THE 1920s and Early 1930s: PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION

1. THE 1920s and Early 1930s: PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION EUGENIA LANGAN MATER ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL HIALEAH GARDENS, FLORIDA

2. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS • TODAY: • WHAT CAUSED THE TENSION BETWEEN NEW AND CHANGING ATTITUDES, ON THE ONE HAND, AND TRADITIONAL VALUES AND NOSTALGIA, ON THE OTHER HAND, IN THE 1920s? • WHICH GROUPS WERE PROGRESSIVE/RADICAL AND WHICH WERE CONSERVATIVE, AND WHY? • WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT DEPRESSION? WHAT STOPPED IT?

3. BACKGROUND: POST-WAR TENSIONS • WAR-TIME ECONOMY: • WAR PRODUCTION + MOBILIZATION OF NEARLY 5 MILLION MEN = FLU DEATHS  HIGH EMPLOYMENT, HIGH WAGES • NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD GAVE UNIONS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS (TO AVOID STRIKE)  INCREASE IN UNION MEMBERSHIP (E.G., MORE THAN 3 MILLION MEMBERS OF AF OF L) • SOME INFLATION (LOTS OF MONEY CHASING SCARE GOODS – BUT WAGES ROSE WITH INFLATION

4. ECONOMY 1919 – 21: RECESSION THEN DEPRESSION -- CAUSES • DEMOBILIZATION: OVER 4 MILLION SOLDIERS RETURNED 1919-20, WITH NO JOBS AND NOTHING BUT $60 AND A TRAIN TICKET HOME • WAR PRODUCTION ENDED  LAYOFFS + SOME FACTORIES SHUT DOWN PERMANENTLY •  TOO MANY WORKERS, TOO FEW JOBS  DECLINING WAGES AND ABOUT 5.5% UNEMPLOYMENT 1918-19 • CONTINUED INFLATION: COST OF LIVING DOUBLED 1918 – 1920

5. WELCOME BACK TO LOW WAGES AND HIGH C.O.L.!

6. FARM PRICES = DEFLATION/ DEPRESSION EVEN EARLIER THAN REST OF ECONOMY • PLUS EVEN MORE ACRES UNDER CULTIVATION THE USUAL (FARM PRICES DROP, FORECLOSURES)

7. STOCK MARKET: DOW-JONES AVERAGE 1918-23 "ROARING 20s" DIDN’T BEGIN UNTIL 1922!

8. POST-WAR STRIKES: IN 1919 OVER 4 MILLION U.S. WORKERS (MOSTLY AF OF L) WENT ON STRIKE – MORE THAN EVER BEFORE OR SINCE • WHY? • EMPLOYERS WANTED TO CUT HIGH WAGES AND BREAK POWER UNIONS GAINED DURING WWI • WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF MAJOR STRIKES IN 1919? • BOSTON POLICE STRIKE, STEEL STRIKE, COAL STRIKE • STRIKES UNSUCCESSFUL AND OPPOSED BY PUBLIC

9. BOSTON POLICE STRIKE, SEPTEMBER 1919 • ORGANIZATIONAL STRIKE – POLICE WANTED AF OF L UNION • LOW WAGES, LONG WORK HOURS, ETC. • ≈ 1100 POLICEMEN STRUCK (72% OF FORCE)  SOME MINOR VANDALISM AND LOOTING • MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR CALVIN COOLIDGE CALLED OUT 5,000 TROOPS IN MASSACHUSETTS MILITIA AGAINST STRIKERS (5 TO 1!) • STRIKING OFFICERS AND MANY OTHER COPS REPLACED

10. MASSACHUSETTS MILITIA IN SCOLLAY SQUARE, BOSTON. DURING STRIKE 9 POLICEMEN WERE KILLED

11. CALVIN COOLIDGE: "There is no right to strike against the public safety, anywhere, anytime." • A HERO: REPUBLICAN VP NOMINEE, 1920 TYPICAL NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF THE POLICE STRIKE: "Bolshevism in the United States is no longer a specter. Boston in chaos reveals its sinister substance." PHILADELPHIA LEDGER

12. "He gives aid & comfort to the enemies of society" – Chicago Tribune

13. "STRIKING BACK" – NEW YORK EVENING WORLD

14. 1919 STEEL STRIKE, SEPTEMBER 1919 • ORGANIZATIONAL STRIKE – AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS (AF OF L) WANTED STEEL INDUSTRY TO RECOGNIZE AND BARGAIN WITH UNION • ≈ 350,000 STEELWORKERS STRUCK, SHUT DOWN STEEL MILLS IN NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, WEST VIRGINIA, OHIO, ILLINOIS, INDIANA AND COLORADO • WILLIAM Z. FOSTER, L, AF OF L (MARXIST, IWW) LED STRIKE

