Topic 12

Chapter 25 Section 1
The Cold War Begins
Section 2
The Home Front
Topic 12
World War I and the 1920s

The Cold War Begins
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Section 1
America Enters World War I

The Cold War Begins
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• Identify the causes of World War I.
• Describe the course and character of the war.
• Explain why the United States entered the conflict
on the side of the Allies.
Objectives

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Terms and People
• Alsace-Lorraine – French region lost to German
states in 1871
• militarism – a glorification of the military
• Francis Ferdinand – archduke of Austria-Hungary
who was assassinated in 1914
• William II – the German emperor
• Western Front − trenches that stretched from the
Belgian coast to the Swiss border with France,
forming the battlefield between the Allies and the
Central Powers in Western Europe

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Terms and People (continued)
• casualty – killed, wounded, or missing soldier
• contraband – weapons and other war supplies
• U-boat – a German submarine
• Lusitania – English passenger ship sunk by a
German U-boat, killing American civilians
• Zimmermann note – a telegram in which the
German foreign minister proposed an alliance with
Mexico against the U.S.

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What caused World War I, and why
did the United States enter the war?
In 1914, nationalism, militarism,
imperialism, and entangling alliances
combined to drag Europe into a world war.
The United States attempted to remain
neutral but abandoned its long tradition of
staying out of European conflicts.

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In 1914, five factors made Europe a powder
keg ready to explode.
Nationalism
Militarism
Economic rivalries
Imperial ambitions
Regional tensions

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• Among the powers of Europe, nationalism
caused a desire to avenge perceived insults
and past losses.
• Some felt national identity centered around a
single ethnic group and questioned the loyalty
of ethnic minorities.
• Social Darwinists applied the idea of “survival
of the fittest” to nations.
Nationalism, or devotion to one’s country, caused
tensions to rise.

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Economic competition caused a demand for
colonies and military bases in Africa, the Pacific
islands, and China.
Economic competition for trade and
colonies increased nationalistic feelings.
Alliances provided a promise of assistance
that made some leaders reckless or overly
aggressive.

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Militarism,
combined with
nationalism, led to
an arms race.
Nations stockpiled new technology,
including machine guns, mobile artillery,
tanks, submarines, and airplanes.

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The assassination
triggered a chain
of events that
drew two sets of
allies into a bloody
conflict.
On June 28, 1914,
Serb nationalists
assassinated the
heir to the throne of
Austria-Hungary,
Archduke, Francis
Ferdinand.

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Europe’s alliance system caused the conflict to
spread quickly, creating two main combatants.
Central Powers
included Germany
and Austria-Hungary.
Allied Powers
included Britain,
France, Russia,
and Serbia.

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Germany invaded
Belgium, a neutral
country, to attack France.
The German advance was
stopped about 30 miles
from Paris.
The war bogged down as
both sides dug a long
series of trenches, creating
the Western Front.

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Neither side could
overcome the
other’s defenses,
and a stalemate
quickly developed.
The era’s deadly defensive weapons made attacks
difficult and dangerous.

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Many Americans favored one
side or the other.
As the war
dragged on in
Europe, President
Wilson urged
Americans to
remain neutral.
• The United States had a long
tradition of staying out of
European conflicts.
• Yet one-third of Americans
had been born in a foreign
country and still identified
with their homelands.

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Isolationists Favored staying out of the
war
Interventionists Favored fighting on the
Allies’ side
Internationalists Wanted the U.S. to play a
role for peace but not fight
U.S. public opinion fell into three main groups.

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Early in the war,
the British navy
had set up a
blockade of
Germany.
• Britain’s goal was to intercept
contraband goods.
• In defiance of international
law, Britain also prevented
non-contraband goods, such
as food and gasoline, from
reaching Germany.
Germany responded by trying to
blockade Britain.

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German U-boats
torpedoed ships
bound for
Britain.
On May 7, 1915,
a U-boat sank the
British passenger
ship Lusitania off
the coast of Ireland,
killing many
Americans.

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Americans were angry about the Lusitania.
Germany failed to keep its promise to
not sink any more passenger ships.
• President Wilson still
wanted peace, but he
began to prepare for
the possibility of war.
• In 1916, Congress
expanded the army and
authorized more
warships.

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• The Zimmermann Note was intercepted. In
this telegram, Germany tried to forge an
alliance with Mexico against the United States.
• Germany returned to a policy of unrestricted
submarine warfare, sinking any ship headed for
Britain.
Two events in 1917 led President Wilson
o ask Congress to declare war on
the Central Powers.

