Chap 3

• Once WW1 had ended, there was little sense of peace in the US, the influenza epidemic had killed an estimated 675,000 Americans among the 30-50 million worldwide created a sense of panic amongst the world.
• Inflation was rampant, prices doubled between 1915 and 1920, ex-servicemen came home to face unemployment. Russian and German revolutions, independence movements in India and strikes across Britain and Europe were seen by workers are cause for celebration; however, the business community saw these movements as threats to economic stability and the rights of property owners.
• The Red Scare was a period of fear that communism would spread from Russia into America. This led to the Palmer Raids where thousands of immigrants were arrested without warrants or charges on suspicion of being radicals. Many were deported back to their countries of origin.
• The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) was reborn during this time with membership reaching over four million people. They targeted African Americans, Jews, Catholics, foreigners and anyone who they felt threatened American values.
• The Red Summer was a period of violent race riots in the summer of 1919. As soon as the Armistice was signed, white supremacy returned in full force. Black veterans were subject to assaults and lynchings. The war in Europe was blamed for giving African Americans fanciful ideas about racial equality. An estimated 26 race riots broke out across the country.
• The Palmer Raids in November 1919 and January 1920 were a series of raids on the offices of radical organisations. They led resulted in 5,000 arrests, many people help without charge for moths, and hundreds of suspected radical immigrants were deported.

  The raids were criticised by Congress for breaching civil liberties, but there was widespread approval among conservatives for suppressing radicals.

  Unquestioning support for the economic and political status quo became the patriotic American position.
• In the spring of 1920, the United States received 5,000 immigrants PER DAY from war-ravaged Europe. This enflamed nativist fears and demands for immigration restrictions intensified. Eugenics experts presented research to Congress demonstrating the cost to taxpayers of supporting 'socially inadequate' immigrants. The general public absorbed and accepted this message, calling on the government to limit the arrival of 'human parasites'.
• Immigration quotas were introduced as a temporary measure in 1921, total immigration was limited to 357,000 per year. Three years later, the quotas were tightened under the Immigration Act 1924, which reduced the annual limit 2% of the immigrant population from each nationality. This new system favoured British and Western Europe migrants, and limited the visas issued to eastern and southern Europe, restriction on Asian immigration extended to include Japan.
• The influence of the KKK began to decline by 1924, this was due to their failure to deliver political promises, their inability to assure law and order, end crime, and their inability to turn America into a totally Protestant Anglo-Saxon nation. After the fear of the Red Scare and the Red Summer had dissipated with the passing of the Immigration Act 1924 the KKK lost its appeal.