American Life in the “Roaring Twenties”

1. American Life in the “Roaring Twenties” Chapter 32

2. Insulating America from the radical virus • America turns inward in the 1920s • Shun diplomatic commitments • Denounced radicals • Closed gates of immigration • Condemn un -American lifestyles

3. Seeing Red

4. Russian Revolution • Russian revolution spawns small communist party in America • Strikes at wars end associated w/ reds • Seattle strike said to be brought on by reds

5. Red Scare 1919-1920 • Nationwide crusade against left wingers • A. Mitchell Palmer- Attorney General- led the charge • Fighting Quaker saw Red too easily • Rounded up about 6,000 suspects • House bombed in 1919

6. Buford- Soviet Ark • 249 suspects deported to Russia • Bomb on Wall Street kills 38 and wounds hundreds

7. States join the red scare • Anti Red laws • against advocacy of violence to secure social change • critics aroused against freedom of speech • IWWs and other radical groups prosecuted • New York refused to seat 5 socialists in legislature

8. Conservatives like it • Breaks backs of unions • Closed shops called communistic • Open shop was the American plan

9. Court Cases • Sacco and Vanzetti • Murder in Massachusetts • Jury and judge were prejudice • World rallies to their defense • Class struggle • Evidence could not convict them of murder

10. Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK • New group of Klan members in the 1920s • More anti-foreign, Catholic, Black, Jewish, Pacifist, Communist,Internationalist, Evolutionist, Gambling, etc. • Extremist ultra conservative group against forces transforming American life • Midwest and Bible Belt South • 5 million dues paying members

11. Camaraderie and adventure and secret rituals • used huge parades, cross for warning, lash as a weapon • Collapses suddenly • Became a financial racket • members leave • Leader (Stephenson) jailed for rape & murder

12. Immigrants began flooding American shores shortly after the wars end Eastern and Southern Europe 800,000 Wretched refuse from Europe Emergency Quota Act of 1921 Quota from any given country 3% if people of their nationality had been living in the us since 1910 By 1910 many immigrants had come from Eastern and Southern Europe Stemming the Foreign Flood

13. Immigration act of 1924 • Quota is cut from 3% to 2% • Shifted national origin base to 1890 from 1910 • Favored Northern Europe • Southern Europe Protests • Triumph for Nativists • No Japanese immigration • Hate America Rallies in Europe • Canada and Latin America exempt for need of workers in tough times

14. Departure in American Foreign Policy Immigration dried up 1931 more left than came to America End of an Era End of unrestricted immigration 35 million had come to America Separated immigrants from native country Ethnic Variety undermines political and class solidarity

15. The Prohibition “Experiment” • 18th amendment • Prohibition • Advocated by women and churches • enforced by the Volstead act • 1919 • Popular in midwest and South • Keep liquor out of hands of blacks • Strong opposition

16. Immigrants • Old world sociability built around drink • Naïve movement • Tradition of strong drink and weak control by central government • Cannot make crime out of something that was not a crime the day before • Could not legislate thirst

17. Peculiar conditions Serious doubts rise very quickly wets thought to end law, violate the law law makers call for prohibition while drinking poor say only rich can buy illegal brew put over while troops were over there Enforcement weak Staff small Innocent bystanders killed by mob violence Speakeasies Bars that ran illegally Bootleg liquor sold quite well sold by gangsters and rumrunners(smugglers)

18. Adults began to make their own Home brew or alky cooking Success of prohibition bank savings increased Absentee workers decline “Prohibition was better than no liquor at all”

19. The Golden age of Gangsterism • Shocking crimes because of Prohibition • Bribery of police • Violent gang wars • Erase bootlegging competitors • Over 500 killed in gang wars in Chicago

20. Al Capone • 6 years of gang warfare in Chicago • To control Alcohol industry • Could not be convicted of St. Valentines day Massacre of 1929 • Sentenced on income tax evasion and served11 years in prison

21. Other gangster areas • Prostitution, gambling, and narcotics • Protection money or be destroyed • Moved into labor unions • Organized crime became a gigantic business • made more than the government • 1932 kidnapping of Lindbergh’s baby • Murder leads to Lindbergh laws • Interstate abduction a federal crime

22. Education making great strides More children getting a high school education Required to stay in longer John Dewey Set forth “learning by doing” Sets forth progressive education Education for life primary goal of teachers Schools became more attractive Not a prison Science advances Rockefeller Foundation had helped wipe out hook worm Monkey Business in Tenneessee

23. Life expectancy rises • Fundamentalists • Teaching Darwinism was destroying faith in bible and God • Tried to get laws to prohibit its teaching • Tennessee passes such a law

24. Scopes Monkey trial • 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee • John T. Scopes challenges law by teaching evolution in class • Becomes a nationwide story

