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The Roaring 1920s!!!. A decade of excess in fun, fear, new gadgets, spending and government,. Demobilization from the Great War. Army goes from 3 million to 500,000 Economic controls lifted, industry converted back to peacetime products
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The Roaring 1920s!!! A decade of excess in fun, fear, new gadgets, spending and government,
Demobilization from the Great War • Army goes from 3 million to 500,000 • Economic controls lifted, industry converted back to peacetime products • War time spending caused inflation, Wilson was busy getting the League of Nations passed • Farmers hit hard, prices fell, debt from borrowing to mechanize their farms during the war
Demobilization from the Great War • Labor unrest – 3,600 strikes in 1919, people hoard food and fuel due to fear of strikers, Seattle shipyard workers wanted a 10% raise • Boston Police strike – looters stole goods and wreaked havoc on the city • Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge called out state guard and hired a new police force “no right to strike against public safety” • 350,000 steel workers and 450,000 coal miners struck
Red Scare - Causes • Communist revolution occurred in Russia – overthrow of the Czar, established the Soviet Union • Communist Party established in the USA • IWW - Industrial Workers of the World connected to the Communist Party • People of all walks of life joined, less than 1/10 of 1% of Americans actually joined
Compare the Economic Systems Communism Capitalism • Government owns all property(land), capital(investment money) and machines(factories) • Government makes all economic decisions • All people are equal, no competition is encouraged • Private people own all property, capital and machines • The market makes all economic decisions • Competition is rewarded, those who win get more
Red Scare - Effects • Bombs mailed to government and business leaders – postmaster and John D. Rockefeller • Americans scared of being taken over by the Communists • A. Mitchell Palmer - had presidential ambitions, wanted Communism to be a campaign issue • 1919 - FBI formed under the Department of Justice • Job was to hunt down anarchists, socialists, Communists, etc. • Invaded people’s Civil Rights • No search warrants needed • Jailed with no cause • Jailed attorneys who went to help • Deportations without trials • No evidence turned up in raids, May Day plot discredited
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial • 2 men were immigrants and radicals • Accused of killing 2 men during a robbery in Massachusetts • Guilty, but thought trial was biased because they were immigrants • Executed in 1927, in 1980s were found innocent and pardoned by Governor Dukakis
Rise of the KKK • Anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-Communist, anti-saloon, anti-union, anti-Catholic and anti-Jew • Felt threatened by changes in US society • Huge increase in membership, especially in the Midwest
Status of Women • 19th Amendment ratified in 1920 • Women had the right to vote
Immigration Laws • 1921 – Emergency Quota Act – limit number of immigrants from certain countries • 1924 – National Origins Act – amendments to 1921 Act • 2% of European nations living in US in 1890 • Discriminated against Eastern and Southern Europeans • Catholics and Jews • 1929 – National Origins act shifted base year to 1920 – severely cut number of immigrants from Europe • Reduced total # who could come to 150,000 • Excluded Japanese – insulted – rumblings of WWII • Didn’t apply to Western Hemisphere (Mexico, etc.)
Harding Administration • http://americanhistory.si.edu/PRESIDENCY/5a_frame.html • Isolationism – stay out of foreign affairs • Increase of nativism – favor “old” Americans • Trend toward political conservatism and away from activism of Progressive Era • Normalcy – back to the good old days • US wanted to stay out of future European conflicts and world affairs – Isolationism • Led to the Red Scare
Harding Administration • Unions – roll back of gains under T. Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson – nation became anti-union • Suspected of being Communist, Big Business promoted idea • Immigrants had no choice but to work in poor conditions • Multiple languages made it difficult to organize workers • People off rural farms were very self-reliant, difficult to organize • Excluded African Americans from unions, changed in 1925
Harding Administration • Business Issues • Wanted less government control • Decrease military spending, reduce income taxes by 2/3 • Fordney-McCumber Tariff - 1922 • Increase taxes on imports to 60% • Intended to protect US businesses • Prevented foreign nations from selling to the US • Prohibited Britain and France from paying war debts
Harding Administration • Foreign Policy Issues • League of Nations not ratified • Four Power Treaty - US, GB, FR & Japan (JP) - agree to respect Pacific Island possessions • Five Power Treaty - US, GB, FR, IT & JP – froze size of navies, no new bases on foreign territories • Nine Power Treaty – put Open Door policies in a treaty for commercials rights to China • No limits on land military forces or small naval vessels (destroyers and subs)
