American Life in the Roaring Twenties Chapter 31

The Red Scare

  1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia created fear in America   Tiny Communist Party in

US   Laborers (unions) were

lumped together with communists.

The Red Scare   Attorney General A.

Mitchell Palmer conducted the Palmer Raids which rounded up nearly 6,000 “communists”.

  Some 249 communists were sent back to Russia on the “Soviet Ark”- S.O.S.

The Red Scare   The trial of Sacco

and Vanzetti was conducted in the height of the Red Scare and resulted in their being executed on questionable evidence.

  Prejudice judge/jury? Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft dodgers.

Case dragged on for 6 years

The Rebirth of the KKK

  Rebirth was due to American culture transforming- more diverse and modern

  Spread quickly through Midwest and “Bible Belt” South

  5 million members during the mid 1920s

  Collapsed suddenly in late 1920s

The Rebirth of the KKK   Anti

  Foreign   Catholic   Black   Jewish   Pacifist   Communist   Internationalist   Anti-Evolutionist   Bootlegger   Gambling   Adultery   Birth Control

The Rebirth of the KKK

 Pro  Anglo-Saxon  ”Native”  Protestant

The Rebirth of the KKK   Officials of the Klan

  Imperial Wizards   Grand Goblins   King Kleagles   Kreatures

 Chief warning was Cross Burning

Stemming the Foreign Flood

  1920-1921: 800,000 European immigrants

  “100% Americans” Did not like this

  Emergency Quota Act of 1921- limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 3% of the number of nationality who had been living in the United States in 1910

Stemming the Foreign Flood

  Immigration Act of 1924, changed the 1921 act to 1890 census and changed the limit from 3% to 2%.

  Purpose- to freeze America’s existing racial composition- which was largely N. European

  Closed to Japanese immigrants

  Exempt- Canadians and Latin Americans

Effects of Immigration Laws   By 1931- more foreigners

left than arrived   Quotas- sacrificed

tradition of freedom and opportunity

  Immigration Act of 1924- marked an end of an era of unrestricted immigration

  Continued problems with immigrants and labor unions

Prohibition   Also known as the Noble

Experiment (The 18th Amendment , later the Volstead Act)

  Prohibition outlawed the distilling and sale of liquor.

  Popular in the South/ West, not so popular in the East

  Hard to make a crime overnight out of something millions of people never regarded as a crime

Prohibition- Successes/Failures

  Successes-   Bank savings

increased   Absenteeism in

industry decreased   Less alcohol was

consumed than before prohibition

  Failures-   Difficult to enforce   Corner saloons

replaced with “speakeasies”

  Some “Bathtub” gin would blind or kill

  21st Amendment

Crime in the 1920s   Prohibition led to criminal

activities   Gangsters moved into

new areas- prostitution, gambling, narcotics, local labor unions

  Chicago was the best example of lawlessness   Al Capone- eventually

found guilty of income tax evasion

Crime in the 1920s

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

Al Capone

Scopes Monkey Trial

  Christian Fundamentalists v. Evolutionists

  Tennessee teacher John T. Scopes on trial for teaching evolution (represented by Clarence Darrow)

  Prosecution was led by W. J. Bryan.

  Scopes was found guilty and fined ($100)

  This trial illustrated the question of a changing people and society. Darrow and Bryan

The Mass Consumer Economy

  Tax policies of Andrew Mellon (Sec of Treasury) led to massive economic growth, lowered national debt

  Assembly Line- Henry Ford

  Manufacturers mastered problems of production- new focus- How do we find mass markets for our goods? ANSWER- advertising.

“When you’re through changing, you’re through.”

Bruce Barton- “founder of advertising”

The Mass Consumer Economy

 People consumed goods by buying on credit.

 Eventually bills come due!

  Lack of credit availability stalls the economy.

The Golden Age of Sports

Babe Ruth

Jack Dempsey

Red Grange

Automobile Power   Detroit became the

motorcar capital of America

  Henry Ford- “Fordism” and the “Tin Lizzie”

  Frederick Taylor- prominent inventor- eliminated wasted motion in industry- “Father of Scientific Management”

Secondary Industries

 Secondary to car production were:  Rubber  Glass  Fabrics  Highway

construction  Service Stations &

Garages  Petroleum

Effects of the Automobile

  Cars became agents of social change  Sense of freedom and equality, self-respect  More leisure hours- joyriding  Women were further freed from

dependence on men  More injury and death- 1 millionth car

accident death by 1951  “House of prostitution on wheels” for young

adults

Humans Develop Wings   First flight was by Orville

and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, 1903

  Planes were used during World War I

  Charles Lindbergh- Spirit of Louis (NY to Paris, 1927)   Popularized flying, strong

boost to the aviation industry

  Conquest of air- blessing or a curse?

The Radio

  Nov. 1920- KDKA radio broadcast

  Radio knitted the nation together   Brought families

together at home   Advertising on the

radio   Sports   Politicians   Music

Hollywood “The Star System”

  First movies   The Great Train Robbery   Birth of a Nation

  WWI aided the movie industry- propaganda

  The first “talkie” was The Jazz Singer (1927)

  Movie houses were called “Nickelodeons”

  Effects- became the new standard of American life, especially for immigrants

The Dynamic Decade   1920 census- for the first

time, more Americans lived in urban areas than rural areas

  Margaret Sanger- led birth control movement

  Alice Paul- National Woman’s Party (1923)- Equal Rights Amendment

  Flapper- symbolized independence, wild abandon   Bobbed dresses, rolled

stockings, cigarettes

Flappers

Margaret Sanger

Jazz

 Jazz began in New Orleans, moved into the North as African Americans migrated after WWI

 Charleston dance

The Harlem Renaissance   Harlem, NY   One of the largest

black communities in the world

  Langston Hughes   Marcus Garvey-

founder of the United Negro Improvement Association

The Bull Market   Buyers bought stocks “on

the margin” meant making only a small down payment

  Sec. of Treasury Andrew Mellon’s policies-   Businesslike move on the

economy   Reduce taxes on wealthy

(discouraged businesses)   Shift tax burden to middle

income groups   Reduced national debt by

$10 billion