1920s:

Themes, Advertising and

Attitudes towards

Consumerism/Mass Media

Characteristics of the Twenties

Mass-Produced consumer goods

Consolidation of Companies

Electrification

Automobile

Rising Stock Prices

Capital expansion abroad, yet high Tariffs stifle foreign trade

Conservative politics were

dominant

Farm depression

Northern and Southern disparity

Labor Unions stagnant

Women’s economic rights stagnant

Racism

Arts develop (Jazz and Harlem Renaissance)

The 1920s saw the growth of the culture of consumerism--many Americans began to work fewer hours, earn higher salaries, invest in the stock market, and buy everything from washing machines to Model T Fords.

Consumerism More people in cities than farms; African-American migration

(40% of 12 million blacks in Northern cities; 1st black congressman – de Priest – from Chicago)

Leisure culture emerged since people had more time on their hands

Automobile (vacations, traffic, accidents – horses!) Tractors available for credit, but led to increased production –

bad for prices!

Increased family cohesiveness or decreased it?

Class division widened due to suburban living and shorter commuting times over longer distances

Women empowered (appliances, electricity; energy consumption increased; store-bought food, clothes, food prep easier)

Increased need for oil, gas, rubber

Consumer Economy

Mass Production

Consumer Goods

Electrification

Automobile 8 Million (1920) to 23 Million (1930)

GM offered new colors (Ford, black)

9% all wages earned from manufacturing

Stock prices rose due to rising sales, productivity, and mergers

Cost-- The price of automobiles declined steadily until the mid-1920s so that many well-paid working families could now afford to purchase a car.

Credit-- In 1925, Americans made 75% of all automobile purchases on the installment plan. “Possess today and pay tomorrow.”

Henry Ford’s assembly line technique for mass-producing cars.

“Fordism”

Effect of WWI on technology.

Scientific management - efficiency experts: "Taylorism"

Rapid increase in worker productivity

Psychology of consumption

Relations between the federal government and big business

Annual automobile production rose from 2 million during the 1920s to 5.5 million in 1929.

By the late 1920s, there was one automobile for every five Americans.

Mass Production & Assembly Lines were improved and became very self-evident.

Economy Capital expansion abroad – hence political

engagements (Roosevelt-Wilson) Meatpackers (Argentina)

United Fruit (Latin America)

Copper Mines (Chile)

Private investment abroad increased x5 1914-1930

High tariffs stifled foreign exports (and imports) Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)

Smoot-Hawley (1930)

Exports fell as a % of GNP – retaliatory tariffs!

Tariffs

Underwood Tariff of 1913 Fordney-McCumber Tariff

27% 38.5%

Republicans wanted to keep a prosperous home market for American business, so the tariff was raised in 1922.

When European nations retaliated and raised the tariffs, all trade was hurt.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1933) did the same thing.

North and South Move away from agriculture due

to a depression after the first few years of the 1920s – falling European demand for US goods

Average unskilled laborer North: 47c/hr; South: 28c/hr

Textile Companies moved south, NE mill towns suffered

Women, Mexican-Americans, Blacks (“Last hired, first fired”)

Farmers – grain prices fell (US Army stopped purchases, Europe agriculture recovered)

Protective tariff depressed exports

1919-1921, farm income fell 60%

Borrowers defaulted…

an agri. depression in early 1920's contributed to an urban migration

U.S. farmers lost agri. markets in postwar Europe

at same time agri. efficiency increased so more food produced (more food = lower prices) and fewer labourers needed

so farming was no longer as prosperous, and bankers called in their loans (farms repossessed)

so American farmers enter the Depression in advance of the rest of society

Black Americans in this period continued to live in poverty

sharecropping kept them in de facto slavery

1915 - boll weevil wiped out the cotton crop

white landowners went bankrupt & forced blacks off their land

Blacks moved north to take advantage of booming wartime industry (= Great Migration) - Black ghettoes began to form, i.e. Harlem

within these ghettoes a distinct Black culture flourished

But both blacks and whites wanted cultural interchange restricted

Marcus Garvey (Jamaican born immigrant) established the Universal Negro Improvement Association

believed in Black pride

advocated racial segregation b/c of Black superiority

Garvey believed Blacks should return to Africa

he purchased a ship to start the Black Star line

attracted many investments: gov't charged him with w/fraud

he was found guilty and eventually deported to Jamaica, but his organization continued to exist

A Society in Conflict Anti-immigrant

National Origins Act

Discrimination

Sacco-Vanzetti Trial

Italian immigrants

Unfair trial (judge partial)

for immigrants – the point of origin had shifted to S & E Europe and new religions appeared: Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic

N. European immigrants of early 19c. feared this shift and felt it would undermine Protestant values

this fear was known as NATIVISM

many wanted Congress to restrict immigration, leading to a quota system that favoured n. areas of Europe

fear of immigrants (from SE Europe) led to a sentiment known as the Red Scare (fear of comm. post-Bolshevik Rev.)

basic comm. advocates a int'l revolution by the proletariat/workers - fears that this ideology could find its way into the U.S.

