The History of the Twentieth Century

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229 Teapot Dome Feb 21, 2021

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The Teapot Dome scandal became the biggest corruption scandal in US government history. For the first time, a US cabinet secretary was sent to prison for official misdeeds.

228 The Little Green House on K Street Feb 14, 2021

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By 1923, evidence was mounting of scandal within the Harding Administration. The President did not acknowledge this publicly, but privately he agonized about it. It may have been a factor in his death in August.

227 The Jazz Age Feb 07, 2021

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Jazz music, by its nature, has to be heard to be understood and appreciated. In an earlier time, it might have remained a regional or ethnic niche music for some time, but thanks to the phonograph, one musician or band could teach jazz to millions.

226 Our Native Music Jan 31, 2021

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Jazz has its roots in a number of other musical forms: band music, spirituals, blues, and ragtime.

225 We Dream of the Future Jan 17, 2021

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After years of warlord infighting, some of the major factions were exhausted, while striking workers agitated for reform. It was time for the United Front to make its move, but the untimely death of Sun Yat-sen complicated the picture.

224 The Harding Era Jan 10, 2021

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Warren Harding was very much a hands-off kind of leader. This worked well when he appointed capable cabinet secretaries, especially Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. Meanwhile, America experiences the Tulsa Massacre, the worst single episode of racial violence in its history.

223 A Calculated Piece of Inhumanity Jan 03, 2021

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Gandhi returned to India during the Great War, but needed some time to reacquaint himself with the country after being away for so long. The British promise more self-rule, but the ruthless killing of hundreds of peaceful, unarmed civilians in Amritsar is for many Indians the last straw.

222 The Kingdom of Satan Dec 27, 2020

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Mohandas Gandhi went to South Africa to represent an Indian business in a legal dispute. He stayed for 23 years, practicing law, advocating for equal rights for Indians, and developing his theory of resistance, which he called satyagraha.

221 The Great Debate I Dec 25, 2020

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By the beginning of the twentieth century, astronomers had some idea of the size and shape of our galaxy, though the consensus was that the galaxy represented the entirety of the Universe. But in the decades that followed, it became clear that the Universe was much more.

220 An Unnatural Condition Dec 13, 2020

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By the beginning of the twentieth century, the younger generation of nationalists had become impatient with its elders' polite political agitation and sought ways to increase the pressure on the British to grant Indians more autonomy.

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