The Roaring Twenties

Social and Economic Changes

Power point created by Robert L. MartinezPrimary Content Material: Mastering the Grade 11 Taks Social Studies Assessment (Killoran, Zimmer, Jarrett).Photos and illustrations as cited. http://www.theelliottgallery.co.uk/images/sm-charleston.jpg

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Vintage San Antonio

Joske’s Department Store:Downtown San Antonio

Pearl BrewerySan Antonio, Texas

Majestic TheatreSan Antonio, Texas

The Roaring Twenties• The “Roaring Twenties” were good times for

many Americans. Beneath an appearance of calm and posterity, American was

experiencing fundamental economic and social change.

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• Disillusioned by the outcome of WWI, Americans returned to a policy of

isolationism in foreign affairs.• Isolationism is refusing to become involved

in other nations’ disputes or problems.

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Economic Decline: Post WWI

• On the domestic front, the government stopped its wartime spending and soldiers

returned home looking for jobs.

U.S Troops returning home from France, 1919

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Fear of Communist Russia

• Communists seized power in Russia in 1917 and threatened to spread their

revolution to other countries.

Lenin addressing Soviet workers

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The Red Scare• The 1920s witnessed attacks on American civil

liberties – fear of Communism.• In 1919, anti-Communist hysteria led the U.S.

government to conduct raids against radicals accused of plotting to overthrow the

government.

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Communist Witch hunt• Thousands of suspected Communists

were arrested, and several hundred immigrant radicals were deported.

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Sacco and Vanzetti• The hysteria affected immigrants as well.

• Two Italian immigrants, Sacco and Vanzetti, were convicted of committing murder during

a robbery to obtain funds for an anarchist revolution.

• Although the evidence was sketchy, they were found guilty and were executed in 1927.

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Rise of Nativism• The Red Scare and the Sacco & Vanzetti trial

contributed to a rise in nativism.• Nativism is a dislike of foreigners that led to

immigration restrictions in the early 1920s.

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Great Migration • The migration of African Americans from the South to Northern cities (The

Great Migration) during WWI led to increased racial tensions after the war.

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Ku Klux Klan• The Ku Klux Klan, dormant for decades,

revived in the 1920s. • The Klan was particularly hostile to African

American, immigrants, Catholics, and Jews.

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Economic Prosperity - 1920s

• Wages and employment opportunities increased for many Americans, while

business profits and production soared.• There were many reasons for this prosperity,

ranging from government policies to the rise of the new automobile.

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Laissez-Faire • In 1921, Republican presidents, Harding,

Coolidge, and Hoover followed policies favorable to American business.

• They supported laissez-faire policies, which called for minimal government interference

in business activities.

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PresidentHerbert Hoover

PresidentWarren Harding

President Calvin Coolidge

Automobile Industry• Probably the single greatest factor behind the prosperity of the 1920s was the growth in

the use of automobiles.• Automobile production required vast

amounts of steel, glass, and rubber – stimulating these industries.

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Henry Ford• Henry Ford’s goal was to build a car so inexpensively that anyone could afford one.

• He introduced the assembly line, increasing the efficiency of production.

• By 1924, Ford was producing 1.6 million cars a year at a price of under $300 per car.

Henry Ford &his Model “T”

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Assembly Line• Henry Ford introduced the assembly line to

automobile production, moving cars along a conveyor belt while workers completed their

assigned tasks.• The assembly line, use of standardized parts, and other labor-saving devices made American

industry more efficient and productive.

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• Cars gave people greater mobility, making possible the growth of suburbs.

• School buses allowed students in remote areas to attend school regularly.

• Farmers replaced farm animals with tractors.

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Electricity• Electric appliances, like vacuum cleaners

and refrigerators, were introduced.• Radio and motion pictures became common

– creating jobs and changing the ways Americans lived.

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Speculation & The Stock Market

• The rise of new industries, improved production techniques, and mass markets

helped fuel a speculative boom on the stock market, where millions of people invested in

the hope of striking it rich.

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Prohibition• Protestant reformers saw liquor as the cause

of poverty, crime, and the breakdown of family.

• These reformers saw Prohibition as a chance to eliminate many undesirable features of

modern urban life.

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Eighteenth Amendment• In 1919, the 18th amendment was ratified, banning the sale of alcoholic

drinks.

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Rejection of Prohibition• By 1933, many saw this “experiment”

of Prohibition as a failure because many Americans refused to accept the

ban on alcoholic beverages.

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Organized Crime• Instead of reducing crime by banning

alcohol, the demand for illegal liquor helped stimulate the growth of organized crime in

the 1920’s.

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Twenty-first Amendment• The great social experiment, Prohibition,

was finally repealed by the 21st amendment – demonstrating that

unpopular laws are often difficult or impossible to enforce.

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Scopes “Monkey” Trial• In 1923-24, twelve states, including

Tennessee, passed laws that forbid teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution because it

contradicted the Bible’s account of creation.

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Theory of Evolution• Darwin’s theory of evolution taught that humans and other species had developed over millions of years from lower forms of

life.

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The Trial• In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher, was

tried and convicted for teaching evolution.• William Jennings Bryan, the former Democratic

and Populist presidential candidate, assisted the prosecution.

• Scopes was defended by Attorney Clarence Darrow.

• The trial illustrated the clash between new scientific theories and older fundamental

religious beliefs.

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• William Jennings Bryan was a Populist and Democratic presidential candidate, lost in 3

elections.• Successful reforms include the direct election of

Senators, income tax, and women’s suffrage.• A believer in the literal interpretation of the Bible, Bryan assisted in the prosecution of the

Scopes “Monkey” Trial.

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• Clarence Darrow, a celebrated attorney who defended labor leaders accused of murder in

the Haymarket Affair, labor leaders involved in the Pullman Strike of 1894, and war protestors

during WWI.• Darrow supported the theory of evolution and

the separation of church and state, thereby defending John Scopes during his trial.

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Immigration Restriction• After WWI, nativist feeling against immigrants

led Congress to limit immigration for Southern and Eastern Europe.

• The Immigration Acts of 1921, 1924, and 1929 established quotas for each nationality based

on America’s existing ethnic composition.

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Lost Generation• During the 1920s, young people displayed growing freedom in their dealings with each

other.• They dated without taking along a chaperone.

• Flappers wore short skirts and danced the Charleston.

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“The Great Gatsby”Book & Movie Recommendation

• The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, hinted that the search for purely material success often led to

tragedy.

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Women in the Twenties• New household appliances reduced

housework.• Greater numbers of women went to college

and worked outside the home.• Women demonstrated a new economic independence and became more assertive.

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• The Harlem Renaissance is often referred to as the Jazz Age, reflecting

the greater importance of African American music.

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• Marcus Garvey stressed racial unity through self-help and encouraged African Americans to set up their own shops and businesses.

• Garvey supported a plan in which African Americans would migrate to Africa.

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Leisure Time• More leisure time gave people greater

opportunity for entertainment.

• They turned to spectator sports, the radio, movies, and magazines.

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• Charles Lindbergh became the 1st person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (New York to Paris) in 33 hours. This

trip made him a national hero.

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