Chapter 20

1. Chapter 20 The Roaring Twenties

2. Is anything normal? • America is suffering: • Post-war disillusionment • Bouncy Economy • Tangled up internationally • Republican hopeful Warren G. Harding wins the Presidency with a promise of “normalcy”.

3. Russian Revolution • Czar Nicholas II lost popularity from making bad decisions. • Going into WWI which resulted in food shortages, casualties, etc. • Due to riots, weakened protests… he was forced to abdicate.

4. Lenin and the Bolsheviks • Nov. 6, 1917 – took power. • “End to war, all land to peasants!” • They put all private farms, industries, land and transportation under Gov’t ownership.

5. More problems for the Russians • 1918 – Russian Civil War (reds vs. whites) • Lenin’s supporters – reds • Whites – former landowners, gov’t/army officials (backed by Allies) • 1920 – Reds won! • Became the USSR • Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

6. Four aspects of Communism • 1.) Gov’t owned all land & property. • 2.) A single political party controls the Gov’t. • 3.) Individuals had no rights that the Gov’t was bound to respect. • 4.) The Gov’t vowed to stir up revolution in other countries & spread communism throughout the world. • This ideology was hostile towards American beliefs & values (capitalism, 1st amendment).

7. 1919 – The Red Scare • Puts fear of communism into America’s life! • 1919 – Schenck vs. US • Justified jailing persons based on communism. • Schenck mailed letters to draftees telling them to aviod the draft. • He argued this was his 1st amendment rights. • He was convicted to breaking the Espionage Act. • You can’t shout “BOMB” on an airplane. • Palmer Raids • Headed up by an army chief of staff. • 500 immigrants were sent back for being “subversives,” communists spies.

8. Strikes galore!!! • Labor strikes • Communists were behind the strikes, but really… • 1919 food prices and rent went up. • 1920 the cost of living increased. • Cost and Steel Strikes • Boston Police Strike • Hadn’t gotten a raise since start of WWI. • Demanded a raise, 19 were fired for union activity. • Coolidge said, “there is no right to strike against the public safely by anybody, anywhere, anytime.” • Gained national attention for this firm stance.

9. The Harding Presidency • Republicans were a solid party. • They favored business and economic growth. • He gave some of his buddies jobs. • Foreign policy reflected isolationism. • Called for disarmament. • US grew more nativist. • Annual immigration quota – 350,000 people. • NO Asian immigration.

10. Teapot Dome Scandal • Strain from rumors of scandal killed President Harding. • 2 of his officers committed suicide when they knew they would be caught. • 1921-2: Harding’s Secretary of Interior Albert Fall, gave secret oil drilling rights on gov’t fields in Elk Field, California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming to two private oil companies. • He got $300,000 illegal payments and gifts. • Was Jailed!

11. The Coolidge Presidency • Harding’s Vice President. • Became Pres on Aug. 3, 1923. • Re-elected in 1924 with the slogan, “Keep cool w/ Coolidge.” • Laissez-faire business policy.

12. Kellogg-Briand Act • Sec. of State Frank Kellogg, did most of Coolidge’s foreign policy. • 1928, with US’s isolationism feeling he made an interesting treaty with French foreign minister, Briand. • Kellogg-Briand Act • 15 nations agreed to not threaten war in dealing with one another, 60 eventually joined. • Dissolved b/c they had no provisions for enforcement. • By 1941, many nations that had signed were at war.

13. Election of 1928 • Republican – Herbert Hoover • During & after WWI he got praise for how he ran programs in Europe to ease hunger. • Ran against Democrat Alfred Smith. • 21.4 million to 15 million. • Hoover won!

14. A Business Boom • Consumer Economy – huge growth! • Depends on a large amount of buying consumers. • Individuals who use products. • Buying on Credit. • Don’t pay all at once…pay on an…installment plan – pay over a period of time. • Growth of Electricity • General Electric picked up T. Edison’s business. • Offered: toasters, sewing machines, coffee pots, irons, and vacuum cleaners.

15. Henry Ford’s Revolution • Ford and his famous “Model T”. • 1896 – 1st lightweight gas-powered car. • 1903 – had first auto company. • 1908 – sold 30,000 of an improved type he called the Model T.

