American History Unit 2 Notes PDF

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Lecture notes with Dr. Robert Wells...

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Chapter 21: WWI The United States, 1912 – 1917 - What events led up to the United States declaring war on Germany? Prewar Prosperity - 1910 – 1914: “Golden Age of Agriculture” - Smith-Lever Agricultural Act (1914)  Funded more extension agents - Federal Farm Loan Act (1916)  Tried to arrange more favorable loans for farmers - Smith-Hughes Act (1917)  Provided federal aid for school, agricultural, and economics programs William Howard Taft - Former Secretary of War - TR’s handpicked successor - President from 1909 – 1913 - Payne-Aldrich Tariff (raised tariff on certain items) - Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy Theodore Roosevelt - Former Republican President - Progressive party aka Bull Moose Party - Challenged for the presidency, woman’s suffrage, conservation of national resources, minimal wages for women, an end to child labor, worker’s compensation, social security, federal income tax Woodrow Wilson - Born 1856 in Virginia - Former president of Princeton University - Democratic governor of New Jersey Election of 1912 - Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” - Wilson’s “New Freedom” - Taft, Roosevelt split Republican vote - Wilson gives Democrats first victory since 1892 Wilson’s First Term - Reluctant progressive - Continues his predecessor’s foreign policy - Intervenes in Mexico and Latin America

Villa Expedition - Pancho Villa led attacks on American workers and soldiers on both sides of the border (1916) - Wilson orders General John J. Pershing to pursuit Villa - Murder of Franz Ferdinand triggers France to declare war American Isolationism and Neutrality - Neutrality, isolationism, Lusitania, Bryan’s resignation Backing away from ‘absolute neutrality’ - Unrestricted submarine warfare - Zimmerman telegram

American WWI Homefront Homefront: Home country America in 1914 - A nation of immigrants (8 million German immigrants) - Pacifism was embraced by a lot of people - Isolationism - Progressives and social harmony - Unprepared for mobilization - Standing army of 127,000 - A growing navy but still trailed behind Great Britain and Germany Wartime Propaganda - The Committee on Public Information (CPI) - George Creel: Reform journalist, helped reform a book on child labor, appointed by Wilson The Message - 100% American: Phrase seen very frequently, trying to say instead of there being hyphenated Americans, everyone was 100% American - America is justified to enter the war - “Make the world safe for democracy” - Everyone participates to contribute to the cause - A true American only speaks in support of the war and America CPI Divisions - Division for Civic and Educational Cooperation - Four Minute Men - Division of Films - Posters centered around food, money, or volunteerism - Message to the American public to get them onboard with the war Wartime Censorship Laws

- Espionage Act of 1917 - Trading with the Enemy Act - Sedition Act of 1918 Mobilization for War - April 1917: American totally unprepared to mobilize transportation system – chaos maintaining and expanding a workforce - Very few women were in the workforce/lucrative jobs The Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918 - Deaths from the war: 9,000,000 combat fatalities - 3,000,000 civilian deaths - Deaths worldwide from the Influenza Epidemic: 20,000,000 – 40,000,000 Events leading to the US being involved in WWI - May 7, 1915: The sinking of the Lusitania - March 9, 1916: Pancho Villa’s border incursion - November 7, 1916: Woodrow Wilson’s reelection - January 19, 1917: Interception of the Zimmerman Telegram - April 6, 1917: US declares war on Germany

A Compromised Peace *November 11, 1918 = Veterans Day (back then known as Armistice Day) Wilson’s Fourteen Points - January 8, 1918: President Wilson outlines a plan for peace generous to former Central Powers - Wilson’s Fourteen Points provide a blueprint for a global democratic order The Paris Peace Conference - The Paris Peace Conference - French territorial claims - German war guilt - Self-determination - League of Nations - Treaty of Versailles The Fight for the Treaty - Irreconcilables – people that aren’t okay with the idea of the treaty - Reservations – people who are okay with the idea of the treaty but were reserved/questioned League of Nations - Senator Henry Cabot Lodge - Wilson takes his case for the treaty to the other people  Cost Wilson his health, suffered devastating stroke and the US is basically ran but his wife and his doctor

- League of Nations located in Geneva, Switzerland  United States does not get involved Economic Hardship and Labor Upheaval - Postwar economic hardships - Government abandons economic controls, return of soldiers causes unemployment to soar, consumer spending accelerates causing inflation, strikes The Red Scare of 1919-1920 - Attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer - Fear of communism - Series of raids and the arrest of 6,000 people - What is the difference between communism and socialism? Socialism is a system where the government is inactive participant in regulating economic justice, Communism is where the government owns the means of production The Great Migrations of African Americans and Mexicans - In 1900, nine out of every ten blacks still lived in the South, where disfranchisement, segregation, and violence dominated their lives - From 1915 to 1920, half a million blacks moved to the industrial cities in the North - Between 1910 and 1920, the Mexican-born population in the United States soared - Americans’ racial stereotypes made Mexican immigrants excellent prospects for manual labor but not for citizenship Postwar Challenges - Post-World War I discontent - Slowing economic demand (particularly for farm products), fewer jobs available with return of soldiers, a series of labor strikes occur in Omaha in 1919, racial tension characterized these strikes - “Omaha Race Riot of 1919” - September 28, 1919: Will Brown, 41, is accused of raping a young white woman - A mob of 6,000 whites surrounded and stormed the courthouse - Brown is lynched and his body is desecrated Postwar Politics and the Election of 1920 - Wilson, suffering from the after-effects of a major stroke, insisted that the 1920 election would be a “solemn referendum” on the League of Nations - The Republican Party candidate, Ohio senator Warren G. Harding, showed little political aptitude but a great facility for connecting with the common people - “Return to Normalcy”

