THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

CREATING A NATION AND A SOCIETY

NASH JEFFREY HOWE FREDERICK DAVIS WINKLER MIRES PESTANAChapter 23: Affluence and Anxiety7th EditionPearson Education, Inc, publishing as Longman 2006

POSTWAR PROBLEMSEnthusiasm for social progress evaporated in 1919 and the sense of progress and purpose that the war had fostered witheredThe year following the end of the war was marked by strikes and violence and by fear that Bolsheviks, blacks, foreigners, and others were destroying the American way of life

THE RED SCAREAs a result of the Russian Revolution, Americans imagined Communists, rather than anarchists, as the worst possible threat to their way of lifeIn the spring of 1919, the Russians announced a policy of worldwide revolution Communist uprisings in Hungary and Bavaria further frightened AmericansImmediately after the war there were maybe 25,000 communists in the United States

THE RED MENACE AND THE PALMER RAIDSWorkers in the U.S. suffered from wartime inflation, which had almost doubled the prices between 1914 and 1919 while most wages remained the sameDuring 1919, more than 4 million workers participated in 4000 strikesWanted higher wages, shorter hours and sometimes more control over their workplaceThe ideals of Socialism and Communism were tied, often erroneously, to the American labor movement and the strikes were often broken, sometimes with forceOn April 28, 1919, bomb was discovered in a package delivered to the mayor of Seattle followed by one the next day that blew the hands off the maid of a former senator from GeorgiaAdditional bombings occurred in June causing Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to organize a special antiradical division within the Justice Department headed by J. Edgar Hoover and to launch a series of raids in November 1919Some 5000 suspected radicals were arrested and 600 were deportedRaids fanned the flames of fear and intolerance which continued throughout the decade though the worst of the Red Scare was over by 1920Fostered a number of patriotic organizations such as the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution

THE KU KLUX KLANOrganized in Georgia by William J. Simmons, the new Klan, unlike the original which took almost anyone who was white, was thoroughly Protestant and explicitly anti-foreign, anti-Semitic, and anti-CatholicOpposed teaching of evolution; glorified old-time religion; supported immigration restrictions; denounced short skirts, petting and demon rum; and upheld patriotism and the purity of womenWanted to keep blacks in their place and were willing to use violence when peaceful aims failed1920s saw rapid growth of the Klan

THE KU KLUX KLANIn some states Women of the Klan (WKKK) made up more than half the membership Also campaigned for womens rights and the equal treatment of all white, Protestant womenFor both sexes the Klan served as a social clubAt least half the members came from urban areas and the Klan was especially strong in working-class neighborhoods of Detroit, Indianapolis, Atlanta and ChicagoAt the peak of its power, the Klan had several million members, many of them middle classIn some states, especially Indiana, Colorado, Oregon, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, the Klan influenced politics and determined some electionsThe Klans power declined after 1925 because of a series of internal power struggles and several scandals

ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCEOne result of the Red Scare and the fear of foreigners and radicals was the conviction of two Italian anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolemeo Vanzetti who had been arrested in 1920 for murdering a guard during the robbery of a shoe factory in MassachusettsThe two were convicted and sentenced to die in the summer of 1921 on what seemed to be flimsy evidenceCase took on symbolic significance and many intellectuals in the U.S. and Europe rallied to their defenseAfter a special commission reaffirmed the verdict, the two were executed in August 1927A general spirit of intolerance permeated the decade and became more fixed and formal

A PROSPERING ECONOMYEconomy soared after a postwar depression in 1921 and 1922Fueled by new technology, more efficient planning and management, and innovative advertising, industrial production almost doubled during the decade and the gross national product rose by 40 percentConstruction boom created new suburbs around American cities while skyscrapers transformed the cities themselvesWhile the American economy boomed, much of the rest of the world suffered

THE RISING STANDARD OF LIVINGIn the 1920s, the enameled tub, toilet and washbasin became standard in many American homesAmericans of the post-war years had more leisure time, a shorter work week and more paid vacation than EuropeansAmerican diet improved during the decade, health improved and life expectancy increasedEducational opportunities expanded with high school attendance expanding from 1 in 10 to 6 in 10 and more than a million people

