The Stench of Scandal

38. In 1923, Colonel Charles R. Forbes, who had deserted the army once and yet remained head of the Veteran's Bureau, was caught stealing from the federal government. He took money mainly meant for veteran's hospitals, amounting to about $200 million altogether. "He was sentenced to two years in a federal penitentiary."

Here is the stealer himself!!

39. Let's talk about the Teapot Dome Scandal, and let's make it a good talk, because this is an FRQ worthy scandal. This is big, you guys. The Ashleys would be all over this one.

So, what led up to the Teapot Dome Scandal, or TDS, as it is affectionately called by those who want to type less? Teapot Dome in Wyoming and Elk Hills in California were oil reserves belonging to the Navy.  Secretary of the interior Albert B. Fall weaseled the secretary of the navy into transferring the ownership of these valuable lands to the Department of the Interior in 1921 with an order approved by an obliging and showy Harding. Fall proceeded allow use of Teapot Dome and Elk Hills to pass into the hands of oil tycoons Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny for two steep bribes of roughly $300,000 and $100,000, respectively.

40. The TDS broke in March of 1923 but remained in court until 1929. Fall was sentenced to a year in jail for taking a bribe, but Sinclair and Doheny escaped any real punishment. However, Sinclair spent a few months in jail for stalking jurors and declining to give his testimony in front of a Senate committee.

41. Here are some popular and interesting sayings of the time that reflected public disillusionment and cynicism about the justice system:

"You can't put a million dollars in jail"

and

"In America everyone is guilty until proven rich."

42. In 1924, Attorney General Daugherty was investigated for "the illegal sale of pardons and liquor permits." His trial in 1927 was inconclusive twice as the jurors failed to agree. Daugherty tried to deflect negative attention and blame to Harding (who was dead) during his trial, saying that scandalous activity could be found in the White House as well.

Harry Daugherty, Lover of Forgiveness and Liquor

 Although their names aren't quite the same, this clock remains relevant and wildly entertaining.

43. As news of these scandals began to break, Harding went on a speech tour all the way to Alaska and missed the drama. He died on the way back in San Fransisco on August 2, 1923, of pneumonia and thrombosis.

And I believe this goes to Brenna, and if I am wrong, I apologize deeply and will fix it next period.

Hollywood's Flimland Fantasies

Once upon a time, there was an idea. He was a good idea, and his name was Movie. He was born in 1903, and his first Work of Consequence was The Great Train Robbery. This is Movie on his first birthday:

Clearly, he is very handsome. Lots of girls liked him but... well, lots of boys did too. Everyone loved Movie. But, as usual, there were some bad people who wanted to use movies for their purposes of weirdness. The obsession with vampires is not new people! Here's an early Bella.

This woman is called a "vamp." The ominous pile of bones in front of her is called a "victim."

Given the picture, you may not be surprised to learn that the movies started out as a means for people to... look at women. This incited public outcry, and Movie was forced to censor himself.

Movie's big break, however, came when he met a young man named George Creel. 

"Movie," said Creel, "I like your style. Will you become a powerful instrument for me to pluck skillfully as I sing songs of hatred for Germans?"

Movie replied with an emphatic yes! He helped to get Americans fired up about the war and aided with the "volunteerism" effort. How nice of him.

Movie did not learn how to talk until he turned 24 years old in 1927, and the first thing he said was this. Historic words: "You ain't heard nothin' yet." And indeed the world hadn't. If only they could see today's movie abominations. In any case, the first movie ever made with talking was The Jazz Singer, which is about a Jew who pretends to be a black man. My, how the times have changed.

As is the natural way with people, they quickly became attached to Movie's well-paid friends: movie stars! They were wildly attractive and most people knew more about them than they knew about their country's leaders, which should come as a surprise to no one, since nice looking people are a great deal easier on the eyes than politics are on the brain.

Look! Its a magazine in the grocery store checkout!

This is 1930s TMZ!

