Controversial Issues
The Klu Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s is, as one historian has put it, "America's recurring nightmare"--a repeated challenge to American ideals of tolerance that has had extraordinary influence in three different periods in our history. The first came immediately after the end of the Civil War; this first Klan mobilized white Southerners who instigated a reign of terror against black Americans (and white Republicans) in an ultimately successful effort to re-establish white supremacy in the South.
Although these two racist and Southern Klans shape our popular images of the KKK, the era in which the Klan attracted its largest membership was the 1920s. And, interestingly, the 1920s Klan was not centered in the South, nor was its ideology as single-mindedly focused on race. Nevertheless, the initial impetus was both Southern and racist. It was revived in the aftermath of D. W. Griffith's wildly popular 1915 silent film, Birth of the Nation, which presented the late nineteenth-century Klan in a heroic light, and the man who got it started was William Simmons, a former Methodist minister from Georgia. But when the real growth came in the 1920s, the Klan spread well beyond the South. More than three million Americans joined; many of them were urban residents and it won political power in such non-Southern states as Indiana, Oklahoma, and Oregon. In this period, its public statements were more likely to attack Jews, Catholics, and immigrants than African Americans.
Although these two racist and Southern Klans shape our popular images of the KKK, the era in which the Klan attracted its largest membership was the 1920s. And, interestingly, the 1920s Klan was not centered in the South, nor was its ideology as single-mindedly focused on race. Nevertheless, the initial impetus was both Southern and racist. It was revived in the aftermath of D. W. Griffith's wildly popular 1915 silent film, Birth of the Nation, which presented the late nineteenth-century Klan in a heroic light, and the man who got it started was William Simmons, a former Methodist minister from Georgia. But when the real growth came in the 1920s, the Klan spread well beyond the South. More than three million Americans joined; many of them were urban residents and it won political power in such non-Southern states as Indiana, Oklahoma, and Oregon. In this period, its public statements were more likely to attack Jews, Catholics, and immigrants than African Americans.
Sacco & Vanzetti
On April 15, 1920, a shoe factory paymaster, and guard were murdered in South Braintree, Massachusetts. The two men who fired the shots escaped in a waiting car with more than $15,000.
Three weeks later, two Italian immigrants — Nicola Sacco, a shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a fish peddler were arrested.
An attorney, Fred H. Moore, was brought in to defend Sacco and Vanzetti in the South Braintree murders. The accused had no criminal records, but were known as outspoken anarchists labor organizers and antiwar activists — activities viewed with great suspicion during the Red Scare era. Moore made the decision to have his clients freely admit their unpopular beliefs, in the hope that the trial would be perceived to hinge on their political convictions and not on the evidence. In so doing, the Sacco and Vanzetti case became a matter of national public attention.
Three weeks later, two Italian immigrants — Nicola Sacco, a shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a fish peddler were arrested.
An attorney, Fred H. Moore, was brought in to defend Sacco and Vanzetti in the South Braintree murders. The accused had no criminal records, but were known as outspoken anarchists labor organizers and antiwar activists — activities viewed with great suspicion during the Red Scare era. Moore made the decision to have his clients freely admit their unpopular beliefs, in the hope that the trial would be perceived to hinge on their political convictions and not on the evidence. In so doing, the Sacco and Vanzetti case became a matter of national public attention.
Al Capone
Al Capone ran many illegal businesses including bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, and murders. There were many gangs in the world of organized crime and Al Capone's was at the top. Al Capone was the most infamous gangster in the 1920's.
Being a highly know and revered gangster was a big business. Money was made fast and very easily. Bootlegging alcohol was by far the most profitable in the 1920's; this was because of the prohibition of alcohol. Gambling was another business that paid off; stations sanctioned for gambling were set up all over cities. Prostitution and murders were also crimes that made gangsters quick and easy money.n the middle of the gang violence and bootlegging was Chicago, the government was very weak which made it easier to do crime. Capone entered the city of Chicago in 1920. At the time, "Big Jim" Colosimo ran things. He made about $50,000 a month. Torrio and Capone started their business with four gambling joints/whore houses in Chicago. These underground places were known as deuces. In Chicago Capone met a man who would be his friend for life, Jack Guzik. Guzik and his family lived off prostitution. After Guzik was roughed up by gangster Joe Howard Capone let his temper flare. It did not his cause when Howard called Capone some foul names. Soon after the verbal altercation Capone shot him in cold blood. There was no conviction and it was becoming more and more clear that he couldn't be stopped this way. It wasn't until a layer got him on tax evasion |