Transcript Why Roaring 20`s? - Hialeah Senior High School

The Roaring 20’s
An era of prosperity,
Republican Power,
And Conflict
Why Roaring 20’s?
• Because of widespread
economic and social change
this became known as the
Roaring 20’s.
Postwar Trends
• World War I had left much of the Americans public
exhausted.
• The economy was in a difficult state of adjustment.
• The transition process during which a nation at war returns
to a state of peace took place called demobilization
• Effect: Returning soldiers took jobs away from women and
minorities or faced unemployment.
• Cost of living had doubled. The rise of inflation- cost of
goods went up while wages stayed the same.
• Farmers and factory workers suffered as wartime orders
diminished.
• Belief in isolationism a policy of pulling away from
involvement in world affairs
Race Relations Worsen
•Soldiers return home from war
•Competition for jobs in northern cities sparks racial tensions
•1917 Race riots occurred in Houston, Philadelphia, and
East St. Louis.
•1919 White mobs terrorized black communities from Texas
to Washington, D.C.
•In Chicago, a white mob stoned a black swimmer to death
who had strayed into the “white section” of the beach. 38
more people were killed in the violence that followed.
•Since 1890, thousands of blacks died in lynching's in the
South.
Numerous Labor Strikes
• Following the war, there was a massive
increase in labor strikes in the United States
• 3,600 strikes by more than 4 million
workers
• General Strike: strike of all union workers in
a certain location, not just one industry
• A strike in Seattle left the city at a standstill
The Red Scare
• Because the Russian
Revolution started as a
workers revolt, many
Americans associated
labor strikes to
Bolshevism
• The fear that
Communists were trying
to overthrow the U.S.
government was known
as the Red Scare
People feared labor strikes were roots of attempts to
overthrow the government. After the war, many Americans
transferred their hate to anyone born in another country.
IMPACT: The Red Scare led to calls to limit
immigration
Emergency Quota Act
•Set up a temporary quota system for immigration
•Law limited amount of people admitted to U.S.
•Provision discriminated against people from Southern
and Eastern Europe
•People feared communism coming in from parts of
Europe
National Origins Act
•Allowed unlimited immigration for people from Northern and
Western Europe
•Immigration from Mexico was not limited
•Mexican immigrants fill jobs created by reduction of European
immigration
A Resurgence of Nativism
Anti-Foreign Feelings
The case of Sacco and Vanzetti
symbolized fear of immigrants
•Nicola Sacco and
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
were Italian
immigrants charged
with murdering a
guard and robbing a
shoe factory in
Braintree, Mass.
•The trial lasted 1920-1927. Convicted on circumstantial evidence,
many believed they had been framed for the crime because of
their anarchist and pro-union activities.
•In this time period, anti-foreignism was high as well.
•Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men, but they would
be executed.
Sacco - Vanzetti Case continued
•Although the evidence against them was inadequate,
they were presumed guilty because they were
anarchists. (anarchism - the idea that all forms of
gov’t are bad and should be done away with.)
•The judge was openly prejudiced.
•This case illustrates what hatred and prejudice can do.
•They were accused for their “alien blood & abhorrent
philosophy”, rather than for murder.
•The men were convicted, sentenced to death, and
despite worldwide protests, they were executed in 1927.
•Riots broke out from Japan to Warsaw, from Paris to
Buenos Aires
•Many decades later they were posthumously
exonerated (cleared) by the Massachusetts Governor
Michael Dukakis (without all the recent evidence)
Domestic Terrorism
• Many Americans felt Communists wanted to bring about
anarchy (overthrow the government)
• In April 1919 the U.S. Post Office intercepted 30 bomb
packages meant for businessmen
• In June 8 bombs exploded in 8 cities within minutes of each
other
• One damaged the house of United States Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer
• Palmer creates a new group inside the Justice Department
Attacks lead to the creation of the:
Federal Bureau of Investigations
Became known
for hunting
down criminals
Top law
enforcement
officials
FBI was led by:
J. Edgar Hoover
Palmer Raids!
