APUSH - Period 7 Study Guide

(1890–1945)
Topics
Imperialism: Debates

The Motives of American Imperialism

● Alfred Thayer Mahan and the Importance of Naval Power
○ The US was focused on domestic issues at the time and expansion in North
America
○ He pushed for a strong navy and an overseas empire in his book The Influence of
Sea Power Upon History
● Industrialization and the Panic of 1893
○ Imperial holdings would provide American industry with important raw materials
and a new market of people
○ Desire for new markets intensified following the Panic of 1893
● “White Man’s Burden” and Racial Hierarchy
○ Some Americans felt it was the duty of the civilized people to uplift the less
fortunate - Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”
○ Others felt that the inferior races would disappear in a survival for the fittest -
social darwinism
● Christian Missionaries
○ They were eager to spread the gospel, and many targeted China’s large
population
● Hawaii
○ American missionaries arrived in Hawaii in the 1820s
○ Later, when Americans established massive sugar plantations, undermining the
local economy, there was conflict between businessmen and Queen Liliuokalani
○ Sanford Dole, pineapple grower, urged the US to intervene
○ US forces deposed of the queen in a coup, and eventually annexed Hawaii in
1898
Debate over the Role of the US in the World
● The American Anti-Imperialist League
○ Included conservative Democrats (Bourbon Democrats) as well as some
progressives (Mark Twain)
○ Condemned imperialism in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War
● A Departure from American Traditions
○ Instead of earlier acquisitions of land such as the Louisiana purchase that were
designed to expand US territory, new imperialism would essentially be US rule
over a foreign population
○ Critics saw this as an immoral departure from the democratic traditions of a
nation that was born in a war against a major power
● Anti-imperialist Sentiment and White Supremacy
○ Not all critics of imperialism were progressive - some critics feared that by
acquiring the Philippines, the US would experience an influx of Filipinos
○ Worried about “polluting” the American population
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Spanish-American War and Its Aftermath

The Spanish-American War

● Began from a struggle in Cuba for independence from Spain - there were 3 wars, and
because of growing US business interests in Cuba, they intervened in the last war for
independence
● United States Interest in Cuba
○ In the 1890s, an independence movement was trying to end Spanish rule - the
governor, Valeriano Weyler, used cruel tactics (concentration camps) to suppress
the rebellion
○ By 1898, ¼ of the population had died from starvation and disease
○ Some American businessmen wanted to intervene because of the sugar harvest,
and other citizens wanted to intervene because it was a struggle for
independence, much like the US had experienced
● “Yellow Journalism” and the Call to War
○ Events in Cuba were brought to attention through newspapers
○ Increased literacy set the groundwork for America’s first mass media, and to
attract customers, newspapers began printing bold, sensational headlines,
sometimes warping the truth
○ News organizations used these techniques to build support for war with Spain
 ● Sinking of the Maine
○ The event that led directly to the Spanish-American war was the destruction of
American battleship, the USS Maine, which blew up in Havana
○ Although there was a lack of evidence that Spain caused this to happen, as a
result of heightened tensions because of yellow journalism, many Americans
pointed to Spain as the culprit
● US Victory in the Spanish-American War
○ The US declared war in April 1898, and Spain agreed to an armistice 4 months
later
○ American forces landed in Cuba on June 22, 1898, and Spanish forced
surrendered on July 17
○ Fighting in the Philippines lasted only days as they took the capital in an alliance
with Filipino rebels
○ Roosevelt led a charge up San Juan Hill in a key battle for Cuba - he was
headlined in American papers, elevating his status in the political realm
● The Treaty of Paris
○ Spain agreed to cede the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the US in
exchange for $20 million
○ Anti-imperialists insisted that the Constitution did not permit the American
government to make laws for people who were not represented
● Cuba and the Platt Amendment
○ Cuba would become independent in name only - the US wanted to ensure that
American economic interests would not be challenged by a future Cuban
administration
○ The Platt Amendment allowed the US to militarily intervene in Cuban affairs if it
deemed necessary, limited the Cuban government’s ability to conduct foreign
policy, and allowed the US to lease a naval base at Guantanamo Bay

The United States as an Imperialism Power

● The Insular Cases
○ As the US gained territories, the question of whether constitutional rights should
be applied to people in new American territories led to heated debates
○ Expansionists argued that residents of colonies should not expect citizenship or
basic constitutional rights
○ Anti-imperialists saw this as hypocrisy, that denying constitutional rights to
people living under an American flag, would “put them into the rank of
land-grabbing nations of Europe”
 ○ SCOTUS settled this in a series of cases known as the “Insular Cases”, and ruled
that the imperial power need not grant its subjects constitutional rights, on the
basis that the subjects were of an inferior race, and that the colonial power had
the responsibility to uplift these people before granting them autonomy
● War in the Philippines
○ Many Filipinos were disappointed to learn that the US decided to hold on to the
Philippines because they saw the US as a liberating force
○ Following the Treaty of Paris, the three year long Philippine-American War
ensued, far more deadly than the Spanish-American War
○ Filipino forces were led by Emilio Aguinaldo and continued to resist for the next
decade - but the US would hold onto the Philippines until WWII
● China and the Open Door Policy
○ Major European powers had begun carving China out into spheres of influence
○ John Hay, US secretary of state, asserted an open door policy for China
○ The US pretended to be concerned for the territorial integrity of China, but was
more interested in gaining a foothold in trade with China
● The Boxer Rebellion
○ Chirstian missionaries came to China, but found little success
○ The presence of missionaries caused the creation of anti-foreign secret societies,
such as the Boxers
○ They led a rebellion that resulted in the death of more than 30,000 Chinese
converts as well as 250 foreign nuns
● Theodore Roosevelt and the “Big Stick”
○ Roosevelt asserted that the US should “speak softly, but carry a big stick”,
referring to military force
○ He claimed that the US had the right to militarily intervene in the nations of Latin
America - the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
○ In 1902, he warned Germany to stay out of Venezuela after they failed to repay a
loan to Germany and Germany threatened military intervention
● Panama and the Panama Canal
○ With the acquisition of overseas Pacific territories, policymakers wanted a
shortcut to Asia
○ Before 1903, Panama was a region of Colombia, and when Colombia refused the
US offer of $10 million to build a canal, the US instigated a rebellion in Panama
against Colombia
○ Panama became an independent country and immediately agreed to the
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903) with the US to build the canal
● Roosevelt, Diplomacy, and the Nobel Peace Prize
 ○ He was interested in establishing the US as a major player in world diplomacy
○ He acted as a mediator between France and Germany in their conflict over
Morocco
○ He was interested in maintaining a balance of power among other world powers,
offering to mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War
● The “Gentleman’s Agreement”
○ In 1907, the diplomatic gains Roosevelt had achieved with Japan were
threatened by discriminatory legislation passed in California (in 1906, the San
Fran. Board of Education decided that Japanese American students would be
segregated in school, like Chinese-American students”
○ Roosevelt worked out a Gentleman’s Agreement in which Japan agreed to limit
immigration to the US and he agreed to pressure California to end discriminatory
practice
● President Taft and “Dollar Diplomacy”
○ Taft continued an aggressive foreign policy, but put more emphasis on expanding
and securing American commercial interests - came to be known as dollar
diplomacy
○ Sent troops to Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic to coerce them into signing
commercial treaties with the US - tried to substitute dollars for bullets (money
instead of military conflict)
○ Failed to stem the Mexican Revolution in 1911
● President Wilson’s Foreign Policy
○ The initial focus of Wilson was on domestic concerns, however, his
administration became increasingly drawn into foreign policy matters
○ He was driven both by a desire to secure American economic interests abroad
and by a strong moral compass
○ He appointed the anti-imperialist William Jennings Bryan to be his secretary of
state
○ However, he still authorized the continued occupation of Nicaragua to suppress a
rebellion, and sent troops to Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 1916 to ensure
that American economic interests were not challenged
● Wilson and the Mexican Revolution
○ Began with the austin of an autocratic leader in 1910, and degenerated into a
civil war
○ In 1914, Wilson challenged the legitimacy of the new leader, General Vicoriana
Huerta and sent marines to overthrow the regime
○ A new, pro-American government came to power but was challenged by rebel
leader Francisco “Pancho” villa
 ○ Wilson authorized more than 12,000 troops to invade Mexico and capture Villa,
who eluded American forces
● The Context of WWI
○ Nationalism, imperialism, militarism, the alliance system
○ This sense of nationalism was fueled by a competition to imperialize the
remaining independent areas of Asia and Africa
● The Onset of War
○ Assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz
Ferdinand → Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
○ The alliance system brought Germany and Italy into the conflict on the side of
Austria-Hungary while Russia, France, and Great Britain (Triple Entente) were on
the opposing side
○ The Allied Powers fought against the Central Powers (Italy switched sides in
1915) for 4 years and resulted in the deaths of 8.5 million soldiers
● US Neutrality
○ The US initially assumed it could stay neutral during WWI
○ Adopted a policy of isolationism when it came to matters on the European
continent
○ Neutrality allowed the US to trade with both sides of the conflict
● Immigration Patterns and Public Opinion Around WWI
○ German and Irish immigrants tended to favor the Central Powers while many
Americans favored the Allied Powers because of their ties to Great Britain
● From Neutrality to Intervention
○ Wilson emphasized “freedom of the seas”, indicating the US would sell weapons
to anyone
○ However, as Britain blockaded Germany, a majority of weapons were traded to
Britain
○ Germany responded by threatening attack on US ships by U-boats (submarines)
○ The sinking of the British liner, Lusitania, influenced many Americans, and so
Germany pledged to make no attacks on passenger ships without prior warning
in both the Arabic Pledge and the Sussex Pledge (extending the protection to
merchant ships)
○ The US took advantage of this and traded extensively with Great Britain
● Progressives and the War
○ At the beginning, many progressives were hesitant because they thought
participation in a major war would pull the nation from domestic reform
 ○ However, many saw great possibilities in American participation: expansion of
the USFG, sense of unity and nationalism, and renewed focus on issues of social
Justice
● President Wilson and the War
○ Wilson became increasingly convinced that the US needed to participate to make
the world “safe for democracy”, especially as the Allied Powers seemed to be
more democratic (after Russia dropped out)
○ The American public was divided, and the government went to great lengths to
alter public opinion
● The Zimmerman Note and Unrestricted German Submarine Warfare
○ The intercepted telegram from German foreign secretary Zimmerman indicated
that Germany would help Mexico regain territory it had lost to the US if Mexico
joined the war
○ Germany also announced in 1917 that it would rescind the Sussex Pledge and
resume unrestricted submarine warfare against Britain and its allies
○ In 1917, the US declared war on Germany
● Shaping Public Opinion
○ Wilson established the Committee on Public Information in 1917 to organize
pro-war propaganda
○ The CPI sent Four-Minute Men around the country to give brief speeches in favor
of the war
○ Posters depicted ruthless German soldiers, depicted as Huns
○ Uncle Sam poster :)
● Funding the War
○ Many posters encouraged Americans to purchase bonds to fund the war’s cost
○ “If you can’t enlist - invest”
○ The USFG ended up raising ⅔ the war’s costs from war bonds
● Federal Agencies and War Production
○ War Industries Board created to direct industrial production, ensure
uninterrupted production of arms, uniforms, etc.
○ The FDA ensured sufficient food production to feed the troops and civilians
○ National War Labor Policies Board dealt with labor disputes
○ These government agencies were exactly what progressive reformers had hoped
to create on a permanent basis

