America in the twentieth century

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МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РФ

Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования

Чувашский государственный университет имени И.Н. Ульянова

Факультет иностранных языков

Кафедра романо-германских языков

КУРСОВАЯ РАБОТА

по дисциплине:

История Великобритании и США

на тему:

America in the twentieth century

Выполнила

Студентка группы 1А-13

Алексеева Анастасия Сергеевна

Научный руководитель

Шиканова Анастасия Николаевна

г. Чебоксары-2014



CONTENTS

Introduction

CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF ECONOMY OF THE USA IN THE 20 CENTURY

1.1 Reconstruction through the Roaring Twenties(1865-1929)

1.2 Great Depression through World War II(1929-1945)

1.3 Into the Modern Era (1950s - Present)

CHAPTER II. SOCIAL LIFE OF THE USA IN THE 20 CENTURY

2.1 U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote

2.2 Racial discrimination

Conclusion

Bibliography

References



Introduction

This course paper is dedicated to the history of America in the 20 century. The main attention is paid to economic and social life of that time. In this work economic life was divided into three periods: the Roaring Twenies, the Great

Depression during World War II and economic situation of the country after World War II to present. Main events and people's position of that time were researched.

Social life of America in the 20 century was especially strained. There were a lot of social movements and demonstrations.People tried to prove their rights. Women fought for the right to vote, because in that time women were deprived of the that right. They could not take part in political life and be elected to Congress. Racial discrimination was the second important problem. The native population did not respect black people and immigrants. They could not get a decent work and thei rights were violated. People have long fight for their rights. It affected on the history and left a big mark.

The aim of this work is to consider the history, major events of economic and social life of America in the 20 century .

The aim is revealed through solving the following problems: to analyze the economic situation of the country from 1865 to present, to determine major events, which were connected with economy during the 20 century, to find out the location of women and immigrants.

The research methods used in this work are working with historical literature of foreign and Russian authors and comparing information of the main events during the 20 century in American history.

Different sources were used while making this research. Mainly the Internet resources were used in this course paper. Books written by famous historians were also used.



CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF ECONOMY OF THE USA IN THE 20 CENTURY

1.1 Reconstruction through the Roaring Twenties(1865-1929)

Following the war, the South lay in economic shambles, and the slave-supported “aristocracy” was dissolved as plantations were divided up. Tenant-style farming or sharecropping became the predominant form of southern agriculture, particularly among the recently freed slaves. Indeed, those freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 were hit hardest by the chaos of the southern economy, and the wildest ambitions of Reconstruction to improve conditions withered into a divisive era of segregation.

By the Civil War, already a third of the national economy was powered by manufacturing, most of which was in the North. Following the war, the American economy was driven by innovation and invention that spurred tremendous growth of the industrial infrastructure. In short, rapid development--and much of it a result of advances in mass production. Individual business enterprise became the backbone of the United States economy. It was a “Gilded Age” in America, built by entrepreneurs in manufacturing and commerce, which outpaced the economic contribution of agriculture by the 1880s.

The era was not without its economic recessions. Depressions of 1873 and 1893 were actually caused in large part by unrestrained development and financial over-speculation, as is true of even the most recent recessions. The Panics devastated small businesses and spiked unemployment rates.

In the economic history of the United States, the early twentieth century remains critical for major advancements in technology. The steam- and water-powered economy received a jolt by the spread of modern electricity, and the advent of the automobile. Entering late into World War I, the United States was primed to shift its industry and vast amounts of raw materials to wartime production. America mobilized not only millions of soldiers, but an economy to support their needs abroad. As during the Civil War, the question of financing the military became a focus of the federal government.

