Episode 102: America First - Part 2

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So another thing that comes into play along with

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birth of a nation is the Russian Revolution.

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And the Russian Revolution inspires all manner

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of fear in the population as a result of its

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radical agenda, which had a big effect upon America

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first. I can fully understand that, absolutely.

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It's frightened the entire world. Welcome to

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the United States of Amnesia. You found us. Thank

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you. We are the podcast that reminds us of what

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we have forgotten. It is often said that history

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repeats itself. Mark Twain allegedly said that

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history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.

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Ecclesiastes probably said it best in chapter

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1, verse 9, quote, everything that has been will

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be again. everything that has been done will

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be done again. There is nothing new under the

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sun." But over time many topics have become clouded

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by biases and oversimplifications, or have become

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mythologized and now are misunderstood. Misunderstanding

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means learning the wrong lessons from history,

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perhaps, or even learning nothing at all. And

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that can leave us poorly prepared for history's

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next rhyme. Your hosts are Marshall Newman, Mike

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Mendenhall, and myself, Blake Hincky. In this

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podcast, we will cover topics of history, politics,

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and religion and how they interact and also how

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they relate to modern day events and themes.

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We will try to cut through the biases over simplifications

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and myths to learn better lessons from the past.

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and to see what they can tell us about the present

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and maybe even the future. Our second episode

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will pick up where we left off last time with

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the development and evolution of America First

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ideology. from the Russian Revolution to 1927.

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Before we return to the Russian Revolution, I

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will simply note that 1927 was not only the year

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that Charles Lindbergh, a significant figure

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associated with the term America First, crossed

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the Atlantic, but it was also the year that the

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son of a German immigrant was arrested at a Ku

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Klux Klan rally in Queens, New York. This German

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immigrant had made a living in North America

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operating a brothel during the Yukon gold rush

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and his son's name was Fred Trump. It's obvious

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that the Russian revolution frightened the entire

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world, but I had no idea that it had any impact

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on America first. Well, what it did was it frightened

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people about radical attacks and magnified them.

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which were occurring shortly after the war. For

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example, there was a huge bombing in Wall Street

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right after World War I in which the House of

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Morgan, the banking concern, was targeted. Several

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people were killed in Wall Street. It was essentially

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they had brought a cart and pulled kind of like

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something not unlike what Timothy McVey did.

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In oklahoma city they basically had this bomb

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that went off. Famous photo of the crater in

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the street or something in the yeah and they

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basically spent an entire day and night repairing

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most of the damage there is still if you go by

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the house of morgan you can still see the trap

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damage the building which they left up is kind

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of like battle scars. It was big September 16th

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1920 killed 30 people instantly eight others

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died later 143 seriously injured And total number

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injured was in the hundreds. Yes, and he was

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big enough to blow cars over in their size There's

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a famous picture over there. So that was that

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was big So in addition to this There were also

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Bombs that were sent through the post office

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the various prominent people One of them was

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a mitchell palmer who was wilson's Attorney General.

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He lived across the street from Franklin and

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Eleanor Roosevelt, by the way, on End Street.

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And bomb went off and it was meant for the Attorney

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General. He did not injure him, but it did destroy

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the house. This led to what's called the Palmer

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Raids, where radicals were rounded up. Now, Suffice

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it to say the 14th amendment says you are an

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American citizen if you are born here or you

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are naturalized That's what makes you an American

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citizen and that makes you entitled to the due

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process of law In this case people who were foreign

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-born had their citizenship from them They were

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put on boats and they were sent back to their

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countries of origin Emma Goldman, for example,

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who was a famous radical She was actually sent

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back to what was she was born in imperial russia

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she was sent back to what became the soviet union

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and eventually she made her way back to canada.

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Not finding the workers paradise all that great

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anarchists were widely seen as as this. Huge

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criminal element that was going around that was

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going around not only inspiring strikes. but

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also planting bombs here. And an inherently foreign

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element. An inherently foreign element. And,

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you know, like the other another example, Sacco

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and Vanzetti, there is a case of Sacco and Vanzetti

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who are Italian anarchists who were accused of

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being part of a robbery of a shoe factory. And

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essentially they were convicted, the judge said

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at the beginning, I'm going to get those anarchist

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bastards for their political beliefs, whether

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or not the merits of the case were sufficient

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to convict them. And they ended up on the electric

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chair in 1927. Yes. So there was Americanism

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was meant to counter this sort of these sorts

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of radical notions that are becoming more and

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more prominent and getting a lot of attention

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in the press. In the nineteen twenty and of course

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it didn't help that that sock when ben said he

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were italian. An anarchist so they're there you

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got that foreign and anarchist connection central

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casting for the threat what the boogeyman what

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the boogeyman is you know what is what is taking

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you away from this idealized wonderful world

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where america was great and people again useful

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work simple pleasures. And everybody working

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in harmony and living in harmony because they're

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all the same person the same person. So i mean

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it's absurd but you still see it right today

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i still it still exist today it still exist today

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i mean i think that today people. Because we

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are more more diverse country and nobody's gonna

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be going around screaming wasp rights or anything

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like that. We're not far from that we're not

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far really not very far from that at all but

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but that's a whole different thing you're not

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gonna you're not gonna go and say catholics are

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the. The whole i the whole anti catholic thing

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is probably a dead letter here though. Well yeah

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but i mean the thing about it is with with and

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i think this feeds in america first two is like

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you're saying it it feeds on nostalgia for some

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time in the past right but to all get together

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and agree on being america firsters. You in no

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way have to agree when that magic time was, or

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what it actually involved. And it probably didn't

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exist. Right, it never existed. It probably didn't

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exist. But what works in your favor if you're

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going to do this is you don't have to worry about

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whether it ever really existed. You just have

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to have people believe it. You don't have to

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put a date on it. You don't have to put a characteristic

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to it. It was just better somehow in those days

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based on everybody being the same. Everybody

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being the same. It seems to me is the common

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factor. Or people being docile and accepting

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their fate in life. Right. Willingly. With people

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like me dominant over, yeah. Yes, with people

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like me dominant. Over people not like me. So,

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right. So, I mean, that's the thing about it.

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So, but anyway. So, anarchism. Hold on, let me

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interject here. So, 1920. Yeah. Let's... Zoom

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out for a second. You've got women's suffrage

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for the first time. Yes. You have prohibition

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beginning. Yes. We're in the wake of the Russian

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Revolution, so the rise of... Anti -radical thought.

