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The 1920s

The 1920s. Prosperity. WWI good for U.S. economy Brief period of difficulty in moving from war economy 1922-1929: American economy was vigorous and prosperous GNP rose at 5.5% annual rate From $149 billion to $227 billion Unemployment never exceeded 5% Real wages rose 15%.

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The 1920s

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  1. The 1920s

  2. Prosperity • WWI good for U.S. economy • Brief period of difficulty in moving from war economy • 1922-1929: American economy was vigorous and prosperous • GNP rose at 5.5% annual rate • From $149 billion to $227 billion • Unemployment never exceeded 5% • Real wages rose 15%

  3. A Consumer Society • 1920s: growth of consumer goods • Cars, tractors, washing machines, electric irons, radios, vacuum cleaners • “Consumer durable” • Fresh fruits and vegetables • Number of cars purchased in the U.S. increased • Paved roads extended beyond the city • Gas stations, hot dog stands, motels • Greater number of Americans bought into the stock market, especially middle class

  4. Growth of Six Leading Grocery Chains

  5. The Rise of Advertising and Mass Marketing • General Motors and annual model change • Advertising appealed to consumer desires • Professional advertising firms • Beauty products, cigarettes, fashion • Advertisers believed they were helping Americans achieve self-improvement and personal pleasure • Advertising aimed at middle class

  6. Advertising Expenditures Expenditures on Advertising, 1915-1929

  7. An Age of Celebrity • Mega-events and mass marketing • George Herman “Babe” Ruth • Charles Chaplin • Rudolph Valentino • Charles A. Lindbergh • Spirit of St. Louis • Role of media hype in celebrity

  8. Industrial Workers • Skilled workers higher wages, more benefits • Semiskilled and unskilled industrial workers contended with labor surplus • New machines sometimes replaced workers • 40% of workers remained in poverty • Coal and textile workers suffered the most through the 1920s • Unions lost significant ground in the 1920s

  9. Changing Attitudes Toward Marriage and Sexuality • More open-mindedness • “Flappers” : independent-minded young, single females

  10. Women and Work • Women were excluded from skilled craftsmen • Women were often relegated to areas of “women’s work” within an industry • Received less pay for equal work of a man • Opportunities grew for white-collar work (secretaries, typists, file and dept. store clerks) • Social services and teaching • Amelia Earhart

  11. Birth Control Movement and Margaret Sanger • Speaking out violated the Comstock Laws • Griswold V. Connecticut did not legalize birth control until 1965

  12. The Women’s Movement Adrift • Expected changes from women’s voting did not occur • Some success • League of Women Voters • Internal division • Equal Rights Amendment • Protective labor legislation

  13. The Politics of Business • 1921-1933: Republican presidents governed the country • Blend of Gilded Age mediocrity and Roosevelt style state building

  14. Harding and the Politics of Personal Gain • Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) • "Ohio Gang“: Harding’s drinking and womanizing cohorts • Albert Fall • Teapot Dome • Charles R. Forbes • Veterans’ Bureau • Harding dies in 1923

  15. Coolidge and the Politics of Laissez-Faire • Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) • Revenue Act (1926) • Curtailed FTC ability to regulate industry

  16. The Politics of Business Abroad • Hoover wanted Commerce Dept. to control U.S. international economic relations • Washington Conference • Charles Evans Hughes • Five-Power Treaty • Hoover shut out • Dawes Plan • Charles G. Dawes • Kellogg-Briand pact (1928) • Continued intervention in Latin America

  17. Farmers, Small-Town Protestants, and Moral Traditionalists • Not all Americans enjoyed prosperity of the 1920s • Farmers suffered due to overproduction • Moral-traditionalist white Protestants in small towns • Fear and suspicion of foreigners

  18. Agricultural Depression • Slump for farmers after the wartime boom • Tractor enabled over-production • Produce market flooded • Prices fell dramatically • Many farmers lost, sold, or abandoned their farms

  19. Price of Major Crops, 1914-1929

  20. Cultural Dislocation • Majority of farmers saw themselves as ‘backbone of the nation’ • White, Protestant, Northern-European, hard-working, honest, God-fearing • 1920 Census: urban areas vs. rural areas • Fears of rural whites manifested in their support of • Prohibition • The Ku Klux Klan • Immigration restrictions • Religious fundamentalism