The 1917 War Revenue Act raised taxes while the government sold bonds to the general public and the newly founded Federal Reserve. At the time, America was clinging to a gold standard to back its currency, so avoiding simply printing additional money was meant to help preserve the standard, while preventing inflation. However, the war altered the American economy in many ways. Taxes were lowered after the war, but remained higher than before it. The Federal Reserve assumed a more dominant role as New York became the financial center of the world. The federal government, in short, showed it could be a dominant force in the American economy. Economic prosperity during the “Roaring” 1920s was driven by post-war consumerism. When the decade came to a crashing halt, a dominant role is what the United States government would be obligated to play. [12]

The Roaring 20s was marked by significant economic growth and an abundance of wealth and spending, which played a major part in defining the culture of that decade. However, the Roaring 20s did not begin on a high note regarding the economy. America was transitioning from back to a time of peace after World War One, and also several strikes had a harsh impact on both laborers and the economy--such as the strike of the American steel industry. Economists describe the state of the economy from 1920-1921 as a depression.However, by 1922 the economy experienced a turnaround and steadily experienced rapid growth and expansion up until the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

One particular factor that affected economics in the 1920s was the popularization of different inventions of that decade, such as the radio, radio stations, and the automobile. Many different household appliance products also came onto the market, such as vacuum cleaners, electric irons, and fans. The stocks of these companies in particularly were a significant factor in the overall stock market boom during the 1920s. Moreover, the growth of the use of electricity also contributed to advances in manufacturing, allowing for significantly faster production. Mass production made these new inventions more affordable and accessible to the average American family. In summary, the growth of all these different industries led to many new jobs; and this factor, combined with the increased incomes of the 1920s, resulted in a greater amount of consumer spending and rapid economic growth. [13]

1.2 Great Depression through World War II(1929-1945)

Тhe two most influential economic events of the twentieth century in America are the Great Depression and World War II. While the precise causes of the Great Depression are both numerous and challenging to pinpoint, the economic effects were disastrous. “The formal advent of depression occurred in October 1929, when the New York stock market crashed. Stock values tumbled, as investors quickly lost confidence in issues that had been pushed ridiculously high. United States banks, which had depended heavily on their stock investments, rapidly echoed the financial crisis, and many institutions failed, dragging their depositors along with them. Even before this collapse, Americans had begun to call back earlier loans to Europe. Yet the European credit structure depended extensively on American loans, which had fueled some industrial expansion but also less productive investments such as German reparation payments and the construction of fancy town halls and other amenities. In Europe, as in the United States, many commercial enterprises existed on the basis not of real production power but of continued speculation. When one piece of the speculative spiral was withdrawn, the whole edifice quickly collapsed. Key bank failures in Austria and Germany followed the American crisis. Throughout most of the industrial West, investment funds dried up as creditors went bankrupt or tried to pull in their horns.

With investment receding, industrial production quickly began to fall, beginning in the industries that produced capital goods and extending quickly to consumer products fields. Falling production - levels dropped by as much as one-third by 1932 - meant falling employment and lower wages, which in turn withdrew still more demand from the economy and led to further hardship. The existing weakness of some markets, such as the farm sector or the nonindustrial world, was exacerbated as demand for foods and minerals plummeted. New and appalling problems developed among workers - now out of jobs or suffering from reduced hours and reduced pay - as well as the middle classes. The depression, in sum, fed on itself, growing steadily worse from 1929 to 1933. Even countries initially less hard hit, such as France and Italy, saw themselves drawn into the vortex by 1931.

In itself, the Great Depression was not entirely unprecedented. Previous periods had seen slumps triggered by bank failures and over speculation, yielding several years of falling production, unemployment, and real hardship. But the intensity of the Great Depression had no precedent in the brief history of industrial societies. Its duration was also unprecedented; in many countries full recovery came only after a decade, and only with the forced production schedules provoked by World War II. The depression was also more marked than its antecedents because it came on the heels of so much other distress - the economic hardships of war, for example, and the catastrophic inflation of the 1920s - and because it caught most governments utterly unprepared to cope.

The depression was more, of course, than an economic event. It reached into countless lives, creating hardship and tension that would be recalled even as the crisis itself eased. Loss of earnings, loss of work, or simply fears that loss would come could devastate people at all social levels. [14] At its peak, unemployment was nearly 25 percent of the workforce as hundreds of banks failed and hundreds of millions of deposits were lost.

Under the watch of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, America launched a vast economic stimulus program called the “New Deal.” The program was designed to rebuild the confidence lost during the Depression and put people back to work through government-sponsored works projects. The new Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation lured people back to banks while the Public Works Administration provided vast tracts of inexpensive housing. The Federal Housing Administration provided government underwriting for mortgages, rebuilding the mortgage market in the United States. It was 1938, the year the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae, was born. In short, the New Deal vastly expanded the role of the federal government in the American economy.

