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The Roaring Twenties: Politics and Social Change

• Following WWI, Americans desired a return to normalcy.
• This desire led to:
  • Renewed Isolationism
  • Resurgence of nativism
  • Trend toward political conservatism

Emerging Economic Tensions

• Demobilization caused massive unemployment due to unpreparedness for the transition to a postwar economy.
• Factories closed, crop prices fell, supply was up while demand collapsed, and 5 million former soldiers were jobless.
• Inflation and recession occurred as Americans went on a spending spree.
• By 1920, prices doubled and the standard of living dropped.
• There began a decline in economic activity and an uptick in crime.

Threats and Problems Arise in America

• Communism, characterized by a single-party dictatorship and no private property, sparked fear in the U.S.
• The Red Scare emerged as 70,000 people joined the Red Party, raising concerns of a communist takeover.
• A. Mitchell Palmer, as U.S. Attorney General, took action through Palmer Raids to hunt down suspected communists, socialists, and anarchists.
• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were wrongly accused of murder in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1920 despite having alibis.
• Witnesses said the men were Italian, the evidence was circumstantial, and the judge prejudiced.
• They were found guilty and executed on August 23, 1927.

Increasing Social Tensions

• Revival of Nativism occurred with an average of 800,000 people immigrating per year fueling fears that immigrants were taking jobs.
• Immigrants were willing to work for less money and accepted worse working conditions to get established.
• The Ku Klux Klan portrayed itself as a defender of American values, and set itself against African Americans, immigrants, Catholics, and Jews.
• Membership in the KKK was between 3-4 million members.
• There were massive marches in DC, and returned violence and intimidation.

Enduring Racial and Religious Tensions

• Asians and African Americans faced discrimination through legal means, citizenship barriers, land ownership restrictions, and bans on interracial marriages.
• Black veterans had trouble finding jobs.
• Lynching returned, with 70 incidents in 1919.
• The Red Summer of 1919 saw over 30 racial incidents with the most notable being in Chicago.
• In Chicago, 300 blacks were killed.
• In 1921, there was a race riot in Tulsa where the Greenwood district suffered and victims were buried in mass graves.
• Marcus Garvey supported a Back to Africa movement.

“KEEP AMERICA FOR AMERICANS”

• The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 set up the maximum number of people who could enter the U.S. from each foreign country.
• It reduced immigration by 150,000 a year and prohibited Japanese Immigration.

President Warren G. Harding

• Harding brought a Republican presence to the White House.
• He advocated for competition for profits and free markets.
• There was less regulation and government spending under his administration.
• A decrease in spending paid down national debt, and unemployment dropped 10%.
• The Teapot Dome Scandal took place under his administration:
  • A cabinet member was convicted.
• Harding died in office and Calvin Coolidge was sworn in.

Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover

• Coolidge was a man of few words and followed Harding’s fiscal policy.
• Coolidge cut taxes in 1924.
• Coolidge decided not to run for a subsequent term.
• Herbert Hoover advocated for rugged individualism that led to business flourish and decrease poverty.
• Hoover wanted to improve economic efficiency.

Engaging the World in an Era of Isolationism

• Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover were not total isolationists.
• Foreign trade still connected Americans with the rest of the world.
• Harding campaigned to join the League of Nations, then changed course due to public distrust of foreign nations.
• The US officials didn't even open mail, letters, or correspondence from the League of Nations.
• Disarmament involved disabling ships and other war machines to set an example for the world.
• The Kellogg Briand pact involved 62 nations which signed an agreement to outlaw war.
• The Dawes Plan arose because France and G.B. owed the US $11 Billion, which was set to be paid by German reparations.
• Germany stopped paying reparations in 1923, and the U.S. loaned them the money to pay.

Scandal and Teapot Dome

• Harding's Cabinet: the Ohio Gang which were presidential poker buddies ended up causing him trouble
• The Teapot Dome Scandal involved oil-rich land in Teapot Dome, Wyoming set aside for the Navy.
  • Albert B. Fall got land transferred to the Interior Department and leased the land to the Sinclair oil company.
  • Fall was found guilty of bribery, becoming the first person convicted of a felony while holding a cabinet post.
• Harding died in 1923 and Calvin Coolidge became President.