Fearing communists, anarchist, and socialists, America turned against these common people.

Raids were executed by the Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer who hunted down the radicals and “reds” in response to fears of a growing socialist populace in the US.

On April 15, 1920, two men robbed and murdered a paymaster and his guard as they transferred $15,776 from the Slater and Morrill Shoe factory. 

Three weeks later, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were accused and arrested for this crime, despite the little evidence against them. 

They were convicted, but their appeals lasted 6 years afterward.

Both men were executed for their "crimes."

at this time, W. Wilson was gravely ill following a stroke

his Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, wanted to take a shot at the presidency - he used fears of both immigrants and communism to his advantage

he had J. Edgar Hoover round up suspected radicals, many of which were deported (Palmer Raids)

The Ku Klux Klan Great increase

In powerAnti-black

Anti-immigrant

Anti-women’s suffrage

Anti-bootleggers

Anti-Semitic

Anti-Catholic

“Old-time religion” –

literary reading of the Bible as scripture

Teaching of Darwinism evolution prohibited in public schools

“Monkey Trial” – John T. Scopes, a biology teacher, was convicted and fined for $100.00 of teaching evolution to his students. The fine was later thrown out because of a technicality.

Scopes “Monkey” TrialEvolution vs. Creationism

Dayton, TennesseeFamous Lawyers

Science vs. Religion

John ScopesHigh School Biology teacher

PROHIBITION - on manuf. and sale of alcohol

18th AMENDMENT (1919)

an outgrowth of the long-time temperance movement

in WWI, temperance became a patriotic mvmt. - drunkenness caused low productivity & inefficiency, and alcohol needed to treat the wounded

a difficult law to enforce... organized crime, speakeasies, bootleggers were on the rise

Al Capone virtually controlled Chicago in this period - capitalism at its zenith…

Prohibition finally ended in 1933 w/ the 21st Amendment

forced organized crime to pursue other interests…

Prohibition18th Amendment Volstead Act

Gangsters

Al Capone

New Productivity 40% increase due to assembly lines

Con: Discouraged individuality, limited pride in work skills, limited prospects for advancement

Pro: Fordism (“decent wages”)

Consolidation of companies by 1930 100 companies controlled 50% of US Business

Modernization of business – professional managers Increased wages led to increase in buying power

Dealerships/ chain stores/ air conditioning

JC as a successful businessman of popular story! The Man Nobody Knows by Bruce Barton (1925)

Advertising

Credit purchases 75% of auto sales by 1929

Harding and Coolidge pro business (“The business of America…”)

Labor 5 million to 3.4 million (1920-1929)

Wages increased, limited clout of unions

Craft unions (RR, printing etc) not needed in mass-production facilities

Management thugs – union violence still high

Non-union shop: “Open Shop” – the “America Plan”

Black membership of unions low, even though AFL prohibited discrimination 82,000 members nation-wide

Most blacks hired as scabs

Harding Republican base = corporate leaders, northern

farmers, businesspeople, native-born white-collar workers, professionals, some skilled blue-collar laborers

Democrat base = white South, immigrant cities

Appointments: Good: Henry Wallace (Agriculture); Charles Evans

Hughes (Sec State); Andrew Mellon (Treasury); Hoover (Commerce)

Bad: Daugherty (AG); Fall (Interior); Forbes (Vet. Affairs – even though he was a draft dodger!)

Scandals – influence peddling, stealing funds, Teapot Dome (Fall)

Harding Pro-Business High tariff, low taxes (and inheritance tax) –

“trickle-down” theory

Overturning anti-business reforms (Keating-Owens Act overturned by Supreme Court)

NO aid for Flood victims in 1927, but a Flood Control Act of 1928

McNary-Haugen benefited farmers, but vetoed twice by Coolidge (pushed farmers to the Democrats)

Warren G. Harding was elected to the Presidency in 1920 in which he urged a "return to normalcy." (Policies of the “Guilded Age”)

Generally conservative, especially regarding taxes, tariffs, immigration restriction, labor rights, and business regulation. (laissez-faire)

Harding's administration was marked by corruption and scandal. (Teapot Dome Scandal)

Died of a stroke in office in August 1923.