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On April 2, 1917, Wilson
asked Congress to
declare war against
Germany, saying
“The world must
be made safe for
democracy.”
Congress responded with a declaration
of war on April 6, and the
United States entered World War I.

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Section 2
The Home Front During
World War I

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• Analyze how the American government
mobilized the public to support the war effort.
• Describe opposition to the war.
• Outline significant social changes that occurred
during the war.
Objectives

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Terms and People
• Selective Service Act – law that established a
military draft in 1917
• Bernard Baruch – head of the War Industries
Board, which regulated businesses related to the
war effort
• CPI – Committee on Public Information, which
worked to convince the public that the war was just
• George Creel – director of the CPI

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• conscientious objector – a person whose moral
or religious views forbid participation in war
• Espionage Act – 1917 law that gave postal
authorities power to ban treasonable or seditious
materials from the mail
• Great Migration – the movement of more than
1.2 million African Americans from the South to
northern cities between 1910 and 1920

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How did the war affect Americans at
home?
For the first time, the government played a
major role in Americans’ daily lives, taking on
new powers to regulate industry, draft
soldiers, and shape public opinion.
The war required sacrifice, but it also brought
new opportunities.

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In 1917, the United States needed to
increase the size of its army.
• President Wilson called for
volunteers.
• Congress passed the
Selective Service Act.
• More than 4 million U.S.
soldiers were sent to Europe.

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The federal government took control of the
wartime economy.
The Council of National Defense created federal
agencies to oversee food production, fuel distribution,
and railroads.
Bernard Baruch headed the War Industries Board
(WIB), which regulated war-related businesses.
The Food Administration, led by Herbert Hoover, set
prices for agricultural products.
$

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The War Industries Board encouraged factories to
increase output.
Similarly, the Food
Administration
encouraged farmers
to produce more food.
Women entered the
workforce to help the
war effort.

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The Committee on Public information (CPI)
encouraged public support for the war.
• Headed by George Creel, the CSI distributed
millions of pamphlets and sent out thousands
of press releases and speakers.
• CPI materials outlined U.S. and Allied goals
and stressed the enemy’s cruelty.

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Conscientious
objectors were
supposed to be exempt
from the draft.
In practice, however,
this exemption was
widely ignored by local
draft boards.
Not all Americans supported the war.
The draft was
controversial,
and some men
refused to
register for it.

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Jeannette Rankin, a pacifist and the only
woman in Congress, voted against the war.
Jane Addams formed the Women’s Peace
Party and the Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom.
Some women also opposed the war.

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The government passed laws to
discourage dissent.
• The 1917 Espionage Act gave postal
authorities power to ban newspapers or other
printed materials that could incite treason.
• In 1918, the Sedition Act outlawed speech that
went against the government or the military.
• Congress enacted laws that imposed heavy fines
and prison terms on anyone who interfered with
the war effort.

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Support of the Allies and anger at Germany
caused a backlash against German Americans.
• Some schools stopped teaching the
German language.
• People stopped listening to music by
German composers.
• They called hamburgers “liberty steaks”
and Dachshunds “liberty pups.”
Occasionally, hatred of the German enemy
boiled over into violence against German Americans.

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The war presented new opportunities
to African Americans.
• 367,000 African Americans
served in the military.
• In the Great Migration,
more than a million African
Americans moved north,
hoping to escape poverty
and Jim Crow laws and find
better jobs.

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Section 3
The End of World War I

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• Understand how the United States military
contributed to the Allied victory in the war.
• Describe the aims of the Fourteen Points.
• Analyze the decisions made at the Paris Peace
Conference.
• Explain why the United States Senate refused
to ratify the treaty ending World War I.
Objectives

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Terms and People
• convoy – group of ships that traveled together
for protection against German U-boats
• Vladimir Lenin – radical communist leader who
took over Russia in March 1917
• John J. Pershing – General who led American
forces in Europe
• Fourteen Points – Wilson’s plan for lasting peace
through international openness and cooperation
• self-determination – the right of people to
choose their own form of government
• League of Nations – world organization to
promote peaceful cooperation between countries

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• Henry Cabot Lodge – Republican Senator who
opposed ratification of the Treaty of Versailles
• reparations – payments for war damages
• “irreconcilables” – Senate isolationists who
opposed any treaty that included a League of
Nations
• “reservationists” – Senators who opposed the
Treaty of Versailles as written but were open to
compromise
• influenza – the flu virus, which caused a deadly
epidemic in 1918

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How did Americans affect the end of
World War I and its peace settlements?
When the United States entered World War I in
the spring of 1917, the war was at a deadly,
bloody stalemate along the Western Front.
The American entry into the war would play a
key role in the Allied victory.

