The New Era: Changes and Challenges in 1920s America

1. R. M. Tolles APUSH – Unit 7B “The New Era”

2. Washington Naval Conference • USA, England, France, Italy, Japan • Charles Evans Hughes, Sec. of State, “No New War Ships for 10 Years” • Greatly reduced the amount of War Ships each country could have. • Kellogg-Briand Pact - Renounced war as a national Policy. Just about every country signed this policy. Worthless attempt at World Peace. • Red Scare dominated governmental efforts after this conference. Fear over communists spread due to events like the Sacco and Vanzettit trial, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Palmer Raids. • Americans retreated into isolationism.

3. Changes Tariffs, Reparations, and US Constitutional Changes in the 1920s • US increases import tax to 60%. Called the Fordney-McCumber tariff. • Tried to help the American Economy • Hurt Britain and France. Turned to Germany. Germany was broke. • Germany borrowed from U.S. • Constitutional Changes in the 20s – women the right to vote, direct election of senators, income tax…

4. President Harding (1920) Calvin Coolidge took over. Died suddenly on Aug. 2, 1923. “Silent Cal”

5. Teapot Dome Scandal • Scandals during Harding’s Administration • Ohio Gang – put friends in his cabinet that were corrupt • Albert A Fall – (Sec. Of Int.) secretly allowed private interests to lease US oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming • Also, H. Daughtery took bribes from banks

6. AMERICAN BUSINESS BOOMS • Boom during the 1920s, expanse due to the war effort, and the return of Americans towards prosperity. • However, with the Stock Market Crash of 1929 a depression would loom in the 30’s. • Airplanes flying mail mostly. Charles Lindbergh flew first trans-Atlantic. • Model Ts and Model As – cars became affordable. The Model T became the most significant symbol of the 1920s. • America starts to become dependant on electricity and oil.

7. The automobile created a road building industry, stimulated the economy, increased courtship, and brought Americans closer together as people from different regions met on the road.

8. Social Changes of the 1920s • Women received more social freedom, including the right to vote. • Immigrants met more restrictions when entering the United States. • Conservative religious groups resisted the teaching of evolution in public schools. • African Americans created the Harlem Renaissance • African Americans and other minority groups were intimidated by the revived Ku Klux Klan

9. Cultural Changes • The “new morality” emphasized youth and beauty. • Young people and women gained more leisure time • Mass media expanded and took a huge role in the new morality – vaudeville, radio, movies (Jazz Singer – Al Jolsen) • Sports became pop culture • Sacco and Vanzetti was seen by most Americans as connected with crime and violence and wanted to isolate the US from these immigrants.

10. 1. What was a major result of Henry Ford’s innovative manufacturing techniques? A The sale price of the average car increased. B The sale price of cars went down. C More Americans bought cars from overseas. D Fewer Americans had jobs. 2. Presidents Harding and Coolidge favored policies that A aided the growth of business. B brought about social reform. C encouraged activism. D discouraged a laissez-faire approach to the economy. 3. The demand for automobiles in the 1920s A stimulated growth in many other industries. B led to a nationwide recession C closed down the steel industry. D brought about the collapse of the suburbs. 4. During the 1920s, American farmers as a group A prospered economically. B commanded high prices for their products. C purchased more stock than did city dwellers. D suffered economically. The Class must get 3 out of 4 to get a point…

11. 1. What was a major result of Henry Ford’s innovative manufacturing techniques? A The sale price of the average car increased. B The sale price of cars went down. C More Americans bought cars from overseas. D Fewer Americans had jobs. 2. Presidents Harding and Coolidge favored policies that A aided the growth of business. B brought about social reform. C encouraged activism. D discouraged a laissez-faire approach to the economy. 3. The demand for automobiles in the 1920s A stimulated growth in many other industries. B led to a nationwide recession C closed down the steel industry. D brought about the collapse of the suburbs. 4. During the 1920s, American farmers as a group A prospered economically. B commanded high prices for their products. C purchased more stock than did city dwellers. D suffered economically. The Class must get 3 out of 4 to get a point…

12. Who’s on First?

13. Consumer Opportunities • Installment Plan – pay in installments on something you buy. • The availability of mass-produced cars • An abundance of gold and silver currency. “ENJOY WHILE YOU PAY”

14. President Calvin Coolidge • Vice President to Harding, took over after Harding died. • Re-nominated in 1924 “Keep it Cool with Coolidge” • Minimal interference with business • Cut government spending, debt, and high Tariffs

16. Prohibition • Speakeasies – underground bars • Bootleggers – People who brought in liquor to sell from other countries. • The manufacturing, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages was prohibited. • Supposed to be enforced by the Volstead Act, but was under funded • Prohibition ended in 1933. In the 20’s only 19% of the people supported it.

18. Nativism Returns • Nativists used eugenics as pseudo-scientific basis for ethnic and religious prejudice • Sacco-Vanzetti Case plus the Scopes Trial became famous by the issues they raised, and not for the guilt or innocence. • Ku Klux Klan – large numbers in the 20s, targeted African Americans, Jewish immigrants, Catholics and immigrants. • Congress established immigration quotas and new restrictive laws • Emergency Quota Act and the National Origins Act were examples.

19. MONKEY BUSINESS • Fundamentalism – A literary interpretation of the bible. • Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution • American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – Said anyone in trouble for teaching evolution would be defended by them for free. • John T. Scopes – A Tenn. Biology teacher is arrested for teaching evolution. • ACLU hires Clarence Darrow to defend him. • William Jennings Bryan – religious expert… hired as the prosecutor. • Scopes Trial – back and fourth, the law remained though Bryan made some odd statements.

