trends in the 1920s. politics scandal and return to “laissez faire”
TRANSCRIPT
Trendsin the1920s
Trendsin the1920s
POLITICS
Scandal and return to
“Laissez Faire”
Poor President HardingPoor President Harding President Harding:
Decent man but surrounded by bad people (Grant – 50 years ago)
Ohio Gang Harding’s buddies from back
home
Teapot Dome Scandal Navy oil reserves secretly sold
by Harding’s Appointees to private companies
Harding goes on tour of Alaska Dies of Heart Attack Soon after
Teapot Dome ScandalTeapot Dome Scandal
Harding: “ I have no trouble w/ my enemies… But my damned Friends… They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor at nights!”
President Coolidge “The business of America is business.”
Assumes Power after death of Harding
Firm Believer in Laissez FaireMcNary Haugen Bill
Passed by Congress to assist farmers Vetoed twice
Bonus ActProposed to help families of WWI
vetsVetoed
Revenue ActsReduced Income Taxes
ISOLATIONISM
““NormalcyNormalcy”” and and IsolationismIsolationism Warren G. Harding: runs for president –
motto becomes “return America to simpler days”
Harding pursuing an isolationist policy
Washington Naval Conference (1921)
21 Major powers invited to prevent a naval arms race
Countries agreed to scale back their navy and scrap large warships
Charles Evan Hughes (Sec. of State) – No more warships built for 10 years
Kellogg-Briand Pact Kellogg-Briand Pact (1929)(1929)
renounces war as an instrument of national policy
1515 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and war as tools of foreign policy.war as tools of foreign policy.
ProblemsProblems lack of enforcement and gave lack of enforcement and gave Americans a false sense of security. Americans a false sense of security.
ReparationsReparations United States demanding Great Britain/France
pay debts ($10 billion to U.S). G.B./France demand Germany (bankrupt) pay
reparations France sends troops into Germany’s Ruhr Valley
– U.S. steps in to prevent war U.S. banks loan Germany $2.5 billion to pay
reparations to G.B. & France Called the Dawes Plan (Charles Dawes –
banker) G.B. & France takes money from Germany and
pays back the U.S. U.S. being repaid with its own money U.S. didn’t pay fair share of costs of WWI – G.B. &
France angry
European Debts to the European Debts to the USUS
Hyper-Inflation in Germany: 1923Hyper-Inflation in Germany: 1923
Dawes PlanDawes Plan (1924)(1924)
NATIVISM
The Russian Revolution and The Russian Revolution and CommunismCommunism
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia
Seen as Anti Capitalism in the U.S.
70,000 radical in U.S. join Communist Party
Result: Red Scare
The Russian Revolution and CommunismThe Russian Revolution and Communism(continued)(continued)
A. Mitchell Palmer- U.S. Attorney GeneralAnti CommunistKnown for “Palmer
Raids”
J. Edgar HooverFirst head of FBI Hunts down suspected
Communists/Anarchists
The Russian Revolution and CommunismThe Russian Revolution and Communism(continued)(continued)
The Red Scare Fuels NativismThe Red Scare Fuels Nativism Nicola Sacco &
Bartolommeo Vanzetti both were Italian,
anarchists & evaded WWI draft
Charged with murdering a paymaster & stealing $15,000
Evidence circumstantialfound guilty &
executed
The Red Scare Fuels NativismThe Red Scare Fuels Nativism(continued)(continued)
1961: ballistic tests show Sacco pistol was murder weapon
No proof Sacco pulled the trigger
1977: Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis declared not a fair trial
The Ku Klux KlanThe Ku Klux Klan Rise of nativism & communism
Rebirth of the Klan
By 1924 – 4.5 million membersNow nationwide organization
Supported prohibition – opposed unions
Hated Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners
Believed in 100% Americanism
The Ku Klux Klan
Limiting ImmigrationLimiting Immigration Emergency Quota Act (1921):
Established max number of immigrants from any one country
Primarily focused on S. and E EuropeIncrease in Western Hemisphere
immigrants1920s: 1 million Canadians – 500,000
Mexicans enter US
National Origins Act (1924) set limit at 2% for each country
Emergency Quota Act
LABOR UNREST
Unions and Labor Unions and Labor UnrestUnrest During War -Strikes not allowed
After War - 3,000 strikes in 1919 alone wages not keeping up with prices
Growing numbers of Unskilled LaborersOften Left out of Labor UnionsAfrican Americans excluded from most unionsPush for Open Shops
1920 – union membership was 5 million 1929 – union membership was 3.5 million
Coal Miners Strike (1919) United Mine Workers
elected John Lewis their new President.
He organized a nationwide strike and was able to get a 27% wage increase, but could not win shorter hours.