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When the United States entered the war in 1917,
Germany increased U-boat attacks, hoping to win
the war before American troops could make a difference.
Convoys of British and American ships, protected by
warships, provided better safety at sea.

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Several factors gave the Central Powers an
advantage on land.
• The Allies were exhausted from years of fighting.
• Russia was torn apart by revolutions at home.
• Communists gained control of Russia, and their
leader Vladimir Lenin signed a treaty with Germany
in 1918, ending Russian involvement in the war.
• The closing of the Eastern Front allowed Germany to
send more troops to the Western Front.

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In the spring of 1918, Germany began an all-out
offensive on the Western Front.
The attacks
threatened to
break through
Allied defenses
and open
a path to Paris.
More American
soldiers began
to arrive, and
U.S. troops
carried more of
the burden of
fighting.

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General John J. Pershing turned millions of
untrained American men into soldiers,
then led them in France.
• The arrival of American soldiers gave the
Allies a military advantage.
• They fought bravely in many battles.
• By the end of the war, 1.3 million
Americans had served at the front.
More than 50,000 of them died.

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By the fall of 1918, the German front
was collapsing.
On November 11, 1918, Germany surrendered
to the Allies in Compiegne, France.
Many German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers
deserted, mutinied, or refused to fight.

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The war took a huge toll on those involved.
• Nearly 5 million Allied
soldiers and 8 million
Central Powers soldiers
were killed in the fighting.
• In addition, 6.5 million
civilians died during the
conflict.

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In early 1919, President Wilson
traveled to Versailles, France for
a peace conference.
• He met with European leaders
and presented a plan for peace
based on his Fourteen Points.
• Wilson’s vision of a postwar
world was grounded in the idea
of “peace without victory.”

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Wilson’s Fourteen Points made specific
proposals to promote future peace.
• Practice open
diplomacy.
• Allow freedom of
the seas.
• Encourage free trade.
• Reduce arms stockpiles.
• Scale back colonialism.
• Encourage
self-determination of
nations.
• Establish a League of
Nations.

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Allied leaders at Versailles wanted reparations.
• European leaders did not share Wilson’s vision of
peace without victory.
• They wanted Germany to pay for war damages.
• They also wanted to protect European colonialism
and expand their countries’ territories.

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One by one, Wilson’s Fourteen Points were rejected,
leaving only the League of Nations.
• The League of Nations was an
organization where countries
could come together to
resolve disputes peacefully.
• Wilson’s proposal to create a
League of Nations was added to
the Treaty of Versailles.

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The Treaty of Versailles redrew the map of Europe
and broke up the Ottoman Empire.

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The transition to peace was made more difficult by
a deadly influenza pandemic that began in 1918.
The flu killed 550,000
Americans and more than
50 million people around
the world.

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Wilson returned to face a hostile Senate, where two
groups opposed the treaty.
• The “irreconcilables” were
isolationists who opposed the
League of Nations.
• The “reservationists,” led by Henry Cabot Lodge,
opposed the treaty as written but were willing to
negotiate changes.

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Wilson was unwilling to compromise on the treaty.
• On a speaking tour to promote
the League of Nations in
September 1919, Wilson
became ill and suffered a
stroke.
• As he lay near death, the
Senate voted, refusing to
ratify the Treaty of Versailles.

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Section 4
The Post War Economy Booms

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• Explain the impact of Henry Ford and the
automobile.
• Analyze the consumer revolution and the bull
market of the 1920s.
• Compare the different effects of the economic
boom on urban and rural America.
Objectives

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Terms and People
• Henry Ford – applied mass production
techniques to manufacture automobiles; initiated
changes that had a major impact on wages,
working conditions, and daily life
• mass production – the rapid, large-scale
manufacture of identical products
• Model T – automobile manufactured by Henry
Ford to be affordable on the mass market
• scientific management – analysis of a
manufacturing process to improve speed and
efficiency

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• assembly line – manufacturing technique in
which products move past workers, each of whom
adds one small component
• consumer revolution – a flood of new,
affordable goods
• installment buying – buying on credit by
making an initial down payment and then paying
the balance over time
• inflation – rising prices
• creditor nation – a nation that lends more
money than it borrows

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• bull market – a period of rising prices in the
stock market
• buying on margin – buying stock on credit by
paying a percentage up front and borrowing the
rest of its cost

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How did the booming economy of
the 1920s lead to changes in
American life?
During the 1920s, the American economy
experienced tremendous growth. Using mass
production techniques, workers produced more
goods in less time than ever before.
The boom changed how Americans lived and
helped create the modern consumer economy.

