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Chapter 20

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Economic Problems:1. Unemployment2. Cost of living doubled during WWI3. Weak demand for farm products

American public divided over U.S. joining League of Nations:1. Isolationism rose2. Nativism rose

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Isolationismpulling away from involvement in world affairs.

NativismFear / distrust of foreigners

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Could communists overthrow the U.S. gov’t. as they had done in Russia?

The Red Scare of 19191. Atty. Genl. Mitchell A. Palmer authorized the “Palmer Raids”

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The case of

Sacco and Vanzetti

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Paved roads, traffic lights, motels, billboards Home design (garages, driveways) Gas stations, repair shops, shopping centers Freedom for rural families Independence for women and young people Cities like Detroit, Flint, Akron grew By 1920… 80% of world’s vehicles in U.S.

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Production of cars doubled by 1929…1 in 5 Americans had a car by the end of the decade.

11In 1926, the price of a Ford Model T was $290

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Economic EffectsMore jobs (auto

industry & related industries: Steel, rubber, and oil )

Roads and highways are built (more new jobs!)

Gas stations, hotels, and restaurants popped up across the country (more new jobs!)

Social EffectsGrowth of

suburbs People could live

outside the city and drive to work (commute)

Driving gave women more freedom

Easier to interact with others in cities & states

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Modern advertising began to take shape using pop culture and celebs

new appliances and consumer goods available at a lower cost spurred consumption.

Businesses had learned HOW to efficiently produce goods; now the focus was creating desire.

This ad uses a celebrity endorsement to glamorize smoking and exploits the

image of the “new woman” of the 1920’s.

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Urbanization still accelerating:1920

New York = 5 millionChicago = 3 million

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1920: First time in

American history that there were more people living in cities than on farms.

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1920s: Farming was not profitable. 6 million farmers or their children left the farms for the cities.

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Between 1910 – 1920, many African Americans moved from the South to the North Called the Great

Migration Racial tensions increased

in Northern cities Races riots occurred in #

of cities

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Jim Crow laws in the South limited life for African Americans. Lack of education Lack of housing Lack of jobs Lynchings

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Immigrants from Mexico to fill low pay jobs.

came to cities…the BARRIO… Spanish speaking neighborhoods. LA: Mexican barrio NYC: Puerto Rican

barrio

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Warren G. Harding (1920-23)Harding wins landslide

election promising a “return to normalcy” Return to isolationism Pro-business policies Make economy grow and

create jobs Administration rocked by

scandals

Read P. 666-69

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“The business of America is business. The man who builds a factory builds a temple. The man who works there

worships there” Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge’s priorities: Protect big business…urged Congress to

pass Fordney-McCumber Act (raised tariff 25%)

Business was the “key to creating the American way of life…”

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Industry Booms: Quantity of goods made by industry doubled More jobs created and incomes rose People spent money on new products

Refrigerators, radios, phonographs, vacuum cleaners

Installment buying (credit) allowed people to spend more money than they could afford

BUT…Overspending would become a serious economic problem…more on this later!

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A Soaring Stock Market (“bull market”) More people invested in the stock market than

ever before Stocks were bought on margin

Buyers put down 10%, borrowed 90% Margin buying works as long as stock prices

rise Margin buying became a 2nd cause for The Great

Depression of the 1930’s

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How did presidential leadership influence US policy during the 1920’s?Presidential leadership:

Created a strong economy Created a bull market Returned the nation to pre-WW1 isolation Increased jobs and family income Created an era of peace & prosperity …life was

good!

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Social & Cultural Tensions1. Collision of Traditional & Modern Values 2. Restricting Immigration3. The “New” Ku Klux Klan4. Prohibition & Crime

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By 1920, with MORE living in cities than rural areas…

Urban values began to dominate Diversity:

1. Politics2. Language3. Social customs

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Fundamentalist vs. Secular beliefs1) Fundamentalists believe in a literal interpretation

of the Bible2) Secular means things NOT connected to religion

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In March 1925, Tennessee passed the nation’s first law that made it a crime to teach evolution

The ACLU promised to defend any teacher willing to challenge the law – John Scopes did

John T. Scopes was a biology

teacher who dared to teach his

students that man MAY HAVE evolved from lower species

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The ACLU hired Clarence Darrow, the most famous trial lawyer of the era, to defend Scopes

The prosecution countered with William Jennings Bryan, a fundamentalist & the 3 time Democratic presidential nominee

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Darrow put Bryan on the stand to testify as an expert on the Bible.Bryan admitted some things in the Bible could

not be taken literally…showed flaws in some of his logic

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Darrow & Scopes lost the case but won the point with the public.

