Chapter 31 Essential Questions Essay

The 1920’s was a great and important decade for the United States. After World War I, the United States went through events and changes that, overall, made the United States a much better place to live. New advances in technology and industry improved American life in more ways than just one. Americans had better wages during this time, more leisure time, and overall, had a better life than ever before. In addition, the 1920’s advocated social and cultural change as well. During this time period, the United States did not return to Normalcy, and instead developed attitudes that changed the life of the people of the United States forever thanks to social changes, cultural changes and changes in technology.

During this time frame the population of the United States rose from approximately 50 million to 123 million people ("History"). This is an astonishing increase of 146%. Just as surprising is that immigrants to our shores made up approximately 37% of that change. “Between 1890 and 1924, the year immigration was severely restricted, more than twenty-five million immigrants poured into the country; they transformed the face of America's laboring population”

The “red scare” refers to a time where the U.S. population was afraid of the rise of communism. Although the there was only .1% that took part in communistic ideals, the majority of the U.S. felt frightened by previous catastrophes in other countries and even our own. As the years progressed, more riots began happening and domestic bombing began happening. According to the article people began getting outraged in the superfluous amount of arrests that was taking place. One specifically was the arrest of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both known anarchists, were charged for armed robbery but later sentenced to the death by the electric chair. The intent of this article is to give more information about the red scare to anyone, in all

The United States endured the Red Scare From the 1945 to sometime around the 1952 which mainly focus on the hunt for communist. Many thought that the war was finally over but an parallel attack was coming that would separate and turn people against one another. In many ways this paranoid resembles to the Salem Witch Trial in the 17th century which inventively caused tension between various majority. The Salem witch trials people were accused of being witches similar to the same way that Americans were uneased about communism

The 1920s were a period of tension between new and changing attitudes on the one hand and traditional values and nostalgia on the other. What led to the tension between old and new AND in what ways was

American’s reactions to immigration in the 1840s-1850s compare to the reactions to immigration in 1910s-1920s because people reacted with feelings of nativism. However, they were very different because in the 1910s-1920s they targeted a larger group of people, were a lot more anxious about the immigrants, and feared their ideas. Therefore, these time periods are very much different.

The Red Scare was a nationwide scare from communism. The Cold War between America and the Soviet Union soon was referred to as the Red Scare. The Red Scare affected many people who were ruled by fear in the United States. Many compare this time to the witch trials in Salem, many were accused and even went to court of the accusations that were made on minimum evidence.

The Red Scare represented the widespread concern that Americans had developed over the fear of communist subversion within society. Americans believed, especially during the Cold War, which was a period of tension between the United States and Soviet Union, that communism was attempting to infiltrate every aspect of their lives. While this is not necessarily the best analogy, you can relate the widespread fear of communism during the Cold War as being similar to the heightened alert Americans had toward terrorism and suspected terrorists during the beginning of the modern century.

Economically, they filled a significant need for cheap labor in booming American industries. The large numbers of immigrants helped keep labor cost down for Big Business and different groups were often put against each other in competition for the cheapest workers. Politically, different immigrant groups became active members of various labor organizations and unions, pushing to change pro-business laws and establish regulations governing working conditions and wages. And socially, American culture as it is known now was formed by this influx of immigrants. People from all over the planet brought with them not only their labor but also their cultures, helping to contribute to the mosaic that is the American way of life. These immigrants, as shown by the prejudice and discrimination directed towards them, were not always welcome. In economic hard times, immigrants were blamed for job shortages and family hardships, used as scapegoats for larger problems. Nativist movements were directed against the Chinese, Japanese, Italians, and others, especially during the 1880s and 90s. As evidenced by the Chinese Exclusion Act and later legislation that limited immigration from Japan and other regions, this anti-immigrant sentiment went as high up as the nation's capital. This history was simply a repeat of the nativism and hatred directed against the Irish and Germans of the 1840s and 1850s and is similar to that experienced in America today by immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. In the area of immigration, history repeats

Americans endured numerous monetary, social, and political issues in the post-Common War time. I have distinguished one of each of these sorts of issues that I accept were among the most critical amid the time of 1865-1900. The monetary issue that I accept had one of the greatest effects on Americans at the time is the Incomparable Railroad Strike of 1877. The social issue that I feel extraordinarily influenced America after the Common War is Chinese movement. One of the greatest political issues, to me, is the Populist Party.

The red scare occurred during a time of the progressing communism in Russia. The American people were fed propaganda to believe that communism was evil and corrupt. Now if this is false advertisement that’s up for debate, but that’s a whole other story. The reason people are afraid of communism is because of its utter failure when practiced in Russia after World War II. In communist countries people did not have the rights to own land and have their own religious beliefs. This threatened the protected rights of the Americans. Since some Americans supported communism there was a fear of a Bolshevik revolution. It also created government turmoil. People

During the early 1900’s, Russia and Red China were building up their armies to the point that America became fearful because both nations were communist nations. America is a democratic nations and it attempted to stop the spread of communism and socialism by any means. This fear of the spread of communism became known as the “Red Scare”. Therefore, Russians and Chinese citizens living in the United States targets of the American people. Thousand of communist citizens were round up and many of whom were detained of long periods without being of formally charged of any wrongdoing.

From 1892-1914, 17 million immigrants entered America, 2.3 million Jews from Russia, and 2 million Catholic Poles (O’Neal 71). Consequently, urban centers were undergoing a rapid process of reshaping community values, religious and political beliefs as well as morality. Murphy argues, “this new national culture simultaneously integrated the vast country and disintegrated much previously unquestioned social custom and cultural habit” (22). Rural America now feared that their country was to be transformed by “alien elements”, leaving traditional values behind (Eagles 11). The concept of tolerance became a kernel of tension, as “old-stock Protestants…having little or no information about foreigners or Catholics” were easily persuaded by nativist propaganda (Lichtman 136).

I think that the issues of immigration and prohibition fed into the rise of intense cultural conflict in the 1920s. The "Roaring Twenties" had a huge impression on America as a cultural movement that praised the growth of celebrities, and relaxed social expectations regarding behavior. Wider social acceptance of women and people of color, along with a condition in which a lack of laws was socially accepted and even encouraged had caused many Americans to flee to a more socially rigid form of identity.

As a nation coming out of a devastating war, America faced many changes in the 1920s. It was a decade of growth and improvements. As immigrants fled from Europe, the economy improved, and new machines offered convenience and luxury from the kitchen to the streets. However, with all change comes opposition. The 1920s revealed a conflict between traditional America and the new attitude and lifestyle through the changing role of women, continued dominance of Christian values, and racism.