The Politics of Frustration: The 1920s

Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the

1920s

• Many servicemen had trouble finding jobs when they returned home from WWI.

Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the

1920s

• The nation experienced an upswing in racism and xenophobia.

Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the

1920s

• By the 1920s, many Americans had grown weary of two decades of crusades for reform, seemingly endless attempts to pass moral legislation, and involvement in a brutal war.

Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the

1920s • Many longed for a time when life was

simpler, even if these "good old days" existed only in the popular imagination.

The "Good Ol' Days"

• Many people longed for the lost elements of a "Bygone America:"

• Free of labour and racial strife • Fewer "foreigners" • No radical ideologies • More attuned to the rhythms of small-town life • More devout in Fundamentalist Christianity • Less government interference in their lives

H.L.Mencken

• Journalist Mencken mocked American society for its Puritanism

"the haunting fear that somebody, somewhere may be happy“

Five Strands to the Politics of Frustration

• The Red Scare

• Anti-immigration

• Sacco and Vanzetti trial

• The rise of a new Ku Klux Klan

• The Scopes Trial