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After the war, economic troubles caused
problems in the United States.
• A recession, or economic slowdown, occurred
after the war.
• Many women and African Americans lost their
jobs to returning soldiers.
• Tension over jobs and housing led to race riots
in some cities.
• Scarcity of consumer goods and high demand
caused inflation, or rising prices.

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Because rising prices made it
harder to make ends meet, inflation
caused labor unrest.
• Many unions went on strike for higher pay and
shorter workdays.
• In 1919, more than 4 million workers went on strike.
• The workers succeeded in some strikes, but lost far
more. Some strikes turned violent.

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After World War I,
a new world order emerged.
• The German and Russian monarchies were replaced
by new forms of government.
• The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were
broken up.
• The United States became the world’s economic
center and largest creditor nation.

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Still, the 1920s were a time of rapid economic
growth in the United States.
Much of this boom can be traced to the automobile.

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By applying innovative
manufacturing techniques,
Henry Ford changed that.
His affordable
Model T became a car
for the people.
Before 1920, only wealthy people could afford cars.

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Ford made the Model T affordable by applying
mass production techniques to making cars.
• A moving assembly line brought cars to workers,
who each added one part.
• Ford consulted scientific management experts
to make his manufacturing process more efficient.
• The time to assemble a Model T dropped from
12 hours to just 90 minutes.

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Ford also raised his workers’ pay and shortened
their hours.
With more money and
more leisure time, his
employees would be
potential customers.
By 1927, 56% of
American families
owned a car.

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How the Automobile Changed America
• Road construction boomed, and new businesses
opened along the routes.
• Other car-related industries included steel,
glass, rubber, asphalt, gasoline, and insurance.
• Workers could live farther away from their jobs.
• Families used cars for leisure trips and
vacations.
• Fewer people traveled on trolleys or trains.

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The 1920s saw a consumer revolution.
Advertising
created
demand.
Using installment
buying, people
could buy more.
New products
flooded
the market.

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• Throughout the 1920s, a
bull market meant stock
prices kept going up.
• Investors bought on
margin, purchasing
stocks on credit.
Rising stock
market
prices also
contributed
to economic
growth.
By 1929, around four million
Americans owned stocks.

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During the 1920s, cities grew rapidly.
Immigrants, farmers, African
Americans, and Mexican Americans
were among those who settled in
urban areas.

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• More and more people
who worked in cities
moved to the
suburbs.
• Suburbs grew faster
than inner cities.
Cities
expanded
outward,
thanks to
automobiles
and mass
transit
systems.

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While cities and suburbs benefited from the
economic boom, rural America struggled.
Farm incomes
declined or
remained flat
through most of
the 1920s.

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Section 5
Government in the 1920s

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• Analyze how the policies of Presidents Harding
and Coolidge favored business growth.
• Discuss the most significant scandals during
Harding’s presidency.
• Explain the role that the United States played in
the world during the 1920s.
Objectives

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Terms and People
• Warren G. Harding – elected president in 1920
by promising Americans a “return to normalcy”
• Andrew Mellon – Secretary of the Treasury
under President Harding; favored low taxes, a
balanced budget, and less business regulation
• Herbert Hoover – Secretary of Commerce;
favored voluntary cooperation between
businesses and workers
• Teapot Dome scandal – Secretary of the
Interior Albert Fall took bribes in return for
leasing federal oil reserves to private companies.

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• Calvin Coolidge – quiet, frugal, and honest
president who took office when Harding died
• Washington Naval Disarmament Conference –
meeting in which nations agreed to limit
construction of large warships
• Kellogg-Briand Pact – agreement to outlaw war
as an instrument of national policy
• Dawes Plan – loan program to help Germany
make reparations to England and France so that
those countries could repay wartime loans to U.S.