Hoover directed simultaneous raids in 30 cities,
known as the Palmer Raids.
Targeting mostly
immigrants, Palmer
had thousands
arrested and over
5000 deported
People had their
civil liberties
violated
No evidence of attempts to overthrow the government was found
Palmer Raids
• Palmer Raids (1919–21). The raids were when the FBI
would go into houses and business of people looking for
anything associated with communism. Immigrants and
citizens were labeled red if they were believed to be
associated with communism. Many immigrants were
deported without trial. These raids were racist, as only
foreign born poor people were targeted by the raids. Over
6000 people were illegally arrested and deported.
• Initially, the press praised the raids. As time wore on,
opinions changed, and the Palmer Raids were criticized as
unconstitutional
• fewer than 600 of the over 6000 deportations were
substantiated with evidence
1920’s Politics: Republicans
Return to Power
Warren Harding
•
•
•
•
•
People responded to his call for normal life to return and elected him
in1920.
Harding’s policy was a “Return to Normalcy”
His friends were known as the “Ohio Gang”
Presidency became known for corruption and scandals
Biggest scandal was known as the “Teapot Dome Scandal”
Warren G. Harding
U.S. President 1921-1923
Died of heart attack brought
on, some say, but numerous
scandals during his
presidency
Policies favoring American Business
• To protect domestic business from foreign competition
Congress passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922
which greatly increased tariff rates on U.S. imported
goods (60% higher).
• Negative consequences. Henry Ford attacked the
Fordney–McCumber Tariff, arguing that the American
automobile industry did not need protection since it
dominated the domestic market, and their interest was
in expanding foreign sales. American trading partners
had raised their own tariffs by a significant degree
• Due to the fact that wealthy Americans were more
likely to invest in the economy, they lowered the tax for
the rich leaving the burden on the average wage
earner.
Foreign Policy-Washington Naval Conference
• In 1921 Harding invited Great
Britain, France, Japan, & Italy
to Washington to discuss
naval disarmament (getting
rid of weapons)
• The US offered to scrap 30
war ships, and other nations
soon followed suit.
• Problem: The Washington
Naval Conference limited the
production of large war
ships, but many nations got
around this by building more
small war ships.
Harding’s Foreign Policies
1) Four Power Treaty an agreement between U.S.,
Britain, Japan and France. They agreed to respect
each other’s territories and rights in the Pacific
region and to submit any disputes to a “joint
conference” of all four powers.
2) Nine Power Treaty all the delegates at the Naval
Conference agreed to respect the independence of
China.
3) Collecting War Debts
a) Dawes Plan - loan money to Germany to help
them pay off France and Great Britain
Teapot Dome Scandal
This scandal involved Secretary
of the Interior Albert Fall who
took bribes from oil executives
to drill on oil-rich government
land.
• Secretary of Interior Albert
Fall took a kickback (money)
to allow the drilling
• Albert Fall rented out Navy
petroleum reserves at a
location called Teapot Dome
to private oil companies at
low rates without
competitive bidding and
without approval of
Congress.
• Fall goes to prison on
bribery charges
• Became one of the biggest
government scandals in U.S.
history
Coolidge takes over
Following the death of Harding,
Calvin Coolidge takes over as
president
Coolidge believed in the laissez fair
theory –that government should not
interfere with business
“The business of America is
business.”
--Calvin Coolidge, U.S. president
(1923-1929)
The “Solid South”
Almost 50 Years Later
Coolidge Prosperity
1) Calvin Coolidge
a) Placed his trust in business, and
believed in the traditional virtues of
America.
b) In 1924, Immigration Act gave each
nationality a limit annually to 2
percent of its total presence in the
United States. But the census was
based on 1890 population not in 1920.
Foreign Policy- Kellogg-Briand Pact
• Coolidge called for a new disarmament
The US had returned to their
conference in Geneva, Switzerland due to
isolationist ways that they held in
the huge building of cruisers and smaller
the early 1900s
ships.
