robbery

  • Facts are still disputed; the trial divided the nation

  • Both men were found guilty and executed

• After the war, the U.S. experienced economic downturn

  • The high demand during war kept businesses afloat, not so much after

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• As war industries closed, there were not enough jobs available for soldiers returning home

• During the war, African Americans and immigrants held a substantial number of jobs in cities

• Many Americans resented those two groups for holding jobs that returning soldiers now wanted

• Congress passed new laws that set quotas (fixed numbers) for how many immigrants could enter the US

  • These laws were intended to stop the heavy flow of immigrants, especially those from the Roman Catholic countries of southern and eastern Europe