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the 20th century has been called by many

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the American century the US was on the

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victorious side in the world wars was at

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the forefront of the opposition to the

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Soviet bloc and its attempts to expand

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communism during the Cold War and was

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the global leader of technological

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innovation and human development for

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much of the 20th century it was the

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world's most prosperous nation with the

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highest standard of living and it set a

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cultural and economic standard that the

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world population even in enemy

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territories aspired to emulate yes the

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u.s. sometimes resorted to the

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undemocratic and inhumane methods of its

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enemies and there were huge ethnic

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struggles and social and economic

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inequalities but by many positive

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measures it was the world leader but now

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in 1921 popular sentiment and the u.s.

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political forces that oppose the

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progressive movement are in the process

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of halting the march toward global

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leadership at a crucial moment in world

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history

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welcome to between two wars a summary of

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the interwar years from the uncertainty

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and hedonism of the 1920s to humanity's

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descent into the darkness of the Second

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World War

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i'm indy neidell the united states of

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america had been founded on the idea of

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creating an independent nation apart

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from the social economic and military

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problems of the colonial powers from

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which it had originated although a

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nation of immigrants and settlers the US

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had until 1865 focused on

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self-sufficiency and extreme liberalism

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merging on libertarianism it traded with

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the world at arm's length and practiced

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economic policies of protectionism and

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isolationism with the American Civil War

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and the industrialization of the

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northern states this starts to change

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under President Abraham Lincoln and his

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successors this rather sprawling

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progressive era will end with President

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Woodrow Wilson now the progressive era

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was a period of reform resulting

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generally in better minority rights

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better social care and the end of the

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deeply corrupt American marcantel system

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but let's be clear here the u.s.

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Progressive Era has nothing to do with

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left or right wing politics you have to

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consider that the u.s. at this time is

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at the forefront of classical liberalism

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within both the Republican and the

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Democratic parties and today's

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classification of Republicans and

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Democrats on the right or the left does

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not apply in fact it is the Republican

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Party under Lincoln that begins the era

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but it is soon adopted as a core

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philosophy by both parties in any case

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progressivism picked up speed in the

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early 1900s under Republican presidents

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Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard

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Taft and they began to drop the 19th

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century state of isolationism the idea

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was to bring the u.s. into the budding

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global community of nations Roosevelt

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had expanded US influence in South

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America while laying a foundation for

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increased global trade with the

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construction of the Panama Canal on the

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domestic front

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Roosevelt's Taft's and Wilson's policies

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brought more equal opportunity and

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prosperity and fit right into the ideals

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that would later be called living the

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American dream

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much of this was supported or at least

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accepted by the majority of the American

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people but there was little public

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desire for u.s. involvement in foreign

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issues and conflicts in fact Woodrow

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Wilson a Democrat had won re-election in

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1916 on the slogan he kept us out of the

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war so with the US entry into the world

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war in April 1917 there was outrage

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throughout the nation by the end of the

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war with over a hundred thousand

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American lives lost and twice that

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wounded the public had had enough the

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Republicans seized on the popular

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sentiment of dissatisfaction and in the

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midterm elections of 1918 the Democrats

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lost their majority in Congress and even

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saw their significant majority in the

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Senate shift to a solid Republican

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advantage Wilson now faces an uphill

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battle to secure ratification for the

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peace plans proposed in his 14 points

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and the creation of a League of Nations

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for which he is fighting during the 1919

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Paris Peace Conference the Republicans

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led by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge

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strongly oppose many parts of the Treaty

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of Versailles and the League of Nations

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especially the mandate of the league to

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make war in the name of all members if

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someone breaks the covenant of the

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league Wilson refuses to compromise but

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it looks like he might get the votes he

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needs in the Senate anyway however in

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September 1919 he collapses from

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exhaustion the next month he suffers a

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series of strokes that leaves him

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seriously disabled in November his

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supporters failed to secure the

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two-thirds majority for ratification and

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the u.s. walks away from the Treaty of

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Versailles and the League of Nations a

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significant blow to Wilson's peace plan

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that will have massive ramifications and

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contribute to the conflicts that lead to

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the outbreak of World War two 20 years

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later but foreign policy is only the tip

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of the iceberg of problems now facing

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the ailing president the post-war

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economy is suffering there is a growing

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feeling of despair as the country heads

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toward a sharp deflationary recession

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and race and labor riots have sprung up

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all over America the economic downturn

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is largely due to the end of a war

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economy with hundreds of thousands of

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soldiers coming home

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and looking for jobs that are no longer

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there this will eventually turn around

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into economic prosperity and the roaring

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20s when the Allies start paying back

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their war debts but in 1920 1921 this

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seems far away so as the u.s. heads into

