1920s

1. Themes: 1920’s common themes-• Return to normalcy• US turned inward---isolationism• Jazz Age• first modern era in the U.S.• change from a rural society to an

urban.

2. Cultural clashes in US Traditional America vs. Modern America Hostility towards un-American ideas

Why? Feared communism……..Red Red ScareScare

Rise of KKKKKK Immigration restriction/Anti-

immigrant feelings Sacco and Vanzetti

Scopes Trial---evolution vs. creation Liberated woman vs. traditional

Flappers Margaret Sanger----Birth control

African Americans move to the cities led to race riots in some cases

Americans violate Prohibition 18th Amendment

Volstead Act

3. Revolution in styles and technologies. electricity, radio, automobile, mass

media Fads---new dances, music &

clothing4. American heroes:

Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh

5. Presidents during the 1920’s Conservative Republicans Supported laissez faire

Warren Harding 1921 to 1923 Calvin Coolidge 1921 to 1929

6. Foreign policy during the 1920’s and early 30s- Isolationism the general trend

The New Era of the 1920s Consumerism flourishes because of credit,

advertising, and economic (GNP) growth US Government fosters business growth Entertainment grows further as big

business Technology and middle class expand New attitudes and uses of time emerge,

but some oppose modern changes (reactionary)

Decade ends with economic collapse

The Economy & Big Business

Decline, 1920–21 (drop in war production)Electricity spurs recovery and growth (1922–29)

with new goods for factory and for home Installment plans stimulate consumptionConsolidation continues; oligopolies control

production, marketing, distribution, financeUS Steel and General Electric dominate their

respective industries

Business Lobbying; Fate of Labor Unions & Farmers

Business and professional organizations lobby government as special-interest groups

US Government lowers taxes on wealthy and corporations, raises tariffs, eases regulation

Supreme Court voids minimum-wage laws and restrictions on child labor, restricts strikes

Farmers suffer rising debt because of falling prices (overproduction/foreign competition)

The Second Industrial Revolution U.S. develops the highest standard of living

in the world The twenties and the second revolution

electricity replaces steam Henry Ford’s modern assembly line introduced

Rise of the airline industry Modern appliances and conveniences begin

to change American society

The Automobile Industry

Auto makers stimulate sales through model changes, advertising

Auto industry fostered the growth of other businesses

Autos encourage movement and more individual freedom.

Glenwood Stove and Washing Machine

•Beginning of the Jazz Age in New York City

•Acceptance of African American culture

•African American literature and music

JAZZ

Migration to Cities;The Great Migration

Majority of Americans are urban by 1920; during 1920s, 6 million more leave farms

Great Migration of blacks to urban north accelerates (1.5 million leave South, 1920s)

Discrimination and violence in North results in black movements for racial independence

Garvey (UNIA) attracts large following with demands for black pride and separatism

IKAIKAImperial Klans of America

Revived Ku Klux Klan (1915–1925)

Recruits 5 million men and women (1923) by emphasizing native, white, Protestant supremacy; opposes other races and religions

Expands from rural South to new cities, claims new immigrants mongrelize US

Continues earlier terror tactics and mystical rituals; declines after rape scandal (1925)

Reflects pervasive intolerance of 1920s

Rise of the KKK was due to challenges to traditional America.

1925: Membership of 5 million1926: Marched on Washington.

Attack on urban culture and defends Christian/Protestant and rural valuesAgainst immigrants from Southern

Europe, European Jews, Catholics and American Blacks

Sought to win U.S. by persuasion and gaining control in local/state

government.Violence, internal corruption result in Klan’s significant decline by 1930 but will reappear in the 1950s and 1960s.

•The U.S. Government began to restrict certain “undesirable”“undesirable”

immigrants from entering the U.S.

•Congress passed the Emergency Emergency Quota Act of 1921Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Immigration

Act of 1924Act of 1924

• Kept out immigrants from southeastern Europe.

•The U.S. Government began to restrict certain “undesirable”“undesirable” immigrants from entering the

U.S.

•Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of Emergency Quota Act of 19211921, in which newcomers from Europe were restricted at any year to a quota, which was set

at 3% of the people of their nationality who lived in the U.S. in 1910.

•Immigration Act of 1924Immigration Act of 1924, the quota down to 2% and the origins base was shifted to that of

1890, when few southeastern Europeans lived in America.

Cartoon from 1919: “Put them out and

keep them out”

•Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

were Italian Italian immigrantsimmigrants charged

with murderingmurdering a guard and robbing a

shoe factory in Braintree, Mass.

•The trial lasted 1920-1927. Convicted on circumstantial evidence, many believed they had

been framed for the crime because of their anarchist and pro-union activities.

•In this time period, anti-foreignismanti-foreignism was high as well.

•Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men, but they would be executed.

Immigration Quotas; Sacco & Vanzetti Case

Nativists succeed in reducing total numbers of immigrants, especially new immigrants

1921, 1924, and 1929 Acts set up yearly quotas favoring immigrants from north/west Europe over those from south/east Europe

Immigration shifts to Western HemisphereTrial/execution of Italian anarchists reflects

anti-immigrant bias and anti-radicalism (MA)

•Goal: was to reduce crime and was to reduce crime and poverty and improve the quality of lifepoverty and improve the quality of life by making it impossible for people to

get their hands on alcohol. •Called the "Noble Experiment""Noble Experiment"

•Midnight, January 16th, 1920, US went dry.