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Rather than pursue Progressive reform,
Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin
Coolidge favored conservative policies that
aided business growth.
Foreign policy during this time was largely a
response to the devastation of World War I.
How did domestic and foreign policy
change direction under Harding and
Coolidge?

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In the 1920 presidential election, Republican
Warren G. Harding based his campaign
on a call for “normalcy,” a return to
a simpler time.
• Voters rejected President
Wilson’s idealism.
• Harding won the election in a
landslide.
• Republicans also won control
of Congress.

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• Unlike Progressives, Harding favored business
interests and reduced federal regulations.
• His Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon
was for low taxes and efficiency in government.
• Mellon cut the federal budget from a wartime
high of $18 billion to $3 billion.
In 1920 Warren G. Harding was elected
President, promising a “return to normalcy.”

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Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover sought
voluntary cooperation between labor and business.
Instead of relying on legislation to improve labor
relations, Hoover got business and labor leaders
to work together.

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Harding was a popular, fun-loving president
who trusted others to make decisions for him.
• Some advisors, such as
Mellon and Hoover, were
honest, capable, and
trustworthy.
• Others, including a group
known as the “Ohio Gang,”
were not so civic-minded.

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Some Scandals of Harding’s Administration
• Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans’
Administration, wasted millions of dollars on
overpriced, unneeded supplies.
• Attorney General Harry Daugherty accepted
money from criminals.
• Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall took bribes
in return for federal oil reserve leases.

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The Teapot Dome scandal became public.
• In 1921, Fall took control
of federal oil reserves
intended for the navy.
• He then leased those
reserves to private oil
companies.
• Fall was sent to prison.
• President Harding did
not live to hear all of
the scandal’s details.
He died in 1923.

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• Coolidge was a quiet,
honest, frugal Vermonter.
• As President, he admired
productive business
leaders.
In August 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge
became President.

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Coolidge believed that “the chief business
of the American people is business.”
• Coolidge continued Mellon’s policies to reduce the
national debt, trim the budget, and lower taxes.
• The country saw huge industrial profits and
spectacular growth in the stock market.
• The middle and upper classes prospered,
especially in cities.

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• Farmers struggled as agricultural prices fell.
• Labor unions fought for higher pay and
better working conditions.
• African Americans and Mexican Americans
faced severe discrimination.
Not everyone shared in the era’s prosperity.
Coolidge ignored such issues, believing it was not the
federal government’s job to legislate social change.

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Under Harding and Coolidge, the United States
assumed a new role as a world leader.
• The Washington
Naval Disarmament
Conference limited
construction of large
warships.
• The Kellogg-Briand
Pact, signed by 62
countries, outlawed war.
Much of U.S.
foreign policy
was a response
to World War I’s
devastation.
But the U.S. refused to join the World Court.

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During this period the United States also
became a world economic leader.
• To protect American businesses, Harding raised
tariffs on imported goods by 25%.
• European nations retaliated, creating a tariff war.
• The Dawes Plan loaned money to Germany so
that Germany could pay reparations to Britain
and France; in turn, those countries could repay
the U.S. for wartime loans.

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Section 6
An Unsettled Society

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Objectives
• Compare economic and cultural life in rural
America to that in urban America.
• Discuss changes in U.S. immigration policy in
the 1920s.
• Analyze the goals and motives of the Ku Klux
Klan in the 1920s.
• Discuss the successes and failures of the
Eighteenth Amendment.

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Terms and People
• modernism – trend that emphasized science and
secular values over traditional religious ideas
• fundamentalism – belief that emphasizes the
Bible as literal truth
• Scopes Trial – 1925 “Monkey Trial,” which
challenged a law against teaching Darwin’s theory
of evolution in Tennessee public schools
• Clarence Darrow – defense attorney in the Scopes
Trial

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• quota system – a formula to determine how many
immigrants could enter the U.S. annually from a
given country
• Ku Klux Klan – a group violently opposed to
immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and African Americans
• Prohibition – a ban on alcohol
• Eighteenth Amendment – a 1919 Constitutional
amendment that established Prohibition

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• Volstead Act – a law that gave the government
power to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment
• bootlegger – someone who illegally sold alcohol
during Prohibition
• Red Scare – widespread fear of radicals and
communists
• Palmer Raids – a series of raids, arrests, and
deportations of suspected radicals, most of whom
never received a trial
• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti – Italian
anarchists convicted and executed for murder
despite scarce evidence against them

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The Home Front
How did Americans differ on major
social and cultural issues?
In the 1920s, many city dwellers enjoyed
a rising standard of living, while most
farmers suffered through hard times.
Conflicting visions for the nation’s future
heightened tensions between cities and
rural areas.

