Chapter 20The Roaring Twenties
Is anything normal?
America is suffering: Post-war disillusionment Bouncy Economy Tangled up internationally
Republican hopeful Warren G. Harding wins the Presidency with a promise of “normalcy”.
Russian Revolution
Czar Nicholas II lost popularity from making bad decisions. Going into WWI which
resulted in food shortages, casualties, etc.
Due to riots, weakened protests… he was forced to abdicate.
Lenin and the Bolsheviks
Nov. 6, 1917 – took power. “End to war, all land to
peasants!” They put all private farms,
industries, land and transportation under Gov’t ownership.
More problems for the Russians
1918 – Russian Civil War (reds vs. whites) Lenin’s supporters – reds Whites – former landowners, gov’t/army
officials (backed by Allies)
1920 – Reds won! Became the USSR
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Four aspects of Communism
1.) Gov’t owned all land & property. 2.) A single political party controls the Gov’t. 3.) Individuals had no rights that the Gov’t was bound to respect. 4.) The Gov’t vowed to stir up revolution in other countries & spread communism throughout the world.
This ideology was hostile towards American beliefs & values (capitalism, 1st amendment).
1919 – The Red Scare
Puts fear of communism into America’s life!
Palmer Raids Headed up by an army chief of staff. 500 immigrants were sent back for being “subversives,”
communists spies.
Strikes galore!!!
Labor strikes Communists were behind the strikes, but really…
1919 food prices and rent went up. 1920 the cost of living increased.
Cost and Steel Strikes Boston Police Strike
Hadn’t gotten a raise since start of WWI. Demanded a raise, 19 were fired for union activity. Coolidge said, “there is no right to strike against the
public safely by anybody, anywhere, anytime.” Gained national attention for this firm stance.
The Harding Presidency
Republicans were a solid party. They favored business and
economic growth. He gave some of his
buddies jobs. Foreign policy reflected
isolationism. Called for disarmament. US grew more nativist.
Annual immigration quota – 350,000 people.
NO Asian immigration.
Teapot Dome Scandal
Strain from rumors of scandal killed President Harding. 2 of his officers committed suicide when they knew they
would be caught. 1921-2: Harding’s Secretary of Interior Albert Fall,
gave secret oil drilling rights on gov’t fields in Elk Field, California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming to two private oil companies.
He got $300,000 illegal payments and gifts. Was Jailed!
The Coolidge Presidency
Harding’s Vice President.
Became Pres on Aug. 3, 1923.
Re-elected in 1924 with the slogan, “Keep cool w/ Coolidge.”
Laissez-faire business policy.
Kellogg-Briand Act
Sec. of State Frank Kellogg, did most of Coolidge’s foreign policy.
1928, with US’s isolationism feeling he made an interesting treaty with French foreign minister, Briand.
Kellogg-Briand Act 15 nations agreed to not threaten war in dealing with
one another, 60 eventually joined. Dissolved b/c they had no provisions for enforcement. By 1941, many nations that had signed were at war.
Election of 1928
Republican – Herbert Hoover During & after WWI he got
praise for how he ran programs in Europe to ease hunger.
Ran against Democrat Alfred Smith.
21.4 million to 15 million. Hoover won!
A Business Boom
Consumer Economy – huge growth! Depends on a large amount of buying consumers.
Individuals who use products.
Buying on Credit. Don’t pay all at once…pay on an…installment plan
– pay over a period of time. Growth of Electricity
General Electric picked up T. Edison’s business. Offered: toasters, sewing machines, coffee pots, irons,
and vacuum cleaners.
Henry Ford’s Revolution
Ford and his famous “Model T”. 1896 – 1st lightweight
gas-powered car. 1903 – had first auto
company. 1908 – sold 30,000 of
an improved type he called the Model T.
Ford’s Assembly Line
Ford wanted to “democratize the automobile.” Produced more cars and
sell them at prices more people can afford.
Each worker does one specialized task in the construction of the final product.
Didn’t invent, but made more efficient. Line moved, workers
stayed in place. 1915 – Cars were $390.
Captain of Industry… or Robber Barron?
Business was good and bad. Lost $ when Chevy put out different colors & styles.