20. “I need some R-E-S-P-E-C-T…” • Flapper – an up to date, trendy woman of the 20’s. Wore shorter skirts, bobbed their hair, dyed it black. • Hip Men were called DUDES • Began to drink and smoke in public. • Women started viewing marriage as an equal partnership. • Less of a Double Standard • More women started going to work after WWI. • Marriages became based much more on love and compatibility… less arranged marriages.

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22. 1. How did the consumer economy of the 1920s affect the lives of women? A It made life easier for rural women. B It made life easier for working wome C It made it harder for women to be housewives. D It made life easier for urban women. 2. Women’s efforts and sacrifices during World War I led to U.S. government support for which reform? A universal suffrage B religious freedom C racial equality D alcohol prohibition 3. In 1920, America’s first radio station A closed because few Americans bought radios. B was an immediate success. C broadcast Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer. D put early movie houses out of business. 4. The “New Woman” of the 1920s A embraced Victorian morality. B rejected Victorian morality. C rejected the notion of suffrage D began to prefer more modest fashions. The Class must get 3 out of 4 to get a point…

23. 1. How did the consumer economy of the 1920s affect the lives of women? A It made life easier for rural women. B It made life easier for working wome C It made it harder for women to be housewives. D It made life easier for urban women. 2. Women’s efforts and sacrifices during World War I led to U.S. government support for which reform? A universal suffrage B religious freedom C racial equality D alcohol prohibition 3. In 1920, America’s first radio station A closed because few Americans bought radios. B was an immediate success. C broadcast Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer. D put early movie houses out of business. 4. The “New Woman” of the 1920s A embraced Victorian morality. B rejected Victorian morality. C rejected the notion of suffrage D began to prefer more modest fashions. The Class must get 3 out of 4 to get a point…

24. HOUSEHOLD NAMES • Charles A. Lindbergh – First solo flight across the Atlantic. • John Steinbeck – biographies of capitalists* • George Gershwin – Musician who mixed old school and new school. • Georgia O’Keefe – Most famous Artist.

25. 9.03 George Gershwin Georgia O'Keeffe

26. Entertainment • Movies – silent, Charlie Chaplin • Mary Pickford – America’s Sweetheart • Writers: - F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby - Edna St. Vincent Millay – Poet - Ernest Hemingway – wrote A Farewell to Arms • Baseball – Babe Ruth “Sultant of Swat”

27. F. Scott Fitzgerald Edna St. Vincent Millay Ernest Hemingway

28. THE HARLEM RENASISSANCE • A Literary and Artistic Movement celebrating African-American Culture • Breakthrough period for African Americans • Jazz and Blues, Art and Literature, and a Political Renaissance • Factor in the Great Migration, and the Back to Africa Movement (Liberia and Marcus Garvey) • The back to Africa Movement challenged the idea that African Americans could be successful in America, which went against other African American Leaders of the time.

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30. THE HARLEM RENASISSANCE • James Weldon Johnson – NAACP executive secretary, fought for legislation to protect African American rights. • Form the 1920s to the 1930s, the Harlem Renaissance reflected the emerging literary, artistic, and intellectual identities of African Americans. • The influx of African Americans to northern cities increase racial tension, allowed for employment in unskilled, and low-paying jobs, and development of African American neighborhoods in these cities.

31. THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE WRITERS • Claude McKay – Poet, his militaristic poems urged African Americans to resist discrimination. • Langston Hughes – Poet, his poems reflected the hardships of working class African Americans.

33. THE HARLEM RENAISSANCEPERFORMERS • Paul Robeson – famous stage actor • Louis Armstrong – Michael Jordon of Jazz • “Duke” Ellington – jazz pianist, composer • Bessie Smith – Blues Singer

35. 1. African Americans in the 1920s faced discrimination, especially in A the North, where they were not allowed to work. B the North, where the Jim Crow laws were in effect. C the South, where they were not allowed to work. D the South, where the Jim Crow laws were in effect. 2. Jazz was A a musical style created by southern plantation owners. B a style of art created by African American activists. C a fashion style that came and went quickly. D an American hybrid of African American and European music forms. 3. Abstract art was an expression of A Modernism. B Prohibition. C Victorianism. D traditionalism. 4. Why is Louis Armstrong considered a jazz legend? A for becoming the first white musician to contribute to jazz B for his ability to play the trumpet and his subtle sense of improvisation C for being the highest-paid African American entertainer D for predicting that America will be best remembered for the Constitution, baseball, and jazz The Class must get 3 out of 4 to get a point…

36. 1. African Americans in the 1920s faced discrimination, especially in A the North, where they were not allowed to work. B the North, where the Jim Crow laws were in effect. C the South, where they were not allowed to work. D the South, where the Jim Crow laws were in effect. 2. Jazz was A a musical style created by southern plantation owners. B a style of art created by African American activists. C a fashion style that came and went quickly. D an American hybrid of African American and European music forms. 3. Abstract art was an expression of A Modernism. B Prohibition. C Victorianism. D traditionalism. 4. Why is Louis Armstrong considered a jazz legend? A for becoming the first white musician to contribute to jazz B for his ability to play the trumpet and his subtle sense of improvisation C for being the highest-paid African American entertainer D for predicting that America will be best remembered for the Constitution, baseball, and jazz The Class must get 3 out of 4 to get a point…

37. End of the Roaring 20s – “The Crash” • Overproduction – miscalculation by both industry and agriculture of how much product the market could reasonably sustain. • Farmers hurt first – world agricultural prices fell, America became isolationistic, and US prices fell. Farmers were hurt and soon went out of business while factories produced large profits in the early 1920s • Government using a laissez-faire approach did little to curve the economic slide • “Black Tuesday” – October 29, 1929 – the value of stocks plunged by nearly a third.