Transition to Modern America 1919–1928

1. 25 Transition to Modern America1919–1928

2. On the assembly line at Ford’s River Rouge plant, workers performed repetitive tasks on the car chassis that moved by at a rate of 6 feet per minute. (Source: From the Collections of Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Neg. # P.833.51079.)

3. Transition to Modern America1919–1928 • The Second Industrial Revolution • City Life in the Roaring Twenties • The Conservative Counterattack • Republican Politics • Conclusion:The Old and the New

4. Wheels for the Millions • 1920s: Factories turn out flood of automobiles, electrical appliances • Material abundance • But many cling to traditional ways

5. The Second Industrial Revolution

6. The Second Industrial Revolution • U.S. developed the highest standard of living in the world • The 1920s and the second revolution • Electricity replaced steam • Modern assembly introduced

7. The Automobile Industry • Auto makers stimulated sales through model changes, advertising • Auto industry fostered other businesses • Autos encouraged suburban sprawl

8. Patterns of Economic Growth • New technologies meant new industries: radio and motion pictures • Structural change • Professional managers replace individual entrepreneurs • Corporations became the dominant business form • Marketing and national brands spread

9. Patterns of Economic Growth (cont’d) • Big business weakened regionalism, brought uniformity to America • Traditional industries, agriculture are hard hit • Wages only raise 11 percent during decade • Rewards go to managers, Upper, middle-class

10. City Life in the Roaring Twenties

11. City Life in the Roaring Twenties • Rapid increase in urban population • Skyscrapers symbolized the new mass culture • Communities of home, church, and school were absent in the cities

12. Women and the Family • Ongoing crusade for equal rights • “Flappers” sought individual freedom • Most women remained in domestic sphere • Discovery of adolescence • Teenaged children no longer needed to work • Indulged their craving for excitement

13. After passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, activist Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party continued to fight for women’s equality. Here, 50 NWP members visit the White House to request President Harding’s support for equal rights legislation.

14. Popular Culture in the Jazz Age • Sports, like golf and baseball, became much more part of national popular culture • Decade was notable for obsessive interest in celebrities like Charles Lindbergh and Gertrude Ederle • Sex became an all-consuming topic of interest in popular entertainment

15. New dances were introduced on the dance floors of ballrooms and clubs in the 1920s jazz era. One of the most popular new dances was the Charleston—a dance associated with the rebellious image of the “flapper.” Here, two daring flappers dance the Charleston on the roof of Chicago’s Hotel Sherman in 1926

16. The Conservative Counterattack

17. The Conservative Counterattack • Rural Americans identified urban culture with Communism, crime, immorality • Progressives attempted to force reform on the American people • Upsurge of bigotry • An era of repression

18. The Fear of Radicalism • 1919: “Red Scare” • Illegal roundups of innocent people • Forcible deportation of aliens • Terrorism against “radicals,” immigrants • 1927: Sacco and Vanzetti executed

19. The explosion in Wall Street on September 16, 1920, left 33 dead and nearly 200 wounded. Attorney General Palmer saw the blast as the work of a communist conspiracy, but relatively few Americans subscribed to his view.

20. Prohibition • 18th Amendment gave federal government power to pass Volstead Act of 1920 that prohibits production, sale, or transport of alcoholic beverages • Consumption of alcohol reduced • Prohibition resented in urban areas • Bootlegging became big business • 1933: 18th amendment repealed

21. The Ku Klux Klan • 1925: Klan membership hit 5 million • Attack on urban culture, inhabitants • Defense of traditional rural values • Klan sought to win U.S. by persuasion • Violence, internal corruption resulted in Klan’s virtual disappearance by 1930

22. A 1925 Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended by nearly 30,000 robed members and marked by the induction of 8,000 young boys in the Junior Order. The original Klan, formed during the Reconstruction era to terrorize former slaves, disbanded in 1869. The Klan that formed in 1915 declined after the mid-1920s but did not officially disband until 1944.

23. Immigration Restriction • 1924: National Origins Act • 150,000 person quota on immigration • Quotas favored northern Europeans • Mexican immigrants exempted from quota

24. The Fundamentalist Challenge • Fundamentalism: Stress on traditional Protestant orthodoxy, biblical literalism • 1925: Scopes Trial discredited fundamentalism among intellectuals • “Modernists” gained mainline churches • Fundamentalists strengthened grassroots appeal in new churches

25. Republican Politics

26. Republican Politics • Republican party apparently dominant • Urban wing of the Democratic party emerged as the most powerful force

27. Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover • Republican presidents appealed to traditional American values • Harding scandals triple after his death; Teapot Dome Scandal: Sec. of Interior, Albert Fall, took bribes and loan • Coolidge represented America in his austerity and rectitude • Hoover represented the self-made man

28. A New Kind of Conservatism • Return to "normalcy" • Tariffs raised • Corporate, income taxes cut • Spending cut • Coolidge blocked Congressional aid to farmers as unwarranted interference • Government-business cooperation

29. The Election of 1928 • Democrat Al Smith carried urban vote • Governor of New York • Roman Catholic • Republican Herbert Hoover won race • Midwesterner • Protestant

30. The Election of 1928 (cont’d) • Religion the campaign’s decisive issue • Hoover won easily but Smith won majority for Democrats in largest cities

31. Map 25.1

32. Conclusion: The Old and the New

33. Conclusion:The Old and the New • Old historical view: The Depression ended the spirit of the twenties • New historical view: The twenties laid the foundations of modern America

34. Timeline