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The Home Front
In 1920, for the first time, more Americans
lived in cities than in rural areas.
In cities, many
people enjoyed
prosperity and
were open to
social change
and new ideas.
Times were
harder in rural
areas. Rural
people generally
preferred
traditional views
of science,
religion, and
culture.

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The Home Front
An example of this clash of values was
the tension between modernism and
Christian fundamentalism in the 1920s.
Modernism emphasized science
and secular values.
Fundamentalism emphasized
religious values and taught the
literal truth of the Christian Bible.

The Cold War Begins
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The Home Front
Attitudes toward education illustrate another
difference between urban and rural perspectives.
• Urban people saw
formal education as
essential to getting
a good job.
• In rural areas, “book
learning” interfered
with farm work and
was less highly
valued.

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The Home Front
Education became a battleground for
fundamentalist and modernist values
in the 1925 Scopes Trial.
• Tennessee made it illegal to teach evolution in
public schools.
• Biology teacher John Scopes challenged the law.
• Defense attorney Clarence Darrow tried to use
science to cast doubt on religious beliefs.

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The Home Front
• The conflict over teaching
evolution in public schools
continues today.
The Scopes Trial illustrated a major cultural and
religious division, but it did not resolve the issue.
• Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution
and fined.

The Cold War Begins
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The Home Front
Immigrants were at the center of another
cultural clash.
Many Americans
recognized the
importance of
immigration to
U.S. history.
Many Mexicans
settled in the
sparsely populated
areas of the
southwest.
Nativists feared that
immigrants took
jobs away from
native-born workers
and threatened
American traditions.
After World War I,
the Red Scare
increased distrust
of immigrants.

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In 1924, the National Origins Act set up a
quota system for immigrants.
For each nationality,
the quota allowed
up to 2% of 1890’s
total population
of that nationality
living in the U.S.

The Cold War Begins
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The Home Front
Trends such as urbanization, modernism, and
increasing diversity made some people lash out
against change.
• Beginning in 1915, there was a
resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.
• The Klan promoted hatred of
African Americans, Jews,
Catholics, and immigrants.
• By 1925, the Klan had between
4 and 5 million members.

The Cold War Begins
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Others embraced the idea of racial, ethnic,
and religious diversity.
• Many valued the idea of the United States as
a “melting pot.”
• Groups such as the NAACP and the Jewish
Anti-Defamation League worked to counter
the Klan and its values.
By the late 1920s, many Klan leaders had been
exposed as corrupt.

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The Home Front
Alcoholic beverages were another divisive issue.
In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment, which
banned the making, distributing, or selling of
alcohol, became part of the Constitution.
The Volstead Act enabled the government
to enforce the amendment.
Prohibition became law in the United States.

The Cold War Begins
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The Home Front
“Drys” favored
Prohibition,
hailing the law
as a “noble
experiment.”
Drys believed that
Prohibition was
good for society.
“Wets” opposed
Prohibition,
claiming that it did
not stop drinking.
Wets argued
that Prohibition
encouraged
hypocrisy and illegal
activity.

The Cold War Begins
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Prohibition
did not stop
people from
drinking
alcoholic
beverages.
• A large illegal network created,
smuggled, distributed, and sold
alcohol, benefiting gangsters
such as Al Capone.
• People bought alcohol illegally
from bootleggers and at
speakeasies.
Prohibition contributed to
the rise of organized crime.

The Cold War Begins
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The Home Front
Several events
combined to
create the first
Red Scare in the
United States.
• Wave of widespread
fear of communists
and radicals
• Suspected to be
plotting revolution
• Violent strikes
• The emergence of the
Soviet Union as a
communist country
• A series of mail
bombs targeting
industrialists and
government officials

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The Home Front
One mail bomb was sent to Attorney General
A. Mitchell Palmer, who launched the
Palmer Raids in 1920.
• Police arrested thousands of people.
• Some were radicals; others were simply immigrants.
• Hundreds of people were deported without a trial.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
formed in 1920 to protect people’s rights and liberties.

