Ch. 37

1. Right after World War II the econonmy slumped from its war time peak and prices rose for consumer goods. There was no military demands to keep the workers in the factories churning out weapons and tools for war.

2. Strikes rose since people were afraid they couldn't buy the goods they were making

3. Taft- Hartley Act outlawed all union shops, made unions liable for damages that resulted from disputes and required union leaders to take a noncommunist oath.

4. The Taft-Hartley Act and the growth and specialization of jobs made unionization difficult.

5. After union membership peaked in 1950, total membership numbers would begin a long decline.

6. Employment Act of 1946 - made it a governement policy to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. It was reated by a 3 member Council of Economic Advisers to provide president with pertinent data

7. The serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 made generous provisions for sending soldiers to war. This would send GIs to school instead of sending them rushing to the workplace. It was successful and the economy was made much more robust and long lived.

Jackie

My goal.

Ch. 33

1. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover were all the Republican presidents in the 1920s.

2. Republicans sought to serve the public good by less direct government action and more through cooperation with big business.

3. The US resumed its old role as an isolationist and its bad habit of being unprepared.

4. Harding looked presidential, was very easy going, and well liked by the people.

5. Harding's weakness was his mediocre mind and he was easily overwhelmed. He could also never say "no" and was quite bad about hiring corrupt officials who turned out liars.

6. Harding did have good thinkers around him though. Charles Evans was secretary of state. Andrew W. Mellow was the new Secretary of the Treasury. Herbert Hoover was the briliant secretary of commerce.

7. Harding chose Sen. Albert B. Fall as Secretary of the Interior (he was an anticonservationist!) and Henry M. Daughtery for attorny general (he was part of the Ohio Gand who were big crooks). These two were Herbert's very poor decisions.

Patricia's Powerful yet Passive, perfectly pulchritudinous, pwning, precious, pleasent, perpetually pious, pickled, blog

Thomas Voeckler, a Belgian, is in the lead for the Paris- Nice stage race after day 4. I think he looks good for Le Tour de France in 2011...

The Foreign Flood

America was very isolationist in the 1920s but 800,000 new immigrants came ashore from Europe (most from Southern and Eastern Europe). Many, many Americans recoiled at the thought of so many immigrants.

Congress tried to slow the flow first with the Emergency Quote Act of 1921 which stated that newcomers from Europe were restricted each year to a definite quota which was 3% of the people of that nationality who were already in the United States could be added from the original population of their original country.

The Emergency Quota Act was supersceeded by the Immigration Act of 1924. This act cut the quotas down to 2% and the base for determining the quota was moved from 1910 to 1890. The move of the bottom of the base of the quota was very detrimental to south and east Europe since most of its immigrants hadn't come yet and this meant less were allowed to come. Also, the act slammed the door on the Japanese and absolutely prohibited their entering the country.

The quota system claimed nation was filling up and by 1931 more foreigners left than came in. Immigration Act of 1924 ended era of unrestricted immigration and left many, many ethnic groups in the U.S. These immigrants had a rough time and due to their variety they could not unionize or demnd rights of their employers. They had a hard life.



Alexis

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

The new KKK was reformed after the War, but this time with a new twist. The KKK now was more nativistand focused on antiblack, antiCatholic, antipacifist, antiComunist, andti-internatinolist, antigambling, andtiprostitute, anti-birth control. Basically, the KKK was now ultrconservative and most popular in the South and the Midwest. At its peak there were 5 million members. Despite the great popularityof the Klan, it eventully cracked in the late 1920s since it was exposed as a giant embezzling racketeering ring that kicked back %40 of the profits ofmembership to local organizers. The American people finally realized that the KKK was a horrible organization and their numbers dropped drastically.

Suffering Untill Suffrage and Forging a War Economy

In the same area 100 years ago fighting of the most vicious nature was occuring, today there are cycling races (Paris-Nice) that include members from both Central Powers and Allies. Here, Thomas De Gendt wins this years opener in a time of 4:04 over the 154.8 KM stage in Belgian.

32. World War I split the women's movement by creating two sides. One side of women rushed to fill men's jobs on the assembly line (many men were now in the trenches) and the other, Progressive Era feminists, were inclined to oppose both American participation and women's roles in the war.

33. War mobilization gave new momentum to the suffrage movement. Woodrow Wilson endorsed suffrage as "a vitally necessary war measure" The vote for suffrage began to catch on on the state level (places like New York, Oklahoma, and Michigan) The 19th amendment was finally passed (this amendment gave all women the right to vote) in 1920.

34. Congress affirmed their support of the traditional role of women by passing the Sheppard- Towner Act of 1921. The Act provided federally financed instruction in maternal and infant health care.

Forging A War Economy

35. The effort to create a "war economy" in the US (meaning maximum efficiency) relied heavily upon the heated American patriotism rather than cool laws.

36. The 18th amendment (prohibition of alcohol) was passed in a unique way. Congress was restricting the use of foodstuffs to be made in alcoholic beverages and a spirit of self denial was sweeping the country. Also, German-Americans were often brewers and this was a way to hurt them personally.

