the Roaring Twenties

1. the Roaring Twenties

2. Electricity • By 1928 • Drove 70% of factory equipment • Increasing efficiency and productivity • 66% of urban families had electricity in their homes • Development of appliances for the home • Irons, vacuum cleaners, washing machines

3. Radio • First station was in Pittsburgh, PA – 1920 • There were 566 by 1923 • Commercial radio developed • Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created the first national network of stations: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

4. Automobiles • Number of cars on the road tripled in the 1920s • Developed oil, gas, rubber, glass, and service industries • Families began using installment plans in order to have cars and other large ticket items

5. Federal Highway Act of 1921 • Left road construction to the states but with federal standards • Road network increased from 7,000 miles of roads to 50,000 miles in seven years • States charged a tax on gasoline to bring in revenue to build more roads

6. Ford’s Model T was affordable at $300 but new models were not being developed • General Motors not only developed new models but added new features each year • Introduced fuel gauges, headlights, and windshields • By 1927, 83% of all cars were closed top

7. The Jazz Singer • First “talkie” or motion picture with sound • 1927 • Warner Brothers film • It was a small studio, the major studios had agreed that none of them would create a film with sound unless they all did

8. Flappers • More young women are joining the work force, postponing marriage, experiencing more freedom and making their own money • Cut hair, wore short dresses, had more sexual freedom

10. Baseball • Efforts made to keep baseball pure after allegations of cheating in 1919 • George Herman “Babe” Ruth becomes sensation, hitting record numbers of homeruns

11. Charles Lindbergh • First man to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic from NY to Paris • His plane was the Spirit of St. Louis • Fame leads to despair when his 20 month old son was kidnapped and murdered

13. Artistic Achievements • Sinclair Lewis • Most popular novelist • Main Street • Babbitt • T. S. Elliot • Poet • Influential to poets in America and Europe • F. Scott Fitzgerald • The Great Gatsby • Ernest Hemingway • Most influential author of the decade • The Sun Also Rises • A Farewell to Arms

14. Harlem Renaissance • WWI opened jobs in industry in major cities for blacks • Thousands moved North and West • NYC was the center of an intellectual and creative movement

15. Authors and poets gained national attention • Langston Hughes • Countee Cullen • Zora Neale Hurston • James Weldon Johnson • Jazz – improvised music developed from the Blues • Louis Armstrong • Bessie Smith • Duke Ellington

17. Marcus Garvey • Jamaican immigrant • Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association • Dedicated to promoting African-Americans and the resettlement of Africa • Launched several businesses to promote a separate black nation • Convicted of mail fraud, deported

18. Theodore Bilbo • Mississippi Governor and US Senator • Supported Garvey’s African resettlement plan and tried to get Congress to fund transport of any black who wanted to go

19. Ku Klux Klan • Revitalized due to pressures from immigration • Used anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant, anti-black to acquire converts • More violent than the Klan of Reconstruction

20. Fundamentalism • Change means challenge to older lifestyles • Immigration stirs feelings of nativism • Debates arise over Christian stance on science • Fundamentalism sought to reaffirm the Christian creed as literal truth from the Bible • Anti-Evolution League hoped to pass an amendment barring the teaching of evolution

21. Scopes Monkey Trial • 1924 - TN passed law prohibiting the spending of state funds to teach anything that denies Divine Creation • John T. Scopes • Teacher • Dayton, TN • Taught the theory of evolution • Arrested • 1925 • Charles Darrow • Defense attorney • William Jennings Bryan • Prosecutor

22. Judge did not allow scientists to be called • Darrow called Bryan as an expert on the Bible • Sparred for days • Jury found Scopes guilty • Paid a small fine

23. Immigration Quotas • From 1920-1921, the US received over 1,235,000 immigrants • Proponents of restriction claimed that immigrants lacked the qualities to be successful American citizens • Quota laws were enacted in 1921 • Set limits of 600,000 people from Europe • Great Britain and Germany were allowed the most

24. 1924 – the National Origins Act passed • Limited annual legal immigration from Europe to 150,000 with preference given to those from northern Europe • About 300,000 immigrated • Blocked Asian immigration entirely • Did not limit Mexican immigration which increased the population of the Southwest, primarily in CA & TX, by more than 500,000