A close relationship between the private sector of the economy and the American government was developed as a result of the Great Depression. That relationship would continue into World War II, when the nation's industrial sector was mobilized and coordinated by the government to contribute products directly to the war effort. The gross national product of the United States increased over 50 percent between 1941 and 1945 and unemployment hit its lowest point ever at 1.2 percent. America, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly urban as populations shifted to cities and agriculture became more mechanized and absorbed by big business as a result of wartime technology.

1.3 Into the Modern Era (1950s - Present)

While portions of Asia and Europe lay in literal ruins, the United States continued to grow after the war, both in population and economically. The postwar “baby boom” was one of many results of the American military returning home. Most significantly, consumer spending and numbers of consumers increased substantially. The American “middle class” became dominant. Suburbs exploded with the passing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. By now the United States was the richest nation in the world. As a result, America was developing an extensive infrastructure to match its wealth. The completion of the Interstate Highway System remains the largest public works project in the history of the world. Finally, the strong interrelationship between the government and the ever-expanding industrial sector helped establish the United States as the economic superpower of the world going into the Cold War--a dominance that would be cemented with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The middle of the twentieth century saw a brief expansion of labor unions and then labor policy. Most important to American workers were expanded labor rights regulated by the federal government, as well as the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. President Lyndon Johnson's “Great Society” further expanded and guaranteed access to opportunity by minorities in America while Congress helped support new federal spending in the form of programs such as Medicare and Food Stamps. Economic trouble largely resulting from the Vietnam War and high domestic spending plagued the economy in the 1970s as the government grappled with inflation and shockwaves from global crises that drove oil prices and consumer discontent high.

As president from 1977 to 1981, Jimmy Carter was hit hard by such discontent as the trade deficit increased dramatically, inflation hit its highest point since World War I, and unemployment had climbed to 9 percent. With the country in another recession, President Ronald Reagan was subsequently elected on promises of smaller government as well as lower taxes and increased deregulation. But Reagan did not also decrease public spending. The result of increased expenditures but decreased taxes was significant increases in both the budget deficit and the national debt as the U.S. government was forced to borrow heavily from other countries.

A recession of the early 1990s lingering from the stock market crash of 1987 was drawn out by high oil prices stemming from the Persian Gulf War, but consumer confidence and spending helped keep the economy afloat. The economy of the 1990s was driven by the rise of technology and the Internet, whose companies made startling gains on the stock market. Personal and business technology alike broadened and streamlined access to the global marketplace. Economic optimism was based upon high-tech “dot.com” industries who built their success from low interest rates and enthusiastic investors during an era of low unemployment and low inflation.



CHAPTER II. SOCIAL LIFE OF THE USA IN THE 20 CENTURY

2.1 U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote

In 1890, the radical and moderate wings of the woman suffrage movement in the United States merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. This organization's first president was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, longtime women's rights champion and social activist. Her leadership in the cause of woman suffrage was nearing an end, however, and younger women were beginning to replace the aging stalwarts.

Although not yet generally accepted, woman suffrage was no longer considered a fringe idea. The movement for women's voting rights had influential friends in the U.S. Congress as well as in state legislatures. This progress is attributable to the efforts of such veterans as Stanton (president of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1869 to 1889), her close friend, cofounder and also president of the NWSA, Susan B. Anthony, and older allies such as Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone. A younger generation was ready to advance the movement, confident that a growing social consciousness would aid their cause.

The ever-growing numbers of women moving into higher education and into the job market found enlarged horizons and new experiences and contacts. They developed programs for social reform as well as for personal development. The General Federation of Women's Clubs, formed in 1890, created a network of intelligent, capable women who were able and willing to tackle serious problems such as low wages, overcrowded tenements, and poor health conditions.

Carrie Chapman Catt served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900 to 1904 and again from 1915 to 1920. She and Anna Howard Shaw, president of the NAWSA from 1904 to 1915, epitomized the new leadership in the movement for women's rights. They stressed tighter organization, cohesion, and propaganda as tools with which to broaden the movement's support. Catt, in particular, had a keen eye for detail and was responsible for recruiting and training suffragists. She proposed that suffragists do a systematic study of government, examining existing laws to note the unjust ones and formulate ways to get them changed. Catt also proposed more visibility for the movement, suggesting that members court the press and establish a finance committee to ensure a steady flow of funds.

