Transcript File

Before We Move Forward,
Let’s Look Back…
What war had just ended?
 What were the MAIN causes of that war?
 What was the outcome of the war?
 Why is that war sometimes called “The War of the Industrial
Revolution?”
 What is the legacy of that war for the U.S.’ economy? African
Americans? Women?
 Prediction: What do you think will happen in the United
States?

Roaring Twenties Objectives
1.
trace the political and social changes after
World War I
2.
understand such issues as Prohibition and
the changing role of women
Chapter Twelve - OVERVIEW
Americans lash out at those who
are different while they enjoy
prosperity and new conveniences
produced by American businesses.
Chapters in Brief
Events in faraway Russia had an effect on the United States after World War I.
Massive protests led the Russian ruler to step down from the throne in March 1917.
In November of that year, radicals seized the government and established the world’s
first Communist state. Soon, this new government issued a call for worldwide
revolution. Its leaders wanted to overthrow the capitalist system and abolish private
property. About 70,000 people, called “Reds,” joined the new Communist party in
the United States. Though their numbers were small, their radicalism and threats
aroused fear among many people. As a “Red Scare” swept the nation, Attorney
General A. Mitchell Palmer decided to remove the threat. Palmer formed a new
agency in the Justice Department to find and punish radicals. His agents arrested
Communists, Socialists, and anarchists, who opposed any government at all. The
agents often disregarded the rights of the people they arrested. Hundreds of radicals
were sent out of the country without a trial. But Palmer never found evidence of a
conspiracy to overthrow the government, and the fear passed. The U.S. was actually
becoming isolationist again—pulling away from world affairs. Dislike of foreigners
resulted in a new immigration law. With the Emergency Quota Act of 1921,
Congress limited the number of people admitted into the country each year. A
revised version passed in 1924 cut the flow of immigrants from Eastern and
Southern Europe. It put a stop to Japanese immigration altogether. In 1929,
Congress voted to further limit the number of immigrants admitted each year.
Chapters in Brief
Many suffered in the hysteria. A celebrated case involved two Italian
immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The pair—both admitted
radicals—were arrested for a double murder during a robbery in
Massachusetts. Although the case was not strong, they were convicted and
executed. Protests poured in from around the world. The “Red Scare” revealed
a general sense of unease in society, as did the revival of the Ku Klux Klan.
The Klan began to flourish in the early 1920s. Klan leaders opposed African
Americans, Jews, immigrants, and Catholics. By 1924, KKK membership
numbered about 4.5 million, and the Klan helped elect officeholders in many
states. Its popularity declined with increased criminal activity. The postwar
period also saw a revival of labor troubles. A strike of Boston police officers
was forcefully put down by Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge.
Violence erupted over a massive 1919 steel strike, with workers demanding
the right to unionize. Steel makers labeled the workers as Communists, and
the strike was broken in 1920. Later, a church group revealed the harsh
conditions in steel mills. Embarrassed steel makers shortened the workday to
eight hours. However, the steel workers still had no union.
Chapters in Brief
United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis was able to win wage increases
for coal miners. A. Philip Randolph also successfully organized an AfricanAmerican union of railroad porters. Unions were not generally successful in
the 1920s, however, as union membership dropped from about 5 million to
about 3.5 million workers.
Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues

Postwar Trends
 World War I left much of the American public exhausted
debate over the League of Nations divided America
○ Progressive Era caused wrenching changes in American’s lives
○ the economy had difficulty adjusting to modern times
○ unemployment
○


returning soldiers needed work
women / minorities lost jobs to those returning soldiers
cost of living doubled
○ farmers and factory workers suffered as wartime orders
diminished
○
Postwar Trends
Americans wanted to return to “normalcy,” which was a
reactionary result of the progressives’ changes

The 1920s Involved Three Major Trends:
1.
2.
3.
renewed isolationism
resurgence of nativism
political conservatism (people were burned out on change)
Postwar Trends
Isolationism: a policy of pulling away from involvement in
world affairs
Nativism: prejudice against foreignborn people
Fear of Communism

U.S. sends troops to assist
the “Whites” against the
“Reds”

