american life in the “roaring twenties” a period of boom and bust
TRANSCRIPT
American Life in the “Roaring Twenties”
A period of Boom and Bust
Roaring Twenties
• Against diplomatic connections to foreign countries
• Against radical foreign ideas
• Stop immigration• New tech• New consumer products • New leisure and
entertainment
I see Red People
• Bolshevik Revolution of 1917- spawns small communists party in US
• Labor strikes are thought to be the blame of bomb and whisker Bolsheviks
I see Red People• Red Scare 1919-1920• Mitchell A Palmer-
Fighting Quakers– Palmer Raids
– Round up suspected Commies
I see Red People • Buford (Soviet ark)-
US ship ships radicals and anarchists to Russia
• Sept 20 1919 bomb goes off on wall street
I see Red People
• Criminal syndicalism laws- anti red laws, against the law to advocate violence for social change
• 1920 5 legislatures are denied seats in NY because they are socialists
• Big business love red scare- use it to kill closed shops- call their campaign for open shops the American Plan
Sacco and Vanzetti Case
• 1921- tried for murder• Couldn’t get a fair
case- Italians, atheists, anarchists, draft dodges
• 6 year trial • Executed • Evidence is very very
questionable
The New KKK
• Very similar to Nativism movement in 1850’s
• Against Catholics, blacks, Jews, pacifists, communist, internationalist, revolutionists, bootlegging, gambling, birth control
The New KKK
• Spread fast in Midwest and bible belt (south)
• South fundamentalism is thriving
• At one point 5 million members, thus political force
• Dies in late 1920’s- congressional investigation reveals kick-backs
Stemming the Foreign Flood
• SE “New Immigrants” still flooding America
• 100% Americans lead charge against new immigrants
Eugenics
Stemming the Foreign Flood• 1921: The Emergency
Quota Act- Limited newcomers to 3% of their nationality living here in 1910. (Not too bad for New Immigrants because levels were high in 1910)
• 1924: Immigration Act of 1924- Reduced quota to 2% and made the base year 1890 (good for Ireland and England, also excludes Canadians and Mexicans
Stemming the Foreign Flood
• Japan really screwed by IA of 1924- American hatred builds up there
• Acts basically say no vacancy for America
• 1931- more people leave the country then enter
Stemming the Foreign Flood
• Ethnic Enclaves form• Immigration affects labor
unions– Common goal- better
wages and conditions
– Common problem- language
– Employers play up racial differences to keep unions from getting stronger
Cultural Pluralists
• Horace Kallen- “melting pot” (- allow immigrants to retain cultural aspects of life- like instruments in an orchestra, each immigrant community would harmonize with others while retaining its singular identity
• Randolph Bourne- cosmopolitan- US should serve as the vanguard of a more international and multicultural age
The Prohibition “Experiment”
• 1919- 18th amendment- prohibition
• Implemented by the Volstead act
• Pushed by churches and women
The Prohibition “Experiment”
• Supported mainly in south and west- why?
• Not supported in major cities along the east coast- why?
• Problems- American love drinking, and we have a weak central government
The Prohibition “Experiment”
• Wets- believe only way to get the law repealed was to violate on a large scale
• Drinking becomes associated with a personal liberty
• Working class upset, rich can still afford to buy illegal drink
The Prohibition “Experiment”
• Problems- not enough staff to enforce it, underpaid leaves them to bribery
• Speakeasies= illegal bars• Hard liquor becomes more
popular (transportation) • Home brew, bathtub gin,
rotgut• Pros- people saved more
money, absenteeism at work decreased
Golden age of Gangstas
• Prohibition = crime increase
• Bribe police – see and smell no evil
• Rival gangs fight to control illegal alcohol trade- (Machine guns)
Golden age of Gangstas
• Chicago best example• Gangster = Al
“Scarface” Capone• Made millions in
bootlegging • Public enemy number
1
Golden age of Gangstas• Gangsters go from
bootlegging to other aspects of crime
• Racketeering- protection money
• 1930- Underworld takes in roughly 12-18 billion dollars, much more than federal government
• 1932- Charles Lindbergh’s infant son is kidnapped
• Lindbergh Laws- interstate childhood abduction is punishable by death
High School Education• More states pass laws requiring kids
to stay in school until 16-18• John Dewey- “Learning by doing” • Foundation of progressive education• Replace text book with work bench
– “education for life” • Public health program- Rockefeller
foundation basically wipes out hook worm in the south
• Life expectancy: 1901= 50 – 1929= 59 years
Monkey Business in Tennessee • Scopes Monkey trial Tenn.
1925• Evolution (Science) vs.
