Chapter 23 The Twenties

1. Chapter 23The Twenties

2. Warren G. Harding • Republican • Won election in 1920 • “return to normalcy” • Nothing but “normal” • Increase in efficiency of production • Climb in wages • Decline in hours worked • Weaknesses in the economy helped bring about the great depression

3. Second Industrial Revolution • Technological innovations increased industrial output • Electric replaced steam • 1914-30% of factories were electrified • 1929-70% relied on electric motor • Unskilled and semi-skilled workers • Mass production techniques • Consumer durable goods: automobiles, radios, washing machines, telephones

4. Building Boom • Steady growth for building of residential and non-residential housing • Growth of automobile led to demand for new housing • Suburban living became more attractive • Expanded credit by savings and loan companies made housing affordable • Residential mortgage debt jumped $8 billion in 1919 to 27 billion in 1929

5. The Modern Corporation • New corporate ideal: Sloan of GM, Young of Radio Corporation of America • Salaried executives, plant managers, engineers= new elite • Psychology tests, scientific management made business more efficient • 1920-200 largest corporations owned ½ the nations corporate wealth • OLIGOPOLY- the control of a market by a few larger producers

6. Welfare Capitalism • Challenge the power and appeal of trade unions and collective bargaining • Large employers promoted programs to improve worker well-being and morale • Corporate strategy • Example: encourage workers to acquire property through stock purchase plans • Example: Workers insurance policies • Anti-union campaigns- “The American Plan”

7. Decline in union membership • Union membership dropped from 5 million in 1920 to 3.5 million in 1926 • Remaining union members-skilled craft

8. The Auto Age • Postwar automobile explosion • Rise to prominence • American made approx. 85% of worlds cars • Most productive industry in the US during the 1920’s • New wage scale for workers • Workers were consumers as well as producers • 2/3 of Ford’s workforce were immigrants • Employed more African Americans

9. Automania • General Motors vs Ford • Chevy vs Model T • Cars made exploration possible • Church on Sunday • Visit neighbors • Vacations • Leisure activities • Young people-more freedom “dates”

10. Cities and Suburbs • Urban growth on steady increase • New York grew by 20% • Detroit doubled population • Cities offered jobs, culture, freedom • Great Migration • Skylines-cities grew vertical and horizontal • Suburban communities grew 2x the rate of core cities

11. Agriculture, Ailing Industries • Wartime=prosperity for farmers • Demand is less after WWI • Farmers acquired heavy debt • Farm mortgages & machinery • Stiff competition from Europe • Relief came by way of supermarkets but farmers still struggled to make ends meet

12. McNary-Haugen Bill • Stabilize farm prices • Government purchased farm surpluses • Oil & gas led to decrease in coal industry • Textiles decreased

13. Key Industries 1900 - 2000

14. 3) Welfare Capitalism Observation: Organized labor declines in power. • The cause? • The effect?

15. 1925 Ford Model T The Ford Assembly Line

16. The New Mass Culture • “Roaring Twenties” • Movies, Radio, new journalism • New media altered the way of life • New mass culture helped redefine the ideal of “the good life” • Movie Industry-centered in New York • Cheap storefront theatres-Nickelodeons • 1914-18,000 “movie houses”

17. Warner Brothers • 1927- The Jazz Singer • Introduced sound to movies • New genres: musicals, gangster films, screwball comedies became popular • “talkies”-higher cost • Stars became vital to the fantasy life of millions of fans • Movies emphasized social themes, youth, athleticism • Government censorship-Will Hays • Movie Industry Czar

18. Radio Broadcasting • Live broadcasts • First radio stations footed the bill for the broadcasting but by the late 1920’s advertising took it over • NBC & CBS led the way • Sports broadcasts, daily programing, music

19. Radio 1920’s

20. New Forms of Journalism • New kind of newspaper=tabloid • New York Daily News • Photographs • Emphasized sex, scandal and sports • Discovered an audience who never read newspapers before • Most readers were poorly educated, working class and immigrants • Gossip columns

21. Newspapers and Magazines • Between 1920 and 1929 daily newspaper circulation rose from 28 million to almost 40 million. • By 1929 Americans were buying 200 million copies of magazines. • Saturday Evening Post, Readers Digest, Ladies Home Journal, and Time were popular.

22. Popular Magazines

23. Advertising Modernity • Advertising jumped from 1.4 billion in 1919 to 3 billion in 1929 • Larger ad agencies welcomed psychology to advertising • Began to focus on the needs, desires and anxieties of the consumer • Most popular advertisement “Listerine”

24. The Recording Industry • Records transformed the popular music busisness • Dance crazes: fox trot, tango, grizzly bear • Records provided music for new polular dances like the Charleston and the black bottom • 1921 more than 200 companies produced some 2 million records and annual record sales exceeded 100 million • Country music was put on records for the 1st time

25. Sports and Celebrity • Spectator sports enjoyed an unprecedented growth • Athletes took their place alongside movie stars • Image of the modern athlete: rich, famous, glamorous, a rebel against social convention came into its own • “Babe Ruth”-made baseball popular • Ruth was a larger than life figure off the field-embraced the New York culture • Excluded from major league baseball = African Americans

26. African Americans and Baseball • Negro National League • Organized by Andrew “Rube” Foster • Played exhibitions against white teams often winning

