Chapter 14
The three super power governments at the time: Germany, Russia and France.
1. Explain Angell’s “Europe’s Optical Illusion” and why he believed that war was a thing of the past. Pg. 492-493
TR’s success at bringing the Russians and Japanese together with the Portsmouth Treaty, combined with the unprecedented affluence of the United States, fooled many into thinking that a new age had indeed dawned. A certain faith in technology and affluence buttressed these notions. “If only there was enough wealth to spread around, surely everyone would be happy” did not prevent the Civil War.
2. Compare Ford’s entrepreneurial spirit with that of Carnegie’s pg. 495
· Ford was an anti-semite and supported and admired Hitler. He financed and anti-Jewish newspaper in Detroit.
3. Samuel P. Langley was one of the first to experiment with aerodynamics and flying. Why do we not hear much about him? Pg. 496 During the Orville and Wilbur Wright days, Langley was funded by the government to experiment with flying. The Wright brothers succeeded whereas Langley crashed and burned embarrassing the government and nearly losing his funding.
· SHOW WRIGHT BROTHERS VIDEO. http://www.history.com/topics/wright-brothers/videos#wright-brothers-are-first-in-flight Though they lived in Dayton, Ohio, they chose to fly from Kittyhawk, North Carolina because it had high winds and lots of sand to land in!
4. Describe the Pentecostal belief in social justice vs. perfecting the inner self. Why is this a dangerous belief? P. endorsed minimum wage and child labor laws, favored a redistribution of wealth, and state regulation of business. This involved revisions of the Bible, and abandoned any claims about scripture’s literal accuracy. The Bible was a mere moral guidebook and nothing more.
5. The Progressive Reform movement included women’s suffrage, food safety, safer laws, etc. All good causes, right? What, then, is the danger in the Progressive movement? P. 498 The more popular these causes were, the more corrupt the politician that got involved.
6. What modern-day “community organizations” come to mind when reading pg. 498-499? ACORN, SEIU, Center for American Progress, etc.
· NOTE: Progressive-era reformers tried to remedy such social ills and vices through education, their most valued weapon. Public education in such areas as hygiene, they contended, would solve the problems of venereal disease and alcoholism. Only a few groups, such as the Catholic Church, pointed out that a wide gap existed between education and morality, or that secular knowledge did not equate with spiritual wisdom. Reformers silenced those voices with ridicule and embarrassment. Reformers such as Jane Addams firmly believed that people of all social classes should conform to certain Progressive ideas and behave in a certain way. The fact that they were imposing what were, in reality, upper-class values on people who did not have the means to maintain them did not stop the reformers.
7. Since there were no real fields of expertise to “claim superior understanding of urban issues”, what did reformers “create”? Who were some of the “experts” in these fields? pg. 500 Entirely new subjects in which they could claim mastery. “Social sciences” by their very name asserted scientific explanations for human behavior. They would invoke esoteric (understood by only a few) and virtually indecipherable theories, their claims to special insight became even more believable.
Thorston Veblen wrote “A Theory of the Leisure Class” (1899) anti-business and came up with the theory of “conspicuous consumption”.
8. Why did Theodore Roosevelt decide to run for president again opposing Taft, the very man he chose as his successor? What happened? P 501. Taft had a poor public image, despite an activist agenda, had a negative relationship with the congress, and he was NOT Roosevelt. A group of republicans asked him to run. His strategy was to enter the primaries and get the nomination from Taft. As incumbents generally have an advantage, Taft came out with the nomination upon which TR flipped out and started the “Progressive Party”. He moved to the left advocating an income tax, and further regulation of business. This allowed Woodrow Wilson to join the ranks and look like the moderate candidate.
9. As always, America’s banking system had serious problems. Discuss how the ebb and flow of currency affects the nation’s economy in good times and bad. What causes a recession? P. 503-508
10. What is the FED? What was its original intent? How has that evolved (or metastasized)? Pg.505
11. What prompted the beginning of the income tax? By what means was the government funded up to this point? Why did they change it? Progressive Socialists loved this idea as it was one of the ten planks desired by the Communist Party in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. In 1894 Congress passed a 2% tax on all those with incomes above $4,000 but it was stuck down within a year by the Supreme Court because it was unconstitutional. Up to that point, the gov. was funded through the tariff and land sales
12. Regarding the income tax, what does the author mean that it had “little to do with revenue and everything to do with reform”? This was a little “nudge” that was originally promised to target a small group of wealthy individuals at a minimal number. Filing was supposed to be absurdly minor and “equalize tax burdens borne by the various classes.” “the ratchet effect has grown government astronomically illustrating the grave danger inherent in the structure.”
13. If federal income tax was unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court deemed in 1895, why does it still exist? Reformers gained support using three major strategies: 1) they emphasized the extremely low nature of the tax and the fact that many Americans would pay no tax at all; 2) they stressed its simplicity; and 3) they pointed to the problems and controversies surrounding tariffs. Most people did not feel it personally, so they didn’t really care and felt it was almost justified. It still exists because the structure was there for the gov to manipulate it. Government grew exponentially with each crisis or emergency.