Fundamentalism • John Scopes teaches
evolution in bible belt, defended by Clarence Darrow
• Prosecution lead by William Jennings Bryan
• Teacher found guilty, but not a real victory for Fundamentalists as their cause looked foolish
The Mass Consumption Economy
• 1920-1921- Recession, then 7 year BOOM
• Assembly line- perfected by Henry Ford
• Manufactures had master production, now they have to focus on consumption
The Mass Consumption Economy
• Advertising takes off-brain behind it Bruce Barton
• Baseball takes off- Babe Ruth
• Boxing extremely popular- Jack Dempsey
The Mass Consumption Economy
• Buying on credit becomes more popular
• Consumers go in debt to buy radios, cars, vacuum cleaners
Putting America on Rubber Tires
• Of all new technology- cars are cutting edge- mass production and assembly lines
• Frederick Taylor- Scientific Management
Putting America on Rubber Tires
• Henry Ford’s Car = Model T
• Moving assembly line known as Fordism
• So efficient he can sell cars for very cheap prices
• 1914 produced 500,000 Model Ts
• 1930- 20 million
Gasoline Age
• Cars spawn growth of other industries
• Oil industry hits tremendous growth
• Losers = railroads are now on the decline because of cars, buses, trucks
Gasoline Age• Road construction takes off• Installment plans = early credit systems• Cars cut down on travel time, this allows more leisure time• Suburbs begin to grow• Auto accidents are becoming more common• Cars aid crime- getaways and prostitution • Cars help the public health- no more horse carriages (no
more horse manure all over the place) • Women- more independence, modern women drive, and yet
can still be argued that it helps them manage the house hold
I believe I can fly!
• Orville and Wilbur Wright- Kitty Hawk NC- 1st- 1st air plane flight
• Dangerous business to get into – “Flying Coffins”
• Used in WWI- then private companies take over- airmail
I believe I can fly!
• Charles A Lindbergh- Flying Fool- first solo flight across the Atlantic in The Spirit of St. Louis
• Becomes a hero- makes air industry take off
• Planes also hurt the RR industry because they took passengers and mail
• Planes aid destruction in wars
The Radio Revolution
• Invented in 1890• 1920’s radio waves are lengthened- thus not restricted to
local audiences• Impact
– Radios allow mass advertising– US is even more connected– Famous shows Amos n Andy– Sports more popular– Politicians have to adjust speeches to cater to millions rather
than thousands– Music (mainly jazz) can take off
Hollywood • 1903- The Great Train
Robbery- first story sequenced movie
• 5 cent theaters called Nickelodeons
• D.W. Griffith- Birth of A Nation 1915-
• Hollywood becomes movie center
• 1927-first “talkie”- The Jazz Singer- featured Al Jolson
Impact of Movies
• Movies used during WWI- anti-German propaganda
• Actors get paid more and are more popular than the president
• More advertising• Helps assimilate immigrant
youth
Dynamic Decade
• 1920’s Census- more people live in urban than rural areas
• Women get “women’s work”
• Margaret Sanger- Birth Control Movement
Dynamic Decade• Fundamentalists
losing to modernists• Advertising exploits
sex• Flappers- women who
go against traditional norms
Dynamic Decade
• Freud helps flappers- sexual repression causes nervous and emotional ills
• “Necking” in public- oh my!
• Jazz is new musical crave- flappers can dance
Harlem Renaissance
• Harlem (NYC) one of largest black populations in the world
• Langston Hughes- poetry• Marcus Garvey- United
Negro Improvement Association– Instill more pride in blacks
– Back to Africa movement
• Successful in instill pride
Cultural Liberation
• Change in literature- new immigrants represent new backgrounds and cultures
• New youth energy, ambition of excluded outsiders, resentment of failed idealism
Cultural Liberation
• F. Scott Fitzgerald– This Side of Paradise
– Great Gatsby
• Ernest Hemingway– The Sun Also Rises
– Farewell to Arms
• Sherwood Anderson– Winesburg, Ohio
• Sinclair Lewis– Babbitt
Cultural Liberation
• William Faulkner– The Sound and Fury
• T.S. Eliot (Poetry)– “The Waste Land”
• Other Harlem Renaissance writers– Claude McKay– Zora Neale Hurston – Arguing for the “New
Negro”- full citizen with equal rights
Wall Street’s Big Bull Market
• Some signs of disaster loom– Banks are failing
annually
– Florida boom killed by West Indian Hurricane
Wall Street’s Big Bull Market
• Stock speculation is rampant
• Buying on the margin-small down payment to buy stock
Wall Street’s Big Bull Market
• 1921- Bureau of the Budget- go over government spending
• Sec. of Treasury- Andrew Mellon
• Problems with High Taxes– Forces rich to invest in tax
exempt securities rather than business
– Discourage business, and actually bring in less revenue
Wall Street’s Big Bull Market
• Mellon makes tax reductions 1921-1926
• Spare the rich policies shift tax burden to middle class
• Reduced national debt by 10 billion
• Conservative historian love him, other say he should have taxed more during this prosperity