POLITICS OF THE ROARING 20’S

America at the Start of the Decade

• Victorious in World War I

• Treaty of Versailles defeated

• Period of isolationism

• Republican ascendancy Returning WWI soldiers

parading in Minneapolis

1. Themes: 1920’s common themes-• Return to normalcy• US turned inward---isolationism• Jazz Age• first modern era in the U.S.• change from a rural society to an

urban.

1920s: Cultures in Conflict

• Old vs. Young• Urban Modernists vs. Rural

Fundamentalists• Nativists vs. Foreign Born• Wets vs. Drys

2. Cultural clashes in US Traditional America vs. Modern

America Hostility towards un-American ideas

Why? Feared communism……..Red Scare

Rise of KKKImmigration restriction/Anti-immigrant feelings–Sacco and Vanzetti

Scopes Trial---evolution vs. creation Liberated woman vs. traditional

FlappersMargaret Sanger----Birth control

African Americans move to the citiesled to race riots in some cases

Americans violate Prohibition18th Amendment

–Volstead Act

1920s: A New Culture• Automobile

– Economic Impact– Social Impact

• Entertainment– Radio

• NBC & CBS

– Hollywood• The Jazz Singer

3. Revolution in styles and technologies.electricity, radio, automobile, mass

mediaFads---new dances, music, clothing

4. American heroes:Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh

1920s: A New Culture

• 1920 Census• The Jazz Age

– Radios– Phonographs

• Consumerism– Electric Appliances– Advertising– Credit– Chain Stores

5. Presidents during the 1920’s Conservative Republicans Supported laissez faire

Warren Harding 1921 to 1923Calvin Coolidge 1921 to 1929

6. Foreign policy during the 1920’s and early 30s- Isolationism the general trend

The New Era of the 1920s• Consumerism flourishes because of credit,

advertising, and economic (GNP) growth• US Government fosters business growth• Entertainment grows further as big

business• Technology and middle class expand• New attitudes and uses of time emerge,

but some oppose modern changes (reactionary)

• Decade ends with economic collapse

SECTION 1: 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

• Many Americans were upset and afraid.– Of change

• Too much, too fast

– Of others

One reaction: ISOLATIONISM

• Many Americans adopted a belief in isolationism

• Isolationism meant pulling away from involvement in world affairs

2nd reaction:

• Fear of “reds” and radicals• Fear of immigrants

• Red Scare, 1919 to 1921, was a time of great

upheaval…U.S. “scared out of their wits".

• "Reds” as they were called, "Anarchists” or "Outside

Foreign-Born Radical Agitators” (Communists). • Anti-red hysteria came about

after WWI and the Russian Revolution.

Attorney General Mitchell Palmer

• 6,000 immigrants the government suspected of being Communists were arrested (Palmer Raids)

and 600 were deported or expelled from the U.S. • No due process was

followed

• Not much evidence of any radical plots and civil rights of many were

violated

Attorney General Mitchell Palmer

Nativism & Anti-Radicalism

• Red Scare 1919-1921–Palmer Raids

• Sacco & Vanzetti• Quota Laws

–1921 & 1924• Labor Unions

SACCO & VANZETTI

• The Red Scare fed nativism in America

• Italian anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti were a shoemaker and a fish peddler

• Convicted of robbery and murder despite flimsy evidence, their execution was symbolic of discrimination against radical beliefs during the Red Scare

Sacco & Vanzetti

• Unfair trial? (1977)

"This man [Vanzetti], although he may not actually have committed the crime attributed to him, is nevertheless morally culpable [guilty], because he is an enemy of our existing institutions. . . . The defendant's ideals are cognate [associated] with crime."—Judge Thayer

Demographical Changes• Demographics:

statistics that describe a population.

Migration North African Americans moving

north at rapid pace. Why?

Jim Crow lawsNew job

opportunities in north

1860 – 93% in south

1930 – 80% in south

Struggles: Faced hatred from

whites Forced low wages

• Movement of African-Americans from the South to Urban areas of United States

• More than 1.5 million• 1914 – 1930• Escape racism, find

better jobs, overall better life in the North

Reemergence of KKK• Reaction to • social/cultural

changes• Birth of a Nation 1915• Financial scheme• Goals

– 100% Americanism• 4.5 million members by 1924 • Collapsed 1925-30

– Scandals, violence

The Rebirth of the KKK• Fear of communism and immigrants

led to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan• Jews, Catholics, and immigrants

were targeted• They used intimidation and fear to

pressure employers to fire immigrants & Black workers

The Second KKK

‘Red Summer’ (1919)

Continued Immigration• Post-WWI: European refugees to

America• Limited immigration in 1920s from

Europe and Asia.