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the 1920 elections the country is in

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turmoil Wilson is not only losing

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popularity but his health prevents him

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from running for a third presidential

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term back then you could do that

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actually instead the Democratic

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candidate is the relatively unknown

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Governor James M Cox who's running mate

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as Franklin D Roosevelt the opposing

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Republican nominee senator warren g

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harding crushes Cox in a landslide

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winning the largest popular vote margin

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in a century

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but before Harding officially takes

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office on March 4th 1921

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President Wilson presides over two major

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amendments to the US Constitution on

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August 26 the 19th amendment is passed

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granting women the right to vote you can

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learn more about that in our video sex

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drugs and the right to vote the other

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amendment overseen by the Wilson

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administration is the 18th amendment

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this will famously be known as

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prohibition in 1919 the idea of banning

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the production distribution and sale of

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alcohol is considered a progressive idea

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that has been brewing throughout the

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Progressive Era the temperance movements

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had been around for over a hundred years

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in the state's alcoholism was in fact

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rampant all over the Western world and

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exacerbated things like poverty domestic

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abuse and crime in general in 1830 the

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average American drank three times as

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much alcohol as in 2010 though women

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tended to drink far less than men

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Christian activists labeled drinking as

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immoral and unchristian the temperance

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movement also became closely associated

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with women's suffrage as many of the

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activists were women by 1900 though it

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was still a state issue with Kansas

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being the first to abolish alcohol in

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1881 it was during the world war that

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the idea of a nationwide ban on alcohol

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became popular with progressive

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politicians taxes on alcohol were

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increased and by 19

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17 a majority of both Republicans and

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Democrats were dries as prohibitionists

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were popularly called an unexpected

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effect of the war was that it's

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sidelined the power base of German

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Americans who had been strongly anti

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prohibition as many of them were linked

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to the brewing industry

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a majority of Americans and President

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Wilson personally are actually opposed

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to Prohibition despite both parties in

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Congress supporting it by broad

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majorities by 1919 prohibition had been

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enacted as state law in 36 of the 48

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states and on the 28th of October 1919

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the 18th amendment passed Wilson

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actually vetoed the amendment but the

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Senate overrode him On January 16th 1920

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it goes into effect what followed though

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was not a more moral and stable Society

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instead it was an unprecedented wave of

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crime as Wilson and other wets had

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predicted the total ban of alcohol

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distribution in a country where most

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adults are alcoholics is not something

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you do without encountering major

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problems as soon as the news of the 18th

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amendment reaches the public people

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begin stockpiling like crazy filling

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basement storerooms and warehouses with

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liquor even Wilson fills up his

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Washington mansion with liquor in 1921

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when Harding who voted for the amendment

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takes office he'll move a huge supply of

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all kinds of booze into the White House

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the implementation of the law is also

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badly planned for instance alcohol has

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medicinal value but suddenly doctors

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cannot use it and when the law is

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amended so that physicians can sell

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medicinal alcohol many start selling it

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illegally at a high profit and there are

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plenty of customers especially once

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those stockpiles run dry

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people living in the border states can

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get liquor in Mexico or Canada but for

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the most part people have to find other

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avenues of access to satisfy that demand

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come the bootleggers bootlegging begins

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a smuggling from Mexico and Canada but

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as border controls tighten many

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bootleggers start working at sea off the

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coast of Atlantic City foreign ships

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dump crates of alcohol into speedboats

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fast enough

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to outrun the Coast Guard running these

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complex operations is organized

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syndicate crime

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thus the birth of prohibition is also

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the birth of something else the American

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Mafia okay in New York gambling and Loan

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King Arnold Rothstein was already

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running his criminal organization as a

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serious business in the teens and he

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will briefly foray into bootlegging that

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we in the 20s his focus will shift to

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becoming America's and the world's drug

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kingpin before his murder in 1928 by

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then his empires ranks will include such

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familiar names as Dutch Schultz Lucky

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Luciano legs diamond and Meyer Lansky

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but the most famous gangster of all to

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us in 2018 was Al Capone who in 1920 was

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still Alphonse Gabriel and working as a

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bouncer in a Chicago brothel

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Capone's boss Big Jim Cullum ISA is

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murdered in May and Johnny Torrio takes

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over making Capone his second-in-command

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Torrio and Capone get into bootlegging

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big-time selling to the whole south side

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of Chicago with the profits they expand

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into gambling prostitution racketeering

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extortion and new fields like narcotics

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in 1924 Capone will ambush and murder

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his aunt Oreos rival Dean O'Banion the

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crime boss and leader of the mainly

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Irish North Side gang thus consolidating

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power over all of Chicago and putting

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Capone on track to be the most powerful

