The Roaring Twenties (1919–1929)

1. The Roaring Twenties (1919–1929) Brandie Jimenez

2. Henry Ford, born July 30, 1863, was the first of William and Mary Ford's six children. He grew up on a prosperous family farm in what is today Dearborn, Michigan. Henry enjoyed a childhood typical of the rural nineteenth century, spending days in a one-room school and doing farm chores. At an early age, he showed an interest in mechanical things and a dislike for farm work. • In 1879, sixteen-year-old Ford left home for the nearby city of Detroit to work as an apprentice machinist, although he did occasionally return to help on the farm. He remained an apprentice for three years and then returned to Dearborn. During the next few years, Henry divided his time between operating or repairing steam engines, finding occasional work in a Detroit factory, and over-hauling his father's farm implements, as well as lending a reluctant hand with other farm work. Upon his marriage to Clara Bryant in 1888, Henry supported himself and his wife by running a sawmill.

3. Men and women • Equal Rights Amendment (1923) • The Case for Equality • • “Men and women shall have equal rights • throughout the United States and every • place subject to its jurisdiction.” • • “In many highly paid trades women have • been pushed into the lower grades of • work, limited in earning capacity, if not • shut out of the trade entirely by these • so-called protective laws.” • • “ How much better by one blow to do • away with discriminating against women • in work, salaries, promotion and • opportunities to compete with men in a • fair field with no favour on either side!”

4. Presidential Philosophy The philosophy of the presidents of the 1920’s towards business affected the operations of American businesses in different ways. The three different Presidents in control during the 1920’s were Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. The American business was affected differently under each of their control. Under the short presidency of Warren Harding from 1921 to 1923 the government became very corrupted because of Harding’s choice of people he put in power. Also, with the end of the war the United States went through wage cuts, unemployment and growing farm distress. Also Harding lowered taxes and repealed wartime excess of profits tax. He also reduced railroad rates and promoted agricultural interests, a national budget system, a great merchant marine, and a department of public welfare. Despite what Harding did for the United States, he also let slip by him the great scandal brought on by Albert B. Fall. Because Harding was not very involved in the government or business Fall was able to lease two critical government oil reserves and in return he received illegal payments exceeding $300,000. Under the presidency of Calvin Coolidge or “Silent Cal” the businesses of America greatly benefited. Coolidge gave his support of American business in many ways. He supported the business by raising tariffs, this helped the manufacturers by making foreign goods more expensive and American goods more easily gotten. Coolidge was also less inclined to use the government to aid citizens. Herbert Hoover was the thirty-first President in office from 1929 to 1933. Hoover had congress pass the Agricultural Marketing Act to help farmers that were suffering form low incomes. He also tried to have prohibition enforced but nothing came of the effort. Hoover also believed that the aid the unemployed needed should come from local governments not the federal government. His policy was to lend insurance companies, banks, railroads, state, and county governments money to stimulate activity in the economy. Many people believed that he should have aided big businesses so those businesses in turn could provide employment thus helping the people during the time of crisis the United States was in at the time.

5. Background • Historically, women have been considered intellectually inferior to men. • They were seen as major sources of temptation and evil. • Women were also considered naturally weaker than men

6. 1920 29 Flappers - “Flappers” • To her urban peers, she was a liberated female; to her parents and rural America, she was a frightening rebel harlot.􀁺Her cause and notoriety were aided by the availability of the Model T, an automobile that some scholars have dubbed “the movable bedroom.”

7. “The Flapper” • The playful flapper here we see, • The fairest of the fair. • She’s not what Grandma used to be, • You might say, au contraire. • Her girlish ways may make a stir, • Her manners cause a scene, • But there is no more harm in her • Than in a submarine. • She nightly knocks for many a goal • The usual dancing men. • Her speed is great, but her control • Is something else again. • All spotlights focus on her pranks. • All tongues her prowess herald. • For which she well may render thanks • To God and Scott Fitzgerald. • Her golden rule is plain enough – • Just get them young and treat them rough.

8. Life of a Flapper • The life of a flapper was a lot of fun! • It consisted of constant partying. • Flappers smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol – all of which were unheard of if you were a woman! • They lived very reckless lives and would cling to their youth. • Flappers were the first of the women to flaunt their sexuality. • Their lifestyles were shown in the way that they dressed and danced.

9. Entertainment Dancing • Dancing was a flappers favorite pastime. They would dance the Charleston, Black Bottom and the Shimmy. • The May 1920 edition of Atlantic Monthly said that “flappers trot like foxes, limp like lame ducks, one step like cripples, and all the barbaric lawp of strange instruments which transform the whole scene into a moving picture of a fancy ball in bedliam”.

10. Different problems

11. Workers ! • Workers went on strike when wages did not increase along with prices.

12. Money 1920 • Stocks rose 65% in the years between 1920 and 1929. • Wages increased only 25%. • Before 1920 people borrowed money onlyto start a business/ buy a house. • - They would then make more money and then would return it.

13. World News • Bankrupted by the war, Germany was in an economic crisis. • A fiery speaker, Adolf Hitler, promises to return Germany to its former greatness! • Like the KKK, Hitler appealed to people who wanted someone to blame for their problems. • Bankrupted by the war, Germany was in an economic crisis. • A fiery speaker, Adolf Hitler, promises to return Germany to its former greatness! • Like the KKK, Hitler appealed to people who wanted someone to blame for their problems.

14. Famous people 1920

15. Culture Wars 1920 • Nativism-Immigration Restriction-Congress: “National Origins Act of 1924”(wasp)􀁺KKK (2nd advent) 1915 national money maker-the Klan grew to several million members by 1924, then collapsed overnight.􀁺Prohibition and Crime –VolsteadAct 1920: Bootleggers and organized crime flourish.􀁺Old Time Religion -Scopes Trial and the ACLU.􀁺Fundamentalism, anti-Catholic, anti-Evolution, anti-Semitic.􀁺Contraception advances along racism lines –Eugenics: Margaret Sanger.

16. Women 1920 • Pre-World War I • Women start to migrate towards the cities • During the War • Women start working in factories • After the war • Found a new sense of worth/ belonging • Voting • Social independence

17. World war 1 • United States enters World War I, and President Wilson promotes the "...principles of peace and justice in the life of the world." • 1914 - 1920

18. Migration from Rural to Urban 1920 • Farmers did well for first two decades • After the war prices dropped • 6 million move to the cities • African Americans move North – factories bring new jobs