the politics of frustration
Post on 16-Jan-2015
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The Politics of Frustration: The 1920s
Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the
1920s
• Many servicemen had trouble finding jobs when they returned home from WWI.
Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the
1920s
• The nation experienced an upswing in racism and xenophobia.
Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the
1920s
• By the 1920s, many Americans had grown weary of two decades of crusades for reform, seemingly endless attempts to pass moral legislation, and involvement in a brutal war.
Not all Americans benefited from the "politics of prosperity" in the
1920s • Many longed for a time when life was
simpler, even if these "good old days" existed only in the popular imagination.
The "Good Ol' Days"
• Many people longed for the lost elements of a "Bygone America:"
• Free of labour and racial strife • Fewer "foreigners" • No radical ideologies • More attuned to the rhythms of small-town life • More devout in Fundamentalist Christianity • Less government interference in their lives
H.L.Mencken
• Journalist Mencken mocked American society for its Puritanism
"the haunting fear that somebody, somewhere may be happy“
Five Strands to the Politics of Frustration
• The Red Scare
• Anti-immigration
• Sacco and Vanzetti trial
• The rise of a new Ku Klux Klan
• The Scopes Trial
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