The 1920's study guide

Why was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre important?

1929 Fourmen dressed as police officers enter gangster Bugs Moran's headquarters on North Clark Street in Chicago, line seven of Moran's henchmen against a wall, and shoot them to death. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, as it is now called, was the culmination of a gang war between arch rivals Al Capone and Bugs Moran. George "Bugs" Moran was a career criminal who ran the North Side gang in Chicago during the bootlegging era of the 1920s. He fought bitterly with "Scarface" Al Capone for control of smuggling and trafficking operations in the Windy City. Throughout the 1920s, both survived several attempted murders. On one notorious occasion, Moran and his associates drovesix cars past a hotel in Cicero, Illionis, where Capone and his associates were having lunch and showered the building with more than 1,000 bullets. A $50,000 bounty on Capone's head was the final straw for the gangster. He ordered that Moran's gang be destroyed. On February 14, a delivery of bootleg whiskey was expected at Moran's headquarters. But Moran was late and happened to see police officers entering his establishment. Moran waited outside, thinking that his gunmen inside were being arrested in a raid. However, the disguised assassins were actually killing the seven men inside. The murdered men included Moran's best killers, Frank and Pete Gusenberg. Reportedly Frank was still alive when real officers appeared on the scene. When asked who had shot him, the mortally wounded Gusenberg kept his code of silence, responding, "No one, nobody shot me." The St. Valentine's Day Massacre actually proved to be the last confrontation for both Capone and Moran. Capone was jailed in 1931 and Moran lost so many important men that he could no longer control his territory. On the seventh anniversary of the massacre, Jack McGurn, one of the Valentine's Day hit men,was killed him in a crowded bowling alley with a burst of machine-gun fire.

Why were Americans concerned about the Palmer Raids?

A promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism or radical leftism, used by anti-leftist proponents(against communism and liberal thought). In the United States, the First Red Scare was about worker (socialist) revolution and political radicalism. An intense fear that "reds" or communists would take over America.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A scandal during the Harding administration involving the granting of oil-drilling rights on government land in return for money. The stress the scandal caused Harding would ultimately take his life as he died in office in August 1923

What was the Volstead Act? Why was it passed?

Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. The Volstead Act provided for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Prohibition Amendment. The Volstead Act, officially known as the National Prohibition Act, was enacted by Congress to enforce the 18th amendment on Prohibition. The Volstead Act became effective on January 29, 1920. The Volstead Act defined "intoxicating liquors" and provided penalties for abuse of the law. Andrew J. Volstead, the Representative from Minnesota, sponsored the bill and lent his name to the act. The Volstead Act was rendered inoperative by the passage of the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition.

Why were Sacco Vanzetti really executed?

Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for murder. On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his guard. May 1920 - police arrested Sacco(shoemaker) and Vanzetti(fish peddler) for the robbery and murder of a shoe company's paymaster. Both sat on death row for 6 years while supporters appealed their verdicts. Judge Thayer denied.

President Harding was responsible for what scandals before he died?

For the rest of his first term, one of President Coolidge's principal duties was responding to public outrage over the Teapot Dome oil-leasing scandals, the revelations of fraudulent transactions in the Veterans Bureau and Justice Department, and the reports of his predecessor's multiple extramarital affairs.

Fundamentalism.

Fundamentalists believed the Bible was literally true and without error. They rejected Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which said that all life forms had developed from lower forms of life over millions of years. Instead, they embraced creationism—the belief that God created the world as described in the Bible.

Babe Ruth

George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. was an American baseball outfielder and pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball

Isolationism

Harding a policy of abstaining from involvement in world affairs.

Marcus Garvey

Leader who called for a return to Africa to form a separate nation there

Why did membership in labor unions go up and then down in the 1920s?

Many Americans had come to believe that labor unions fostered communism. Much of the American work force consisted of new immigrants who were unwilling to threaten their survival by fighting for their rights. Unions had difficulty organizing workers who spoke a variety of languages. Farmers who had recently become industrial workers were used to relying solely on themselves and had no interest in joining unions. Most unions excluded African Americans and women. Strikes such as the Boston police strike and the steel strike threatened, or appeared to threaten, the public safety and American way of life.

Margaret Sanger

Public-health nurse believed that families could improve their standard of living by limiting the number of children they had. She founded the American Birth Control League in 1921 to promote knowledge about birth control. During the 1920s and 1930s, the use of birth control increased dramatically, particularly in the middle class.

