APUSH CH 30+31 Lecture Name: Hour: Chapter 30: The War to End War, 1917-1918 I. The War to End All Wars A. The U.S. Moves Closer to War 1. In Early February, Germany launched unrestricted submarine warfare 2. This German challenge to American neutral rights was followed by a German threat to American security 3. British intelligence intercepted and decoded a telegram addressed to the German minister in Mexico from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann a. The Zimmermann Telegram (or note) stated that Germany would help Mexico recover the territories it had lost to the U.S. if Mexico joined in a military alliance against the U.S. b. As a result, Wilson went to Congress and asked for armed neutrality in order to defend American lives and commerce i. Many saw this as Wilson s blank check to move closer to war 4. On April 2, 1917 Wilson expressed his grievances to Congress: Germany s violation of freedom of the seas, disruption of commerce, trouble with Mexico, and the death of innocent Americans a. On April 6 the U.S. declared war on Germany by a vote of 373 to 53 in the House B. The U.S. Enters the War 1. Prior to its entry into World War I, Wilson s administration had been beefing up the military a. The National Defense Act of 1916 provided for increases in the army and National Guard b. The Navy Act provided for a three-year expansion of the naval program c. The Revenue Act of 1916 raised the surtax on high incomes and corporate profits d. In May 1917 Congress passed the Selective Service Act to raise an army i. Men between ages 21 and 30 were required to register 2. The U.S. raised $33 billion for war over the course of two years a. It sold Liberty bonds and raised taxes C. War on the Home Front 1. People wanted neutrality although events would play on American sympathies about going to war 2. George Creel headed the Committee on Public Information in order to sell the war at home through propaganda posters and other means a. Propaganda was used to push people to favor the war (a war for liberty and democracy) 3. President Wilson put Bernard Baruch in charge of the War Industries Board a. Factories were transformed to produce war goods 4. The Food Administration was led by Herbert Hoover a. It controlled the prices and the production of food 5. U.S. helped by providing troops to its European allies (which they really needed) 1
a. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was led by John J. Pershing 6. William Howard Taft headed the National War Labor Board and arbitrated disputes between workers and employers 7. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies, did not support the war a. They faced tough working conditions 8. Espionage and Sedition Acts a. Espionage Act (1917): persons who tried to incite rebellion in the armed forces or interfere with the draft could be imprisoned for up to 20 years i. Schenck v. United States: Supreme Court case that ruled the right to free speech could be limited if it represented a clear and present danger b. Sedition Act (1918): sought to prevent people from making remarks against the federal government i. Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to ten years for speaking out against the war 9. Women: as men were drafted, their jobs were taken by women (eventually women s contributions to the war effort helped win support for the 19 th Amendment D. The End of the War 1. In January 1918 Wilson announced his Fourteen Points, a framework for world order 2. Some highlights include: a. Abolish secret treaties b. Freedom of the seas c. Removal of economic barriers among nations d. Reduction of armaments e. Adjustment of colonial claims in interests of both native peoples and colonial powers f. Self-determination for minority groups in a country g. Creation of the League of Nations, an international organization that would provide collective security, protecting large and small countries from aggression 3. Paris Peace Conference: The Big Four attended the Peace Conference and dominated its outcome: a. George Clemenceau (France) b. David Lloyd George (Britain) c. Vittorio Orlando (Italy) d. Wilson (U.S.) 4. The conference was also complicated a. Everyone came to the conference with their own agenda of what they wanted or wanted back (except the U.S. who didn t seek territory and just wanted to implement the Fourteen Points) b. Many of the powers had signed secret treaties during the war to grab German territories after the war c. They also wanted Germany to pay heavy war reparations d. Remember that all of the Allied Powers attended but the defeated powers were not allowed to send delegates (Germany was not represented) 5. The final result of the conference was the Treaty of Versailles a. The Treaty of Versailles established 9 new nations (including Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia) 2
