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That industrialization tightened the net of poverty around America's workers was even admitted by corporate leaders, such as Andrew Carnegie, who noted "the contrast between the palace of the millionaire and the cottage of the laborer."
88. Comment on the involvement of the US in World War I.
When war erupted in 1914, the United States attempted to remain neutral and was a proponent for the rights of neutral states. Isolationist foreign policy was encouraged by Congress's apprehensions about giving other countries a political door into US policies and the cultural melting pot of the United States' population. In spite of these factors, the United States did enter World War I, as a result of several events.
Prior to 1915, German subs had a policy of warning and allowing time to evacuate ships carrying passengers before they sank them. However, in 1915 the Lusitania was sunk without a warning, killing over 120 Americans. One year later, the Sussex was sunk by German U-boats and American citizens were outraged at these direct violations of their neutral rights at sea. At this point, a small percentage of Americans, including presidential hopeful Teddy Roosevelt, demanded "immediate warfare."
April 6, 1917, Congress officially declared war. President Wilson, along with many Americans, justified their involvement as "an act of high principle and idealism. The American army was a force of only 200,000 soldiers. Millions of men had to be drafted, trained, and shipped across the submarine-infested Atlantic. A full year passed before the U.S. Army was ready to make a significant contribution to the war effort. In October Germany asked for peace, and an armistice was declared on November 11. In 1919 Wilson himself went to Versailles to help draft the peace treaty. Although he was cheered by crowds in the Allied capitals, at home his international outlook was less popular. His idea of a League of Nations was included in the Treaty of Versailles, but the U.S. Senate did not ratify the treaty, America returned to a policy of Isolationism after the war.
89. Translate the expression "Prohibition Law" and comment on it. Сухий закон.
Prohibition was any of several periods during which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or illegal. Between 1919 and 1933 throughout the United States. National Prohibition reduced the consumption of alcoholic beverages by Americans by 50 percent. However, alcoholic drinks were still widely available at speakeasies and other underground drinking establishments. The disreputable speakeasies gained their name from the fact that a patron had to "speak easy" and convince the doorman to let them in. His job was to keep out anyone that looked like they were dry agents; agents had no forced-entry rights at all, and so could not break into a joint if the doorman refused them entry. Many people also kept private bars to serve their guests. Large quantities of alcohol were smuggled in from Canada and the French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Legal and illegal home brewing was popular during Prohibition. Limited amounts of wine and hard cider were permitted to be made at home.
Bootlegging is a slang term to describe smuggling (see Bootleg). Most commonly the word refers specificaly to the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages on which federal or state excise taxes have not been paid. The term is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to making untaxed alcoholic products; yet, that is "moonshining", not bootlegging. Most bootleg liquor is not "home-made" by a moonshiner but, instead, bottled by professional distillers.
90. Comment on the term "Red Scare". Страх перед червоною загрозою.
The "Red Summer": A series of bombings in June of 1919 sparked the FBI to more aggressive actions. The mayor of Seattle received a homemade bomb in the mail on April 28, which was defused. Senator Thomas R. Hardwick received a bomb the next day, which blew off the hands of his servant who had discovered it, severely burning him and his wife. The following morning, a New York City postal worker discovered sixteen similar packages addressed to well-known people of the time, including oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. On June 2, a bomb partially destroyed the front of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer's house.
Damage done by the bomb on A. Mitchell Palmer's houseIn the Wall Street bombing on September 16, 1920, 100 pounds (45 kg) of dynamite with 500 pounds (230 kg) of fragmented steel exploded in front of the offices of the J.P. Morgan Company, killing 40 people and injuring 300 others. Anarchists have long been suspected as initiating the attack, which followed a number of letter bombs that targeted Morgan himself. However, the identity of the bombers has never been determined.
In response to the bombings, the public flared up in a surge of patriotism, often involving violent hatred of communists, radicals, and foreigners.
The term "Red Scare" has been applied to two distinct periods of intense anti-Communism in United States history: first from 1917 to 1920, and second from the late 1940s through the mid-1950s. Both periods were characterized by widespread fears of Communist influence on U.S. society and Communist infiltration of the U.S. government. These fears spurred aggressive investigation and (particularly during the first period) jailing of persons associated with communist and socialist ideology or political movements.
During the late 1920s through the 1930s, anti-communism in the U.S. died down, especially after the Soviet Union became an ally with the U.S. during World War II. As soon as the war ended, however, another Red Scare began in the McCarthy era from 1948 to the mid-1950s.
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