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Progressives

The Progressive Movement

● The Making of the Progressive Movement
○ Essentially a middle class response to the excesses of rapid industrialization,
political corruption, and unplanned urbanization
○ Both Roosevelt and Wilson took on the progressive mantle
● Women And the Progressive Movement
○ The Progressive movement provided a means for women to become engaged in
public issues
○ Women often framed their participation in the movement as “social
housekeeping”, as to not seem like a radical break from the traditional domestic
activities of women
● Pragmatism
○ They questioned the philosophical quest for eternal truths, and argued that an
idea was only coherent as it was able to be used for a practical purpose
○ Progressives gravitated towards this idea
● Reform Darwinism
○ Progressive activists rejected Social Darwinism, and instead thought the
evolution of human society required active intervention and cooperation, rather
than a laissez-faire approach
● Muckrakers and the Birth of Investigative Journalism
○ Progressives believed in the power of the newly developed mass print media to
shed light on social ills and to inspire actions - and the practitioners of a new
“investigative journalism” were known as muckrakers
● Progressives and Municipal Reform
○ They were alarmed at the inefficiency and corruption of municipal government,
like the political machines
● Progressivism and Moral Reform
○ The attack on social ills led many to campaign against sin and vice
○ Their attempt to civilize the urban environment included tackling excessive
drinking, prostitution, rowdy behavior, and bawdy entertainment
● The Progressive Response to the Triangle Factory Fire
○ A tragic fire swept through the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, whose employees
were young women, most of them immigrants
○ This led to the creation of fire safety laws in NY and the growth of the
International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union
Divisions Within the Progressive Movement
● The Progressive Movement, Race, and Segregation
○ The Southern states have Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan - eugenics tried to
justify segregation with races having inferior capabilities
○ Many activists and progressivists ignored the conditions of African Americans,
and some even endorsed segregation
○ Wilson ordered the segregation of government offices, and praised racist films
● Fighting Segregation in the Progressive Era
○ The principal voices for social justice for black people came from black activists
who attempted to put the issue of racism on the national agenda, ex. W. E. B. Du
Bois
● Different Directions Among African-American Leaders
○ Du Bois’s call for full political equality and civil rights was in contrast to the more
conciliatory approach of Booker T. Washington
○ Marcus Garvey was important in the black-nationalist movement because of his
advocacy of black people returning to their ancestral homelands in Africa, and
although not many people made this journey, this instilled pride in African
Americans
● Democracy Versus Expertise in Progressive Governance
○ When it came to challenging corrupt political machines, progressives either tried
to empower professional manager and planners, while others tried to empower
the citizenry through democratic reforms
● Expertise, Efficiency, and Mastery
○ Some argued that governance based on rational scientific ideas could overcome
forces contributing to societal drift
● Efficiency and Municipal Government in the Wake of the Galveston Flood
○ When a flood killed 8,000 people in Galveston, given the inept government
response, local leaders created commissions to spearhead the cleanup and
rebuilding of the city
● The Push for Expanded Participation in Democracy
○ Many pushed for democratic empowerment of the citizenry
○ However, this did not address the laws preventing the majority of blacks from
voting
○ A host of reforms were advocated to make local, state, and national governments
more responsive to the popular will
● Women’s Suffrage
○ Ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution (1920) gave women the
right to vote
 ○ The push for women’s suffrage dates back, at least to the 1848 Seneca Falls
Convention
○ A series of associations were formed to promote women’s suffrage, and even
Wilson came to support women’s suffrage in 1918
● The Referendum, the Recall, and the Initiative
○ Reformers hoped that by expanding democracy, the power of political machines
would be lessened
○ The referendum was a Progressive era reform that allowed people to vote
directly on proposed legislation
○ The recall allowed the people of a city or state to remove an elected official
before his or her term ended
● Direct Primaries
○ This was a push for voters to choose party candidates to run for elected public
office, instead of political party leaders picking running candidates
● Direct Election of Senators
○ Previously, senators were chosen by state legislatures, but progressives pushed
for the direct election of senators
○ The 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913
● The Australian Ballot
○ Instead of having publicly viewable ballots, secret ballots were adopted in
American in 1910

