POLITICS OF THE ROARING 20’S

Focus Activity• How would you react if you encountered

someone with views that differ from yours?– Would you engage a conversation with the

other person? Explain.

• How do you think people with unpopular views might be treated?

• Have you ever been accused of something that you didn’t do and how did you react?

AMERICAN POSTWAR ISSUES

• The American public was exhausted from World War I

• Public debate over the League of Nations had divided America

• An economic downturn meant many faced unemployment

• A wave of nativism swept the nation

ISOLATIONISM

• Many Americans adopted a belief in isolationism

• Isolationism- meant pulling away from involvement in world affairs

Red Scare-FEAR OF COMMUNISM

• One perceived threat to American life was the spread of Communism

• Communism is an economic and political system based on a single-governmental party, equal distribution of resources, no private property and rule by a dictatorship

SOVIET UNION COMMUNISM

• Russia was transformed into the Soviet Union in 1917, a Communist state

• Vladimir Lenin led the Bolsheviks and overthrew the Czarist regime

• He was a follower of the Marxist doctrine of social equality

• A Communist party was formed in America, too

Lenin

Postwar Issues at Home

A. Mitchell Palmer/J. Edgar Hoover try to find anarchists

-Accused of robbery and murder -Executed 8-23-27

Membership rose to 4.5 million in 1924

CONGRESS LIMITS IMMIGRATION

• Congress, in response to nativist pressure, decided to limit immigration from southern and eastern Europe

• The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 set up a quota system to control and restrict immigration

America changed its formally permissive immigration policy

A TIME OF LABOR UNREST

• Strikes were outlawed during WWI, however in 1919 there were more than 3,000 strikes involving 4 million workers

Labor Strikes-Boston Police hadn’t had a raise since WWI. -Calvin Coolidge fired police and hired new ones

-1919 300,000 steel worker went on strike.-U.S. Steel hired scabs and strikers were beaten by the police

In 1919, United Mine Workers led by John L. Lewis called a Strike on November 1.-Result 27% pay increase

1920s: TOUGH TIMES FOR UNIONS

• The 1920s hurt the labor movement

• Union membership dropped from 5 million to 3.5 million

• Why? African Americans were excluded from membership and immigrants were willing to work in poor conditions

Ford Foundry workers in 1926; only 1% of black workers were in

Unions at the time

• Who are the men in the cartoon?

• What does the light represent?

• What ideas are trying to shut out the light?

• What is the main ideas of the cartoon?

The Harding “Normalcy” Presidency

Main Idea

The Harding administration appealed to America’s desire for calm and peace after the war, but resulted in scandal.

Why it Matters Today

The government must guard against scandal and corruption to merit public

trust.

One American’s Story• Warren G. Harding (29th) was

described as a good-natured man who “looked like a president ought to look.”

• Ohio Gang- brought his “friends” from his home state of OHIO with him into political offices they were not “qualified or prepared” to run correctly…troubled waters!!!!!!

Harding Struggles for Peace

• After WWI, problems surfaced relating to arms control, war debts, and the reconstruction of war-torn countries so...

• Harding invited several major powers to Washington Naval Conference.

• Sec. of State- Charles Evans Hughes- suggest that the five major powers disarm.

• 1928- Kellogg-Briand Pact- NO MORE WAR was an international policy (made WAR ILLEGAL).

Kellogg-Briand Pact-1928

High Tariffs and Reparations• Britain and France looked for ways to pay back

$10 billion to the U.S. they had “borrowed for WWI”• Two way they could pay back:

– Selling goods to the U.S.– Collecting reparations from Germany (**33

BILLION OWED**)• 1922-Fordney-McCumber Tariff- Congress

raised taxes on imports to 60%!!!!!!!!!• Germany defaulted on loans…SO… U.S. gives

$2.5 billion to Germany so they can pay Britain & France.

• Dawes Plan- U.S. bankers would loan money to Germany to pay back Britain and France.

• In essence, U.S. was repaid with their own money

Fordney-McCumber Tariff

• As a result of the war, Americans had two main concerns:– First, they wanted to ensure economic

self-sufficiency so that no future enemy could manipulate the American economy.

– Second, many industries wanted to preserve the benefits of the increased wartime demand.