President Coolidge “The business of America is

business.” Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922) Promote business,

independence, foreign agreements.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930) Worsened depression, raised

tariff to the point where foreign gov’ts retaliated

No help for farmers

Foreign Policy

After Harding’s death, Calvin Coolidge soon took the place of Harding, but did little as vice president.

When he assumed the presidency after Harding's death, he acted quickly to repair the damage of the Harding administrations scandals and to secure the 1924 presidential nomination.

He was easily elected over Democrat John W. Davis and Progressive Robert M. La Follette.

Near the end of his second term, Coolidge decided not to run for president again and retired from politics.

His policies included federal tax cuts and high tariffs, but he lost favor during the Great Depression.

International Affairs No League, no International Court of Justice

for USA

“Independent Internationalism” allowed US economic interests to be promoted

Washington Naval Arms Conference

Kellogg-Briand Pact (General Treaty for the Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy) – (1928)

A new Isolationism

Why was the USA isolationist ?

Tradition…….

Dislike of the ‘old world’ (Europe)…….

Dangerous ideas……

US soldiers in the First World War………

Tradition Isolationism had

always been part of America’s policy towards the rest of the world. The USA had only joined the war when forced to.

Dislike of the old world Most

Americans had moved from Europe to start new lives. They wanted to leave Europe behind.

Dangerous ideasEurope was full of ideas that Americans feared such as anarchy, socialism, marxism, communism. They wanted to be cut off from such ideas.

US SoldiersUSA lost 112,432 men in WW1

They wanted to avoid any future wars !

1920's also brought about great changes for women...

1920 - 19th Amendment gave them the federal vote

after 1920, social circumstances changed too as more women worked outside the home

and more women went to college and clamoured to join the professions

women didn't want to sacrifice wartime gains - amounted to a social revolt

characterized by the FLAPPER/ "new woman" (bobbed hair, short dresses,

smoked in public...)

Women Cigarettes = “torches of freedom”

Make-up = “Hope in a Jar”

Home: delegate “to electricity all that electricity can do”

Wage discrimination: Ex Meatpacking trimmer (male: 52c/hr; female:

37c/hr)

Corp. Offices (file clerks, secretaries, typists)

High School graduation rates increase 12% by 1930; College degrees x3 to 50,000 between 1920 and 1930

Nursing, Libraries, and TEACHING predominant jobs

Successes and limits of 19th Amendment

“Feminine Charm” (material consumer culture cut through “civic idealism” of previous generation)

Child Labor Laws; Protection of women workers; Federal support for education

Sheppard-Towner Act – rural prenatal and baby-care centers Keating-Owens (1916) struck down in 1922

Women’s protective laws (1923)

Child Labor amendment not ratified (1924)

Sheppard-Towner Act expired (“threat to monopoly of health business by physicians”)

Entertainment Magazine circulation increased (Readers’ Digest, Saturday

Evening Post)

Book-of-the-Month began (1926)

Radio (1920 election results, 1921 World Series)

NBC (1926), CBS (1927), “Amos ‘n’ Andy” (1928)

Celebrities Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Mary Pickford, Cecil B. De Mille

(Ten Commandments – 1923); Al Jolson (The Jazz Singer – 1927); Mickey Mouse (Steamboat Willie – 1928)

Hollywood “cabal” (Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) – evoked rural life, but lived in cities/studios

Motion Pictures

Motion picture production became one of the ten largest industries in the United States during the 1920s.

In 1922, theaters sold 40 million tickets a week.

By 1929, that number had grown to 100 million a week.

The first commercial radio station went on the air in the 1920s in Pittsburgh.

By 1922, 3 million American households had radios.

Celebrity Culture Charles Lindbergh –

mechanized/standardized time, still room for individual heroism Baseball – Ty Cobb (4,191 hits), Babe Ruth

(1927 – 60 homers)

Boxing – Jack Dempsey

CelebritiesBabe Ruth &Ty Cobb

Jack Dempsey

Charles Lindbergh The Spirit of St. Louis

The 20’s is The Jazz Age

The Flappersmake upcigarettes

short skirts

MusiciansLouis ArmstrongDuke Ellington

WritersF. Scott FitzgeraldErnest Hemingway

Artists of the 1920s Moodily lampooned/mourned/ridiculed materialism of the

period

Fitzgerald Great Gatsby

Sinclair Lewis Main Street, Babbitt

H.L. Mencken The American Mercury – ridicule and satire

Hemingway The Sun Also Rises, etc

Painters Hopper, Thomas Hart Benton – Urban and small town

reminiscence

Gershwin and Copland

Harlem Artists “New Negro Movement” or “Flowering of Negro

Literature”