WEALTH
The Impact of Automobiles
Let Americans take vacations to new areas
Construction of paved roads such as the famous Route 66 gave rise to homes with garages, gas stations, motels, and repair shops popping up everywhere
Impact of Automobiles(continued)
Allowed workers to live miles from their jobs creating urban sprawl
By late 1920s – 80% of all registered vehicles in the world were in the US
1927: First underwater tunnel- Holland Tunnel
1929: Woodbridge Cloverleaf in NJ– first cloverleaf intersection
The Airplane Industry Cause of growth:
carried mail for U.S. government
1927: Charles Lindberg – first solo flight across Atlantic Ocean (“Spirit of St. Louis”)
1927: Pan American Airways made first transatlantic passenger flights
Electrical Conveniences
Development of alternating current allowed electricity to be distributed over longer distances
Electrical items such as the refrigerators and toasters made life of the housewife easier
Rise of Modern Advertising Companies hired
psychologists to study how to appeal to people’s desires
Advertising will gradually become one of the most profitable industries in America
Leads to Increasing Consumerism
Consumer Economy
Superficial Prosperity
The Roaring Life of the 1920s
Culture
New Urban Scene5 65 cities with over
100K people
5 People judged each other by their accomplishments
5 Drank, gambled, casually dated, danced
5 City life was fast-paced & impersonal
Prohibition Experiment 5 Liquor led to crime,
family abuse and accidents on the job
5 18th Amendment passed making it illegal to manufacture, sale and transport alcohol
5 Volstead Act established the Prohibition Bureau, but it was underfunded and undermanned
Prohibition Experiment5 Speakeasies were
places where people could illegally buy liquor
They were in cellars and hardware stores
5 Bootleggers were individuals who smuggled alcohol into the U.S
Prohibition Experiment5 Al Capone was the
most famous organized crime boss in Chicago
5 Killed off most of his competition
5 By Mid 20s only 19% support Prohibition
5 1933: 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition
American Fundamentalism5 Fundamentalism
believed in the literal interpretation of the bible.
5 They were skeptical of science and rejected theory of evolution
5 Use religious revivals or radio to spread word of God
The Scopes Trial5 1925: TN made it a
crime to teach evolution
5 John Scopes defied the law and the ACLU hired Clarence Darrow to defend him
5 Prosecutor: William Jennings Bryan
The Scopes Trial (July 10, 1925)
5 Called Bryan to the stand
5 Bryan: “Not 6 days of 24 hours”
5 Scopes found Guilty
5 TN Supreme Court overturned ruling
Darrow and Bryan
Women5 Emancipated
women who embraced new fashions and attitudes were called FLAPPERS
5 Smoked, drank, talked about sex
5 Marriage an equal partnership
Women5 Not all subscribed to
Flapper
5 Casual Dating rose
5 Men could have greater sexual freedom, while women had to observe stricter standards. This is known as the double standard
Changing Family
5 Births decreased Margaret Sanger
Advocated use of Contraceptives
5 Free time for women
5 More children in schools
Education and News5 Newspaper
circulation rose
5 Mass circulation magazines summarized the weeks news
5 Americans tuned into radio which became the most powerful means of mass communication
American Heroes in the 1920s
Charles Lindberg made the first non stop solo flight across the Atlantic
Flew in his plane the Spirit of St. Louis.
Became a national hero
Movies, Writers, and Artists5 A national pastime
5 In 1927 The Jazz Singer was the first “Talkie”
5 Steamboat Willie was the first talking animated movie
5 Talkies doubled attendance
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis
5 Fitzgerald coined the term “Jazz Age”
5 The Great Gatsby showed negative side of the period
5 Sinclair Lewis: first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
The Lost GenerationThe Lost Generation The “Lost Generation”
was a term used to describe people in post WWI America
This term also characterizes a specific group of writers during this era.
Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway were some of this “club’s” members
Most of these authors focused on the negative aspects of the era
Civil Rights in the 1920’s5 African Americans
Harding Supported Anti Lynching
Laws First Prez to openly do so
Coolidge Spoke in favor of Af Am
Rights Applauded role in WWI
Southern Democrats filibustered most proposed laws
5 Native Americans Indian Citizenship Act
1924Signed by CoolidgeGranted citizenship to all
Native Americans
The Harlem RenaissanceThe Harlem Renaissance
5 A period of African-American artistic activity
Expressing previous struggles of African Americans (under slavery)
Pride in African American heritage and folklore
Speaking out against discrimination and prejudice
Duke Ellington
5 Jazz pianist5 Self-taught
musician5 “Soda Fountain
Rag” at the age of 15
Louis Armstrong
5 One of the most influential musicians in the history of Jazz
Marcus Garvey
5 Immigrant from Jamaica
5 Founded the UNIA(Universal Negro Improvement Association)
5 Advocated for blacks to start a colony in Africa
James Weldon Johnson
5 Poet5 Lawyer5 Executive
Secretary of the NAACP
Lift Every Voice and Sing ---James Weldon Johnson
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,Let us march on till victory is won.
Claude McKay
5 Jamaican immigrant
5 Poems – militant versus encouraged blacks to resist prejudice
If We Must Die --Claude McKay
If we must die—let it not be like hogs Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die—oh, let us nobly die, So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! Oh, Kinsmen! We must meet the common foe;
Though far outnumbered, let us show us brave, And for their thousand blows deal one death blow!
What though before us lies the open grave? Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back.
Langston Hughes
5 Poet5 Describes the
difficult lives of working-class African Americans
I, too, sing America ---Langston HughesI 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 am
And be ashamed -I, too, am America.