Racial Tension in the 1920's

Race Riots, A year of strikes, The Red Scare and the Palmer Raids, The Sacco and Vanzetti Case.

Why were there so many strikes in 1919-1920?

Steel strike of 1919. The steel strike of 1919 was an attempt by the weakened Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers (the AA) to organize the United States steel industry in the wake of World War I. The strike began on September 21, 1919, and collapsed on January 8, 1920. The AA had formed in 1876. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many workers, including workers in the steel industry, faced difficult working conditions, long hours, and low wages. Workers organized unions to address these issues, but those unions were rarely successful in improving workers' conditions. During World War I, the situation briefly improved, as employers were concerned with wartime production needs and did not want workers to go on strike. Once the war was over, the improvements did not last. Inflation after the war made it even more difficult for workers to stretch their pay to cover their families' basic needs. Many workers went on strike during this period, hoping to force their employers to raise wages and improve conditions. The largest strike occurred among steelworkers in the Midwest from September 1919 to January 1920. Known as the "Great Steel Strike of 1919," it eventually involved more than 350,000 workers. The American Federation of Labor organized the strike, and workers demanded higher wages, an eight-hour workday, and recognition of unions. The Great Steel Strike of 1919 proved to be a dismal failure for the steelworkers. Company owners portrayed the workers as dangerous radicals who threatened the American way of life, preying on many Americans' fears of Communism during that era. Because many of the striking workers were recent immigrants, owners were able to portray them as instigators of trouble. A leader among the radicals was Ohioan Norman Z. Foster, a prominent advocate of socialism. Government officials used National Guard troops and federal troops to put down the strike in many cities, leading to violence and even workers' deaths in some cases. (1919) Boston Police Strike Steel Strike Coal Strike

Where did Prohibition begin and end?

The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America. At 5:32 p.m. EST, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, achieving the requisite three-fourths majority of states' approval. Pennsylvania and Ohio had ratified it earlier in the day. Prohibition, failing fully to enforce sobriety and costing billions, rapidly lost popular support in the early 1930s. In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed and ratified, ending national Prohibition. After the repeal of the 18th Amendment, some states continued Prohibition by maintaining statewide temperance laws. Mississippi, the last dry state in the Union, ended Prohibition in 1966.

What were the immigration laws of the 1920's designed to do?

The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census. It completely excluded immigrants from Asia. The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson-Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act (Pub.L. 68-139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States as of the 1890 census, down from the 3% cap set by the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which used the Census of 1910. The law was primarily aimed at further restricting immigration of Southern Europeans and Eastern Europeans, especially Italians, Slavs and Eastern European Jews.[1][2][3] In addition, it severely restricted the immigration of Africans and banned the immigration of Arabs and Asians. According to the U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian, the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity".But though the Act aimed at preserving American racial homogeneity, it set no limits on immigration from other countries of America. Congressional opposition was minimal. According to Columbia University historian Mae Ngai, the 1924 Act put an end to a period where the United States essentially had open borders.

What was the Wickersham Commission?

The National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (also known unofficially as the Wickersham Commission) was a committee established by then U.S. President, Herbert Hoover, on May 20, 1929. Former attorney general George W. Wickersham (1858-1936) chaired the 11-member group, which was charged with surveying the U.S. criminal justice system under Prohibition, and making recommendations for appropriate public policy. During the 1928 presidential campaign Herbert Hoover supported the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (which had introduced nationwide alcohol prohibition) but he recognized that evasion of the law was widespread and that prohibition had fueled the growth of organized crime.

Why did Harding negotiate a separate peace with Germany?

The U.S.—German Peace Treaty is a peace treaty between the U.S. and German governments, signed in Berlin on August 25, 1921, in the aftermath of World War I. The main reason for the conclusion of that treaty was the fact that the U.S. Senate did not consent to ratification of the multilateral peace treaty signed in Versailles, thus leading to a separate peace treaty. Ratifications were exchanged in Berlin on November 11, 1921, and the treaty became effective on the same day. The treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on August 12, 1922. Article 1 obliged the German government to grant to the U.S. government all rights and privileges enjoyed by the other allied powers who had ratified the peace treaty signed in Paris. Article 2 specified which articles of the Versailles treaty shall apply to the U.S. Article 3 provided for the exchange of ratifications in Berlin.