25. Prohibition • 18th Amendment • Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcohol

26. Illegal bars known as “speakeasies” were on the rise • Gave birth to NASCAR but not organized crime • Prohibition was expensive to try to enforce, law enforcement did not have enough manpower to control it • Initially, alcohol consumption declined as well as alcoholism as a medical problem • Production of homemade alcohol “moonshine” increased • Bootleggers and rum runners smuggled alcohol in from the Caribbean & Canada

27. Al Capone • Chicago • Well publicized gangster • Controlled gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging • Most notorious killing was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre • His men posed as police and killed 7 rival bootleggers with 150 rounds

28. Warren G. Harding • President 1921-1923 • Depicted as worst president in US history • Scandals • Corruption flourished in Justice Dept. • Ethical issues with the Veterans Bureau • Teapot Dome Scandal • Secretary of the Interior received payoffs for leasing federal oil reserves to friends • Died of heart disease after 2 years in office

29. Teapot Dome Scandal • The president himself was not implicated • Secretary Albert Fall was convicted of accepting a bribe & imprisoned • Oil executives – Edward Doheny and Henry Sinclair were acquitted of charges of bribery and criminal conspiracy, but Sinclair spent 6 1/2 months in prison for contempt of court and contempt of the U.S. Senate • The secretary of the navy, Edwin Denby (who had signed all the leases) was cleared

30. Calvin Coolidge • Became President following Harding’s death • 1923-1929 • Conservative Republican • Endorsed promoting corporate enterprises • Extended tax cuts • Sent mediators to Mexico to work out control of oil reserves • Endorsed a plan to scale back Germany’s war reparation debt and loaned money to pay it

31. Did not recognize the Soviet Union as a country • Recognized new government of China and encouraged development • Promoted the Kellogg-Briand Pact • An agreement to outlaw war • 14 nations signed immediately, 62 followed • Within 12 years, all of the signatories were involved in the world's largest scale war

32. Red Scare • A nationwide fear of communists, socialists, anarchists, and other dissidents • Innocent people were jailed for expressing their views, civil liberties were ignored • Many Americans feared that a Bolshevik-style revolution was at hand.

33. Two main Union/ Socialist groups were the International Workers of the World and the Socialist party led by Eugene Debs.

34. FBI • On June 2, 1919, a militant anarchist named Carlo Valdinoci blew up the front of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s home in Washington, D.C.—and himself up in the process when the bomb exploded too early. • Palmer created a small division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to gather intelligence on radical threats and placed a Justice Department lawyer, J. Edgar Hoover, in charge

35. Palmer Raids • January 1920, the FBI organized simultaneous raids in major cities, with local police called on to arrest thousands of suspected anarchists. • It turned into a nightmare • marked by poor communications, planning, and intelligence about who should be targeted and how many arrest warrants would be needed • the constitutionality of the entire operation was questioned • Palmer and Hoover were criticized

36. Sacco & Vanzetti Trial • On April 15, 1920, a paymaster and guard were murdered in South Braintree, MA. The two men who fired the shots escaped in a waiting car with more than $15,000. • Three weeks later, arrests were made and charges brought against two Italian immigrants — Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti • The accused had no criminal records, but were known as outspoken anarchists, labor organizers and antiwar activists

37. The accused readily admitted their radical beliefs, but denied any involvement in the crime • Despite the presentation of corroborated testimony that Sacco was in Boston trying to arrange for a passport at the time of the murder, the jury rendered guilty verdicts for both • In late 1925, a convicted bank robber, CelestinoMadeiros, admitted to having participated in the murders

38. In April 1927, the long-delayed sentencing occurred and both men were given death sentences • Despite these protests, Sacco and Vanzetti, proclaiming their innocence to the end, were electrocuted in Charlestown State Prison on August 23, 1927 • The prosecution, trial, and aftermath constituted a blatant disregard for political civil liberties

39. Stock Market Crash • Uneasy about the economic future, many stock investors began selling off shares • There were few buyers • Prices began to fall • October 24, 1929 • “Black Thursday” • Prices collapsed

40. October 29, 1929 • “Black Tuesday” • The worst day in stock market history • Selling was more intense as panic spread • Fist fights and rumors of suicides • Stocks lost $16 billion in the month of October