• Conference held in 1927, but the
participants refused to accept further
limitations and nothing was achieved.
• American professor suggested a treaty to
outlaw war to a French foreign minister.
• In August of 1927, 15 nations signed the
Pact of Paris known as Kellogg-Briand Pact,
promising not to use war as an instrument
of policy (outlaw war). Congress approved.
• The Pact effectively outlawed war, and
rejected conflict as a form of “national
policy”
The Booming Economy
and
THE MODEL-T
Cost about $300
It made it possible to assemble his car in 93
minutes instead of 14 hrs.
Working for Henry Ford
• Other industrialists called Ford “traitor to his
class” because his actions defied the
conventional wisdom of keeping wages low
and prices high.
• In 1926, Ford again delighted the workers and
shocked the business world by reducing the
workweek at his plant from a 48 hr, 6 day
week to a 40 hr and 5 day week.
Automobile Changes America
• Stimulated growth in other industries
• Rubber Industry (growth of factories in Ohio)
• ►Steel Industry (growth of factories Pittsburgh,
PA)
• ►Glass Industry (growth of factories in Ohio)
• ►Detroit becomes center of automobile industry
• Road Construction/Highway system
• Motels
• Freedom to travel
• Growth of suburbs, decline of cities
A Booming Economy
•Unlike other major powers whose farms and factories had been devastated
by the war. America’s productive capacity had expanded.
•Between 1922-28 the amount of goods produced rose by 70%.
•New technology & techniques increased manufacturing efficiency.
•As business boomed, companies needed bigger space.
•Demand for more buildings, new roads and houses.
•New industries were born like light metals such as aluminum
•Motion picture production; and radio manufacturing all provided new jobs
and products for the American public
•Automobile manufacturing ranked as the most important of all the new
industries.
Rise of Consumer Goods
New household items such as washers,
dryers, and ovens were mass produced
and sold in department stores
Manufacturers kept
introducing more and more
useful and enticing products
Business at department stores such as SearsRoebuck, JC Penney, and Woolworths skyrocket
Rise of
Advertising
To get people to buy their new
products, manufacturers turned to
advertising.
Advertisers created messages that
were appealing and persuasive that
linked their products with
convenience, leisure, success,
fashion and style
They manipulated people into buying
their products and making the
consumers want and think they
needed the product.
"Without imagination, no wants.
Without wants, no demand to have
them supplied."
Easy Consumer Credit
Before the „20s, most
considered debt shameful.
The prosperity of the ‟20s
gave people the confidence
to not worry about going into
debt.
Americans began buying things
such as cars, furniture and
home appliances on credit.
Credit was easy to acquire.
As stocks went up in value, more and
more people became tempted to buy
them in the hope of getting rich quickly.
Buying on the Margin – buying stocks on
credit. Instead of paying the full price,
they paid only 10% and promised to pay
the rest later.
Florida’s Land Boom
• Americans finally had the time and money to travel to Florida and to invest in real
estate
•The automobile was also becoming an indispensable way for families to travel, and
Florida was the perfect destination.
•Henry Flagler's railroad that connected Southeast Florida with New York caused other
rail routes to be built.
•New arrivals wanted homes and land rather than resorts and hotels
•Some people wanted to make money by selling land poured into Florida
•In order to get people to come to Florida and invest in real estate, the Florida
Legislature passed laws that prohibited state income taxes (still today)
• Horse and dog racing also grew in Florida as a way to attract rich gamblers
Florida’s Land Boom
It was during this time that many vacation spots were
created and some of our most popular cities were
developed.
Dave Davis, the son of a steamboat captain, built Davis
Island in the Tampa Bay area.
Barron Collier started Naples and Marco Island as winter
resorts.
Carl Fisher and John Collins bought and developed the
mangrove island off the coast of Miami. Miami Beach
began to develop into the world-famous resort that it is
today.