The Roaring Twenties

The Politics, Economics, and Culture of Post War America

“New” Mindsets Reaction to WWI resulted in a rise of

nativism and isolationism

Nativism: prejudice against foreign-born people

Isolationism: pull away from world affairs and only focus on our country

Impacts foreign and domestic policies

Bolsheviks had set up a new communist state in Russia in 1917

What is communism?

Economic/political system

Single-party

Ruled by a dictator

No private property

After WWI, Communist Party forms in U.S.

Bombs mailed to the government and businesses

People feared a Red Conspiracy

THE RED SCARE

In response to the bombings…

Attorney General Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover began hunting down Communists, socialists, and anarchists

Anarchists oppose any kind of government

Known as Palmer Raids

Raids trample civil rights

Never find any evidence of conspiracies

The Scare Reaches the Courts

1920: two Italian anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti, arrested

Charged with robbery and murder

Prosecution never proved their guilt

Jury found them guilty

Widespread protests in the U.S. and abroad ensued

1927: Sacco and Vanzetti executed

“The People Speak”

The KKK Rises Again Bigots used anti-communism to go after

groups who differed from them

KKK most famous of these groups

1924: 4.5 million members

Opposed blacks, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, unions, drinkers

Klan controlled many states’ politics until the level of their violence led to a backlash

History Channel Video Clip

Limiting Immigration 1919-1921: immigration grows 600%

Quota system created – limited numbers that could enter from each country Huge reduction in European immigration

Direct backlash from WWI

Discriminated against southern and eastern Europeans

Prohibits Japanese immigration

Does not apply to Western Hemisphere

Labor Unrest Government didn’t allow strikes during the war –

1919 sees over 3,000 strikes

Employers were against raises and union; labeled strikers as Communists

Famous strikes: Boston Police Strike

Steel Mill Strike

Coal Miners Strike

By 1920s, union membership drops from 5 million to 3.5 mil

Labor movement has lost its appeal

The Harding Presidency

The Harding administration appeals to America’s desire for calm and peace after the war, but results in SCANDAL

A Return to Normalcy Pres. William G. Harding desires a “return to

normalcy”

Hosts the Washington Naval Conference and invites all major powers, EXCEPT Russia

Why not Russia?

Sec. of State proposed a general disarmament and the others agree This was something Wilson had wanted

1928: Kellogg-Briand Pact renounced war as a national policy

The State of Reparations

U.S. still owed billions by Britain and France

Fordney-McCumber Tariff raises taxes on imports to 60% to try to make back some of this money Britain and France cannot pay

Germany still owes billions to Allies Germany defaults on reparations

Dawes Plan – U.S. lends $$ to Germany to help them repay reparation

Britain and France repay us with our own $$

SCANDAL Harding didn’t fully understand the issues

facing the nation

Favored limited role for gov’t in business and social reform

Had some very capable men in his cabinet: Howard Hughes, Herbert Hoover, Andrew Mellon

Also appointed corrupt friends - the Ohio Gang Used their positions to become wealthy

Teapot Dome Scandal The Ohio Gang used naval oil reserves for

their own personal $$ gain

Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall leased land to private companies

Took bribes to pick companies

Land wasn’t supposed to be used for anything besides the Navy!

Fall - First person convicted of a felony while in cabinet

A Change Occurs August 1923: Harding died in office

V.P. Calvin Coolidge assumed presidency Helps restore faith in the government

The Business of America

Consumer goods fuel the business boom of the 1920s as America’s standard of living soars.

Producing Mass Quantities

Most Americans believe new prosperity will last forever

Chain stores are developed

Banks create nationwide branches

Productivity increasing and business is expanding

Income gap between workers and owners grows quickly

Economic Growth Coolidge favors minimal gov’t interference in business –

private industry flourishes

Average annual income rises over 35% from $522 to $705

Buying Goods on Credit (new concept!) Growth of installment plans – paying for goods over an

extended period of time

Banks provided $$ at low interest rates

Some think the country is using credit far too excessively

Is the prosperity true prosperity or a sign of excessive borrowing?

New Conveniences Factories begin using electricity to run

machines

Suburbs eventually get electricity in their homes

By the end of the 1920s, more homes have electrical appliances

Make housework easier, free women for other activities and new types of jobs

History Channel Video Clip!

Changing Ways of LifeAmericans experience cultural conflicts as customs and values

change

Movement to the Cities

Largest cities are NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia

Between 1922-1929 nearly 2 million people leave farm towns annually

People caught between rural and urban cultures Small towns: close ties, hard work,

strict morals Cities: anonymous crowds,

moneymaking, pleasures

Prohibition! Prohibition: production, sale, and

transportation of alcohol is illegal

18th Amendment officially started the Prohibition era, but push had begun even before WWI Supported by religious groups, women’s rights

groups, rural South and West

HOWEVER – federal government didn’t have the $$ to enforce the law

History Channel Video Clip!