Progressive Reform on the National Level

● Progressivism and Industrial Capitalism
○ During the Gilded Age, America’s industrial output grew exponentially with no
government regulation
○ Industrialists championed laissez-faire economics
○ However, many Americans came to believe that unregulated industry could be
harmful to individuals, communities, and even to the health of industrial
capitalism itself
● The Jungle and the Meat-packing Industry
○ The horrors of the meat-processing industry was published in Upton Sinclair’s
novel, The Jungle
○ The public uproar that followed the book led Congress to pass the Meat
Inspection Act, and establish the Food and Drug Administration
● The History of the Standard Oil Company
○ The Standard Oil Company, a giant trust assembled by John D. Rockefeller, had
come to dominate the petroleum-processing industry
 ○ Ida Tarbell’s book exposed the ruthlessness of the oil company and contributed
to the government breaking up the trust in 1911
● Regulating Workplaces Practices - Muller v. Oregon and the “Brandeis Brief”
○ Because of the long working hours and child labor, the movement to reform the
workplace suffered a set-back in 1905 Lochner v. New York, SCOTUS ruled that NY
law restricting hours for bakers was unconstitutional
○ However, in Muller v. Oregon (1908), the decision upheld an Oregon law limiting
the number of hours women could work
○ Brandeis wrote a brief, citing a lot of scientific, psychological, and sociological
studies to bolster his case of limiting women’s hours of work
○ This kind of case citing studies came to be known as a “Brandeis brief”
● Challenging Child Labor
○ Photographs of children in workplace settings brought child labor to public
attention
○ Because labor laws were under state law, Congress could only pass legislation
prohibiting the sale of items produced in factories that employed children under
14 years of age
○ However, in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1917), SCOTUS found the act unconstitutional
- citing that the goods themselves were not immoral, it was the practices that
were
● Progressivism in the White House
○ In the early 20th century, progressivism entered the discourse of the national
political parties
○ Roosevelt embraced many progressive reforms, but Taft was a disappointment to
the Progressive movement, and the divisions that Taft created in the Republican
Party contributed to the victory of Democrat Woodrow Wilson
○ Wilson implemented some progressive reforms
● Theodore Roosevelt and the “Square Deal”
○ He quickly moved the Republican Party and the nation in a progressive direction
when he assumed presidency in 1901
○ His domestic agenda was known as the “Square Deal”, and championed
conservation of natural resources
● Roosevelt and the Regulation of Business
○ Square Deal approach to the anthracite coal strike in 1902
○ Negotiated with mine owners so miners received a 10% wage increase, but not
union recognition
○ Pushed for important consumer protections in the wake of The Jungle,
environmental protection, and stronger regulation of the railroad industry
 ○ Strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission with the Elkins Act, which
targeted the railroad practice of granting rebates (discounts) to favored
customers
○ The Hepburn Act gave the ICC greater freedom to set railroad rates
● Roosevelt as “Trust Buster”
○ Saw the concentration of economic power in the few as damaging to the
economy as a whole
○ The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed to limit monopolies; he used the act to
pursue bad trusts - ones that interfered with commerce
○ Northern Securities Company controlled all railroad traffic in the Northwest, from
Chicago to Washington, and eliminated competition in this region
○ In Northern Securities Co. v. United States (1904), SCOTUS broke the company up
under the Sherman Antitrust Act
○ Became “trust buster” for challenging monopolies
● The Administration of William Howard Taft
○ Taft won the 1908 election
○ He disappointed Progressives by agreeing to higher tariff rates in the
Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909), despite progressives trying to reduce consumer
prices
○ However, he did pursue antitrust suits, initiating 90 antitrust causes, including a
major case against US Steel
● Taft, Roosevelt, and the Election
○ Roosevelt came to regret supporting Taft, and so a rift appeared in the
Republican Party between Roosevelt and Taft
○ This division caused the Democratic Party’s Woodrow Wilson to win
● Progressivism and Woodrow Wilson
○ He was only the second Democrat to serve since Andrew Johnson, possibly
because the Republicans “waved the bloody shirt”, invoking the memory of the
Democrats’ role in secession and the Civil War
○ He was known as a progressive reformer
● Wilson and the Federal Reserve Act
○ Because of his suspicion of the banking industry, being in service of the stock
market more than the American public
○ He pushed for the Federal Reserve Act, which created the Federal Reserve Bank
in 1913, part private and part publicly controlled bank
○ Its policies can expand or contract the currency supply to combat a sluggish or
inflated economy
 ○ In addition, it can lower or raise its interest rates on loans, causing other banks to
follow
○ Ex. lower interest rates = more economic activity, higher interest rates = cool
economic activity/prevent inflation
● Regulation of Business
○ Wilson was a supporter of small business and strengthened the antitrust powers
of the USFG with the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), exempting labor unions from
being targeted by antitrust actions
○ Created the Federal Trade Commission (1914) to regulate unfair business
practices
● The Prohibition Movement and the Eighteenth Amendment
○ Saloons were seen as parasites on working-class communities, profiting off
alcohol abuse
○ The 18th Amendment banned the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol
as of 1920

Addressing Environmental Issues in the Progressive Era

● Concern for Disappearing Wilderness
○ Zoologist/adventurer George Bird Grinnell and Roosevelt organized the Boone
and Crockett Club to lobby for environmental protection
● Roosevelt and Conservation
○ Appointed Gifford Piunchot to head the US Forest Service and the government’s
conservation efforts
● Expansion of the National Park System
○ It was began in 1872 with Yellowstone, and Yosemite became a national park in
1890
○ Roosevelt created 5 additional parks and 150 national forests, ultimately putting
over 200 million acres under public protection
● Conservation and Preservationism
○ Conservation: nation’s natural resources should be used in a responsible way so
they continue to exist for future generations
○ Preservation: wants nature to be hands-off to society
○ Conservation tapped more into progressive thinking - efficiency, expertise,
scientific management, and government intervention
● The Controversy over Hetch Hetchy Valley
○ The valley was targeted by San Fran. officials as a possible water source/potential
reservoir
 ○ The Wilson administration gave in after an earthquake and fire destroyed much
of San Fran. in 1906
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

World War I: Military and Diplomacy

The United States Enters World War I

● The Context of WWI
○ Nationalism, imperialism, militarism, the alliance system
○ This sense of nationalism was fueled by a competition to imperialize the
remaining independent areas of Asia and Africa
● The Onset of War
○ Assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz
Ferdinand → Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
○ The alliance system brought Germany and Italy into the conflict on the side of
Austria-Hungary while Russia, France, and Great Britain (Triple Entente) were on
the opposing side
○ The Allied Powers fought against the Central Powers (Italy switched sides in
1915) for 4 years and resulted in the deaths of 8.5 million soldiers
● US Neutrality
○ The US initially assumed it could stay neutral during WWI
○ Adopted a policy of isolationism when it came to matters on the European
continent
○ Neutrality allowed the US to trade with both sides of the conflict
● Immigration Patterns and Public Opinion Around WWI
○ German and Irish immigrants tended to favor the Central Powers while many
Americans favored the Allied Powers because of their ties to Great Britain
● From Neutrality to Intervention
○ Wilson emphasized “freedom of the seas”, indicating the US would sell weapons
to anyone
○ However, as Britain blockaded Germany, a majority of weapons were traded to
Britain
○ Germany responded by threatening attack on US ships by U-boats (submarines)
○ The sinking of the British liner, Lusitania, influenced many Americans, and so
Germany pledged to make no attacks on passenger ships without prior warning
in both the Arabic Pledge and the Sussex Pledge (extending the protection to
merchant ships)
○ The US took advantage of this and traded extensively with Great Britain
● Progressives and the War
○ At the beginning, many progressives were hesitant because they thought
participation in a major war would pull the nation from domestic reform
○ However, many saw great possibilities in American participation: expansion of
the USFG, sense of unity and nationalism, and renewed focus on issues of social
Justice
● President Wilson and the War
○ Wilson became increasingly convinced that the US needed to participate to make
the world “safe for democracy”, especially as the Allied Powers seemed to be
more democratic (after Russia dropped out)
○ The American public was divided, and the government went to great lengths to
alter public opinion
● The Zimmerman Note and Unrestricted German Submarine Warfare
○ The intercepted telegram from German foreign secretary Zimmerman indicated
that Germany would help Mexico regain territory it had lost to the US if Mexico
joined the war
○ Germany also announced in 1917 that it would rescind the Sussex Pledge and
resume unrestricted submarine warfare against Britain and its allies
○ In 1917, the US declared war on Germany
● Shaping Public Opinion
○ Wilson established the Committee on Public Information in 1917 to organize
pro-war propaganda
○ The CPI sent Four-Minute Men around the country to give brief speeches in favor
of the war
○ Posters depicted ruthless German soldiers, depicted as Huns
○ Uncle Sam poster :) (WE WANT YOU)
● Funding the War
○ Many posters encouraged Americans to purchase bonds to fund the war’s cost
○ “If you can’t enlist - invest”
○ The USFG ended up raising ⅔ the war’s costs from war bonds
● Federal Agencies and War Production
○ War Industries Board created to direct industrial production, ensure
uninterrupted production of arms, uniforms, etc.
○ The FDA ensured sufficient food production to feed the troops and civilians
○ National War Labor Policies Board dealt with labor disputes
○ These government agencies were exactly what progressive reformers had hoped
to create on a permanent basis
The Role of the US in WWI
● American Participation in WWI
○ 2 million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force provided the Allies with
much needed reinforcement
○ Trench warfare made it difficult for either side to gain much ground
○ The Allies’ advances towards the German border, aided by American troops, led
Germany to seek a ceasefire

The US and the Postwar World

● Wilson’s 14 Points
○ This was a document where WIlson envisioned a world order based on freedom
of the seas, removal of barriers to trade, self determination for EUropeans, and
an international organization to resolve conflicts
○ Only the League of Nations resulted from this
● United States Rejection of the Treaty of Versailles
○ US did not join the League of Nations, as they would have had to approve the
Treaty of Versailles, which was rejected by the Senate in 1919
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

World War I: Home Front

WWI and the Conservative Rejection of Progressive Reform

● Civil Liberties During Wartime
○ Despite hopes of progressives, there were also curtailments of civil liberties
during the wartime
○ The Espionage and Sedition Acts were passed during WWI to put limits on public
expressions of antiwar sentiment, making it a crime to interfere with the draft,
war bonds, or say anything disloyal about the war effort
○ The Espionage Act was upheld by SCOTUS in Schenck v. United States, ruling that
freedom of speech is not absolute and can be limited in wartime
● The Crusade against Organized Labor and Dissent
○ When WWI ended, the government disbanded the agencies it created to
regulate the economy during the war
○ Workers no longer had the protections of the National War Labor Policies Board,
and inflation was no longer kept in check
 ○ Biggest strike - Seattle General Strike where the Industrial Workers of the World
and the American Federation of Labor worked together to virtually close down
Seattle
○ Management used techniques to maintain the upper hand - painting striking
workers as Bolsheviks, pushing for open shops - workplaces in which the union
could not require workers to join the union, and government intervention: ex.
SCOTUS ruling that picketing was not protected by the First Amendment
● The “Red Scare”
○ Campaign against Communists, anarchists, and other radicals, also targeting
labor leaders, attempting to portray the labor movement as a front for organizing
○ Caused by the successful Bolshevik Revolution in Russia that brought the
Communist Party to power and the establishment of the USSR, and the
Comintern, an international organization of communists trying to duplicate that
success in other countries
○ The communist movement in the US was extremely small, however, the
government took action: Attorney General Palmer began carrying out
unwarranted raids (“Palmer Raids”) of suspected radicals’ homes
○ Deported more than 500 noncitizens, radical newspapers shut down, libraries
were purged of radical books, accused elected officials were removed from office
○ Schenck v. United States gave cover to restrictions on civil liberties
○ Americans began to question Palmer’s tactics, but suspicion of “reds” persisted
throughout the 1920s
● The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti
○ Sacco and Vanzetti (immigrants and anarchists), accused of robbery and murder,
despite the sketchy evidence, were found guilt and executed
○ This showed the intolerance that many Americans had toward immigrants and
radicals - many Americans also protested the verdict