16. Ford’s Assembly Line • Ford wanted to “democratize the automobile.” • Produced more cars and sell them at prices more people can afford. • Each worker does one specialized task in the construction of the final product. • Didn’t invent, but made more efficient. • Line moved, workers stayed in place. • 1915 – Cars were $390.

17. Captain of Industry… or Robber Barron? • Business was good and bad. • Lost $ when Chevy put out different colors & styles. • 1914 - $5/day pay rate. • Double what other factories played at the time. • Used vehicle to fight unions. • Didn’t want to change his Model T, so by 1936 he had slipped to 3rd in the car industry. • Assembly line could be boring for workers.

18. All over the place businesses were growing!!!! Steel, car, rubber, motels, campgrounds, gas stations, restaurants, & freight companies. Monopolies grew!!!

19. The war ended and the nation prospered. Symbol of this – the flapper New type of woman, young, rebellion, fun loving. Shorter dresses, short hair, tight cloths, make-up, smoking, drinking, etc. How it was: Single women worked, quit when got pregnant, few leadership positions, few voted in 1920. How it changed: Women began to seek office Jeannette Rankin, Montana, 1st woman in Congress More leadership positions, more began to work. Cultural shifts in the 1920’s

20. Movement for other groups • Demographic changes • The statistics that describe a population (date on race or income). • 1920’s – 6 million moved to cities from country. • African Americans – Great Migration • Get out of the South, away from Jim Crow Laws. • Industrial Revolution offered jobs in the cities. • North wasn’t always better. • Some in the North didn’t’ like the African Americans because they didn’t want their jobs taken away.

21. Movement for other groups (cont.) • Other migrations • Since European immigration was low…why? • Immigrants from Mexico and Canada were depended upon to fill low-paying jobs. • L.A. needed workers and became a BARRIO. • A Spanish speaking neighborhood. • Rise in suburbs • Came about in part due to Great Migration! • Cities built transportation (trolleys, railway cars, buses, etc.) • When cars were introduced, these lost customers.

22. American Heroes • Morales were changing in the U.S. • In the cities there were things going on that were “bad”…smoking, drinking, skimpy clothes, bright make-up. • Newspapers ran sensational headlines screaming about crime. • The nation needed heroes to survive.

23. Lucky Lindy • 25 year old Charles Lindberg. • Spirit of St. Louis – his airplane. • Prize of $25,000 to fly nonstop from NY to Paris. • 33 ½ hour flight. • He represented solid moral values of old U.S.

24. Amelia Earhart • Inspired by Lindberg. • 1932, she flew alone from Hawaii to California. • 1937, she tried to fly around the world. • She disappeared somewhere in the pacific ocean.

25. Sports Heroes • George Herman Ruth • Babe Ruth • Sultan of Swat • 714 Home Runs • Gertrude Ederle • Freestyle swimming • Gold in 1926 Olympics • 1st woman to swim 34 mile wide English Channel.

26. Mass Media • Mass Media • Print and broadcast methods of communicating information to large numbers of people. • Movies • Between 1910-1930, the number of theatres rose from 5,000 to 22,5000. • 1927 – 1st film with sound, The Jazz Singer.

27. Mass Media (cont.) • Newspapers • 1900 – NY Times was only 14 pages long • Mid 1920-s – was 50 pages • Many companies went out of business, newspaper chains brought them up! • William Randolph Hearst gained control of newspapers in more than 20 cities. • Radio • Westinghouse took the lead. • By 1922 – 500 stations were on the air.

28. The Jazz Age • Features improvisation, musicians make it up as they are playing, and has an off-beat rhythm. • African American roots • Grew out of Southern music (ragtime, blues). • 1900 – New Orleans bands were mixing the sounds. • Radio listeners began to hear/like it. • 1920’s – became the “jazz age”. • Harlem had 500 Jazz clubs.

29. Famous Jazz Musicians • Duke Ellington • Middle class upbringing. • Famous jazz composer. • Excellent on the piano.

30. Other Artistic Movements • George Gershwin • Russian, wrote the jazz piece “Rhapsody in Blue.” • Georgia O’Keeffe • Painted natural objects • Flowers, animal bones, landscapes, etc. • Sinclair Lewis • Muckraker who tackled American society with irony. • Won Nobel Prize in 1930 for literature.