•The 18th Amendment18th Amendment, known as the Volstead Act,Volstead Act, prohibited the

manufacture, sale and possession of alcohol in America. Prohibition lasted

for thirteen years. •So was born the industry of

bootlegging, speakeasies and Bathtub bootlegging, speakeasies and Bathtub GinGin..

•No other law in America has been violated so flagrantlyflagrantly by so many "decent law-abidingdecent law-abiding"

people.

•Overnight, many became criminalscriminals.

•Mobsters controlled liquor created a booming black market economy.

•Gangsters owned speakeasies and by 1925 there were over 100,000 speakeasies in New

York City alone.

Detroit police inspecting equipment

found in a hidden underground brewery during the prohibition

era.

Agent with the U.S. Treasury Department's

Prohibition Bureau during a time when

bootlegging was rampant throughout the

nation.

Chicago gangster during Prohibition who controlled the

“bootlegging” industry.

Al CaponeAl Capone Elliot Ness, part of the

Untouchables

Elliot Ness, part of the

Untouchables

“Prohibition is an awful flop.We like it.

It can't stop what it's meant to stop.We like it.

It's left a trail of graft and slime,It's filled our land with vice and crime,

It can't prohibit worth a dime,Nevertheless we're for it.”

Franklin Pierce Adams, New York World

“It is impossible to stop liquor trickling through a dotted line”

A Prohibition agent

“Flappers” sought individual freedom

Ongoing crusade for equal rights

Most women remain in the “cult of domesticity”“cult of domesticity”

sphere

Discovery of adolescence

Teenaged children no longer needed to work

and indulged their craving for excitement

The Playful flapper here we see,The fairest of the fair.

She's not what Grandma used to be,You might say, au contraire.

Her girlish ways may make a stir,Her manners cause a scene,

But there is no more harm in herThan in a submarine.

She nightly knocks for many a goalThe usual dancing men.

Her speed is great, but her controlIs something else again.

All spotlights focus on her pranks.All tongues her prowess herald.

For which she well may render thanksTo God and Scott Fitzgerald.

Her golden rule is plain enough -Just get them young and treat them

rough.

by Dorothy Parker

Fundamentalism;Scopes Trial (1925)

Evangelical Protestant denominations growAdvocate literal interpretation of Bible; reject

materialism, science, and “modernism”Darrow and Bryan debate TN’s ban on

teaching evolution; other states follow TNPentecostal churches also expand in citiesKKK, nativism, and religion reflect attempts

to sustain traditional values in new era

1925

The first major conflict between religion vs.vs. science being taught in school was in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee.

John T. Scopes

Respected high school biology

teacher arrested in Dayton,

Tennessee for teaching

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

Clarence Darrow

Famous trial lawyer who represented

Scopes

William J. BryanSec. of State for

President Wilson, ran for president three times, turned evangelical

leader. Represented the

prosecution.

Dayton, Tennessee

Small town in the south became

protective against the

encroachment of modern times and secular teachings.

The trial is conducted in a carnival-like atmosphere. The

people of Dayton are seen as ‘backward’ by

the country.

The right to teach and protect Biblical

teachings in schools.

The acceptance of science and that all

species have evolved from lower forms of

beings over billions of years.

Advertising; Radio Increases demand for new products/services

through use of psychology and celebritiesRadio emerges as key advertising mediumUS Gov’t rejects public funding of radioProgramming focuses on entertainmentMany workers able to purchase goods only

by using credit or by working extra jobs Indoor plumbing spreads to urban workers

•Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA was a world pioneer of

commercial radio broadcasting.

•Transmitted 100 watts on a wavelength of 360 meters.•KDKA first broadcast was

the Harding-Cox Presidential election returns on November

2, 1920. •220 stations eighteen months after KDKAKDKA took the plunge.

•$50 to $150 for first radios

•3,000,000 homes had them by 1922.

•Radio sets, parts and accessories brought in $60 $60

millionmillion in 1922…

• $136 million$136 million in 1923

•$852 million$852 million in 1929

•Radio reached into every third homeevery third home in

its first decade.

•Listening audience was 50,000,000 by 1925

Expansion of Consumer Society

Purchasing power increases for many (cost of living is stable, while earnings increase)

By 1929, 2/3 of all homes have electricityAutomobiles are the vanguard of expanding

materialism, even some workers purchase one

Cars alter US life with emerging network of government-sponsored roads and highways

Harding (1921–1923) & Coolidge (1923–1929)

Republican presidents (1921–1933) symbolize goodwill toward business

Spoils system and scandals (Teapot Dome) undermine Harding’s administration

Anti-union Coolidge lowers taxes, begins US highway system, vetoes farm assistance

In 1924 election, both major candidates are pro-business; Progressives fail to revive reform

The 1920 ElectionThe 1920 Election

The 1920 ElectionThe 1920 Election

Wilson’s idealism and Treaty of Versailles led many Americans to vote Republican Warren Harding

Many in the US turned inward and feared foreign influences.