15. U.S. STEEL CHAIRMAN ELBERT GARY REFUSED TO NEGOTIATE • LED STEEL INDUSTRY IN HIRING 30- 40,000 Black AND MEXICAN STRIKE-BREAKERS ("SCABS") • AS USUAL, PINKERTONS, LOCAL AND STATE POLICE, AND IN SOME PLACES THE ARMY AND NATIONAL GUARD ATTACKED STRIKERS • RESULT = COMPLETE DEFEAT FOR UNION.

16. ELBERT GARY – A HERO

17. PUBLIC OPINION – AGAINST STRIKE, EQUATED UNIONS WITH SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM

18. UNITED MINE WORKERS (UMW) – COAL STRIKE, NOVEMBER 1919 • LED BY UMW PRESIDENT JOHN L. LEWIS, L (NOT A MARXIST) • ≈ 400,000 COAL MINERS STRUCK OVER WAGES • RED-BAITING: MINEOWNERS CALLED UNION "BOLSHEVIKS," ETC. • ATTORNEY GENERAL A. MITCHELL PALMER GOT INJUNCTION AGAINST STRIKE UNDER WARTIME FOOD AND FUEL ACT – BUT WAR WAS OVER! • FACING CRIMINAL CHARGES AND ACCUSATIONS OF COMMUNISM, LEWIS CALLED OFF THE STRIKE

19. "KEEPING WARM" – LOS ANGELES TIMES

20. "IF CAPITAL AND LABOR DON'T PULL TOGETHER" – CHICAGO TRIBUNE

22. RACE RIOTS, SUMMER 1919 • BACKGROUND: "GREAT MIGRATION" OF BLACKS TO NORTHERN CITIES (≈ 2 MILLION 1910 – 1930, ≈ 500,000 BY 1919) • WHY: INDUSTRIAL AND OTHER JOBS IN NORTH (ESPECIALLY DURING WWI), LESS • 1915: BOLL WEEVIL WIPED OUT COTTON CROP, BANKRUPT SOUTHERN PLANTERS EJECTED SOUTHERN SHARECROPPERS • ALSO, RETURNING BLACK WAR • VETS MORE ASSERTIVE ABOUT • RIGHTS

24. AT LEAST 30 RACE RIOTS OF 1919 ( = ATTACKS BY WHITES ON BLACKS, ESPECIALLY RETURNING VETS • MOST RIOTS IN NORTHERN CITIES SUCH AS CHICAGO, PHILADELPHIA, SYRACUSE N.Y, AND WASHINGTON D.C. • SOME BLACK RESISTANCE (FIGHTING BACK) • MEDIA AND PUBLIC BLAMED RIOTS ON BLACKS AND BOLSHEVIK AGITATORS

25. ABOVE, WHITE GANG LOOKING FOR BLACKS DURING CHICAGO RACE RIOT OF 1919 LEFT: HEADLINE IN ARKANSAS NEWSPAPER HEADLINE IN NEW YORK TIMES: "REDS TRY TO STIR NEGROES TO REVOLT"

26. RED SCARE, 1919 • LED BY A. MITCHELL PALMER, U.S. GOVERNMENT MANAGED TO TRANSFER WARTIME PUBLIC XENOPHOBIA AGAINST GERMANS TO PEACETIME XENOPHOBIA AGAINST "REDS" – COMMUNISTS, SOCIALISTS, ANARCHISTS, WOBBLIES • NATIVISM LINK: "NEW IMMIGRANTS" EQUATED WITH "FOREIGN AGITATORS" A. MITCHELL PALMER ATTORNEY GENERAL 1919-21

27. CAUSES OF RED SCARE: • 1919: COMMUNIST THIRD INTERNATIONAL DECLARED GOAL OF WORLDWIDE COMMUNISM • MITCHELL COULD CLAIM COMMUNIST PLOT AGAINST U.S. "FREEDOM" • APRIL AND JUNE 1919 – LETTER BOMBS ("WE WILL DESTROY TO RID THE WORLD OF YOUR TYRANNICAL INSTITUTIONS" ON PINK PAPER) SENT TO PALMER, SENATORS, FBI INVESTIGATORS • NOBODY KILLED BUT  PUBLIC PANIC