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Well, but socialism and communistic thoughts

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and theories are spreading throughout the world,

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and they're threats. They are legitimate threats,

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and there were parties in... The united states

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even that yes, I mean I mean the socialist party

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had reached its high water mark by about 1912

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under eugene v debbs But debbs is going to be

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running for president and considered a major

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player um in 1920 he's going to be running from

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prison because he's been imprisoned by wilson

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because he spoke out against conscription and

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um Wilson is even though the war is over. Wilson

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is adamant. He is going to stay in jail and he's

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going to serve his full sentence Harding who

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is Republican and not as Given to being considered

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as progressive minded as Wilson is going to pardon

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Debs Once he is elected and you mentioned that

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Debs ran for president from jail Yes in 1920

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famously he did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean

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like there is there are there are highly sought

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after political objects Buttons that basically

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refer not to devs but to his prisoner number

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As as who you're voting for but see the thing

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about this is right when you when you look at

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it Again, it's a bunch of boogeymen. Yeah, and

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the reason i'm saying this is you know, like

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you're mentioning communism socialism like that,

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right? Well, yeah, there was a communist party

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united states. There was a socialist party which

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was bigger than the communist party But neither

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one of them was ever very big They were never

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significant these were never significant political

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movements in the United States right trade unionism

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was bigger Right. Yeah, but that's not people

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get that confused in their minds That's not socialism

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and certainly not communism, right? It is workers

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rights within a capitalist system. That's what

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trade unionism is Yeah, get worker benefits in

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a capitalist system. People don't understand

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that very well. I think a lot of time because

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they They cartoonify it into being just a type

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of socialism or communism. Yeah. Anyway, but

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the point just is, is these were not big movements.

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These weren't something that really objectively

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you really needed to be all that very scared

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of when you really thought about it. Americans

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didn't really want either of those things. Didn't

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support them. Let alone anarchism. There really

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weren't a lot of American anarchists running

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around. But, you know, they set a bomb off in

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Wall Street, right? There were extreme things

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that happened. And there's your boogeyman. There's

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your thing you can you can point to. People throwing

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bombs. That's not America. Right. I think people

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that don't do that are America. We need to get

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together and preserve America. Yes. America first,

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right? So in 1920, we have another election.

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And this was a very contentious election where

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at the beginning, say the year before, everybody

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knew who were going to be the two candidates

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for the two major parties. Theodore Roosevelt

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was going to be the Republican nominee. And Woodrow

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Wilson was going to try for an unprecedented

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third term as as. As the democratic nominee,

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because he's not yet unconstitutional, which

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was not yet unconstitutional. And so Roosevelt

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dies. In 1919 and Wilson stroke. Wilson Wilson

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stayed in the game longer than he should have

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which might sound familiar because his health

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was not up for it. But he was constantly encouraged

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particularly by his wife to continue to seek

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out this third term to cement his legacy which

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included things like the league of nations. So

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what are there those who are you that she was

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when making all the policies that you capable

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of it anymore yes yes stroke right yeah yes.

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And nobody really understood just how sick wilson

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was until they actually saw him. Harding's inauguration

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in nineteen twenty one and the role of the vice

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president in such a situation still wasn't clearly

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understood. Right there when it is now there

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was no twenty fifth amendment twenty fifth amendment

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right basically people could say the president

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is incapacitated writing to basically the rules

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of succession applied so they weren't wearing

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like a constitutional was there's a concern that

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the vice president asserts his authority because

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the president is incompetent that's a coup yes

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exactly i was very strong. Worry of that time

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that you really couldn't do that because it looked

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like a coup, right? So you wind up with with

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him staying in office even though he had it had

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a terrible stroke and was quite ill. Yes But

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what we end up with is we end up with Republicans

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Harding and and Calvin Coolidge or the are the

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president and vice presidential nominees for

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Republicans Cox and Franklin Roosevelt are the

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nominees for the Democrats Now, in this election,

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two groups embrace the notion of America first

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here. The first is the Republicans, and they

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have their own version of America first. And

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this version is not about preparedness or protectionism,

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but it also gets us towards this vision of an

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America that conforms with the mythology that

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People had found so enticing and popular as a

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result of world war one No matter how inconsistent

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this is with reality So let's just be clear.

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So the world war one experience had been a bitter

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one. Yes, right We felt we hadn't gotten much

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out of it Our participation we had been we've

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been scammed we've been scammed by the european

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we've been scammed by the european them and their

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old fashioned dirty ways yes that we pure minded

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americans are unable to appreciate so let's not

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get let's not do that again yes. When you talk

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about preparedness so there because we're not

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gonna do that again we don't need military preparedness

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yeah right. We just need to stay out of things

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like. Like we should have in the first place

00:15:38.539 --> 00:15:40.600
stick to our hemisphere stick to our hemisphere

00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.480
so we're back to that yes the real one experience

00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.200
suck. Let's not do that again let's go back the

00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:49.940
way we were yeah i mean when when what what when

00:15:49.940 --> 00:15:52.120
we look at the twenties i mean the thing about

00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:54.720
the twenties is. People think about flappers

00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:57.179
people think about going out to parties at jay

00:15:57.179 --> 00:16:00.779
gatsby's on long island and people kind of looking

00:16:00.779 --> 00:16:04.600
forward to this sort of like radical future.

00:16:05.560 --> 00:16:09.419
radical present. This is not really where people's

00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:11.700
heads were. People were looking backward more

00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:13.220
so than they were looking forward. And when they

00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:16.120
look forward, they were generally appalled by

00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:18.460
what they saw there. So Thoroughly Modern Millie

00:16:18.460 --> 00:16:20.679
is not necessarily historically accurate? No,

00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:23.620
I don't think so, you know, particularly. The

00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:26.659
roaring 20s? No, not so much. Well, it would

00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:31.500
be sort of like hippies in the 60s. You know,

00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:33.500
everybody thinks everybody's a hippie in the

00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:36.000
60s. And really, you're talking about a small

00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.960
segment of the population. I mean, most women

00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:42.879
are looking to get married and and this is their

00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:45.399
this is their career. This is their career goal.

00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:49.120
And most guys are looking for for like the family

00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:52.259
in the house in the suburbs during the 60s. And

00:16:52.259 --> 00:16:55.139
it's largely a rural still largely a rural country

00:16:55.139 --> 00:16:58.860
in 1920. Well, 40 percent rural by population

00:16:58.860 --> 00:17:02.429
anyway. People are not protesting. Right. They're

00:17:02.429 --> 00:17:05.170
basically in university. They're basically going

00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:07.710
to school. Right. There's a tiny minority, but

00:17:07.710 --> 00:17:10.130
they're the people that get and the same is true.

00:17:10.230 --> 00:17:14.990
I mean, the flapper and the bootlegger are certainly

00:17:14.990 --> 00:17:18.609
significant figures in the 1920s, but that's

00:17:18.609 --> 00:17:21.450
not who most people what most people were doing

00:17:21.450 --> 00:17:26.109
here. Most people are not going to wild parties.

00:17:26.309 --> 00:17:29.329
They're not consuming illegal. liquor and speakeasies.

00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:31.009
They're not the cool people to go downtown on

00:17:31.009 --> 00:17:33.410
Saturday night for fun. Yes. Right. They don't

00:17:33.410 --> 00:17:37.769
hang out with gangsters. Right. They, this is,

00:17:37.769 --> 00:17:41.029
this is, you know, if you look at Gatsby, you

00:17:41.029 --> 00:17:43.289
get some sense of what's going on in America.

00:17:43.589 --> 00:17:46.849
And this is kind of introduced with Tom Buchanan.

