The Roaring Twenties

1. The Roaring Twenties

2. Demobilization • Demobilization • Transfer from wartime to peacetime production levels. • Return of 4.5 millions soldiers • Unemployment rose • Wages fell

3. Labor Strife • Seattle General Strike – 60,000 shipyard workers. • Fears of another Bolshevik revolution like the one in Russia. • Boston Police Strike – 75% of the force. Violence and crime reached new heights. Called a “Bolshevist nightmare.” Militia called in. • Steel Strike in Pennsylvania – 365,000 workers • United Mine Workers Strike • John L. Lewis v President Wilson • Lewis won most points.

4. Red Scare • Fears of another Bolshevik revolution like the one in Russia. • Socialist Party created in America by Eugene Debs raised further fears. • Several elected members of New York State Assembly expelled because they were Socialists. anarchists What fears does this cartoon express?

5. Palmer Raids • Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer – house bombed. • Palmer used the bombing as an excuse to conduct raids to capture suspected radical terrorists. • Most arrested were poor immigrants who had just arrived in US. • Hundred of foreigners were deported. A. Mitchell Palmer

6. Sacco and Vanzetti • Italian immigrants and anarchists charged with the murders of a paymaster and a guard during a 1920 payroll robbery. • Both had alibis. • Both were convicted and executed despite storms of protests. • One example of anti-immigrant sentiment in US at the time. Were they punished for the crime or for their radical views?

7. Election of 1920Warren G. Harding • Supported by farmers • Republican • Pro business • Goals: Reduce national debt, promote economic growth. • Fordney –McCumber Tariff Act of 1922- High tariffs on imports. • Economy high. Unemployment low. Harding records a speech. One of the first presidents to use modern communications devices.

8. Teapot Dome Scandal • Corruption surfaced in Harding administration. • Secretary of Interior Albert Fall persuaded Navy Secretary Edwin Denby to transfer control of naval oil reserves to him. • Fall leased these reserves (some were in Teapot Dome, Wyoming) in return for cash, cattle and personal loans. • Fall was sent to jail. • Harding died of a heart attack before the scandal broke.

9. Teapot Dome Scandal • Original caption: Photo shows a cartoon from the "N. Y. Tribune" entitled "The First Good Laugh They've had in Years," in which Cartoonist "Sing" satirizes the Democrats jubilation over the Teapot Dome Scandal.

10. Calvin Coolidge takes charge. • VP Calvin Coolidge took over after Harding’s death in 1924. • Pro – Business: “The business of America IS business.” • Vetoed most spending bills including those designed to help farmers and veterans. • Prosperity remained high. Calvin Coolidge

11. Herbert Hoover wins 1928 election. • Republican • Ran against Alfred E. Smith who was Catholic and supported by immigrants. • Hoover received 58% of the vote. • Hoover became the president of the Depression years. Herbert Hoover 1928

12. African Americans move north • By 1920, the African American population in the North doubled. • Moved to escape discrimination in the South. Found more in the North. • Led to race riots in Chicago (1919) and Tulsa (1921) among others. • Led to rise of KKK.

13. Return of the Ku Klux Klan KKK Rally Original caption: Several thousand Klansmen paraded yesterday in Red Bank, New Jersey in the local Armistice Day Celebration, and there were many hisses heard along the line of march. When it was known that they would persist in parading nearly all the organizations scheduled to march withdrew, because of hints of trouble. Many of the spectators made it a point not to raise their hats when American flags carried by Klansmen went by. It was estimated that the Klansmen in the parade numbered anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000. Aside from the profusion of hisses there was no antagonistic demonstration.

14. KKK • Reached its peak in mid 1920s with 5 million members. • Staged mass rallies and spoke out against groups it felt were undesirable. • By 1930 membership at 6, 000. • Reasons for decline were: publicity about violence, decrease in Red Scare hysteria, corruption and scandals within, and Grand Dragon convicted of murder.

15. African Americans Defend Their Rights • Organized African American labor Unions (Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.) • NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – which began anti lynching campaigns. • Marcus Garvey and the Back to Africa movement.

16. Immigration Restrictions • Fear that rising numbers of immigrants would take over the nation and deprive citizens of jobs. • Immigration Act of 1924. Limited immigration. Quota system set up for each country.

17. Immigration Restrictions • Immigrants Rejected Into United States Original caption: Quota law sends them back to native lands....New York...waving a sad fare well to friends on the dock at Ellis island, these would-be immigrants, rejected under the United States quota law, are being taken to the steam for deportation back to their homelands. The photo shows, only one of many groups, which in this instance contained forty-four disappointed petitioners.

18. Mexican American Migration • Quota system did affect Mexicans. • 500,000 arrived in the 1920s to take low wage jobs in the South and Southwest. • New base of citizens began to develop, along with new racism. 1

19. The Scopes (Monkey) Trial • Fundamentalism • Traditional Christian doctrine should be accepted without question. • Tennessee legislature outlawed the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution. • John Scopes taught it in his science class anyway. • His trial was a national event. • Did God create the world or was it a product of evolution? • Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan were lawyers. • Scopes was found guilty and fined $100.

20. Prohibition and the 18th Amendment • The 19th Amendment was passed as the Twenties began. • Drinking and making alcohol were illegal • Numerous armed gangs began “bootlegging” – making and selling liquor illegally

21. Prohibition Enforcement

22. New Forms of Entertainment • Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance • Jazz began in New Orleans • Moved to New York’s Harlem area • Jazz clubs became very popular • Radio • Commercial stations emerged in early 20s. • Businesses sponsored programs. • Became inexpensive family entertainment.

23. Charles Lindberg “Lucky Lindy” • Charles Lindberg was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean • He became the most famous man in the world over night. • His fame and wealth made his the target of kidnappers, who stole and killed Lindberg’s only son right out of his crib.

24. Women in the 1920s. • The Flapper =The New Woman • Stylish, adventurous, works outside the home. • Short skirts and shorter hair. • Drove cars, smoked, participated in sports • Active politically