Chapter 31 Terms and Definitions

Red Scare: A wave of fear over Bolshevism and radicalism that swept the U.S. in 1919–1920 following the Russian Revolution and a series of anarchist bombings.
Palmer Raids: Roundups of thousands of suspected radicals, socialists, and immigrants ordered by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer during the Red Scare, often without warrants.
Warren G. Harding: Republican president elected in 1920 on a promise of "return to normalcy"; his administration was later marred by the Teapot Dome scandal.
"Return to Normalcy": Harding's 1920 campaign promise to move away from Wilsonian idealism, reform, and wartime sacrifice.
Teapot Dome Scandal: A corruption scandal in which Interior Secretary Albert Fall secretly leased federal oil reserves in exchange for bribes during Harding's administration.
Calvin Coolidge: Vice president who succeeded Harding in 1923 and won election in his own right in 1924, epitomizing the decade's pro-business philosophy.
Emergency Quota Act: An 1921 law that sharply limited immigration using national quotas, an early step toward broader restriction.
National Origins Act: An 1924 law that further restricted immigration through discriminatory quotas favoring northern and western Europeans.
Sacco and Vanzetti: Italian immigrant anarchists controversially convicted of murder and executed in 1927, a case widely seen as tainted by nativist and anti-radical prejudice.
Ku Klux Klan (1920s revival): A reorganized Klan that targeted Catholics, Jews, and immigrants as well as Black Americans, claiming millions of members before scandal discredited its leaders.
Eighteenth Amendment: Ratified in 1919, it banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages nationwide, launching Prohibition.
Volstead Act: The federal law that provided for enforcement of Prohibition under the Eighteenth Amendment.
Speakeasies: Illegal, secretive bars that flourished during Prohibition, especially in cities.
Al Capone: Notorious Chicago gangster who built a criminal empire around bootlegging illegal alcohol during Prohibition.
Henry Ford: Automobile manufacturer whose moving assembly line made the Model T affordable for millions, transforming American transportation and industry.
Harlem Renaissance: A flowering of Black literary, artistic, and musical achievement centered in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s.
Jazz Age: A nickname for the 1920s, reflecting the widespread popularity of jazz music pioneered by Black musicians.
Scopes Trial: The 1925 "Monkey Trial" in Tennessee, in which teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution, dramatizing the clash between fundamentalism and modernism.
Fundamentalism: A religious movement insisting on the literal truth of the Bible, which clashed with modern science and Darwinian evolution in the 1920s.
Nineteenth Amendment: Ratified in 1920, it guaranteed women the right to vote nationwide.
Flappers: Young women of the 1920s who flouted traditional Victorian norms through bobbed hair, short skirts, and public smoking and drinking.