1914 - $5/day pay rate. Double what other factories played at the time.
Used vehicle to fight unions. Didn’t want to change his Model T, so by 1936
he had slipped to 3rd in the car industry. Assembly line could be boring for workers.
All over the place businesses were growing!!!!
Steel, car, rubber, motels, campgrounds, gas stations,
restaurants, & freight companies.Monopolies grew!!!
Cultural shifts in the 1920’s
The war ended and the nation prospered.
Symbol of this – the flapper New type of
woman, young, rebellion, fun loving.
Shorter dresses, short hair, tight cloths, make-up, smoking, drinking, etc.
How it was: Single women worked,
quit when got pregnant, few leadership positions, few voted in 1920.
How it changed: Women began to seek
office Jeannette Rankin,
Montana, 1st woman in Congress
More leadership positions, more began to work.
Movement for other groups
Demographic changes The statistics that describe a population (date on race
or income). 1920’s – 6 million moved to cities from country.
African Americans – Great Migration Get out of the South, away from Jim Crow Laws. Industrial Revolution offered jobs in the cities. North wasn’t always better.
Some in the North didn’t’ like the African Americans because they didn’t want their jobs taken away.
Movement for other groups (cont.)
Other migrations Since European immigration was low…why?
Immigrants from Mexico and Canada were depended upon to fill low-paying jobs.
L.A. needed workers and became a BARRIO. A Spanish speaking neighborhood.
Rise in suburbs Came about in part due to Great Migration!
Cities built transportation (trolleys, railway cars, buses, etc.)
When cars were introduced, these lost customers.
American Heroes
Morales were changing in the U.S. In the cities there were things going on that
were “bad”…smoking, drinking, skimpy clothes, bright make-up.
Newspapers ran sensational headlines screaming about crime.
The nation needed heroes to survive.
Lucky Lindy
25 year old Charles Lindberg.
Spirit of St. Louis – his airplane.
Prize of $25,000 to fly nonstop from NY to Paris.
33 ½ hour flight. He represented solid
moral values of old U.S.
Amelia Earhart
Inspired by Lindberg. 1932, she flew alone
from Hawaii to California.
1937, she tried to fly around the world. She disappeared
somewhere in the pacific ocean.
Sports Heroes
George Herman Ruth Babe Ruth Sultan of Swat 714 Home Runs
Gertrude Ederle Freestyle swimming Gold in 1926 Olympics 1st woman to swim 34
mile wide English Channel.
Mass Media ****
Mass Media Print and broadcast methods of communicating
information to large numbers of people. Movies ******
Between 1910-1930, the number of theatres rose from 5,000 to 22,5000.
1927 – 1st film with sound, The Jazz Singer. Nickelodeans
Mass Media (cont.)
Newspapers 1900 – NY Times was only 14 pages long Mid 1920-s – was 50 pages Many companies went out of business, newspaper
chains brought them up! William Randolph Hearst gained control of newspapers in
more than 20 cities.
Radio ****** Westinghouse took the lead. By 1922 – 500 stations were on the air.
The Jazz Age
Features improvisation, musicians make it up as they are playing, and has an off-beat rhythm.
African American roots Grew out of Southern music (ragtime, blues). 1900 – New Orleans bands were mixing the sounds.
Radio listeners began to hear/like it. 1920’s – became the “jazz age”.
Harlem had 500 Jazz clubs.
Famous Jazz Musicians
Duke Ellington Middle class upbringing. Famous jazz composer. Excellent on the piano.
Louis Armstrong Trumpet player. New Orleans,
Chicago, NY Focused on soloists
Other Artistic Movements
George Gershwin Russian, wrote the jazz piece “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Georgia O’Keeffe Painted natural objects
Flowers, animal bones, landscapes, etc.
Sinclair Lewis Muckraker who tackled American society with irony. Won Nobel Prize in 1930 for literature.
Irving Berlin Write “God Bless America”
The Lost Generation
Groups of writers in the 1920’s who believed they were lost in a greedy and materialistic world that lacked moral values.
Left the US for Paris. F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
They found the rich to be shallow persons.
The Harlem Renaissance
The African American cultural center of the US was NY City’s, Harlem.