b. It also shifted the boundaries of other nations c. Some mandates, or temporary colonies were established, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine d. The Treaty demilitarized Germany e. Germany also had to return the territory Alsace-Lorraine to France and pay reparations (war damages) in the amount of $33 billion f. Germany also had to admit it was responsible for the war (war guilt clause) g. The signers of the treaty would join the League of Nations E. The League of Nations 1. Wilson s most important of the Fourteen Points 2. In order to get the League approved, he had to get the entire Treaty of Versailles through the Senate 3. Wilson s biggest competition was Henry Cabot Lodge: Republican, Senate Majority Leader, and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman a. The biggest controversy occurred over Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations proposal i. Stated that if any member of the League was met with aggression the other nations would immediately respond with military force 4. Those known as the Irreconcilables would not accept membership in the League under any circumstances a. They feared getting involved in foreign conflicts and questioned Wilson s ideas of using war to prevent war 5. The reservationists, led by Lodge, would accept the League if certain reservations were add to the covenant a. Wilson did not support changes and fought for the League i. Wilson went on a speaking tour to gain public support of the League ii. He returned from his tour and suffered a stroke (from which he never fully recovered) 6. It was a huge deal that the U.S. never joined the League 7. The result: The U.S. never signed the Treaty of Versailles and made a separate peace with Germany in 1921 a. By this point, Wilson had suffered a stroke and was unable to fight for the Treaty any longer Chapter 31: American Life in the Roaring Twenties, 1919-1929 I. The Roaring Twenties A. Overview of the 1920s 1. The U.S. economy would continue to soar as it had during the war 2. Characterized by a rise in the standard of living for most Americans 3. More and more people could afford the Model T 4. The radio revolution transformed society 5. The philosophy of the time centered on the idea that the business of America is business a. Laissez faire was the economic focus of the 1920s b. This meant a hands off approach to society in which the government did not interfere in business and industry 6. People were drawn into installment plans and the stock market 3
7. Americans wanted to stay out of foreign affairs 8. 18 th Amendment went into effect in 1920 9. The availability of ready-made clothes, canned foods, and mass produced furniture allowed families to spend less time producing household necessities 10. Warren G. Harding, who became president in 1920, believed it was time to return the nation to normalcy 11. The question was: how long would this prosperity last? B. Key Issues/Events of the 1920s 1. Buying goods on credit a. People bought goods using installment plans which allowed consumers to pay for goods over a period of time until the total debt was paid off 2. Henry Ford: The rise of the Model T a. Cars became more affordable with Ford s use of the assembly line b. He also revolutionized labor with the introduction of the $5 day in 1914 i. To receive the $5 per day, workers had to meet Ford s set of rules/expectations c. Other industries prospered that were related to the production of the car 3. Labor a. Suffered setbacks during the 1920s b. With the fear of communism looming around, many distrusted workers who engaged in strikes c. Overall, union membership dropped as it became tied to communism (from 5.1 million in 1920 to 3.6 million in 1929) 4. The Russian Revolution and The Red Scare a. In November 1917 followers of Vladimir Lenin, known as the Bolsheviks, overthrew Russia s government b. After the war, the rise of communism in Russia would lead the U.S. to turn away from world affairs and become more isolated c. In the U.S., about some people (maybe 70,000 or so) joined the newly formed Communist Party d. Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, took action against this red scare i. He sent government officials to hunt down suspected communists, socialists, and anarchists (6,000-7,000 people were arrested) ii. In many cases these officials often violated people s civil rights and conducted illegal searches and seizures 5. Immigration and Nativism a. Due to the red scare strict regulations were placed on immigration b. Emergency Quota Act of 1921 created a quota system for immigrants (3% of the ethnic groups current total in the U.S. could come from Europe; based on the 1910 census) c. Immigration Act of 1924: quotas were cut to 2% (based on the 1890 census); no Japanese immigrants were allowed at all but Canadians and Latin Americans could enter the U.S. freely d. By 1927 the quota for all Asians and eastern and southern Europeans was limited to 150,000 and all Japanese immigrants were barred 4