Larger and better unified than previous organizations, the NAWSA of the early 1900's shifted the movement's arguments, putting less stress on equal rights and more on the good that women could do for society as a whole. The idea of female benevolence would reach a wider audience, the suffragists argued. They were helped considerably by the fact that their agenda meshed well with the Progressives' pre-World War I program of reform. The groups shared the same goals for society--including an end to poverty, injustice, and corruption--so they cooperated in pressuring legislators for reforms such as cleaning up slums and sweatshops, expanding educational opportunities, and ousting corrupt political bosses.

Antisuffrage arguments took on new zeal between 1890 and 1919, as foes of the movement defended the status quo by depicting woman suffrage as an attack on traditional values and beliefs. The most basic arguments relied on the notions that the sexes have separate spheres and that the two must complement each other if society is to remain orderly. Foes of suffrage insisted that granting women voting rights would harm family and society by pitting wives against husbands, disturbing the natural order. Also, they asserted, women's purity and natural moral superiority would suffer from exposure to the battles and tensions of politics.

Suffragists responded to critics by shifting their emphasis to the altruism expected of women. The women's vote, they said, would purify politics and effect reforms nationwide. As one historian has expressed it, the vote would not violate woman's sphere but rather "would consummate motherhood." Capitalizing on the traditional view of women as morally superior to men and on domestic ideals, the suffragists succeeded in broadening their support base.

In 1912, the Progressive Party endorsed woman suffrage, although presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt was a lukewarm advocate of this plank in the party's platform. Another victory came in 1914, when the General Federation of Women's Clubs passed a resolution supporting woman suffrage, giving the movement mainstream acceptability and respectability.

State campaigns were chalking up victories as well, particularly in the West. Anna Shaw, president of the NAWSA, focused the group's energies and funds on state campaigns with gratifying results. From 1910 to 1914, seven western states gave women the vote, and a new stage of the struggle began. Shaw's successor as president of the NAWSA, Catt, concentrated on the federal level, working to win presidential and congressional support. Differing ideas of how to get that support sidetracked some of that effort.

Alice Paul, a political activist with a master's degree in sociology and an education in political science and economics, took leadership of the NAWSA's Congressional Committee in 1912. Its purpose was to lobby for suffrage on the federal level. More so than Catt or Shaw, Paul was adept at garnering publicity. The charismatic leader soon gathered a large number of young suffragists around her and formed the militant Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage.

Many older members of the NAWSA were annoyed by these tactics, and in 1916 Paul and her group left the NAWSA to found the National Woman's Party. One of their first public acts was to attack Woodrow Wilson and the Democrats, as the party in power, for denying women the vote. Paul and her followers picketed the White House and went on hunger strikes, both moves calculated to win attention and sympathy. Catt and the NAWSA avoided these tactics, not wanting to alienate friends in both political parties.

Both the militants and the moderates used World War I to add to the strength of the suffrage movement. When the United States entered the war in 1917, the NAWSA offered endorsement. Members sold war bonds and organized benefits for the troops, as did millions of other women nationwide. Catt argued that the fight for democracy at home was a matter of justice. Women were contributing immensely to the war effort and deserved a "reward."

Catt hoped to get a suffrage amendment through Congress, and her hopes rose after Wilson appeared at the NAWSA convention in June, 1916. While not committing himself, Wilson indicated that he saw success coming if the women persevered. Some of that success came when several states granted women the right to vote in presidential and municipal elections.

More pressure was brought on Wilson and Congress by the NAWSA and the Congressional Union's repeated charge that the United States was not truly a democracy as long as it denied a large percentage of citizens the vote. Embarrassed, Wilson urged the Senate to pass a woman suffrage amendment, calling it "vital" to winning the war. Catt was ecstatic when, on November 6, 1917, New York State passed a suffrage bill. She thought this would force Congress's hand, but it took several more months before Congress acted.