What were Amendments 18 and 21?

The movement reached its apex in 1920 when Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. ... In 1933, widespread public disillusionment led Congress to ratify the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition.

How were foreign affairs conducted under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover?

Warren G. Harding Under Warren Harding's administration, it was revealed in a sensational investigation by Sen. Thomas Walsh, that members of Harding's administration had taken bribes to lease oil reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming to private companies. Though Harding would die while in office, he would face criticism even after dying for allowing scandals such as Teapot to occur. Calvin Coolidge Notorious for saying practically nothing when giving a public speech, Calvin Coolidge takes the second spot of controversial-free presidents on this list. His no-nonsense presidency restored public faith in the office after the scandal-wracked presidency of Harding. When veterans of World War I gathered in the capital to demand pay bonuses they were promised after many were left jobless from the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the Army to go in and break up the protesters. Unfortunately for Hoover, the general in charge of Army troops, Douglas MacArthur, was under the impression that he was breaking up a socialist gathering, and was especially harsh in the methods he used to disperse the veterans. Already unpopular for his handling of the Depression, the brutal crushing of veterans earned him no love from the public, and he would find himself voted out at the end of his first term.

19th amendment

granted women the right to vote

What was laissez- faire economic?

is the belief that economies and businesses function best when there is no interference by the government. It comes from the French, meaning to leave alone or to allow to do. It is one of the guiding principles of capitalism and a free market economy.

What was the overall effect of Prohibition?

led to many more unintended consequences because of the cat and mouse nature of Prohibition enforcement. While the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating beverages, it did not outlaw the possession or consumption of alcohol in the United States.

Fordney-McCumber Act in 1922

making matters worse by raising tariffs dramatically. This dampened the American market for foreign goods and sparked a reaction in foreign markets against buying American agricultural products.

Who was Charles Lindbergh?

nicknamed Slim, Lucky Lindy, and The Lone Eagle, was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.

flapper

(in the 1920s) a fashionable young woman intent on enjoying herself and flouting conventional standards of behavior.

Changes for Women

- got jobs -friendship and love became associated with marriage -Women's fashions changed during the 1920s: women "bobbed," or shortened, their hair and wore flesh-colored silk stockings -Many professional women made major contributions to science, medicine, law, and literature.

Decline of KKK

-Klan membership began to decline in the late 1920s, mainly due to scandals and power struggles among its leaders. In addition, new restrictions on immigration deprived the Klan of one of its major issues.

Return of the Ku Klux Klan

-The group that most wanted to restrict immigration was the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. The old KKK began in the South after the Civil War and used threats and violence to intimidate newly freed African Americans. The new Klan also targeted Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and other groups said to be "un-American." -William J. Simmons founded the new Ku Klux Klan in 1915, with a pledge to preserve America's white, Protestant civilization. With the help of professional promoters to sell Klan memberships, more and more people joined. By 1924, membership was close to 4 million as it spread beyond the South into the North and West.

How did Prohibition make Americans view the government?

....

How much did alcohol use increase in church services in the first year of Prohibition?

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18th Amendment and Prohibition:

1919 in which the consumption, sale, and manufacture of alcohol were made illegal under U.S. law

Scopes Trial

1925 - John T. Scopes, a high school bio teacher, taught the principles of evolution to his class and faced a jail sentence for doing so. (Tennessee legislature passed law to prohibit from teaching the scientific theory of evolution at public schools) "monkey trial"

Red Scare

A promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism or radical leftism, used by anti-leftist proponents(against communism and liberal thought). In the United States, the First Red Scare was about worker (socialist) revolution and political radicalism. An intense fear that "reds" or communists would take over America

What are speakeasies, dry, wet, and G-men?

Also called a blind pig or blind tiger is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era (1920-1933, longer in some states). During that time, the sale, manufacture, and transportation (bootlegging) of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the United States. A dry state is a state in the United States in which the manufacture, distribution, importation, and sale of alcoholic beverages are prohibited or tightly restricted. While some states, such as North Dakota, entered the United States as dry states, others went dry after a passage of prohibition legislation. A dry state is a state in the United States in which the manufacture, distribution, importation, and sale of alcoholic beverages are prohibited or tightly restricted. While some states, such as North Dakota, entered the United States as dry states, others went dry after a passage of prohibition legislation.

