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Chapter 31

Chapter 31. American Life in the "Roaring Twenties, ” 1919–1929. I. Seeing Red. Bolshevik Revolution (1919):Russian Communism Effects on the United States: A small Communist Party emerged The big red scare of 1919-1920 Blamed for some labor strikes

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Chapter 31

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  1. Chapter 31 American Life in the "Roaring Twenties,” 1919–1929

  2. I. Seeing Red • Bolshevik Revolution(1919):Russian Communism • Effects on the United States: • A small Communist Party emerged • The big red scare of 1919-1920 • Blamed for some labor strikes • Crusades against left-wingers / Eastern Europeans • Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer raids • Other events during the red scare • Deportation of radicals to Russia / Soviet Union • Wall Street bombing (38 killed & ~100 wounded) • criminal syndicalism laws passed by states • Elected Socialist New York legislators denied their seats • Sacco and Vanzetti trial

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  4. II. Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK • A new Ku Klux Klan: • Antiforeign “nativist” movement • Extremist, ultraconservative uprising against: • Diversity and modernity of American culture. • Most popular in Midwest &Bible Belt South • Associated with Protestant Fundamentalism • Things of the KKK: • “Knights of the Invisible Empire” • “konclaves,” parades, cross burning • Collapsed rather suddenly in the 1920s. • Financial & criminal scandals • Open intolerance & prejudice fell out of favor • Civil rights activists fought against lynching

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  6. III. Stemming the Foreign Flood • Isolationist America had little use for immigrants • “New Immigrants” from southern / eastern Europe • Congress passed the “Emergency Quota Act” (1921) • Newcomers from Europe were restricted to a quota • Immigration Act of 1924 • The national origins base shifted from 1910 to 1890 • Purpose to keep existing racial composition. • Japanese / Chinese immigrants not allowed • Departure in American policy • Encouraged ethnic enclaves

  7. Immigration limit later cut to 2%. “National origins” quota based on 1890 census (not 1910) p703

  8. Figure 31-1 p704

  9. IV. The Prohibition “Experiment” • Part of the progressive reform movement • Eighteenth Amendment (1919) • Implemented by the Volstead Act • Popular in the South, unpopular in East & in cities • Goal to end the cause of many social problems • Peculiar conditions hampered the enforcement • Tradition by a majority, many loopholes • Federal agencies were unstaffed, underfunded • “Noble experiment” was not entirely a failure • Bank savings increased • Absenteeism in industry decreased • Less alcohol after prohibition ended

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  13. V. The Golden Age of Gangsterism • Prohibition spawned shocking crimes • Profits of illegal alcohol led to bribery of police • Violent wars in big cities between rival gangs • Chicago- most spectacular example of lawlessness • Al Capone Public Enemy Number One” • Gangsters and other profitable and illicit activities • Prostitution, gambling, narcotics, protection, kidnapping • Racketeers invaded local labor unions • Organized crime became big businesses • 1930 $12 to $18 billion

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  15. VI. Monkey Business in Tennessee • Required educational in the 1920s • High school graduation doubled • Change in educational theory: • John Dewey (progressive, permissive) “learn by doing” • “Education for life”, the workbench and blackboard • Science made advancements: • Massive health, nutrition, knowledge programs • “Fundamentalists” unhappy with “evolution” • “Monkey Trial” • HS teacher John Scopes in Dayton, Tenn. (1925) • Trial between Bryan and Darrow • Results Bryan won but looked foolish

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  17. VII. The Mass-Consumption Economy • Economic Prosperity of the “roaring” twenties • The automobile • Created a shift in the character of the economy • Advertising • Increase knowledge & demand for new products • Sports • Became big business in the ‘consumption era’ • “Babe” Ruth, Jack Dempsey gained fame/fortune • Buying on credit • “Possess today and pay tomorrow” the message • Refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, cars and radios—now • Prosperity based on ‘credit’ was unstable

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  19. VIII. Putting America on Rubber Tires • Automobile • New industrial systems • Assembly-line methods & Mass-production techniques • Americans adapted the gasoline engine • Ford and Olds developed the infant automotive industry • Detroit became the motorcar capital of America • Scientific Management • Stopwatch efficiency (Frederick W. Taylor) • Henry Ford • Model T (“Tin Lizzie”) -cheap, rugged, and reliable • Devoted himself to standardization • The moving assembly line—Fordism