On January 10, 1918, the House of Representatives voted on the suffrage amendment. It was a close call: The amendment passed by a vote of 274 to 134, barely gaining the required two-thirds majority. The Senate would prove to be an even tougher battleground. Despite Wilson's personal appearance and plea before the Senate on September 30, 1918, the Senate voted down the amendment. On February 10, 1919, another vote was taken and again suffrage failed--by a single vote. Catt was so sure that the next vote would bring victory that she began organizing the group that would become the NAWSA's successor, the League of Women Voters. She was determined that women should be educated in how to use the vote so that they would be capable of full political participation.

On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives voted on woman suffrage; the vote was 304 for and 89 against. The Senate debate began on June 3, and late on June 4 the vote was taken: 56 for and 25 against. Victory had finally come.

Within the next four months, seventeen states ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, almost half the number needed. Catt and the NAWSA executive board were so certain of success that they dissolved the NAWSA in February, 1920. At the final meeting, Catt gave a moving tribute to the pioneers who laid the groundwork for the final victory, naming in particular Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw.

On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. Catt, in Washington, D.C., that day, was received at the White House by President and Mrs. Wilson. In New York the next day, she told a crowd of cheering women that they were no longer "wards of the nation." Rather, they were now "free and equal citizens." The long struggle was over. [15]

2.2 Racial discrimination

During the 1920's , racial tensions in American society reached boiling point. New non-protestant immigrants like Jews and Catholics had been arrived in their masses from south-east Europe since early on in the century. Together with Orientals, Mexicans and the Black population these minorities suffered the most at the hands of those concerned with preserving the long established White Anglo-Saxon Protestant values that were an integral part of American life. Prejudice and racism reared its ugly head in many areas of society, with people showing a tolerance for racist views in the media, literature and towards organisations like the Ku Klux Klan. Also the language, living and working conditions and Government legislation that ethnic minorities were subjected to is further evidence that the twenties was an openly discriminatory decade. It was also during this period of grave hostility directed at ethnic groups that America's 'open door' attitude of "Give me your tired, your poor" towards immigration, officially became a part of history.

In the 1920's Anti-Immigration Organisations that had been founded in the latter parts of the first decade of the twentieth century began to receive much larger and an increasingly influential following. The Immigration Restriction League was one such group, it claimed to have 'scientific' evidence that the new immigrants from Southeast Europe were racially inferior and therefor posed to threaten the supremacy of the USA. They believed strongly in WASP values and certainly did not wish to see them become polluted by other religions from minorities like Catholics and Jews. This Social-Darwinist belief was not just popular with the masses, but it's appeal spread to people of considerable eminence. For example the principals of important American universities like Harvard, Stanford and Chicago were numbered among the Leagues supporters. Another similar organisation looking to conserve the American way if life was the American Protective Association. A leading member, William J.H. Tranyor spoke for their cause when arguing against giving the vote to "every ignorant Ago and Pole, Hun and Slav" and all other "criminal riffraff of Europe" that arrive on Americas shores. During the 1920's the growth and continually support of anti-immigration fraternities from the American people serves to highlight the increasing resentment and concern over foreign influences. The influential author Madison Grant, whose book "The Passing of a Great Race" became a best seller in its time, echoes such sentiments. Grant, another Social-Darwinist, called for absolute racial segregation, immigration restrictions and even forced sterilisation of "worthless race types". In his book he described ethnic minorities as "human flotsam" and that the "whole tone of American life, social, moral and political has been lowered and vulgarised by them". Madison Grant, together with authors that shared a similar perspective on ethnic groups, influenced many people in America, the fact that this type of literature was popular shows this.

The language that native-born Americans adopted to describe those of ethnic minorities can be used as an indicator of their dislike of them. To begin with nicknames for minorities were only mildly abusive, but as time went on the terms became uglier. For example the term used to describe a person of Latin background was "Spic", said to originate from the expression "No Spic Inglis". Also Italians had a number of names, 'Dogo', Guinea, and 'Greaser'. Other nicknames for minorities that became popular in the twenties were kike, Chink, Polack, Hun and numerous others. Black people around this time were still being referred to as either Negroes or more commonly Niggers. Although these colloquial terms are fairly mild compared with those used today, their sheer presence in American vocabulary at the time tells us that people were becoming much more intolerant of the ethnic minorities they encountered.

In reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, came widespread fears that a similar communist revolt might sweep through America. This so called 'Red Scare' was the accumulative belief that it was the foreign influences, especially those immigrants from eastern Europe that were to blame for the 'Bolshevik inspired' incidents throughout the USA, such as labour strikes and riots. On the 20th January 1920, at the height of the Red Scare, the Justice Department co-oridinated federal marshals and local police in raids on the homes of suspected communists and anarchists. With no search warrants, they arrested more than 6000 people, grossly violating civil rights and simple decency. These "Palmer Raids" named after the then Attorney General, Mitchell Palmer, who arranged them, reflected the paranoiac mood within the nation towards foreigners. Even though the Red Scare died out by the end of 1920, it did leave an acrid aftertaste on the USA. Throughout the twenties there was an upsurge of nationalism with the term 100 % Americanism coined at this time and more people began to clamour for tougher restrictions on immigration. For example in a letter to the New York Times in 1922, the writer stated "America for Americans, I say" and in referring to the immigrant issue, "Keep 'em out, at least until folks here get a better life.

The foreign connections of so many radicals strengthened the belief that the state was in danger from 'alien' influences and celebrated cases like that of Sacco and Vanzetti merely enforced this idea. They were two Italian immigrants, arrested for robbing a paymaster in Massachusetts on the 15th April 1920. The evidence against them was extremely weak, but they were found guilty and sentenced to death in 1921. The judge was openly hostile to the defendants, calling them "those anarchist bastards" in private and made it clear that they must be guilty because of their national origin. Many in rural America supported the executions, they believed that cities were full of foreigners determined to overthrow the existing America way of life. The Sacco and Vanzetti case is an example of how racial prejudice can cause justice to suffer.

In response to the call for further restrictions on immigration, Congress passed two laws. Firstly the Emergency Immigration Act in 1921, which restricted new arrivals to 3% of the foreign born of a nationality. In 1924 the Johnson-Reed Act stiffened these terms, limiting the number of people from any nationality to 2% of the total number of that national origin living in the USA in 1890. This law also set a permanent limitation of 150,000 people a year coming into the USA. This new act, which came into effect in 1929, virtually ended immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and excluded Asians almost entirely. A historian Paul S Boyer refers to the act: "Fed by wartime superpatriotism, the long standing impulse to turn America into a nation of culturally identical likeminded people culminated in 1924 act." Calvin Coolidge, then the President, observed when he signed the law: "America must be kept American". However the quota systems did not place any restrictions on immigration from the Western Hemisphere, and consequently from immigration from Mexico and French Canada soared during the 1920's. The fact that the US Government was now officially acting on the wide spread fear and dislike of those from ethnic backgrounds reflected the national mood of the twenties.

During the 1920's the Federal Government did little to alleviate poverty and socio-economic disadvantage amongst its ethnic minorities. However at this time few Americans would have expected it to intervene in the way it does nowadays. There were rare instances where President Warren Harding spoke out against racial segregation, for example in Birmingham, Alabama, heartland of the racist South. However some cynics have argued that he did so primarily to win the electoral support of northern blacks. One historian even claimed that Harding had been inducted into the Ku Klux Klan in the White House during his presidency. Moreover the various administrations throughout the twenties seemed to condone racial discrimination. A half-hearted attempt to introduce an anti-lynching law in 1921 was defeated, with Southern Senators using filibustering tactics to prevent the legislation from being passed. Despite acknowledging the issue of lynching in his first address to Congress in 1923, Coolidge subsequently did not act on the problem. Moreover, on the 18th August 1925 the Ku Klux Klan was able to stage a 40,000 man parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C with no intervention from state officials. Furthermore the segregated facilities in government buildings introduced in the first decade of the century remained unchanged. The fact that the American government during the twenties was seen to be continually ignoring and avoiding issues related to ethnic minorities did not help to improve the hostile attitudes of its people.