Harding Administration • Scandals – personally honest, but “who needs enemies with friends like these?” • “Ohio Gang” - used ties to President Harding to sell government appointments, pardons, immunity from prosecution and fraudulent contracts • Teapot Dome Scandal • Sec. of Interior – Albert Fall - secretly leased oil lands owned by the US Navy to private company for a $300,000 bribe • Senate investigation, found guilty and went to prison • Harding went to visit Alaska, health problems and died on way back before the scandals were made public • Vice President Calvin Coolidge took over, very quiet guy
Changing Life in 1920s Rural life Urban life • Conservative • God-fearing Protestants • Traditional • Not in favor of change in society • Liberal • Some secular, all religions • Non-traditional • In favor of major social change
New Urban Scene • Huge cities – NYC - 5.6 million, Chicago 3 million • Fast paced, immigrants, trolleys, subways , skyscrapers • Lots of entertainment • Sports – baseball, football, tennis, golf • Music – opera, symphony, jazz clubs • Media – newspapers, radio shows, magazines, books • City dwellers tolerated drinking, smoking, gambling and casual dating considered shocking and sinful in small towns
Prohibition • 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and distribution of alcohol – reformers thought alcohol was cause of corruption, wife and child abuse, crime, accidents on the job, etc. • 2 Groups that supported prohibition • Women’s Christian Temperance Union • Anti-Saloon League • Many ignored the law • Immigrants with cultural standards, tired of sacrifices of WWI, resented government interference • Volstead Act underfunded law enforcement and doomed it to failure
Prohibition • Define Speakeasies – • Define Bootleggers – • Organized Crime – underworld gangs made and sold alcohol at huge profits • Al Capone - $60 million per year • 522 bloody gang killings during the 1920s
Prohibition Causes Effects • Religious groups thought alcohol was sinful • Reformers believed gov’t should protect public health • War time hostility against immigrant German-American brewers, and others • Disrespect for the law • Increase of lawlessness, smuggling and bootlegging • New income for criminals, growth of organized crime
Clash of Science and Religion • Scopes Trial - Fundamentalism vs. Modernism • Case was over the teaching of evolution • Religious Fundamentalists opposed teaching evolution in the classroom • William Jennings Bryan won but was disgraced by Clarence Darrow (fought for teacher – Scopes)
1920s Women - Flappers Behavior Styles • 1. • 2. • 3. • 1. • 2. • 3.
1920s Women • Define the “Double Standard” for women • A set of principles granting greater sexual freedom to men than to women • Examples: • Society holds women to stricter standards of behavior than men • “boys will be boys” but girls need to be perfect and pure • Women advance in the workplace • Bankers, lawyers, police officers, etc. • 1 million college graduates moved into professions
Education • School enrollments - 1 million high school students in 1914 to 4 million in 1926 • New “modern” high schools • Catered to college bound students • Offered courses for broad range of students • Vocational training for industrial jobs • Home economics for future homemakers • Job was to education and assimilate new immigrant children to be “Americans” – taught English and American culture, values and ways
Mass Media – go to page 625 • Newspapers • 1. • 2. • Magazines • 1. • 2. • Radio • 1. • 2.
Heroes of the Age (page 626) Sport Name Accomplishment 1. 2. 3. Why was Charles A. Lindbergh so popular?
Movies • By 1925, fourth largest industry in America with 20,000 movie houses • Stars of the time • Charlie Chaplin • Clara Bow • Rudolph Valentino • The Jazz Singer – First major film with sound
Theater, Music & Art (pg 628-629) Name Work of Art Playwrights 1. 2. Composers 1. 2. Painters 1. 2. Writers 1. 2. 3.
Great Migration • 100,000s of African Americans • Moved from rural South to industrial North • racial violence and economic discrimination • Left due to floods, droughts and destruction of cotton crop by boll weevil • Goals of African Americans • Aggressively protest racial discrimination • Legislation to protect rights and against lynching • Improve living standard for African Americans • Impact of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA • Reverence for Africa • Increased number of African American business owners • Increased African American pride
Consumerism • Society began to adjust to autos – freedom, fun, etc. • Urban sprawl as people moved to suburbs • Electrical Conveniences cheaper, more of them • Irons, washers, radios, vacuum, phonograph • Advertising – made people want things they did not know they needed • “Say it with flowers” – doubled sales between 1912 & 1924 • Credit – installment plans to buy big items • Allowed to pay over time rather than have the money to start with • Focus on buying more stuff, less savings