According to Modern Temper, in the 1920s, the enthusiasm for social justice in the United States waned. 1 She claims that progress in this era has slowed, but I do not think it ever died down. The 1920s sought to bring American society to the modern world amidst the political corruption, victimization of industrialization, and the growth of the Socialist Party.2 During this time, many social justice and humanitarian laws were produced, such as milk codes, child labor laws, public health laws, and workers’ compensation.3 Amidst this was another very overlooked accomplishment: the changing of the death penalty.
February 8, 1924, marks the first state execution using lethal gas in the United States. The switch occurred because lethal gas was considered more humane than the usual execution style of a firing squad, hanging, and electrocution. We know today that it is not, but in the lens of the 1920s, it was. Instead of the previous tortuous execution styles, those condemned to death, if done correctly, would be asleep within seconds and then pass away.
The first person this was administered to was a man named Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant. Records claim that there is no correlation between using an immigrant for the first gas execution. However, one can infer that either they needed more human test subjects, since the only other test was on one cat, or that they symbolize progressiveness.
It is no secret that Americans and the government disliked immigrants at that time. The National Origins Act, passed in 1924, heavily excluded the number of Asian immigrants.4 This act highlights the anti-Asian sentiment on the West Coast during the mid-nineteenth century, specifically towards the Chinese.5 Passed in 1882, the Chinese Immigration Act excluded Chinese immigrants, claiming they were a “vilified…debased, corrupting race.”6 Immigrants were seen as a challenge to American culture and society.7 Americans linked immigrants to the crisis of the cities, making immigration seem like a multifaceted threat to American society.8
1925 – Seattle, Washington: A Group of 150 Chinese students arrive in Seattle.9
In the Modern Temper, chapters one through three focus primarily on public and private power, work and consumerism, and the new woman. My topic does not focus too much on these, except a bit on public and private power. I think it both shows and does not show change. It shows change because people cared more about people and how they were treated. For example, “modern America” does not give firing squad executions; it gives a progressive option of a more peaceful death. The United States was the first country to use gas for the death penalty, while other countries still used what the United States thought was wrong. For example, the United Kingdom and Japan primarily used hanging, and the Soviet Union and France used the guillotine. However, immigrants, especially Chinese immigrants, were not perceived well in this era. By Gee Jon being the test subject, one can perceive it in two different ways. One, they used a Chinese immigrant as their first person because they did not care if he suffered, and two, it was to repair relations between America and the Chinese Americans.
Overall, Gee Jon’s lethal gas execution is very interesting when framed in the 1920s era. It shows that America was becoming increasingly progressive in turns of human treatment, but it also highlights the unfortunate racism and wrong views towards immigrants.
- Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper, (1995) 16. ↩︎
- Dumenil, 17. ↩︎
- Dumenil, 18. ↩︎
- Dumenil, 207. ↩︎
- Dumenil, 208. ↩︎
- Dumenil, 208. ↩︎
- Dumenil, 204. ↩︎
- Dumenil, 205. ↩︎
- Getty Images. “1925-Seattle, Washington: Group of 150 Chinese students arrive in Seattle.” ↩︎
History major and Human Rights and Genocide Studies minor at Ramapo College of New Jersey class of 2025.
