USA 1910-'29 Problems & Challenges

USA 1910-'29 Problems & Challenges

1. Immigration

   • Demand for Restriction
     • Legislative Restriction
       • '17 Literacy Test
         • All immigrants had to pass English Literacy Test
       • '21 Emergency Quota Act
         • 3% Quota - Based upon '10 Population - Allowed 357,000 Immigrants Per Year
       • '29 Immigration Act
         • Restricted immigration to 150,000 Per Year.
         • No Asians
         • 85% places allocated to Northern & Western Europe
       • '24 National Origins Act
         • Cut Quota to 2% based on 1890 Census - More North Europeans granted entry
     • Felt Swamped
     • Little to offer
     • Growth of Xenophobia
     • Rise of Communism
     • Cultural & Religious background differences
   • Why Emigrate?
     • Adventure
     • American Dream
     • Escape war torn Europe
     • Evade political/Religious persecution

2. Political Extremes

   • Red Scare
     • Americans alarmed over Bolshevik Revolution
       • Many feared immigrants would spread anarchy & communism
     • 3,600 strikes during 1919
     • Bomb attack on Attny-Gen Palmer
     • Anarchist Bomb exploded on Wall St. Killing 38
   • Palmer Raids
     • Response to the bombing of his home
     • Raids involved the arrest of 6000 suspected communists
       • Many held for weeks before deportation
   • Sacco & Vanzetti
     • Sacco & Vanzetti arrested & charged May '20
     • Weak case
       • 61 eyewitnesses v 107 counter witnesses
       • Judge Webster-Thayer seemed determined to deliver a guilty verdict
     • Jury found them guilty - Death Peneltey
     • Typifies hysteria of Red Scare

3. Religious Fundementalism

   • Bible belt States
   • Christians who took the words of the bible literally
   • Banned teaching of evolution in school
     • John Scopes ignored the ban and was put on trial in '25
       • Fined $100

4. Attitudes towards Racial Minorities

   • Jim Crow Laws
     • 75% Blacks lived in South
       • White controlled state
     • Segregated black & whites
     • All areas of life separated
   • Great Migration
     • Many, moved north in search of better life away from Jim Crow Laws
     • 1Mil moved North
     • Still 2nd class citizens
   • Reaction to racial injustice
     • NAACP
       • Peaceful none violent protest
       • Legal
       • William Du Boris
     • UNIA
       • Marcus Garvey
         • Watched by FBI
           • Charged with postal fruad
             • Deported
               • UNIA fell apart
       • 250k members at peak
       • Believed Blacks should not be part of white society
         • Celebrate Blackness
   • Treatment of Native Americans
     • Denied US Citizenship until '24
     • Encouraged to reject their culture & intergrate
     • Treated as Second class citizens
   • KKK Growth
     • Revived post-release of the film 'Birth of a Nation'
       • William J Simmons
     • Only open to wasps
     • rise in members during red scare
     • It's failure
       • Sharp decline with the conviction of Grand Dragon Stephenson
         • His comments on KKK's activities created bad PR

5. Organised Crime & Corruption

   • Prohibition
     • Enforcement issues
       • Bootleggers - Alcohol smuggling
       • Moonshiners - Home brewed Alcohol
       • Speakeasies - Sold Illegal alcohol
       • Too few enforcement agents
     • The end of Prohibition
       • '30 widespread widespread opposition
       • 50k deaths by illegal alcohol consumption
       • Increased Violence - Gang activities
     • Reasons behind Prohibition
       • Increase in Lawlessness
       • drinking lowered moral standards
       • Alcohol deemed reason for wife beating
       • Pressure groups
   • Growth of Organised Crime
     • Teapot Dome
       • President Harding appointed friends from Ohio into office
         • Used powers for their own financial gains
       • Albert Fall
         • Leased out Gov. Land in Teapot dome Wyoming
         • Received 400k in illegal payments from oil companies
         • Details leaked to press in '22
           • Government enquiry demanded
             • Fall ordered to pay 100k and was sent to Prison
     • Al Capone
       • Followed Johnny Torrio's gang - rose up the ranks
         • Took over operations in Chicago
       • Built an Empire with held of bribes
       • 200 rivals killed between '25 & '29
       • Found guilty of tax evasion in '31
         • Marked an end to the age of the gangster
     • St. Valentines day massacare
       • Attempt to kill Bugs Moran
       • No direct evidence - Could con't arrest or convict Capone