Irene Antiri 11/14/2022

NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ 3

CLASS _________

Guided Reading Activity netw rks

World War I and Its Aftermath, 1914–1920

Lesson 4 The War’s Impact

Review Questions: Recording Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How Statements
DIRECTIONS: Read each main idea and answer the questions below. Refer to your
textbook to write the answers.

A. Main Idea: With the war over, the United States faced economic problems such as
inflation and unemployment.

1. What increased the cost of living after the war?

Rapid inflation increased the cost of living after the war - meaning the cost of food, clothing,
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shelter, and other essentials. The rapid inflation happened because people raced to buy previously
rationed goods and business raised prices that they were forced to keep low.
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2. Why did business leaders want to break the power of the unions?

Business leaders wanted to break the powers of the unions because the inflation was driving up
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their operating costs and also led to strikes from their workers.
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3. How was the Seattle General Strike different from other strikes of the time?

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
The Seattle General Strike was a general strike in which the strike involves all workers in a
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community - this led to more than 60,000 people going on strike and paralyzed the city for five
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days.

4. Why was the Boston Police Strike important?

The Boston Police Strike was important because it led to the Republicans making Governor Calvin Coolidge there vice-presidential
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candidate in 1920. Roughly 75% of police had walked off the job, leading to riots and looting forcing Coolidge to call in the National Guard.
The commissioner fired the strikers when they returned, with Coolidge agreeing and stating "There is no right to strike against the public
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safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime."

5. How did the steel strike affect the steelworkers’ union?

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The steel strike set back the union cause in the steelworkers' union for more than a decade. This strike took place soon after The Boston Police
Strike, with 350,000 steelworkers going on strike for higher pay, shorter hours, and recognition of their union. U.S. Steel refused to talk to the
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leaders and tried to break the union, blaming the strike on foreign radicals and calling for loyal Americans to return to work. The company also
hired African Americans and Mexicans as replacements, which led to many clashes and even a riot where several died.
6. What circumstances contributed to the race riots of 1919.

The postwar economic turmoil caused circumstances that contributed to the race riots of 1919. As
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many African Americans moved north to take factory jobs, many blamed them for taking their jobs, as
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the latter group was being laid off and returning soldiers found it difficult to find work and housing.
These factors led to frustration and racism mixing and causing violence in the form of race riots.
B. Main Idea: The number of strikes in 1919 caused Americans to fear a Communist
revolution in the United States.

1. What was the Red Scare?

The Red Scare was the nationwide panic that workers would use strikes to start a revolution and
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the fear of there being a Communist revolution and seize of power, which was seemingly justified
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by events in Russia.
 NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________

Guided Reading Activity Cont. netw rks

World War I and Its Aftermath, 1914–1920

2. How did violence add to the climate of fear?

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Violence added to the climate of fear due to their timing of occurrence in relation to one
another and also because of all the damage and such that the violence could/would cause.
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3. What were the Palmer raids?

Tens of parcels containing homemade bombs were addressed to prominent Americans, including attorney general A. Mitchell
Palmer. His house was damaged, so he took action and established the General Intelligence Division under the Justice Department,
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eventually known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, TheyPalmer ordered a series of raids on the offices of the Union of Russian
Workers in 12 cities, ______________________________________________________________________
which led to a transport ship carrying 249 Russian immigrants that were deported from the country. In early
1920, Palmer ordered another series of raids leading to 6,000 people arrested and terrible conditions for many.
4. Who was the Republican candidate who won the election of 1920?

Warren G. Harding was the Republican candidate that won the election of 1920 in a landslide. With
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the general sense of disillusionment in the USA at the time, Harding called for a return to "normalcy"
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and argued that the country needed to return to the days before the Progressive Era reforms.

Summary and Reflection

DIRECTIONS: Summarize the main ideas of this lesson by answering the question below.
What conditions were present in the United States after World War I?

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The aftermath of WWI posed economic problems, such as inflation that raised the cost of living,

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
workers were being laid off, and jobs were scarce. With the shift in focus on the products being
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manufactured in the USA. There were many present labor issues, particularly with racial tensions. Due
to the work issues going on, labor strikes increased and African Americans migrated north to fill in
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those jobs. This, along with other general problems, led to race riots on top of the economic, labor,
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and cost of living problems. Racial tensions and riots, economic issues like inflation and
unemployment, fears of violence and Communist uprising, and a huge increase in impacting labor
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strikes, as well as the Palmer raids caused many, many troubles for the American society.