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crime boss in America but for now that's

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in the future in 1921 Al Capone's story

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is there's nothing out of the ordinary

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organized crime literally explodes

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throughout the states when the

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distribution of illegal liquor becomes

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increasingly complex it's the most

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lucrative criminal activity in the

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country and before long people start

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making booze within the borders again

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denatured alcohol used by various

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industries is washed for toxic chemicals

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and mixed with regular water and sold by

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small crime rings to unknowing buyers

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thousands of bargain drinkers become

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paralyzed blind or even die these small

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crime rings merge to create larger

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operations and it creates an entire dark

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economy Valley

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chain from farmers selling wheat to

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underground breweries and backroom

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distilleries and finally the illegal

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bars and nightclubs which become known

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as speakeasies who pay top dollar for

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the product to protect their operations

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the gangs fight the police and each

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other in the streets and alleys of

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America and the gangsters become

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household names America has again become

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the land of opportunity

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but criminal opportunity and as so often

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happens the fish stinks from the head

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President Harding will die of a heart

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attack in office in 1923 and it will be

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revealed that here in 1921 he's one of

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the most corrupt citizens of them all

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during the Teapot Dome scandal he and

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Secretary of the Interior Albert befall

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set up a lease program to give naval oil

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reserves at low rates to private oil

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companies for which those companies paid

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the to a fortune a fortune Harding uses

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to live the early roaring 20s like a

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gangster boss

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he organizes high-stakes poker games in

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the White House he he entertains

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numerous mistresses and he drinks away

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at his stockpile of booze turning 1600

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Pennsylvania Avenue into the most

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glorious speakeasy of them all but he

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does more than that Harding ran on a

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ticket of return to normalcy which to

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the people meant that America should

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focus on itself so he enacts heavy

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isolationist and protectionist policies

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that make America turn its back on a

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world that is left to Hitler Stalin

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00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,630
Mussolini Tojo and the like to define

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although he continues progressive

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measures to give for example black

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Americans more rights and he is not

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personally opposed to immigration there

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is widespread fear of new arrivals from

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Eastern Europe that might infect America

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with communism so under popular pressure

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he restricts immigration especially from

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Eastern Europe many of these Eastern

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Europeans are Jews who must now remain

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in Europe and continue to suffer

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oppression and persecution together with

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his Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover

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Harding does a lot to promote business

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he act

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we promotes the development of new

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technology he cuts taxes above levels

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recommended by his economists and in an

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effort to I guess free the American

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economy abolish --is the regulations of

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businesses and the financial sector put

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in place by his predecessors the market

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will in fact boom as taxes go down and

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fresh money flows back into the country

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with the repayment of allied war debts

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but unchecked and unregulated financial

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markets will eventually inflate into a

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gigantic bubble that will burst in 1929

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wreaking havoc on the entire planets

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economy but the financial rush Hoover's

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and Harding's policies begin to unleash

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on the country creates so much

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short-term prosperity that despite the

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Teapot Dome scandal being actively

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investigated and Harding already shortly

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after his death being labeled the worst

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president in US history

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his Vice President Calvin Coolidge has

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no problem winning the presidential

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election of 1924 Coolidge keeps Hoover

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at his post and largely pursues the same

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00:15:17,190 --> 00:15:19,770
policies as Harding but nearly ten years

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from now then President Hoover will be

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overwhelmed by the Great Depression but

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already before that hits all the

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programs that Wilson had hoped would

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00:15:28,980 --> 00:15:31,740
stop our resurgence of militarism will

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begin to fail now that the US has turned

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its back on the world and refused to

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join the peace effort the League of

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Nations is weakened to the point of

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being meaningless

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thus useless in checking the upcoming

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00:15:43,470 --> 00:15:45,510
rise of militarism in Germany and Japan

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00:15:45,510 --> 00:15:48,060
and renewed plans of the Soviets to

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violently expand their communist empire

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00:15:50,270 --> 00:15:52,680
events that are driven by extremists

401
00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,230
increasing their power on the heels of a

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00:15:55,230 --> 00:15:57,600
financial collapse created by wild

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00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:59,820
speculation on financial markets that

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00:15:59,820 --> 00:16:02,010
have been unleashed and left unchecked

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00:16:02,010 --> 00:16:06,120
by the world's governments the price for

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00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,250
a warm feeling emanating from the

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00:16:08,250 --> 00:16:10,290
burning hot furnace of short-term

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00:16:10,290 --> 00:16:12,840
financial growth behind the closed doors

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00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,210
of uncle Harding's cabin in the 1920s

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00:16:15,210 --> 00:16:17,040
will be counted in American lives

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00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:21,160
starting December 7 1941

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00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,009
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see you next time Cheers the temperance

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