Prosperity and Depression (1919-1939)

What was life like during the 1920s?

Great prosperity

Consumerism:

People were buying more goods than ever

Lost Generation had died in World War I

People wanted to “eat, drink, and be merry!”oFlappersoMargaret Sanger

encouraged women to use birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies

New technology changed American lifeoAutomobiles

oAirplanes Charles Lindbergh made the first

transatlantic flight Despite the

prohibition of alcohol (18th Amendment) people continued to drink

People went to speakeasiesoSecret clubs where you could drink

alcohol Bootleggers made alcohol or snuck it

into the country Prohibition increased crime and was

eventually repealed with the 21st Amendment

The Jazz Age Most popular music of the day

oBegan in New Orleans

oLouis Armstrong was the most famous musician

People listened to music on the radio

First moviesoSilent films and “talkies”oThe Jazz Singer

Writers also embraced the Jazz Age F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby,

This Side of ParadiseoCriticized upper class extravagance

Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms

Sinclair Lewis: Babbitt

9.04 Describe challenges to traditional practices in religion, race, and gender.

What was the Harlem Renaissance ?

Emergence of black artists and writers

Began in Harlem, New York

African American culture was

celebrated by blacks Whites began coming to black clubs and

bars and reading literature of African American writers

Famous Harlem Renaissance Writers oLangston Hughes: Famous poetoZora Neale Hurston: Wrote about

struggles of blacks during the Great Migration

Two Themes of Harlem Renaissance:o1.

o2.

Segregation and Lynching Continue South was more dangerous for blacks

than the North Ku Klux Klan reemerged to fight blacks

and immigrants

UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association)

Led by Marcus Garvey Urged blacks to move “back to Africa”

to form their own independent nation Lost popularity when Garvey was

arrested for mail fraud

NAACP Led by DuBois they continued to fight

for laws against lynching

The Scopes Trial

Teacher was fired for teaching evolution in school

Christian fundamentalists argued that it conflicted with the BibleoFundamentalism: Belief that the

Bible is literally trueoBilly Sunday, Aimee Semple

McPherson and other conservative leaders encouraged this belief

Did not want students being taught that we “evolved from monkeys”oAlso known as the Scopes “Monkey”

Trial

Sacco and Vanzetti Two immigrants were accused of murder Despite lack of evidence, both were

sentenced to death Many people felt their trial was unfair

and verdict was due to nativism

1924 Native American Suffrage Act

Gave Native Americans full US citizenship

Right to vote was handled by states

Warren G. Harding’s Presidency Teapot Dome Scandal

oSecretary of the Interior Albert Fall leased government land to oil companies

oReceived a bribe for $400,000oCompanies removed all the oil from

the land, decreasing its valueoFall was convicted of felony bribery

What caused the Great Depression ?

Government practiced laissez-faire oDid not regulate

businesses or the stock market

Hawley-Smoot Tariff raised the tariff even higheroDecreased foreign demand for our

products Americans were in debt from easy

creditoBought items they could not afford

on installment plans Factories were overproducing goods

oToo many to sell People even speculated and bought

stock with borrowed moneyoBuying on the margin

Stock

market crash

oKnown as Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929)

oPrices of stocks went down, people panicked and tried to sell all their stocks

oOvernight many people went into debt or lost all of their savings

oSince people had bought with credit, they could not pay their loans back

Herbert Hoover’s Presidency Had promised Americans “a chicken in

every pot and a car in every garage” Did not believe in direct relief to

AmericansoThought it would make them lazyoRugged Individualism

Americans began to demand action

The Great Depression

Almost all Americans were living in poverty

Banks closed and Americans lost all their savings

90,000 businesses closed

25% unemployment in 1933

The Dust Bowl For years farmers had been clearing the

grasses from the Great Plains There were no trees or grasses to hold

the dirt in place A drought followed by heavy winds

stirred up the dust and carried it long distances

Dirt from Oklahoma was found on ships in the Atlantic Ocean

The hardest hit region (KS, OK, TX, NM, CO) was called the Dust Bowl

Farmers picked up and moved to California and other states looking for jobs

Life during the Depression People could not pay

rent or mortgages Ended up living in

shantytowns nicknamed Hoovervilles

Hardworking Americans were forced to go to soup kitchens and bread lines to get food

What was the Bonus Army?

World War I veterans were promised

bonuses in 1945, but wanted them early Went to Washington to meet with

Hoover and protest

Military used tear gas to make them leave

Damaged Hoover’s reputation and led to his defeat in the 1932 election

Roosevelt’s New Deal

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was elected president

Used fireside chats over the radio to share his plan with the American people

Appointed the first female cabinet officeroSecretary of Labor Frances Perkins

FDR believed in Deficit Spending oGovernment must spend money to

get out of the DepressionoSome people criticized him for

spending money we didn’t have

The New Deal had 3 components:1. Relief for the needy2. Economic recovery3. Financial reform

Act Purpose Relief, Recovery or Reform? What do you think?

Creation of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

Insures individual bank accounts up to $5,000 (now up to $100,000)

Creation of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)

Regulates the stock market

Agricultural Adjustment

Paid farmers subsidies to

Act (AAA) produce less food

Raised crop prices

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Renovated and constructed dams

Created jobs and hydroelectric power

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Created 3 million jobs

Built roads, parks, and planted trees

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)

Created the Public Works Administration (PWA)

Money to the states to create jobs

Social Security Old-age insurance for

retirees 65 and older

Unemployment compensation

Aid to families with dependent children and the disabled

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Hired anyone who needed a job

Built many public buildings, projects and roads and operated large arts, drama, media and literacy projects

Fed children and redistributed food, clothing

and housingNational Labor Relations Act (NLRB)

Protects the rights of workers to join unions

Fair Labor Standards Act

maximum workweek of 44 hours

minimum wage no hazardous

work for people under 18

Critics of the New Deal Some thought it did too much Some thought it did too little Father Charles Coughlin

oWanted everyone to have a guaranteed annual income

Huey LongoSenator from Louisiana oShare-Our-Wealth plan

oAssassinated