explain the impact of wwi on american life
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Explain the impact of WWI on American life. World War I Origins. Allies: France, Britain, Russia Central Powers: Germany, Austria FOUR MAIN CAUSES Militarism – army/navy build-up Alliances – common defense guarantees Imperialism – competition for lands Nationalism – overdeveloped pride - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Explain the impact of WWI on American life.
World War I Origins• Allies: France, Britain, Russia• Central Powers: Germany, Austria• FOUR MAIN CAUSES
– Militarism – army/navy build-up– Alliances – common defense guarantees– Imperialism – competition for lands– Nationalism – overdeveloped pride
• WWI began in Europe in 1914 and president Woodrow Wilson vowed to keep America neutral
• Why would Woodrow Wilson’s America want to stay neutral?
America Ends Neutrality
• In 1915, the Lusitania was sunk by German u-boats– America demanded an end to unrestricted
submarine warfare that endangered our neutral rights, lives, and trade
• In 1917, the German Zimmerman Note to Mexico enraged Americans
• In 1917, Russia’s communist revolution pulled them out of the war
• Why would Russia’s pull-out push America into WWI?
Great Migration
• WWI created lots of industrial jobs in the cities of the NE and MW
• African Americans moved North by the thousands
• Why would African Americans be eager to leave the South?
Great Migration
• Before • During
Great Migration
• After
Espionage & Sedition Acts
• Fear of dangers amongst us led the government to pass these acts in 1917
• Communicating any info that would interfere with military operations or help our enemies would be a criminal offense
• What might be Constitutionally problematic about these wartime laws?
Espionage Act
Eugene V. Debs
• Labor union leader (Pullman Strike!) and Socialist presidential candidate in 1904, 1908, 1912
• Gave a speech protesting military recruitment tactics and got TEN years in jail
• When else have we seen constitutional rights taken away during an American war?
Fourteen Points• America had put the Allies over the top to
win WWI in just over one year of fighting• President Woodrow Wilson had a plan to
avoid future wars and as the war came to an end he started to push it at home and abroad– #1: Open Diplomacy– #2: Freedom of the Seas– #3: Equal Access to Trade– #4: Disarmament– #5: National Self-Determination– #14: International Peace-Keeping Group
• Why does Wilson think he gets such a voice in the post-war treaty-making process?
Wilson’s 14 Points• 1. No more secret agreements ("Open covenants openly arrived at").• 2. Free navigation of all seas.• 3. An end to all economic barriers between countries.• 4. Countries to reduce weapon numbers.• 5. All decisions regarding the colonies should be impartial• 6. The German Army is to be removed from Russia. Russia should be left to
develop her own political set-up.
• 7. Belgium should be independent like before the war.• 8. France should be fully liberated and allowed to recover Alsace-Lorraine• 9. All Italians are to be allowed to live in Italy. Italy's borders are to "along
clearly recognizable lines of nationality."• 10. Self-determination should be allowed for all those living in Austria-Hungary.• 11. Self-determination and guarantees of independence should be allowed for
the Balkan states.• 12. The Turkish people should be governed by the Turkish government. Non-
Turks in the old Turkish Empire should govern themselves.
• 13. An independent Poland should be created which should have access to the sea.
• 14. A League of Nations should be set up to guarantee the political and territorial independence of all states.
League of Nations
• Wilson’s 14th point was the most controversial – and unpopular at home
• Isolationists in America feared the League • The Senate refused to ratify the treaty
including the League of Nations• Wilson campaigned heavily across the
country for the League, but the US never bought into the international peace-keeping group
• Why would isolationists fear joining the League of Nations?
Warm Up:
Define the following
militarism, alliance, imperialism, nationalism
First in your own words, then using your notes to write the definition.
What are two reasons that brought the US into WWI?
Checking for Understanding(1) What were the four main causes of WWI?(2) Why did America enter WWI?(3) How did WWI change African American
lives?(4) How did WWI change women’s lives?(5) Why was the Espionage and Sedition Act
viewed as unconstitutional?(6) What rule did Eugene Debs break?(7) What was Woodrow Wilson’s 14th point
going to create?(8) Why would isolationist fear joining the
League of Nations?
Isolationism
• After WWI was over and Wilson left the presidency, America craved a return to normalcy in the 1920s– For many, this meant a rejection of
external political trends, international trade and more of a focus on domestic issues
• It has been said that WWI killed progressivism in the US…if so, what should we expect of government in the 1920s?