• Employers turned to Mexican and Canadian immigrants to work.– As a result: barrios created

• Spanish speaking neighborhoods.

Nativist Sentiment

• 1921 Quota– Targeted S & E. Europeans– Based on national origin in

1910• 1924 Quota

– Based on national origin in 1890

• Total immigrants reduced to 150,000 in 1929

• Sacco & Vanzetti– Murder trial & execution

reflected anti-immigrant feeling

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

•The U.S. Government began to restrict certain “undesirable” immigrants from entering the

U.S.•Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of

1921, in which newcomers from Europe were restricted at any year to a quota, which was set

at 3% of the people of their nationality who lived in the U.S. in 1910.

• Immigration Act of 1924, the quota down to 2% and the origins base was shifted to that of 1890, when few southeastern Europeans lived

in America.

Americans on the Move

Urbanization still accelerating.More Americans

lived in cities than in rural areas

1920:New York 5 millionChicago 3 million

Urban-Rural Split• 1920: ↑ 50% Americans

live in “cities”• Rural Americans felt

threatened– Conservative backlash– Fundamentalism– Rejection of evolution– Scopes Trial (1925)

• William Jennings Bryan (Christian Fundamentalist) prosecutes Scopes

• Scopes convicted but Fundamentalists ridiculed

URBAN VS. RURAL Farms started to struggle

post-WWI. 6 million moved to urban

areas

Urban life was considered a world of anonymous crowds, strangers, moneymakers, and pleasure seekers.

Rural life was considered to be safe, with close personal ties, hard work and morals.

Suburban boom: trolleys, street cars and cars

Cities were impersonal

Farms were innocent

SECTION 1: AMERICAN POSTWAR ISSUES

• An economic downturn meant many faced unemployment

Aftermath of World War I

STRIKES!

Post war demand for consumer goods

Job marketconstricts

Soldiers returning home

Salaries stagnant↑ demand causes

inflation

Lay-offs

Seattle General Strike; Boston Police Strike

A TIME OF LABOR UNREST

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

BOSTON POLICE STRIKE

• Boston police had not received a raise in years and were denied the right to unionize

• The National Guard was called

• New cops were hired

Boston Police Strike

• Entire police department goes on strike and are fired and replaced by new policemen.

STEEL MILL STRIKE• In September of 1919, the U.S. Steel

Corporation refused to meet with union representatives

• In response, over 300,000 workers struck• Scabs were hired while strikers were

beaten by police and federal troops• The strike was settled in 1920 with an 8-

hour day but no union

Steel Mill Strike

• Violent strike where the government broke up the steel workers union

Coal Miners Strike

• John L. Lewis led a successful strike of the nation’s coal miners and becomes a powerful labor leader.

COAL MINERS’ STRIKE

• In 1919, United Mine Workers led by John L. Lewis called a Strike on November 1

• Lewis met with an arbitrator appointed by President Wilson

• Lewis won a 27% pay raise and was hailed a hero

Lewis

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

SECTION 2: THE HARDING PRESIDENCY

• Warren G. Harding’s modest successes include the Kellogg-Briand Pact which renounced war as a means of national policy (signed by 15 nations, but difficult to enforce), and the Dawes Plan which solved the problem of post-war debt by providing loans to Germany to pay France/Britain who then paid the U.S.

Harding 1920-1924

Warren Harding• Republican Senator

from Ohio. (29th)• Famous “...return to

normalcy…” speech.• Ohio gang – led to

many scandals in the Harding presidency

• Dies in office in 1923

The Harding Presidency• The “Ohio Gang” • “Normalcy”• Andrew Mellon & laissez-faire

– “trickle-down” economics• Very pro-business • The Scandals

– AG Daugherty & influence peddling

– Charles Forbes & Vets Bureau theft

– The Teapot Dome Scandal• Albert Fall: Sec. of the Interior

Evaluation: One of the worst presidents

Warren HardingJames Cox

Pres. Warren G. Harding-1920

Vice-President: Calvin CoolidgeGone were the days of Wilson and Idealism!Harding promised:

Lower Taxes Higher Tariffs Restrictions on immigration Aid to farmers

“A return to

NORMALCY”

Harding appointed some

very qualified people to

his administration.