THE RISE OF THE MODERN CORPORATIONCorporate mergers began to increase at a rate greater than anytime since the 1890sBy 1930, the 200 largest corporations controlled almost half the corporate wealthA new type of professional manager emergedMarketing and advertising became as important as production Many businesses began to spend more on researchTo encourage workers to be efficient, managers introduced incentives such as pensions, recreation facilities, cafeterias, paid vacations and profit-sharing planswelfare capitalismPlanning was key to the new corporate structure

ELECTRIFICATION1920s marked the climax of the second Industrial Revolution powered by electricity and producing a growing array of consumer goodsBy 1919 more than two-thirds of American homes had electricityElectricity brought dozens of gadgets and labor saving devices into the home though the actual time the average housewife spent was not reducedFor many poor urban and rural women all that changed was a greater sense of the difference between their lives and that of those better off

A GLOBAL AUTOMOBILE CULTUREThe manufacture of the automobile underwent enormous growth in the postwar years, stimulating the rubber, steel, and petroleum industriesThe auto forced the construction and improvement of streets and highways which was done, in part, with federal aid after the passage of the 1916 Federal Highway ActThe auto also created new suburbs along with filling stations, the diner and the overnight cabin.Traffic lights, stop signs, billboards and parking lots appeared as did increasing levels of pollutionAuto also led to the decline of the small crossroads store as well as many small churchesTractor changed method of farming and trucks altered the marketing of farm productsBuses began to eliminate the one-room schoolhouse while cars allowed young people to escape the chaperoning of parentsAutomobile also became a sign of status and transformed advertising

A GLOBAL AUTOMOBILE CULTUREBy 1926, three-fourths of the cars sold were bought on some kind of deferred-payment planInstallment buying spread to a number of other consumer itemsIn the 1920s, the car came within the reach of middle-class buyers and by the end of 1929 there were 27 million registered carsMost European autos were custom made and many European companies did not adopt the assembly line production system until the 1930sEuropean governments subsidized car production for military purposes which delayed the creation of inexpensive carsEuropean government also adopted safety standards and required national licenses for vehicles and drivers before the United States did because in America the states created the rules

HENRY FORDFord adapted the assembly line and the concept of interchangeable parts to the production of autosIn 1914, announced he was increasing the minimum pay to $5 per day (almost twice the national average for factory workers)Did it to ensure a dependable workforceWork was repetitious and numbing and if line shut down, workers were released without payFord ruthlessly pressured his dealers and used them to solve his financial difficultiesUsed spies on the assembly line and fired workers and executives at the least provocationWhile Fords Model T set the standard when it was first made, by the late 1920s, Fords refusal to make major changes put the Model T at a major disadvantage behind other sleeker, more modern carsFords wages dropped below the industry averageIn 1927, Ford introduced the Model A and built the gigantic Rouge River plant to mass produce it

THE EXPLODING METROPOLISAutomobile led to a decline of the streetcar and the trolleyNew suburbs, carefully planned and restricted to whites, emergedAutomobile also allowed industry to move into the suburbsBiggest land boom of all occurred in Florida until the 1926 hurricane temporarily ended itDetroit and Los Angeles also experienced tremendous growthCities expanded horizontally in the 1920s but city centers grew vertically

A COMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTIONDuring the 1920s, the number of homes with telephones increased from 9 to 13 millionBy end of the decade, half of American homes were still without phonesRadio symbolized the technological and communicational changes of the 1920sFirst radio station began broadcasting in Detroit in 1920 and by 1922 there were 500 stationsClassical music was soon joined by news analysis and coverage of important events and then live dramasSerials made radio a national mediumBy the end of the decade, people in all sections of the country were humming the same popular songs

A COMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTIONMovies grew rapidly during the 1920sBy mid-decade movie production had moved to Hollywood and giant firms dominated the industryMovies created well known stars and attracted viewers across class, regional and generational linesMovies had the power to influence attitudes and ideasSports figures also became stars as increased leisure time, the auto, radio and mass-circulation newspapers turned sports into mass spectator events1927 marked the beginning of the new age of mechanization and progressAmong the many firsts was the solo flight of Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic

HOPES RAISED, PROMISES DEFERRED

CLASH OF VALUESDuring the 1920s, radio, movies, advertising and mass-circulation magazines promoted a national secular culture which emphasized consumption, pleasure, upward mobility and even sex which clashed with traditional values of work, thrift, church, family and homeThe Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, pitted those who had accepted the views of Charles Darwin against evangelical Christians who believed faith in the Gospel message was crucial to living a virtuous life on earthClarence Darrow was hired by the American Civil Liberties Union as attorney for the defense while William Jennings Bryan was engaged by the World Christian Fundamentalist Association to act for the prosecutionDespite Darrows destruction of most of Bryans points, the jury found Scopes guilty

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISMFundamentalists believed in the literal interpretation and the infallibility of the Bible and that Jesus Christ was the only road to salvationRejected secularism, liberal theology, pluralism, the Social Gospel and any sense that reform on earth could lead to perfectionThroughout he 1920s and 1930s, attendance and Christian colleges and the circulation of fundamentalist periodicals and newspapers increased dramatically Evangelical ministers such as Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson reached large audiencesRadio spread the message of the fundamentalist preachers and attracted numerous converts to those ministers who could readily adapt to the new communications technology

IMMIGRATION AND MIGRATIONImmigrants and anyone else perceived as unAmerican seemed to threaten the old waysAn act passed in 1882 prohibited the entry of criminals, paupers and the insane and special agreements between 1880 and 1908 restricted Chinese and Japanese immigrationFirst strongly restrictive immigration law was passed in 1917 over Wilsons veto and it required a literacy test and prohibited the immigration of certain political radicals1921: Congress limited European immigration in any one year to 3 percent of the number of each nationality present in the country in 19101924: changed the quota to 2 percent of those in the country in 1890 and effectively prohibited Japanese immigration1927: National Origins Act set an overall limit of 150,000 European immigrants a year with more than 60 percent coming from Great Britain and Germany

IMMIGRATION AND MIGRATIONRestrictive immigration policies sponsored by the Republicans helped attract Poles, Jews and Italians to the Democratic partyImmigration restriction cut off the stream of cheap labor though by exempting the Western Hemisphere, new laws opened the country to Mexican laborers who poured into California and the Southwest as well as northern industrial citiesAfrican Americans migrated north in large numbers between 1915 and 1920Most were unskilledWhile they improved their lives through migration, most were crowded into segregated housing and faced prejudice and hateOften black men moved first and brought their families laterIn 1919 in Chicago there was a race riot that killed several dozen and wounded hundreds in four days of rampaging through the black sections of the cityRace riots broke out in numerous other cities as well

Mexican Population, 1930

MARCUS GARVEY: BLACK MESSIAHMarcus Garvey, a Jamaican, saw self-help as a means of political empowerment by which African peoples would reclaim their homelands from European powersBy 1919 had established 30 branches of his Universal Negro Improvement Association in the U.S. and the CaribbeanAlso set up the newspaper The Negro World, the Black Cross Nurses, and a chain of grocery stores, millinery shops and restaurantsAdvocated the return of blacks to AfricaWon converts mainly among lower-middle-class blacks especially through his message that blacks should be proud to be blacksAfter his Black Star shipping line collapsed, Garvey was sentenced to 5 years in jail for using the mail to defraud investorsPresident Coolidge commuted the sentence and deported Garvey

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCEA group of black writers, artists and intellectuals who settled in Harlem after the war led a movement that explored the ambivalent role of blacks in America while celebrating their pride in being blackAlain Locke was the father of the movementLangston HughesClaude McKayJean ToomerZora Neale HurstonJazz was an important force in Harlem and many prosperous whites came to listen to black musiciansJazz was also an extremely successful export to EuropeProblem for many Harlem writers was how to be both black and intellectualMany African American writers felt alienated from American society

THE LOST GENERATIONMany white intellectuals, writers and artists also felt alienated from the materialism, conformity and provincial prejudice they saw dominating American lifeF. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, E.E. Cummings and T.S. Eliot moved to EuropeSherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, and H.L. Mencken criticized American society without leaving the countryDespite writers criticisms of business-dominated American culture, literature flourished in the 1920s

