The 20s

1. The 20s

2. Presidents during the 20s Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover

3. Elected president in 1920. He died in office in 1923 while on a trip to the West Coast of the U.S.

4. Best known as “Silent Cal.” He became president after Harding’s death in 1923. Got rid of Harding’s cronies & cleaned up the government after the Harding Scandals.

5. Herbert Hoover continued the Republican dynasty of the 20s when he was elected in 1928. By 1932, he was the most unpopular man in America because of the way he handled the Great Depression.

6. Election of 1920 • Warren G. Harding (R) won the election by a huge majority (60.36 % or 404 in the Electoral College.) • He avoided controversial questions. • He talked around the subject (KA “bloviating”) • Sounded intelligent but made no sense. • The only thing about Harding was that he looked presidential. • Rumors about his marital infidelity surrounded him. • He ran on a platform he called a “return to normalcy.”

7. Harding’s Foreign Policy • After all the destruction of the Great War, people in the U.S. wanted nothing to do with the Europeans & their affairs. • Harding’s foreign policy was based on isolation. • The U.S. did not join the League of Nations & did not ratify the Versailles Peace Treaty. • Congress passed a resolution saying we were no longer at war with Germany.

8. Coolidge & Hoover continued the isolationist policy started by Harding in the early 20s.

10. Economic Policy • The administrations of Harding, Coolidge, & Hoover were pro-business. • High protective tariffs on manufactured goods. • Lower taxes for the wealthy (to re-invest in business.) • Reduce national debt. • Emphasis on laissez-faire economics • After the war, the economy went into a slump. • No military contracts for business • Plants shut down or slowed production • People lost their jobs.

11. This was a normal adjustment period that was needed to transition from a war economy to a consumer economy. • Between 1924-28 the U.S. would experience phenomenal economic growth that would improve the standard of living for the majority of Americans. • Radios (the Golden Age of Radio) • Washing machines, vacuum cleaners, irons • Cars • Phonographs • Anything that ran on electricity • Policies were designed to help business interests & large investors.

12. Consumer Society • As the economy grew, more people moved into the middle class & were able to afford the convenience products being mass produced. • Products that had once been luxury items, were now with the reach of anyone with a good job. • Marketing/advertising became big business; businesses needed a way to sell all those new products, so the new business of advertising was born. • The one product most people bought—the car.

13. Increased standard of living • Telephone customers doubled • Communication devices improved • Electricity spread beyond urban centers • More electric products were sold • Electricity was cheap; it became the source of power for industry • More chain stores • New industries were started (chemical industry)

17. The Automobile & the 20s • Henry Ford introduced the mechanized assembly line in 1913. This cut the time to produce a car down from 12 hours to 93 minutes. • By 1925, a new Ford was rolling off the line every 10 seconds. • The model everyone was buying was the Model T or “Tin Lizzie.” • In 1908, a Model T cost $850; by 1924 they were selling for $295

18. Images of the Ford assembly line

19. Other car manufacturers used Ford’s techniques to deliver their own low priced automobiles (General Motors, Chrysler, Packard, Duesenberg, Pierce-Arrow) • The auto made the country areas seem less isolated. • Created the commuter-worker. People could live farther from work. • Workers in the auto industry saw conditions & wages improve drastically because of the people’s love affair with the car.

25. Post War Problems in the 20s • Workers & the Red Scare (Palmer Raids) • Racial Tension (KKK & Jim Crow Laws) • Xenophobia (Nativism) • Prohibition (Constitutional issues) • Religious Fundamentalism (Scopes Trial)

26. 1. Workers & the Red Scare • Many Americans felt that the Great War was a huge mistake. • The world was not really safe for democracy as politicians promised it would be. • The biggest threat came from Communism. • Also, many union members were also members of radical groups, like the Socialists. • People in the federal government decided what groups were radical & what groups weren’t.

27. FYI: Communism • Economic & social theory developed by Karl Marx & Frederic Engels in the mid-1800s (Communist Manifesto.) • 1917: Bolshevik Revolution in Russia • Approximately 70,000 communists in the U.S. • Equalizing wealth & break down class barriers • Communists wanted the destruction of the capitalist system (especially private property.) • Josef Stalin=leader of the U.S.S.R.

28. Economic Problems • Economy went into a slump after the war. • No military contracts for business • Plants shut down or slowed production • People lost their jobs. • Soldiers returning from war found it almost impossible to find jobs. • Many jobs had been filled by blacks who left the South. • This caused resentment among the white soldiers who believed the jobs were rightly theirs. • Tensions would erupt into race riots in many cities.

29. Workers went on strikes across the country to protest reduction in wages or mass lay-offs. • 4 million workers were on strike at various times • Police strikes (Boston was the worse) • Bombings from home grown “terrorists” • People blamed the “Reds” for these problems; the result was the Big Red Scare (1st of many waves.) • There were high ranking government employees who made comments that scared many people into believing there would be a revolution in the U.S. • The feds began to raid the headquarters of radical groups looking for membership lists.

30. Palmer Raids • These raids were unconstitutional of so-called “radical” headquarters encouraged by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer • Feds alleged there was a plot to overthrow the federal government. • NO search warrants were issued for these raids. • Any evidence found was used against the group. • Palmer announced a nation-wide uprising on May 1st(Communist Workers Day.) • Nothing happened & the BRS went away.

31. 2. Racial Tensions • Another area of tension was with the KKK. • Klan membership grew between 1920 & 1923 from approximately 5,000 to several million. • After the war, the Klan spread to the Northern states & the Northwest (a new phenomenon.) • It was short-lived, but very powerful politically during this period. • This was a reaction to the changes occurring in society & it was against the immigrant class of workers (source of cheap labor.)

