Ch. 24 “The New Era”

1920-1929

Ch. 24: The New Era, 1920-1929

Consumerism flourish GNP grow 40% (1919-1929) US government foster business growth Entertainment = big business Technology, middle class expand New attitudes and uses of time Some oppose changes (reactionary) Decade end with economic collapse

Fig. 24-CO, p. 650

I. New Economic Expansion

Decline, 1920–21 (drop in war production) Electricity spur:

recovery, then growth (1922–29) new goods for factory and home

Installment plans stimulate consumption Business consolidation continue:

oligopolies control production and marketing, distribution, finance US Steel, General Electric

II. “New Lobbying”

Business and professional organizations = special-interest groups

US government: cut taxes on wealthy/corporations raise tariffs ease regulation

III. Labor Unions;Farmers

USG, states, corporations: all anti-union Supreme Court:

void minimum-wage laws void child labor restrictions restrict strikes

Farmers suffer debt because of: falling prices overproduction foreign competition

IV. The Business of Government

The Nation Returns to Normalcy and Isolation

Republican Candidate, Warren G. Harding, “a respectable Ohio politician of the second class”- NY Times

However, he was handsome , good-natured, and “looked as a president ought to look.”

Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge was nominated VP.

Harding & Coolidge easily defeated Democrats James M. Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1920 Presidential election.

Harding Maintains Status Quo

His domestic policy pushed a “Return to Normalcy”

He opposed: Fed. gov’t taking a role in the economy Social reforms. Wilson’s League of Nations “We seek no part

in directing the destinies of the Old World”

Harding’s Cabinet

Charles Evans Hughes, Sec. of State.

Andrew Mellon, Sec. of Treasury.

Henry C. Wallace, Sec. of Agriculture

Herbert Hoover, Sec. of Commerce.

V. Harding (1921–1923) and Coolidge (1923–1929)

Republican goodwill to business Corruption scandals weaken Harding:

Suicide Forbes – Veteran’s Hospitals Teapot Dome

Anti-union Coolidge: cut taxes (esp. rich) veto farm assistance

1924 election: 2 major candidates = pro-business Progressive Party fail to revive national reform

“I have no trouble with my enemies …. But my damned friends,… they’re the ones that keep me walking the floors nights!”

August 2, 1923 died.

p. 655

Coolidge Prosperity

Known as “Silent Cal”

Put the government in the hands of men who held the values of old America.

Keep taxes down and business up.

“The chief business of the American people is business.”

“Keep it cool with Coolidge” Coolidge easily won the 1924 election. Andrew Mellon, Sec. of Treasury, was the

kingpin of Coolidge’s Cabinet. Mellon was pro-business. Favored cutting

excess profits tax and reducing the public debt. “Let the rich keep their wealth”- “They will invest

it and so create jobs”

The number of millionaires rose from 4,500 to 11,000 in 1926.

Construction of industrial plants , homes, office buildings, and hotels boomed.

Nations Agree on Arms Control

In August 1921, Harding invited all the major powers, except the Soviet Union, to a conference in Washington D.C. to discuss reducing naval armaments and preserving the peace in Asia.

Sec. of State Hughes suggests a ten-year naval holiday.

Five Power Treaty- US, GB, Japan, France, and Italy to adjust their size of their fleets. Reduce fleet of capital ships to a fixed ratio(5:5:3:1:1)

Washington Naval Conference

The US, GB, France, and Japan signed the Four-Power Treaty.

They agreed to respect one another’s interest in the Pacific.

The same nations later joined with Italy, China, Belgium, Netherlands, and Portugal to sign the Nine-Power Treaty.

These treaty headed-off an arms race, but there was no success in limiting submarines and other small vessels nor any land armaments.

Higher Tariffs

The United States urged GB and France not to press their demands on Germany.

Than in 1922, the US raised its tax on imported goods to its highest level to date.

Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act openly aimed at keeping foreign goods out American Markets.

As a result, GB and France could not pay back their debts.

The Dawes Plan

1. Only way to repay those debts would be for Germany to pay its war reparations; Charles Dawes was instrumental in getting the US to pass the Dawes Act which provided loans to Germany helping the nation to ease its payments

2. When the Great Depression hit, the US withheld its loans to Germany

Seeking and End to War Kellogg-Briand Pact- This treaty outlawed

war, “as an instrument of national policy.” originally signed by the US and France to

outlaw war and it would be signed by a total of 62 countries

VI. Reform; Indian Affairs; Women and Politics

Reform occur at state and local levels: workers’ compensation, old-age pensions housing codes, zoning

Indians suffer poverty and USG neglect: citizenship in 1924

Women’s groups (LWV) lobby for help to working women and urban poor

Differing goals fragment women: LWV vs. feminist National Women’s Party

VI. Consumer Society

For many, purchasing power increase: earnings increase cost of living stable

1929: electricity in ⅔ of all homes Automobiles:

1929: 20% of Americans own one some workers purchase alter life growth of oil industry

USG build network of roads/highways

The Automobile Drives Prosperity

The Post-WWI recession ended quickly.

