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AHAP: 1920’s Preparatory Assignment
1920’s Chapter 22 “The New Era
1. Characterize the major societal tensions of the time period in regards to the following areas: ethnicity, race,
gender, generation, science and religion, and overall cultural changes.
1. “red scare”- In 1919, the country suffered from
a volatile combination of unhappiness with the
peace process, fears of communism fueled by
the Communist takeover in Russia and worries
about labor unrest at home. The anti-German
hysteria of the war years turned quickly into
anti-Communist hysteria known as the Red
Scare. These anti-radical fears also fueled
xenophobia that resulted in restrictions on
immigration in the 1920s.
2. J. Edgar Hoover- was the first Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the
United States. He founded the present form of
the agency and remained director for 48 years
until his death. During his life, Hoover was
highly regarded by much of the U.S. public.
Hoover's leadership spanned eight presidential
administrations, encompassed Prohibition, the
Great Depression, World War II, the Korean
War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War.
During this time, the United States moved from
being a rural nation with strong isolationist
tendencies to an urbanized superpower.
3. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, “Palmer
Raids”- A series of unexplained bombings
caused Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to
establish a special office under J. Edgar Hoover
to gather information on radicals. Palmer also
ordered mass arrests of anarchists, socialists,
and labor agitators. From November 1919
through January 1920, over 6,000 people were
arrested, based on limited criminal evidence.
Most of the suspects were foreign born, and
500 of them, including the outspoken radical
Emma Goldman, were deported. The scare
faded almost as quickly as it arose. Palmer
warned of huge riots on May Day, 1920, but
they never took place. His loss of credibility,
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coupled with rising concerns about civil
liberties, caused the hysteria to recede.
4. Emergency Quota Acts of 1921 & 1924- The
Emergency Quota Act of 1921 established the
nation's first numerical limits on the number of
immigrants who could enter the United States.
The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the
National Origins Act, made the quotas stricter
and permanent.
5. Sacco and Vanzetti- Sacco and Vanzetti were
two Italian immigrants convicted for a crime
with very little evidence. Sacco and Vanzetti's
guilty verdict reflected the anti-immigrant and
anti-radical attitude of American citizens, being
sentenced to death only because they were
anarchists & of the Italian origin. Worldwide
protests happened as a result.
6. Ku Klux Klan- Spurred by intense nativism and
fundamentalism, we see the resurgence of the
Ku Klux Klan, this time they were against
immigrants, feminism, and unions. It was a rural
movement rising against the urban forces.
7. John Dewey- He was a philosopher who
believed in "learning by doing" which formed
the foundation of progressive education. He
believed that the teachers' goal should be
"education for life and that the workbench is
just as important as the blackboard."
8. American Civil Liberties Union- Formed out of a
direct response to the Alien-Sedition Acts. It
wanted guarantee of the freedom of speech no
matter the circumstances. However, this
position would prove controversial as they
protected organizations such as the KKK
because of this "free speech"
9. Scopes Monkey Trial- John Scopes, a Tennessee
public school teacher, was convicted for
teaching evolution. The trial pitted religion
 against science, but more importantly, the but had very serious side effects. Important by
traditional, fundamentalist values against the these were all forms of discontent with
modern, secular perspective. It was the epitome prohibition and ultimately show that the
of the culture wars. enforcement of prohibition is very hard.
10. Williams Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow -The 15. Al Capone- he was an illegal distributor of
trail where 24-year-old John Scopes was alcohol who belonged to one of the Chicago
convicted of teaching the theory of evolution in gangs that tried to monopolize the "booze"
the classroom. In this case the defense attorney market. Important by Capone killed 7 members
Clarence Darrow put up to the questioning of a rival gang on Valentine's Day but was not
stand William Jennings Bryan the prosecution convicted for the murder. Showed the rise in
attorney as an "expert on the bible." In this gangsterism.
transaction Darrow was able to make Bryan’s 16. Twenty-first Amendment
view on the bible silly. This led to the retreat of 17. “Jazz Age”
fundamentalists in the United states. 18. National Suffrage Association, Carrie Chapman
11. Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Cat
Anti-Saloon League- Feminine group dedicated 19. League of Women Voters
to the ban of alcohol=it made men brutes, 20. “flappers”
caused accidents in the workplace, temptation., 21. Charleston
founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874. The main 22. Great Migration
objective of the WCTU was to persuade all 23. Duke Ellington
states to prohibit the sale of alcoholic 24. Cotton Club
beverages. Early campaigners for prohibition 25. Harlem Renaissance
included William Lloyd Garrison, Frances E. 26. United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA),
Willard, Anna Howard Shaw, Carry Nation, and Marcus Garvey
Ida Wise Smith. Organization founded in 1893 27. Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal
that increased public awareness of the social Hurston
effects of alcohol on society; supported 28. Lost Generation, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, TS
politicians who favored prohibition and Eliot
promoted statewide referendums in Western 29. Frederick Taylor/”Taylorism”/scientific
and Southern states to ban alcohol. management
12. “speakeasies”- Illegal bars and saloons run by 30. Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey
gang leaders because of prohibition. Many 31. “nickelodeons”
people went to speakeasies, showing how 32. The Jazz Singer
unpopular Prohibition was in the cities as 33. Rudolph Valentino and Clara Bow
people still drank alcohol despite it being illegal. 34. Paramount, MGM, and Warner Brothers;
13. Bootlegging- Smugglers of illegal alcohol during Hollywood
the Prohibition era
14. “bathtub gin” and “home brew”- these were all
forms of response to the act of prohibition. The
Speakeasies were a new type of saloon that
would illegally sell alcohol. Bathtub gin and
bootleg whisky were new type of alcoholic
drinks that were used to evade the legislation
Chapter 22 pages 635-638 and Chapter 23 Republican Presidents and the Great Depression