37. The governmen'ts approach to mobilizing a war time economy through patriotism and volunteering worked. Farm production increased by 25% and food exports to the Allis tripled in volume. Herbert Hoover had worked a miracle by getting people to participate by giving up of their own surplus or saving more resources to help the Allies.

Tom's Blog

Progressive Era Foreign Policy Acts

Progressive Era Foreign Policy Acts were acts made by the US showing the influence of Progressivism concerning foreign policy. The Panama Canal Tolls Act in 1912, which exempted American shipping from tolls and thereby provoked protest from Britain, was repealed under Woodrow Wilson. Later the Jones Act in 1916 granted the Philippines terriotrial status and promised indpendance as soon as a "stable government" could be established was also passed under Woodrow Wilson.

Progressive Era Conservation/ Land Use Acts

Some Prgoressive Era land use acts was the Desert land Act in 1877 which sold desert, arid land very cheap so the purchaser could irrigate it within three years. the Forest Reserve Act in 1891 authorized the president to set aside areas of public forests as national parks or reserves. Soon followed the carey Act in 1894 which gave land to the states on the condition that it be irrigated and settled. The Newlands Act was passed in 1902 which allowed washington to collect money from the sale of public lands and then use the funds for the developing of irrigation projects. Conservationism had two sides. One side was to conserve the land to untilize it properly and for resources, the other side was to conserve the land for the sake of nature alone.

New Federal Agencies

Women's Bureau of 1920 and the Children's Bureau of 1912 were two federal agencies that were made byProgressive Women who wanted safe food, winning pensions for workers, and attacking the scourge of dumbbell tenements. The Federal trade Commission. The Federal Trade Comission and the Federal Reserve Board both had peple appointed by the president who oversaw 12 federal districts that had a central bank. The Federal Reserve Board was run largely by the public and the Board was empowered to issue paper money so the amount of money in circulation could swiftly increase if needed. The federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 made credit available to farmers at low rates of interest and was a Populist idea.

Protecting Workers

Woodrow Wilson passed many laws like The Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 and Warehouse Act of 1916 (authorized loans on the security of staple crops) tthat protected workers and helped them. The La Follette Seamen's Act of 1915 gave seamen relief from brutal punishments and a living wage on American merchant ships. Unfortunately it crippeled the merchant marine as freight rates went up with crew wages. Woodrow Wilson also had the Workingmen's Compensation Act of 1916 the granted assistance to federal cicl-service employees during periods of disability. Another Act was the Adamson Act that made 8 hour workdays for employees on trains and pay for working after hours.

Amendments to the Constitution

16th Amendment: This amendment granted Congress the power to lay and collect income taxes. This was made under Woodrow Wilson and was right after the passing of the Underwood Tariff that reduced the Tariff.

17th Amendment: This amendment allows for the direct election of senators by popular vote to a term of six years. (it took a long time to get ratified)

18th Amendment: Prohibited alcohol and was one of the last movements of the progressive era. This act was loudly supported by crusading churches and many women. 1

19th Amendment: This amendment allowed for the suffrage of women. The amendment was helped by the war effort and Woodrow Wilson being impressed with the vital need for women in the nation.

Anti- Trust

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 was an Act that was passed after control of trusts by state legislatures failed. The Act forbade the combination of companies to restrict trade . the Act didn't specify between good and bad trusts and had no teeth untill 1914. In 1911 Taft used this law to bust the Standard Oil Company's trust. Taft was a bigger trustbuster than TR was. Another anti-trust act was the Clayton Anti- Trust Act of 1914 which gave strength to the Sherman Act by adding to the list of business practices that were deemed objectionable. The Clayton Act also gave benfits to labor and exmempted agricultural and labor organizations from antitrust prosecution.

Food Safety

Inspired by Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, which showed the grime and filth if the meat industry, people became more aware of the need for government regulation in the food industry. The government under TR passed the Meat Inspection Act in 1906 which decreed that the preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to federal inspection at all stages. To go with this Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was desgined to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods or drugs.

Railroads

Teddy Roosevelt, a lover of Progressivism, attacked the sprawling railroad octopus. The Elkins Act of 1903 was aimed to impose heavy fines on railroads that gave rebates to shippers who used the railroads. More effective than the Elkins Act was the Hepburn Act which said the giving of free passes by the railroads was restricted. In addition to these Acts, the Interstate Commerce Commission was expanded to have more power over the Railroads as well.

State of the Union, Examples of Exceptionalism

"What's more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -- the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That's why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here. It's why our students don't just memorize equations, but answer questions like "What do you think of that idea? What would you change about the world? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"That's what a robust democracy demands. That's what helps set us apart as a nation."


"that we share common hopes and a common creed; that the dreams of a little girl in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, and that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled."

"That, too, is what sets us apart as a nation"


"No workers -- no workers are more productive than ours. No country has more successful companies, or grants more patents to inventors and entrepreneurs. We're the home to the world's best colleges and universities, where more students come to study than any place on Earth."

"Our free enterprise system is what drives innovation. But because it's not always profitable for companies to invest in basic research, throughout our history, our government has provided cutting-edge scientists and inventors with the support that they need"

"And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be, I know there isn't a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth"