by The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through American History 1900 to the Present (pdf)
United States had little intention of making any of the territory into a
new state, the country did not have any problems with overthrowing the
status quo in the territories and attempting to ‘ enforce’’ a democracy in
lands that had barely even heard of the concept. Much of this heavy-
handed behavior occurred during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency.
Roosevelt apparently believed that the ends justified the means. If he
was able to somehow advance the prosperity of Americans by getting
involved in the politics of other governments, he would. A classic example
of this was his involvement in the development of the Panama Canal.
The French had tried unsuccessfully to build a canal across the Isth-
mus of Panama in the latter half of the 1800s. Disease, the mountainous
terrain, and the distance from France caused problems, and the company
trying to build the canal abandoned the project. Roosevelt wanted a canal
because he believed it would simplify the transfer of goods between the
two coasts of the continental United States. Roosevelt did not want to
pay for the rights to the parts of the canal that had been completed by
the French, so he identified another site and negotiated with the Nicara-
guans for rights to a canal.
The Isthmus of Panama was at that time located in the country of
Colombia. The company that owned the rights to the canal wanted the
United States to complete what the French had started, so they lowered
the price. Eventually, the U.S. Senate opted for the Panama Canal site af-
ter an effective lobbying campaign by the French canal group that owned
large portions of land in the path of the proposed Panama site. When
the Colombians tried to get more money into their government coffers,
Roosevelt encouraged the Panamanians to revolt against the Colombian
government. When they did, with the help of the U.S. Navy, Roosevelt
acknowledged the Panamanian government and negotiated a treaty with
them to complete the canal. Roosevelt even managed to keep control
of the canal itself in American hands, and Panama did not assume control
of the canal until almost seventy years later.
During the next several years, Roosevelt engaged in activities that
were intended to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. Roosevelt was willing to
The 1900s
25
acquire territory outside the geographical boundaries of the country. He
mediated an end to the Russo-Japanese War and won a Noble Peace Prize
for his efforts. The fact that neither side was totally satisfied with the
peace was ignored by most world leaders. Years later, the world would re-
alize that the treaty planted the seeds that would create more problems
than could be envisioned.
Both the Russian and Japanese Empires wanted control over Manchu-
ria and Korea. Their competing ambitions led to the Russo-Japanese War
(1904 1905). Russia and most of the rest of the world were surprised that
the Russian Empire could not win a war against Japan. This upset many
people, who blamed the czar for the defeat. Many of the people, as well
as many powerful Russians, felt that the czar’s government was weak and
corrupt. They perceived the defeat as a loss of power and a signal that the
czar’s government had to change. This attitude would ultimately allow
Vladimir Lenin to successfully overthrow the Russian monarchy and
establish a Soviet state in Russia. Few people expected this change in gov-
ernment to have far-reaching consequences. This particular change would
have a major impact on the world long after the Russian Revolution of
1917.
The Japanese also felt that the peace treaty diminished its reputation
in the eyes of the world. They believed they could win a war with Rus-
sia, although Russia was considered much more powerful at the start of
the war. Many Japanese began to feel that they needed to do something
to show the world that they were a strong and powerful country.
Although some thoughtful people were aware that Japan felt the treaty
an insult to the country and its emperor, few people had any idea that
the desire to show their power to the world would result in a much
larger war decades later.
Few American people gave much thought to either Russia or Japan.
Many in the United States wanted to be recognized and respected by the
rest of the world so that the United States could benefit from trade with
other countries. Outside of trade concerns, many Americans were gener-
ally disinterested and wanted to stay uninvolved with the affairs of other
countries. Americans, even if they were not aware of George Washington’s
belief that the country should isolate itself from the affairs of Europe and
Asia, acted on that belief. They were willing to trade with Europe and
Asia, but they did not want to get involved in the problems of other
nations.
Many of those other nations, however, felt as if they had to defend
themselves against past slights from past enemies. Allies shifted and
changed, and then the European nations settled into treaties with each
26
POLITICAL AND CULTURAL EVENTS
other. If two countries declared a treaty, some other country would feel
threatened, and it formed a treaty with a fourth country. In many treaties,
there was a clause that said if a country was attacked, other countries
would automatically come to its aid. In this way, a mesh of alliances was
developed that would engage the world in the largest war the globe had
ever seen.
ETHNICITY IN AMERICA
The American Civil War was still a clear memory in the minds of many
Americans. Many war veterans were still alive at the dawn of the new
millennium. Reconstruction was a bad memory to many in the South,
and attitudes toward ‘ negroes,’’ as African Americans were called, were
still negative. Many people, especially in the South, blamed the negroes
for the war. Many whites could remember the days before the war and
wished that Southern lifestyle still existed. Lynchings had reached a high
point in the 1890s (Murrin et al. 2004); although they had diminished in
number, new laws intended to disenfranchise African Americans were
passed. The so-called ‘ separate but equal’ facilities were established, and
the Supreme Court, in the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896, sanc-
tioned the ‘‘Jim Crow’ laws.
In last part of the 1890s and the early 1900s, black leaders such as
Booker T. Washington accepted the discrimination as long as there was
still some level of advancement. Many blacks agreed that, as long as there
was some advancement, such as the establishment of negro colleges, the
Jim Crow laws were acceptable. Blacks were able to enlist in the military,
but they were only allowed to join all-negro units. Theodore Roosevelt
relied on black units during the Spanish-American War but shied away
from acknowledging their efficiency in later years (Murrin et al. 2004).
Blacks were not the only recipients of discrimination. Asians on the
American west coast were as poorly treated as negroes were in the South.
in the late 1800s, but as Japan grew in power and population, many Japa-
nese began to immigrate to California. In a ‘ gentlemen’s agreement’ in
1907, Roosevelt agreed to halt blatant discrimination against the Japanese
if Japan would stop the immigration of adult males into the United States
(Murrin et al. 2004, 532).
At the turn of the century, Eastern European Jews immigrated to the
United States in great numbers. Unlike other immigrants, when Jews
from Russia, Poland, Romania, Austria-Hungary, and the Ukraine left
their homelands, they had no intent of returning. Governed by laws that
The 1900s
27
discriminated against them and their religious beliefs, Eastern European
Jews were forced to live as outcasts in their home countries. Facing lives
of poverty, starvation, and violence, two million Jews left their homelands
in search of better lives (Schrier 1994).
Like many immigrant families, Eastern European Jewish families of-
ten sent husbands and sons to America first to establish themselves and
get jobs before the women and children in the family made the voyage.
There was often a gap of one to three years before families were reunited,
and the men usually had adapted to the vastly different American lifestyle
within that gap. Americanized men and women were often ashamed of
their family members’ old-fashioned appearance when they came to
America. They did not want their family to look like ‘‘greenhorns,’’ and
they purchased new American clothing for their arrival.
No Wigs. In their homelands, Eastern
Americanized relatives found sheitls
European Jewish women wore tradi-
particularly embarrassing, because the
tional dress, which included an uncor-
custom was very noticeable and unique
seted dress, an apron, and a headscarf.
to their ethnic group. They found that
Married Jewish women were expected
looking and acting ‘American’ helped
to cut their hair short and wear a sheitl,
them achieve success, and they were not
a wig made of obviously artificial hair.
tolerant of outward appearances that
They did this in accordance with the
differentiated them. Not all women
Jewish custom that required married
could be persuaded, and many older
women to keep their hair covered at all
women especially, and grandmothers,
times. It was an act of modesty. When
continued to wear traditional dress and
they did not wear the wig, they wore a
sheitls.
headscarf to fulfill the custom.
Typically, younger women who were
On reaching American shores, most
not strict observers of orthodox Judaism
married women were encouraged to give
quickly adopted fashionable American
up the custom and traditional dress by
dress. They usually worked in the gar-
their relatives or country people. This
ment industry, and being around the
was often a contentious decision for
latest fashions naturally piqued their in-
older women, who felt they were sinning
terest in wearing up-to-date garments.
and betraying their conviction to their
They embraced tightly corseted waists,
religion. They were usually encouraged
shirtwaists with monobosoms, the full,
by their families to give up their old-
thick pompadour hairstyle, and enor-
fashioned dress that made them look
mous, lavishly decorated hats.
older than they were.
28
POLITICAL AND CULTURAL EVENTS
T H E
1910S
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL MOVEMENTS
Progress was a word that characterized the early 1900s, and the Progres-
sive movement hit its zenith in the 1910s. The reformers who were part
of this movement aimed to improve nearly every facet of American life.
By tackling issues from lowering tariffs and breaking up business trusts to
improving working conditions and allowing women to vote, reformers
from the local to the federal level worked to progress the country forward.
William Howard Taft assumed the presidency in 1909. He was hand-
picked by Theodore Roosevelt, but, during his four years in office, he
managed to alienate Roosevelt, big business, and reformers. During the
election of 1912, Taft received the fewest electoral votes of an incumbent
president.
Woodrow Wilson, an educator, became president in 1913. He was
aware that Europe was in turmoil and did not think that the United
States should interfere in what he believed was a strictly European con-
flict. For three years, Wilson kept the country out of the European war.
It was only in 1917, after Wilson had won his second term in office, that
he began to realize that the United States would have to enter the war.
After the ‘‘Zimmermann telegram,’’ in which the Germans told the Mexi-
can government that Mexico could regain its territory if it attacked the
United States, the county was incensed. Furthermore, Germany continued
to attack neutral ships with its first effective submarine, the Unterseeboot
(U-boat), and the czarist regime in Russia fell. Without the help of the
Russian army, the Allies would have increased trouble with Germany.
Wilson did not want to go to war, but he thought his country needed to
help the Allies. Congress declared war in 1917.
By the time WWI was over, the United States had solidified its role
as a world power. Many citizens wanted to return to the peaceful years of
isolation before the war, but that was not to be. The returning soldiers
had seen parts of the world that most Americans had never visited. With
men away at the war, women had taken on tasks and jobs, and they were
not interested in returning to a role that limited them to the kitchen.
Women campaigned for and eventually received the right to vote. The
United States that celebrated the peace in 1918 was a country with new
ideas, a new attitude about its role in the world, and a desire to establish
new policies and customs instead of following what others had created.
The 1910s
29
ECONOMIC TRENDS
The building of the Panama Canal in the early 1900s was considered one
of the greatest construction achievements of the world. The economic
impact of the canal was even greater than its engineering achievements.
The canal had originally been planned for Nicaragua. When political
complications arose, Congress tried to get an agreement with Colombia
to build the canal. None of the plans worked until Panama won its inde-
pendence, with considerable help from the United States, and granted the
United States permission to build the canal. The canal cost the lives of
thousands of men, mainly as a result of malaria and yellow fever. Walter
Reed, a U.S. Army surgeon, aided in the development of a vaccine that
helped eradicate the disease. Once the canal was fini
shed in 1914, it was
extremely successful. It cut the shipping route by half, thereby dramati-
cally reducing the cost and travel time of goods.
Big business, a term that was used to describe large-scale or powerful
businesses, started the century believing it controlled the country. Big
business was extremely powerful and generally got what it wanted. It sac-
rificed workers’ quality of life for profits. Many workers were subjected to
long hours, hazardous working conditions, low pay, and unstable jobs.
Workers established unions and fought to get business to adopt rules that
would benefit them. Although the unions’ pressure resulted in successes at
individual companies and within individual industries throughout the
1910s, they were also having an impact on business as a whole. Their
work led to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. A combination of
events, including the persistency of the unions, the increase in the popu-
larity of the Progressive Party, and the improved economy, gradually
weakened the strength of the business moguls and equalized the economic
prosperity the country was experiencing.
William Howard Taft was Roosevelt’s successor. During the adminis-
trations of both presidents, the United States became interested in and
increased the amount of land under conservation control of the federal
government. Many businesses saw this as an infringement on their right
to grow their businesses. Both presidents fought against business trusts in
an attempt to allow smaller businesses to grow. Taft initiated eighty anti-
trust suits against big business that unfairly dominated their industries.
When President Wilson took office, he continued the offensive
against big business. He implemented a reform program called ‘‘New
Freedom’ that aimed at banking reform and business regulation. He used
these strategies to erode the power of corporate trusts and build the power
of small businesses. In 1914, he proposed the Clayton Antitrust Act,
30
POLITICAL AND CULTURAL EVENTS
which outlawed monopolies, and the Federal Trade Commission, which
investigated and enforced the Clayton Antitrust Act.
Taft was president when the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified.
Through the amendment, a federal income tax could be established, and
everyone, theoretically, would be taxed fairly, by rules established by Con-