The Business of America

• By 1929 the US was producing 40% of the worlds goods
• Henry Ford mass produced the model A in 1927
  • new car cost $290
  • by 1929 at lest half of american families owned a car
  • by 1930 20 million cars were in production
• Caused Forever changes the American economy as such
  • paved roads, new houses came garages, rapid growth of gas stations, public garages, motels, diners
  • isolated farmers became connected with big cities
    • drove to work instead of walk
• 1926: Route 66 is built from Chicago to Los Angeles

Americans take to Air and Roads

• Airplanes were being used more for the following reasons
  • Used for surplus after the war, in everyday tasks.
  • For barnstorming-stunt pilots putting on air shows, wing walkers.
  • Largest use was transporting mail
• Ford starts building airplane engines
• Charles Lindbergh of being a barnstormer
  • first trans Atlantic flight
    • instant American hero, world famous after
  • Lindbergh baby kidnapping
• Amelia Earhart - first women to complete flight and then disappeared
  • Proved women were capable of what men could do

Americans Buy into Consumer Culture

• Consumer Culture - consumption of large amounts of goods is good and a source of personal happiness
  • George W Carver - made more than 300 products from peanuts, 75 from pecans, 100 from sweet potatoes
  • New products make life easier with pop up toaster flash frozen food, vacuum cleaner, washing machines and irons, refrigerators and stoves
• Golden Age of advertising and marketing - convinced people they needed the latest and greatest
• Average Annual Income went up to $705 a year
• National Income up to $87 billion from $64
  • Big Business as well as chain stores grew rapidly
  • Larger gap between workers and managers
• Installment Plan: buy goods on credit, pay over an extended period of time
  • by 1929, 15% of all goods are purchased on installment
• The economy Boomed and the Stock market soared and people question if it could last

Growing Traditionalist- Modernist Divide

• In 1920 the census reveals 50% of Americans live in Cities which shows the shift in population
  • 19 million move from farms to cities which increases Urbanization
• Wages rise 37%, causing an Standard of living Improves
  • Farm prices and demand plummet
    • Rural = Traditional
    • Urban= modern
• Rise in religious fundamentalism rises
  • Religious text should be taken literally and used as authority on behavior - Billy Sunday
• Modern culture pushes back creating tension with the other side
  • College enrollment increases
  • School, clubs, sports, music, dances, dating, movies, crazy fads
    • What seems mainstream today was radical in 20s
• Traditionalist Respond - censorship, dress code
  • Scopes Monkey Trial- Evolution vs Creationism had the following result
    • Guilty and was fined $100

Prohibition- Wets vs Drys

• 18th Amendment- 1920 Volstead Act enforced law
  • Drys backers of prohibition- centered mainly in rural areas
  • Wets opponents of prohibition- large cities and immigrants
• Argument became very religious - Jesus/water/wine
• Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
• Speakeasies became a huge trend
  • Underground, hidden saloons where middle-class and upper-middle-class would drink
• Bootleggers practiced of carrying liquor in their clothes, specifically the legs of boots
• Alcohol was Brought in from Canada, Cuba, and West Indies.
• Every major city had their own crime boss

Al "Big Fellow" Capone

• He Headed a criminal empire in Chicago
  • Used bribes and violence
• Illegally bought and sold alcohol from breweries, and even operated speakeasies
• was worth millions of dollars
• In 1931 he was arrested as well as convicted
• That was the only way Al Capone could be arrested was for small things
• Eventually died at the age of 48

WOMEN MAKE A CHANGE

• 19th Amendment - 1920
  • Former suffragettes remained active in Politics
    • Jeannette Rankin - 1st female in congress
    • 2 female governors by 1926
• ERA - equal Rights Amendment was promoted
  • Lobbying for, not passed until 1972
• Flapper Era came about
  • Change appearance
    • Short "bobbed" hair, and short dresses
    • Drinking Smoke and dance in public
    • Makeup was sign of immorality
• Job opportunities opened
  • women professions rose by 50%
• Many double standards appear that dealt with
  • Courtship and relations which caused divorces

