Headlining Court Cases of the 1920

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• Headlining Court Cases of the 1920s

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The Red Scare

• The Red Scareperiod of anti-communist hysteria
  (1919-1920)
• Communismthe govt owns and controls all private
  property including factories and industries
• Vladimir Lenin of Russia was encouraging a
  worldwide communist revolutionthis scared the
  Americans
• Mail bombs were sent to prominent Americans
  including A. Mitchell Palmer
• Palmer Raidsthousands of radicals were arrested
  and immigrants were deportedonly 3 pistols were
  found in all of the raids

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Major Court Cases of the 1920s

• Religious Fundamentalism
• John Scopes vs. Tennessee
• Sacco and Vanzetti
• Alfonse Capone and Mob Bosses

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Religious Fundamentalism

• Fundamentalism--A belief where traditional
  Christian doctrine should be accepted without
  question
• Believe that every story of the Bible is true
• They attacked all liberal Christians who
  accepted modern scientific theories
• By doing so only weakened peoples faith and led
  to the decline of good morals in society

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Scopes vs. Tennessee

• John Scopes was a teacher in the state of TN
  teaching evolution
• TN outlaws teaching of modern scientific ideas in
  schools
• ACLU defends any teacher who will go against law

John Scopes
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Scopes goes to Trial
Bryan
Darrow

• John Scopes hires Clarence Darrow to defend him
• William Jennings Bryan represents the
  fundamentalists
• The trial is questioning if Man Came From
  Monkeys
• The case is called the Monkey Trial

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What happened?

• The judge was biased towards the Fundamentalists
• Darrow lost and Scopes had to pay a 100 fine
• The victory for the Fundm., (really was the end
  for their following)

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The Trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

• Italian Immigrants and Anarchists
• Accused of plotting to blow up wealthy Americans
  for supporting deportations of Italians
• Accused of murder
• Convicted on circumstantial evidencefound them
  with guns

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Verdict

• Judge Webster Thayer convicts the 2 men and
  sentences them to die in the chair
• It all came down to 2 minorities being in the
  wrong place in the wrong time
• Both are executed in the electric chair on August
  23, 1927
• Gov. Dukakis in 1977 pardons both men

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Political Bosses
Obanian
Capone

• Controls all aspects of a citys operation
• Legitimate businesses
• City Government
• Police
• Crime
• Chicago and Omaha
• St. Valentines Day Massacre, 14 Feb. 1929

Bugs Moran
Dennison (Omaha)
Dead men
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St. Valentines Day Massacre

• 14 Feb. 1929 Chicago
• George Bugs Morans north side gang was working
  their main liquor headquarters
• 2 men walked in dressed as policemen
• The 7 men working thought it was a raid and
  dropped their guns
• Using 2 shot guns and 2 machine guns, Capones
  men shot more than 150 bullets
• 6 of Morans men and 1 unlucky friend were killed

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The Heroes

• Eliot Ness and the Untouchables
• Roy Towl and Dean Ringer (Omaha)
• These law men go after organized crime and bust
  it up
• 21st Amendment does away with most of the Bosses

Eliot Ness
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The Ku Klux Klan

• William Joseph Simmons refounded the Klan in 1915
• Revived from the 1870s and 1880s
• Organized to oppose reconstruction programs and
  to terrorize the freed Blacks living in the South
• Used brutality and threats to overthrow weak town
  govts
• Faded away until the early 1920s
• The Klan held huge rallies throughout the 1920s

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Ku Klux Klan

• Marches on Washington D.C. in 1922
• 1920 4 Mil members
• 1930 30K members
• 2000 3K members