1. Characterize the economy after WWI.

2. Compare the presidential administrations of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover in terms of domestic (consider both
politics and economics) and foreign policy.
3. Discuss the causes of the Great Depression.
4. Discuss Hoover’s response to the Great Depression and the rationale behind his response.

1. Teapot Dome Scandal- The most spectacular scandal involved the rich naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome,
Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California. At the urging of Fall, Harding transferred control of those reserves from the
Navy Department to the Interior Department. Fall then secretly leased them to two wealthy businessmen and
received in return nearly half a million dollars in “loans” to ease his private financial troubles. Fall was ultimately
convicted of bribery and sentenced to a year in prison; Harry Daugherty barely avoided a similar fate for his part
in another scandal
2. Forbes scandal- Forbes was prosecuted and convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government, fined
$10,000, and sentenced to a prison term of two years. He was put in prison on March 21, 1926. He served one
year, eight months and six days at the Leavenworth federal penitentiary.
3. Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923)- A landmark Supreme Court decision reversing the ruling in Muller v.
Oregon, which had declared women to be deserving of special protection in the workplace.
4. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover- he "associative state"-Refers to Hoover's belief that responsible
cooperation between government, the American people(consumers/workers) and corporations will advance the
economy any and the standard of living in America. He believed in ability of all Americans---regardless of race,
color, or creed--to take care of themselves("individualism") if given the opportunity to do so.
5. Andrew W. Mellon, secretary of treasury- the Secretary of the Treasury during the Harding Administration. He
felt it was best to invest in tax-exempt securities rather than in factories that provided prosperous payrolls. He
believed in trickledown economics (Hamiltonian economics) and that the economy would heal itself. He reduced
spending gave tax cuts to the wealthy
6. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes- As Secretary of State he wanted to find a replacement to the League of
Nations as a guarantee of world peace and stability. The most important of these efforts was the Washington
Conference of 1921 which was an attempt to prevent a destabilizing naval armaments race among the US,
Britain, and Japan.
7. Washington Naval Conference (1921-1922)- Between 1921 and 1922, the world's largest naval powers gathered
in Washington, D.C. for a conference to discuss naval disarmament and ways to relieve growing tensions in East
Asia. In the wake of World War, I, leaders in the international community sought to prevent the possibility of
another war.
8. Five-Power Naval Treaty, Four-Power Treaty, Nine-Power Treaty- The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as
the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to
prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction.
9. Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)- The Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922 was a law in the United States that
created a Tariff Commission to raise or lower rates by 50%. This was a post-World War I Republican defense
against expected Europeans exports. Retaliatory tariffs sprang up.
10. "the business of America is business"- Coolidge is probably best known for his statement that the "business of
America is business." This reflected his position that government should interfere as little as possible with
businesses and individuals.
11. Kellogg-Briand Pact- The Kellogg–Briand Pact (or Pact of Paris, officially General Treaty for Renunciation of War
as an Instrument of National Policy) is a 1928 international agreement in which signatory states promised not to
use war to resolve “disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise
12. Dawes Plan of 1924- Under the Dawes Plan, Germany's annual reparation payments would be reduced,
increasing over time as its economy improved; the full amount to be paid, however, was left undetermined.
Economic policy making in Berlin would be reorganized under foreign supervision and a new currency, the
Reichsmark, adopted.
13. October 24 (Black Thursday) and October 29 (Black Tuesday), Stock Market Crash of 1929- This is the name given
to October 29, 1929. This date signaled a selling frenzy on Wall Street--days before stock prices had plunged to
desperate levels. Investors were willing to sell their shares for pennies on the dollar or were simply holding on to
the worthless certificates. By then, production had already declined, and unemployment had risen, leaving
stocks in great excess of their real value. Among the other causes of the stock market crash of 1929 were low
wages, the proliferation of debt, a struggling agricultural sector and an excess of large bank loans that could not
be liquidated.
14. Buying stocks on margin- Buying on margin, the practice of allowing investors to purchase a stock for only a
fraction of its price (CREDIT) and borrow the rest at high interest rates. When Stock Market begins to crash
banks call in loans. To pay back banks investors sold stocks for less than they purchased. Loose money and go
into debt.
15. Muscle Shoals Bill- designed to dam the Tennessee River and sell government-produced electricity in
competition with citizens in private companies. Vetoed by President Herbert Hoover in 1931, Congress had
drafted the bill to harness energy from the Tennessee River, but Hoover refused to lower steep tariffs or support
any "socialistic" relief proposals such as the Muscle Shoals Bill.
16. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
17. "trickle-down" or supply side economics
18. Bonus Army, General Douglas MacArthur
19. Election of 1932
20. "The Worst is Past" and "Prosperity is Just Around the Corner"