14. Who was Pancho Villa? What did he have to do with Wilson’s foreign policies in Mexico? Pg. 508-509
15. What incident started World War I? pg. 519 The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. A Serbian Nationalist was blamed, and Austria and Germany set to retaliate. Within a few weeks, the armies of Europe were fully mobilized on enemy borders ready to fight but having no idea what they were fighting for.
16. How did the Germans “misjudge” Britain and America? Pg. 510-511 Their ingenuity and their fortitude. They did not back down despite their terrible losses. They thought that the people who demand peace at any price or that other nations would rise up. None of that happened.
17. What little “boo boo” did the Germans make with their deadly U-boats that should have forced Wilson to join the war? Pg. 511 Sunk the Luistania; a passenger liner, killing 1,198 including 128 Americans.
· German U-boats were “Unterseaboot” under the sea boat which were developed to destroy commerce ships delivering supplies between the US and Britain. They were very devastating and did significant damage. Flying a white flag on a ship was supposed to signal neutrality, but the British often deceptively displayed the white flag. Also, the periscope on the U-boat often could not distinguish color.
18. Wilson’s weak attempts at trying to persuade the Germans to stop sinking allied ships only made them more belligerent and daring. What two crucial mistakes did they make that rallied the Americans and demand retaliation? Pg. 513-514 Despite constant empty threats by Wilson, the Germans resumed the barrage of U-boat attacks. They felt that even if it caused the U.S. to join the war, it would be over before they could deploy to Europe. 2) Alfred von Zimmerman sent a coded message to Carranza’s government in Mexico urging them to declare war on the U.S. In return, Germany would recognize Mexico’s reconquest of Arizona and New Mexico. It was intercepted and decoded, sent to the White House and made public which enraged the public which then demanded war.
· Pg. 515 American propaganda against Germany spawned suspicion and attacks on Germans and other immigrants. Citizens were encouraged to report anyone engaging in antiwar behavior to the Justice Department. The Espionage, Sabotage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918 included slandering the Constitution or the military. Socialist material was blocked by the postmaster general. Wilson vetoed the act, but people still enjoyed more freedom at this time than most of the rest of the world.
19. Who was Bernard Baruch? What contribution did he make to the efficiency of the war effort? Pg. 516 He was a SC millionaire from the business sector who looked at supplying and financing the war from a business standpoint. He knew that business leaders needed to take control of athe production if it was to have any chance of succeeding. He “permitted business to charge high priced for their products,” a feature that would be repeated with stunning success in the next world war. He convince the DOJ to call off the antitrust dogs and stop over-regulation. He also made sure that businesses complied with WIB reports.
20. How did Wilson replenish the dwindling U.S. military? Pg. 516 He instituted the Selective Service – or draft. Three million were drafted, two million enlisted.
21. How has technology contributed to the deadly outcome of this war? Pg. 518516-518 – A lot of different weapons were invented or perfected by farmers and frontiersmen who simply “made a better mousetrap.” To previous wars they added the flamethrower, poison gas, armored tanks, submachine guns, however, mobility was very limited.
22. Of what significance was the “Western Front”? pg.519 http://www.fasttrackteaching.com/T_M14_WW1300g15.gif An area between Belgium and Luxembourg reaching almost to Switzerland. Neither side gained more than a few miles from this area. Because of the lethal weapons introduced in this war, human loss was astronomical. After the Germans began losing ground to the French, they began to dig trenches all along this front for better protection. Most fatalities happened along the Western Front.
NEXT QUESTIONS ARE INCOMPLETE!!
23. Who were the Bolsheviks? How was Communism viewed by Americans at this time? Pg. 521 Americans were pretty clueless and had no idea the evil that backed it. American intellectuals and academics supported the Communist movement but had to hide their beliefs and meet in secret. The ACLU complained the Communists were treated unfairly. J. Edgar Hoover successfully reduced the size of the party by 80%.
24. What was Wilson’s “Fourteen Points”? What were the flaws known as “The Anglo-French” commentary? Pg. 523 A speech given to congress 10 months before the Armistice was even declared. It sounded amazingly like Lenin’s. Wilson felt competition with Lenin and wanted his to get out first. It contained 5 points relating to international relations, freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reductions, and review of colonial policies with an eye toward justice for the colonized peoples. Eight more points addressing territorial claims after the war, and League of Nations. Meanwhile, Germany had already been flying the red flag of revolution. Wilson put most if not all the blame on Germany whereas Britain played a big role.
25. What was the controversy in congress over the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles? Pg. 525
26. Why did the League of Nations fail? Pg 526
27. Describe the legal battle fought by Coca Cola and the FDA. Pg. 527
28. The Prohibition movement led by the Progressives was born out of a) their genuine concern about the evils of liquor and the health of their constituents, b) their superior elitist attitude toward the “little” people and their burning desire for reform.
29. What was the “American Eugenics Society” and who was Margaret Sangar? Pg. 529-531
30. And so… a happy ending (for a while at least) comes to Progressivism. Why was it widely rejected by the American people? Pg. 532
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