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The Roaring 20’s. “A Return to Normalcy”. 1919-President Wilson returns from Paris Peace Conference Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles U.S. negotiates a separate treaty with Germany League of Nations went against policy of isolationism Wilson suffers a stroke 1920 Presidential Election
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“A Return to Normalcy” • 1919-President Wilson returns from Paris Peace Conference • Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles • U.S. negotiates a separate treaty with Germany • League of Nations went against policy of isolationism • Wilson suffers a stroke • 1920 Presidential Election • James Cox (D) vs. Warren Harding (R) • Harding promised a “A Return to Normalcy” • Harding wins in a landslide
What made the 1920’s roaring? • The Jazz Age • African-American musicians bring Jazz music north • The Flappers • Consumer products • Radio-KDKA in Pittsburgh (1921) • Automobile-From 1.2 in 1913 to 26.2 million in 1929 • Most popular brand is the Model T • Sports-Baseball-Babe Ruth
Prohibition“The Noble Experiment” • 18th Amendment (January 1919)bans the manufacturing, distribution, and selling of alcohol • Why prohibit alcohol? • 1 saloon for every 150-200 Americans • Competition among saloon owners caused other vice activities (gambling, numbers) to take place in the saloon • Reduce crime • Reduce other social problems
Enforcement becomes difficult • Possession of alcohol during prohibition was still legal • Organized crime • “Speakeasy” • Bootlegging • 18th Amendment is repealed in 1933 with the 21st Amendment
The Red Scare • Causes-Communist takeover of Russia, Anti-German feelings after World War I, and labor issues • “Palmer raids” under Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer • Raids led by J. Edgar Hoover • 6,000 people arrested and questioned between November 1919 and January 1920 • Crackdown on civil liberties comes shortly after Schenck v. United States (1919)
Labor Issues • 1920s-Increase in wages • Open Shop vs. Closed Shop • “Welfare Capitalism” • Key Labor figure is John L. Lewis (United Mine Workers) • Unsuccessful strikes in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia
Race • Marcus Garvey and the “Back to Africa” movement • Born in Jamaica and came to Harlem in 1916 • Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) • Negro World Newspaper • Permanent home in Liberia • Arrested for mail fraud in 1919
Nativism • End of WWI causes a new wave of immigration to the United States • New immigrants were mainly Catholics and Jews from eastern and southern Europe • Prejudice from Protestants and isolationists • Concern that immigrants were taking away jobs and lowering wages • Quota Acts of 1921 and 1924 • Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan • New Klan founded in 1915
KKK not just strong in the South • Hostile towards blacks, Catholics, Jews, foreigners, and suspected Communists • White robes • Cross burning, whipping, tar and feathering victims • Fraud and corruption caused KKK’s membership and influence to decline in the mid 1920s.
Sacco and Vanzetti • Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco • Italian immigrants living outside of Boston • April 15, 1920- Two people are killed carrying a payroll deposit from a shoe factory to the bank • Eyewitnesses told police suspected criminal looked Italian • Sacco and Vanzetti were known anarchists • Language barrier at the trial • Both convicted and eventually executed in 1927
The Harlem Renaissance • New Negro Movement by Alain Locke • Harlem becomes a thriving area during the 1920’s • Key figures-Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Josephine Baker • Apollo Theater • Cotton Club
Scopes-Monkey Trial • State of Tennessee v. Scopes (1925) • High School biology teacher John Scopes was accused of teaching evolution which violated Tennessee law • Like the Plessy case, it was a test case bought by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) • William Jennings Bryan vs. Clarence Darow • Covered by the national media • Scopes found guilty but the verdict was later overturned • Scopes was never retried
“Lucky Lindy” • Charles Lindbergh • May 20-21, 1927-Lindbergh flew from Roosevelt Field (Long Island) to Paris non stop • 3,600 miles in a single engine, single seat plane-“Spirit of St. Louis” • Orteig Prize-New York Hotel Owner Raymond Orteig offered a $25,000 prize to any aviator who flew non stop • Six previous pilots had lost their lives trying to cross the Atlantic • Success of Lindbergh’s flight leads to the development of American commercial aviation • Ticker Tape Parade in Lower Manhattan
Teapot Dome Scandal (1922-1923) • Biggest scandal during President Harding’s administration • Teapot Dome, Wyoming • Several oil producing areas designated as Naval Oil Reserves • Reserves were on public land • 1921-President Harding signs an executive order transferring control of the oil reserves from the Navy Department to the Department of the Interior • DOI director Albert Fall then leased oil reserves to Henry Sinclair and Edward Doheny • Fall received over $400,000 in payments and gifts • Wall Street Journal exposed arrangement
“Silent Cal” • “The business of America is business” • Calvin Coolidge takes over as President on August 2, 1923 • Elected in 1924 • Laissez Faire Economics • Reduction of Taxes • Rejects subsidy for farmers
Foreign Policy • Dawes Plan (August 1924) • Designed to help Germany pay the $33 billion in reparations as required by the Treaty of Versailles • U.S. would give loans to Germany to help them pay the reparations
The Start of the Great Depression • Uneven distribution of wealth • Overproduction by business and agriculture • Lower demand for consumer goods • Buying stock on margin • Stock Market Crash in October 1929 • Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930)