WOMEN STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITYWomen acquired more sexual freedom in the 1920sContraceptives, especially the diaphragm, became more readily availableMargaret Sanger organized the first American birth control conference in 1921 though most states still made the selling or prescribing of birth control illegal and federal laws prohibited sending information about it through the mailFamily size declined from 3.6 children in 1900 to 2.5 in 1930 and young people were more inclined to marry for love rather than securityMore women expected sexual satisfaction in marriage and felt that divorce was the best solution for an unhappy marriageDouble standard still persistedElectricity, running water, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and other labor-saving devices made housework easier for the middle class though they did not affect rural or urban working-class womenEven middle-class women discovered the time it took to do housework had not been reduced as standards of cleanliness went up

WOMEN STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITYMore women worked outside the home though their share of manufacturing jobs fellGreatest expansion of jobs was in white collar occupations that were becoming feminizedsecretary, bookkeeper, clerk and telephone operatorWhile more married women had jobs, they were low paying jobs and most single women expected marriage to end their employmentFor secretaries and teachers marriage often led to dismissal from their jobsDisparity between male and female wages widened during the decade with women only earning 57 percent of male wages in 1930The image of the flapper in the 1920s promised more freedom and equality for women then they achievedFlapper was frivolous and daring, not professional and competentWinning the vote for women did not ensure equalityNational League of Women Voters was organized to educate women about politicsAn Equal Rights Amendment was opposed by many women who felt the amendment would cancel special legislation to protect women in industry

RURAL AMERICA IN THE 1920sAmerican farmers, as a rule, did not share in the prosperity of the 1920s.A vicious cycle of overproduction to meet demands continually lowered market prices of produce, forcing many farmers into the poorhouseAdvancements in agriculture (pesticides and advanced fertilizers) and use of tractors increased yield per acre and allowed more acres to be cultivated thereby increasing production just as demand was decliningMany farmers were also vulnerable to the forces of natureLarge commercial farmers using mechanized equipment produced most of the cash cropsSmall farmers found themselves unable to compete with agribusiness and increasing numbers left the farmsFew farmers could afford the products of new technologyNo relief came from Congress

THE WORKERS SHARE OF PROSPERITYWhile hundreds of thousands of workers improved their standard of living in the 1920s, inequality grewReal wages increased 21 percent between 1923 an 1929 but corporate dividends went up nearly two-thirds in the same periodRichest 5 percent of the population increased their share of the wealth from a quarter to a third and the wealthiest one percent controlled 19 percent of all incomeAmong workers there was a great disparityEmployees on the auto assembly line or in new factories producing radios saw their wages go up and their hours declineYet the majority of working class families did not earn enough to move much beyond subsistenceLabor union membership fell during the 1920s and many unions struggled

THE BUSINESS OF POLITICSBig business prospered in the 1920s and the image of the businessman rose furtherGovernment reduced regulation, lowered taxes, and cooperated to aid business expansion at home and abroadBusiness and politics were especially aligned during the decade

HARDING AND COOLIDGESince Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919, Republicans nominated Warren G. Harding as president and Calvin Coolidge as vice-presidentThe Democrats nominated Governor James CoxHarding won in a landslide but died of a heart attack in August 1923Only after Hardings death, did the full extent of his friends corruption and scandals come outTeapot Dome Scandal: Albert Fall, secretary of the interior, had illegally leased government-owned oil reserves in WyomingIllegal activities were also discovered in the Veterans Administration and elsewhere throughout the governmentCoolidge was honest and no scandal touched his administration so he was easily re-elected in 1924His secretary of the treasury, Andrew Mellon, set out to lower individual and corporate taxes

HERBERT HOOVERAs secretary of commerce, Hoover used the force of the federal government to regulate, stimulate, and promote but he believed firmly in free enterprise and local volunteer action to solve problemsHoover believed that the primary role of the federal government was to educate and promote

GLOBAL EXPANSIONThe U.S. cooperated with many league agencies and conferences, though it did not join the League or the World Court, and it took the lead in trying to reduce naval armaments and solve the problems of international finance caused by the warThe 1920s was a decade of dramatic expansion in business, finance, and trade for the United StatesUS became a creditor nation and maintained involvement in Latin AmericaUS called the Washington Conference on Naval Disarmament in 1921 that resulted in fixing the tonnage of capital ships at a ratio of US and Britain, 5; Japan, 3; and France and Italy, 1.67Japan agreed only after the U.S. agreed not to fortify its Pacific island possessions