However, he also

appointed several less

qualified

people from his home state

of Ohio who

eventually engaged in a host of

corrupt activities for personal gain.

“OHIO GANG”

•Government supports business

•Hands-off policy in other matters

The Business of America1

SECTION

Coolidge Takes Over

• Vice-President Calvin Coolidge

1SECTION

• Tries to clean up scandals, elected president in his own right (1924)

• Laissez faire—business unregulated by government benefits the nation

• Under “laissez faire”, U.S. business prospers

• Refuses to help farmers; doesn’t believe in government help for individuals

The Business of America

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

Teapot Dome Scandal

• Teapot Dome, Wyoming had government owned oil fields

• Secretary of Interior Albert Fall leased the land to oil executives who had bribed him.

• Fall became 1st cabinet officer to go to jail.

The Teapot Dome Scandal

• In the early part of the 20th century large oil reserves were discovered in Elk Hills, California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming.

Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center on the Teapot Dome Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 near Midwest, Wyoming.

• In 1912 President William H. Taftdecided that the government owned the land and its’ oil reserves should be set aside for the use of the United States Navy.

• On 4th June, 1920, Congress passed a bill that stated that the Secretary of the Navy would have the power "to conserve, develop, use and operate the same in his discretion, directly or by contract, lease, or otherwise, and to use, store, exchange, or sell the oil and gas products thereof, and those from all royalty oil from lands in the naval reserves, for the benefit of the United States."

• In March of 1921, President Warren Harding appointed Albert Fall as Secretary of the Interior.

Pres. Warren Harding Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall

Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall

Harry Sinclair

(Mammoth Oil Corp.)

Edward L. Doheny (Pan-American Petroleum)

Yo, Albert buddy! How about letting Edward

and I drill for oil in Elk Hills and Teapot

Dome!

But that’s Naval

property! You can’t drill

there!

Maybe $100,000 would help you change

your mind!

Why didn’t you say so, Ed?

You’ve got a deal!

• Later that year Fall decided that two of his friends, Harry F. Sinclair (Mammoth Oil Corporation) and Edward L. Doheny (Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company), should be allowed to lease part of these Naval Reserves. There was NO evidence that Harding was involved in any way.

• In 1923, Harding died of a heart attack. Vice-President Calvin Coolidge took over.

• In 1927, Fall was found guilty of accepting a $100,000 bribe from Doheny. He was forced to resign from office and spent one year in jail. Fall was the first cabinet member to be convicted of a crime while in office.

• The land was naval property, and should not have been leased to private oil companies.

SECTION 3: THE 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

Calvin Coolidge• “Silent Cal” – 30th• Takes over Presidency

when Harding dies.• Wins reelection in 1924

but does not run for reelection in 1928.

• “The business of America is business!!”

Pres. Calvin CoolidgeHarding’s death in 1923 brought Coolidge to the presidency.In 1924, Americans voted to

Coolidge’s business policy was laissez faire :

Between 1921and 1929 the output of industry nearly Doubled

“Keep cool with Coolidge”

“Silent Cal”The business of America is….BUSINESS!!!!

• 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

Coolidge• Housecleaning

– kept on Mellon• Pro-business

philosophy continues• The election of 1924:

conservatism triumphant

• Prosperity the key to Coolidge victory

Warren HardingJames Cox Robert LaFollette

• President Coolidge is an isolationist:- U.S. stays out of other nations’ affairs except for self-defense

1SECTION

• Helps set up the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928):- 15 nations agree not to make war on each other, only self-defense

continued Coolidge Takes Over

The Business of America

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 Economy & Big Business

• Decline, 1920–21 (drop in war production)• Electricity spurs recovery and growth

(1922–29) with new goods for factory and for home

• Installment plans stimulate consumption• Consolidation continues; oligopolies control

production, marketing, distribution, finance• US Steel and General Electric dominate

their respective industries

Causes of Economic Growth: Industrialization & Consumerism

- Increased demand for American products began in WWI, and helped American industry grow - Factories began to produce goods more efficiently through assembly line practices

- As the Americans became more prosperous, a culture of consumerism grew

- For the first time in history, middle-class Americans could purchase expensive consumer goods like cars and home appliances

