World War I and 1920s South Carolina

Transcription

1 South Carolina Leaders Wade Hampton, a Democrat, was elected as governor of the state in This marked the end of Radical Republican rule in South Carolina. A group of Democrats known as the Redeemers supported the election of Wade Hampton. They felt that they had "redeemed" the state from the corruption of the Radical Republicans. The Bourbons were group of conservative Democrats. Their name came from the royal family of France. Some thought there were similarities between the two groups because both groups favored large landowners and the rich over the common people. Most of the Bourbons were Confederate Army veterans and had been wealthy and powerful before the Civil War. Benjamin Tillman played a major role in the founding of Clemson College, a new agricultural college in the state. Tillman ran for governor of South Carolina in The Democratic Party was divided during the election: Tillman's supporters were known as Tillmanites, and the other group was known as the Conservatives. Tillman felt that the Conservatives were trying to hold on to political power, and that they were corrupt and aristocratic. After becoming governor, many of Tillman's reforms were seen as racist because they kept African Americans from being able to vote. Tillman also created the South Carolina Dispensary in response to the temperance movement. Richard I. Manning, who is said to be the most progressive of South Carolina governors, was responsible for improving many of South Carolina's roads. Robert Cooper was a governor who supported raising taxes to increase spending on public education. This increase in funding led to a greater number of students attending and graduating from schools in South Carolina. World War I and 1920s South Carolina At the dawn of World War I, South Carolinians, along with the rest of the American population, slowly began to change. New modern ideas, such as women's rights and labor unions, were being championed by many. By the mid-1920s, population, agriculture, industry, leisure activities,

2 and technology had been revolutionized. The effects could be seen all throughout South Carolina. War Effort When World War 1 first started in 1914, the people of South Carolina supported the policy of isolationism. Once the United States became involved in World War I, there was a significant impact on South Carolina. The town of Hamburg, South Carolina changed its name to Augusta to reflect the feelings of patriotism in the state. Many men from South Carolina joined the U.S. Army and served abroad. Another important aspect was that military bases were built in South Carolina. Fort Jackson and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island were both established as training bases in World War I. They are still used for training recruits today. Reforms During the first two decades of the 1900s, many political and social reforms were being made into law. In 1915, South Carolina established Prohibition, outlawing the sale of alcohol. The United States would start a federal Prohibition law in 1919, after the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. This reform was followed shortly by the passage of the 19th Amendment in This law allowed women to vote. Agriculture and Industry Agriculture has always been an important industry in South Carolina. During World War I and the 1920s, the boll weevil infested South Carolinian cotton crops. The industry was almost destroyed, and many lost their jobs and farms. Those who did not lose their farms also had issues. After World War I, prices went down due to the farmer's overproduction of crops. The market was flooded with goods, causing goods to lose some of their value. Industrialization brought more people to the cities to work in the factories. South Carolina began to build hydroelectric power plants, near the Saluda River, to power its cities and industries. The work was often dangerous, yet the pay was higher than most could get in other job fields. During the first 30 years of the twentieth century, laborers fought for fair wages and working conditions. The establishment of labor unions helped bring about labor changes. Society During the early twentieth century, African Americans still had to deal with the oppressive Jim Crow Laws. However, Booker T. Washington and other African American leaders taught people that a good vocational education and a strong work ethic would bring some success. A large number of African Americans were able to leave the South to work in Northern factories, which

3 had job opportunities due to World War I. This was known as the Great Migration. One result of the Great Migration was an increase in racial tensions. The Ku Klux Klan was revived in the 1920s because economic hardships caused some whites to fear job competition from other ethnic groups. Society changed through the early twentieth century as people began to have more time away from work. Leisure activities, such as going to the beach, listening to the radio or playing baseball became a very popular way for people to relax during the 1920s. The radio was especially important because it heralded the rise of mass media. The Southern Literary Renaissance contributed to the cultural changes of this time period. During the 1920s and 1930s, southern writers such as William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Julia Peterkin, and DuBose Heyward all emerged as important American authors. Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II The Great Depression of the 1930s was a time of economic turmoil for the United States. The economy got better slowly throughout the decade due to a series of government programs called the New Deal, but it did not recover fully until the beginning of World War II. The lesson below talks more about South Carolina and the U.S. during this important time in history. The Great Depression On Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed. The day soon became known as Black Tuesday as many investors lost their fortunes. As a result of the prosperity in the 1920s, people were not prepared for the crash. Panic occurred as banks closed, leaving businesses and citizens to sort through the problems in the following days and weeks. This event was only the first sign that the Great Depression was about to start. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression beginning in the late 1920s and lasting until the early years of World War II. It was the longest period of high unemployment rates and low economic activity in the 20th century. During this period, many factories, stores, and banks closed. Due to poor weather conditions, many farms had poor crop yields for several years. As a result, millions of people had no work and little money to support themselves. A large percent of citizens had to depend on the government or charity in order to survive.