00:17:47.369 --> 00:17:52.329
And he comes out and says, he's concerned about

00:17:52.329 --> 00:17:55.559
threats to traditional racial order. Have you

00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:58.000
read The Rise of the Colored Empires by this

00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:02.519
man Goddard, he asked, when Nick Caraway comes

00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:06.440
to visit. So this is actually based on a real

00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:10.640
book, and this is a common concern in both rural

00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.559
and urban America. African Americans becoming

00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:16.500
too powerful in the process, overwhelming the

00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:20.819
traditional white ruling order. And then also

00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:23.180
in The Great Gatsby we have Meyer Wiltshine,

00:18:23.529 --> 00:18:26.329
Jewish gangster, again, based on a real person,

00:18:26.690 --> 00:18:30.869
Arnold Rothstein, who has an odd taste in cufflinks,

00:18:31.029 --> 00:18:35.190
if anybody remembers. And this is about the corrupting

00:18:35.190 --> 00:18:38.390
influence of recently arrived immigrants. Will

00:18:38.390 --> 00:18:42.329
Shine is the man who fixed the World Series baseball.

00:18:42.589 --> 00:18:45.970
He's corrupted baseball, America's pastime. Isn't

00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:50.099
that awful? You know, so. Which is what Rothstein

00:18:50.099 --> 00:18:52.180
actually did. Yes, which is what Rothstein actually

00:18:52.180 --> 00:18:54.240
did. In 1919, right? Yes. The Black Sox scandal.

00:18:54.299 --> 00:18:59.420
Yes. Yep. And Rothstein is also Jewish, but,

00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:02.559
you know, libel laws being what they were, you

00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:05.279
know, Fitzgerald wanted to put somebody in there,

00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:09.640
so he creates this fictional guy who supposedly,

00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:13.480
you know, it's rumor, you know, but it's based

00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:17.730
off of Arnold Rothstein. Right. So... The other

00:19:17.730 --> 00:19:22.329
America that is out there is the one that's captured

00:19:22.329 --> 00:19:25.349
by Sinclair Lewis. And we will come back to Sinclair

00:19:25.349 --> 00:19:29.609
Lewis in the subsequent episode. But he kind

00:19:29.609 --> 00:19:33.990
of speaks most to our present era and also that

00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:38.109
of the 1920s in certain ways. Here we see the

00:19:38.109 --> 00:19:41.250
world of small town as crushing to characters.

00:19:41.789 --> 00:19:46.609
Science is questioned. Medicine is questioned.

00:19:48.789 --> 00:19:53.289
Businessmen are leading lives that are meaningless.

00:19:54.869 --> 00:19:58.930
And the virtues of the small town is built around

00:19:58.930 --> 00:20:04.009
this sort of idealized existence. So when you

00:20:04.009 --> 00:20:07.430
talk about Sinclair Lewis, is he reflecting something

00:20:07.430 --> 00:20:10.049
more along? the lines of what the democratic

00:20:10.049 --> 00:20:12.369
vision was. And what I have in mind is that,

00:20:12.369 --> 00:20:15.269
you know, the Republican vision was keep out

00:20:15.269 --> 00:20:17.289
of Europe, keep out of foreign entanglements.

00:20:18.589 --> 00:20:20.190
The Republican one was small town virtues as

00:20:20.190 --> 00:20:22.329
well. Okay. So they have that. And then the business

00:20:22.329 --> 00:20:24.670
of America's business, you know, when, when Coolidge

00:20:24.670 --> 00:20:26.410
becomes president, Silent Cal just stays out

00:20:26.410 --> 00:20:30.650
of the way. He lets, let business run its course

00:20:30.650 --> 00:20:32.769
and do it. It always knows what's best to do

00:20:32.769 --> 00:20:34.950
right for the country, which eventually leads

00:20:34.950 --> 00:20:36.390
to the great depression. But that's a story for

00:20:36.390 --> 00:20:40.170
another time. Yeah. Sinclair lewis is also expressing

00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:43.430
the republican point of view what what is expressing

00:20:43.430 --> 00:20:48.109
a view that runs counter to the myths. That the

00:20:48.109 --> 00:20:52.430
republicans are spouting so my question is. Is

00:20:52.430 --> 00:20:54.589
he reflecting the democratic point of view of

00:20:54.589 --> 00:21:09.789
the time. In 1920, what was the democratic perspective

00:21:09.789 --> 00:21:16.750
of America? Well, the Democratic Party was a

00:21:16.750 --> 00:21:21.849
strange hybrid that came up and developed after

00:21:21.849 --> 00:21:27.230
the Civil War, in which you had the South, the

00:21:27.230 --> 00:21:31.130
rural South, with all of these traditional values

00:21:31.130 --> 00:21:34.819
that would not be necessarily adverse to some

00:21:34.819 --> 00:21:37.460
of the positions by the Republicans, other than

00:21:37.460 --> 00:21:41.339
the fact that the South regarded Republicans

00:21:41.339 --> 00:21:47.619
as having horns and hooves and so forth. So they

00:21:47.619 --> 00:21:51.759
supported a kind of traditional, very racist

00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:57.640
view of society with the racial hierarchy. That's

00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:02.670
one wing. And the other wing is all immigrants

00:22:02.670 --> 00:22:14.410
living in cities. The only ideology that they

00:22:14.410 --> 00:22:19.490
kind of have that unites them is opposition to

00:22:19.490 --> 00:22:24.670
the Republicans and at times a belief that you

00:22:24.670 --> 00:22:27.609
can use the federal government for good, which

00:22:27.609 --> 00:22:31.160
kind of comes in with Wilson. But you don't want

00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:33.539
it doing too much good and the wrong kind of

00:22:33.539 --> 00:22:37.259
good, because this could alienate the South.

00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:40.880
I mean, oddly enough, you have this weird division

00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:46.059
in which the Republicans are suspicious of immigrants,

00:22:46.059 --> 00:22:52.559
and they largely at least provide lip service

00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:58.460
to racial equality and African Americans being

00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:02.769
able to enjoy Their political rights is guaranteed

00:23:02.769 --> 00:23:06.210
under the Constitution. And then you have Democrats

00:23:06.210 --> 00:23:09.670
who are opposed to racial equality in many cases,

00:23:09.789 --> 00:23:15.710
particularly in the South. And being very pro

00:23:15.710 --> 00:23:18.529
-immigrant and being made up of all these urban

00:23:18.529 --> 00:23:21.210
dwelling immigrants and their political machines

00:23:21.210 --> 00:23:25.990
like Tammany Hall that back them. The Democratic

00:23:25.990 --> 00:23:29.650
Party, as we will see, is very, very schizophrenic

00:23:29.650 --> 00:23:31.910
in terms of what it actually believes. I think

00:23:31.910 --> 00:23:36.750
the Republicans have a more coherent sense of

00:23:36.750 --> 00:23:39.569
what they want to achieve and their vision for

00:23:39.569 --> 00:23:43.549
America than the Democrats do. And it's going

00:23:43.549 --> 00:23:47.170
to be that way really until Franklin Roosevelt

00:23:47.170 --> 00:23:51.890
comes along. But both ascribe to some form of

00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:57.519
Nostalgic view of a an earlier time It's more

00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:00.200
pronounced with the Republicans. It's more pronounced

00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:05.420
with the Republicans but We'll come let's let's

00:24:05.420 --> 00:24:08.819
come back to this. Okay, and the wing of the

00:24:08.819 --> 00:24:12.339
Republic of the Democratic Party that is Southern

00:24:12.339 --> 00:24:17.759
and racist the Dixie crats the Dixie crats Although

00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.710
they weren't known as that then Blue dog Democrats.