Stock Prices rose quickly-factories were producing more goods.

Wages were on the rise- people bought more items

Henry Ford introduced methods and ideas that changed production, wages, and working conditions , and daily life.

Ford Pioneers Mass Production

Ford did not originate “mass production”, he did however bring it to new heights.

Ford made the automobile affordable for everyone.

The Model T(1908) was a reliable car that sold for $850

Opened factory in Detroit, and used the “assembly line” to shorten the production time. (12 hrs to 90mins) eventually cost dropped to $290 by 1927.

Ford also doubled the wages of his workers.

Reduced the workday from 9 to 8 hours. In 1926, he became the first to give his

workers the weekends off. The Model T & the “5-dollar, 40hour

workday” made Ford one of the shapers of the modern world.

The Automobile Changes America

The automotive industry created a boom in related industries. (steel, glass, rubber, asphalt, wood, gas, insurance, construction, etc.)

Oil discoveries brought people to the southwest (Ca, Tx, Ok,)

Millions of cars on the road led to service stations, diners, and motor hotels (motels).

The federal government began a numbering system for all highways in 1926.

Other forms of transportation suffered (trolleys & RR)

Cars brought a sense of autonomy to Americans.

Ownership was a symbol of the American Dream.

Suburbs were created as people were able to drive to work and live further away from their jobs.

Los Angeles was one of the first cities to be affected by the automobile.

“A series of suburbs in search for a city”

A Bustling Economy

The ’20s saw a “consumer revolution”, in which a flood of new, affordable goods became available.

Electric washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and irons made housekeeping easier and less time consuming.

Radios and refrigerators.

VII. Advertising;Radio

Businesses spend heavily, use: psychology celebrities

Radio = key medium: USG reject funding programming stress entertainment 1924 candidates use radio

Urban workers: gain access to plumbing, electricity use credit to buy new goods

Advertising and Credit Build Consumer Culture

Magazines and newspaper ads focused on desires and fears of Americans.

Advertisers celebrated consumption. Americans soon were buying products

years prior would have never thought about. (vacuum)

Video

Installment plans became a way for everyone to afford the new products.

People now were buying products that otherwise they could not afford.

What does it mean to be American?

Advertising in the Jazz Age

Another ad legitimizing desire; it associates the product with glamour and modernity

““Kiss Me with your Barbasol Kiss Me with your Barbasol Face”Face”

Forever Young

Americans and their waists…

Mobile Advertising…

Buy Now Pay Later!

A Bull Market

Bull market- a period of raising stock prices.

Americans began to invest heavily into the stock market, hoping to make quick money.

Buying on Margin- a form of buying on credit- risky investment practice.

A buyer paid as little as 10% of the stock upfront.

Then the buyer would pay the rest in installments over a period of months.

The stock served as collateral. Buyers gambled the stock would be worth

and thus sell the stock and make money.

Cities, Suburbs, and Country

In the 1920’s the urban and suburban life prospered, however, the rural sections of the county still felt many hardships.

Immigrants, farmers, and African Americans all migrated to the cities.

Steel changed the way the cities looked. Skyscrapers soon cluttered the skyline.

NY’s Empire State Building- 1931

America’s wealth during the 20s was poorly distributed.

Farm income declined during the decade. Farmers suffered from growing debt and

falling farm prices.