4 At first, the national government did not do much to help end the depression. President Herbert Hoover did not want to give direct aid to the people. Instead, he gave loans to businesses and banks. He thought that helping businesses would help create jobs. Homeless people in the cities started to build shacks made from any material they could find. Called Hoovervilles, these neighborhoods of shacks were named after President Herbert Hoover because people did not feel he was doing enough to end the depression. The New Deal Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidential election of 1932 over Herbert Hoover to become the 32nd president of the United States. Roosevelt wanted the government to become more active in ending the Great Depression. To do this, he started a series of programs known as the New Deal. The New Deal aimed at what many historians call the three Rs: relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy, and reform of the country's financial system. These programs slowly started helping the American economy. Emergency Banking Relief Act Helping the banks became one of the first issues addressed by the New Deal. Congress passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which closed the banks in order to prevent further crisis. It also created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which was designed to protect people who put their money in banks. The FDIC is still in effect today, and all national banks participate. Social Security Act Providing elderly and retired citizens with pensions (money saved through income taxes) is part of the Social Security Act. This act was passed in 1935 and is still in effect today. Civilian Conservation Corp The Civilian Conservation Corps was a New Deal program that was created to provide conservation jobs to unemployed people. This included prevention of soil erosion,

5 impounding of lakes, constructing roads, and working in city parks. In South Carolina, the CCC helped build Cheraw State Park in Chesterfield County. Tennessee Valley Authority During the depression, people living in the Tennessee River Basin were suffering greatly. This region contains some of the poorest areas in the nation. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was a program that was responsible for building dams and hydroelectric power plants in order to help the residents of the Tennessee River Valley. The dams helped residents by providing flood control and electric power. Thousands of jobs were created as a result of the program. Rural Electrification Project There were many people in the southern states who lived in rural areas without the advantage of electricity. As part of the New Deal, the government provided federal funding to assist the lower income families in receiving electricity. This program was the Rural Electrification Act. Santee Cooper Project Hydroelectric power was provided for the state of South Carolina through the Santee and Cooper rivers. This project was known as the Santee Cooper Power and Navigation Project. It was designed to help improve health and the economy in South Carolina. Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was similar to other government works projects. It participated in the construction schools, airports, bridges, and highways. However, there was also an artistic side. Some employees included actors, artists, writers, and musicians. Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II Though World War II began in September of 1939, the United States did not officially enter the fight until December of Before this time, despite stating an official policy of neutrality, the United States in fact helped the Allied Powers Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China by

6 lending money and supplies needed for the war effort. The lesson below explains the domestic impact of World War II in more detail. Isolationism Isolationism can be defined as a policy in which a nation refrains from getting involved in military alliances, as well as the belief that a nation should avoid all wars that do not include territorial self-defense. The United States followed a policy of isolationism after World War I. During the 1930s, the United States passed a series of laws called the Neutrality Acts that were based on this policy. These laws were partially a response to growing conflicts in the countries of Europe and Asia that eventually led to the outbreak of World War II. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 prohibited American trade with any nation that was participating in a war. In 1937 and 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt convinced Congress to pass new laws that allowed the U.S. to trade with other nations that paid cash and transported their own goods, an idea known as the "cash and carry" clause. On October 5, 1937, President Roosevelt gave a speech known as the Quarantine Speech. In this speech, Roosevelt called for an international "quarantine of the aggressor nations" and expressed a desire to end the isolationist policies that had existed since the end of World War I. The Lend-Lease Act By 1941 Great Britain could no longer afford to follow the cash and carry method. Great Britain was running out of money, and President Roosevelt was determined to help the British effort. He asked Congress to enact a policy that would allow the U.S. to give, lease, lend, or sell war supplies to countries fighting in the war. The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 was a piece of federal legislation that allowed the United States to give aid to countries fighting in World War II. When the act was passed, the United States was not yet fighting in the war, but many people in the country believed the U.S. should help the war effort in some way. Fireside Chats President Roosevelt utilized available media to comfort the nation during a difficult time. Beginning during the years of the Great Depression, Roosevelt broadcast a series of 37 radio