Scopes fined $100

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A 2nd example of the clash between city & rural values was the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1920. Launched era known as

Prohibition(the “Noble Experiment”)

Made it illegal to make, distribute, sell, transport or consume liquor.

Prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933 when it was repealed

by the 21st Amendment

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Reformers had long believed alcohol led to crime, child & wife abuse, and accidents

Supporters were largely from the rural south and west

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Poster supporting Prohibition

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Many did not believe drinking was a sin…con’t. to drink

Went to hidden saloons known as “speakeasies”People also bought liquor

from bootleggers who smuggled it in from Canada, Cuba and the West Indies

All of these activities became closely affiliated with …

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Prohibition contributed to the growth of organized crime in every major city

Al Capone – “Scarface” Chicago, Illinois

Capone took control of the Chicago liquor business by killing off his competition

Al Capone was finally convicted on tax evasion charges in 1931

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200 murders are directly tied to Capone.

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was also his work.

During Prohibition, he made $100,000,000.

Capone

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Territories expanded and gang warfare erupted over turf and control of liquor

Org. crime moved into other areas: Gambling Drugs prostitution

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Gangsters bribed police and other government officials to look the other way

They forced businesses to pay a fee for “protection” If you didn’t pay …

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By the mid-1920s, only 20% of Americans supported Prohibition

Many felt Prohibition caused more problems than it solved

The 21st Amendment finally repealed Prohibition in 1933

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Dance Marathons Charleston

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KDKA (Pittsburgh)

the FIRST radio broadcast

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Although print media was popular, radio was the most powerful communications medium to emerge in the 1920s.

News delivered faster and to a larger audience. Americans could hear the voice of the president

or listen to the World Series as it happened

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Charles Lindbergh Nickname: “Lucky Lindy”

May 27, 1927: Lindbergh made the first nonstop solo trans-Atlantic flight.Spirit of St. Louis

NYC - Paris33 ½ hours later – (no auto

pilot)$25,000 prize

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Radio, newsreels, made sports BIG business.

Jack Dempsey 1921 – world heavyweight champion boxer.

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Gertrude Ederle

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The “Galloping Ghost”: Red Grange

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Bobby Jones…featured in the Legend of Bagger Vance

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Coach Knute Rockne built Notre Dame into a college football powerhouse

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Charlie ChaplinThe Little Tramp

movies

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Rudolph Valentino

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Before 1927 movies were silent until…

Al Jolson stars in

The Jazz Singer…

1st film w/sound

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Even before sound, movies offered a means of escape through romance and comedy

First sound movie: Jazz Singer (1927)

First animated with sound: Steamboat Willie (1928)1928-Steamboat Willie-Walt

Walt Disney's animated

Steamboat Willie marked the debut of Mickey Mouse. It was a

seven minute long black and white cartoon.

The only uniquely American music form Born in New Orleans Spread to northern cities

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Paul Robeson Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington Bessie Smith

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jazz pianist and composer, led his 10 piece orchestra at Harlem’s famous Cotton Club.

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blues singer, was perhaps the most outstanding vocalist of the decade

By 1927 was the highest- paid black artist in the world

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Famed composer George Gershwin merged traditional elements with American Jazz.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the phrase “Jazz Age” to describe the 1920s

Fitzgerald wrote Paradise Lost and The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby reflected the emptiness of New York elite society

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Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, criticized the glorification of war

His simple, straightforward style of writing set the literary standard Hemingway - 1929

Main Street Elmer Gantry Babbitt

Themes were critical of American society

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Playwright Eugene O’NeillDark tragedies of everyday American life.

A LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT

                                           

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After the tumult of World War I, Americans were looking for a little fun in the 1920s. Women were independent and achieving greater freedoms.

i.e.. right to vote, more employment, freedom of the auto

Chicago 1926

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Challenged the traditional ways.

Revolution of manners and morals.

A Flapper was an emancipated young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes.

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Many women entered the workplace as nurses, teachers, librarians, & secretaries.

Earned less than men and were prevented from obtaining certain jobs.

Early 20th Century teachers

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Chicago, 1922. Female Beach Goers

Arrested for Indecent Exposure

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a literary and artistic movement, celebrating African- American cultureBegan in Harlem, NYTook pride in black culture Wrote about problems of being

black in white culture

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1914: 50,000 African Americans in Harlem.

1930: 200,000 Nora Neale Hurston

THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong.

Tomorrow,I'll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody'll dareSay to me,"Eat in the kitchen,"Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed--

I, too, am America. 80

I, Too, Sing America

1920s were a vibrant, exciting time The radio, film, literature, music, sports and fashion

dominated pop culture Republican leadership fostered a climate favorable to

business…an era of “mass consumption” BUT! The economy was built on shaky ground…it

would come crashing down in 1929 (our next unit)

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