Speakeasies and Bootleggers

Prohibition didn’t stop the sale or consumption of alcohol –made it more profitable/dangerous

Hidden saloons and nightclubs (speakeasies) very fashionable

Individuals would make alcohol at home, even in their bathtubs! People also turned to rubbing alcohol (yep that stuff

that burns when you pour it on a cut) and sacramental wine

Bootleggers smuggled alcohol in from surrounding countries

The MOB Organized crime made HUGE profits off illegal

alcohol

Most famous of these mobsters: Al Capone Controlled Chicago liquor business by killing off

competitors

Mid-1920s: only 19% of population supports Prohibition

18th Amendment in place until 1933 – repealed by the 21st Amendment

The Many Moods of Al Capone

Fundamentalism … In response to the “evils”

in 1920s society, fundamentalism grew in popularity

Based on literal interpretation of the bible – skeptical of some scientific discoveries, especially evolution All important info can be

found in the Bible

Led revivals in the South and West

Fundamentalism and the Courts

The Scopes Monkey Trial

1925: TN passes law making it illegal to teach evolution

John T. Scopes teaches it anyway

Clarence Darrow, one of the most famous trial lawyers of the time, represents Scopes

Fundamentalist William Jennings Bryant (yep – that guy who ran for President and lost!) is the prosecutor

Trial debated evolution and the role of science and religion in school National sensation; 1000s attend trial!

Scopes is found guilty and fined $100

Women of the Twenties

American women pursue new lifestyles and assume new jobs and different roles in society

The Flapper Young women adopt new fashions and attitudes

Many women wanted equal social status with men, become more assertive

Middle class men and women begin to see marriage as an equal partnership However … housework and child-rearing are still a

woman’s job

New Work Opportunities

After WWI, employers replaced women workers with men again

Female college graduates become teachers, nurses, librarians …

Many women become secretaries as the demand rises

Some become sales clerks and factory workers, but much fewer numbers than during war

The few that become managers are paid far less than men

Education and Popular Culture

Mass media, movies, and spectator sports play important roles in creating the popular culture of the 1920s – a culture that many

artists and writers criticize

Expanding Mass Media

Local newspapers replaced by national chains

Radio becomes a powerful new communication medium Networks provide shared

national experience, you can hear the news as it happens

National impact of media means social change is more widespread

Leisure Time + Media People have extra $ and time to enjoy it

New “heroes” are created in sports, movies, music, the arts, writing … even pilots

Silent movies were already popular, but introduction of sound leads millions to attend weekly

George and Ida Gershwin become famous for creating a new “American” sound in theatre

Georgia O’Keefe and other painters show American dreams and reality

Leisure Time + Media Sinclair Lewis wins the Nobel Prize for literature (1st

American to do so)

F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the negative side of 1920s freedoms (The Great Gatsby)

Charles A. Lindbergh makes the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic His fame comes at a cost though – the kidnapping of his son

The Lindbergh Kidnapping Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was 20 months old when he was kidnapped out of

his bedroom in Hopewell, NJ

A search of the house found a ransom note demanding $50,000

A second ransom note was eventually received, and the amount was raised to $70,000. This eventually turned into a third, and then fourth ransom note.

By the end, 13 ransom notes were issued

$50,000 was paid and Charles, Jr. was said to be on a boat in Martha’s Vineyard

May 12, 1932: Baby Charles’ body is found 4.5 miles from his parents home. The coroner said he had been dead for over 2 months

After extensive investigation Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested, tried, found guilty, and executed on the electric chair for the kidnapping and murder or Charles Jr. and the extortion of his parents.

The Harlem Renaissance

African-American ideas, politics, art, literature, and music flourish in Harlem and elsewhere in the U.S.

The Great Migration 1910-1920: migration of thousands of African

Americans from the South to Northern cities

1920: 40% live in cities

Racial tensions in the North escalate – 25 race riots in 1919 alone

However, African Americans continue to migrate in large numbers during 1920s

African American Goals

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) created to protest racial violence and civil rights legislation

Antilynching campaign leads to a drop in the number of lynchings

Marcus Garvey found the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) African Americans should build a separate society

Promotes black pride, black businesses, and a return to Africa

(most known for that last point)

A Growth in NYC Harlem Renaissance was an African-American

literary and artistic movement showing pride in the African American experience Popularity crosses racial divide though

Harlem was world’s largest black urban area

Well known artists:

Langston Hughes’ poems describe difficult lives of working class people

Louis Armstrong is the most influential musician in jazz history

“Duke” Ellington, a jazz pianist and orchestra leader, is one of the country’s greatest composers