Anyyyway, movies had an especially big effect on immigrant children. Because they allowed children to hear and see American culture, they aided with assimilation and helped the population move one step closer to a more ethnically harmonious society.

A note about being in the hall...

The hall is a great place (note, it is the Great Hall). When you don't have to do anything, you don't want to sit down, and you want to benignly assert your independence as an excellent individual (or Walter and Perry team, as the case may be), the hall is a wonderful place to be. You also might want to enjoy a delicious and refreshing glass of pumpkin juice.

The hall is a place for good, not evil. After all, isn't it where Voldemort finally died? Evil dies in the hall, but only when there are good people there to monitor the evil while it shoots a killing curse that will (fortunately for our heroes) rebound and actually kill itself.

That is why we spend time in the hall. We are protecting you from Voldemort. Be thankful, not critical.

Besides, the so called "Hall Time" and "Hall Poet" never spend time in the hall during classes that warrant their attention. For example, here are all the classes we hardly ever leave at all, even for the bathroom:

Physics

APUSH

AP Comp

French

Pre-Calculus

Religion

and here are the two classes during which we wander:

Study Hall

Drama

As you can see, we are usually doing what we are supposed to.

Remember: we are the last line of defense between you and the Death Eaters.

America Helps Hammer the "Hun"

Welcome to your next stepping stone to study guide completion! My name is Anna, and I will be your guide through some sections that I picked because they had funny names. This way, please. Yes, right down this hall here.

Do you get the irony?

39. The Meuse-Argonne offensive was the largest battle so far in American history. The American army, under General John J. ("Black Jack") Pershing, confronted German troops from September 26 to November 11, 1918. 1.2 million American men took part in this battle and 10% of them were killed or wounded. Machine guns and bayonets caused many casualties, and the "open-field tactics" were perhaps too daring. The going in this battle was slow, but the root cause of many of its problems was poor training.

40. Sergent York was "a member of an anti-war religious sect" who "became a hero when he single-handedly killed 20 Germans and captured 132 more."

to a single thing I "learned" in Church.

Making Plowboys into Doughboys

Oh my, would you look at that-- 

Yes, well, I thought I had better go ahead and get that out of the way. You knew that joke was coming.

In any case, despite obvious and rather uninspired jests relating to the author's language, some things that you need to know actually did occur in this section. For example:

38. Once it became obvious that the US would have to send not only supplies, but men, to the Allies, Congress grudgingly and belatedly (six weeks after the declaration of war) implemented a draft. Troops arrived in Europe poorly trained. They were supposed to train for six months in country and two more in Europe, but the need for men usurped their usual training period.

Ah yes, perhaps it might be useful if you learned what "doughboys" actually meant. "Doughboy" was a slang term for American soldiers during WWI, but the nickname fell out of use during WWII.Thank you, Wikipedia.

If you would all now turn your attention to Shane, we can continue on this Luxury Study Guide Cruise.

Progressive Era Foreign Policy Acts

Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912

· Before the Wilson administration had Congress repeal it, this act allowed American shippers to use the Panama Canal without paying the tolls required of other nations.

· It was making Britain angry, and Wilson was an anti-imperialist, so the act was repealed in 1914.

Jones Act of 1916

· Finally, the US does something reasonable in the Philippines!

· Philippines granted territorial status

· Independence will be given when a “stable government” is set up. This happened 30 years after this act was passed on July 4, 1946.

The Wilson Administration is behind the repeal of the Tolls Act and the passage of the Jones Act as Wilson was an anti-imperialist (for the most part, but hey, who’s perfect? Excepting Chuck Norris.)

Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/4kpk2nm

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Progressive Era Conservation/Land Use Acts

Desert Land Act of 1877

· Gave cheap dry land to those who could irrigate it successfully within three years

Forest Reserve Act of 1891

· President is allowed to set aside forests as national parks and the like to preserve them

Carey Act of 1894

· Gave states some federal land if the state promised to water and populate it

Newlands Act of 1902

· Allows the federal government to use money from the sale of western land to fund irrigation projects

Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/6848wk6

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A Quick and Clever Guide to Progressive’s Varied Views on Conservation

Alas! Two star-crossed lovers meet! I mean… the progressives were a generally happy family but had two different views about nature conversation. You could even say these views were feuding. Their names were Beauty and Use. Beauty was obsessed with herself. She wanted nature to exist simply because she felt that when she looked into nature’s dreamy eyes (which were not quite so dreamy as a progressive’s eyes) she looked into a mirror. She couldn’t help but bawl her eyes out every time she thought of nature being used for anything but a perfect mirror of her. Use, on the other hand, was a rather more practical fellow. He wanted to keep nature beautiful, of course, but he wasn’t overly concerned with that. Without destroying nature’s loveliness, he hypothesized cleverly, I can exploit its resources for my own good. And thus were the Progressives divided. Many sided with Beauty, many sided with Use, and this division eventually lead to the death of Romeo and Juliet. I mean, a split in the Progressive vote. The End.

New Federal Agencies

Women’s Bureau, 1920 & Children’s Bureau, 1912

· These were “wedge organizations” that gave women a place on the national stage.

· Women could now find somewhere to belong within the federal government, an important step.

Federal Trade Commission, 1914

· President could now appoint a committee to investigate all industries involved in interstate commerce.

· Created as a monopoly strangler, meant to kill “unlawful competition, false advertising, mislabeling, adulteration, and bribery.”

Federal Reserve, 1913

· Decentralized, government controlled bank.

· Nation is divided into 12 districts each with a central bank

· Issued paper money, “Federal Reserve Notes” on commercial paper so that currency could be circulated quickly when need be

Federal Farm Loan Act, 1916

· Farmers get credit at low interest rates

· How populist!

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Amendments to the Constitution

16th Amendment, 1913

· Allows Congress to levy an income tax

17th Amendment, 1913

· Senators are elected directly

· Arose from progressive pressures that said the “Millionaires’ Club” was controlling the government

· Attempt to give power back to the people

18th Amendment, 1919

· Makes prohibition a national law

· Pushed through by women who believed that alcohol was evil, evidence of women’s growing political influence

19th Amendment, 1920

· Women are given the vote at long last!

· All that campaigning finally paid off

Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/49s6rzo

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Protecting Workers

La Folette Seaman’s Act of 1915

· “Required decent treatment and a living wage on American merchant ships” as sailors had traditionally been sorely mistreated.

· Unfortunately raised freight rates because the crew’s pay had to go up.

Worker’s Compensation Act of 1915

· Gave assistance to federal civil-service employees when they were disabled

Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/4u3vkgc

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Anti-Trust

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

· Did not distinguish between “good” trusts and “bad” trusts with its regulations

· Prohibited “combinations in restraint of trade”

· “Bigness” was what was wrong with the trusts, not “badness”

· Although it didn’t mean to, the loose wording of the law allowed it to “curb labor unions…deemed to be restraining trade.”

Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914

· This was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act on steroids.

· Expanded on the Sherman Act’s list of unacceptable business practices to include “price discrimination and interlocking directorates”

· Fixed the problems in the Sherman Act allowing labor unions to be put down, tried to get labor and agricultural organizations out of the law’s reach

· Specifically allowed strikes and peaceful picketing.

Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/4zjxl8e

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Food Safety

Meat Inspection Act of 1906

· Meat that was traveling between states would be inspected by federal agents “from corral to can.”

· Passed after Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was published.

· In response to The Jungle Roosevelt sends a commission to inspect Chicago’s meat packing factories, and what was found was so disgusting that the act was a shoe-in.

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

· This was the Meat Inspection Act’s younger best friend.

· “Designed to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.”

Pictures: http://tinyurl.com/4ks828e

http://tinyurl.com/meatinspection