VIII. Migration to Cities;African American Migration

Majority urban by 1920 By 1930, 6 million more leave farm Great Migration of blacks to cities:

accelerate 1.5 million leave South, 1920s

Discrimination and violence in North cause: movements for racial independence

Garvey (UNIA) attract large following: demand black pride and separatism

IX. Mexicans and Puerto Ricans; Growth of Suburbs

Most Mexican immigrants: farm workers in West some move to cities both suffer poverty/discrimination

Puerto Ricans migrate to NYC; form barrios Prosperity and cars fuel suburban growth:

middle/upper classes flee urban problems resist annexation by cities

Cities/suburbs = centers of consumerism

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p. 661

X. New Rhythms of Everyday Life

Apportion time: work/family/leisure: change as people have fewer children for many, work time drop new appliances ease some tasks ads stress home cleanliness

Better nutrition/sanitation: life expectancy increase, esp. whites 54 years (1920) 60 years (1930)

p. 663

XI. Older Americans;Social Values

Poverty among aged increase: more live past 65 plus forced retirements

Europe creates pensions, early 1900s US leaders reject pensions as “socialistic” Many states (1920s) adopt pensions and

retirement homes to cut elderly poverty New values with consumption and peer groups Self-expression/personal freedom (clothing) Shift from “calling on” to “dating”

p. 664

XII. Employment for Women

Number in workforce increase: 10.8 million working by 1930 job segregation (clerical -- Figure 24.1) pay discrimination most single 3.1 million wives work to help with

consumption Minority wives work to help families get

by: domestics or rural laborers

Fig. 24-1, p. 665

XIII. Images of Femininity;Gay and Lesbian Culture

“Flappers” remake image: personal freedom and sexuality actual flappers few dress styles change some assert independence/ equality

Gay/Lesbian culture: overt in some cities (Greenwich Village, NYC) still discrimination

New habits spur move to reassert traditions

Many people did not worry about women in politics; they feared moral decay with such matters as short skirts, cutting hair (the bob), painting faces, and smoking & drinking in public.

Much of the new fashion was sensible, healthy, and neat- yet, the subject of a loud public outcry.

XIV. Revived Ku Klux Klan (1915–1925)

Recruit 5 million men and women by 1923 Expand nationwide “Native, white, Protestant supremacy:”

claim immigrants “mongrelize” USA oppose other races and religions

Continue terror tactics/mystical rituals Decline after rape scandal (1925) Reflect era’s intolerance

XV. Immigration;Sacco and Vanzetti Case

Nativists cut immigration: 1921, 1924, 1927 Acts create yearly quotas favor immigrants from north/ west Europe over south/east Europe 1924 Act ban Asian immigrants Figure 24.2 = shift to Western Hemisphere

Trial/ execution of Italian anarchists (MA): anti-radicalism and anti-immigrant bias

Fig. 24-2, p. 668

p. 667

XVI. Fundamentalism;Scopes Trial (TN, 1925)

Evangelical Protestant denominations grow: esp. Southern Baptist Convention literal interpretation of Bible reject materialism/science/“modernism”

Darrow/ Bryan debate ban on evolution SBC press ban on teaching evolution “Revivalist” preachers use new technology KKK/ nativism/revivalism reflect:

efforts to keep traditional values in new era

Tennessee had previously passed a law that forbade the teaching of evolution.

Scopes went to trial; The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had Clarence Darrow for the defense.

The prosecuting lawyer was William Jennings Bryant

The Scopes Trial

There was no question about guilt. The trial became more about the clash

between a more modernist view and traditional view of religion.

Scopes was eventually found guilty and fined; late the State Supreme Court throw out the verdict.

Education Becomes Important

American education became a growth industry during the twenties.

8th grade had been the end of formal education for most; High School- even though was free- was a financial sacrifice.

In 1914, only a ½ million American were in high school.

By 1926, 4 millions students were attending.

School costs doubled from 1913 to 1920 and then again in 1926.

This led to an increase in taxes. In 1927 American spent 2.7 million on

education, more then every other country combined.

Modern High School was created- more course offerings, and extra-curricular activities.

XVII. Age of Play

Commercial entertainment expand Fads:

mahjong, crosswords, dances Spectator amusements boom

movies, sports Motion pictures:

= major industry add sound and color (late 1920s) appeal to mass audience with escapism

XVIII. Sports Heroes;Movie Stars; Prohibition

Professional baseball blossom: media glorify suspense/unpredictability

“Babe” Ruth symbolize heroes of 1920s: unique individuals in mass industrial society

Compare/contrast Valentino and Lindbergh

Post-1925, prohibition falter: criminals (Capone) supply public demand

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p. 671

Age of Ballyhoo

News coverage began to expand in the twenties.

Time magazine appeared in 1923. Radio stations and weekly newspaper

expanded as well as advertisements. Tabloids were created- they specialized in

news of murders, kidnappings, and gangsters. (similar to Yellow Press)

The Daily News & The Daily Mirror were two NY based tabloids.

Thanks to tabloids, the twenties had their own “media hype”

Insignificant events were blown out of proportion. --- called “ballyhoo”

Ex. Charles Lindbergh

A Noble Experiment

On January 16th, 1920, the 18th Amendment- prohibiting the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of alcohol- went into effect. (Volstead Act)

Progressive reformers saw alcohol as the basis of all corruption.

The Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement pushed this law through.

Use of Alcohol Declines The myth that drinking

increased under Prohibition is not true.

In some sophisticated circles, serving illegal alcohol was a sign of being modern.

Speakeasies- “underground bars”

People made homemade alcohol; bootleggers sold it illegally.

Often times, police and politician “looked the other way”.

Gangsters like Al Capone became very wealthy and powerful through the illegal sale of alcohol.

Prohibition is Repealed

Not until 1933, was the 21st Amendment passed, repealing prohibition.

Many felt the costs were not worth the benefits.

And as the country needed money, it did not seem necessary.

XIX. Cultural Currents

Writers/artists: reject materialism/conformity disillusionment of WWI

African Americans celebrate black culture: explore identity in Harlem Renaissance

Jazz very popular: rooted in black culture = place for black musicians (Armstrong) in

consumer culture

p. 672

A Black Renaissance Emerges

Between 1910 and 1920, 1 million African-Americans migrated north to cities like Chicago, NY, Philadelphia and another 800,000 migrated during the 20’s. (Great Migration)

Black migrants faced considerable prejudice in their new surroundings.

Blacks competed with whites over jobs (strikebreakers)

Race Riots in Chicago (1919) 10,000 people were involved, 38 killed (23 blacks), 520 were injured, and 1,000 were left homeless.

“We Return Fighting”

W.E.B. Du Bois helped to find the Niagara Movement--- the first organized attempt to protest the treatment of African Americans.

In 1909, he founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Du Bois disagreed with Booker T. Washington- He wanted blacks to strive for the best.

Marcus Garvey began UNIA- had two ideas: 1. Blacks should go back to Africa.2. “Black is Beautiful”

To found his colonization plan, Garvey started The Negro World.

Movement failed because many no longer felt a connection to Africa– wanted equality in their country.

African Americans turn to Congress

The NAACP attempted to change the ways blacks were treated through the courts.

James Weldon Johnson had an anti-lynching law introduced in Congress.

Ida B. Wells led a crusade against lynching, she was a writer and later became a lecturer and community organizer.

Despite the push from the NAACP, blacks were still kept from voting, which allowed for many laws and movements to die out.

Harlem Renaissance Begins

Living conditions in the black ghettos of Northern cities were appalling.

Despite the conditions and oppression, in NY’s Harlem a release of creative energy came out.

Harlem became the center of the nation’s black intellectual and cultural life.

Achievements in literature, music, drama, dance, and painting

Langston Hughes was a prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance -- a movement during the 1920s of black writers and intellectuals who engaged in intense debate regarding the place of the African American in American life, and on the role and identity of the African-American artist. Pictured here are Langston Hughes [far left] with [left to right:] Charles S. Johnson, E. Franklin Frazier, Rudolph Fisher and Hubert T. Delaney, on a Harlem rooftop on the occasion of a party in Hughes' honor, 1924

XX. The Election of 1928 and the End of the New Era

Hoover (Rep) win: campaign on prosperity

Smith increase Dem ties with urban ethnics

As president (1929–33), Hoover promote business growth

Stock prices drop with panic selling (Oct. ‘29)

Crash unleash devastating depression Interrelated factors cause depression

XXI. Declining Demand

Growth industries stagnate, late 1920s: autos, electric appliances, housing

Under-consumption: neither farmers nor workers earn enough to

maintain demand Widening income gap:

income of richest 1% skyrocket (up 75%) modest gains for middle/lower classes

XXII. Corporate Debt; Stock Market Speculation

Use loans for expansion: when sales drop, defaults occur

Many buy stocks “on margin” When stock prices drop:

brokers, banks, investors, and businesses ruined

Growing stock investments (late 1920s) hamper US-European economic links

p. 674

XXIII. International Economy; Federal Policies

In WWI, US banks loan billions to Europe High tariffs (1920s) block Europeans from

selling in USA to repay loans Allies/Germany need continued loans with out loans, defaults begin (late 1920s) Global trade/finance collapse USG not regulate wild stock market Prefer USG-business cooperation

Summary: Discuss Links to the World and Legacy

Pan American Airways as new link? Use celebrities to combat hostility? Growing links:

US-Latin America within Latin America between Western Hemisphere and world

Commercialism and scandals of college football as legacy?

Recurring scandals reflect conflict between commercialism vs. education/amateurism

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