Politics of the 1920sCH 12

Harding’s Return to Normalcy

After WWI, the U.S. went back to isolationism

WHY?horrors of warnativismfear of communism

The Red Scare

fear of communism leads to the “Red Scare”Palmer Raids (1919-1920): Attorney

General A. Mitchell Palmer begins to crack down on suspected radicals civil rights were often violated (searches without warrants, suspects were denied lawyers); hundreds deported

led to the creation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Sacco & Vanzetti case: anarchist immigrants convicted of murder with little evidence – executed in 1927

Racial/Ethnic Tension

soldiers come back & have to compete for jobs (remember the ‘Great Migration’)

increase in immigration = nativism

Result of racial/ethnic tension:Ku Klux Klan grows to 5 million

members attacked all minorities (immigrants, Catholics, Jews)

new immigration laws: Quota System: set a maximum number of people who could enter the U.S. from each country

The Harding Administration

President Warren G. Harding wanted to return to “normalcy”

BUT, his administration was corrupt; they were known as the “Ohio Gang”accepted bribes and kickbackscheated government out of

millions of dollars

The worst scandal was known as the “Teapot Dome Scandal” Secretary of Interior Albert B. Fall leased government land in Wyoming to oil companies for kickbacks and property

He was the first cabinet member to be convicted of a felony and go to prison

When Harding died in 1923, Calvin Coolidge became President (1923-1929)