Fear And Disorder In America

ASU HST 200 (Historical Themes) The Great War America 1914–1919 Fear And Disorder In America U.S. forces were demobilized and quickly returned home after the war. An unexpected and undesirable consequence of their return was the appearance of a novel strain of influenza that was unknown to medical specialists. More than twenty million Americans became ill with the flu in the months after the conclusion of the war ( 23.19). Before the sickness inexplicably took its course in the spring of 1919, 675,000 Americans perished. According to current estimates, this flu strain may have killed up to 50 million people globally, out of 500 million cases. Between the fall of 1918 and the spring of 1919, there was widespread dread of the flu in the United States. People stayed away from public events, kids went to school wearing surgical masks, and cemeteries ran out of coffins and burial grounds for undertakers. As hysteria spread, people huddled down and tried to prevent disease rather than celebrating the return of the soldiers. Economic turmoil was another factor that significantly impacted the difficulties of living immediately following World War II. As was previously said, wartime output had resulted in stable inflation, making it increasingly difficult for most Americans to subsist on their income due to the growing cost of living. Following the conclusion of the government's wartime economic dominance, companies gradually shifted from producing armaments and ships during the conflict to producing automobiles and toasters during peacetime. Demand from the public soon exceeded the sluggish supply, resulting in significant shortages of domestic products. Consequently, 1919 saw a sharp increase in inflation. The expense of living in the United States at year's end was almost twice as high as it was in 1916. A number of strikes for improved hours and pay were started by workers who were confronting a lack of pay to purchase increasingly costly items and were no longer constrained by their no-strike agreement with the National War Labor Board. Over four million workers took part in almost three thousand strikes in 1919 alone, setting records for both numbers in American history. Apart from work stoppages, racial disturbances also disrupted domestic harmony. In postwar America, the racial unrest that had started during the Great Migration only became worse. When White troops came home, they saw Black laborers in their old homes and places of employment, and they were determined to reestablish White dominance. Black troops were resolved to stand up for their rights as men and as citizens when they came home with a revitalized sense of justice and power. Black Americans were being burned at the stake by White mobs as lynchings in the South continued to rise. In order to defend their killings, the mobs frequently leveled unfounded charges of obscenity and violence against White women. In the midst of 1919's "Red Summer," northern cities saw 25 violent racial riots that claimed over 250 lives. One of them was the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, in which a White mob stoned a young Black kid to death on Lake Michigan after he swam too near to the "White beach." The person who hurled the rock was not taken into custody by the responding police. This incident set off a week-long riot that caused millions of dollars' worth of damage to the city and resulted in the deaths of twentythree Black people and fifteen White individuals ( 23.20). Estimates of the number of Black people killed in a massacre that occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 range from fifty to three hundred. Once more, the violence was sparked by a shaky report of a Black adolescent assaulting a White female. Ten White individuals and two Black persons lost their lives in a fight at the courts following an explosive newspaper story. Black individuals fled to the Greenwood neighborhood of the city, where they were pursued by White gangs, sparking a riot. There was shooting and arson all night long as both sides were armed. The White organizations launched an attack on the Black areas early the next day, murdering several Black citizens and demolishing houses and commercial buildings. Although extensively reported at the time, the Tulsa Massacre—also known as the Tulsa Riot, Greenwood Massacre, or Black Wall Street Massacre—was left out of numerous history accounts, textbooks, and media for many years. Apart from internal factors like disease, economic hardship, and racial tensions, there was an additional destabilizing force that arrived from beyond. A Red Scare broke out in the United States in 1918 and 1919 as revolutionary rhetoric from Bolshevik Russia grew more intense, arousing fears that Communist spies intended to topple the American government as part of a global revolution ( 23.21). Fears increased dramatically when detectives discovered a cache of thirty-six letter bombs at a post office in New York City. Among the receivers were a number of federal, state, and municipal public s, along with prominent industrialists like John D. Rockefeller. Furthermore, on June 2, 1919, eight