Painters, writers, musicians all congregated in Harlem cabarets (nightclub restaurant)

Challenged traditional values, and usually were from middle class backgrounds Catalogued racial inequities in American life, especially the

turbulence of urban culture

Whites came to escape the taboos of white urban culture, but the places that were “spontaneous” and “primitive” and “spiritual” featured black artists without allowing blacks in the audience (Cotton Club)

Symbol of racial achievement, most of all, which inspired future artists (James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison etc

Langston Hughes

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers

Harlem (1951)What happens to a

dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore –

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over –

Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

Like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Other authors and personalities of the Harlem Renaissance

Zora Neale Hurston

George Schuyler

Rudolph Fisher

Walter White

Jean Toomer

Joyce Sims Carrington

A. Philip Randolph

Jazz Sidney Bechet

Bessie Smith

Mamie Smith (*)

Ma Rainey

Ella Fitzgerald

Billie Holiday

Marian Anderson (*)

King Oliver

Duke Ellington

Louis Armstrong

Bix Beiderbecke

Nick LaRocca – “The Original Dixieland Jazz Band”

Let’s listen to Bechet, Oliver, Armstrong, and some Ellington…

Advertisements Widespread; encouraged consumerism

Mr. C’s favorite…

Effects of Commercialization

“It would be idle to assert that life on the farm occupies as good a position of dignity, desirability, and business results as farmers might easily give it if they chose. One of the chief difficulties is the failure of country life, as it exists at the present, to satisfy the higher social and intellectual aspirations of country people.” -Teddy Roosevelt (1909)

Radio AdvertisementRinso

Amos and Andy

Amos and Andy, with Rinso Commercial• Note the use of music – the Rinso whistle!• What other cultural characteristics do you

notice (in reference to the 1920s?)• How does the show treat African

Americans? (Note the names: “Kingfish”, and “Henry Van Porter”, the words the characters

use, and the expressions they make)• Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll – who

are they?

Freeman Gosden

and Charles Correll

…Surprised?

Blackface/Minstrel Shows common at

the time

Practice Question (1 of 2)

Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon’s policies did which of the following?

a. Reduced income tax-rates for the wealthy to release money for private investment

b. Provided aid to the Allies during the First World War

c. Provided federal guarantees for bank deposits.

d. Restricted loans to Mexico after the Tampico and Veracruz incidents

e. Combated the Depression by giving lower-income groups more purchasing power.

Practice Question (2 of 2)

The assembly-line production of Henry Ford’s Model T automobile resulted in which of the following by the end of the 1920s?

a. A sharp degrease in railroad passenger traffic

b. The federal government’s abandonment of research on air travel

c. The development of a large international market for American automobiles

d. Widespread purchase of automobiles by average American families

e. Construction of the federal interstate highway system

Practice QuestionWhich of the following emerged during the

Progressive Era as the most influential advocate of full political, economic, and social equality for Black Americans?

a. W.E.B. Du Bois

b. Frederick Douglas

c. Booker T. Washington

d. Ida B. Wells

e. Langston Hughes

Practice QuestionWhich of the following best describes the Harlem

Renaissance?

a. The rehabilitation of a decaying urban area

b. An outpouring of Black artistic and literary creativity

c. The beginning of the NAACP

d. The most famous art show of the early twentieth century

e. The establishment of motion picture palaces

Election of 1928 Hoover (R) v Smith (D) – first Catholic! V

Thomas (Socialists) Smith garnered large urban votes, rural

midwest (hard-pressed farmers who didn’t like Coolidge OR Hoover’s S of C role)

Hoover: American Individualism (1922)

Self-made, but praised big business Limited government involvement, cooperative

social/economic order should be led by capitalists, not government

Having served as secretary of commerce under both Harding and Coolidge, Hoover was elected to the presidency in 1928, helped by the prevailing prosperity in the country.

Hoover had been in office just a few months when the Great Depression began.

In 1932, he lost the presidential election to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

When the “Bull” market began to rise, many people started to buy stock on margin.

Black Thursday, October 24th, 1929, 13,000,000 shares were sold.

There was not enough collateral to back up stock margin.

The next day, October 25th, J.P. Morgan and many bankers bought huge blocks of shares to stabilize the market.

The Beginning of What was Thought to

be the End

On October 29, 1929, 16,400,000 shares took a downturn for the worse.

The stock market began to collapse

Over the next two months, 40 billion dollars

worth of stock disappeared into thin air.

The Great Depression soon followed

as thousands of banks closed their doors.