The New Era A (Pro) Business Government - Calvin Coolidge into the presidency  A strong believer of government not being involved in foreign affairs

- Andrew Mellon  Less government control on the economy Promoting Prosperity and Peace Abroad - Washington Disarmament Conference (1921) - Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) - Dawes Plan (1924)

The Roaring Twenties Progressive Era Constitutional Amendments - Sixteenth Amendment (1913): Allows Congress to levy income tax - Seventeenth Amendment (1913): Establishes direct election of US senators - Nineteenth Amendment (1920): Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on tax *Was Prohibition destined to fail? Yes, because people going to find a way to drink regardless Prohibition - Repealed with the Twenty First Amendment (1933) The New Woman - Women challenged traditional roles - Women engaged in politics - Working outside of their homes more and more - People are freaking out over women going out The New Negro Movement - W.E.B. DuBois - Marcus Garvey - NAACP - Harlem Renaissance - Langston Hughes Mass Culture - Charles Lindbergh, first person to ride solo across the Atlantic Ocean -- The Spirit of Saint Louis The Loss Generation - Ernest Hemingway Rejecting the “Huddled Masses” - Johnson-Reid Act (1924) - The 1924 law reaffirmed the 1880s legislation barring Chinese immigrants and added Japanese and other Asians to the list of the excluded -- Labor leaders favored this

- Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti - French immigrant anarchists executed for robbery in 1927 The Scopes Trial - John Scopes, Dayton, Tennessee - Prohibit the teaching of evolution in classrooms - Tennessee v. Scopes May 1925

Al Smith and the Election of 1928 - Herbert Hoover will go against Al Smith *Should immigration be regulated? If so, how? Ongoing debate The Great Depression - What were some of the causes of the Great Depression? What made it so severe, and why did it last so long? Stock market crash, dust bowl, clasps of banks following the stock market crash - What was the impact of the Depression of farmers, minorities, and women? - How did President Hoover and his administration try to deal with the Depression? What was the result of those efforts?

The Great Crash The Crash of 1929 - Between 1914 and 1929, the values of the stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange increased by more than 400% - On Monday, October 28, 1929, the marked lost 13% of its value. The next day, “Black Tuesday”, October 29, 1929, it lost another 12%. The losses destroyed $30 billion in capital Hoover’s Response - November 1929: Asked businesses and labor leaders to join voluntary plan for recovery - 1930: Asked Congress for $420 million for public works project - 1932: Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Human Toll - Joblessness, homelessness, tramps, and hobos - Rural poverty, tenant farmers, sharecroppers - No federal assistance - Rejuvenated racism - Young people postponed marriage and children - Americans went to the movies - Crime increased - Workers and farmers mounted uprisings - Communist Party expands

***Why were people expressing communism in 1930?

The New Deal Experiment FDR: The Making of a Politician - Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Born in 1982, spent time in the New York legislature - Contracted polio in 1921 and was left paralyzed from the waist down - Polio created an interesting political situation - FDR and Warm Springs, Georgia - Ran for governor of New York - (New York) Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (1931) FDR: The Election of 1932 - The New Deal: Program that will help with the Great Depression - The Democrats’ New Deal Coalition  Farmers, factory workers, immigrants, city dwellers, African Americans, women, and progressive intellectuals - The “Brains Trust”: Academic Professors from Colombia University that advised him before beginning presidency - Eleanor Roosevelt was going to be heavily involved in politics The New Dealers - The New Deal Plan: Seek capitalist solutions to the economic crisis, increase consumer demand, Balance corporate power with a larger federal government and unionized workers, address wealth inequality Banking and Finance Reform - Emergency Banking Act (1933): National Banking Holiday that will cause all banks to close - Purpose was to have people gain confidence in banks - “Fireside Chats” *Why does the United States have civilian control of the military? The President is Commander in Chief *Was Truman justified in firing MacArthur? Yes, because MacArthur was insubordinate along with sharing plans with the American people, wanted to take fight beyond North Korea and wanted permission to attack military installations in China Korea, Containment and the 1952 Election - Dwight D. Eisenhower - The Republican coalition of the mid-to-late twentieth century - Classical liberals (believed in limited government involvement), traditionalists (strong belief in American institutionalists), anti-communists (concern with the threat of communism)

The Second Red Scare - Promoted by US Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) - McCarthyism  described as witch hunt, but was actually after communists involved in government and prominent/public life such as actors/actresses - Individuals McCarthy believed to be communists were blackmailed and unable to find jobs - Edward R. Murrow; well respected/humble/direct Eisenhower and McCarthy - Eisenhower correctly predicted that McCarthy would destroy himself - McCarthy goes after US Army claiming there are communists in the Army Moderate Republicans - Eisenhower’s “Moderate Republicanism” - Interstate Highway and Defense System Act (1956) - Primary reason for construction if interstate highway system was for national defense 1956 Election and Ike’s Second Term - Eisenhower easily defeats Brown v. Board of Education and Little Rock - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) - Brown v. Board of Education (1954) - Orval Faubus - Little Rock Central High School Montgomery and Mass Protest - Rosa Parks  Refused to give up seat - Martin Luther King Jr. - Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Eisenhower’s Foreign Policy - Eisenhower’s “New Look” - Emphasis on nuclear weapons - “Mutually Assured Destruction” - Nuclear Triad, US will developed nuclear arsenal that will deter any other countries/states from attacking...