other explosives detonated concurrently, one of which demolished the entryway to U.S. Attorney General A. The nation was certain that radicals of all stripes were to blame for Mitchell Palmer's Washington home. Anarchists, Communists, Socialists, and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) were all seen as dangers that needed to be eliminated. Along with recently released soldiers and sailors, private residents who saw themselves as honorable and devoted Americans invaded radical meeting places in several large towns, assaulting any putative radicals they discovered there. By November 1919, J. Edgar Hoover, Palmer's new deputy at the FBI, had orchestrated countrywide raids on radical headquarters spread over twelve cities. Four thousand accused American radicals were apprehended as a consequence of subsequent "Palmer raids," and they were held in overcrowded cells for weeks. Following their detention, about 250 people were sent away aboard a vessel known as "the Soviet Ark". In American history, the years after World War I were marked by chaos, anxiety, and societal unrest. A deadly influenza epidemic struck the country when U.S. soldiers returned from the war, taking the lives of around 675,000 people in a matter of months. Over twenty million Americans became ill as a result of this lethal and unexpected flu strain that was previously unknown to medical professionals. It left a devastating path. The extent of the flu pandemic's impact is shown by estimates that it may have killed up to 50 million people worldwide. The nation was overcome with fear of the flu pandemic, which resulted in widespread anxiety and dramatic efforts to stop its spread. There were avoidances of public gatherings, surgical masks were required in schools, and there were shortages of caskets and burial spaces in cemeteries. The excitement of the soldiers' return was eclipsed by the widespread fear of the flu as everyone concentrated on taking precautions against the disease's unrelenting advance. American sufferings were made worse by economic instability during the post-war period of dread and confusion. As businesses switched from producing weaponry to consumer items like cars and toasters, the move from wartime to peacetime production caused economic disruptions. But the supply was unable to keep up with the skyrocketing demand, which led to severe shortages and a steep spike in price. By the end of 1919, the cost of living had almost doubled, severely taxing those already struggling with growing expenses. Strikes were called by workers in a number of industries in an effort to improve pay and working conditions as a result of stagnating salaries and rising living expenses. In 1919 alone, almost four million workers took part in about three thousand strikes, breaking previous records in American labor history. Racial tensions surged at the same time as black laborers and returning white troops engaged in combat in an attempt to reestablish white dominance. Black Americans were being lynched more frequently as a result of false allegations of assault against white women. The "Red Summer" of 1919 saw 25 racial disturbances in northern cities as the racial discontent turned into violent rioting. The 1919 Chicago Race Riot, which was started by the stoning murder of a young Black kid at a segregated beach, was one of the most wellknown events. The week-long riot, which caused massive damage and many fatalities, exposed the depth of racial enmity that has been simmering in American culture. Racial violence was not limited to metropolitan areas, as seen by the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, in which a white mob completely destroyed the wealthy black district of Greenwood. Between fifty and three hundred people are said to have died, although the tragedy was mainly left out of history books for many years. The country's concerns were exacerbated by external threats during internal turmoil. Fears of Communist infiltration gripped the country during the Red Scare, which was sparked by the development of Bolshevik Russia and its revolutionary rhetoric. Suspicion of radical subversion increased when mail bombs intended for public personalities and government leaders were found. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer responded by organizing statewide raids on radical groups, which resulted in the apprehension of thousands of radical suspects. Social tensions were exacerbated when private persons, feeling more empowered by their sense of national duty, turned to vigilante violence against suspected radicals. As a result of the Palmer raids, hundreds of people were deported on the infamous "Soviet Ark," highlighting the extent to which the government will go in order to repress perceived dangers to national security. America faced a confluence of domestic and foreign obstacles following World War I, including the fatal influenza pandemic, racial tensions, economic instability, and the threat of radicalism. Deeply ingrained disparities and inequalities were exposed by the country's response to these crises, which influenced the course of American society in the turbulent years that followed.