7 speeches, known as the "fireside chats," between 1933 and 1944 in order to keep the nation informed on a variety of topics. For example, on Tuesday, December 9, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt gave a radio speech regarding the declaration of war on Japan and the U.S. entry into World War II. "Germany First" Shortly after the United States entered the war, Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the Arcadia Conference in Washington, D.C. At this conference, the two leaders agreed on a strategy known as "Germany First." Both leaders felt that Germany was the primary target, and the war efforts of both countries should be focused on the European Theater. This meant that Japan and the Pacific Theater would take on a secondary importance. Four Freedoms On January 6, 1941, President Roosevelt gave his famous "Four Freedoms" speech during the 1941 State of the Union Address. In the speech, Roosevelt stated all human beings have a right to four basic freedoms. These include: the freedom of speech the freedom of religion the freedom from want the freedom from fear Historians believe this speech was meant to help increase support for U.S. involvement in World War II. It was later embraced by the United Nations, which based the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the freedoms. The image below is a poster from World War II. The original painting was created by artist Norman Rockwell and was based on Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech. The United States Office of War Information used the image as part of its propaganda campaign.

8 Economic Impacts were fighting overseas. Entry into the war in 1941 pulled the United States economy out of the Great Depression. Though government spending during the New Deal of the 1930s helped the economy, it could not compare with the massive flow of spending that started as soon as the United States entered the war. The United States began to ration supplies such as gasoline, nylon, rubber, meat, butter, and many food products in order to conserve these items for the war effort. Factories switched from production of consumer goods to production of military goods. Many women entered the workforce for the first time, taking over jobs left vacant by enlisted men who "Rosie the Riveter" (pictured below) is a World War II era icon. She symbolizes the millions of American women who worked in heavy industry during this time. Executive Order 8802 On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which prohibited racial discrimination in war related industries. This order was largely in response to pressures from activists such as A. Philip Randolph. Randolph was a civil rights leader who worked to end racial discrimination in the war industries and the armed services. 442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was a highly decorated unit that fought in Europe during World War II and was composed entirely of Japanese Americans. For its size and time in combat, the group is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.

9 Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II. Established in 1941, they were placed under the command of Benjamin O. Davis, one of the few African Americans who had graduated from West Point at that time. The group was known for having an excellent combat record, but their crowning achievement was their near perfect record escorting bombers and other airborne military missions. The Tuskegee Airmen were active until Navajo Code Talkers Sending messages of military intelligence that could not be broken by the enemy during World War II became increasingly difficult, especially in the Pacific Theater. By 1942, the Allied Powers had yet to create a code for sending messages that could not be broken by the Japanese military. The codes became increasingly complex and therefore more difficult for Allied field units to decode. A single message could take upwards of 2 hours of decoding, costing precious time to troops in the field. Because of this, many Allied military leaders argued that a better way to communicate needed to be devised. Phillip Johnston, a civilian living in California who had grown up on the Navajo reservation, approached the U.S. military with a proposition. Because the Navajo language has no alphabet and was almost impossible to master without early exposure, it had great potential to be shaped into an indecipherable code. In 1942, members of the Navajo tribe were enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps to be trained to head out into the field. Known as the Navajo Code Talkers, this group would work in the field as interpreters of the code. The code started with approximately 200 words, growing to 600 by the end of the war, and took Navajo words to represent military terms that they resembled. For example, the Navajo word for "turtle" was used to represent a tank. The code talkers were not allowed to write any part of the code down as a reference and had to rapidly recall every word even while in the field. The code talkers were able to decipher a code in 20 seconds, when the same code would have taken a coding machine over 30 minutes to decipher. The Navajo code to this day remains perhaps the only military code in history that was indecipherable to enemy intelligence. Internment Even before the United States entered World War II, anti-foreign sentiments ran high throughout the country. Because of this, Italian Americans and German Americans were faced with persecution early in the war. Similar to the later internment of Japanese Americans, around 11,000 German Americans and a few hundred Italian Americans were placed in internment