Causes of Economic Growth: Government Deregulation

- Attempts at government intrusion into private business were consistently blocked in favor of a “laissez-faire” economic policy

- Corporations were encouraged to grow without restriction, often forming trusts and eliminating competition

- Both the Harding and Coolidge administrations rolled back income taxes on the wealthy and created tariffs blocking foreign goods from competing with American products

- In the later part of the decade "buying on margin" entered the American vocabulary, as more and more Americans over-extended themselves to speculate on the soaring stock market and expanding credit

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

The Second Industrial Revolution U.S. develops the highest standard of living

in the world The twenties and the second revolution

electricity replaces steam Henry Ford’s modern assembly line introduced

Rise of the airline industry Modern appliances and conveniences begin

to change American society

Boom Industries

• Automobiles• New industries

– Aviation– Chemicals– Radio and movies

• Federal Communication Commission ‒ 1934

• Hollywood

The Economy That Roared

Corporate Consolidation

• Period of mergers• Oligopoly

– Ford, General Motors, Chrysler– Including financial institutions

The Economy That Roared

Changing Values and “The American Dream”

- More so in the 1920s than ever before, Americans came to believe that they had a “right to prosperity”

- Whereas older generations valued saving money and living simply, during this period, advertising, leftover “war effort” sentiments, and the availability of consumer goods proliferated the idea that status and American identity was related to spending money

Technology Changes American Life

• Average annual income per person rises 35 %

1SECTION

• Americans have more money to buy goods,spend on leisure

• Using assembly lines, Henry Ford makes cars most people can afford

• Assembly line—product moves along conveyor belt across the factory

The Business of America

1SECTION

• Installment buying—repay borrowed amount in small monthly

payments• National advertising begins, promotes

new products

• Cheap fuel powers new inventions that make life easier

continued Technology Changes American Life

The Business of America

I. Economic Triumphs

A. Rising Wages for American Workers

Technology

• Improved technology– Many consumer goods

(appliances; radios…)– Charles Lindberg crosses

Atlantic non-stop (1927)

• Cars – Model T $290 in 1920– “auto-touring”– growth of suburbs

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

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.

IMPACT 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• Independence for women

and young people• Cities like Detroit, Flint,

Akron grew • By 1920 80% of world’s

vehicles in U.S.

B. New Goods for the “Average” American

1. Henry Ford’s Model T

Henry Ford

The Automobile Industry

Auto makers stimulate sales through model changes, advertising

Auto industry fostered the growth of other businesses

Autos encourage movement and more individual freedom.

The Road to Suburbia

• Car culture– Compared to earlier streetcar suburbs

• Often exclusively white• State highway systems• Shopping centers

Cities and Suburbs

ELECTRICAL CONVENIENCES

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

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

machines were all new

Electrical Conveniences

• New technologies led to electrical conveniences during the 1920s

• Cars, airplanes, radios, telephones were all innovative technologies of the time

• Women used new electric household appliances like refrigerators, vacuum cleaners & electric stoves

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

Advertising the Consumer Society

• Created new demand• Consumption replaced thrift• Installment purchases

– Debt rose faster than incomes

Mass Culture

Mass Consumption

• Advertising– Madison Ave.– Installment buying – Buying on credit

• A “Bull” Market– Led to speculation– Buying on margin

• Purchasing stock with borrowed money

C. New Temptations to Buy

1. Easy Credit and

Buying “on Margin”

The Advertising Industry• The growth of business produced the

advertising industry• Businesses offered the installment plan,

which allowed consumers to use credit to purchase expensive items a little at a time

• America became a consumer society for the first time (status was measure by how many “things” you owned

• However, people were going into debt and saving less money

2. The Birth of Modern Advertising

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

When commercial flights began, all flight attendants

were female and white

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. . . .

PROBLEMS ON THE HORIZON?

• Businesses expanded recklessly

• Iron & railroad industries faded

• Farms nationwide suffered losses due to overproduction

• Too much was bought on credit (installment plans) including stocks

Economic Weaknesses• Railroads poorly managed• Coal displaced by petroleum• Farmers face decline in exports,

prices• Growing disparity between income

of laborers, middle-class managers• Middle class speculates with idle

money

Trickle Down EconomicsSupply Side Economics

GovernmentTAX BREAKS Business

$$$

Economic Problems During the 1920’s

Coal vs OilSmall to middle sized companies consolidated

Unions sufferedAgricultural overproduction

Over speculation on land/stocks