The 1924 ElectionThe 1924 Election

Calvin Coolidge served as President from 1923 to 1929.

“Silent Cal”.

Republican president

Calvin Coolidge served as President from 1923 to 1929.

“Silent Cal”.

Republican president

+ + = $$REPUBLICAN ECONOMY SUPPORTED LAISSEZ FAIRELAISSEZ FAIRE AND

BIG BUSINESS……….

Lower Taxes

Fordney-McCumber Tariff---1923Hawley-Smoot Tariff ---1930

raised the tariff to an unbelievable 60%!!!

Less Federal Spending

Higher Tariffs

Strong National Economy

• Secretary of the Interior, Albert B. Fall leased naval reserve oil land in

Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, to oilmen Harry F. Sinclair

and Edward L. Doheny

•Fall had received a bribe of $100,000 from Doheny and about three times

that amount from Sinclair.

•Fall found guilty of taking a bribe.

•Sinclair and Doheny were acquitted of charges.

Reform; Indian Affairs; Women & Politics

State and local reforms (workers’ compensation, old-age pensions, aid to poor, and housing codes)

Indians suffer neglect by US Gov’t (ignores groups that try to help Indians regain land)

Female groups devise tactics (publicity) to lobby for help to working women (LWV)

Pursuit of different goals fragments women (LWV v. feminist National Women’s Party)

Employment for Women

Number in workforces continues to increase 10.8 million working women (1930) Segregated in jobs (clerical); receive low pay Most female workers are single, but 3.1

million wives work (1930) to help with consumption

Many African, Japanese, and Mexican American wives work as domestics or rural laborers to help their families survive

The New Woman

“Flappers” remake image of femininity with stress on personal freedom and sexuality

Few actually become flappers, but dress styles change and some assert independence

New habits spark move to reassert traditions

Mexicans & Puerto Ricans; Growth of Suburbs

Most Mexicans work as agrarian laborers in southwest, but many move to cities

Puerto Ricans migrate to northern cities (especially NYC) and form barrios

Prosperity and cars fuel suburban expansion Middle and upper classes flee urban

problems and resist annexation by cities Cities and suburbs are centers of consumer

culture

New Rhythms of Everyday Life

Apportion time into work, family, and leisure Proportion changes as time at work drops for

many and people have fewer children Appliances ease some household tasks, but

also make wives into household managers Improved nutrition and sanitation increase life

expectancy (60 years by 1930 from 54 years in 1920) for most, but not all people

Older Americans & Retirement; Social Values

More people living past age 60 and forced retirements increase poverty among elderly

Europeans create pensions in early 1900s, but US leaders reject these as socialistic

Many states in 1920s adopt pensions and retirement homes to reduce elderly poverty

New values emerge with consumption and peer groups: self-expression via clothing, etc.

Age of Play

Commercial entertainment expands Middle class participates in fads (mahjong,

crossword puzzles, dance crazes, etc.) Spectator recreations (movies, sports) boom Motion pictures emerge as a leading US

industry, especially with sound and color (late 1920s)

To appeal to a mass audience, movies make escapist spectacles, dramas, and comedies

Sports Heroes; Movie Stars; Prohibition

Professional baseball blossoms; media glorifies its suspense and unpredictability

Ruth symbolizes heroes of 1920s: unique individuals in a mass industrial society

Compare/contrast Valentino and Lindbergh After 1925, prohibition breaks down as more

people break law; criminal groups (Capone) supply public demand for alcohol

Cultural Currents Writers and artists critique era’s materialism

and conformity; express disillusionment Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, etc. African Americans celebrate black culture

and explore identity in Harlem Renaissance Rooted in black culture, jazz becomes

popular; gives African American musicians (Armstrong) a place in consumer culture

The Election of 1928 & the End of the New Era Hoover (Republican) wins, but Smith increases

Democratic strength among urban ethnics Hoover campaigns on continued prosperity As president (1929–33), Hoover continues his

past efforts to promote business growth Stock prices drop with panic selling (Oct. 1929) Crash helps unleash devastating depression

Declining Demand

Several interrelated factors cause depression Sales in growth industries (autos, electric

appliances, housing) stagnate in late 1920s Underconsumption: neither farmers nor

workers earn enough to preserve demand Widening income gap contributes to problem:

income of rich skyrockets, but only modest gains for middle/lower classes

Corporate Debt; Speculation on Stock Market

Businesses took out large loans to pursue expansion; when sales drop, defaults occur

Corporations, individuals, and banks engage in risky purchase of stocks “on margin”

When stock prices decline, many brokers, banks, investors, and businesses face ruin

Growing US stock investments (late 1920s) hamper US-European economic links

International Economy; Federal Policies

In WWI, US banks loaned billions to Europe, but high tariffs prevent Europeans from selling in US to pay back loans

Allies/Germany depend on continued US loans until late 1920s; then begin to default

Global trade in goods/money collapses US Government does not regulate wild stock

market; prefers US-business cooperation