29. "WHAT A YEAR HAS "PUT THEM OUT AND KEEP BROUGHT FORTH" – NEW THEM OUT" – PHILADELPHIA YORK WORLD INQUIRER

30. THE NEW NATIVISM: IMMIGRANTS ARE A PACK OF ANARCHISTS AND COMMUNISTS

31. PALMER RAIDS, 1919- 20 • STRATEGY: ROUND UP AND DEPORT FOREIGN RADICALS • IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1919 AUTHORIZED DEPORTATION OF ALIEN ANARCHISTS AND ANY ALIENS ADVOCATING OVERTHROW OF U.S. GOVERNMENT • GOVERNMENT USED WARRANTLESS WIRETAPS (VIOLATED 4TH AMENDMENT) • JANUARY 20, 1920: FEDERAL AND LOCAL RAIDED OFFICES AND HOMES NATIONWIDE, ARREST OVER 6,000 PEOPLE (INCLUDING SOME U.S. CITIZENS) • PEOPLE ARRESTED WERE DENIED ACCESS TO LAWYERS (VIOLATED 6TH AMENDMENT)

32. POLICE ARRESTING SUSPECTED "REDS" IN CHICAGO • BUT NOT EVERYONE ARRESTED WAS AN ALIEN!

33. "RADICALS" AWAITING DEPORTATION HEARINGS AT ELLIS ISLAND

34. DECEMBER, 1920: EMMA GOLDMAN WAS ON THE BUFORD • IN THE END ONLY ABOUT 565 ALIENS WERE DEPORTED – MOSTLY NOT FOR ANY ACTS, ONLY FOR MEMBERSHIP IN RADICAL ORGANIZATION

35. SECRETARY OF LABOR LEWIS FREEDLAND POST OPPOSED THE RAIDS AND THWARTED DEPORTATIONS • INITIALLY PUBLIC SIDED WITH PALMER, BUT AS 1920 WENT ON WITHOUT EITHER STRIKES OR A REVOLUTION, MEDIA SUPPORTED POST

36. DOES THE CARTOONIST SUPPORT THE PALMER RAIDS?

37. SACCO AND VANZETTI: VICTIMS OF THE RED SCARE? • ARRESTED 1920 FOR ARMED ROBBERY AND MURDER – EXECUTED 1927 • PLENTY OF EVIDENCE THAT THEY WERE ANARCHISTS, NOT MUCH THAT THEY DID THE CRIME • WERE THEY GUILTY? (YOU SHOULD HAVE AN OPINION BASED ON ASSIGNED READING)

38. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS TO KNOW • SCHENCK V. UNITED STATES, 1919 • 1. OPINION BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR. • 2. FACTS: CHARLES SCHENCK, SECRETARY OF SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA, WAS CONVICTED OF VIOLATING THE ESPIONAGE ACT FOR DISTRIBUTING A HANDBILL COMPARING THE DRAFT TO SLAVERY • 3. ISSUE: DID THE CONVICTION VIOLATE SCHENCK'S 1ST-AMENDMENT RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

39. 4. HOLDING: NO. DURING WARTIME, FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS LESS BROAD THAN DURING PEACETIME • AND AT ANYTIME: FREEDOM OF SPEECH NEVER INCLUDES "SHOUTING FIRE IN A CROWDED THEATER AND CAUSING A PANIC." • IF SPEECH PRESENTS "A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER" THAT SOMETHING THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE RIGHT TO PREVENT WILL HAPPEN, THE SPEECH HAS NO 1ST – AMENDMENT PROTECTION • 5. LEGAL AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE – A VERY BROAD EXCEPTION TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

40. ABRAMS V. UNITED STATES, 1919 • 1. OPINION BY JUSTICE JOHN CLARKE (A NONENTITY – NOT IMPORTANT) • 2. FACTS: ABRAMS WAS CONVICTED UNDER SECTION OF ESPIONAGE ACT BANNING INTERFERENCE WITH WAR PRODUCTION. HE DISTRIBUTED A LEAFLET CRITICIZING 1919 DEPLOYMENT OF U.S. TROOPS TO RUSSIA TO FIGHT SOVIETS, AND URGING GENERAL STRIKE OF MUNITION WORKERS TO STOP PRODUCING WEAPONS FOR THIS • (SO NOT AGAINST WWI OR ANY DECLARED WAR OF U.S.!)