1930 – 200,000 Af Amers lived there.
Was a national center for Jazz.
Was the home of African American literary awakening of the 1920’s.
The Harlem Renaissance
James Weldon Johnson – emerging writer. Alain Locke – The New Negro
Celebrated the blossoming of Af Amer culture. Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes were Watching
God Langston Hughes – poet, short story writer
Career stretched into the 1960’s Spoke with clear/strong voice about jobs and
difficulties of being human, American, and black.
Langston Hughes:“I Too, Sing America.”
I too, sing America.
I am the darker brother,they send me to eat inthe kitchenwhen the company comes, but I laugh,and eat well, and grow strong.
Tomorrow,I’ll be at the tablewhen the company comes, nobody’ll daresay to me, “eat in the kitchen,”then.
Besides, they’ll see how beautiful Iamand be ashamed –
I too, am America.
Prohibition…never heard of it!
Many American ignored it. Including President Harding, see pg. 622
Volstead Act – Congress passed, 1919. To enforce the 18th amendment. Ignored by most of east coast.
1924 Report found that: 95% of Kansas obeyed, 5% of NY obeyed.
Sharpened contrast b/t rural and urban morals.
Detroit 1929 – illegal alcohol being poured out
Prohibition, smrohibition…
Bootlegging Suppliers of illegal alcohol. Some smuggled whiskey from
Canada or Caribbean. Others used alcohol from grain,
corn, potatoes, etc. Speakeasies
Many bootlegger’s customers owned these.
They were illegal bars that flourished in the cities.
Heavy gate usually blocked the door.
Only opened to people who showed a membership card or were recognized by a guard.
Organized Crime
In some cities, criminals formed large groups who controlled distribution of alcohol. Gangs would fight for territory.
Racketeering In the typical “racket”, local business’ were
forced to pay a fee for “protection”. Buy from us…we won’t shoot you.
Al Capone – “Scarface”
Most notorious gangster in Chicago. Here, bootlegging had
added immense wealth to gambling, prostitution, etc.
Reached all levels, including Gov’t.
$60 mil/yr from bootlegging.
Finally caught from tax evasion in 1931. Prohibition was a problem
until 1933.
1920’s Religion
Problems that separated religions: Science and technology – where do they fit? War and widespread modern problems Bible was written by humans & had mistakes?
Response: 12 pamphlets called “The Fundametalists” Traditional Christian ideas, Bible had no error!
Bible is literally true, all stories actually happened.
Fundamentalism gained power in the 1920’s.
Evolution and the Scopes Trial
Theory of Evolution Fundamentalists felt
that it contradicted the Bible.
They worked for passage of laws to prevent public schools from teaching it.
The setting… Dayton, TN (passed the
Ban law) John Scopes, science
teacher Thought law
unconstitutional, friend sued him as favor.
The major players: William Jennings Bryan
Prosecution, fundamentalist, former Presidential candidate.
Clarence Darrow Defense, “attorney for the
damned.”
Evolution and the Scopes Trial The trial: July 10-21, 1925
Carnival atmosphere (reporters, chimps) 1st trial ever broadcast on American radio.
Expert science testimony excluded Darrow puts Bryan on witness stand
To be an expert on the Bible Bryan admitted that not even he interpreted the Bible fully
literally.
Scopes convicted, fined $100 Bryan became a martyr for the Fundamentalists (died after)
Jan. 17, 1926 – TN Supreme Ct. upheld law, overturned conviction of Scopes, no appeal to S.Ct.
The law against teaching evolution remain in Tenn, until 1967, but no other teachers were prosecuted.
KKK rise again (remember The Birth of a Nation?)
2nd Ku Klux Klan 1915—Stone Mountain, GA William Simmons, 1st Grand Wizard Targets Catholics, Jews, immigrants, “race-mixing” For prohibition, Imm. Restriction, fundamentalism “White, native-born, Protestant supremacy” Popular nationwide—5 million members by 1925 WKKK organized klanswomen (no longer around)
Klan marches on Washington, August 1925
This march showedThe great numbers thatThe Klan had recruited.Many Americans believedThe Klan only wanted toProtect “its” own way ofLife. So, most did notProtest the Klan, until they Became so violent.