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The Red Scare
The Red Scare was the fear of communism being spread to the U.S. Many immigrants were deported in the thought that if they were a member of a labor union, they were a communist. Federal Agents raided homes to find evidence of communist learnings. This lasted from 1919-1920. -
The Great Steel Strike
The Great Steel Strike was workers by the American Federation of Labor went on strike against the United States Steel Corporation. Workers at other companies joined, involving 350,000 workers. -
The Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was the rebirth of African American culture. It was a burst of creativity in the African American community in the areas of music, art, and literature. This instilled a new spirit of pride and self-determination in African Americans across the country. This lasted from the 1920s-1930s. -
Prohibition
Prohibition was a nationwide ban on the sale and importation of alcohol. Prohibition was passed to reduce crime and corruption, improve health and
hygiene, solve social problems, and reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poor houses in the US. -
Mellon Revenue Act of 1921
Andrew Mellon, the secretary of the Treasury, started the Mellon Plan to reduce taxes on the wealthy and businesses. The Revenue Act of 1921 was the first significant tax reduction following World War I. It ensures that a taxpayer's total foreign tax credits cannot exceed the amount of U.S. tax liability on the taxpayer's foreign source income -
Revenue Act of 1924
The Revenue Act was in addition to Mellon's Plan. The tax bill cut federal tax rates for 1924 income. The board of tax bills was created by this act. The tax court specialized in solving disputes over federal income tax. -
The Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial was the prosecution of a science teacher in Tennessee for teaching evolution, which a recent bill had made illegal. The trial became the trial of the century and showed the tension between science and tradition. -
Revenue Act of 1926
The Revenue Act of 1926 was another bill introduced by Andrew Mellon. This act ended public access to federal income tax returns, eliminated the gift tax, and reduced inheritance and personal income taxes. -
National City Bank
Charles E. Mitchell was an American banker and was known as the man "more responsible than all others put together for the excesses that have resulted in this economic disaster." It was disclosed that he made illegal stock transactions, engaged in tax evasion, and speculated his own bank securities. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was an economic crisis that lasted nearly a decade, from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crashed. Unemployment rates were at 25% and more than 5,000 banks had gone out of business. This crisis was not just limited to the United States, countries in Europe and around the world experienced the depression. -
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The wall street crash was a collapse of stock prices. Businesses, investors and farmers began to lose money, which led to laying workers off. It destroyed confidence in the Wall Street markets and led to the Great Depression. -
The Dust Bowl
The dust bowl was a decade-long natural catastrophe of
biblical proportions and the worst man-made disaster. It is a tale of humans pushing too hard on nature and nature pushing back during a boom and bust period. It was a steady blow of dirt that could blister your face or put your eyes out. -
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff increased tariffs on certain foreign goods to protect U.S. farmers from foreign competition. This made it harder for American farmers to sell their goods abroad. Other nations began to impose their own tariffs and international trade decreased. -
The Hoover Moratorium
The Hoover Moratorium was a public statement hoping to ease the ongoing international financial crisis and provide time for recovery by instituting a one-year moratorium on payments of German allied war debt. -
The New Deal
The New Deal was enacted by Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was a set of policies that dramatically expanded the federal government's role in response to the Depression. The New Deal is summed up by the "3 R's":
-Relief
-Recovery
-Reform