00:24:21.190 --> 00:24:25.009
Well, I mean, I mean, when I, all right. So true

00:24:25.009 --> 00:24:28.710
story. When I was growing up, my grandmother

00:24:28.710 --> 00:24:32.309
and we, when I was, when, when, when we were

00:24:32.309 --> 00:24:35.710
talking about days gone past, my grandmother

00:24:35.710 --> 00:24:41.029
told me that the, the Republican party was held

00:24:41.029 --> 00:24:44.769
in such low esteem that there would be scenes

00:24:44.769 --> 00:24:49.049
in which people would gather around. the dying

00:24:49.049 --> 00:24:52.470
relative who had fought in the Civil War and

00:24:52.470 --> 00:24:55.930
he would basically force them all to raise their

00:24:55.930 --> 00:24:58.150
hands and pledge never to vote for Republican,

00:24:58.309 --> 00:25:00.809
you know, because this was the party of Lincoln.

00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:03.730
This was the, you know, and I believe this was

00:25:03.730 --> 00:25:05.670
real. And I think it actually happened even in

00:25:05.670 --> 00:25:09.329
our own family to some extent, you know, where

00:25:09.329 --> 00:25:12.950
you had those kinds of strong opinions about

00:25:12.950 --> 00:25:16.279
party loyalty. That persisted in the south now

00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:18.839
they would have that would be the part that would

00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:24.119
have this sort of nostalgic view of things It

00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:26.880
would be very easy to pinpoint the period that

00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:30.740
they are nostalgic for it is the period before

00:25:30.740 --> 00:25:34.740
the south before slaves were given their freedom

00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:39.200
and the antebellum South was was the idealized

00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:42.259
the perfect time perfect time for everybody and

00:25:42.259 --> 00:25:45.960
everybody lived in big huge houses that had big

00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:52.019
huge columns in them. Even though they didn't.

00:25:53.539 --> 00:25:56.339
But but the reason that people didn't have those

00:25:56.339 --> 00:25:58.759
was that the Yankees done burned them all down

00:25:58.759 --> 00:26:03.240
you know but. So there is that idealized position

00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:07.369
that they had there and. But let's talk about

00:26:07.369 --> 00:26:10.769
1920 here because this is where we actually see

00:26:10.769 --> 00:26:14.150
the slogan coming back with Harding and Coolidge

00:26:14.150 --> 00:26:17.509
here. And again, this is all about nostalgia,

00:26:19.190 --> 00:26:23.670
a vanished America that was of course white Anglo

00:26:23.670 --> 00:26:28.329
-Saxon and Protestant. And as we'll see, very

00:26:28.329 --> 00:26:31.730
much Protestant as being a huge emphasis on this.

00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.779
The changes that are coming on in the 1920s are

00:26:36.779 --> 00:26:41.640
very much a product of the cities. Now, 1920,

00:26:42.299 --> 00:26:44.059
along with being an election year, it's also

00:26:44.059 --> 00:26:49.880
a year where the census was collected. And this

00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:53.099
is the first time where urban dwellers, people

00:26:53.099 --> 00:26:58.160
living in towns, outnumber rural dwellers. So

00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:01.609
it's 60 -40. So this is the first time that this

00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:05.849
has happened, and this is going to play a role

00:27:05.849 --> 00:27:09.069
in this sort of cultural dominance that we're

00:27:09.069 --> 00:27:15.029
seeing out of this urban environment. So we see

00:27:15.029 --> 00:27:18.150
bootlegging, which thanks to Prohibition is going

00:27:18.150 --> 00:27:20.549
on, and this is very much a product of the cities,

00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:23.789
although other relatives have told me in the

00:27:23.789 --> 00:27:27.740
20s, Bootlegging was fairly popular out in the

00:27:27.740 --> 00:27:32.220
rural parts of the country as well It wasn't

00:27:32.220 --> 00:27:34.640
quite as you wouldn't go to a speakeasy you'd

00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:37.940
go to what was called the blind pig and you would

00:27:37.940 --> 00:27:41.440
drink something that if not correctly distilled

00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:44.900
could blind you but People were seeking seeking

00:27:44.900 --> 00:27:46.539
all sorts of thrills. There's a long tradition

00:27:46.539 --> 00:27:49.160
of moonshining. Yes. That's exactly what we're

00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:51.160
talking That's what was served at blind pigs,

00:27:51.160 --> 00:27:54.819
right and then Other things that happen since

00:27:54.819 --> 00:27:56.940
you brought up thoroughly modern milly white

00:27:56.940 --> 00:27:59.700
slavery was something that's a supposedly going

00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:02.980
on as organized prostitution was referred to.

00:28:03.819 --> 00:28:05.640
There were corrupt political organizations like

00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:09.279
Tammany Hall. That's that's that hell sway in

00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:12.339
this environment. Different stranger religions

00:28:12.339 --> 00:28:16.240
are prevailing. African Americans who are who

00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:19.200
are kind of where this is the time of the Harlem

00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:22.720
Renaissance. which we now look at as a great

00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:26.279
creative time, but Harlem's also seen as this

00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.059
sort of threat, cultural threat to the rest of

00:28:30.059 --> 00:28:35.819
America. Then you have, you know, and they're

00:28:35.819 --> 00:28:38.779
given more freedom than what was good for them

00:28:38.779 --> 00:28:41.799
in some minds, threatening the so -called white

00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:46.269
race, which didn't necessarily include People

00:28:46.269 --> 00:28:48.789
that are now assumed to be members of this this

00:28:48.789 --> 00:28:50.950
would be people from southern and eastern Europe

00:28:50.950 --> 00:28:53.289
This would be people who were Jews people who

00:28:53.289 --> 00:28:56.789
were Catholics sexual perversion of all kinds

00:28:56.789 --> 00:29:00.089
were commonly practiced in cities with no community

00:29:00.089 --> 00:29:05.069
standards to keep people in check and Basic humanity

00:29:05.069 --> 00:29:08.349
of the foreign -born was questioned as we see

00:29:08.349 --> 00:29:13.150
today all in the name of preserving First in

00:29:13.150 --> 00:29:16.089
America that was generally poorly defined but

00:29:16.089 --> 00:29:19.930
people seem to know it when they saw it. That

00:29:19.930 --> 00:29:23.470
was kind of what America first meant. So the

00:29:23.470 --> 00:29:27.089
flourishing of culture in Harlem was in itself

00:29:27.089 --> 00:29:30.950
a threat. Jazz, jazz music. Because it was creating