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Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian
anarchists charged with murder committed during a
robbery in Massachusetts.
• Witnesses claimed the
robbers “looked Italian.”
• Despite little real
evidence against them,
Sacco and Vanzetti were
convicted and executed.
Many scholars and politicians believed that the men died
because of their nationality and political beliefs.

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Section 7
The Roaring Twenties

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Objectives
• Trace the reasons that leisure time increased
during the 1920s.
• Analyze how the development of popular
culture united Americans and created new
activities and heroes.
• Discuss the advancements of women in the
1920s.
• Analyze the concept of modernism and its
impact on writers and painters in the 1920s.

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Terms and People
• Charlie Chaplin – popular silent film star
• The Jazz Singer – the first talking motion picture
• Babe Ruth – baseball star known as the “Sultan
of Swat” and the “Bambino”
• Charles Lindbergh – the first person to fly solo
and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean
• flapper – a young woman of the 1920s who
rejected traditional values and dress

The Cold War Begins
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• Sigmund Freud – psychologist who suggested
that people are driven by subconscious desires
• “Lost Generation” – writers who rejected
Victorian values after World War I and searched for
new truths
• F. Scott Fitzgerald – author of The Great Gatsby
and other novels that questioned the idea of the
American dream
• Ernest Hemingway – author of a Farewell to
Arms who developed a new writing style

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How did the new mass culture reflect
technological and social changes?
The automobile made it easier for people to
travel. Other technological advances, such as
radio and film, created a new mass culture. New
styles also emerged in art and literature.
In many ways, the 1920s represented the
first decade of our own modern era.

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In the 1920s, urban dwellers saw an increase
in leisure time.
Farmers
worked from
dawn to dusk
and had little
time for
recreation.
In cities and
suburbs, people
earned more money
and had more time
for fun. They looked
for new kinds of
entertainment.

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One of the new kinds of
entertainment was the
motion picture.
In the 1920s, 60 to 100 million
people went to the movies each
week.
Throughout most of the decade,
movies were silent, so people could watch
them no matter what language they spoke.

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Movies were affordable and available
to everyone, everywhere.
In 1927, Al Jolson appeared in The Jazz Singer,
the first “talkie,” ending the era of silent films.
Movies’ democratic, universal
appeal created stars known the
world over.
Charlie Chaplin became the
most popular silent film star by
playing “The Little Tramp.”

The Cold War Begins
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The Home Front
The radio and the phonograph were
powerful instruments of mass culture.
• The first commercial
radio station, KDKA,
began in 1920.
• Within three years,
there were 600 radio
stations.
• People all over the
country could hear
the same music,
news, and shows.
• With phonographs,
people could listen to
music whenever they
wanted.
• Improvements in
recording technology
made records popular.
• People listened to the
same songs and learned
the same dances.

The Cold War Begins
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The world of sports produced some nationally
famous heroes.
Baseball player Babe
Ruth, nicknamed “The
Sultan of Swat,” thrilled
people with his home runs.
Thanks to newspapers and
radio, millions of people
could follow their favorite
athletes.

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• In May 1927,
Lindbergh flew his
single-engine plane,
Spirit of St. Louis,
non-stop from New
York to Paris.
• The flight took more
than 33 hours.
Aviator Charles Lindbergh became a national hero
when he made the first solo flight across the Atlantic.

The Cold War Begins
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Women’s roles also changed in the 1920s.
• Women married later, had fewer children, and
generally lived longer, healthier lives.
• Labor-saving appliances, such as electric irons and
vacuum cleaners, allowed time for book clubs,
charitable work, and new personal interests.
• Such changes benefited urban women more than
rural women.

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• These young women
rejected Victorian
morality and values.
• They wore short skirts,
cut their hair in a short
style called the bob, and
followed dance crazes
such as the Charleston.
Flappers represented a “revolution in
manners and morals.”

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The decade saw many “firsts” for women.
• More women entered the workforce.
• They moved into new fields such as banking,
aviation, journalism, and medicine.
• Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming became the first
female governor.
• Other “firsts” included the first woman judge
and the first woman elected to the U.S.
Senate.

The Cold War Begins
Section 2
The Home Front
• The war’s devastation left many questioning the
optimistic Victorian attitude of progress.
• Modernism expressed a skeptical, pessimistic view
of the world.
• Writers and artists explored the ideas of
psychologist Sigmund Freud, who suggested that
human behavior was driven by unconscious desires.
World War I strongly affected the art and literature
of the 1920s.