KKK

Although its membership sharply increased as a result of the Red Scare and nativism, its power declined once its criminal activity and racial violence became exposed.

What areas of the nation did Not enjoy prosperity in the 20's?

American farmers did not share in the prosperity of the 1920s. On average, they earned less than one-third of the income of other American workers. Technological advances in fertilizers, seed varieties, and farm machinery allowed them to produce more, but higher yields without an increase in demand meant that they received lower prices

Charles Lindberg

American hero who was the first to fly solo from New York to Paris

What three treaties were the result of Washington Naval Conference?

Emerged out of the Washington Naval Conference: the Five-Power Treaty, the Four-Power Treaty, and the Nine-Power Treaty. The Five-Power Treaty, signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France and Italy was the cornerstone of the naval disarmament program.

Immigration laws of the 1920's

Emergency Quota Act: yearly immigration set at 350000 year and quotas set on immigrants from each country National Origins Act: 150000 per year. No Asians strongly discriminated against Southern and Eastern Europeans

Why did Henry Ford support Prohibition?

He did not want his works coming to work drunk. He wanted productive good hard works.

Elliot Ness

Hoping to stem bootlegging, corruption, and violence, the federal Prohibition Bureau hired him. Organized a squad of detectives to go after Al Capone and bring down his organized syndicate. Arrested Capone on tax evasion charges to which Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison, 4 & 1/2 of those in Alcatraz

Who was Al Capone? How was he brought down?

In the "roaring twenties," he ruled an empire of crime in the Windy City: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery, "protection" rackets, and murder. And it seemed that law enforcement couldn't touch him. an American gangster who attained fame during the Prohibition era. His seven-year reign as crime boss ended when he was 33 years old. Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt recognized that mob figures publicly led lavish lifestyles yet never filed tax returns, and thus could be convicted of tax evasion without requiring hard evidence to get testimony about their other crimes. She tested this approach by prosecuting a South Carolina bootlegger.[59] In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled in that case that illegally earned income was subject to income tax; Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. rejected the argument that the Fifth Amendment protected criminals from reporting illegal income.[60] The IRS special investigation unit chose Frank J. Wilson to investigate Capone, with the focus on his spending. The key to Capone's conviction on tax charges was proving his income, and the most valuable evidence in that regard originated in his offer to pay tax. Ralph, his brother and a gangster in his own right, was tried for tax evasion in 1930. Ralph spent the next three years in prison after being convicted in a two-week trial over which Wilkerson presided.[61] Capone ordered his lawyer to regularize his tax position. Crucially, during the ultimately abortive negotiations that followed, his lawyer stated the income that Capone was willing to pay tax on for various years, admitting income of $100,000 for 1928 and 1929, for instance. Hence, without any investigation, the government had been given a letter from a lawyer acting for Capone conceding his large taxable income for certain years. In 1931, Capone was charged with income tax evasion, as well as with various violations of the Volstead Act (Prohibition)

Know about the Scopes Trial and Sacco and Vanzetti?

May 1920 - police arrested Sacco(shoemaker) and Vanzetti(fish peddler) for the robbery and murder of a shoe company's paymaster. Both sat on death row for 6 years while supporters appealed their verdicts. Judge Thayer denied.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People formed in 1909 and saw their organization, which stressed awareness of the plight of African Americans in America, grow in prominence and numbers throughout the 1920s. Pushed Congress to pass anti-lynching laws to protect against African American violence, discrimination, and bigotry. The organization gave AAs a militant voice within our culture and educated the white middle-class masses of their experience.

The Great Migration

The migration of hundreds of thousands of African-Americans from the South to the North. African Americans were looking to escape the problems of racism in the South and felt they could seek out better jobs and an overall better life in the North. By decades end, 40 percent of the nations African Americans lived in the cities

What was the Red Scare?

The promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism or radical leftism, used by anti-leftist proponents. In the United States, the First red scare was about worker (socialist) revolution and political radicalism.

What happened to wartime controls on the economy when World War I ended?

Widespread ownership of automobiles, radios, and other innovations changed how Americans lived. The Coolidge administration tried to promote stability in international affairs and encouraged business growth.

21st Amendment

repeal of prohibition

Claude McKay

was the first important writer of the Harlem Renaissance. In his 1922 poetry collection, Harlem Shadows, McKay expressed a proud defiance and bitter contempt of racism.