00:29:30.950 --> 00:29:35.170
new ways of thinking about what American culture

00:29:35.170 --> 00:29:36.869
were, right? Or it was adding to the American

00:29:36.869 --> 00:29:39.430
cultural milieu or whatever you want to say,

00:29:39.509 --> 00:29:42.410
right? I mean, that was already too much. Jazz

00:29:42.410 --> 00:29:46.700
was rap music. Yeah. Of its day like like, you

00:29:46.700 --> 00:29:49.259
know, this was there were all sorts of sexual

00:29:49.259 --> 00:29:52.160
innuendos, which which most people don't pick

00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:56.839
up on now that Were were quite blatant at the

00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:02.220
time, right? and Again, you're you know, you're

00:30:02.220 --> 00:30:06.140
you're Why are you listening to this horrible

00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:09.960
music? Of course, this is this is like the one

00:30:09.960 --> 00:30:13.099
So one of the few real I mean if you're a real

00:30:13.099 --> 00:30:16.470
if you're real like America first or the idea

00:30:16.470 --> 00:30:19.630
that that, you know, here is the one here's one

00:30:19.630 --> 00:30:24.250
of the truly genuine cultural innovations that

00:30:24.250 --> 00:30:27.869
are done by Americans for Americans, jazz music.

00:30:27.869 --> 00:30:31.789
And it's like widely castigated as being this

00:30:31.789 --> 00:30:35.920
sort of perverted, unnatural. So that's because

00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:37.579
to America first years, it was being done by

00:30:37.579 --> 00:30:39.500
the wrong. It comes from the wrong kind of American,

00:30:39.500 --> 00:30:41.940
right? Yes, not the right kind of American. And

00:30:41.940 --> 00:30:44.140
actually, once you get into like the thirties

00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:48.700
with swing music, that kind of like makes things

00:30:48.700 --> 00:30:53.599
OK. But you, you know, crossover music, it's

00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:56.259
crossover music. This is this is, you know, it

00:30:56.259 --> 00:30:59.400
is it is it is it is one thing to have stuff

00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:01.839
done by Muddy Waters. It's another thing to have

00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:05.150
them done by. Artie Shaw. So let me ask you then,

00:31:05.450 --> 00:31:06.470
I just want to pull that thread a little bit

00:31:06.470 --> 00:31:09.130
further then. So if I was a white person in the

00:31:09.130 --> 00:31:12.029
20s who enjoyed jazz, and there was such a thing,

00:31:12.589 --> 00:31:15.410
so to an American first year, am I like a cultural

00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:20.910
trader? You're kind of lost because you've lost...

00:31:20.910 --> 00:31:23.390
Probably probably hanging out in speakeasies.

00:31:23.390 --> 00:31:25.970
You're probably drinking too much. You're probably

00:31:25.970 --> 00:31:28.529
playing around with women. You probably have

00:31:28.529 --> 00:31:32.109
dubious moral standards. So you're a lost cause

00:31:32.109 --> 00:31:35.869
for say like the sort of people who go to Mary

00:31:35.869 --> 00:31:40.450
Pickford movies and like to and like to contemplate

00:31:40.450 --> 00:31:43.990
this lost wonderful world that We need to bring

00:31:43.990 --> 00:31:46.690
back here we need to we need to need to return

00:31:46.690 --> 00:31:49.109
to traditional values and traditional virtue

00:31:49.109 --> 00:31:51.769
so i'm like a hippie in the sixties yeah if i

00:31:51.769 --> 00:31:53.809
like jazz in the twenty yeah yeah okay i'm with

00:31:53.809 --> 00:31:57.450
you like they like like this is like like acid

00:31:57.450 --> 00:32:00.670
rock right you know right you're probably taking

00:32:00.670 --> 00:32:03.809
drugs or well drugs in the sense of alcohol right

00:32:03.809 --> 00:32:06.130
you know alcohol is a drug but there was also

00:32:06.130 --> 00:32:08.630
there was also like ideas that you know you would

00:32:08.630 --> 00:32:12.339
be doing drugs as well as going to. The speakeasies

00:32:12.339 --> 00:32:15.519
it's like, you know Dancing leads to drinking

00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:18.819
leads to drugs leads to sex leads to you know,

00:32:18.980 --> 00:32:21.099
that kind of mentality at the end of society.

00:32:21.099 --> 00:32:35.220
Yeah. Yeah Push it moving on moving on. America

00:32:35.220 --> 00:32:37.819
first is also a slogan that's adopted by the

00:32:37.819 --> 00:32:41.660
Ku Klux Klan and so We are talking about when

00:32:41.660 --> 00:32:43.720
I was kind of dancing around this issue when

00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:45.940
we were talking about the Democrats, but the

00:32:45.940 --> 00:32:52.940
Klan becomes a political force in the 1920s and

00:32:52.940 --> 00:32:55.079
not in the places that you think it's going to

00:32:55.079 --> 00:32:57.680
be. People popularly are going to assume that

00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:02.079
the Klan is going around doing all sorts of illegal

00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:08.839
actions in the South and and terrorizing African

00:33:08.839 --> 00:33:14.299
Americans. It is not that at all entirely the

00:33:14.299 --> 00:33:18.839
case because the Klan manages to gain control

00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:29.180
over states like Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Oregon.

00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:33.859
And even though they don't gain control over

00:33:33.859 --> 00:33:37.539
these other states, they are very much a force

00:33:37.539 --> 00:33:45.779
for wrong in the places where they had a presence.

00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:49.880
So having somebody like Fred Trump at a Klan

00:33:49.880 --> 00:33:55.319
rally in Queens, New York, that is not considered

00:33:55.319 --> 00:34:01.200
that odd. To have a presence like that. That's

00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:04.359
why we bring him up at the end at the introduction

00:34:04.359 --> 00:34:09.239
here. But because it's it's not necessarily all

00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:12.480
about race, which is kind of what people normally

00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:17.639
associate the clan with. They still, you know,

00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:21.300
the Republican Party might have shared some of

00:34:21.300 --> 00:34:24.780
the values, but the Republican Party is still

00:34:24.780 --> 00:34:26.860
playing lip service to racial equality before

00:34:26.860 --> 00:34:33.860
the law. The Klan wants an end to lots of the

00:34:33.860 --> 00:34:36.500
government experimentation that occurred during

00:34:36.500 --> 00:34:40.039
the progressive era of say, Theodore Roosevelt

00:34:40.039 --> 00:34:43.599
and Woodrow Wilson. Even though a lot of this

00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:47.199
stuff is, a lot of these reforms are being done

00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:50.599
by middle class, white Anglo -Saxon Protestants,

00:34:50.920 --> 00:34:54.039
some are the other. They were characterized as

00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:57.920
the products of foreigners and dangerous foreign

00:34:57.920 --> 00:34:59.880
experiments, again, linking them to the kind

00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:03.159
of anti -radicalism that was very much a part

00:35:03.159 --> 00:35:05.480
of what happened after the Russian Revolution.