'20s Pop Culture and Education

• Highschool enrollment was up and offered abroad range of courses
• Wide spread education as well literacy increased dramatically in the U.S
• Forming of mass culture: newspapers and magazines Covered both forging and domestic news
  • Saturday Evening Post, Ladies home journal, Readers Digest, Time
• Radio: people could now listen events live as such as a presidential speech of the World Series
  • First mass radio event was Jack Dempsey Boxing match
  • First radio network eventually becomes NBC
  • Comedy, drama, and music programs
• Motion pictures creates movie stars
  • Jazz singer - first "talkie"

The Jazz Age

• Jazz - distinctive American musical form
  • Mix of blues and Ragtime
    • Syncopation of ragtime,deep feelings of blues, added improvisation
    • Born in New Orleans, La
    • Many musicians couldn't read music, began to make melodies
• Music traveled north with railroads and boats
• Harlem Nightclubs houses all famous jazz musicians
  • Duke Ellington- piano
  • Billy Goodman-clarinet
  • Jellly roll morton - first to write jazz down
  • Louis Armstrong- trumpet
  • Cab Calloway- Scal style
• Along with music comes dance also the Charleston

Economic Troubles on the Horizon

• Industry: Little profit (construction was down by 25%) -Railroads, textiles, and steel and barely profit -Goods are high and are no needed during the war

2. Farmers: foreclosure (demand/ world was up during WWI -war demands for crops that dropped 40%
3. Consumers: less spending money -prices of the war forced consumers to buy less during this Credit encouraged buy now and pay later Consumers end up troubling paying off the debt in the market unequal income distribution which created some many problems

Stock Market Crash Overview

• Market started to crash leading into the Great Depression
• October 29^th 1929: Black Thursday
• bottom fell out the stock market
• People are selling and no ones buying
• Prices down 88 percent
• Bull market vs. Bear market Bull-market, the prices going up bear market prices going down
• Speculation leads to leads to overpricing
• Buying on the margin (borrowing dollar)
• People frantically tried to sell stocks
• 16.4 millions shares of stock we sold that day
• Americans felt into debt and went frok affluent in poverty
• October 24 - "Many accounts were wipeout. (people are at a bank) October 30 - stock prices slumped $14 billion dollar, NY times report CASH-IN: Causes of the Great Depression Old industrial base: outdated equipment Farm sector- too much production Unequal income distribution

Financial Collapse overview

• People panic and try to gain the money out of banks(lines can't gain)
• THe banks didn't have the money invest in the stock market
• Banks: -1929 - 6569 close -1933 - 6,000 close
• No deposit insured lead over 9 million people leading all 85,000 business go bankrupt
• Unemployment rates 3 perscent (3%) in 1929-29% in 1933
• Many people left homes and lived in Shany Town call Hooverills (small towns with houses made of scrap metal)
• ate a soup kitchens
• Word wide affect the depression limit the amount of money lend

Dust Bowl

• Farmers had overused the soil in that area
• Dought ravaged the Midwest as well
• Dust Storm forced Farmer off they land

President Hoover and the Depression

• Hoover tired to rescue people the economic will work to improve
• Build Bolter dam (later called Hoover)
• Wanted jumpstart economy and provide job he create project is
• Federal Hometown Band Act of 1933
• Hover wa on Right Track
• BUt fit it was to Lay
• WWI Vet" - they promise come, but fail to commit
• Bonus Army Hurt Public Opinion

A New Deal Fights the Depression

• The American people were ready for a change
• Election of 1932" Franklin Dealno Rocesalt
• New Deal on relief for the needs
• Economic recovery, ,and finanical reform
• 133 0 period of interest Roosevelt and legisation
• expanded the role of government to the economic

New Deal: Laws and Administrations

• Glass stegall Act: establish the FED and insur bank account
• Federal act: All provision the info about stuck offering (new rule)
• Securities and Exchange Comm (SEC regulate stock market, and inside trading President alcol: Pass sale alcohol in rated money a ton