chapter 31 (part i notes) (1919-1929 -...
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction Isolationism as a response to war
Shunning of “radical” and “un-American lifestyles”
New Technologies
Consumerism
Entertainment
Boston Herald Headlines 1920 “Bolshevist Plan for Conquest of America!”
“Bride Thinks Reds Kidnapped Missing Groom”
“I believe we should place them [the reds] all on a ship of stone, with sails of lead, and that their first stopping place should be hell.”
Red Scare Causes
Withdraw of Russia from WWI in 1918
Bolshevik call for worldwide overthrow of capitalism
4 million Americans walked off the job in 1919
Inspired by labor militancy in Russia and Western Europe
Progressives and socialist membership grew amongst: middle class, intelligentsia, immigrants, and African Americans
Socialist Party – 150,000 member 1920
1920 Election – Debbs received almost 1 million votes while imprisoned
5 million workers belonged to labor unions
Red Scare (1919-1920) Wave of political reaction and xenophobia
Small numbers of Americans were members of the communist party
Strikes put the nation on edge after the end of WWI
Communists were scapegoats for labor troubles
Bolsheviks were blamed for 1919
Billy Sunday “I had my way, I’d fill the jails so full of them that their feet
would stick out the window.”
Resulted in a nationwide crusade against left-wingers whose Americanism was suspect
Red Scare Effects Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer “Fighting Quaker” Palmer Raids - Utilized
Section Act to put 6,000 radicals in jail, many without bail and charges for a week(33 cities)
Confiscated three pistols and no bombs
Hired Hoover as his Special Assistant
A bomb exploded on Palmer’s lawn convinced Palmer to step up his prosecutions and deportations
Palmer Raids Video http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=WPA0250&SingleRecord=True
Red Scare Effects Cont… “Soviet Ark” 249 alleged alien radicals deported on the
Buford
September 1920 – Wall Street bomb killed 38 people, wounded several hundred
Several state legislatures passes criminal syndicalism laws Unlawful to proselytize violence for political change Critics cited infringement of free speech
IWW and radicals were vigorously prosecuted
Five Socialist Party member of NY State legislature were denied seats
Red Scare Effects Continued Conservative businesspeople denounced unions as
“Sovietism” in disguise
Sacco and Vanzetti Italian Immigrants convicted of the murders of a
Massachusetts paymaster and his guard
Judge was biased Sacco and Vanzetti were: Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft
dodgers
Liberals and radicals rallied to Sacco and Vanzetti’s defense
Case lasted six years until 1927
Evidence was not conclusive
Two men were electrocuted and became martyrs for “radicals”
Protest in London http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=WPA0265&SingleRecord=True
Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK Membership in the Ku Klux Klan grew in the early 20’s
Extremist and Ultra Conservativism
Anti: foreign, Catholic, African American, Jewish, pacifist, Communist, internationalist, revolutionist, bootlegger, gambling adultery, birth-control.
Pro: Anglo-Saxon, “native” American, and Protestant.
Grew in the Midwest and the “Bible Belt” South
Peaked in mid 1920s (5 million paid dues)
Congressional Investigation prosecuted embezzlement
Membership collapsed in the 1920s
Was an alarming manifestation of xenophobia, intolerance, and prejudice caused by peoples cowardly fears of the social change
Immigration Quotas 800,000 stepped ashore in
1920-1921 2/3 from Southern and
Eastern Europe
Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 Why? National Origins System -
Quota was set to 3% of the people of their nationality who had been living in the US in 1910 according to the US census Favorable to immigrants from
Southern and Eastern Europe, large numbers by 1910
Immigration Quotas Cont… Immigration Act of 1923
replaced 1921 Act National Origins Quota
limited to 2 % and now based on 1890 Census Limited Southern and
Eastern European Immigrants
United Kingdom – 666,000 est. and Italy 5,800 est.
Essentially ended Japanese immigration “Hate America” rallies in Japan Canadians and Latin
Americans were exempt - workers
End of An Era of Immigration By 1931, more immigrants left than arrived
Sacrificed tradition of freedom, opportunity, and ethnic diversity
During the 1800s 35 million immigrants arrived in the US, mostly from Europe
Patchwork of ethnic communities(i.e. Italians, Jewish, and Polish) remained – separated by language, religion, and customs
“Ethnic variety undermined class and political solidarity”
Detractors of Immigration Control Cultural Pluralists
Melting Pot would eliminate ethnic differences
Horace Kallen Ethnic differences would create a symphony, where each
immigrant community would harmonize with others while retaining it own identity
Randolph Bourne Stressed preservation of identity
US should serve as a vanguard of an international and multicultural age
John Dewey, Jane Addams, and Louis Brandeis supported cultural pluralism
Prohibition 18th Amendment – enforced by the Volstead Act “Make the World Safe for Hypocrisy” according to Pageant Support
Popular in South – whites wanted to keep stimulants away from the oppressed
Western Support – attacks on the vices of – public drunkenness, prostitution, corruption, and crime
Opposition Eastern Cities Recent immigrants
Law was unenforceable if the majority of Americans opposed the law
Prohibition Cont… Forsaking personal liberty
Legislators spoke or voted cry yet privately drank
Returning soldiers complained
Working class cheap beer vs. Wealthy Illicit Liquor
Dry Agents killed bystanders
Illegal Importing West Indies and Canada
Speakeasies replaced taverns
Bootlegging in the south gave rise to NASCAR
Positives - Bank savings increased, absenteeism on the job decreases
“Everybody calls me a racketeer. I call myself a businessman. When I sell liquor, it’s bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on a silver tray on Lake Shore drive, it hospitality?