Communists take over
Russia and rename it the
Soviet Union

The Soviets were not happy
with the United States
Fear of Communism
factory workers are a natural
supporter of this new Communist
movement (“have nots”)
2. big business owners natural enemy
(“haves”)
3. radicals mail bombs to
government and business leaders,
which caused the government to
combat the Communist
movements
1.
Fear of Communism

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer takes action against “The
Reds”
○ J. Edgar Hoover was appointed as director of new “antiradical” division of the Justice Department.
○
Purpose is to hunt down suspected communists and radicals Civil Rights Violations?
○
Eventually known as the FBI
(Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Fear of Communism
 According to A. Mitchell Palmer, the
Attorney General, what was “eating its
way into the homes of the American
working man, its sharp tongues…
licking at the alters of our churches…”
was Communism and Radicalism
 Palmer believed in protection from
political radicals
 Palmer staged raids, but no evidence of
a revolutionary conspiracy was ever
found in the United States
Fear of Communism
Sacco and Vanzetti
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
both were immigrants from
Italy
they known communists/
anarchists
they were arrested for the
crimes of murder and robbery
the case against them was based
on circumstantial evidence
(suspects “looked Italian”)
they were not given a fair trial
(they had alibis and the judge
made prejudicial statements)
still, a jury found them guilty,
and sentenced them to death
they were electrocuted on
August 23rd, 1927
Limiting Immigration

“Keep America for Americans” becomes the prevailing
attitude in the United States
Limiting Immigration
Two Key Events Happen
KKK rises again
> devotion to 100% Americanism
> wanted to keep African Americans
“in their place,” destroy saloons,
oppose unions, and drive
Catholics, Jews, and foreigners out
of the country
Quota System
> established the maximum number
of people who could enter the U.S.
from a foreign country
(discriminated against specific
countries) – stopped Japanese
immigration
World War I has ended. As Americans struggle to
rebuild broken lives, the voices of angry workers
can be silenced no longer. Despite public criticism,
many risk losing their jobs to strike and join
unions. The streets become a battleground for fair
pay and better working conditions.
Would you strike and risk your family’s welfare?
2. Do city workers have a responsibility not to go on
strike?
3. Should the government intervene in disputes between
labor and business?
4. Does the success of a strike depend on you? What
happens if individuals do not participate?
1.
A Time of Labor Unrest





postwar conflict festered between labor and management.
during the war, workers could not strike; nothing could interfere
with the war effort.
1919: more than 3,000 strikes
4,000,000 workers walked off the job
Workers wanted more money and the ability to join unions.
Three Main Strikes
1. The Boston Police Strike
2. The Steel Mill Strike
3. Coal Miner’s Strike
A Time of Labor Unrest
 in spite of limited gains, the 1920s
hurt the labor movement badly.
 union membership dropped
dramatically from five to 3.5
million people
 work force consisted of
immigrants willing to work in
poor conditions
 language barriers led to
difficulty in organizing
 previous farmers were used to
depending on themselves
 most unions excluded African
Americans
Essential Question
Do you think Americans were justified
in their fear of radicals and foreigners
in the decade following World War I?
Justify your answer.
Answer the question in three complete sentences in your summary section
Chapters in Brief
In the presidential election of 1920, Republicans nominated Warren G. Harding, a
pleasant man of little ability. Harding and Calvin Coolidge swept into office in a
landslide victory. In the 1920s, the United States promoted word
peace. A 1921 conference in Washington produced a historic agreement among five
major naval powers to dismantle some of their naval ships. For the first time, nations
had agreed to reduce their weapons. In 1928, virtually all the world powers signed the
Kellogg-Briand Pact. In doing so, each nation renounced war.
However, new conflicts arose. The U.S. wanted Britain and France to pay their war
debts. This was difficult, since Congress had enacted a high tariff that made it
impossible for them to sell their goods to the United States. The two countries
pressured Germany to meet its payments for reparations, but Germany’s economy was
destroyed. A series of U.S. loans to Germany left Britain and France angry. On the
home front, President Harding’s cabinet choices were just as burdensome. While
some of his Cabinet appointments were distinguished, a number were soon found to
be engaged in bribery and corruption. The biggest scandals involved tracts of public
land called Teapot Dome and Elk Hills. The lands held oil, and Secretary of the
Interior Albert Fall secretly leased the land to two oil companies. He received money
and property in return. Amidst rumors of corruption in his administration, Harding
died. Calvin Coolidge became president.
Harding Struggles for Peace

Warren G. Harding President
 good looking, good natured, and
calming
 not the best, the smartest, nor the
most exciting, but Americans loved
him.
 Americans were tired of progress,
and wanted normalcy.