The growing spirit of intolerance erupting throughout America can be witnessed none clearer than in the wartime revival of the secret society, the Ku Klux Klan. The newly re-modelled organisation of the Civil War days claimed to be fighting to protect native white Protestants from the alien elements within. They argued that the American way of life was under threat not only from the Negroes but also from Catholics, Jews and all immigrants. It emphasised the notion of 100% Americanism. Its appeal was mainly sited in the Southern states, where the majority of black people lived, where the powerful idea of 'white supremacy' went unquestioned. The Klan's appeal also spread to the western and northern states, where Catholics and Jews became the targets. Throughout the 1920's the Klan's membership saw an increase, estimates at the time ranged from 3-5 million and profits rolled in from the sale these memberships, regalia, costumes and rituals. The burning cross became their symbol. The Ku Klux Klan used intimidation, threats, beating and even murder in their quest for a "purified America". Klan members, between 1920-27 it has been estimated, carried out the lynching of 416 Blacks in the Southern States. Research by writers at the time indicated that most of the victims were innocent or were only accused of minor offences. The Klan's influence reached it's peak in the state of Indian where the 'Grand Wizard', David Stephenson was politically powerful. It was also alleged that in 1924 the Klan helped elect governor in Maine, Colorado and Louisiana. There is little doubt that while not all would go to the extremes of the Klan in terms of violence, many in rural America supported it's ideology. However the Klan did not receive as strong a following in the larger cities of the north. Despite this, the support and more importantly the tolerance that many American people showed for the Ku Klux Klan during the twenties serves as evidence to show that attitudes towards ethnic minorities had been very much altered.

The racial discrimination towards ethnic minorities during the twenties can also be seen in the job opportunities available to them. Blacks, Mexicans, and the recent immigrants clustered as the bottom of the wage scale. All were usually the last hired and the first fired and performed menially jobs. Mexicans were employed as cheap labour on Californian farms. Wherever the minorities worked the 'native' Americans saw them as a threat to their livelihood, as they normally accepted jobs that the whites did not want. Despite emancipation from slavery after the Civil War, the former slaves remained at the bottom of the social scale in the southern states, where most blacks lived. They lacked economic independence, since they largely worked in white-owned land. Many poverty stricken Blacks migrated from the south to the north during the twenties, to fill the demand for unskilled labour in the North. This however led to resentment from the white workers who saw them as competitors. To add to their problem, Blacks were subject to discrimination at work too. Memberships to unions remained low throughout the twenties. Although the American Federation of Labour officially prohibited racial discrimination, the independent unions within the AFL did discriminate against Black. Some had constitutional clauses limiting membership to whites only; others followed a de facto exclusion policy. The historian Hugh Brogan refers to black peoples problem's: "Trapped on a treadmill of poverty, poor education and discrimination, blacks faced formidable obstacles.

During the 1920's various groups of ethnic minorities were discriminated against through the act of segregation. Most commonly associated with Blacks, who were separated from whites in most public areas including trains, parks and even cemeteries, also extended to other minority groups. Orientals living in America were compelled to attend segregated schools. Catholics, shunned by the Protestant majority in organised sport, formed a separate high-school athletic conference early in the 1920's but was not allowed to merge with the public system until forced legislation to do so in 1966. Jews continued to be discriminated against in the twenties. They were casually excluded from large parts of American society. Attempts to restrict Jewish admission to law school began in the twenties, arising from resentment of their success in various careers. It was at this time that the expression "Five o'clock anti-Semitism" entered the language. It meant that people would work with Jew during the day (if they must), but wouldn't dream of socialising with them in the evenings.

In can been said that the 1920's were marked considerably by racial tensions between the ethnic minorities and those who upheld white Anglo-Saxon values. Grievances regarding ethnic minorities, that had been simmering throughout the 'native' American population decades before, got stronger and came to be recognised. Tolerance for racist views in the media, literature and in organisations like the Ku Klux Klan. Similarly the hostile attitude of the Federal Government during the twenties did not set a good example for its people regarding ethnic groups. The racial prejudices that had been ingrained throughout American society in the 1920's would only subside with the passage of time. [16]



CONTENTS

america economy depression racial

In conclusion we would like to make the summarizing of this work. The XX century was great time in the history of America. It was time of ups and downs, development of industry, introduction of new technologies, participation in two World Wars. And as in any country, there were a lot of changes in economic and social life of that time.

The aims of this course paper were researched. As for economic situation we knew that during the first World War the industrial production of America made a big jump and the financial position of the USA changed in the world. From the debtor of Europe it became the international lender. The big shift has occurred in the development of material and technical base of American capitalism. Large corporations have initiated the development of mass production. Impressive success of the intriduction of new technology and accelerated growth production spawned the new term "prosperity" and illusory belief in the crisis-free development.

