America: 1920-1960

At the same time, there was an increase in law enforcement related positions in order to catch and process the thousands who were making and transporting alcohol illegally. It was not until the depression hit that the "wets" had enough appeal to repeal the eighteenth amendment. The twenties were also a time in which the new Klan gained power, they had terrorized many minorities, Catholics, and Jews, and often resorted to public displays of violence. They did so under the guise of nativism, the defending of "traditional" values, and were perpetuated by growing glorification of the Klan through Hollywood escapist films. Blacks during the depression were often forced out of employment directly and indirectly by the dust bowl. Industrialization had at the same time brought forth mechanisms to improve farming, but at the same time removing many workers from their jobs. Many had lost fertile land and were forced out of work, but more were forced into unemployment by the black shirts and their ideas that whites should not go out of work while blacks still have jobs. The NAACP had stepped in to try to employ blacks and offer support in education, but it was not until the black panther movement and public displays put on by Martin Luther King that their movement made the most headway. At the same time, secularism was challenged in schools with the scopes monkey trial. The argument had revolved around the credibility of two different schools of thought whereas Christian views had its roots in faith-based fallacies (which produced intransigence), red herrings, and its appeal to ignorance and tradition. The conclusion drawn from the trail was in favor of secularist thought and argued that if one denomination should be taught, then all should with no preference, in which it would prove to be too difficult to do so. The "new age successes went unparalleled in American history in not only its achievements, but the light it had shed on a new set of social and geopolitical issues.