In 1921 Harding invited several major
powers to the Washington Naval
Conference; excluded Russia because
of its Communist government

The world’s naval powers agreed to
disarm their naval forces; first time in
history
Harding Struggles for Peace

Settling War Debts
 France and Britain could not repay loans to the U.S.($10 billion)
 Britain and France looked to Germany to pay their debts (Germany was experiencing
inflation, so they couldn’t pay)
 Dawes Plan: U.S. investors loaned Germany $2.5 billion to repay Britain and France
 Britain and France then used this money to pay back the U.S.
 the United States was essentially being repaid with its own money
 this deal caused resentment all around
Harding Struggles for Peace

1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact
1. fifteen countries
signed
2. weak agreement to
renounce war as a
national policy
3. had no way of
enforcing
Scandal Hits Harding’s
Administration

Charles Evans Hughes was appointed Harding’s Secretary of State
(good); eventually becomes Chief Justice of Supreme Court

Other Cabinet appointments came from “The Ohio Gang”
 Harding’s old supporters and poker playing cronies (not so good)
 the Ohio gang caused a great deal of embarrassment.
 Harding did not understand many issues, which allowed his cabinet
members to take advantage of the situation.
 corrupt friends use government position to get rich (GRAFT!)
Scandal Hits Harding’s Administration

Teapot Dome Scandal
 Government set aside oil-rich public
lands for the use of the United State’s
Navy
 Albert Fall, the Secretary of the
Interior, actually sold U.S. owned oil
reserve land to private companies and
pocketed the money!
 Fall was eventually convicted of taking more than
$400,000 in bribes (first Cabinet member convicted
of a felony while holding a Cabinet position).
 Harding stated, “I have no trouble with my
enemies… But my… friends…, they’re the ones
that keep me walking the floor nights!”
Essential Question
Summarize President Harding’s scandals
while in office.
Answer the question in three complete sentences in your summary section
Chapters in Brief
American business was transforming American society, and the automobile led the
way. America became a car culture. By the late 1920s, about 80 percent of all motor
vehicles in the world were in the United States. States and cities built an elaborate
network of new roads and highways. As cars made it possible for workers to live
farther from their homes, cities grew larger. Cities in Ohio and especially Michigan
grew as major centers of automobile manufacturing.
The airplane industry grew as well. Planes carried the nation’s mail, and passenger
service was introduced.
Another major change was the spread of electricity. Whereas electricity had been
found only in central cities before, it now stretched to the suburbs although farms
still lacked electric power. Electrical appliances—radios, washing machines, and
vacuum cleaners among them—began appearing in homes across America. To
convince people to buy these new appliances, businesses adopted new methods of
advertising. No longer content only to give information
about products, they now used ads to sell an image. Widespread advertising meant
that certain brand names became nationally known. A new form of mass
entertainment—radio—provided advertisers a way of reaching huge audiences.
The prosperity that business was generating seemed unstoppable. National income
rose from $64 billion in 1921 to $87 billion in 1929. This prosperity masked
problems, however.
Chapters in Brief
First, the business scene was not completely healthy. As workers produced
more in the same number of hours, businesses grew, sometimes producing
more goods than they could sell. Chain stores spread across the nation. With
this growth, however, the difference in income between business managers and
workers grew. Also, mining companies, railroads, and farms were suffering.
Second, consumer debt rose to alarming levels. Businesses helped promote
consumer spending by allowing customers to buy on credit. By making the
payments low and spreading them over a long period of time, businesses made
it easy for consumers to decide to purchase all the goods that the businesses
were producing.
American
Industries
Flourish

