Return to Normalcy

the Roaring Twenties

part 1

The Aftermath of the War

Labor StrifeLoss of wartime gains1919 Strikesassociation with

Bolshevism

1919 Race Riots25 Northern citiesChicago – 13 days, 38

dead

The Spanish Flu Pandemic22 million dead

worldwide500,000 US deaths

Postwar RecessionDemobilizationPostwar inflation

Conservative Reaction

1919-1920 Red Scareanti-union

campaignApril 1919 mail

bombsPalmer Raids

10,000+ arrests556 deported

Conservative Reaction

The New Ku Klux KlanNew targetsWider geographic area

Conservative Reaction

Immigration RestrictionThe National Origins Act of 1924

Capped at 2% of the 1890 population from each country

Conservative Reaction

Christian Fundamentalism The Bible Belt Evolution and the 1925 Scopes

Trial

The Election of 1920

“America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but resto-ration ….

“If we can prove a representative popular govern-ment under which a citizenship seeks what it may do for the government rather than what the government may do for individuals, we shall do more to make democracy safe for the world than all armed conflict ever recorded. The world needs to be reminded that all human ills are not curable by legislation.”

- Warren Harding, 1920

Conservative Politics

Return to Isolationism Kellogg-Briand Pact arms-reduction treaties

Pro-business Economic Policy Coolidge: “The chief business of

America is business.” Andrew Mellon lower taxes, deregulation