00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:10.880
Catholicism and its growing acceptance as Catholic

00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:13.719
immigrants advanced generally in large cities

00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:16.059
is a concern, particularly within the Democratic

00:35:16.059 --> 00:35:21.059
Party, as we'll see in 1924. But this is actually

00:35:21.059 --> 00:35:26.519
something that the Klan is against. And then

00:35:26.679 --> 00:35:29.559
any prominent Jewish person, that is something

00:35:29.559 --> 00:35:33.659
the Klan is against. The Klan is also in smaller

00:35:33.659 --> 00:35:36.480
communities going around and enforcing its own

00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:40.840
view of morality. So if an adulterous couple

00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:44.059
is understood to be carrying on, they will go

00:35:44.059 --> 00:35:50.460
in and try to provide counseling of using probably

00:35:50.460 --> 00:35:56.480
a stick to make their point there. So these are

00:35:56.480 --> 00:36:02.940
things that are going on. We're also seeing attempts

00:36:02.940 --> 00:36:06.260
to restrict immigration coming up through both

00:36:06.260 --> 00:36:11.619
views of America first. This had been on the

00:36:11.619 --> 00:36:17.519
agenda. It had been generally sponsored by kind

00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:23.519
of old line lost Republicans like Henry Cabot

00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:28.980
Lodge. constantly sponsoring all of these attempts

00:36:28.980 --> 00:36:31.639
to restrict immigration. Again, these were not

00:36:31.639 --> 00:36:35.019
very successful. In 1921, we see the first attempts

00:36:35.019 --> 00:36:41.579
at restricting immigration. In 1924, we really

00:36:41.579 --> 00:36:45.619
see the notions of America first and immigration

00:36:45.619 --> 00:36:50.380
as playing a significant part. There was an act

00:36:50.380 --> 00:36:55.880
in 1917. the Immigration Act of 1917, which was

00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:58.300
the first large one since the Chinese Exclusion

00:36:58.300 --> 00:37:00.920
Act of 1882, if the internet is to be believed.

00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:04.980
Yes. And in 1917, that imposed literacy tests

00:37:04.980 --> 00:37:08.139
on immigrants, created new categories of inadmissible

00:37:08.139 --> 00:37:10.239
persons, and barred immigration from the Asia

00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:13.480
-Pacific region. So that was 1917. But Asia -Pacific

00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:17.960
is always being, that's always being banned.

00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:21.980
Right. And then 1921, tried to address the large

00:37:21.980 --> 00:37:24.300
influx of Southern and Eastern Europeans. Right.

00:37:24.300 --> 00:37:26.579
So it's it's it's restricting their immigration.

00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:31.380
Right. Yes. And then that brings us to 1924 with

00:37:31.380 --> 00:37:35.780
Johnson Reed. And in this case, this is what

00:37:35.780 --> 00:37:39.739
makes this significant. It goes much further

00:37:39.739 --> 00:37:45.380
than anything before. It limited European immigration

00:37:45.380 --> 00:37:48.579
to one hundred and sixty five thousand people

00:37:48.579 --> 00:37:52.059
or an 80 percent reduction. in the average totals

00:37:52.059 --> 00:37:58.460
before 1914. A border patrol is also created

00:37:58.460 --> 00:38:01.920
to kind of enforce the bill. There is no limit

00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:05.320
on Latin America, Latin American immigration.

00:38:06.860 --> 00:38:10.940
This is not yet seen as a threat. And clearly

00:38:10.940 --> 00:38:14.099
the idea... And I think that has to do with,

00:38:14.099 --> 00:38:16.519
you know, kind of the Monroe Doctrine view of

00:38:16.519 --> 00:38:18.480
the Western Hemisphere was our hemisphere. Yeah.

00:38:18.670 --> 00:38:21.210
So those people were coming from our area, our

00:38:21.210 --> 00:38:23.750
sphere of influence. Yes. Right. Our area. So

00:38:23.750 --> 00:38:27.710
that was kind of our quote unquote empire. Yeah.

00:38:27.909 --> 00:38:30.190
And so you wanted them to come and go, I suppose.

00:38:30.449 --> 00:38:34.710
They were seen as still second class citizens,

00:38:34.829 --> 00:38:37.010
but second class citizens that could be counted

00:38:37.010 --> 00:38:40.269
on to be docile and not assert any rights or

00:38:40.269 --> 00:38:44.429
anything. Right. So the idea behind this bill

00:38:44.429 --> 00:38:50.539
is to protect U .S. homogeneity. Now, It's interesting

00:38:50.539 --> 00:38:53.039
to look at kind of documents and speeches that

00:38:53.039 --> 00:38:56.119
are done at the time so when I was doing the

00:38:56.119 --> 00:38:58.400
research for this I looked at kind of Coolidge's

00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:02.139
speeches and Coolidge is basically talking about

00:39:02.139 --> 00:39:04.559
making sure that the right sort of person comes

00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:07.820
to America and That is what this is about. He

00:39:07.820 --> 00:39:12.500
also talks about racial equality too which not

00:39:12.500 --> 00:39:15.420
that anybody's really doing anything about at

00:39:15.420 --> 00:39:18.369
this point, but What does he say about racial

00:39:18.369 --> 00:39:21.929
equality? He basically wants to see African Americans

00:39:21.929 --> 00:39:24.889
be allowed to exercise their full political rights

00:39:24.889 --> 00:39:27.889
throughout the country. That is his idea of racial

00:39:27.889 --> 00:39:34.369
equality. And it is just that. It is not social.

00:39:34.389 --> 00:39:35.889
It's not like you're going to be able to rent

00:39:35.889 --> 00:39:41.670
homes where you want to. Equal accommodations

00:39:41.670 --> 00:39:45.010
are not on the agenda. It is you have the right

00:39:45.010 --> 00:39:47.800
to have Enjoy these political rights, which you're

00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:51.420
not being allowed to socially equal. You're not

00:39:51.420 --> 00:39:53.840
socially equal. Right. And there are certain

00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:56.019
areas of the law that we're not going to really

00:39:56.019 --> 00:39:59.599
get into. But we are going to, you know, Coolidge

00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:02.159
was very much a proponent and this was a Republican

00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:08.920
position really until Nixon, you know, about

00:40:08.920 --> 00:40:12.760
political equality. When we what what we see

00:40:12.760 --> 00:40:18.130
happening in this period in 1924, is we see the

00:40:18.130 --> 00:40:21.150
Klan's approach to the America First demonstrated

00:40:21.150 --> 00:40:25.570
in the chaotic 1924 Democratic Convention. Now,

00:40:25.989 --> 00:40:29.110
we're used to looking at conventions on TV, if

00:40:29.110 --> 00:40:32.710
we bother at all, because they are kind of snoozefests,

00:40:34.289 --> 00:40:37.909
to being with the nominee chosen on the first

00:40:37.909 --> 00:40:41.530
ballot. Well, this took a hundred and three ballots

00:40:41.530 --> 00:40:44.750
to nominate someone and the reason was is that

00:40:44.750 --> 00:40:51.530
the Klan element of of the of the Democratic

00:40:51.530 --> 00:40:56.889
Party Backed former Treasury Secretary William

00:40:56.889 --> 00:41:01.449
Gibbs McAdoo McAdoo is will Woodrow Wilson's

00:41:01.449 --> 00:41:03.650
son -in -law, but he's also the Klan's preferred

00:41:03.650 --> 00:41:10.210
candidate and the Klan also was able to defeat

00:41:10.210 --> 00:41:19.250
an anti -Clan plank in the convention platform.

