The 1920’s

1. CHAPTER 24 The 1920’s

2. Prosperity • Consumer Society • People’s Capitalism • Rise of Advertising and Mass Marketing • Marriage and Sexuality • Age of Celebrity • Business Civilization • Industrial Workers • Women and Work • Women’s Movement • Politics of Business • Harding • Coolidge • Hoover

3. Farmers, Small Torn Protestants, Moral Traditionalists • Agricultural Depression • Cultural Dislocation • Prohibition • Ku Klux Klan • Immigration Restrictions • Fundamentalism and Scopes • Ethnic and Racial Communities • Europeans • Blacks and Harlem Renaissance • Mexican Community • Lost Generation and Disillusioned Intellectuals

4. I. Prosperity • I. Consumer Society • 1920’s – US wealthiest • War boom for industry – 1898 – 1920, 20 year cycle • Mass Production • Industrial Production • increases • Due to new technologies • Cars – • II. People’s Capitalism • Development of credit • Little money after bills • By 1930 – 15% on credit

5. III. Rise of Advertising and Mass Marketing • New technology created new products • New products need to be sold • Incomes in Middle Class go up – afforded women opportunity to remain at home. • Soap ads • Books • Vacuums • Cosmetics

6. IV. Marriage and Sexuality • Changing attitudes • Husbands and wives encouraged to pursue sexual satisfaction / intimacy • More time together • Younger women – pursuit of pleasure. Young, middle class. • Flappers • Desire for independence • Femininity v. political

7. V. Age of Celebrity • Mass Marketing + film + popular culture = marketing dream • Recognized impact on public • Combine marketing with popular activities – those who performed the activity became celebrities • Role of Media

8. VI. Business Civilization • Business of America is Business – Coolidge, 1924 • The Man Nobody Knows, Bruce Barton, 1925. • VII. Industrial Workers • Many industrial workers benefited from nations prosperity • Rising wages (real wages increase 30-50%), steady income • Yellow Dog Contracts

9. IX. Women’s Movement Momentum lost after 19th Amendment, 1920. High expectations, low returns Done in by their own success Which Voice and Who Speaks for Women

10. Politics of Business • Harding • II. Coolidge Return to Normalcy Party bosses Easily manipulated Ohio 1923 Albert Fall, Secty Interior Harry Dougherty, Atty Gen Charles Forbes, Veterans Bureau Best government is the government that governs least. Business of government is business. Supported less government Supported lower taxes Supported decreased government regulation of business

11. III. Hoover • Looked back on his time as Food Director and Commerce Secretary when he approached the presidency. • Government was a tool to persuade business to abandon wasteful ways • Community where government and business share information and technology – cooperative approach. • Associationalism • Cooperative work effort • Managed to convince steel executives to cancel 12 hour workdays • Supported labor’s right to organize and endorsed 1926 Railway Labor Act • Worked to standardize size and shape of products to increase their usefulness and strengthen sales • Encouraged farmers to join in support of Cooperative Marketing Act

12. III. Farmers, Small Town Protestants, Moral Traditionalists • I. Agricultural Depression • WWI – Demand high • War ends, demand drops. • Markets flooded, income drops • Technology – tractor • Farmers displaced • Tariffs • Veto • II. Cultural Dislocation • 1920 – slight majority lived in urban areas • Backbone – no longer farmer • Urban area – (modernists). • Distrust for urban ways

13. III. Prohibition • 18th Amendment, 1920. • Prohibited manufacture, sale of alcohol • Support from farmers, middle class urban, feminists, reformers • 107 Million Americans, 1500 agents • Al Capone • Italian, Jewish, Irish • IV. Ku Klux Klan • Formed late 1860s. Died out after Reconstruction. • New Klan begun in 1915 by William Simmons. • Inspired by DW Griffith’s – Birth of a Nation • Significant female membership. • Focus on Catholics and Jews • Racial purity • Marcus Garvey

14. V. Immigration Restrictions • KKK • White Protestants • Labor Unions • 1924 Johnson-Reed Immigration Act: limited outcry • limited entry of foreigners • 1920-1921: 1,800,000 immigrants • Overwhelming the country • Exclusion to 1924 Act: British, German, Scandinavian • By 1927 – total numbers 150,000 • Exclusion – Mexicans

15. VI. Fundamentalism and Scopes • Protestant fundamentalism • Bible is God’s word. Every event depicted was true exactly as depicted • Rise of fundamentalism 1870s- 1920s. • Fundamentalism opposed to science and liberal Protestantism • John Scopes • TN, 1925 • Clarence Darrow - Defense • William Jennings Bryan – Prosecution • Bryan as expert on Bible • Test of 1st Amendment and removal of references to Darwin in texts.

16. IV. Ethnic and Racial Communities • I. Europeans • Concentrated in NE and Midwest / Urban areas • large number semi/un skilled • economic hardship • Cultural and religious discrimination • Attempts to Americanize • Growing numbers = increased political clout • 1928 – first Catholic nominated for president – Al Smith. • ?? What region supported him and why??

17. II. African-American and Harlem Renaissance • Migration continued – cities north jobs • New York, Chicago, Detroit • Segregation • White flight • Music / Arts • Blues / Ragtime / Jazz • Harlem Renaissance

18. 1920 – 1930, unprecedented outburst of creative activity Began as a series of literary discussions in the lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem) sections of New York City, this African-American cultural movement became known as "The New Negro Movement" and later as the Harlem Renaissance. literary movement + and more than a social revolt against racism. redefined African-American expression One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities (such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.) between 1919 and 1926.

19. III. Mexican Community • Mexican and Blacks shared similar experiences / treatment 500,000 in 1920 – Agricultural and Construction work Earned less than whites Barred from certain jobs: machine operators or skilled jobs Transient Temporary jobs Locked into hard labor for low wages

20. V. Lost Generation and Disillusioned Intellectuals • Poets, authors, artists who left the United States for Europe or Caribbean. • Belief was that average American was anti-intellectual, small minded, materialistic, puritanical. • Mass consumption, consumerism, wealth • Critical of social, economic, and racial conditionsEffect WWI had on masses – distrustDisenchanted with America – fled. Sought alternatives.Democracy had been eroded by power held by few. Power and wealth threatened democracy (harkens back to Progressive fears – private power overwhelming public authority)

21. Postwar period saw an increase in middle-class wealth and buying power, a significant growth in advertising, new use of leisure time, and an increase in installment buying. Dawes Plan resulted in the reduction of Germany’s war debt. KKK – many females, achieved some degree of political power in some states, their initial focus was on Catholics and Jews, emphasizing traditional morality. Kellogg – Briand Pact: 15 nations outlaw war, settle disputes peacefully.