M03 Next Steps

In Module 3 we examined America's involvement in World War I. By 1920, Americans had failed their great expectations to make the world safer and more democratic. The flu epidemic had demonstrated the limits of science and technology in safeguarding Americans’ health. The Red Scare revealed a growing fear of revolutionary politics and the persistence of violent capital-labor conflicts. Race riots made it clear that the nation was no closer to peaceful race relations either. After a long era of Progressive initiatives and new government agencies, followed by a costly war that did not end in a better world, most of the public sought to focus on economic progress and success in their private lives instead. As the presidential election of 1920 unfolded, the extent of just how tired Americans were of an interventionist government—whether in terms of Progressive reform or international involvement—became exceedingly clear. Republicans, anxious to return to the White House after eight years of Wilsonian idealism, capitalized on this growing American sentiment to find the candidate who would promise a return to normalcy.

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