postwar problems - week ii Educational opportunities...

1. 1Post war problems
a. The red scare
i. As a result of the Russian revolution, Americans imagined Communists as
the worst possible threat to their way of life
ii. The ideals of Socialism and Communism were tied, often erroneously, to
the American labor movement
iii. Strikes increased and the government responded with a series of raids by a
young J. Edgar Hoover to round up suspected subversives and radicals
b. The Ku Klux Klan
i. Organized in Georgia by William J. Simmons
ii. Original Klan accepted almost anyone, 1919's Klan was thoroughly anti-
foreign, anti-Semitic, and anti-Catholic
iii. Opposed evolution, endorsed religion, immigrant restrictions, opposed
short skirts and “demon rum”
iv. Especially motivated to keep black Americans “in their place”
c. The rising standard of living
i. Americans of the post-war years had more leisure time and a shorter work