The American Economy During the 1920s. Fordney-McCumber Tariff. VID: Harding, Coolidge, economic growth & "normalcy" (1) Aspects of the 1920s. Darrow and Bryan at the Scopes Trial, Dayton, Tennessee, 1925 I. Postwar American Attitudes A. Disillusionment following World War I, particularly among veterans, artists, and intellectuals (the Lost Generation)1. Society was lacking in idealism and vision 2. 3. B. 1. 2. C. 2. 3. D. B) By 1925, 5 million members had joined to march in parades, burn crosses, and hold secret meetings 2. II. 2. 3. 4. A) Over 500 murders in Chicago in the 1920s by competing gangs b) Gangsters used Prohibition profits to move into prostitution, gambling, and narcotics sales B. 1. 2. 3.
A) John Scopes purposely violated Butler Act forbidding the teaching of evolution b) William Jennings Bryan assisted prosecution while Clarence Darrow defended Scopes c) Scopes found guilty (conviction later overturned), but Darrow's cross-examination of Bryan exposed narrowness of fundamentalist position as anti-science and anti-progress C. B) Gross national product (total of goods and services) rose 5% a year 2. 3. B. 2. 3. B. VID+ The 1920's. Politics in The 1920s. VID: The 1920's in Ten Minutes. Change? Liberalism v Conservatism? Restrictive immigration legislation. 1924 Johnson-Reed Act. "Jim Crow" in the Old South. Ku Klux Klan Unmasked. Prohibition: Historiography. Women's Suffrage. Participation in League Rejected. Wilson's crowning achievement, in his own mind, was convincing the world's leaders to create the League of Nations as part of the settlement of World War I. The key element, according to Wilson, was Article Ten, which pledged all members of the League to respect and preserve the independence of all nations against external aggression.
This was the principal of collective security, and would prove the center of most criticism of the treaty. American opposition to the League of Nations was divided between those who opposed any involvement with the League, and those who had reservations about collective security. Those opposing any involvement were led by Senator Borah, who was an overt isolationist. The Republican majority leader, Senator Lodge, stated that he would support the treaty if Wilson would agree to what became know as the "Lodge Reservation.
" Wilson refused to compromise, and the treaty was rejected. Kellogg-Briand Pact. The anti-war feelings that followed the end of World War I coalesced around an effort to outlaw war. Two of the leaders of the movement were Dr. Nicholas Butler, President of Columbia University, and Professor James Shotwall. They worked hard to develop support for the idea. While visiting France, Shotwall convinced the French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand of the importance of outlawing war. Briand then wrote a direct appeal to the American people to accept the idea. President Coolidge and Secretary of State Kellogg were unhappy with this direct appeal to the American people.
The United States made a counterproposal to make this a multilateral treaty involving many nations who would outlaw war. The treaty had two main provisions. Within 12 years, all of the signatories were involved in the world's largest scale war. Naval Convention. The Washington Naval Conference was preceded by a four-power treaty signed by the United States, Britain, Japan, and France. It committed each party to respect the other's rights vis-a-vis island possessions in the Pacific. They agreed to refer any dispute to a conference of the four powers.
The London Conference almost broke down over the United States' demand that Japan accept a ratio of 3 ships for every 5 American or every 5 British ships. Japan insisted on a 10 to 7 ratio. The French and the Italians were allotted 1.7 war ships for every 5 British and every 5 American war ships. Teapot Dome Scandal.