10 camps during the war. Unlike the small Japanese American population, however, the population of German and Italian Americans was very large, which meant the U.S. government was unable to send all German and Italian Americans to internment camps. Fearful of another attack by the Japanese on the West Coast, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, This order established military zones that restricted residence within these areas. Though the government gave no explicit instructions to restrict a specific group of people, many American officials questioned the loyalty of Japanese Americans to the United States. The Executive Order was therefore used to restrict Japanese Americans from the West Coast and, as a result, the United States government placed many Japanese Americans into "War Relocation Camps" until the war was over. Approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans were placed in the 10 camps created throughout the country. This process is usually referred to as Japanese American internment. Internment was upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of Korematsu v. United States. Economic Changes In the decades following World War II, South Carolina developed a consumer economy and experienced a period of economic growth. This growth came from new industries, greater development, and increasing tourism. Seeking Industries Many factors led industries to invest in South Carolina. Throughout the 20th century, cotton farming became less important to South Carolina and the southern United States. Cotton farms were then owned by large corporations, and new technology meant that fewer workers were needed. The State Development Board was established in It succeeded in bringing more northern industries to South Carolina. South Carolina had a large work force, which had grown due to an influx of new citizens. This was appealing to northern manufacturers.

11 South Carolina had very few labor unions. This scarcity was attractive to northern manufacturers because labor unions and manufacturers fought over workers' rights. In 1960, South Carolina established the technical education system. This system trained South Carolina's citizens to work for industries and businesses. Its success was so great that other states began their own technical education systems. Development South Carolina's leaders worked to develop the state and its economy in the 20th century. Several military bases opened in South Carolina during the World Wars, increasing the state's population by bringing in military families. Most of these bases remained in use after the wars. In 1956, President Eisenhower created the Interstate Highway System. South Carolina improved its roads and built national highways and interstate highways. The state used a "build-now-pay-later" program to borrow money for building roads, making it able to improve its road system more quickly. In the 1950s, South Carolina began improving its old port facilities to make them modern. Charlestown became one of the busiest ports in the nation. Georgetown and Port Royal also became important sea ports. The Savannah River site was built in the 1950s to produce nuclear material. This material was used to make both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.

12 Tourism The role of tourism in South Carolina's economy expanded during the 1960s. Beach areas like the Grand Strand were developed with resorts and restaurants to make them popular for tourists. South Carolina's historical sites, such as those in Charleston, also attracted many tourists. Tourism in South Carolina has increased the environmental threats to its beaches, natural areas, and wildlife. South Carolina has passed laws to protect its environment and limit this threat. Political Changes South Carolina experienced many political changes during the 20th century. As a result of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans have gained more rights. South Carolina has seen a shift in the power of the political parties. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Democratic Party dominated South Carolina politics. During the 1960s, the Republican Party gained more support within the state. Civil Rights Elmore v. Rice In 1946, civil rights activist George Elmore filed a lawsuit challenging Democratic Party's "white primary" that prevented African Americans from voting. White primaries were used throughout the South from the end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. The Elmore v. Rice case made it to the U.S. District Court in The Court ruled that it was not legal to prevent African Americans from voting in primaries. This was one of the first successful lawsuits regarding African American voting rights. Briggs v. Elliot Briggs v. Elliott was a court case in the 1950s. Reverend Joseph Armstrong DeLaine was the principal of a school in Clarendon County, South Carolina. He and Civil Rights activist Modjeska Monteith Simkins wanted to fight against the inequality for African American school children. A group wanted a bus to take their children to an all-black school. The school board paid for buses for white children but not for the African American children. The parents sued the school board, and the case made it to the Supreme Court as a part of the Brown v. Board of Education

13 case. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was not fair to have separate schools for African American and white students. Septima Poinsette Clark Septima Poinsette Clark was a Civil Rights leader. She was born in Charleston in She served as a public school teacher in South Carolina for several years. She was very active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She is known for founding citizenship schools throughout the South to teach African American adults how to read and to encourage African Americans to register to vote. The Friendship Nine The Friendship Nine were nine students who were arrested in 1961 for taking part in a sit-in at a lunch counter in Rock Hill, South Carolina. They were protesting against racial segregation. Before they were arrested, the students agreed that they would serve jail terms instead of paying for bail. By remaining in jail, they brought more attention to their cause. The Orangeburg Massacre The Orangeburg Massacre took place in Orangeburg, South Carolina, in February A group of African American college students from South Carolina State University and Claflin College were holding a protest because a bowling alley refused to serve African Americans. The protest turned violent, and several South Carolina Highway Patrol officers fired shots into the crowd, killing three people and injuring 28 people.