31. The Lost Generation • Groups of writers in the 1920’s who believed they were lost in a greedy and materialistic world that lacked moral values. • Left the US for Paris. • F. Scott Fitzgerald • The Great Gatsby • They found the rich to be shallow persons.

32. The Harlem Renaissance • The African American cultural center of the US was NY City’s, Harlem. • 1930 – 200,000 Af Amers lived there. • Was a national center for Jazz. • Was the home of African American literary awakening of the 1920’s.

33. The Harlem Renaissance • James Weldon Johnson – emerging writer. • Alain Locke – The New Negro • Celebrated the blossoming of Af Amer culture. • Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes were Watching God • Langston Hughes – poet, short story writer • Career stretched into the 1960’s • Spoke with clear/strong voice about jobs and difficulties of being human, American, and black.

34. I too, sing America. I am the darker brother, they send me to eat in the kitchen when the company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table when the company comes, nobody’ll dare say to me, “eat in the kitchen,” then. Besides, they’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed – I too, am America. Langston Hughes:“I Too, Sing America.”

35. Prohibition…never heard of it! • Many American ignored it. • Including President Harding, see pg. 622 • Volstead Act – Congress passed, 1919. • To enforce the 18th amendment. • Ignored by most of east coast. • 1924 Report found that: • 95% of Kansas obeyed, 5% of NY obeyed. • Sharpened contrast b/t rural and urban morals.

36. Prohibition, smrohibition… • Bootlegging • Suppliers of illegal alcohol. • Some smuggled whiskey from Canada or Caribbean. • Others used alcohol from grain, corn, potatoes, etc. • Speakeasies • Many bootlegger’s customers owned these. • They were illegal bars that flourished in the cities. • Heavy gate usually blocked the door. • Only opened to people who showed a membership card or were recognized by a guard.

37. Organized Crime • In some cities, criminals formed large groups who controlled distribution of alcohol. • Gangs would fight for territory. • Racketeering • In the typical “racket”, local business’ were forced to pay a fee for “protection”. • Buy from us…we won’t shoot you.

38. Al Capone – “Scarface” • Most notorious gangster in Chicago. • Here, bootlegging had added immense wealth to gambling, prostitution, etc. • Reached all levels, including Gov’t. • $60 mil/yr from bootlegging. • Finally caught from tax evasion in 1931. • Prohibition was a problem until 1933.

39. 1920’s Religion • Problems that separated religions: • Science and technology – where do they fit? • War and widespread modern problems • Bible was written by humans & had mistakes? • Response: 12 pamphlets called “The Fundametalists” • Traditional Christian ideas, Bible had no error! • Bible is literally true, all stories actually happened. • Fundamentalism gained power in the 1920’s.

40. Theory of Evolution Fundamentalists felt that it contradicted the Bible. They worked for passage of laws to prevent public schools from teaching it. The setting… Dayton, TN (passed the Ban law) John Scopes, science teacher Thought law unconstitutional, friend sued him as favor. The major players: William Jennings Bryan Prosecution, fundamentalist, former Presidential candidate. Clarence Darrow Defense, “attorney for the damned.” Evolution and the Scopes Trial

41. Evolution and the Scopes Trial • The trial: July 10-21, 1925 • Carnival atmosphere (reporters, chimps) • 1st trial ever broadcast on American radio. • Expert science testimony excluded • Darrow puts Bryan on witness stand • To be an expert on the Bible • Bryan admitted that not even he interpreted the Bible fully literally. • Scopes convicted, fined $100 • Bryan became a martyr for the Fundamentalists (died after) • Jan. 17, 1926 – TN Supreme Ct. upheld law, overturned conviction of Scopes, no appeal to S.Ct. • The law against teaching evolution remain in Tenn, until 1967, but no other teachers were prosecuted.

42. KKK rise again (remember The Birth of a Nation?) • 2nd Ku Klux Klan • 1915—Stone Mountain, GA • William Simmons, 1st Grand Wizard • Targets Catholics, Jews, immigrants, “race-mixing” • For prohibition, Imm. Restriction, fundamentalism • “White, native-born, Protestant supremacy” • Popular nationwide—5 million members by 1925 • WKKK organized klanswomen (no longer around)

43. Klan marches on Washington, August 1925 • This march showed The great numbers that The Klan had recruited. Many Americans believed The Klan only wanted to Protect “its” own way of Life. So, most did not Protest the Klan, until they Became so violent.