Between the war
Socialism & Communism
• In the late 1800s, socialism was born out of workers’ calls for better lives
• Communism evolved out of socialism– Abolish private ownership– Social classes would be leveled across the board– All property is owned by the government– Capitalism will be destroyed
• Russia became the Soviet Union after a communist (Bolshevik) revolution
• Why were Americans afraid of communism?
Red Scare
• The fear of international communism flooding over American borders– (RED = the color of the Soviet flag)
• The US government started to an expanded search for suspected communists & socialists here at home
• Who would you guess were the main targets of the government’s searches?
Immigration Restrictions
• Nativism was reborn again in the 1920s– So was the Ku Klux Klan, and not just in the South
• Americans felt superior to immigrants– They felt their culture was better and had to be
protected from outside influences• Catholics, Jews, Immigrants, etc.
• The government responded to this with immigration restriction acts like the Emergency Quota Act
• What is a “quota”?
Jazz
• Jazz combined themes and patterns developed by slaves, New Orleans musicians, and many other sources– It also emphasized improvisation
• It brought African American writers and artists to the mainstream quickly
• What themes should we expect to find in Jazz music?
Harlem Renaissance
• The Great Migration had brought African Americans to northern cities, crowded into these neighborhoods, African American culture became blended in mainstream American culture
• A blossoming of African American culture and arts in the 1920s
• Where is Harlem?
Louis Armstrong
• “Satchmo”/“Pops” played the trumpet• One of the most famous jazz musicians
of the 1920s• Born in New Orleans, began playing
with the Creole Jazz Band• Moved to Chicago & New York to play• How does Armstrong’s life mimic the
Great Migration?
Langston Hughes
• The Harlem Renaissance’s most famous poet, wrote about the lives of working-class African Americans
• Sometimes set his words to the tempo of jazz or the blues
• What could his voice actually do for African Americans during the 1920s?
Harlem Speaks A Living History of the Harlem Renaissance
(1) Langston Hughes “The Weary Blues”(2) Langston Hughes “Mother to Son”
(3) Langston Hughes “Dream Variation”(4) Zora Neale Hurston “Uncle Bud”
(5) Bessie Smith “Mean Old Bed Bug Blues”(6) Louis Armstrong “I’m Not Rough”
(7) Duke Ellington “The Creeper”(8) Ethel Waters/James P. Johnson “Do What You Did Last Night”
(9) WEB DuBois on his role & his desires(10)Marcus Garvey on the objectives of the UNIA
I, Tooby Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.
Tomorrow,I'll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody'll dareSay to me,"Eat in the kitchen,"Then.
Besides,They'll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed--
I, too, am America.
Nas I can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTqjThZei7U
18th Amendment
• Social changes born out of WWI had big impacts on the ROARING TWENTIES
• The 18th Amendment brought something many Americans had wanted for a long time --- prohibition– “the manufacture, sale, or transportation
of intoxicating liquors illegal”• Americans will resist the law• Who might benefit from this new law
that the government had not intended?
19th Amendment
• Ratification of the 19th Amendment also had been a long fight
• Women were finally given the right to vote, in part thanks to their economic contributions during WWI
• What had women done during WWI?• Where did the fight for this amendment
start in 1848?• What should we expect of the
“Twenties woman”?
Henry Ford
• The automobile would truly replace the horse in the 1920s
• The Ford Motor Company’s Model T was the most popular automobile– It was available in any color, so long as
that color was black • What other major industries would
benefit from America’s new-found obsession with the automobile?
Mass Production
• The assembly line is what made the automobile and so many other industries so profitable in the 1920s
• American businesses were able to produce more…more efficiently, more quickly & more cheaply than before
• If America is producing more than ever before, what does that mean about American consumption of goods?
Popular Culture
• Radios brought news, sports, and entertainment straight to millions of American homes
• Movies helped create the first extremely popular media stars (and lifestyles)
• How can movies and radios feed the American trend toward consumerism?
Tin Pan Alley
• A musical movement rising in NYC• “Tin Pan Alley” referred not only to a place in
Manhattan, but the group of music writers who worked there
• Irving Berlin was one of the most famous composers, writing hundreds of popular songs, including “White Christmas,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and “God Bless America”
• What does this all tell us about life during the 1920s?
Causes of the Great Depression
• Over Production• Under Consumption• Stock Market Crash• Easy Credit and Loan Happy Banks
Stock Market Crash
• Banks issues loans to people to buy stocks, falsely inflating the market
• People paid for stocks at fractions of full-price, and the irresponsible market allowed it – buying stocks on margin
• October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday) the stock market crashed– $30 billion in a week
• ?