00:41:20.489 --> 00:41:24.469
This was very much a demonstration of their ability.

00:41:25.250 --> 00:41:31.230
In the end, the Clan meant that a non -entity,

00:41:31.489 --> 00:41:34.210
John W. Davis of West Virginia was chosen as

00:41:34.210 --> 00:41:37.489
a nominee. And just to add some lustre to it,

00:41:37.590 --> 00:41:40.949
William Jennings Bryan's brother was chosen as

00:41:40.949 --> 00:41:58.889
his running mate. The other candidate, the candidate

00:41:58.889 --> 00:42:03.070
that represented the other wing of the Democratic

00:42:03.070 --> 00:42:06.710
Party. was al smith and it's funny to think that

00:42:06.710 --> 00:42:09.050
someone with a name like al smith would be seen

00:42:09.050 --> 00:42:13.510
as a sort of interloper but he was catholic he

00:42:13.510 --> 00:42:17.110
was anti prohibition which was kind of a litmus

00:42:17.110 --> 00:42:25.949
test for americanism at the time but al smith

00:42:25.949 --> 00:42:28.630
would be back he was very much a self -made man

00:42:28.630 --> 00:42:31.300
but he was very much identified with Big City

00:42:31.300 --> 00:42:34.880
boss politics as a product of Tammany Hall. He

00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:37.460
was the first Catholic governor of New York,

00:42:37.460 --> 00:42:41.199
and he was very much a progressive in a lot of

00:42:41.199 --> 00:42:44.579
ways, but he was ultimately defeated in this

00:42:44.579 --> 00:42:48.639
attempt to gain the nomination. So Calvin Coolidge

00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:54.559
is re -elected, and Calvin Coolidge represents

00:42:54.559 --> 00:42:57.800
a kind of continuation of politics begun in the

00:42:57.800 --> 00:43:02.760
1920 election. You would have writers like Fitzgerald

00:43:02.760 --> 00:43:07.360
and Lewis, Sinclair Lewis, condemn the complacency,

00:43:08.019 --> 00:43:13.599
but people liked this. This was a kind of time,

00:43:14.719 --> 00:43:16.539
particularly if you weren't living on a farm

00:43:16.539 --> 00:43:19.599
and going bankrupt trying to make a living off

00:43:19.599 --> 00:43:25.099
of this. This was a good time to be alive here.

00:43:25.199 --> 00:43:28.059
There was the Coolidge Boom that was going on.

00:43:29.239 --> 00:43:31.780
Let's talk about that though, the rural problems,

00:43:32.019 --> 00:43:35.039
right? Yes. The Great Depression famously started

00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:37.239
in 1929 with the Wall Street Crash, except in

00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:39.059
rural America, it was already well underway in

00:43:39.059 --> 00:43:42.260
the 20s. Yes, 1920s. Even by the early to mid

00:43:42.260 --> 00:43:44.480
-20s, there was already a depressed economy in

00:43:44.480 --> 00:43:47.440
the rural America. Yes, I mean, when I was a

00:43:47.440 --> 00:43:49.579
teenager, I was kind of interested in the 1920s.

00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:51.400
It was kind of like you would, there would be

00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:53.989
like... books and things like that going on.

00:43:53.989 --> 00:43:56.690
We read The Great Gatsby, and I tell my dad,

00:43:56.750 --> 00:43:59.610
oh, we're studying the 1920s, and he said, what

00:43:59.610 --> 00:44:02.650
a wonderful time it was. And dad said, your great

00:44:02.650 --> 00:44:05.150
-grandparents went bankrupt during this period

00:44:05.150 --> 00:44:07.369
because they were trying to grow rice out in

00:44:07.369 --> 00:44:11.869
rural Louisiana. And this was not good because

00:44:11.869 --> 00:44:14.929
for people who were farming, they had been told

00:44:14.929 --> 00:44:18.550
to grow as much as they could during World War

00:44:18.550 --> 00:44:22.280
I. They took on loans. that they could not afford

00:44:22.280 --> 00:44:25.599
and then when prices collapsed after World War

00:44:25.599 --> 00:44:28.940
I, they were kind of left high and dry and there

00:44:28.940 --> 00:44:34.900
was no solution for this. There was no bailout,

00:44:35.019 --> 00:44:37.300
there was no concern about this. This sort of

00:44:37.300 --> 00:44:41.099
happened underground. It was something that people

00:44:41.099 --> 00:44:45.880
knew about was happening. It was fueling the

00:44:45.880 --> 00:44:51.000
increased urbanization of America because opportunities

00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:54.820
with the family farm were sort of evaporating

00:44:54.820 --> 00:44:58.420
but this was something that that was that was

00:44:58.420 --> 00:45:03.519
not necessarily. They did not share farmers did

00:45:03.519 --> 00:45:06.800
not share in the prosperity of the cool age years

00:45:06.800 --> 00:45:09.800
so from american first point of view things are

00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:12.360
going the wrong direction right yeah because

00:45:12.360 --> 00:45:15.679
the yeoman farmer that whole lifestyle is on

00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:18.139
the run economically. People are moving to the

00:45:18.139 --> 00:45:20.159
cities which are these dens of inequities. Yes

00:45:20.159 --> 00:45:22.579
an equity, right? So how is that playing out

00:45:22.579 --> 00:45:26.260
them in the 20s? It's not playing out. It's it's

00:45:26.260 --> 00:45:29.639
it's but people are doubling down on these notions

00:45:29.639 --> 00:45:34.360
that that there is a way to bring back to make

00:45:34.360 --> 00:45:41.320
America great again and morally great and remove

00:45:41.320 --> 00:45:44.969
from these corrupting influences. That's the

00:45:44.969 --> 00:45:47.050
mindset that's going on. That's definitely the

00:45:47.050 --> 00:45:49.130
mindset for someone like Calvin Coolidge. And

00:45:49.130 --> 00:45:50.989
that's by going back to small towns and farms?

00:45:51.289 --> 00:45:54.090
Yes, which are disappearing. But at the same

00:45:54.090 --> 00:45:59.150
time, in the 20s, Coolidge is letting the titans

00:45:59.150 --> 00:46:00.650
of industry do whatever they want, pretty much,

00:46:00.730 --> 00:46:02.489
right? Yes, the business of America is business.