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  21. Figure 31-2 p712

  22. Figure 31-3 p712

  23. IX. The Advent of the Gasoline Age • Tremendous Impact of the self-propelled carriage • Dependent on steel, rubber, glass, highway construction • American standard rose to an enviable level. • The petroleum business expanded • Oil derricks shot up in California, Texas, Oklahoma • Delivery of perishable foodstuffs accelerated • Countless new roads • Motorcars were agents of social change: • At first a luxury, they rapidly became a necessity • More freedom & equality for women and teenagers • Isolation among the regions began to break down • Consolidation of schools, churches, rural areas • Automobiles fast, convenient, enjoyable, and exciting

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  26. X. Humans Develop Wings • Orville and Wilbur Wright • “The miracle at Kitty Hawk” on December 17, 1903 • Airplanes (“flying coffins”) • Military, mail, and passenger lines • Charles A. Lindbergh -solo Atlantic flight • The impact of the ‘airship’ was tremendous • Gave the ‘American spirit’ another dimension • Gave birth to a new industry & lifestyle • Increased tempo of civilization • Communication, transportation, destruction • Decreased the ‘size’ of the world

  27. p714

  28. XI. The Radio Revolution • Guglielmo Marconi, invented wireless telegraph • Long-range WWI communication • Voice-carrying radio (Nov 1920) • Pittsburgh station KDKA -broadcast election results • At first local, then national commercial networks • Led to later achievements • Transatlantic radio, telephones, television, internet • Advertising “commercials” expanded radio • Help unite the nation culturally • Sports, news, music, comedy, national name brands • Politicians adjusted to and used the new medium

  29. p715

  30. XII. Hollywood’s Filmland Fantasies • The Great Train Robbery (1903) First serial • Birth of a Nation (1915) First full-length movie • Hollywood became the world’s movie capital • Used in World War I, anti-German propaganda: • The Jazz Singer (1927)—first successful “talkie” • Movies became more popular • Color films developed, movie “stars” • Effects of the new mass media • Critics, the lowering of community standards • Ethnic communities & diversity eroded • Standardization of tastes & language (fewer local dialects) • Development of “American mainstream”

  31. XIII. The Dynamic Decade • Many changes in lifestyles and values: • Americans more rural than urban • More women employed, Equal Rights Amendment • “Flapper” symbolized a more independent lifestyle • Many taboos flew out the window • They danced to jazz, smoked & drank in public • Fundamentalists lost ground to the Modernists • Advertisers exploited sexual allure • New racial pride in northern black communities: • Harlem Renaissance (NYC) • Art, music, writings, perfermances • Marcus Garvey, Black political leader • United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

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  38. XIV. Cultural Liberation: Literature • Modernism - “Lost Generation” • Questioned past traditions, typical conventions • H.L. Mencken • F. Scott Fitzgerald • Ernest Hemingway • Non-radical writers • Carl Sandburg • Sinclair Lewis • William Faulkner • Harlem Renaissance Writers • Claude McKay • Langston Hughes • Zora Neale Hurston • American composers and playwrights contribute • Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s • Eugene O’Neill’s • Harlem Renaissance: • A black cultural renaissance in uptown Harlem: • Led by writers Claude McKay Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston: • And jazz artists Louis Armstrong and Eubie Blake. • All argued for a “New Negro” who was a full citizen and a social equal to whites • Adopting modernist techniques, Hughes and Hurston capture the oral and improvisational traditions of contemporary blacks in dialect-filled poetry and prose

  39. XIV. Cultural Liberation: (con’t) Performance • American composers & playwrights contribute • Jerome Kern • Oscar Hammerstein • Eugene O’Neill • Architecture • Frank Lloyd Wright • Harlem Renaissance: • A black cultural renaissance in uptown Harlem • Jazz artists • Louis Armstrong • Eubie Blake

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  43. XV. Wall Street’s Big Bull Market • Economic conditions of the 1920s • Consumer spending / confidence high • Speculation (land, stock) rampant & banks unstable • Buying stocks “on margin” for quick profit • Washington didn’t curb money-mad speculators • 1921 Congress moved toward economic sanity • Created the Bureau of the Budget • Helped create an annual budget • Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon • Engineered a series of tax reductions from 1921 to 1926 • Tax burden shifted from the wealthy to the middle class • Reduced the national debt by $10 billion • Accused of indirectly encouraging the bull market

  44. Calvin Coolidge Presides over the “Jazz Age” Coolidge’s hands-off policies were sweet music to big business. p725

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