USM Open Source History Text: The World at War: World History 1914-1945Main MenuIntroduction: A Mural as WindowOn Diego Rivera's Detroit IndustryThe World Around 1914, Part I: the Journey of Young GandhiThe World Around 1914, Part II: The Era of Nationalism and Imperialism (1848-1914)The First World WarThe Long Russian Revolution (1917 – 1929)The Decline of the West? Europe from 1919 – 1929A New Middle East: The Rise of the Middle East State SystemChina Between Qing Collapse and WWIILatin America Between Boom and Bust (1911-1929)Africa Under Colonial Rule: Politics and Race from 1914‐1939The United States from The First World War to the Great DepressionThe Great DepressionThree Varieties of Radicalism in the 1930s: Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and Imperial JapanThree Responses to Modernity: Ho Chi Minh, Ibn Saud, and Getulio VargasThe Second World WarSeth Rogoff5f001fc099cd635507b143be056702764af6929c
U.S. Identity in the 1920s
12017-07-14T12:25:21-07:00Seth Rogoff5f001fc099cd635507b143be056702764af6929c192375plain2020-12-25T22:29:33-08:00Seth Rogoff5f001fc099cd635507b143be056702764af6929cWhat was the United States in 1920? Who were Americans? Trying to figure out the identity of one person or nation is inherently a comparative, subjective, and somewhat fruitless pursuit. Such is the pursuit of the formation of "American identity" in the war and postwar years. For purposes here, I would will focus on three (intertwining) aspects of American identity: A) anti-radicalism, B) international autonomy or unilateralism, C) individualism. These elements might have transcended racial dynamics in the United States, but I would argue that they are critical aspects to the development of a specifically white nationalist identity that sought to define the national citizenry in exclusionary, intolerant terms. This white nationalism was not only targeted against black Americans, though of course black people faced the most violent and powerful oppression, but also against perceived "radical" threats like communism and anarchism, Jews, and other immigrant groups.
