Transcript The 1920`s - buschistory.net

www.buschistory.net Topic 19-1
“The so called roaring 1920’s”
The Second Industrial Revolution
• New advances in electricity led to mass
production of factories
• In 1914 30% of factories had electricity
• But in 1929 nearly 70% of factories had
electricity
• A building boom occurred during the 1920’s
• Creation of commercial banks, and insurance
companies.
The Modern Corporation
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The Modern Corporation
• John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie paved the way for
entrepreneurs
• New entrepreneurs began to emerge such as Alfred P. Sloan of
General Motors, and Owen D. Young of American Radio
Stations
• They controlled their companies legally focused upon the
concept of vertical integration
• New philosophies of industry became apparent such as the
integration of production, distribution, product diversification,
and the expansion of industrial research
• Grocery chains began to emerge such as the “Great Atlantic
and Pacific Tea Company”
Anti-Union
• Corporations became more
against the formation of labor
unions
• Corporations tried to promote
programs to improve worker well
being known as “Welfare
Capitalism”
• Corporations tried to appeal to
workers with temptations in the
stock market and granting
insurance policies
• By 1928 6 million workers had
insurance
• Large corporations had an “AntiCampaign” program called the
“American Plan”
“Built Ford Tough”
• In 1914 Henry Ford created the Ford
Motor Company
• Roughly 2/3 of his labor force
consisted of immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe
• By the early 1920’s Ford employed
nearly 5,000 African Americans.
(more than any other corporation)
• Ford was a pioneer in the concept of
the assembly line
• He help to cut work hours and to
increase wages
• The auto industry created a market
for steel, rubber, glass and petroleum
• It also stimulated public spending on
roads and extended the housing
boom into the suburbs.
Agriculture Begins To Fall
• Prices on crops began to fall rapidly in the 1920’s
• Cotton went from 37 cents a pound in the mid 1920’s
and in the late 1920’s cotton was 14 cents a pound
• The hog and cattle industry went down 50%
• Farmers experienced a huge debt in the lack of
demands for crops
• Although wheat production increased by 300% in the late
1920’s
• The McNary-Haugen bills help to give farmers relief
• The bill helped to stabilize farm prices
• Farmers did not benefit from the bill at first
• Labor Unions also began to fall
• The AFL went from 500,000 members to 75,000
members in 1928
New Culture
• New forms of Journalism became apparent such
as gossip columns and sports sections
• After World War I advertisements became a
huge media and industrial advancement
• The most creative advertisements were for
cigarettes and medicine
• Baseball was very popular and became
Americans greatest past time
• African American baseball players such as Josh
Gibson and Satchel Paige help to give many
Africans hope for a time of equality
Prohibition
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With the growing cities came a greater demand for alcohol
The Volstead Act of 1919 established a Federal Prohibition Bureau to
ensure no alcohol sales
With alcohol being illegal and the demand was so high, breaking the
prohibition laws was very common
Almost all towns had an illegal “speakeasy”, which was an illegal
place where people could drink, dance, and use drugs (if they wanted
to)
With alcohol being illegal “bootlegging” became more and more
common
Prohibition led to high crimes and a powerful Mafia ran by Al “Scar
face” Capone
Al Capone led one of the largest alcohol rings and he was nearly
impossible to arrest because of his universal support and power
In 1933 Congress repealed the 18th Amendment with the passage of
the 21st Amendment which made alcohol sales legal
The Corrupt Cabinet
• Warren Harding was president from 1921-1923
• He was a very weak president so he appointed colleagues to
help his presidency called the “Ohio Gang”
• The Harding administration was extremely corrupt
• General Harry M. Daugherty received bribes from violators of
the prohibition laws
• Charles R. Forbes pocketed money spent on improving
hospitals and hospital supplies
• The worst scandal was the Teapot Dome Scandal
• Albert Fall received hundreds of thousands of dollars in
payoffs by leasing naval oil reserves to two private developers
• Harding died of a heart attack in 1923 and Calvin Coolidge
became president
The Republicans Press On
• Calvin Coolidge became president in 1923 after Warren
Harding died
• He supported wealthy individuals and easily won the
election of 1924
• Coolidge reduced federal spending, taxes, and blocked
unfair initiatives
• He passed the Kellogg-Briand Pact that became
significant for later developments in international law
• He passed the Immigration Act of 1924 which limited the
amount of immigrant admissions to America
• He passed the Revenue Act of 1926 that lowered taxes
"A chicken in every pot and a car in
every garage"
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Herbert Hoover was president from 1929-1933
He had a progressive initiative and wanted to create a favorable
climate for business and he wanted to assist in business
He wanted an “Associative State” which led to the Department of
Commerce
The Emergency Relief and Construction Act, passed by Congress in
July 1932, was the United States first major-relief legislation. It created
the Reconstruction Finance Corporation which released funds for
public works projects across the country
The Reconstruction Finance Act of 1932 was created to help the
economy by lending money during the depression
The Revenue Act of 1932: raised taxes on the highest incomes
He created standards for industrial machines and automobiles
He supported the expansion of trade associations
Hoover helped to stabilize the economy and manufacturing companies
became the center of wealth
War Debts, Reparations, and
Keeping the Peace
• After World War I the United States
emerged as the strongest economic
power in the world
• European governments owed the U.S
10 billion dollars in 1919
• During the 1920’s war debts and
reparations were the single most
diverse issue
• Germans hated the U.S they owed 33
billion dollars because of the Treaty of
Versailles
• The Dawes Plan reduced Germany’s
debt
• In 1928 the U.S and 62 other nations
signed the Pact of Paris which
renounced the war
The Restriction of Immigration
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After World War I there were many AntiImmigrant feelings
“New Immigrants” were mostly Catholic
and Jewish
Americans felt that the new immigrants
were inferior because of their appearance
and economic status
In 1921 Congress passed the Immigration
Act which set a quota of 357,000
immigrants a year added to the United
States
The Johnson Reed Act of 1924 reduced
the quota to 164,000 immigrants
Mexicans began to immigrate into the U.S
greatly
In the years 1921-1930 nearly 459,000
Mexicans immigrated into the U.S
A New Age
• In the 1920’s Africans became more powerful figures
• In 1930 nearly 200,000 African Americans made up
Harlem due to the great migration
• With the high demand for housing came much corruption
of housing rent for Africans
• Langston Hughes was a famous poet who spoke out
against racism and gave Africans a voice, which can be
seen in his famous poem “Harlem”
• Marcus Garvey created the “Black Star Line” which was
a fleet of ships to connect Africans together
• But in 1923 he was found guilty of fraud so his plan
didn’t work