00:46:02.769 --> 00:46:07.110
So square that circle for me. History is not

00:46:07.110 --> 00:46:12.119
always consistent ideologically. So, to give

00:46:12.119 --> 00:46:14.420
us an idea of the strength of the Ku Klux Klan

00:46:14.420 --> 00:46:18.079
in the mid -1920s, it's useful to remember that

00:46:18.079 --> 00:46:21.340
on August 8, 1925, the Klan held a major parade

00:46:21.340 --> 00:46:24.460
in Washington, D .C. The Klan spent a great deal

00:46:24.460 --> 00:46:26.559
of time planning this parade. When they arrived,

00:46:26.860 --> 00:46:29.179
the press at the time noted that some of their

00:46:29.179 --> 00:46:31.420
cars had signs and placards on them saying that

00:46:31.420 --> 00:46:35.480
this car contains 100 % Americans. So, you can

00:46:35.480 --> 00:46:38.059
draw your own conclusions about that. The route

00:46:38.059 --> 00:46:40.280
was along pennsylvania avenue northwest and it

00:46:40.280 --> 00:46:42.400
went from the u .s. capital to the treasury building

00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:44.739
the treasury bill is next to the white house.

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:47.760
Thirty thousand clansmen clanswomen participated.

00:46:48.440 --> 00:46:50.760
In this parade wearing their full white outfits

00:46:50.760 --> 00:46:52.820
some of them had multi colored outfits for whatever

00:46:52.820 --> 00:46:54.639
their various ranks and where are they different

00:46:54.639 --> 00:46:57.079
state chapters involved in county chapters and

00:46:57.079 --> 00:46:59.360
whatever and they did not wear their hoods they

00:46:59.360 --> 00:47:01.199
were there are conical hats but not their hoods

00:47:01.199 --> 00:47:03.539
the client said march proud and show on your

00:47:03.539 --> 00:47:07.139
face you need to hide who you are. in plain view.

00:47:07.400 --> 00:47:10.019
The parade lasted three and a half hours, and

00:47:10.019 --> 00:47:12.980
it was by no means universally popular among

00:47:12.980 --> 00:47:15.000
DC residents, shall we say. There was opposition

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:16.940
to it happening. But nonetheless, it drew 150

00:47:16.940 --> 00:47:19.760
,000 spectators. And it culminated in a rally

00:47:19.760 --> 00:47:23.340
where the Klan intended to have their quote unquote

00:47:23.340 --> 00:47:26.400
great orators come up and give speeches. However,

00:47:26.619 --> 00:47:28.860
a storm hit as they got started, and that kind

00:47:28.860 --> 00:47:30.920
of broke up all the speech making. So they didn't

00:47:30.920 --> 00:47:33.599
get to do that part, broke up their rally. They

00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:36.000
didn't get to do that. But the next evening August

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:39.340
9th They held a cross burning and initiation

00:47:39.340 --> 00:47:41.460
ceremony across the river in Arlington, Virginia

00:47:41.460 --> 00:47:45.139
and this In the ceremony that an 80 foot tall

00:47:45.139 --> 00:47:47.760
cross with 30 foot cross beam on it that they

00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:51.880
burned they Had 200 new inductees into the clan

00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:56.579
that they swore in and that event drew 75 ,000

00:47:56.579 --> 00:47:58.800
attendees And the local police noted that it

00:47:58.800 --> 00:48:00.960
was the largest crowd in arlington to their knowledge

00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:03.360
since the burial of the unknown soldier at the

00:48:03.360 --> 00:48:05.880
tomb in nineteen twenty one so there were cland

00:48:05.880 --> 00:48:07.940
parades in nineteen twenty six in nineteen twenty

00:48:07.940 --> 00:48:10.780
seven as well. Neither of them was as big as

00:48:10.780 --> 00:48:13.559
the nineteen twenty five parade there also was

00:48:13.559 --> 00:48:16.340
a dc parade in nineteen twenty eight. I may have

00:48:16.340 --> 00:48:19.179
been praised after that i don't know but it's

00:48:19.179 --> 00:48:21.019
true that clan membership started to drop off

00:48:21.019 --> 00:48:23.559
around nineteen thirty but it would surge again

00:48:23.559 --> 00:48:27.269
do you know when civil rights. It surged again

00:48:27.269 --> 00:48:30.670
in the 1960s and why because of civil rights

00:48:30.670 --> 00:48:32.429
civil rights movement. So that's when the clan

00:48:32.429 --> 00:48:34.590
started to come back again That's like the third

00:48:34.590 --> 00:48:37.610
clan. It's the second clan again, but it's a

00:48:37.610 --> 00:48:40.449
resurgence of that of that Okay, it never went

00:48:40.449 --> 00:48:44.929
away. It stayed around but it Wasn't as popular

00:48:44.929 --> 00:48:47.610
from about 1930 until the 1960s as it had been

00:48:47.610 --> 00:48:52.829
in the 1920s. I would like to close with 1927

00:48:52.829 --> 00:48:57.800
before we take up what's take up the future career

00:48:57.800 --> 00:49:02.599
of America First. One event that was very significant,

00:49:03.280 --> 00:49:07.599
Charles Lindbergh, very handsome guy, very well

00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:09.719
connected, which is something most people didn't

00:49:09.719 --> 00:49:13.059
realize, and he only got more better connected,

00:49:14.059 --> 00:49:17.880
flew across the Atlantic and he became instantly

00:49:17.880 --> 00:49:21.539
the most famous person on the planet. This was

00:49:21.539 --> 00:49:25.949
well covered and Lindbergh was probably If people

00:49:25.949 --> 00:49:31.210
had a hero, it was probably him. This is also

00:49:31.210 --> 00:49:35.889
the year that Fred Trump, son of a German former

00:49:35.889 --> 00:49:41.269
brothel owner, gets arrested at a Klu Klux Klan

00:49:41.269 --> 00:49:45.349
fascist rally in Queens, New York. So at that

00:49:45.349 --> 00:49:48.789
point, we shall come back to some of these issues

00:49:48.789 --> 00:49:54.429
next time. That's it for this episode of the

00:49:54.429 --> 00:49:57.230
United States of Amnesia. Thank you for listening.

00:49:57.949 --> 00:50:00.090
We hope you learned something and we hope you

00:50:00.090 --> 00:50:02.190
discovered new ways of looking at things you

00:50:02.190 --> 00:50:05.309
had already heard or thought about, or perhaps

00:50:05.309 --> 00:50:08.389
hadn't heard about. If you enjoyed it, that's

00:50:08.389 --> 00:50:12.389
great. If we made you mad, that's okay too. Either

00:50:12.389 --> 00:50:17.250
way, email us at USA .Amnesia at gmail .com and

00:50:17.250 --> 00:50:20.440
let us know what you think. Also, let us know

00:50:20.440 --> 00:50:22.659
about anything you think we missed or got wrong.

00:50:22.900 --> 00:50:25.800
We'd like to know about that too. And of course,

00:50:26.579 --> 00:50:28.619
please like and subscribe and let your friends

00:50:28.619 --> 00:50:32.340
and neighbors know about us. We also have a website.

00:50:32.579 --> 00:50:39.500
It's www .usofamnesia .com. For Marshall, Mike

00:50:39.500 --> 00:50:41.800
and myself. Till next time.