World War I and the Rise of Nativism

● Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
○ Nativism - opposition to immigration - rose sharply during WWI
○ Government propaganda and the Committee for Public Information (which
encouraged people to report neighbors who were undermining the war effort)
contributed to hatred towards German Americans
○ Libraries banned German books and schools prohibited the teaching of German,
and Congress passed the Immigration Restriction Act which established a reading
 test requirement for admission to the US and barred immigrant laborers from
several countries that were designated as the “Asiatic Barred Zone”

War, Opportunity, and Migration

● The Great Migration
○ The needs of industry for labor during WWI led to the Great Migration of African
Americans out of the South, which lasted until the Great Depression
○ Reasons for rural South → urban North
■ Jim Crow Laws, discrimination
■ Segregation
■ Exclusion from political system - literacy tests and poll taxes
○ The main factor that drew them to the North was jobs - factory agents from the
North frequently made recruiting trips to the South, offering immediate
employment and free passage to the North
● Racial Violence - Chicago, Washington, Tulsa, and Beyond
○ A riot in Chicago left 38 people dead and 500 injured
○ 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma - a young black man who tripped over a white woman
was accused of rape - a group of African-American veterans tried to prevent
crowds from lynching the man
○ A riot ensued, destroying Greenwood District (the wealthiest African-American
community), with over 10,000 left homeless and 300 African Americans killed
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1920s: Innovation in Communications and Technology

Technological Advances, Corporate Growth, and the Consumer Economy

● Toward Greater Consolidation
○ The consumption of consumer goods stimulated the American economy
○ New products, such as automobiles and radios captured the public’s imagination,
and new production techniques increased industrial output
● Henry Ford and Mass Production
○ The assembly line reduced the price of Ford’s Model T car and made it affordable
to the middle class
○ However, it took jobs away from skilled mechanics
● The Impact of the Automobile
○ Automobiles grew more rapidly in the US than in other countries
 ○ The proliferation of the automobile industry, using mass production techniques,
stimulated the growth of steel, chemical, oil, and glass-production industries
○ This also led to more Americans began to settle in suburban communities, and
also led to “urban sprawl”
● Scientific Management
○ Techniques developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor were key to mass production
○ He noted the most efficient techniques and made work more efficient, but also
more monotonous
○ Many workers resisted this loss of autonomy
● Advertising and Mass Consumption
○ The availability of consumer goods to the average family increased
○ The advertising industry also tapped into Freudian psychology, attempting to
reach the public on a subconscious level

New Media and National and Regional Cultures

● Radio and the Development of Mass Culture
○ Radio became an extremely popular medium by the end of the 1920s for music,
sermons, weekly serials, comedians, and soap operas
○ Radio and movies tended to create a more homogeneous culture in the US in the
1930s
● Movies and the Development of Mass Media
○ By the end of the 1920s, ¾ of the American people were going to movies every
week
○ It continued to thrive during the Great Depression
○ Wizard of Oz, Marx brothers produced anarchic comedies which mocked
authority figures and the pretensions of the wealthy
○ Charlie Chaplin’s comedy Modern Times satirized the entire capitalist system,
from assembly line work to the corruption of the law enforcement system
○ The Grapes of Wrath chronicled conditions of Dust Bowl farmers migrating to
California
● Modern Media and Regional Culture
○ The spread of new technologies provided the technical means to record local and
regional cultural forms and transmit them to wider audiences
○ Country music enjoyed broader appeal, as did gospel, blues, and ragtime
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1920s: Cultural and Political Controversies

Growth of the City

● The Social Geography of the City
○ Immigrants continued to pour into the US for the first 2 decades of the 1900s,
with a majority of the population of cities like NYC, Chicago, and San Fran. being
made up of immigrants
○ The mechanization of agriculture lowered the demand for labor in rural areas,
contributing to the internal migration of people into cities
● New Opportunities for Women
○ Urbanization and industrialization provided new opportunities for women in the
workforce
○ The most common occupation for women was in the field of domestic service in
the 1850s, transforming to factory work and then finally to office work in the
1900s
○ The new woman of the 1920s was engaged in public issues, participating in the
political struggles of the Progressive movement and gained new confidence in
public issues
○ “Flappers” were independent-minded young women of the 1920s who openly
defied Victorian moral codes about lady-like behavior

Nativism and the Quota System

● The Growth of Nativism
○ The large wave of immigrants fueled a popular nativist movement
○ Some nativists focused on the fact that most new immigrants were not
Protestant, that their language was associated with radical movements or
drunkenness, that laborers would take jobs from native-born American workers,
or that WWI contributed to German hatred
● The Quota System
○ Nativism led to legislation that greatly reduced the number of immigrants
allowed into the US
○ The Emergency Quota Act (1921) and the National Origins Act (1924) set quotas
for new immigrants based on nationality
○ Stopped new immigration, there was no limits on immigration for natives of
countries within the Americas
Migration Patterns and Cultural Production
● The Harlem Renaissance
○ The Great Migration of African Americans contributed to the Harlem Renaissance
- a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement centered in the primarily black
neighborhood of Harlem, NYC
○ A key goal was to increase pride in black culture, and to forge a new cultural
identity among African-American people
○ Writings of Langston Hughes and jazz of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington
were part of the movement, as was the African-American national anthem: “Lift
Ev’ry Voice and Sing” - James Weldon Johnson
● The Literature of Dissent
○ The Lost Generation literary movement of the 1920s expressed a general
disillusionment with society - troubled by the destruction and seeming
meaningless of WWI
○ The Great Gatsby exposed the shallow lives of the wealthy, Sinclair Lewis’s novels
mocked the emptiness of middle-class life, and Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms
critiqued the glorification of war
● Regionalism in the Context of Modernity
○ Regional cultures also flourished as a national culture emerged
○ Many historians see regionalism as a conscious response to the homogenizing
forces of modern media and mass culture
○ Regionalist literature has its roots in the 19th century, most famously with Mark
Twain, describing life along the Mississippi River
○ The most important Southern writer is William Faulkner, many of whose works
are set in a fictional county in Mississippi (The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying)
○ Regionalism can also be seen in the Works Progress Administration - regionalist
art in WPA murals and paintings
○ American Gothic
● The “Okie” Migration and the Culture of Displacement
○ The movement of Dust Bowl refugees to California, and with them came their
culture
○ The attitudes, politics, religious denominations, and dialects of Oklahoma, Texas,
Missouri, and Arkansas shaped the culture of agricultural centers in California’s
Central Valley, most notably Bakersfield
● Yiddish Theater
○ The migration of Eastern European Jews to the US gave rise to several cultural
developments
 ○ Yiddish theater, often rivaling Broadway in scale and quality, was a major cultural
force in the US with over 200 venues or touring performing groups
○ The center of Yiddish Theater was NYC, the district was centered in Jewish Lower
East Side
○ These dramas explored populist approaches such as flamboyant acting and
audience participation, but after WWI, they explored more serious themes

Culture Clashes in the 1920s

● The Resurgence of the KKK
○ The original KKK, a violent, racist group with its roots in the Civil War had died
out in the 1880s
○ However, in the 1920s, the organization was a genuine mass movement, devoted
to white supremacy and 100% Americanism, evident in a number of race riots in
the US
● The Bible Versus Science
○ Many Americans developed a fundamentalist approach to the Bible and to
religion
○ In the Scopes trial of 1925, Scopes, a biology teacher, was fined for violating the
Butler Act, a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution
● Rural and Urban Responses to Prohibition
○ The 18th Amendment banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of
alcoholic beverages
○ However, this was short lived, as the consumption of alcohol reached
pre-Prohibition levels by 1925
○ Furthermore, the lawlessness in America went up as bootleggers, speaksies, and
organized crime filled the gap left by the end of the legitimate alcoholic beverage
industry
○ Criminal activity became so widespread that Congress ratified the 21st
Amendment which repealed Prohibition
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Great Depression

