Politics of the 1920sCH 12
Harding’s Return to Normalcy
After WWI, the U.S. went back to isolationism
WHY?horrors of warnativismfear of communism
The Red Scare
fear of communism leads to the “Red Scare”Palmer Raids (1919-1920): Attorney
General A. Mitchell Palmer begins to crack down on suspected radicals civil rights were often violated (searches without warrants, suspects were denied lawyers); hundreds deported
led to the creation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Sacco & Vanzetti case: anarchist immigrants convicted of murder with little evidence – executed in 1927
Racial/Ethnic Tension
soldiers come back & have to compete for jobs (remember the ‘Great Migration’)
increase in immigration = nativism
Result of racial/ethnic tension:Ku Klux Klan grows to 5 million
members attacked all minorities (immigrants, Catholics, Jews)
new immigration laws: Quota System: set a maximum number of people who could enter the U.S. from each country
The Harding Administration
President Warren G. Harding wanted to return to “normalcy”
BUT, his administration was corrupt; they were known as the “Ohio Gang”accepted bribes and kickbackscheated government out of
millions of dollars
The worst scandal was known as the “Teapot Dome Scandal” Secretary of Interior Albert B. Fall leased government land in Wyoming to oil companies for kickbacks and property
He was the first cabinet member to be convicted of a felony and go to prison
When Harding died in 1923, Calvin Coolidge became President (1923-1929)