6. Sacco and Vanzetti a. The Red Scare fed people s suspicion of foreigners and immigrants i. 2 famous victims (or were they?) of the Red Scare were Nicola Sacco (shoemaker) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (fish peddler) aa. Both men were Italian immigrants, anarchists, and draft dodgers bb. They were accused of a crime that took place in Massachusetts in 1920 cc. They would eventually be sentenced to death (1927) which many believed was due to the red scare and anti-immigrant hysteria 7. The Ku Klux Klan a. Extreme representation of nativism in the 1920s i. They were anti-foreigner, anti-catholic, anti-black, and anti-jewish b. By 1925 its leadership had crumbled and it faded away in popularity until WWII 8. Prohibition a. The 18 th Amendment (January 1920) was instituted to prohibit the manufacture, sale, consumption of alcoholic beverages (carried out by the Volstead Act) b. Drinking was linked with gambling, prostitution, and crime c. The act was hard to enforce and people found ways to get around it with speakeasies d. Bootleggers smuggled in alcohol from Canada and other places e. Organized crime controlled the distribution of alcohol in big cities 9. Women a. Women gained the right to vote with the 19 th Amendment b. A new woman developed known as the flapper i. Women cut their hair shorter, wore shorter skirts/dresses, wore make-up, and smoked and drank in public, etc. ii. This challenged traditional gender roles c. Linked with this was a sexual revolution i. Margaret Sanger campaigned for birth control in the 1920s aa. She was a nurse who left her profession to educate women about birth control bb. She later founded Planned Parenthood 10. The Scopes Trial a. Science challenged religious doctrine and liberal Protestants wanted to incorporate these beliefs into their religion i. They were opposed by fundamentalism, which stated the word of the Bible was correct and they refuted Darwin s theory of evolution b. William Jennings Bryan led the campaign to prevent schools from teaching evolution c. In 1925 Tennessee banned the teaching of evolution d. The ACLU offered to defend any teacher willing to take on the law John Scopes i. High school biology teacher John Scopes was arrested and put on trial for teaching evolution ii. He was defended by Clarence Darrow (who faced WJB) iii. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 (later his conviction was overturned) 11. Urbanization of America a. The 1920 federal census showed that for the first time that more Americans lived in urban areas 5
b. The growth of cities as well as industry was also tied to this urbanization c. During the 1920s it is estimated that about 6 million Americans left their farms for cities [d. New York City was the largest city in the U.S. in the early 1920s with a population of 5.6 million people] 12. The Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance a. Jazz music became a sign of the new and modern culture of the city i. Musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong became famous b. In the 1920s, Harlem became the world s largest black community i. This was a literary and artistic movement that celebrated African American culture and was led by well-educated, middle-class African Americans ii. Langston Hughes was the movement s best-known poet 13. Entertainment/Popular Culture a. The way people used their time changed b. People spilt their day into work, family, and leisure time c. Magazines like Reader s Digest and Time were popular d. The radio became a source of news and entertainment i. Over 10 million people owned radios e. NBC was founded in 1924; CBS in 1927 f. Movies became popular with people such as Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, and Gloria Swanson g. The Jazz Singer was the first movie with sound (1927) h. Steamboat Willy (1928) was the first animated film with sound i. Sports, such as baseball, became popular 14. The Lost Generation a. Authors focused on the stereotypes of the time i. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby ii. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, and A Farewell to Arms b. They are referred to as the lost generation due to a rejection of old writing techniques as well as rejecting the materialism of the 1920s II. The Legacy of the 1920s A. WWI Helps and Hurts the Economy 1. The 1920s were a transitional period between WWI and the Great Depression 2. The Roaring 20s were a direct result of the post-war economy a. Eventually, by 1929, these effects wore off as goods were overproduced, people bought goods on installment plans, and purchased stock on margin b. It was only natural for the economy to correct itself through a recession no one ever believed that a full-fledged depression would occur 6