Unit 4.6 the War at Home

Unit 4.6 The War at Home  The US Government Puts Limits on Civil Liberties  ______ US government agency responsible for coordinating pro-war ______(propaganda = manipulation of the media to influence public opinion)  The Committee distributed pamphlets, arranged public speakers, recorded songs, and made short patriotic films, all to "sell" the war to the American public  The government kept tight control over what information about the war was made public  ______(1917)  Law which prohibited any attempt at ______with military operations or military recruitment, offering support to America's enemies during wartime, or promoting insubordination in the military  ______(1919)  Charles Schenck, a socialist, sent pamphlets urging young men not to report if drafted  Schenck was convicted of violating the ______ Schenck sued, claiming a violation of his freedom of speech, but the US Supreme Court upheld his conviction and ruled that an individual’s freedom of speech can be limited by the government when it presents a “______” such as during times of war  The Sedition Act (1918)  Law which limited freedom of speech by making it illegal to ______the war  The government could (and did) prosecute anyone who criticized the government, including Eugene V. Debs (1855 – 1926), the 5-time Socialist candidate for US President  The National War Labor Board  Congress created this new federal agency to mediate and quickly settle labor disputes that might disrupt the war effort  The Board pressured industry management to keep workers happy with ______, shorter workdays, and respect for unions  Anti-German Sentiments  During the war, sauerkraut became “liberty cabbage,” hamburger became “Salisbury steak;" schools stopped teaching German, orchestras refused to play works by German-born conductors like Beethoven  The American Protective League  Private citizens’ group founded in 1917 (with the approval of the US Department of Justice) to monitor German-Americans for signs of anti-war sentiments and to report draft dodgers  The League was officially disbanded in 1919, but local branches continued to operate in conjunction with other racist groups, such as the KKK, into the 1920s  Post-War Changes  Population Shifts  European immigration stopped during the war, creating employment opportunities for minorities  Many blacks left the South for factory jobs in the North (______)  Many Mexicans also entered the US to fill the labor shortage, especially on farms in the Southwest  Post-war Inflation  As regular factory production resumed, pent-up demand for goods drove up prices  Inflation in 1919 alone was over 15%  The rising cost-of-living led to increased wage demands by labor  Post-War Unrest  Labor Strikes  ______(1919)  Shipbuilders in Seattle went on strike for better wages, inspiring other workers in Seattle to also strike  60,000 workers went on strike, but gained ______before returning to work  Still, the size of the strike and its effect on the city were alarming  ______(1919)  75% of Boston's police force went on strike for higher pay, leading to rioting and looting  Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge sent in the ______to restore order  When the policemen tried to return to work, they were fired and replaced  The Steel Strike  350,000 steel workers went on strike for better pay  US Steel blamed the strike on ______, painted the strikers as un-American  US Steel hired African-Americans and Mexican replacement workers to keep the steel mills running  ______(1919-20)  Labor strikes led to fear that Communists were trying to create a revolt in the US similar to the one that had occurred in Russia in 1917  In April 1919, dozens of bombs were sent through the US Mail to important government officials and business leaders, furthering the belief that communists were plotting against the US  The Palmer Raids  US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, sent federal agents to raid the headquarters of various radical organizations, trying to identify the terror bombers  Agents entered homes without search warrants, jailed individuals without charges, and refused them access to lawyers – all violations of ______ No evidence was ever found, but hundreds of immigrants were deported as communists  Palmer also organized a new branch of the Justice Department – the ______Unit (GIU), later renamed the ______of Investigation (FBI) – to investigate “radical” organizations  Palmer chose ______to head the GIU/FBI in 1924; Hoover remained in charge until his death in 1972  The Sacco & Vanzetti Trial  Ferdinando Sacco (1891–1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888–1927), were Italian immigrants who were convicted in 1920 with armed robbery and murder in a highly controversial trial, despite almost ______ Many believed the two men were blamed simply due to the fact that they were immigrants and associated with anarchist organizations  Both were executed in 1927, despite a confession to the crime by another person  Urban Race Riots  Violent racism erupted in Northern cities as WWI veterans returned to work only to find themselves competing with blacks and Mexican immigrants for jobs  The worst riot was in Chicago where a two-week long riot killed 38 and injured hundreds  The Ku Klux Klan  The KKK was reborn in 1915 as a much more formally structured organization  The Klan preached on the purification of America; practiced racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-communism, ______(opposition to immigrants), and ______(hatred of Jews)  The new Klan was strongest in Midwestern cities like Detroit & Chicago  In the 1920s, the Klan may have reached a membership as high as 15 million people  The Post-War “______”  The presidential election of 1920 was won by Republican Warren G. Harding  Harding had campaigned on a return to simpler times, playing on American's weariness with the reforms of Progressivism and the unrest of war and labor disputes  The US Tries to Ensure World Peace  The Washington Naval Conference (1922)  Meeting held in Washington DC between the US, Great Britain, Japan, and other nations with interests in the Pacific  The purpose of the conference was to defuse potential future conflicts in the Pacific  All parties agreed to limit the sizes of their navies, restrict certain types of armaments, and to not fortify islands in the Pacific  This agreement later made it easier for Japan to expand its Pacific empire  ______(1924)  When Germany failed to make its reparation payments from the Treaty of Versailles, the US ______Germany the money to refinance its debt  The US bailed Germany out because it wanted to avoid the possibility of a new conflict in Europe