Presidents Coolidge and Hoover favored policies that would keep
taxes down and profits up

They wanted to keep government involvement in business to a
minimum

For most of the 1920s, their approach seemed to work
American Industries Flourish

Impact of the Automobile
1.
Literally changed the American
landscape
○ construction of new paved
roads (Route 66)
○ Changed architectural styles
○ Gas stations, motels, etc.
2.
Liberated isolated rural families
(they can now travel to cities)
American Industries Flourish
3.
Allowed for greater
independence for young
people
4.
Created the urban sprawl
(workers can live further
away from their jobs)
5.
Cars become a status
symbol, yet still affordable
enough that they were
attainable by many
America’s Standard of Living Soars
 Americans owned 40% of the




world’s wealth.
Average income up 35% (from
$522 to $705 average salary)
People found it easy to spend
their increased income.
Advances in alternating current
allowed the power grid to extend
out to many more people.
New electric machines
○ Some had irons, refrigerators,
ranges, toasters, washing
machine, vacuum cleaners, etc.
America’s Standard of Living Soars

Modern Advertising
 Psychologists were consulted
to help focus appeal on
people’s desire for
youthfulness, beauty, health,
and wealth
 Brand names became familiar
and luxury items were made
to seem like necessities
 Businesspeople applied the
power of advertising to other
areas of American life
America’s Standard of Living Soars
 Advertising made people want
things
 Installment plans (paying a little
each month, with interest rates low)
allowed people to buy goods they
otherwise couldn’t.
 Advertisers pushed the idea of
installment plans.
 “You furnish the girl, we’ll furnish
the home!”
 “Enjoy while you pay!”
America’s Standard of Living Soars
** Prosperity of the 1920s was superficial
1. major industries like steel, automobiles, and
home construction were suffering
2. the number of products purchased on credit
rose substantially
3. more than 80% of the American people
earned less than $3,000 per year, yet they
continued to spend lavishly
4. farms were producing more food than needed
and drove down the price of food ***
A Superficial Prosperity

The Paradox
 Coolidge stood for economy and a frugal way of life, but he
was favored by people who “lived in the now.”

Problems on the horizon
 Some economists thought buying on credit could get out of
hand.
 Growing income gap between workers and managers
 Oversupply in some industries drove down prices (and profits!)

Still, life seemed easier and more enjoyable for hundreds of
thousands of Americans
Marketing Advertisement
How would you use modern advertising to market these items? Create
an advertisement for one of the items below:








Double Boiler: $1.19
Coffee Pot: $1.19
Western Electric Clothes Washer: $125.00
Electric Toaster Green: $6.75
Aluminum Coffee Percolators: 98¢
Electric Table Stoves: $1.95 to $12.50
Wind up Gramophone: (phonograph) $85
Gas Ranges: $88
**($100 in 1920 = about $1000 today)**
Essential Question
How did changes in technology in the
1920s influence American life?
Explain.
Answer the question in three complete sentences in your summary section
Chapter Thirteen - OVERVIEW
During the 1920s, rural America
clashes with a faster-paced urban
culture. Women’s attitudes and roles
change, influenced in part by the
mass media. Many African
Americans join in the new urban
cities.
Chapters in Brief
The 1920 census revealed that for the first time more Americans lived in
towns and cities than in the country. The 1920s sped that process of
urbanization. New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia became huge cities, and
65 others had more than 100,000 people. As 2 million people a year left their
farms, city values—not small-town values—began to dominate the nation.
The transition was not always easy.
One clash concerned Prohibition, favored by many rural people and opposed
by many city dwellers. In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution took effect and Prohibition became law. However, the effort to
stop drinking was doomed. The government did not have enough law officers
to enforce the law. Illegal nightclubs sprang up across the country. People
began making their own illegal liquor. Others bought from “bootleggers”—
resulting in large sums of money flowing to organized crime. By the middle of
the decade, only 19 percent of Americans supported Prohibition. It remained
law until 1933, however.
Chapters in Brief
The country also saw a revival of Christian fundamentalism. Christian
fundamentalists believed that every word in the Bible was literally true.
Religious revivals and preachers drew large crowds, especially in the South and
West. Soon fundamentalists clashed with science in the Scopes trial.
Fundamentalists, who rejected the scientific theory of evolution, persuaded
some states to outlaw teaching of that theory in schools. Teacher John Scopes
protested the law by openly teaching the subject. The trial brought famous
attorneys and large crowds to a small Tennessee town. After Scopes was found
guilty, the state Supreme Court reversed the conviction.
Rural and Urban Differences
 “Cities were the place to be, not to get away from.”
 Cities rise to prominence and formed the new urban scene
○ New York (5.6 million), Chicago (3 million), Philadelphia (2 million) are the
largest cities in the United States
○ They had a diverse population and were busy all the time (fast paced life)
○ Cities revolved around the 3 “I’s” = Immigrants, Industry, and Indecency
○ Small towns saw the behavior of city dwellers (drinking, gambling, casual
dating) as shocking and sinful
Prohibition
 Lasted from 1920-1933
 18th Amendment banned the