The American prosperity had a beautiful facade: the development of mass culture. In people's life entered the cinematography, and with it movie idols such as Mary Pickford and Charles Chaplin. Daily newspapers were published for mass circulation. Almost in every house there was radio. Jazz music and fashionable new dances had wide popularity. The new technique changed conditions of life.

Mad rhythm of economic development, the latest achievements of science and technology, the transformation of everyday life combined with the growth of conservatism and militant individualism. Businessmen were annoyed by incessant strikes and union demands. Business America resisted to implementation of legislation. Underground business increased, criminal syndicates appeared in fast-growing cities and major industrial centers.

In the twenties America was the country of contrasts: remarkable technical innovations, demonstration of huge possibilities of science and technology, but also accumulation of internal contradictions, social contrasts of wealth and poverty of the general population.

On this background the unexpected, stunning event was the fall of shares on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1923. So the global economic crisis began. It had very serious consequences for the U.S. economy. For three years industrial production reduced in two times, the volume of external trade in three times.

In autumn 1932 Franklin Roosevelt won presidential elections. He called his presidential policy “New deal” . Its main idea was the introduction of a constitutional economic order. So president started to rebuild the country.

After World War II America increased economic and political influence in the world. Helping other counries the USA became a world leader and a lender.

There were a lot of changes in a social sphere of the country too. The location of women and immigrants was found out. Women struggle for the right to vote was one from the most important events of the century. The first National American Woman Suffrage Association was based in 1890. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the president of the organisation.

Many yerars women were developing social programs to get suffrage and become equal with men. They told that women can solve problems such as low wages, overcrowded tenements, and poor health conditions. In 1912 the Progressive Party endorsed woman suffrage. But women get a full right to vote only in 1920. A long struggle was over.

Another conspicuous problem of the XX century was racial discrimination. During the 1920's, racial tensions in American society reached boiling point. A lot of immigrants arrived to America.

Americans did not want to see other nations near them. People treated immigrants disrespectfully and insultingly. Government constituted laws against them.

The Immigration Restriction League thought that the new immigrants from Southeast Europe were racially inferior and therefor posed to threaten the supremacy of the USA. It was a terrible fight between Americans and immigrants.

To sum up, we can say that the twenieth century is of great importance in the history of America. There were a lot of changes during this period. Economy and society of the country were subjected to the biggest changes. But going through all the difficulties America became global great power.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

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12. www.randomhistory.com - на этом сайте можно найти информацию практически обо всем. Можно с легкостью освежить в памяти детали истории, узнать что-то новое о случайном предмете, а также прочитать интересные факты.

13. https://sites.google.com/a/unconn.edu/the-roaring-20s/modeling-objectives -- этот сайт рассказывает о двадцатых годах двадцатого века Америки. Ревущие двадцатые были ярким и удивительным временем, сайт содержит информацию об изменениях общества и основных событиях того десятилетия.

14. http://historyworld.org/great_depression/htm - на сайте содержится информация об истории всемирной великой депрессии и ее воздействия на двадцатый век.

15. http://salempress.com/ - на этом сайте вы можете найти книги по истории, литературе, обществознанию и многое другое. Там можно найти как полную книгу, так и ее краткое содержание.



РЕЦЕНЗИЯ

на курсовую работу по дисциплине: История Великобритании и США на тему: America in the twentieth century, выполненную студенткой факультета иностранных языков Алексеевой Анастасией Сергеевной.

Курсовая работа содержит 32 страницы пояснительного текста.

В курсовой работе исследованы следующие вопросы:

Двадцатый век в истории Америки является одним из важнейших периодов развития страны. В курсовой работе рассказывается об экономическом и социальном положениях Америки. И затронуты такие вопросы, как история экономики Америки начиная с 1865 года и до конца двадцатого века, борьба женщин за право голосовать и расовая дискриминация.

Достоинства рецензируемой работы:

Курсовая работа обладает рядом достоинств. Одним из них является то, что вопросы, затронутые в курсовой работе, содержат достаточное количество информации, работу читать интересно и занимательно. К тому же, она дает возможность узнать многое об истории Америки и ее событиях, произошедших в двадцатом веке.

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