Fear of Russia swept across the country in the years following the communist Bolshevik revolution of 1917. Show The "red scare" of 1919-1920 resulted in a nationwide crusade against people whose Americanism was suspect. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer rounded up people who were in question. In 1919-1920, some states passed criminal syndicalism laws that made it illegal to advocate the use of violence to obtain social change. Traditional American ideals of free speech were restricted. Striking employees were viewed as Un-American. Some business supported the American plan, in which employees were not required to join unions. Antiredism and antiforeignism were reflected in the criminal case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The two men were convicted in 1921 of the murder of a Massachusetts paymaster and his guard. Although given a trial, the jury and judge were prejudiced against the men because they were Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft dodgers. Despite criticism from liberals and radicals all over the world, the men were electrocuted in 1927. Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK The Ku Klux Klan (Knights of the Invisible Empire) grew in the early 1920s out of the growing intolerance and prejudice of the American public. It was most popular in the Midwest and the South. The Klan was antiforeign, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti-Jewish, antipacifist, anti-Communist, anti-internationalist, antievolutionist, antibootlegger, antigambling, antiadultery, and anti-birth control. It was pro-Anglo-Saxon, pro-"native" American, and pro-Protestant. It fell apart in the late 1920s after it was discovered that Klan official were embezzling money. Stemming the Foreign Blood Isolationist Americans of the 1920s felt they had no use for immigrants. The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 placed a quota on the number of European immigrants who could come to America each year; it was set at 3% of the people of their nationality who had been living in the United States in 1910. The Immigration Act of 1924 replaced the Quota Act of 1921, cutting quotas for foreigners from 3% to 2%. Japanese were banned from coming to America. Canadians and Latin Americans were exempt from the act, because their close proximity made it easy to attract them when they were needed and it was easy to send them home when they were not needed. The quota system significantly reduced immigration. The Immigration Act of 1924 ended the era of unrestricted immigration to the United States. The Prohibition "Experiment" The 18th Amendment, passed in 1919, banned alcohol. It was enforced by the Volstead Act. Prohibition was popular in the South, where white southerners wanted to keep stimulants out of the hands of blacks, and in the West, where alcohol was associated with crime and corruption. Prohibitionists were na�ve in believing that the law could be enforced; the Federal government had a weak track record of enforcing laws that controlled personal lives. Prohibition might have started off better if there had been a larger number of enforcement officials. "Speakeasies" replaced saloons. Prohibition caused bank savings to increase and absenteeism in industry to decrease. The Golden Age of Gangsterism Violent wars broke out in the big cities between rival gangs, who sought control of the illegal booze market. In Chicago, "Scarface" Al Capone, a murderous booze distributor, began 6 years of gang warfare that generated millions of dollars. Capone was eventually tried and convicted of income-tax evasion and sent to prison for 11 years. Gangsters began to move into other profitable and illicit activities: prostitution, gambling, narcotics, and kidnapping for ransom. After the son of Charles A. Lindbergh was kidnapped for ransom and then murdered, Congress passed the Lindbergh Law in 1932, making interstate abduction in certain circumstances a death-penalty offense. Monkey Business in Tennessee In the 1920s, states started to put a larger focus on education. Professor John Dewey set forth the principles of "learning by doing" that formed the foundation of so-called progressive education. He believed that "education for life" should be a primary goal of the teacher. Science and healthcare also improved during the 1920s. Fundamentalists, old-time religionists, claimed that the teaching of Darwinism evolution was destroying faith in God and the Bible, while contributing to the moral breakdown of youth. In 1925, John T. Scopes was indicted in Tennessee for teaching evolution. At the "Monkey Trial," Scopes was defended by Clarence Darrow, while former presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan prosecuted him. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. The Mass-Consumption Economy World War I and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's belief was that taxes forced the rich to invest in tax-exempt securities rather than in factories; this hurt business. Mellon helped create a series of tax reductions from 1921-1926 to help rich people. Congress also eliminated the gift tax, reduced excise taxes, the surtax, the income tax, and estate taxes. Mellon's policies shifted the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle-income groups. Mellon reduced the national debt by $10 billion. What was the Red Scare in Apush?The Red Scare was the fear that communism would take over America, especially after the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia. Many Americans were afraid of any communistic ties, which led to Mitchell Palmer hunting down many suspected socialists and anarchists, the formation of the KKK, and anti-foreigner acts.
What was the Red Scare and why did it happen quizlet?What is the Red Scare? The rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrants of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920. This "scare" was caused by fears of subversion by communists in the United States after the Russian Revolution.
What was the Red Scare Apush quizlet?Red Scare. Shortly after the end of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Red Scare took hold in the United States. A nationwide fear of communists, socialists, anarchists, and other dissidents suddenly grabbed the American psyche in 1919 following a series of anarchist bombings.
What was an effect of the Red Scare of the 1920s quizlet?What was the impact of the Red Scare on 1920s society? It lead to the deportation of many people, and Americans now feared communists and assumed any immigrant or member of a labor union was one.
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