  21. Urbanization, 1920

  22. Prohibition • Eighteenth Amendment: prohibited manufacture and sale of alcohol • January 1920 • Difficulty of enforcing the law • Speakeasies and bootleggers • Prohibition effect: encouraged law-breaking more than abstinence • Al Capone • Liquor trafficking and violence • Chicago • Urban supporters rethink Prohibition

  23. The Ku Klux Klan • William Simmons • D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation • Hiram Evans • Hatred of members extended beyond Blacks to include Jews, Catholics, foreigners • 1924: 4 million Americans were members of the KKK, many outside the South • Women’s Auxiliary group: Women of the KKK • In many ways, Klan was also typical fraternal organization • Klan hate speech often sexually themed, reaction against changed attitudes toward sexuality

  24. Immigration Restriction • Many white Protestants responded to Klan style nativist arguments • Johnson-Reed Act (1924) • Limits and quotas on immigration • Western hemisphere exempt • Border Patrol • Limitation quotas spread to other areas • Ivy League colleges

  25. The First Red Scare • Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and his “Palmer” raids • Sacco and Vanzetti Case • Crusade against anarchy

  26. The Ethnic and Racial Communities • Government policy discouraged “new immigrants” • Continued migration within the United States • African Americans moved from the South to the North • Mexicans crossed the Rio Grande into the Southwest • Creation of vibrant subcultures • Surge in religious

  27. European Americans • “Americanization campaigns” • Many Americans responded by strengthening their ethnic and religious identities and cultures through organizations and associations • Use of the vote: Democrats • Split in the Democratic Party between • Urban-ethnic forces: Smith • Rural-Southern forces: McAdoo • Election of 1928 • Alfred Smith • First Catholic nominated to presidency

  28. Fundamentalism vs. Liberal Protestantism • Protestant fundamentalism • Bible as God’s word • Bible as the source of all “fundamental” truths • Took opposition to liberal Protestantism and the discoveries of science • Fundmentalists anti-urban • Liberal Protestants believe that religion had to adapt to modernism, including skepticism and scientific discoveries

  29. The Scopes Trial • Fundamentalists pass law prohibiting teaching of Theory of Evolution in Tennessee (1925) • ALCU and other worried it could be start of new wave of restrictions of Free Speech • John T. Scopes • William Jennings Bryan vs. Clarence Darrow • Bryan’s rejection of Darwin partly reaction of Populist defender against Social Darwinism • Publishers, afraid of Fundamentalist backlash, remove Darwin from textbooks until the 1960s

  30. African Americans • African-Americans continue to migrate north • Harlem: the “Negro Capital” • A Black ghetto • Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters • A. Philip Randolph • Jazz • Willie Smith • Count Basie • Duke Ellington • Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington

  31. The Harlem Renaissance • Harlem Renaissance: create works in rooted in African culture not imitations of white culture • "New Negro“ • White owned Harlem Jazz Clubs refused to admit African-Americans • Charlotte Mason • Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston

  32. Mexican Americans • Johnson-Reed Act, 1924 • Mexican-Americans became primary source of immigrant labor 500,000 Mexicans came to U.S. in 1920s • Most settled in Southwestern, U.S. • Texas, California • Dominated agriculture and construction jobs • Exploited and discriminated against • Californios • Los Angeles to Mexican-Americans what Harlem was to African Americans

  33. The “Lost Generation” and Disillusioned Intellectuals • Alienated White artists • Sinclair Lewis • Main Street (1920) • Babbit (1922) • T.S. Eliot-- The Waste Land (1922) • F. Scott Fitzgerald-- The Great Gatsby (1925) • Eugene O'Neill’s plays • Ernest Hemingway-- A Farewell to Arms (1929) F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

  34. Democracy on the Defensive • Alienated intellectuals begin to distrust democracy • H.L. Mencken: democracy “the worship of jackals by jackasses” • John Dewey: Faith in democracy H. L. Mencken

  35. Conclusion • Consumerism and mass production • Society seemed somewhat more egalitarian • However, many groups did not benefit from economic prosperity of the 1920s: • Working-class, rural Americans • Democratic party • Tensions between traditionalists and new populations • Alienated intellectuals • Republicans take credit for prosperity

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