Foreign Policy Flounderings

57. The US broke the rule of isolationism when it came to events in the Caribbean and in Central America.

58. American troops were pulled out of the Dominican Republic in 1924 but remained in Haiti from 1914 until 1934. Troops had visited Nicaragua since 1909 but were sent back in 1926 where they stayed until 1933.

59. Coolidge avoided a conflict with Mexico through careful diplomacy but was still viewed as imperialistic in Latin America as a whole.

60. The issue of international debt was a complicated tangle private loans, Allied war debts, and German reparation payments.

61. WW1 had resulted in a change in America's world status by making America a creditor instead of a debtor. Before the war, America had owed $4 billion, after it was owed $16 billion.

62. The Allies wanted the US to write off its $10 billion in war loans as war costs. The Allies argued for this by saying that the US could pay in cash what they had payed in the lives of their soldiers. The Allies also said that they had helped fuel the boom in America and that America's post war tariffs prevented them from selling the goods necessary to raise the money for the debts.

Cultural Liberation p.749 - 751

The Roaring 20's brought on the dawning of a new era in literature as older writers died and as new ideas burst onto the scene. The new writers brought energy, imagination, and artistic qualities to literature. One such author, H.L. Mencken, also known as the "Bad Boy of Baltimore" wrote in American Mercury which attacked marriage, patriotism, democracy, prohibition, Rotarians, and middle-class Americans. He also attacked Puritans and the South.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise which gained popularity amongst the young and The Great Gatsby.

Theodore Dreiser wrote An American Tragedy which told the story of a preganant working girl murdered by her lover.

Ernest Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms which told the story of his war experience.

Sherwood Anderson wrote of small town life in Winesburg, Ohio.

Sinclair Lewis wrote of women's unsuccessful war against provincialism in Main Street and wrote of George F. Babbitt, a real estate broker in Babbitt.

William Faulkner wrote Soldier's Pay as well as the books The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying.

Ezra Pound, a poet who greatly influenced T.S. Eliot, ditched America for Europe.

T.S. Eliot wrote "The Wasteland" and, like Pound lived in England.

Robert Frost, a native of San Francisco wrote of his adopted home in New Englans. ("Fire and Ice.")

E.E. Cummings blazed trails with his unique use of diction and typesetting.

Eugene O'Neil discussed Freud's concepts regarding sex in Strange Interlude. He also wrote more than a dozen productions and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1936.

The idea of "New Negro" (one who had full citizenship and social equality with whites) was manifested in the exultation of black culture by writers like Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Zora Neale Hurston and and by the jazz musicians Louis Armstrong and Eubie Blake.

For a video of Louis Armstrong performing When the Saints Go Marching In...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laPu34ndYVs&NR=1

American architecture took a change towards the new materialism and functionaility. City planning became common and Frank Lloyd Wright pioneered the concept that buildings should not imitate those of the Romans and the Greeks.

In 1931, the Empire State Building was built at the unfathomable height of 102 stories.

Visit George, a.k.a. BlackHawk next....

Enforcing Loyalty and Stifling Dissent (21 - 24)

21.) Fear of what was reflected by the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918? Who tended to be persecuted under them?

Fear of Germans as well as fear of anti-war Americans was reflected by the passing of the Espionage and Sedition Acts. Typically, socialists and members of the radical Industrial Workers of the World.

22.) Under these laws, what could be prosecuted?

Any criticism of the government could be prosecuted through censoring and punishment.

23.) Schnenck v. United States (1919)

In this case, the Supreme Court affirmed the Espionage and Sedition Acts for the reason that freedom of speech could be revokes when it "posed a clear and present danger" to the nation.

24.) What happened to some people convicted under these policies after things had cooled off?

In most cases, offenders were pardoned, though a few were left behind bars. One man who received pardon was Eugene V. Debs, who was pardoned in 1921 after is conviction under the Espionage Act in 1918.

For Joe.....

...and for George with the movie reference for the day...

Progressive Era Foreign Policy Acts

Panama Canal Tolls Act (1912) - created under Taft's administration and repealed in the Wilson administration. It exempted American merchants from tolls which led to protests from Britain.

Jones Act of 1916 - Created during the Wilson administration and granted the Phillipines territorial status with the promise of freedom when a stable government was created.

Progressive Era Conservation/Land Use Acts

Progressive View of Conservation - most tended to lean towards using the beauty as in preserving it but using it wisely.

Desert Land Act 1877 - the government sold desert land cheap in return for a promise that the land would be irrigated within three years

Forest Reserve Act (1891) - authorized the president to set aside public forests as national parks and other reserves

Carey Act (1894) - distributed federal land on the condition that it would be irrigated

Newlands Act (1902) - Washington collected money from the sale of public lands out west and used it to irrigate

New Federal Agencies

Women's Bureau (1920) - gave female reformers a national stage for advocacy and served the needs of women in the labor force in the Department of Labor.

Children's Bureau (1912) - part of Department of Labor that protected the rights of children in the workforce

Federal Trade Commission (1914) - commission appointed by president to search into industries like meatpacking. It sought to weed out unfair trade practices like unlawful competition, false advertising, mislabeling, adulteration, and bribery.

Federal Reserve (1913) - The FRB oversaw a system of 12 regional banks that could issue Federal Reserve notes to help increase circulation. It helped to carry the nation through the hard times of WW1.

Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 - made credit available to farmers at low rates

Amendments to the Constitution

16th Amendment (1913) - allowed an income tax for the first time

17th Amendment (1913) - approved the direct election of U.S. Senators

18th Amendment (1919) - prohibition of alcoholic beverages

19th Amendment (1920) - gave all American women the right to vote

Acts Protecting Workers

La Folette's Seaman's Act (1915) - required decent treatment and a living wage on American merchant ships. It brought about an increase in freight rates.

Worker's Compensation Act of 1915 - granted assistance to federal civil service employees during times of diability

Anti-Trust Acts

Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) - After pressure from the people, Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act which forbade combinations in restarint of trade but was largely unsuccessful because it left loopholes.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914 - Lengthened the list of buisiness practices deemed objectionable like price discrimination and interlocking directorates. It also sought to exempt labor and agricultural organizations from anit-trust prosecution and legalized picketing and strikes.

Food Safety Acts

Meat Inspection Act of 1906 - Inspired by the complaints of the public and by The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 decreed that the preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to federal inspection.

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 - Made to follow up the Meat Inspection Act, the PFDA prevented the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.