Twentieth century americans

A War and a Peace

• when the World War I. started in Europe – US tried to keep out of it

• difficult – weapon trade between US and Allies grew, Germany wanted to stop this flow – destroy of ship “Lusitania”

• President Wilson appealed to European to stop the war make a “peace without victory”

• April, 2, 1917 – US declared war to Germany (no choice - it continued in sinking US ships)

• American army was a small force of only 200 000 soldiers and recruiting took time – Germany began an offensive against the French in British – they were in danger

• August 1918 – US troops arrived at battlefront and attacked back

• Nov 1918 – G. gave up – President Wilson and Clemenceau argued about new peace treaty

• Wilson – outlined his ideas in “Fourteen Points” – G. should be treated fairly to not start a war of revenge one day

• Clemenceau – G. has to be made so weak to not have the strength to ever fight again

• Versailles Treaty – G. got the blame for the war and had to pay millions dollars for damages

• after his disappointment, Wilson wanted to set up a “League of Nations” – representatives of the nations would discuss their problems without fighting; but he didn’t persuade Americans and Congress to accept it (fear that US would be involved in quarrels out of their business)

The Roaring Twenties

• 1920s – US was very rich – plenty of raw materials, factories producing more and more goods (new consumer goods – refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, radios…), high national income

• good wages, buying goods through “installment plan” (pay deposit and rest in installments)

• government controlled by Republican Party – believed that if they looked after interests of businessmen, everybody would become rich – placed high taxes on imported goods to make them expensive and lessen the competition for US manufacturers

• still many poor citizens – low wages, farmers had to pay a lot for land to the owner, problems with selling – Europe needed less food than before

• by 1924 – over 600 000 farmers were bankrupt

• sales of consumer goods were raising – profit for the shares owners in industrial companies

• American silent movies were made in large studios

• 1919 – 18^th amendment to the Constitution – prohibited making and selling alcohol drinks in US – illegal taverns “speakeasies” which obtained alcohol supplies from criminals

(“bootleggers”) like Al Capone from Chicago

• most Americans regarded it as a joke and respect to laws grew smaller – after Prohibition was given up, sign that law-breaking was easy and became a habit for many of them

Crash and Depression

• buying shares on credit (“on the margin”) had become almost a national hobby - borrow money from bank, buy shares, sell them at higher price and make a quick profit

• by 1929, profits of companies had been decreasing – more and more people began to sell the shares and, so their prices started to fall – panic

• “Black Thursday” - 13 mill shares were sold, “Terrifying Tuesday” – 16,5 mill

• people were soon ruined, committed suicide – collapse of share prices “Wall Street Crash”

• the Crash affected sales in US as well as in Europe

• too many products for no buyers – stop employing in factories, reduce of production

• after 2 yrs 8 mill Americans were unemployed – without any government unemployment pay, only could get some food in “breadlines” where they had to wait for hours

• farmers also sold the crops in lowest possible prices because there were no buyers

• people didn’t believe President Hoover – Franklin Roosevelt came onto the scene

• Roosevelt promised a “New Deal” – government should at least try to fight with Depression