28. Heros • Radio broadcasts and journalism made sports popular • College football=big time sport • Notre Dame-coached by Knute Rockne • “the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame” • Shifted from Ivy league schools to big universities • Other athletes: Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Helen Wills, Gertrude Ederle became household names

29. American Heroes • Charles Lindbergh – 1927 NY to Paris • Amelia Earhart – 1932 CA to Hawaii • Jack Dempsey- Heavyweight Champ • Babe Ruth – 60 HR in 1927, Yankees • Gertrude Ederle – Gold medalist 1924

31. A New Morality • Flapper: portrayed on screen and in novels • Young, sexually aggressive woman with bobbed hair, rouged cheeks and short skirts • Loved to dance to jazz music, enjoyed smoking cigarettes and drank bootleg liquor • Competitive, assertive and a good pal • Embodied the “new morality” • Not as widespread as the image would suggest • Jazz=sexual experimentation/spread to college campuses

33. The Double Standard • A set of standards granting greater sexual freedom to men than to women • Women were required to observe stricter standards of behavior than men did • Women were pulled back and forth between new standards and the old

34. Openness of the 1920’s • Troops during WWI exposed to sex education • Sigmund Freud stressed the central role of sexuality in human experience • Sex is positive and healthy • Birth control review after WWI • Advertisers used sex to sell products • Number of virgins before marriage dropped in the 1920’s • “morals” loosened

36. Women Working and Voting • 15% of wage earning women became professionals, although businesses remained prejudice towards women. • Only 35% of women voted in 1920. • Progressive women did lobby the Shepard –Towner Act which aided women and children. (Infant/Pre-natal care.) • Jeanette Rankin WY, US House of Reps.

37. Women and the Family • The Birth Rate dropped during the 1920’s • Birth Control information was widespread • Margaret Sanger ( First BC Clinic 1916) • Some 1920’s women juggled work and career • Leisure Time increased

38. The State, The Economy and Business • Republican party dominated national politics • Relationship between national government and business changed • Republicans: Harding, Coolidge, Hoover • Harding understood his own limitations • Surrounded himself with his cronies or friends “Ohio Gang” • No problems with enemies but his friends “Kept him walking the floor at night”

39. SCANDAL HITS HARDING’S ADMINISTRATION • Harding favored a limited role for government in business affairs and social reform • Herbert Hoover- Secretary of Commerce • Andrew Mellon-Secretary of Treasury- cut taxes and reduced debt-one of richest men in US • Mellon’s policies succeeded in rolling back much of the progressive taxation associated with Wilson

40. OHIO GANG- president’s poker playing cronies • President did not understand many issues • Corrupt friends used power to gain wealth • Charles R. Forbes- head of Veterans bureau was caught illegally selling government and hospital supplies to private companies

41. TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL- government had set aside oil rich public lands at Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills, California for U.S. Naval usage • Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall- got oil reserves transferred to the Interior Department • Leased the land to two private companies • Received more than $400,000 in loans, bonds and cash • Became the first American to be convicted of a felony while holding a cabinet position

42. HARDING DIES • August 2, 1923 Harding died of a heart attack or stroke or ????? • Americans mourned good natured president • Calvin Coolidge took over presidency • Restore nation’s hope in Republican party • Next year elected president

43. Calvin Coolidge • Temperamental opposite of Harding • Raised in Vermont-Governor of Massachusetts • “Silent Cal” was a new England Yankee • Coolidge won election in 1924 • Benefitted from prosperity • Coolidge showed most interest in reducing federal spending, lowering taxes, and blocking congressional initiatives • Primary function was clearing the way for American businessmen

44. Herbert Hoover • Secretary of Commerce • Became president in 1929 • Hoover believed that the government need to only advise private citizens financially not control • Trusted individualism • Government encourages voluntary cooperation among corporations, consumers, workers, farmers, and small businessmen • Government provided an ideal climate for concentration of corporate wealth and power

45. Hoover • 1929, the 200 largest American corporations owned almost half the total corporate wealth • Vertical Combinations: large, integrated firms that controlled the raw materials, manufacturing and distribution for the products. • Vertical integration became common in the automobile, electrical, radio, motion picture and other new industries

46. War Debts, Reparations, Keeping the Peace • U.S. emerged from World War I the strongest economic power in the world • War transformed the nation from the worlds largest debtor to the largest creditor • European governments owed the US about $10 billion • New York replaced London as the center of international finance and capital markets • Germany's War reparations set at $33 billion deprived them of their economy and means to repay

47. Germany was experiencing terrible inflation • Germany failed to make a payment and French troops marched into Germany • To avoid war Charles G. Dawes-American banker negotiated loans

48. Dawes Plan- American investors loaned Germany 2.5 billion to pay back Britain and France • Countries then paid the U.S. • The United States arranged to be repaid with its own money • U.S. benefited from the defeat of Germany without risking millions of lives

49. Keeping the Peace • 1928-the US and 62 other nations signed the Pact of Paris (Kellogg-Briand Pack)-renounced war in principal • Nations were disarming • Formally outlawed war • Pact was meaningless because it lacked powers of enforcement-relied on moral code • Within weeks the US had approved $250 million for new battleships

50. Commerce and Foreign Policy • Throughout the 1920’s Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes pursued policies designed to expand American economic activity abroad • Capitalist economies must be dynamic • Expand markets to thrive • British tried to drive up the cost of rubber • American retaliated but threatening to take back loans • American investment in Latin America more than doubled