manufacture, sale, and transportation of
alcohol
Some thought alcohol led to crime,
abuse, accidents, and social problems
Drinking did not disappear, it just went
underground to Speakeasies.
Bootleggers smuggled alcohol in from
other countries
Others distilled and sold their own
alcohol, or obtained a prescription for
alcohol use
The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th
Amendment
Organized Crime

An unintended consequence of
Prohibition was the contribution to
organized crime

Al Capone
 Headed Chicago criminal activity by
age 26
 He made $60 million per year
through his empire.
 Killed off competition (522 gang
killings)

By the mid 20’s, 19% of Americans
favored prohibition, the rest thought it
made things worse
Al Capone Mini Biography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzf
WQ7TRF8w
Science and Religion Clash
 American Fundamentalism
○ Believed in a literal
interpretation of the Bible
○ Fundamentalists rejected
Darwin’s theory of evolution
 Scopes Monkey Trial
○ John Scopes taught evolution
to his class, contrary to
Tennessee state law, and was
arrested
Science and Religion Clash
○ Scopes was supported by the ACLU, and
they hired the famous lawyer Clarence
Darrow to defend him
○ William Jennings Bryan was chosen as
special prosecutor
○ High point is the cross examination of
Bryan as an expert on the Bible.
○ Bryan admits that the Bible might be
interpreted in different ways
○ Scopes found guilty, teaching of evolution
was still illegal in Tennessee
This clash over evolution,
Prohibition, and urbanization were
evidence of the changes and
conflicts occurring during the
1920’s. This led to women
redefining their role in society….
Essential Question
Explain how the overall atmosphere of
the 1920s might have contributed to
the failure of prohibition.
Answer the question in three complete sentences in your summary section
Chapters in Brief
The new urban culture influenced many women to demand greater freedom,
symbolized by the “flapper.” These young women wore shorter skirts, shorter hair,
and more jewelry than was customary before. They also smoked cigarettes and drank
alcohol. Not all young women were flappers, of course. Many felt caught between the
old values and the new. Many women across America were adopting new roles at
work. More women worked outside the home than before the war. They took many
different jobs, but hundreds of thousands became teacher and nurses, secretaries, or
sales clerks. Wherever they worked, though, women faced discrimination. The 1920s
began trends that continue today: identifying jobs as women’s or men’s work and
paying women less than men.
Most married women did not work. Those who did found it difficult to juggle the
demands of both job and family. Women also experienced changes at home. Married
women had fewer children than before. Ready-made clothes and labor-saving devices
made housework easier.
Other changes affected families. Marriages were more often the result of the two
partners’ choice, not their parents’ arrangements. More teenagers stayed in school
than before but sometimes rebelled against parental supervision.
Chapters in Brief
With prosperity and the need for a more educated workforce, more students received
a high school education. High schools changed, offering vocational training for
future workers and home economics for future homemakers. Educators met the
challenge of teaching millions of children of immigrants, many of whom did not
know English. As a result, an increasing number of people could read. With these
increased demands, schooling costs rose dramatically.
American tastes were shaped by mass media. The number of people who read
newspapers increased sharply, and national magazines flourished. The most powerful
of the mass media, though, was radio. It grew into national networks that offered
programming to many millions.
The growing prosperity of the 1920s gave Americans more money to spend—and
more leisure time in which to spend it. Fads swept the nation. Many entertainment
dollars were spent on tickets to sporting events as athletes in many sports set new
records. Chief among them was baseball’s Babe Ruth, a long-ball hitter. America’s
biggest hero was pilot Charles A. Lindbergh, who thrilled the nation in 1927 by
flying alone across the Atlantic Ocean.
Chapters in Brief
Americans by the hundreds of thousands found entertainment in movie theaters. For most of
the decade, the movies were silent. In 1927, Hollywood released The Jazz Singer—the first
major talking picture. Movies, like magazines and radio, helped create a national culture.
Many artists contributed to a flowering of American culture. Playwright Eugene O’Neill
dramatized family conflicts. Composer George Gershwin wrote music that combined jazz
rhythms with classical forms. Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win a Nobel Prize in
literature, wrote best-selling novels taking a critical look at the shallow life of middle-class
Americans. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels showed the dark underside of the flashy life of the
1920s. Dorothy Parker, Edith Wharton, and other women writers added a unique perspective
in their work.
In the 1920s, hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved to the cities of the North.
Many left the South for big cities in search of jobs. By 1929, 40 percent of all African
Americans lived in cities. Racial riots erupted in the North, however. W. E. B. Du Bois,
president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
protested racial violence. Another NAACP official, James Weldon Johnson, spearheaded the
organization’s effort to get Congress to pass a law to put an end to lynching of African
Americans. While the law never passed, the number of lynchings did drop. Marcus Garvey
voiced a message of black pride that appealed to many African Americans. Garvey
promoted the formation of black-owned businesses. He also urged many African Americans
to return to Africa.
Chapters in Brief
Harlem, a section of New York City, became home to a flowering of AfricanAmerican culture called the Harlem Renaissance. Writers Claude McKay,
Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston—among others—wrote moving
poems, plays, and novels portraying the difficulties and pleasures of black life.
Paul Robeson won renown as an actor. Musicians Louis Armstrong, “Duke”
Ellington, and Bessie Smith delighted audiences with jazz and blues. This
great decade of social and cultural change, though, would soon be
overshadowed by an economic crash
Young Women Change the Rules