The Transition of the American Economy and Economic Instability

● The Panic of 1893
○ Panic = economic downturn
 ○ As the economy became more consolidated after the Civil War, with only a
handful of corporations controlling larger and larger segment of the economy, if
only a few of those companies experienced downturns, the potential for a
large-scale disruption to the economy became more likely
○ Panic of 1893 - worst economic depression before the Great Depression
○ Caused by the bankruptcy of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, then the
failure of the National Cordage Company
○ This led to a major decline in stock prices, and led to a collapse of 500 banks,
who invested their assets in the stock market
○ This led to the subsequent collapse of 15,000 businesses, 20% of the workforce
was unemployed and a million had lost their jobs in 1894
○ The economy did not recover until 1901
● The Panic of 1907
○ Several banks had invested in a scheme to gain control of the United Copper
Company
○ However, when the scheme was unraveled, a large number of bank customers
withdrew their deposits simultaneously over concerns of the bank’s solvency
(company’s ability to pay back long term debt and meet financial obligations) -
bank runs
○ One major NY bank, Knickerbocker Trust Company, collapsed, sending ripples of
fear through banks and leading to a withdrawal of reserves (cash minimums that
banks must have on hand)
○ This was partly calmed by J.P. Morgan, who offered to have US Steel take over a
struggling steel industry rival that a major NY bank had invested in
○ However, the deal could not proceed until Morgan got assurances that Roosevelt
and the government would not initiate antitrust action
○ This demonstrated the lack of control that the US government had over the
industrial/financial world

Causes of the Great Depression

● Overproduction and Underconsumption
○ The assembly line and scientific management vastly increased industrial output,
and for much of the 1920s, the public was induced by easy credit and seductive
advertising to absorb this increased output of goods
○ However, by 1927, consumption could not keep up with production
○ A weak labor movement led to stagnant wages, and ordinary Americans did not
share in the economic expansion in the 1920s
 ○ By the late 1920s, manufacturers began laying off workers, worsening a bad
situation
● Problems on the Farm
○ During this time, the agricultural sector lagged behind the rest of the economy
○ Farmers increased production for WWI, but even afterwards, they were left in a
cycle of debt, overproduction, and falling commodity prices
○ This was worsened by mechanization, increased tariff rates, and an isolationist
foreign policy
● An Inflated Stock Market
○ 1920s - people invested with borrowed money - buying stocks on margin, paying
only 10% of the price up front with the promise of paying the remainder in the
future
○ While this practice worked at first, it led to stock prices reaching new heights
while the earnings of those corporations were declining, leading investors to sell
stocks and incentivized panic selling
○ On Oct. 29, 1929, the stock market crashed

Hoover and the Great Depression

● Rugged Individualism and Limited Government Intervention
○ Rather than expand federal intervention to address the Great Depression,
Hoover invoked “rugged individualism” - the belief that the nation’s problems
could best be solved by the people themselves, and when they were unable to,
Hoover encouraged voluntary cooperation and private charities to step in
○ He started the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932), which extended loans
to struggling railroads, banks, insurance companies, and other firms but not to
individuals
● The Bonus March and the Erosion of Confidence in Hoover
○ In June of 1932, a group of WWI veterans, who called themselves the Bonus
Expeditionary Force, marched into Washington DC to demand a bonus that they
had been promised for their service in the military
○ Hoover ordered the secretary of war to evacuate them, leading to the deaths of
several veterans and hundreds of injuries
○ This reflected on Hoover, but most of the aggressive acts against the protestors
were carried out by General Douglas MacArthur, against the orders of President
Hoover
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New Deal

The Creation of the New Deal

● Goals: Extend relief to the poor, Stimulate economic recovery, Create long-term reform
of the American economy
● From Hoover to FDR
○ FDR won governorship in NYC and introduced a number of innovative programs
to help New Yorkers as the Great Depression Depended
○ He conveyed to the public a sense of empathy, and his openness to
experimentation allowed for a more flexible response than Hoover
○ He won the election of 1932 and asserted that the USFG should take some
responsibility for the welfare of the people
○ Previously, people received assistance from churches, settlement houses, and
private charities, but the New Deal provided relief to individuals through variety
of agencies
● The First New Deal
○ FDR developed a remarkable array of programs during its first hundred days,
which comprised the first New Deal - reflected his willingness to experiment and
the scope of the problems that faced the nation
○ Glass-Steagall Act (1933)
■ Created the Federal Deposit insurance Corporation, which insured
deposits so that in the case that a bank went bankrupt, people did not
lose their savings
○ National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
■ Designed to stabilize the industrial sector
■ Drew up a set of codes with representatives from labor corporations,
designed to shorten hours, guarantee trade union rights, establish min.
wage, regulate price of certain petroleum products, and promote fair
business practices
■ Cutthroat competition hurt the economy and pushed workers’ wages
down, which limited their ability to purchase goods
○ Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933)
■ Paid farmers to grow fewer crops
■ Agricultural Adjustment Act - reduce production to bolster sagging
commodity prices and strengthen the agricultural sector
■ However, this often got tenant farmers and sharecroppers evicted,
because landowners no longer needed as much land - hurting many of
the nation’s poorest farmers
 ○ Tennessee Valley Authority (1933)
■ Built dams, generated electricity, manufactured fertilizer, provided
technical assistance to farmers, and fostered economic development in
the Tennessee Valley - regional planning
○ Federal Emergency Relief Act (1933)
■ Distributed more than $500 million to state and local governments, which
would distribute aid to the poor
○ Civilian Conservation Corps (1933)
■ Provided outdoor work for young men between 18-24 - soil conservation,
flood control, road building, bridges, and forest projects
■ Employed 2.75 million men
○ Securities and Exchange Commission (1934)
■ Created to oversee stock market operations by monitoring transactions,
licensing brokers, limited buying on margin, and prohibiting insider
trading

Critics of the New Deal and the Second New Deal

● The Growth of the Communist Party
○ Although the communist movement never gained much traction in the US, there
were some who saw the success of the USSR and felt that the capitalist system
was not working
○ The Party attracted members by adopting the Popular Front strategy - drop talk
of an impending revolution and to cooperate with a spectrum of anti-facist
groups and governments, including the New Deal
● Populist Opposition to the New Deal
○ Some criticized the New Deal as being overly cautious
○ Upton Sinclair (The Jungle) proposed sweeping, socialistic solutions; Townsend
proposed a tax to generate enough money to give everyone over 60 a monthly
stipend; Huey Long proposed breaking up the fortunes of the rich and
distributing them to everyone else
● The Growth of Organized Labor
○ National Industrial Recovery Act and Wagner Act legalized union membership in
the US
○ By the end of WWII, went from 3 million in 1933 to 36% of American workers in
unions
● The Congress of Industrial Organizations
○ Drive to organize workers led to tensions within the labor movement
 ○ The 50 year old American Federation of Labor, had never shown much interest in
organizing unskilled assembly-line workers
○ Labor leaders such as John L. Lewis organized the Committee for Industrial
Organization within the AFL, which was later expelled by the AFL
○ They became the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), growing rapidly and
surpassing the AFL
● The Sit-down Strike
○ Although unions were legal, employers did not have to accept union demands
○ A new tactic by CIO unions was for workers to sit down in the shop floor, refusing
to work and preventing the companies from hiring replacement workers (scabs)
○ Most famous strike - General Motors in Flint, Michigan (1936-1937)
● Conservatives Critics Denounce Creeping Socialism
○ Some argued that the New Deal was socialism in disguise, the most prominent
group on the right being American Liberty League - who promoted “open shop” -
a business in which the employees are not required to join a union
○ Catholic priest Father Charles Coughlin used his popular national radio show to
attack FDR as a communist and dictator
● The Second New Deal
○ Although conditions were better than when he first took office, with more than
10 million Americans out of work, he could not claim the New Deal was a
complete Success
○ In addition, SCOTUS declared the National Industrial Recovery Act
unconstitutional because it used legislative powers in Schechter Poultry Corp. v.
United States and the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional for using
state powers (statutory regulations) in United States v. Butler
○ With pressure and a looming election, FDR introduced the Second New Deal, less
about shaping different sectors of the economy and more about providing
assistance and support to the working class
● Works Progress Administration (1935)
○ The WPA created jobs for millions of unemployed, employing over 8 million by
the time it shut down
● Social Security Act (1935)
○ Designed to help the unemployed, elderly, and disabled
○ Retirement benefits were funded by taxes on workers and employers
● The Wagner Act (1935)
○ Encouraged the formation of unions
○ Established the National Labor Relations Board to oversee union elections and
arbitrate conflicts between workers and owners
 ○ Prohibited owners from taking punitive actions against workers who sought to
organize unions
○ Led to a tremendous increase in union activity
● The Second New Deal and the Court Packing Plan
○ FDR was worried that SCOTUS would invalidate parts of his Second New Deal,
and proposed a bill to allow him to appoint 6 additional justices
○ It did not pass Congress, but the Court became friendlier to the president anyway
where some conservative justices retired and FDR was able to appoint 7 new
justices
● The Rollback of the New Deal
○ Many historians believe the new direction FDR took hurt the economy
○ By 1937, the economy was showing signs of improvement, and FDR took the
advice of some conservatives and cut back on spending
● The Roosevelt Recession
○ His move to cut spending on the New Deal contributed to a further downturn in
1938 (“Roosevelt Recession”)
○ He later increased government spending, which helped, but real improvements
came in 1939 as the US began producing arms and supplies in preparation for
WWII
● Keynesian Economics
○ When FDR cut back spending, he was rejecting the advice of economist John
Maynard Keynes (General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money), who
argued that deficit spending by the government was acceptable and desirable if
it was stimulating the economy
○ The idea of using the tools of the government to influence economic activity is
known as Keynesian economics
○ His theories influenced Democratic administrations, but Republicans focused on
cutting government spending

