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The 1920s

Unit 8. The 1920s. Labels given to the 1920s The New Era The Jazz Age The Lost Generation The Dry Decade The Roaring 20’s What does this tell us about the decade? Are there any labels for the 1980s, 1990s, or 2000’s?. A “World Convulsed”. Disillusionment WWI carnage

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The 1920s

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  1. Unit 8 The 1920s

  2. Labels given to the 1920s • The New Era • The Jazz Age • The Lost Generation • The Dry Decade • The Roaring 20’s • What does this tell us about the decade? • Are there any labels for the 1980s, 1990s, or 2000’s?

  3. A “World Convulsed” • Disillusionment • WWI carnage • Influenza pandemic • Intellectuals question: • “old world values” • Progress of civilization • “Modernism” • Artistic movements • futurism, surrealism, dadaism • Literature • T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound i. expatriates

  4. II. Prosperity • WWI good for U.S. economy • 1922-1929: • GNP rises • Low unemployment • Wages increase • Consumerism • “consumer durable” • Paved roads!!! • Stock market a. Middle class participants

  5. Age of Celebrity • Mega-events and mass marketing • Major personalities a. Sports • “Babe” Ruth b. Movies: • Charles Chaplin • Rudolph Valentino c. Aviation • Charles A. Lindbergh a. Spirit of St. Louis • Role of media in celebrity

  6. Women • Workforce • Excluded from skilled work • Received less pay for equal work • Opportunities increase for: • white-collar work • Secretaries • Typists • Dept. store clerks

  7. Women’s Movement • Suffragettes • Alice Paul, Carrie Catt, Lucretia Mott, Lucy Burns • “Kaiser” Wilson • Violence, protests, hunger strikes • 19th amendment • Women in the workforce • Some success • League of Women Voters • Internal division • ERA • Protective labor legislation

  8. Politics • 1920s: Republican Revival • Warren G. Harding (1921-23) • Illustrious cabinet • State: Charles Hughes • Commerce: Hoover • Treasury: Andrew Mellon • “Ohio Gang” • Womanizing group of Harding’s

  9. Economy • Supported Big Business • High tariffs • Mellon • Tax loopholes • Lowered estate tax • Reduced corporate taxes • Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 • Bureau of the Budget • General Accounting Office • Regulatory agencies • Replaced leaders

  10. Corruption • Veterans Bureau • Teapot Dome • Interior Department; Albert Fall • Harding dies-1923

  11. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) • Advocate of: • Free enterprise • Gov’t de-regulation • Laissez faire • Revenue Act (1926) • Lowered estate taxes • Repealed “gift tax” • Leads to overspeculation by wealthy • Promotion of “friendly” regulation a. Curtailed FTC, ICC, FRB ability

  12. Stabilizing the Economy • Herbert Hoover • Secretary of Commerce (1921-1929) • American Individualism • Trade associations • Associationalism/ cooperative individualism

  13. Setbacks for unions • Unions suffer during Red Scare • 1921: “American Plan” • “Yellow-dog” contracts • “Welfare capitalism” • Affect: union membership drops • 1920: 5 million • 1929: 3.5 million

  14. Gastonia Strike of 1929 • Textiles slump • Military demobilization • Changing fashion • Foreign competition • Fixing the slump • Quotas (piecework) • Mass production • Lower pay • Increase hours

  15. “How our good mill people can be led by these people who are not our kind, who defy God, flout religion, denounce our government and who are working for social equality among white and black is a mystery…and the southern people will never for on instance tolerate such a thing.” -Gastonia Daily Gazette

  16. Loray Mill • National Textile Workers Union • National Guard • No negotiations • 2 killed • Police Chief • Ella May Wiggins • NTWU dissolves

  17. “A rigid system of selection through the elimination of those who are weak or unfit — in other words social failures — would solve the whole question in one hundred years, as well as enable us to get rid of the undesirables who crowd our jails, hospitals, and insane asylums.” -Madison Grant The Passing of the Great Race (1916)

  18. Reaction to the 1920s • Immigration • Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 • Limits and quotas on immigration • Johnson-Reed Act (1924) • “new” immigrants • exclusion for Asians • Latin American influx

  19. KKK • 100% Americanism • National following • 1924: 4 million members • Women’s Auxiliary group • Decline in late 1920s

  20. Fundamentalism vs. Liberal Protestantism • Protestant fundamentalism • Bible: “fundamental” truths • Anti-urban • Liberal Protestantism • discoveries of science • religion had to adapt: • Modernism • Skepticism • Scientific discoveries

  21. Scopes Trial • State law (TN): teaching of Theory of Evolution prohibited • ACLU challenges • John T. Scopes • WJB vs. Clarence Darrow

