11. intolerance and the 1932 election
TRANSCRIPT
Intolerance and the 1932 election
The Key Question:
How far was the US a
free and equal society
in the 1920’s?
- How widespread was racial
intolerance in US society?
- What were the ‘Roaring
Twenties’?
- Why was prohibition
introduced, and then later
repealed?
- How far did the roles of
women change during the
1920s?
Changing attitudes in the 1920s; race
relations and discrimination against African
Americans; the Ku Klux Klan; the ‘Roaring
Twenties’; film and other media; the Red
Scare; the case of Sacco and Vanzetti;
prohibition and reasons for its repeal in
1934; gangsterism and corruption; change
and continuity in the roles of women.
Tolerance: Women – greater freedom
• The rise of the ‘flapper’.
• No longer needed chaperones.
• Could drink, smoke and kiss in public.
• Divorces doubled between 1914 and 1929.
• 19th Amendment (voting) August 1920.
• However:
• More in the cities than in the country eg. Anti Flirt League
• Few women elected into politics by 1929 (Eleanor Roosevelt was the exception rather than the rule)
Intolerance: Racism
• Johnson-Reid Act (1924) – banned Asian immigration, quota of 150,000 per year all immigration.
• The Klu Klux Klan – increasingly popular after the screening of the film: Birth of a Nation in 1915
• Lynchings, beatings etc of Black African Americans
• Mainly in areas of WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestants), the Bible Belt/Deep South
• 4.5 million members at their peak in 1924
• Governors of Oklahoma and Oregon were both members of the Klan
Intolerance: The Red Scare
Causes:
• The Russian Revolution 1917 – Americans feared Communism spreading to America (NOT the Domino Theory)
• Fear of immigration from Eastern Europe.
• Increasing hysteria whipped up by the press etc eg. J Edgar Hoover having files on 60,000 suspects with 10,000 being deported (only 556 had any basis in fact!)
Evidence that this was a ‘reality’
• 1919 – 400,000 workers going on strike
• Police going on strike in Boston
• Bombs (36) being sent to prominent Americans including the Attorney General.
Intolerance: Scope and Sacco and Vanzetti
Scopes
• Tennessee (Bible belt) had banned the teaching of evolution.
• Scopes taught it anyway – he was put on trial.
• Found guilty and fined $100.
Sacco and Vanzetti
• Put on trial for murder despite having a strong alibi.
• Judge referred to them as “those anarchist bastards” and described Vanzetti as an “enemy of existing institutions”
• Sentenced to death
• Executed in 1927 despite massive protests.
Intolerance: Prohibition - Causes
• 18th Amendment (Volstead Act) proposed in 1917 and became law in 1920.
• By 1916 21 states had already banned saloons.
• Anti Saloon League and Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
• Dries claimed that 3000 infants were smothered each year by drunk parents.
Intolerance: Prohibition - successes
• Levels of alcohol consumption fell by 30% in the 1920s
• Enforcement could be effective eg. Izzy and Moe (prohibition agents) found alcohol in New Orleans within 35 seconds.
• In 1929 66, 878 arrests were made.
Intolerance: Prohibition - failures
• The majority of Americans just weren’t willing to obey the law leading to a black market eg. William Mckoy made 70 million smuggling in illegal alcohol..
• Maryland never even introduced prohibition.
• By 1925 there were more speakeasies in cities than there had been saloons in 1919.
• Corruption – “Put your hands on the table, both of them. Every son of a bitch wearing a diamond is fired”, George Remus etc
• Gang violence – Gangs made over $2 billion from the sale of illegal alcohol, Al Capone made $60 million per year just from his speakeasies.
• This caused increased gang violence eg. St Valentine’s Day Massacre (7 members of Bugsy Moran's gang dead – 1929).
• 1926 and 1927 saw 130 gangland murders in Chicago, but not one arrest.
The Wall Street Crash
What were the
causes and
consequences of
the Wall Street
Crash?
- What impact did the
Crash have on the
economy?
- What were the social
consequences of the
Crash?
- Why did Roosevelt win
the election of 1932?
The Wall Street Crash and its financial
effects; the economic and social
effects for Americans in urban areas
and in the countryside; the reaction
of President Hoover to the Crash and
the Depression; the Bonus Marchers
and ‘Hoovervilles’; the Presidential
election of 1932; Hoover’s and
Roosevelt’s programmes; reasons
why Roosevelt won; the contrast
between Roosevelt’s and Hoover’s
views of the role of government.
The Wall Street Crash: Causes
• The stock market was becoming a ‘sure fire’ way to make money eg. Union Carbide shares increased by $268 in 7 months (1929)
• Increased share ownership – more people were buying shares without understanding the Stock Market (1920 4 million share owners, by 1929 this was 20 million)
• Increased speculation – buying and selling shares quickly for a short term profit, this created instability in the companies (600,000 speculators).
• Buying on the Margin – people putting 10% of the price of the shares down and borrowing the rest from the bank.
• Banks lent $9 billion for speculating in 1929 alone.
The Wall Street Crash: Impacts
• Unemployment: By 1933 14 million workers were unemployed, Toledo 80%.
• Banks: They went bust, 1929 659 went bankrupt
• Industry and farming: Production dropped by 40% and wages by 60% betewen 1928 and 1933. Farm income had dropped to $5 billion per year.
• Bonus Marchers: WWI veterans marched to aske for their war bonus to be paid early. General MacArthur burnt their camp down.
• Human cost: Hoovervilles and malnutrition 45 people died in New York in 1932.
The 1932 Election
Hoover:
• ‘Prosperity is just around the corner’, believed in Rugged Individualism and the policies that had worked in the 1920s eg. Blocked the Garner-Wagner relief bill that would have provided $2.1 billion to create jobs.
• He did cut taxes and introduce tariffs, but these did not stimulate the economy.
• Standing by MacArthur over the Bonus Marchers lost him support.
Roosevelt:
• Campaigned to do something, travelled 20,800 km and gave 16 major speeches (plus 60 from the back of the train). Promised a ‘New Deal’, but carefully didn’t give any details!