The Legacy of the New Deal

● Political Realignment
○ Hoover’s conservative laissez-faire approach has been echoed in the policies of
Republican presidents like Reagan, H.W. Bush, W. Bush, while FDR’s liberal
interventionist approach inspired Democratic president Lyndon Johnson’s “Great
Society”
○ Today, Democratic leaders debate how closely their party should be associated
with New Deal liberalism
The Depression, the New Deal, and Affected Groups
● African Americans
○ Hit hard by the economic difficulties of the 1930s - many New Deal programs
ignored African Americans - such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which did
not help tenant farmers
○ FDR was wary of losing the support of the southern wing of the Democratic
Party, so he did not push for civil rights legislation or anti-lynching legislation
○ Despite his reluctance, African Americans switched from the party of Lincoln
(Republicans) to the Democratic Party
○ This is because the First Lady and Interior Secretary championed civil rights, and
because the president met periodically with a group of African American
advisors, and finally because they believed that Roosevelt was attempting to
improve conditions for poor and working-class people
● The Scottsboro Boys Case
○ 9 African American youths were convicted of rape in Alabama on flimsy evidence
○ SCOTUS reversed most of the convictions, but the state courts again found them
guilty, even after one of the victims admitted fabricating her story
○ Charges were dropped on four, the other five served prison time
● Women
○ Suffered a double burden during the Depression - responsible for putting food on
the table during difficult times, while on the other hand, they were frequently
scorned if they “took a job away from a man” by working outside the home
○ Moreover, New Deal programs were not inclusive - the Civilian Conservation
Corps excluded employing women, and the National Industrial Recovery Act set
lower wage levels for women than men
○ Nevertheless, women such as Eleanor Roosevelt opened doors for women - more
women were working outside the home in 1940 than in 1930
● American Indians
○ New Deal - Indian Reorganization Act (1934) undid the Dawes Severalty Act
(1887) which attempted to assimilate American Indians into mainstream society
by breaking up reservations and dividing land into small plots for individual
Indians
○ This Act restored tribal ownership of reservation lands and recognizing the
legitimacy of tribal governments
○ The act also extended loans to American Indian groups for economic
development
● Mexican Americans and the Great Depression
 ○ Many Mexicans had moved to the southwest United States in the 1920s to work
in agriculture, driven by opportunity as well as chaos caused by the Mexican
Revolution (1910-1920)
○ They saw their wages plummet in the 1930s and New Deal programs did not help
- the CCC and WPA excluded migrant farm workers by requiring a permanent
address
○ Many Mexicans returned to their homeland - decreasing Mexican-American by
almost 40% in the Great Depression

Economic Dislocation and Migrations in the Era of the New Deal

● The Migration from the Dust Bowl to California
○ 1934-1937: parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and surrounding areas suffered from a
major drought
○ Area became known as the “Dust Bowl” - caused by unsustainable over-farming
coupled with a devastating drought
○ With the natural grass cover of the region removed, the fertile topsoil blew away
when the drought struck
○ The Soil Conservation Service and USFG encouraged farmers to replant trees and
grass, and purchased land to be kept out of cultivation
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interwar Foreign Policy

The Politics of Isolationism

● Higher Tariff Rates - From Fordney-McCumber to Smoot-Hawley
○ Isolationist Republican presidents enacted higher tariffs to keep out foreign
goods
○ The 1922 Fordney-McCumber Act dramatically raised tariff rates
○ In the midst of the Great Depression, isolationist legislators pushed through the
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which increased tariffs to their second-highest rate in
US history
● The Washington Disarmament Conference
○ President Warren Harding successfully pressed for a reduction of naval power
among Britain, France, Japan, Italy, and the US at this conference
● The Kellogg-Briand Pact
○ One of 63 nations to sign this pact which renounced war in principle
 ○ Because it was negotiated outside of the League of Nations, it was unenforceable
● The Good Neighbor Policy
○ In the 1920s, the US continued Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” approach in regard to Latin
America, engaging in several military interventions in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti
○ Upon taking office in 1933, FDR began to pursue a more conciliatory policy in
Latin America - Good Neighbor - to create more order in the hemisphere and less
dislike
○ Secretary of State signed a declaration at the Inter-American Conference in
Uruguay that no nation had the right to interfere in the affairs of another nation
○ In 1934, Roosevelt rejected an interventionist approach in regard to Cuba and
worked to expand trade with Latin American through the Reciprocal Trade
Agreements Act (1934)

From Isolationism to Intervention

● The Challenges of Isolationism in the 1930s
○ Mussolini and the Fascists took power in Italy in 1922, Hitler and the Nazis came
to power in Germany in 1933, and Franco took power in Spain in 1939, as well as
Japan falling under military rule
○ These dictatorial governments all took aggressive actions in the 1930s, and Great
Britain and France declared war on Germany when it attacked Poland in 1939,
beginning WWII
○ This made it hard for the US to maintain isolationism
● The Continued Pull of Isolationism
○ Isolationists argued that the US should stay out of European affairs, taking WWI
as a lesson
○ In addition, the Senate’s Nye Committee uncovered evidence that certain
American corporations had profited greatly from US participation in WWI, which
led Americans if these companies had pushed the country into the war
● The Argument for Intervention
○ Many Americans believed it would be a mistake for the US to isolate itself from
world affairs
○ Interventionists believed that if Britain were defeated, airplanes and submarines
would bring Hitler’s war machine to the US
○ Many also believed that if Hitler was successful, civilization itself would be
threatened
● The Quarantine Speech and the Panay Incident
○ FDR argued that certain aggressive nations should be quarantined by the
international community
 ○ The public response to this speech was generally negative, showing that the
isolationist sentiment was still strong in the US
○ Even when Japan sank the USS Panay, isolationist political leaders urged FDR to
accept Japanese apologies
● The Onset of WWII
○ Soon after the war started, Roosevelt pushed for legislation allowing the US to
send arms to Britain with the condition that Britain pay for the weapons first and
transport them in their own ships
○ This “cash-and-carry” policy allowed the US to support Britain without the risk of
US ships being destroyed
● Steps Toward Engagement in WWII
○ US grew more interventionist as they saw the fall of France
○ In 1940, the US ratified the Selective Service Act, requiring compulsory military
service for males between 21-35 years of age
○ By 1941, 70% of the American people were ready to help Britain directly, even if
it risked getting involved in WWII
○ Congress approved the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the US to send arms to
Britain in American ships, and was extended to the USSR after Hitler broke the
Nazi-Soviet Pact
○ FDR and Churchill solidified the alliance between the two countries through the
Atlantic Charter
● Pearl Harbor and American Intervention
○ Debates about intervention ended abruptly when Japanese warplanes attacked
Pearl Harbor
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

World War II: Mobilization

Mobilizing for WWII

● Rationing and Recycling
○ In 1942, the Office of Price Administration began rationing key commodities to
civilians such as gasoline and tires
○ The government also rationed food - sugar, meat, coffee, lard, butter, etc.
○ Families received ration books and used ration stamps with cash when they
purchased these items, and children would organize Tin Can Clubs to collect
scrap metal to be melted down
● Funding the War Effort
○ Paid for through war bonds and increases in taxes
 ○ The government went into massive debt during the war; however, WWII
demonstrated that massive government spending can play a significant role in
stimulating a sluggish economy
● War Production - Becoming the Arsenal of Democracy
○ In 1942, FDR created the War Production Board and the Office of War
mobilization to oversee war production
○ Almost overnight, unemployment of the 1930s ended - there were actually labor
shortages
○ To ensure uninterrupted production, labor unions agreed to refrain from striking
during the war

World War II and American Values

● Rosie the Riveter
○ There was a government effort to recruit women to
participate in the war effort for factories
○ Rosie the Riveter was a fictional character in order to
present female workers in a positive light
○ This campaign was successful and by 1945, ⅓ of the
workforce was female
● WWII and the Status of African Americans in American Society
○ African Americans, during WWII, mounted direct challenge to Jim Crow
segregation, both through their participation in the armed forces and in
war-related industries
○ They put the issue of race on the national agenda
● African Americans and War Production
○ Although war industries were reluctant to hire African Americans, African
American labor leader Randolph planned a public demonstration in DC to protest
discrimination
○ FDR issued Executive Order 8802, banning discrimination in war-related
industries
○ The Great Migration continued, with African Americans moving toward industrial
centers
● The Japanese Relocation
○ In 1942, FDR issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the government to
remove more than 100,000 Japanese Americans (both American born and
immigrants) and place them into camps
 ○ SCOTUS ruled in Korematsu v. United States that the relocation was acceptable
on the grounds of national security