The Great Depression
• The stock market crash triggered other economic weaknesses
• 80% of US banks shut down• 90,000 businesses declared bankruptcy • Families fell apart, children went
without education and proper nourishment
• Theft & violence were on the rise• ?
Hoovervilles
• Americans found themselves homeless, living in sewer pipes and park benches
• Shantytowns, camps of shacks and tents, came together and were renamed for the president who got the blame
• ?
Unemployment
• When corporate profits fell, businesses had to cut workers
• Unemployment rose from 3% to 25% by 1932
• 300,000 hoboes traveled the countryside in search of work and relief
• ?
Dust Bowl
• In many ways, the folks on farms were better off than those in cities
• However, the extreme drought that carried the Great Plains region from 1933-1936 was truly brutal– Dry conditions & high winds made it
impossible to farm– Over farming of soil led to depletion and
ruined soil– Tenant farmers and sharecroppers were
evicted from their lands, and headed west to California for work
• ?
High Times and Low Times
• Bessie Smith“Nobody knows you when you’re down and out”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX8ptPn3P9I
• Biggie Smalls“Juicy”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTMHctHuBs
FDR & The New Deal
• American voters rejected Herbert Hoover and voted in Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Roosevelt delivered his “New Deal” for the American people, to help end the Depression
• He promised Relief, Recovery & Reform• What are three specific problems of the
Depression that FDR must face?
Relief, Recovery, Reform
• FDR’s New Deal did not cure all of America’s economic problems right away
• The “Three R’s” came in waves throughout the 1930s, FDR was constantly trying new things– The First Hundred Days of the New Deal– The Second New Deal– WWII mobilization
• Why would a president’s “first hundred days” matter to people?
Tennessee Valley Authority
• The very large TVA put people to work in 1933 building dozens of dams and power plants along the Tennessee River
• Controlling the environment by preventing disastrous floods
• Bringing electricity to many in rural regions that had not previous had it
• Employing hundreds• What are the three ways in which the
TVA helped?
Wagner Act
• Unions had suffered in the 1920s due to pro-business presidents and Red Scare distaste for them
• The Wagner Act (NLRA, 1935) established the right of unions to bargain collectively and prohibited employers’ abusive tactics
• The old AFL left many unskilled industrial workers out, and so the Congress of Industrial Organizations was formed
• How popular were labor unions in the Gilded Age? Progressive era? Roaring Twenties? 1930s?
(they will later merge into the AFL-CIO in 1955)
Social Security Act
• Passed in 1935 as another important part of the Second New Deal, to create three important programs
– Old-age insurance– Unemployment compensation– Financial aid for the disabled
• Very relevant still today• Does the SSA qualify as relief,
recovery, or reform? why?
FDR’s NEW DEAL
• Tennessee Valley Authority• Wagner Act• Social Security Act• Civilian Conservation Corps• Emergency Banking Relief Act• Works Progress Administration • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation• Agricultural Adjustment Act• Home Owners Loan Corporation
Eleanor Roosevelt• FDR’s wife Eleanor was the first very
influential, very vocal First Lady• Very interested in humanitarian and social
progress– Involved in FDR’s domestic affairs
• She traveled all over the US and reported directly to FDR on what she saw around the Depressed nation
• Helped encourage FDR to appoint Frances Perkins to cabinet
• Was Eleanor’s role that of a foreign policy advisor, economic advisor, political advisor, or social advisor?
Opposition to the New Deal
• Some conservatives thought FDR made the government too large & too strong
• Some liberals thought FDR had not gone far enough nor done enough
• Huey Long of Louisiana may have been his loudest critic and proposed a program of Share Our Wealth clubs that would guarantee a home, an education, a job, food and clothes for every American
• If there are challengers saying that FDR isn’t doing enough, does that mean the New Deal isn’t working?
Upper Middle Class
Comfortable Middle class
Getting By
Impoverished
Super Super Rich (Rockefeller/Gates Rich)
Big Time CEOs & Entertainers
Super Super Rich (Rockefeller/Gates Rich)
Upper Middle Class
Comfortable Middle class
Huey Long’s Share Our Wealth Program
Court Packing Scheme
• In 1937, FDR tried to restructure the Supreme Court
• FDR wanted to add supporters to the Court so his New Deal programs would not be in jeopardy
• Congress did not meet FDR’s demands• How would more justices keep FDR’s
programs out of danger?
What is the setting of this cartoon?
Who is the main character?
Who is the secondary character?
Describe the action in the cartoon.
What is the cartoonist trying to argue?
Is this cartoon showing FDR in a positive or negative light?