SCANDAL HITS HARDING

• The president’s main problem was that he didn’t understand many of the issues

• Several of Harding’s appointee’s were caught illegally selling government supplies to private companies

TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL

• The worst case of corruption was the Teapot Dome Scandal

• The government set aside oil-rich public land in Teapot, WY

• Secretary of Interior Albert Fall secretly leased the land to two oil companies

• Fall received $400,000 from the oil companies and a felony conviction from the courts

BUSINESS OF AMERICA

• The new president, Calvin Coolidge, fit the pro-business spirit of the 1920s very well

• His famous quote: “The chief business of the American people is business . . .the man who builds a factory builds a temple – the man who works there worships there”

President Calvin Coolidge 1924-1928

AMERICAN BUSINESS FLOURISHES

• Both Coolidge and his Republican successor Herbert Hoover, favored governmental policies that kept taxes down and business profits up

• Tariffs were high which helped American manufacturers

• Government interference in business was minimal

• Wages were increasing

THE IMPACT OF THE AUTO

• The auto was the backbone of the American economy from 1920 through the 1970s

• It also profoundly altered the American landscape and society

• Henry Ford

The Ford Model T was the first car in America. It came only in black and sold for $290. Over 15 million were

sold by 1927.

Automobiles & Industrial Expansion• Henry Ford

• ‘fordism’

Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928(From the Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village)

“Trying out the new assembly line“ Detroit, 1913Henry Ford (1835-

1947)

1913: 14 hours to build a new car1928: New Ford off assembly line every 10 seconds

1913: car=2 yrs wages1929: 3 mos. wages

Impact of the Automobile: Impact of the Automobile: Trains and Automobiles, 1900-1980Trains and Automobiles, 1900-1980

Jones, Created Equal

AutomobilesAutomobiles & &

ConsumerismConsumerism

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

<< Ford ad:Ford ad: “Every family -- with even the most modest income, can now afford a car of their own."

“Every family should have their own car. . .You live but once and the years roll by quickly. Why wait for tomorrow for things that you rightfully should enjoy today?"

(Library of Congress)

Dodge advertisement Dodge advertisement photo, 1933photo, 1933

EFFECTS OF THE AUTO

Among the many changes were:

• Paved roads, traffic lights• Motels, billboards• Home design• Gas stations, repair shops• Shopping centers • Freedom for rural families• Greater freedom to travel• Urban Sprawl: Detriot,

Flint, Akron• By 1920 80% of world’s

vehicles in U.S.

July 4, Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, early July 4, Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, early 1920s1920s

AIRLINE TRANSPORT BECOMES COMMON

• The airline industry began as a mail carrying service and quickly “took off”

• By 1927, Pan American Airways was making the transatlantic passenger flights

• People had better means to travel

When commercial flights began, all flight attendants

were female and white

AMERICAN STANDARD OF LIVING SOARS

• The years 1920-1929 were prosperous ones for the U.S.

• Americans owned 40% of the world’s wealth

• The average annual income rose 35% during the 1920s ($522 to $705)

• Discretionary income increased

ELECTRICAL CONVENIENCES

• While gasoline powered much of the economic boom of the 1920s, the use of electricity also transformed the nation

• Led to the electrification of homes

• Made life easier at home.• Conformist lifestyles

Electric refrigerators, stoves, irons, toasters, vacuums, washing machines and sewing

machines were all new

MODERN ADVERTISING EMERGES

• Ad agencies no longer sought to merely “inform” the public about their products

• They hired psychologists to study how best to appeal to Americans’ desire for youthfulness, beauty, health and wealth

• “Say it with Flowers” slogan actually doubled sales between 1912-1924

• Listerine

Installment Plan• People rush to buy

new products like cars, appliances, etc. on credit.

• People over extended their budgets

• False sense of security

A SUPERFICIAL PROSPERITY

• Many during the 1920s believed the prosperity would go on forever

• Wages, production, GNP, and the stock market all rose significantly

• But. . . .

“Clouds in the Blue Sky of Prosperity”

• Growing income gap between workers and managers

• Industries were stagnant and losing money– RXR and Iron– Farmers suffered because of too much food

• Installment plan was getting out of hand– Too much debt