GLOBAL EXPANSIONAmerican foreign policy in the 1920s tried to reduce the risk of international conflict, resist revolution and make the world safe for trade and investmentBy the end of the decade, the US controlled the financial affairs of 10 Latin American countriesIn Nicaragua, the marines left in 1925 only to return the next year to try in vain to contain the revolution of Augusto Sandino who would be murdered in 1934 by General Anastasio Somoza, who, followed by his two sons, controlled the country for the next 40 yearsMexico began to nationalize foreign oil and mineral holdings in the mid-20s but the US solved the issue through negotiationsAt the end of the war, European countries owed the US $10 billion but France and Britain could not pay and tried to get the US to forgive the debtEuropean ability to pay was further undermined by high US tariff barriers and by the inability of Germany to pay the reparations it owed under the Versailles TreatyUS backed a plan engineered by Charles Dawes to restructure German reparations, helping with a loan to GermanyIn 1928 the Kellogg-Briand pact sought to outlaw war

THE SURVIVAL OF PROGRESSIVISMThe Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921 allotted 1 million dollars a year to educate expectant mothers on proper self-health issues and child careControversial from the start, the law was repealed in 1929

TEMPERANCE TRIUMPHANTIn 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act which banned the brewing and selling of alcoholic beverages with more than one-half of one percent alcoholIn June 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating beverages was ratifiedProhibition probably reduced total drinking in the U.S., especially in rural areas and working-class neighborhoodsFewer arrests for drunkenness occurred and deaths from alcoholism declinedMost people who wanted to drink found a wayBartenders invented the cocktail to disguise the taste of cheap alcohol and middle and upper class women began to drink in public for the first timeProhibition also produced great bootlegging rings that were often tied to organized crimeMany supporters of prohibition gradually came to support its repeal

THE ELECTION OF 1928In August 1927, Coolidge announced he did not plan to run again and the Republicans nominated Herbert HooverDemocrats nominated Alfred Smith, who was CatholicWhile on the surface the candidates appeared different, especially in religion and ethnic background, they were actually very similarHoover won in a landslide though the campaign revitalized the Democratic party

STOCK MARKET CRASHThe prosperity of the decade came to a screeching halt in 1929 with the collapse of the nations stock marketMany investors had responded to the booming economy by buying stocks on margin (borrowing to invest) though even at the peak of the boom only about 1.5 million Americans owned stockAn overextension of the market caused a crash with a represented loss of over $26 billion on paper

DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY ONLINERed Scare (1918-1921)http://www.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/redscare/default.htm The Trial of Sacco and Vanzettihttp://www.courttv.com/archive/greatesttrials/sacco.vanzetti/ Automotive Historywww.mel.lib.mi.us/business/autos-history.html Emergence of Advertising in Americahttp://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/ Chicago: Destination for the Great Migrationhttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam011.html Titanichttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/society/ngo/explorer/titanic/movie.html Ernest Hemingwayhttp://www.npg.si.edu/exh/hemingway/

DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY ONLINE Tennessee vs. John Scopeshttp://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm The 1920shttp://www.louisville.edu/~kprayb01/1920s.html The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers Projecthttp://www.isop.ucla.edu/africa/mgpp/ Harlem 1900-1940: An African American Communityhttp://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/ Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazzhttp://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html Negro League Baseballhttp://nku.edu/~diesmanj/harlem_intro.htmlUrban Leisurehttp://www.jazzagechicago.com/

DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY ONLINE The Harlem Renaissancehttp://www.nps.gov/inde/visit.html Temperance and Prohibitionhttp://prohibition.osu.edu The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/coolhtml/ccpres00.html Calvin Coolidgehttp://www.potus.com/ccoolidge.html Herbert C. Hooverhttp://www.potus.com/hchoover.html October 24, 1929http://sweb.uky.edu/~msunde00/hon202/p4/nyt.html