Flappers
 become a symbol of a free young woman
who embraced new fashion and urban attitudes
 Style
○ Skirts above the knee!
○ Short, boyish hair
○ Wore “kiss-proof ” lipstick
Young Women Change the Rules
 Women become more assertive (began smoking and drinking in
public, more willing to talk about sex)
 The Double Standard
○ Women were expected to observe stricter standards of behavior
than men
○ Casual dating increased, but men only officially “courted” women
who they would marry
Women Shed Roles
 New work opportunities
○ Nurses, teachers, secretaries, librarians,
social workers
○ Unequal treatment and wages
○ Male view that women really belonged in
the home
 The Changing Family
○ Lower birthrate from increased birth
control information
○ Marriages from personal choice rather
than family
○ Teenagers spent more time with other
kids their age, and less with family
○ Child labor laws limit house income
Education and Popular Culture

Popular Culture
 Newspaper and mass circulation magazines rose in circulation
 Radio was most powerful communication method in the 1920s (allowed the
shared national experience of hearing news live)
 Babe Ruth was glorified as a superhero
Education and Popular Culture
 Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop solo flight across the
Atlantic Ocean
 movies begin to appear with sound in them
 it is one of the richest eras in American literature
The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a literary and
artistic movement celebrating AfricanAmerican culture.

African-American ideas, politics, art,
literature, and music flourished in Harlem
(and elsewhere)

Politics: Marcus Garvey
Writers: Claude McKay, Langston
Hughes
Performers: Paul Robeson
Musicians: Louis Armstrong, “Duke”
Ellington, Bessie Smith



Essential Question
During the 1920s, a double standard required
women to observe stricter codes of behavior
than men. Do you think that some women of
this decade made real progress towards
equality? Support your answer.
Answer the question in three complete sentences in your summary section