32. Many Southern states had passed Jim Crow Laws to deprive black Americans of their civil rights. • Plessy v. Ferguson made segregation legal.

33. Tennessee was the first state to enact a Jim Crow Law. • The Tennessee law required blacks to ride in separate railroad cars. • The laws were called “Jim Crow” after the black-faced characters in 19th century song & dance acts (minstrel shows) that made fun of black people. • The black characters were made fun of & portrayed black people as simple & subservient.

34. Florida & Texas were the next states to enact similar legislation. • The Jim Crow phenomenon spread across the country; blacks were turned away from public places in cities all over the country.

35. Segregation meant • Blacks could not stay at hotels used by whites. • Theatres had separate sections for white & black patrons. • Blacks were forced to ride in the back of streetcars. • Blacks could not enter “white” parks or swim at “white” public beaches. • Hospitals, churches, cemeteries were segregated.

36. The 20’s would see a wave of racial problems spread across the country. • Black Americans found it difficult to move up in the workplace. • Discrimination & segregation were the rule, not the exception. • Lynching in the South increased • Many blacks were forced to live in the slums • 2nd class status is official for blacks & other minority groups.

37. Anti-Lynching Campaign • Started by Ida B. Wells & members of the NAACP. • Lynching is the practice of hanging a person by mob action for either no crime committed or some minor crime that is committed (vigilante justice.) • The majority of victims were black men in the South. • The Anti-Lynching Campaign was started to call attention to the practice & have Congress pass federal legislation outlawing the practice.

38. Congress could not pass any legislation because the Senate was controlled by Southern Democrats who were opposed to the anti-lynching legislation. • Lynching would be one of the main reasons why many black Americans would leave the South from the time of the Great Migration until well into the 1970s.

39. 3. XENOPHOBIA • Xenophobia=fear of foreigners • Anti-immigration laws were passed which increased America’s isolation. • Emergency Quota Act: limited the number of immigrants by nationality (eastern & southern Europe) • National Origins Act: the U.S. would allow only 150,000 immigrants a year to enter the U.S. • Nativism once again has raised its ugly head. • This country belongs to “us” & nobody else. • Who “us” is tends to be difficult to define.

40. Sacco-Vanzetti Case • 2 men killed a paymaster & a guard in a daring daylight robbery of a shoe factory. • Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested & charged with the crime. • They were tried & convicted in 1921. • This trial only emphasized the country’s disdain for foreigners.

41. The trial was basically a show trial. • Very little evidence was presented. • Evidence was tailored to the crime. • The judge was prejudiced against the defendants. • Sacco was probably guilty but the evidence was circumstantial at best. • The judge made comments about the two men inside & outside the courthouse which showed his contempt for foreigners. • The only crime these 2 men were guilty of was being immigrants & radicals in a country that was already on edge. • Both were executed in 1927.

42. 4. Prohibition • The 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919 & went into effect in January, 1920. • This amendment made it illegal to manufacture, transport or sell alcoholic beverages. • AKA the Volstead Act • Dry=prohibitionist • Wet=drinker

43. Why did this happen? • The temperance movement was popular during the Progressive Era. • Religious groups saw liquor as the “devil’s tool” and blamed it for all the problems in American society. • Some states had already banned the manufacture, sale, & transportation of alcohol (KA “dry” states.)

44. This legislation shows the influence of the fundamentalist Protestant religious groups in the South & rural areas of the country (FPRG’S.) • These FPRG’s were concerned about young men who were in training for the Great War, so sales of alcohol were prohibited near military bases. • These FPRG’s also persuaded government leaders that alcohol was the cause of poverty & social disorder. • In the atmosphere of the late teens, temperance groups used prohibition as a solution to the problems caused by rapid change. • Unemployment, strikes, racial tensions, Red Scare.

45. Crime Stats • Arrests for public intoxicationDOWN • Rates of alcoholismDOWN • MurderUP • SmugglingUP • VandalismUP • ViolenceUP • Assault, robbery, gang violence, etc.

46. The Volstead Act was very difficult to enforce, but the feds did their best to do so. • Private individuals & restaurants were still able to buy alcohol from bootleggers (smugglers.) • This was government legislation of morality. • The scene was very similar to today’s drug deals & gang violence. • Eventually the feds realized that Prohibition was unenforceable, so it was repealed in 1933 with the 21st Amendment • The lessons learned: it made ordinary people criminals & the government cannot legislate morality.

47. People went to secret nightclubs where they had drinks in tea cups. • KA “speakeasies” • You had to know the password to get in. • Gangsters fought over turf. • Al Capone (AKA “Scarface”) was the best known bootlegger. • He concentrated his efforts in Chicago. • He diversified his crime network to include gambling & prostitution. • Supposedly he was worth $105 million in 1927.

48. Fundamentalism • Conservative religious groups gained in popularity during the 20s. • People who were disillusioned after the Great War turned to religion to try to solve society’s problems. • It occurred in rural as well as urban areas. • People turn to religion when there is a period of great change. • KA Fundamentalism

49. Fundamentalists • Literal translation of the Bible • Mostly Protestant groups • Conservative • Their targets were anything that challenged the traditional values & beliefs they held. • Science, technology, & modern urban culture. • New discoveries questioned the ideas that had been held for centuries. • These new discoveries were seen as threats to the foundation of society • The “party” atmosphere of the Roaring 20’s made many conservatives feel like society was in decline.

50. The Scopes Monkey Trial • 1925: Tennessee passed a law forbidding instructors to teach evolution in the state’s schools & colleges. • Controversial in the state & the country. • Restriction of academic freedom • Violation of free speech • ACLU offered to defend any teacher who would challenge the law.