  22. The Great Depression • Stock Market Speculation • Six reasons for investment • Rising stock dividends • Increase in personal savings • Revenue Act of 1926 • Prosperity of the 1920s • Easy money policy • Re-investment of profit • Lack of stock market regulation • Psychology of consumption

  23. Causes of the Depression • Over-speculation • Federal Reserve Board • Limits circulating money • Raises interest rates • Creates international panic • Hawley-Smoot Tariff • Maldistribution of wealth

  24. Income Distribution Before the Great Depression

  25. Hoover’s Efforts at Recovery • Predicted economic prosperity • Associationalism • Glass-Steagall Act (1932) • Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) • Home Loan and Bank Act • Emergency Relief and Construction Act

  26. “Bonus Army” • Bonus Expeditionary Force • 15,000+ march on D.C. • Anacostia Flats • MacArthur, Patton, and Eisenhower

  27. Election of 1932 • Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) • Herbert Hoover (R) • Socialist Party • Communist Party

  28. The First New Deal, 1933-1935 • Successes-1st Hundred Days • 15 major pieces of legislation passed • “Fireside chats” • “Brain trusts” • 3 initiatives • Recovery • Reform • Relief

  29. Saving the Financial System • Relief • Emergency Banking Act (EBA) i. Bank Holiday • Reform • Glass-Steagall Banking Act i. FDIC • Securities Exchange Act (SEC)

  30. Economic Relief • Federal Emergency Relief Administration(FERA) • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) • environmental jobs • work-relief • Run by army officers • Civil Works Administration (CWA) • Temporary (4 months) • Homeowners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) • Works Progress Administration(WPA)

  31. Agricultural Reform Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) Recovery by curtailing production tenant farmers US vs. Butler Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act Soil Conservation Service 2nd AAA IV. Recovery through Regulation

  32. Industrial Recovery NIRA Work relief Economic recovery NRA PWA Stabilize business Generate purchasing power

  33. Industrial Reform/Recovery • National Industrial Recovery Act • Publicity and propaganda campaigns • NRA Codes many industries • NRA failed overall • Schechter Poultry Corporation vs US

  34. Public Works Administration (PWA) • internal improvements on infrastructure • Roads, bridges, sewage systems, airport, hospitals, schools • 3 major dams in the West i. Grand Coulee, Boulder, Bonneville

  35. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) • Gov’t owned/operated • 20 dams in the region • Hydroelectric generators • Reduced floods • Improved agricultural techniques

  36. V. Critics of the New Deal • Huey P. Long, Louisiana Senator • “Share the Wealth” clubs • Assassinated in 1935 • Father Charles Coughlin “radio priest” • National Union of Social Justice • “dictate to preserve democracy” • Anti-Semite • Francis E. Townsend • Senior citizen program • Townsend Plan a. Precursor to Social Security

  37. VI. The Second New Deal, 1935-1937 • Underconsumptionism A.Gov’t should: 1. support strong labor unions 2. spend more on social welfare 3. create ambitious public works projects B. Keynesian Economics 1. John Maynard Keynes 2. deficit spending okay! Restrict production Increase consumer expenditure

  38. Reform and Relief • Social Security Act –regressive tax • National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) • Gave workers right to bargain through unions • Prohibited employers from interfering w/ union activities • Revenue Act-progressive tax a. “Soak the Rich” tax

  39. “Court packing" proposal (1937) • 1 new justice for every 1 over 70 or 10 years experience • Motivation? • Reactions • Public opinion – outraged • Dies in Congress • New judge (Hugo Black-AL)

  40. VII. Rise of Labor Unions • Union membership increases • Skilled labor: AFL • Unskilled labor: Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) • Management disputes • Clause 7(a) of the NIRA • Gave workers the right to join labor unions • Wagner Act (NLRA)

  41. Both are often violated by management • workers flood D.C. with letters • “sit-ins” • United Auto Workers Strike • General Motors plant, Flint, MI • Gov’t behind principals of unionization • Refuses to use force against strikers • Members join Democratic party • Active voters

  42. VIII. America’s Minorities and the New Deal • Eastern and Southern European ethnics • benefit the most • joining unions and large group of constituents • African Americans • Eleanor Roosevelt • “Black Cabinet” • Federal Housing Administration • AAA • CCC and TVA are segregated

  43. Mexican Americans • not protected by executive agencies • Hoover and repatriation • appr. 500,000 return to MX • “invisible minority” • most work in rural areas • no Social Security • no NLRA protection

  44. American Indians • Appointment of John Collier • BIA • Indian Reorganization Act (1934) • repeals Dawes Act of 1887 • “cultural pluralism” • Johnson-O’Malley Act (1934) • health care • Education • welfare

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