Migration and Mobilization

- Mexicans and WWII
- The Bracero program was initiated to bring temporary contract workers from
Mexico - and the Mexican government pushed the US to guarantee that these
workers would not be drafted
- More than 200,000 Mexicans participated, however, they were the object of
discrimination, harassment, and violence during WWII
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

World War II: Military

The Stakes Involved in WWII

● The Nazi Regime and the Holocaust
○ In 1939, Hitler began his execution for the final solution of the Jewish question -
the Holocaust, which also included Slavic people, gypsies, the disabled, and
homosexuals
○ They were organized into ghettos, then moved to concentration camps where
they would be killed
● The American Response to the Holocaust
○ American officials resisted pleas to admit large numbers of Jewish refugees
fleeing Europe
○ In 1939, German ship St. Louis carrying nearly 1000 escaped German Jews, was
turned away by the US
○ Such resistance to refugees continued during the war
● Japanese Wartime Atrocities
○ Americans saw Japanese wartime actions as a militarist ideology that threatened
to undermine democratic traditions
○ The Nanjing Massacre (Rape of Nanking) occurred in 1937, where Japanese
troops killed thousands of civilians in China, resulting in 80,000-300,000 deaths

Staffing the Military During WWII - Opportunities and Debate

● Staffing the Military
○ FDR administration looked to staff the military even before Pearl Harbor
 ○ The Selective Service Act, passed in September 1940, created the first peacetime
draft in US history
○ By 1941, 1 ½ million men were in the armed forces
● Women in the Military
○ Many women served as nurses, and more than 150,000 joined the Women’s
Army Corps
● African Americans in the Armed Forces - The “Double V Campaign”
○ The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People encouraged
African Americans to take part in the “Double V” campaign - victory against
facism abroad and victory against racism in the US
○ The most famous segregated black units were the Tuskegee Airmen and the
761st Tank Battalion
○ Their effectiveness on the battlefield encouraged Truman to desegregate the
armed services in 1948 with Executive Order 9981

The Allied Victory over the Axis Powers in WWII

● War in the Pacific Theater
○ Although the defeat of Hitler was a top priority for the US, it was Japan that had
directly attacked the US, causing them to send more troops to Japan than Europe
○ By 1942, Japan controlled a massive Pacific empire, causing setbacks for US
forces
● The Battles of Coral Sea and Midway
○ The US turned the tide of war in the Pacific with these two battles
○ After Midway, the US steadily began to push Japanese forces back toward the
Japanese home islands
● Island Hopping
○ This strategy was employed by the US to capture key Japanese-held islands
○ They would avoid attacking some of the most heavily fortified islands, and focus
on islands that were most important - such as airfields, or key positions to block
or attack enemy naval movements
○ The US cut off islands it had hopped over by blockading supply ships
● War in Europe
○ Before 1944, most of the fighting against Germany was carried out by the USSR
and Stalin
○ He urged the US and Britain to open a second front in Western Europe against
Germany
● The Washington and Casablanca Conferences
 ○ FDR and Churchill met twice to discuss strategy, agreeing not to invade through
France but to open a front in North Africa, followed by an attack on the “soft
underbelly” of the Axis - Italy
● Fighting in North Africa
○ By 1943, North Africa was in Allied hands, with some of Hitler’s best troops
defeated by British forces and American forces led by Eisenhower
● The “Soft Underbelly” of the Axis
○ ¼ million Allied troops landed in Sicily in 1943
○ They captured the city and dismissed Mussolini, and Italy’s new government left
the Axis and joined the Allies
○ Germany was not ready to accept this, and Hitler sent reinforcements into Italy
○ Allies finally marched into Rome in 1944, but the rest of the advance up Italy was
defended by German troops; Italy was no soft underbelly
● D-Day and the Allied Assault on Europe
○ In 1944, the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, and began pushing
Hitler’s forces back toward Germany
○ On D-Day, nearly 200,000 Allied troops landed with more than 1 million troops
arriving over the next weeks
○ By August, Eisenhower and Allied forces liberated Paris from Nazi occupation
● V-E Day
○ Hitler made one last attempt to stop the Allied assault; where German forces
counterattacked Allied lines in Belgium in the Battle of the Bulge
○ American and British troops approached Germany from the west as Soviet troops
approached from the east
○ On April 30, Hitler committed suicide, and on May 7, Germany surrendered:
Victory in Europe Day
● Victory in the Pacific
○ By 1945, American forces had taken control of most of Japan’s Pacific empire
○ More than 7,000 Americans in the battle for Iwo Jima, and the struggle for
Okinawa was even more deadly - approximately 12,000 Americans died while
Japan lost 140,000
● The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb, and the Japanese Surrender
○ Truman succeeded FDR after his sudden death
○ The US used the atomic bomb twice on Japan - on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
○ 226,000 people died, and Japan swiftly surrendered
○ The atomic bomb did not generate much public debate at the time, as it ended a
bloody conflict that had consumed 50 million lives
○ Critics now argue that the Japanese were on the verge of surrender
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Postwar Diplomacy

The United States and the Postwar World

● Tehran Conference
○ Stalin, Churchill, and FDR met in Tehran, Iran, in November 1943
○ They agreed to launch D-Day with a Society offensive, and Stalin pledged that the
Soviet Union would join the war in Asia following the defeat of Germany
○ They agreed to forming an international peacekeeping organization (in theory)
● Bretton Woods Conference
○ 44 nations met to discuss the basis of the global economy
○ The International Monetary Fund was established at this meeting
● Yalta Conference
○ Most significant, and last, meeting of Churchill, Stalin, and FDR
○ They agreed to divide Germany into 4 military zones of occupation (the fourth
occupied by France)
○ Stalin also allowed free elections in Poland, and was secretly allowed control of
Outer Mongolia, the Kuril Islands, parts of Sakhalin Island, as well as Soviet
railroad rights in Manchuria
○ Critics later FDR and Churchill for abandoning Poland and Eastern Europe to
Communist forces
○ However, there was little they could do to dislodge the Red Army from Eastern
Europe without starting an all out war
● Potsdam Conference
○ The final meeting between these three countries was attended by Truman and
Atlee (successor to Churchill)
○ They resolved the denazification of Germany, which led to the Nuremberg War
Crimes Trials against the Nazis
○ Many defended themselves by claiming that they were merely following orders
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject to Debate
● The Nature of American Imperialism
○ Critics often discuss the US as if it were a “colossus”, imposing its will on the
world - protecting democracy is an excuse for its economic exploitation
 ○ Others hold a “realpolitik” approach that America must expand if it wants to
maintain its current standard of living
○ A third view is the “international good guy” approach - that the US is truly driven
by altruism
● Progressivism and Progressive Historians
○ There are some questions to be raised about the movement - its assumptions, its
effectiveness, and its relationship to Jim Crow policies
● The Progressive Movement and the Business Community
○ Industry leaders initiated reform in the meat-packing industry to restore
confidence in their industry
○ Another critique of the Progressive movement was their attitude toward the
poor - trying to impose their idea of proper behavior on others
○ Ex. Prohibition - telling working class people they should not drink, this crusade
against immoral behavior raises the issue of elitism
● WWI in Public Memory
○ WWII is characterized as a good fight carried about by the greatest generation,
whereas WWI is tucked away into a corner
○ One of the reasons that WWI is ignored, is that there is no clearly identifiable
“evil” that the US was trying to defeat - this does not read like a morality play
○ As the war ended in 1919, America became violently conservative - the “Red
Scare” was paving the way for the resurgence of the KKK, restrictions on
immigration, and attacks on secularism
● Consensus Historians and Intolerance in the 1920s
○ According to them, Americans share a belief in democracy and individual
liberties, they believe that hard work leads to advancement, but do not try to
impose their beliefs on others - they are a tolerant people
○ They would argue that the labor battles of the Gilded Age was not a battle
between the high and low classes, but rather that they were strikers wanting a
greater share of the wealth that the economy was generating
○ They have a great deal of difficulty explaining the 1920s and the KKK - 3 million
Americans joined a violent, racist, intolerant, anti-Semitic organization - difficult
to fit into the traditional consensus model of American history
● Handling the Great Depression: Hoover vs. FDR
○ Hoover is not as incompetent as he is often portrayed
○ When the Depression hit, he implemented the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, which provided needed funds to key sectors of the economy
○ Critics portray the New Deal as creeping socialism
● The New Deal - Successful or Ineffective?
 ○ Some historians noted that the New Deal did not solve the problems of the
Depression
○ Historians also note that the Depression only ended when the US began
producing materials for WWII
○ Others argue that the New Deal restored hope among the American people and
prevented more widespread suffering
○ Organized labor also made great strides because of New Deal legislation
● Mortality and Justice in the WWII Era
○ Some historians insist that the US could have done more to save European Jews,
such as allowing ships carrying refugees to dock
○ The debate over the use of the atomic bomb is also controversial, considering
that Japan was likely ready to surrender by the time the bomb was used.

