US History

1920s - The Post War Years

I. Nicknames of the Decade

“The Roaring Twenties”

“The Golden Twenties”

“The Jazz Age”

II. Attitude in America1. American public

was exhausted as a result of the Progressive Era and the Great War.  

2. Many Americans wanted to return to “normalcy”.

(Term used by President Warren G. Harding)

II. Attitude in America3. Isolationism -

United States pulled away from world affairs.

4. Nativism - Suspicion of foreign people, anti immigration.

II. Attitude in America5. Political Conservatism

- Against government activism from the Progressive Era.

Voted Republican (Anti-

Wilson, Anti-League of Nations).

6. Red Scare - Fear of communism. Believed labor unions were part of an international communist revolution.

III. American Economy1. 1914-1920:

The cost of living doubled (inflation).

2. After 1918, the economy slowly returned to peacetime (reduced) production.

III. American Economy3. Soldiers retuned

to the labor force. Women and minorities were laid off.

 4. Unemployment

reached 6 million. No unemployment insurance or Social Security.

III. American Economy5. New methods/

machines increased farm production. Less demand for farm products after the war.

6. Industry became more standardized during the war - more efficient.

7. Tariffs were enacted. Protected US industry, but slowed the world economy.

IV. Society in America1. Automobile

sales grew by the millions every year. Demand for highway construction increased.

2. Use of gasoline and electrically powered machines increased.

IV. Society in America3. Advertising

increased - to sell more products.

4. Credit - allowed consumers to buy goods and pay for them over an extended period of time.

IV. Society in America5. US Urban population

grew faster than the rural population.

 6. Numerous changes for

women:1. Fashion- shorter dresses,

hats, beads, bracelets, short “bobbed” hair.

2. Smoking and drinking in public became socially acceptable.

3. 19th Amendment (1920) - suffrage, women’s right to vote.

IV. Society in America7. 18th

Amendment was passed (1917)- outlawed the manufacture, sale, transportation of intoxicating liquors.

8. Organized crime increased.

IV. Society in America9. Science and religion

clash over the teaching of the Bible and evolution in public schools .

Scopes Trial: was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school biology teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to teach evolution.

IV. Society in America10. Jazz music

becomes popular. Led to dances like the fox trot, tango, camel walk, lindy hop, and the shimmy.

Musicians -

“Duke” Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

IV. Society in America11. Public School

enrollment increases.

12. Radio became the most powerful form of communication.

IV. Society in America13. Sports-baseball was

the most popular, followed by boxing.

Baseball - Babe Ruth

Tennis - Bill Tilden and Helen Willis

College Football - Red Grange

Boxing - Jack Dempsey

IV. Society in America14. Charles

Lindbergh - first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

May 20th, 1927- 33 hours, 29

minutes

IV. Society in America15. Movies,

theater, literature, and art increased in popularity.

Charlie Chaplin – movies

F. Scott Fitzgerald – writer

IV. Society in America

Georgia O’Keeffe – art

Ernest Hemingway - writer

IV. Society in America16. Little social

change for most African-Americans.

17. Harlem Renaissance - A movement that celebrated African-American culture.

V. Presidents of the 1920s1913-1921

Woodrow Wilson (Dem)

- WWI- 14 Points- League of

Nations

V. Presidents of the 1920s1921-1923 Warren

G. Harding (Rep)- Return to

Normalcy“Ohio Gang”Scandals

V. Presidents of the 1920s1923-1929 Calvin

Coolidge (Rep)

- “Silent Cal.”Did nothing. Let

country run itself with little gov. action

“Silent in 5 different languages”

V. Presidents of the 1920s

1929-1933 Herbert Hoover (Rep)

- Crash of stock market

Great Depression begins

“Rugged Individualism”

“Hoovervilles”