41. 3. ISSUE: WAS THE HANDBILL PROTECTED 1ST – AMENDMENT SPEECH? 4. NOT PROTECTED SPEECH UNDER THE "CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER" TEST. EVEN THOUGH NO STRIKE OR DAMAGE TO WAR EFFORT WAS IMMINENT, THE HANDBILL HAD A "TENDENCY" TO CAUSE THOSE THINGS. 5. LEGAL AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: TURNED "CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER" TEST INTO "BAD TENDENCY" TEST – EVEN EASIER FOR GOVERNMENT TO RESTRICT SPEECH HOLMES DISSENT: "CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER" MEANS SOME UNLAWFUL ACTION IS IMMINENT

42. TWO ANTITRUST DECISIONS TO KNOW: • UNITED MINE WORKERS V. CORONADO COAL CO., 1922 – OPINION BY CHIEF JUSTICE TAFT • JUST KNOW WHAT IT HELD: LABOR UNIONS ARE "ASSOCIATIONS" COVERED BY THE SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT – CAN BE SUED UNDER ACT FOR TREBLE DAMAGES FOR STRIKES, MULTI-UNION AGREEMENTS TO SEEK SAME WAGES, ETC. • FEDERAL BASEBALL CLUB V. NATIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE, 1922 – OPINION BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR. • PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUES ARE NOT COVERED BY THE SHERMAN ACT, BECAUSE BASEBALL IS A GAME, NOT A BUSINESS (EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES $)

43. ELECTION OF 1920: REPUBLICAN TRIUMPH ("IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID," PLUS THE RED SCARE AND OPPOSITION TO WILSON – END OF PROGRESSIVISM FOR A WHILE WARREN G. HARDING AND CALVIN COOLIDGE JAMES COX AND FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

44. ALSO RAN: EUGENE V. DEBS, SOCIALIST PARTY: FROM PRISON -- 913,000 VOTES (REFERENCE TO HARDING'S "FRONT PORCH" CAMPAIGN

45. WARREN G. HARDING – RANKED AS ONE OF THE WORST PRESIDENTS. ADVOCATED "RETURN TO NORMALCY" • SCANDALS, ESPECIALLY TEAPOT DOME BRIBERY SCANDAL • 1921: HARDING TRANSFERRED NAVY OIL RESERVES AT TEAPOT DOME (AND OTHER WESTERN LOCATIONS) TO DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR • 1922: SECRETARY OF INTERIOR ALBERT B. FALL LEASED RESERVES TO OIL COMPANIES – FOR PERSONAL LOANS = $404,000 • FALL WAS CONVICTED OF BRIBERY, • GOT 1 YEAR IN PRISON – FIRST CABINET • OFFICER TO GO TO PRISON FOR CORRUPTION

46. DEPLOYED MILITARY AGAINST STRIKES, , INCLUDING B-1 BOMBERS, AGAINST STRIKING COAL MINERS IN MATEWAN, W. VA. (50-100 MINERS KILLED, HUNDREDS CONVICTED OF CRIMES LATER – THE USUAL!) • SUPPORTED AND SIGNED FORDNEY-MC CUMBER TARIFF, HIGHEST IN HISTORY – SUPPOSEDLY TO HELP FARMERS • FARMERS OF COURSE OPPOSED IT! • DIED IN OFFICE, 1923

47. COOLIDGE: YET ANOTHER VP BECAME PRESIDENT (BUT WAS ELECTED IN OWN RIGHT IN 1924) • MOST FAMOUS QUOTATION: "THE BUSINESS OF AMERICA IS BUSINESS" • BUT NO HELP FOR FARMERS!

48. HERBERT HOOVER (MINING ENGINEER): SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR HARDING AND COOLIDGE • ELECTED PRESIDENT 1928 • HIS "SOUTHERN STRATEGY": OUST ALL BLACKS FROM REPUBLICAN PARTY LEADERSHIP, MAKE IT ALL-WHITE PARTY

49. DOMESTIC POLITICS IN A NUTSHELL, 1920 – 32 (HARDING, COOLIDGE, HOOVER) • CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY • HARDING, COOLIDGE, HOOVER TRILOGY • LAISSEZ-FAIRE ON MOST DOMESTIC ISSUES: • NO HELP FOR FARMERS • OPPOSED TO UNIONS – SUPPORTED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS "AMERICAN PLAN: • COMPANY UNIONS • "OPEN" SHOPS • STATE LAWS MAKING UNIONS ILLEGAL

50. FAVORED EASY CREDIT TO PROMOTE BUSINESS BY PROMOTING CONSUMERISM • SUPPORTED HIGH TARIFFS • SMOOT-HAWLEY TARIFF, 1930: HIGHEST YET  U.S. EXPORTS DROPPED 61% BETWEEN 1930 AND 1933