Condense Review (TL;DR)

Imperialism

Causes
1. Industrial Revolution Needed new resources, markets, places to invest surplus capital

2. Close of Frontier No more land to be discovered → search for new opportunity

3. European Example 2nd wave of European colonization - Asia and Africa

4. American Nationalism Big navyism - global trade requires navy

5. White Man’s Burden Social Darwinism, American “duty” to help the weak

Causes of the Spanish American War

Cuban Revolution A movement trying to end Spanish rule was suppressed by cruel
tactics/concentration camps

Yellow Journalism brought this to attention of American public, US intervened

Effects
Treaty of Paris ● US annexed Puerto Rico and Guam, gained control of the Philippines
1898 ● Do constitutional rights apply to those in US territories?

Platt ● Allowed US to intervene militarily in Cuba when they saw fit - so that
Amendment their economic interests could never be threatened

Philippine ● Philippinos rebelled because they thought the US would give them
Insurrection freedom

Involvement ● Intervened in China with the Open Door policy: allowed the US to
in Asia gain a foothold in trade; missionaries → Boxer Rebellion

Involvement ● US caused a revolution in Panama to gain independence from

in the Colombia, Panama agrees to let the US gain rights to build the
Caribbean Panama Canal

Imperialist POV Anti-Imperialist POV

● The US needs colonies to compete ● Supporting an empire would eb

economically
● US needs colonies and naval bases to
be a world power
● It is America’s duty to care for weak
people
● To abandon territories makes US
cowardly
● Honorable to keep the land that
Americans lost their lives to obtain
financial burden
● The US should focus on solving
problems at home
● Nonwhites cannot be assimilated into
American society
● An empire would involve the US in
more wars
● Violation of democratic principles to
annex land and not offer its people
the same Constitutional rights

Progressivism
Muckraking ● “Investigative journalism”: using the power of the mass media to shed
light on social ills

Women ● Progressivism provided a means for women to be involved in public

issues - framed this as “social housekeeping”
● 19th Amendment, supported by Wilson, granted them suffrage

Segregation ● Du Bois called for full political equality, whereas Booker T. Washington
had a more conciliatory approach - confrontation would end badly for
 blacks

Temperance ● Women’s Christian Temperance Movement

● Saloons were seen as parasites to working class communities
● 18th Amendment banned the production/sale of alcohol

Democratic ● Direct Presidential primaries

Reforms ● Referendum: directly vote on bills
● Direct election of senators: 17th Amendment
● Secret ballots: privacy

Industry ● The Jungle by Upton Sinclair exposed the meat-packing industry →

Regulation creation of the FDA
● History of Standard Oil by Ida Tarbell led to USFG breaking up
Standard Oil
● Roosevelt as “Trust Buster” - passed the Sherman Antitrust Act to
break up monopolies
● Wilson passed the Federal Reserve Act - created the Federal Reserve
Bank which would raise and lower interest rates on loans, controlling
the economy
● Wilson passed the Clayton Antitrust Act, exempting labor unions from
being targeted by antitrust actions

Environment ● Roosevelt championed environmental protection, expanding the

national park system
● Conservation: nature/resources should be used in a responsible way
● Preservation: nature should be hands off to society

WWI

Causes of Joining WWI

Lusitania Germany sunk the passenger ship Lusitania; signs Sussex Pledge but still
begins unrestricted submarine warfare again

British Blockade Britain’s Blockade on Germany was a cause of unrestricted sub warfare

Zimmerman Note Germany would help Mexico regain territory it lost to the US if Mexico
joined the war
Effects
1. Booming ● Munitions industry: US selling weapons to Britain and France
Industry ● War Industries Board: production and price regulations on industry

2. The Draft ● Selective Service Act

3. Labor ● Hired in large numbers because of labor shortage (draft)

● Great Migration: blacks left South to find work in the North
● National War Labor Board: US government mediated discussion
between industry and unions to avoid strikes

4. Patriotism ● Liberty bonds - regular people financed the war

● Victory gardens - people grew their own produce to help ration

5. Unpatriotic ● Congress stifled dissent

Acts ● Espionage and Sedition Acts: could be jailed for interfering with the
draft or say anything disloyal about the war effort

Mass Culture
Red ● Cause by the Bolshevik Revolution; Communist Party formed in the US
Scare ● Attorney General Palmer hunted down suspected communists and trampled
on people’s civil rights
● Labor union membership declined because of the correlation to communism

Radio ● Became an extremely popular medium for American people - sermons,

and music, comedy, soap operas
Movies ● ¾ Americans going to the movies
● Created a more homogenous culture

KKK ● Had a resurgence, a genuine mass movement devoted to white supremacy

Cars ● Led to the growth of steel and oil

● Led more Americans to settle in suburban communities

Great Depression

Causes
1. Overproduction ● Assembly line and scientific management increased industrial
and output
Underconsumption ● Consumption could not keep up with production
● Farmers increased production for WWI, but they were left in a
cycle of overproduction and falling commodity prices

2. Overspeculation ● Inflated stock market because people bought stocks with the
promise to pay the price later
● Because the stock market did not match up with the actual
valuation of the company, investors began panic selling
● Stock market crashed in 1929

3. Availability of ● Installment plans left many in debt

Easy Credit

4. Uneven ● Industries and corporations controlled the economy

Distribution of ● The fall of these companies led to a downturn in the economy
Income that the government could not prevent

New Deal

First ● National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA): Drew up a set of codes designed to
New shorten hours, establish min. wage, and promote fair business practices
Deal ○ This increased the popularity of unions
● Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA): paid farmers to grow fewer crops -
reduce production to bolster falling commodity prices and strengthen the
agricultural sector
● Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): employed 2.75 million men in
infrastructure projects

Second ● Works Progress Administration (WPA): created millions of jobs for the
New unemployed
Deal ● Social Security Act: designed to help the unemployed, elderly, and disabled,
funded by taxes on workers and employees

Critics of the New Deal

Left ● Upton Sinclair wanted more socialist solutions
● Huey Long proposed taxing the rich and redistributing their wealth

Right ● SCOTUS: declared NIRA and AAA unconstitutional

Rollback of the New Deal
Roosevelt ● By 1937, the US showed signs of improvement and FDR cut back
Recession spending on the New Deal → led to further downturn in the economy
● Critics argue that the New Deal did little to improve the Great
Depression and that it was increased manufacturing for WWII that
brought the US out of recession

Keynesian ● Argues that government deficit spending was desirable if it was

Economics stimulating the economy: using the tools of the government to
influence economic activity

WWII

Causes of Joining WWII

Dictatorships ● Mussolini and the Fascists took power in Italy in 1922, Hitler and the
vs. Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, and Japan fell under
Isolationism military rule
● Made it hard for the US to maintain isolationism
● Many Americans believed that Hitler had to be stopped before he
reached the US; did not support isolationism

British ● Lend-Lease Act: allowed the US to send arms to Britain in their own
Relations ships
● Atlantic Charter: solidified alliance between Britain and US

Pearl Harbor ● Trigger for entering WWII

Wartime America
The Home ● Rationing policies gave ration books and stamps to families
Front ● Funded the war effort through war bonds and increase in taxes
● Unemployment of the 1930s ended because of arms manufacturing

Women ● Rosie the Riveter: government campaign to recruit women into

factories
African ● Executive Order 8802 banned discrimination in war-related industries
Americans ● Double V Campaign: victory against facism abroad and victory against
racism in the US

Japanese ● Executive Order 9066 authorized the government to relocate more

than 100,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps

Timeline
Island ● Avoided heavily fortified islands, only attacked key islands - naval
Hopping bases, airfields
● US cut off islands it had hopped over by blockading supply ships

Underbelly of ● ¼ million Allied troops landed in Sicily and tried to enter the Axis
the Axis through Italy

D-Day ● Allies stormed Normandy, France and pushed Hitler’s forces back to
Germany, liberating Paris from Nazi occupation

V-E Day ● Victory in Europe Day: After Hitler’s last attempt to stop the Allies at
the Battle of the Bulge failed, Germany surrendered

Atomic Bomb ● Unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan swiftly surrendered

● It did not generate much controversy at the time as it ended a conflict
that had taken 50 million lives; modern critics argue that Japan was
already on the verge of surrender

Effects
Yalta ● Divided Germany into zones controlled by the US, USSR, France, and
Conference Britain
● US and Britain allowed Stalin to remain in Eastern Europe
● FDR and Churchill were later criticized for abandoning Eastern Europe
to communist forces; however, they could not dislodge the Red Army
from Europe without starting a war

Potsdam ● Resolved denazification of Germany → Nuremberg War Trials

Conference
Big Ideas
● America became more globally involved with imperialism
● Social change began with Progressivism to aspects of industry, environment,
temperance, women, segregation, etc.
● America’s culture became more homogenous with technology connecting the country
● FDR’s reform with the New Deal shifted power away from big businesses and gave
power to unions and workers
● America’s economic system evolved into one of the leading industrial powers in the
world
● America became the leading defender of democracy
● The US would no longer retreat into isolationism after WWII
● The War was a turning point - for groups in the US, for migration patterns, and for the
military