The Cold War Begins
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Artists such as Edward
Hopper, Joseph Stella,
and Georgia O’Keefe
challenged tradition and
experimented with new
subjects and abstract
styles.

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Writers of the 1920s were called the Lost Generation
because they’d lost faith in Victorian cultural values.
• F. Scott Fitgerald explored the idea of the American
dream, writing that his generation had found
“all faiths in man shaken.”
• Ernest Hemingway questioned concepts of personal
sacrifice, glory, honor, and war and created a new
style of writing.
• Playwright Eugene O’Neill explored the subconscious
mind in his plays.

The Cold War Begins
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Section 8
The Harlem Renaissance

The Cold War Begins
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Objectives
• Analyze the racial and economic philosophies
of Marcus Garvey.
• Trace the development and impact of jazz.
• Discuss the themes explored by writers of the
Harlem Renaissance.

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Terms and People
• Marcus Garvey – founder of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association and the “Back to Africa”
movement who promoted black pride
• jazz – American musical art form based on
improvisation that came to represent the Roaring
Twenties
• Louis Armstrong – trumpet player who
influenced the development of jazz
• Bessie Smith – jazz singer known as the
“Empress of the Blues”

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The Home Front
• Harlem Renaissance – the flowering of African
American arts and literature in 1920s New York
• Claude McKay – Harlem Renaissance writer who
showed the struggles of ordinary African Americans
• Langston Hughes – prolific writer who celebrated
African American culture and life
• Zora Neale Hurston – folklorist and author of
Their Eyes Were Watching God

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How did African Americans express a
new sense of hope and pride?
As a result of World War I and the Great
Migration, millions of African Americans
relocated from the rural South to the urban
North. This migration contributed to a
flowering of music and literature.
Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance had a
lasting impact on American culture.

The Cold War Begins
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• They hoped to escape the poverty and racism of
the South.
• The North offered higher wages and a middle class
of African American ministers, physicians, and
teachers.
• Discrimination did exist in the North, however, and
African Americans faced low pay, poor housing,
and the threat of race riots.
Many African Americans were attracted to
northern cities by dreams of a better life.

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Harlem, in New York
City, was the cultural
focal point of the
northern migration.
In Harlem, 200,000
African Americans mixed
with immigrants from
Caribbean islands such
as Jamaica.

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• Garvey promoted universal black
nationalism and support of black-
owned businesses.
• He founded a “Back to Africa”
movement and the Universal
Negro Improvement Association.
• Eventually, Garvey was
convicted of mail fraud and
deported.
Jamaican immigrant Marcus Garvey
encouraged black pride.

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• Jazz was a kind of music
based on improvisation that
grew out of African American
blues and ragtime.
• It began in southern and
southwestern cities such as
New Orleans.
• Jazz crossed racial lines to
become a uniquely American
art form.
The 1920s was known as the “Jazz Age.”

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New Orleans trumpet player
Louis Armstrong was the unofficial
ambassador of jazz.
• Armstrong played in New
Orleans, Chicago, and
New York.
• His expert playing made
him a legend and
influenced the
development of jazz.

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• Duke Ellington was a popular band leader who
wrote or arranged more than 2,000 pieces of music
and earned international honors.
• Jazz bands featured solo vocalists such as Bessie
Smith, the “Empress of the Blues.”
• White composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin,
and George Gershwin found inspiration in jazz.
Spread by radio and phonograph records,
jazz gained worldwide popularity.

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Jazz and the blues were part of the
Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of
African American arts and literature.
Novelists, poets,
and artists
celebrated their
culture and
explored
questions of
race in America.
Jean Toomer’s
Cane showed
the richness of
African American
life and folk
culture.
The writings of
Claude McKay
emphasized the
dignity of African
Americans and
called for social and
political change.

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Langston Hughes, the most
celebrated Harlem Renaissance
writer, captured the diversity of
everyday African American life
in his poetry, journalism, and
criticism.
Zora Neale Hurston published folk tales from her
native Florida. Her novel Their Eyes Were Watching
God speaks of women’s longing for independence.

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The Home Front
Yet this artistic movement had a lasting effect on
the self-image of African Americans.
It created a sense of group identity and soldarity
among African Americans. It later became
the cultural bedrock upon which the Civil Rights
movement would be built.
As the Great Depression began, the
Harlem Renaissance came to an end.

Topic 12

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Topic 12