25. Defended by Clarence Darrow Fundamentalists led by Wm. J Bryan Bryan takes stand and is humiliated by Darrow Dies shortly afterwards Clash really inconclusive Scopes fined $100 but Tennessee Supreme Court set it aside Case cast ridiculous absurdities of their case Fundamentalism remains a vital force

26. The Mass Consumption Economy • American Economy surges forward • Small depressionin 1920-1921 • War and Mellon’s tax polices helped economy • New machines and cheap energy • Assembly line production • New industries • Electric power

27. Automobile • 30 million cars sold by 1930 • Automobile showed shift in character of economy • Mastered production now had to master consumption

28. Growth of advertising • Make Americans discontent with their lot • New profession • Bruce Barton “Man nobody knows” • Talks of Jesus as greatest advertiser • conquered the world

29. Sports became big business Babe Ruth and the House that Ruth built Jack Dempsey Boxing first million dollar gate Buying on credit new innovation Old Puritans go into debt Prosperity accumulated debt Vulnerable to disruptions of economy

31. Putting America on Rubber Tires • New industrial revolution in America in the 1920s • Machinery was the means • Automobile was the king • Automobile creates a whole new industrial system • Automobile invented in Europe • Fords and Olds creating infant industry in us • 1910, 69 companies put out 181,000 autos/ unreliable

32. Frederick W. Taylor • Father of Scientific Management • Sought to eliminate wasted motion • Henry Ford • Creates the Model T • Cheap, rugged, and reasonably reliable

33. Adapts and fully applies the assembly line production of the automobile • Only in black • So efficient that the price went down to $260 • Thrifty workers could afford one • 1914 Ford Produced his 500.000th Model T • By 1930 over 20 million • By the time of the crash in 1929 there was I automobile for every 4.9 Americans

34. Advent of the Gasoline Age • Impact of Automobile tremendous on American life • Replaces steel as king of industry • 6 million employed in auto industries • Supporting industries sprang up that created more wealth • Rubber, glass, fabrics, highway construction • American Standard of living also rises

35. Effects of Auto industry • Older industries die out • Oil industry booms • Railroads begin to die • Speedy marketing of perishables • Enriched farms • New roads

36. Agents of social change • Necessity • Badge of freedom • Self respect • Open road vacations • Isolation among sections broken down • Americans own more cars than bathtubs • Consolidation of schools • Suburbs spread

37. Demon machine • Thousands injured • Americans become statistics • By 1951 more Americans die in autos than wars • Home life broke down • Morals of youth break down • Crime waves of 20s use automobile

38. No one willing to go back to horse and buggy • Brought more convenience , pleasure, excitement than pollution and deaths

39. Humans Develop wings • Orville and Wilbur Wright In North Carolina in Dec.17, 1903 • 12 seconds and 120 feet

40. The world shrinks • Aviation grows slowly • Stunt planes at first • Used during WWI • Private Passenger lines and mail carrying after WWI • New York to San Fran in 1920

41. Charles Lindbergh in 1927 $25,000 prize Crosses Atlantic in spirit of St. Louis Lucky Lindy becomes America’s hero Did much to dramatize and popularize flying Gives boost to infant aviation industry

42. Impact of the Airplane • .Gave American spirit another dimension • .Gave rise to new industry • .Death rate high at first • . Regular air travel by 1930s and 40s • .Increase tempo of civilization • .Hurt RR industry even more • .Making the world smaller • .New weapons of war

43. The Radio Revolution • Guglielmo Marconi, invents wireless telegraph in 1890s in Italy • Used during WWI • November 1920 KDKA airs the Harding presidential race • At first local only • Began to broadcast to larger areas • National commercial radio overcomes local radio

44. Effects of the radio • Draws families back to home • Brings nation together • Standardized shows • Nationwide products • American cultural standards • Stimulated sports industry • Politicians had to adjust to the radio • Ministers used to reach millions of listeners • Brought new music into homes

45. Hollywood’s Filmland Fantasies • Edison’s invention still a novelty in early 20th century • Nickelodeons and peep shows • TheGreat Train Robbery, and Birth of a Nation(1915) • Southern California becomes capital of film industry

46. Southern California becomes capital of film industry Censorship had to be installed Came into use of propaganda during WWI 1927 the first talkie The Jazz Singer Al Jolsen Age if silent film gone Color also being tried

47. Movies were the the number 1 form of entertainment Movie stars rose over night More popular than politics Effects Culture standardizes as Vaudeville dies and attracts immigrant youth Standardized language and tastes Working class coalition will emerge Effects of the movies

50. The Dynamic Decade • Changes in lifestyle and value of the 1920s • More Americans lived in the cities than in the rural areas • Women finding work in the cities • Margaret Sanger champions birth control • National Women’s Party organizes • Wants Equal Rights • Some thought the world had gone mad