The Golden Age of Gangsterism Illegal alcohol profits led to police bribery
Gang wars especially in the 1920s Over 500 mobsters were murdered
Arrests and convictions were minimal
Al Capone “Scarface” six years of illicit alcohol distribution made him a millionaire Careened through Chicago in his armor platted car with
bulletproof windows
Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929)
Served 10 years of an income tax sentence, released because of syphilis
Gangsterism Cont… Illegal gangster activities – gambling, narcotics, and
prostitutions
Merchants were forced to pay “protection money”
Windows could be smashed, employees beaten, trucks destroyed, employees beaten up
Racketeers invaded ranks of local labor unions as organizers and promoters
Organized Crime annual income was 12-18 billion, which was more than the income of the Washington gov.
Lindbergh Kidnapping Lindbergh baby abducted for $50,000 ransom, eventually
found murdered miles from Hopewell, NJ home 2,000 people abducted that year for ransom Lindbergh Law passed – made interstate abduction a death
penalty offense Bruno Hauptmann had over 13,000 marked bills and, put on
trial in Flemington, NJ. Convicted of murder and electrocuted after governor’s stay expired.
Protests occurred in the US and London Doubts surfaced about guilt, anti-German discrimination,
Widows sued New Jersey for wrongful death twice in the 1980s.
Encompassed many elements of the 1920s: gangsterism, immigrant discrimination, and the perils of prosperity.
Education Education in the 1920s made giant strides
Mores states were requiring students to remain in schools until 16 or 18
Proportion of 17 year olds who graduated almost doubled in 1920s, more than 1 in 4
John Dewey Columbia 1904 – 1930
Learning by doing
Experiential Learning Lab Schools – Learning by doing
New Age of Science Rockefeller Foundation virtually eradicated hookworm
Better nutrition and healthcare increased average life expectancy from 50 yrs in 1901 to 59 years in 1929
Religious fundamentalists opposed the teaching of Darwinian evolution Emphasized literal reading of the Bible
Monkey Trial (Tennessee vs. John Scopes) Scopes defended by Clarence Darrow
W.J. Bryan took stand, five day later died from a stroke
Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 (set asided on technicality)
Mass Consumption Economy Economy grew after 1921 Andrew Mellon served as Treasury Secretary – rapid
expansion of capital investment Advertising began as a means to continue mass
consumption Persuaded Americans to adopt consumption as an element of
American identity Bruce Barton – theorized that Jesus Christ was the greatest
adman of all time
Sports became big business – “Babe” Ruth, Jack Dempsey (million dollars in fight revenue)
Consumption and debt became common – refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, cars, and radios
Putting America on Rubber Tires Assembly line = mass production Henry Ford – supposedly produced a
new automobile every ten seconds Electricity fueled rapid industrial growth By 1930s Americans owned almost 30
million cars Frederick W. Taylor – Father of Scientific
Management Model T became the first affordable
vehicle Steadily reduced vehicle cost through
efficient production methods 1914 – 500,000th Model T 1930 – 2o million Model T’s By 1929 – 1 vehicle for every 4.9
Americans
Advent of the Gasoline Age Economic Impacts
Steel industry emerged – employed 6 mill. By 1930 New Industry – rubber, glass, fabrics, highways, service stations, and
garages Petroleum Industry – grew rapidly, CA, TX, and OK Railroads declined – supplanted by buses, cars, and trucks
Social Impacts Automobiles – luxury to necessity, developed into badge of freedom
and equality Produce quickly transported to cities Regional isolation lessened, social mobility increased, and gender roles
changed By late 1920s Americans owned more automobiles than bathtubs Autobuses allowed for the consolidation of schools and churches Suburbs spread from urban core
Gasoline Age Cont Negatives
By 1951 – 1 million Americans had died in a motor vehicle accident
More than killed in all the battlefields of the nation’s war to date.
Adults were concerned with the liabilities of teenagers in automobiles
Autos provided quick getaways for Gangsters
Positives
No horses = improved air and env. quality
Humans Develop Wings Wright Brothers
Bicycle mechanics
Kitty Hawk 12/17/1903 12 second flight at 120 feet
Utilized during WWI with no large impact
After WWI passenger lines with airmail contracts began to operate
Lindbergh “Lucky Lindy” first solo flight across Atlantic (1927)
By 30s and 40s plane travel was safer than highway travel
Isolation was becoming a dream
The Radio Revolution Marconi invented wireless radio
in the 1890s Used during WWI
Voice-carrying radio became a national phenomenon Advertisements became
common of US Private Radio Unlike state controlled radio of
Europe
Became a family and neighborhood pastime “Amos and Andy”
Companies and products became household names.
Sports, politicians, and symphonies utilized radio
Hollywood's Film Industry 1920s Nickelodeons “Great
Train Robbery” Discriminatory “Birth of a
Nation” Film industry truly emerged
in 1920s with WWI anti-German propaganda “Hang the Kaiser”
1927 – Jazz Singer (first talkie) starring Al Jolson
Movie stars commended more than the president
Diversity of the old world was diminished
The Dynamic Decade For the first time most American’s
lived in urban areas Women
Worked in low paying jobs (retail clerking and office typing)
Margaret Sanger led a birth control movement
Fundamentalists vs. Modernity Advertising
Advertisers exploited sexual appeal to sell everything from soap and tires
Sigmund Freud influenced modern thought In earlier days a kiss had been the
equivalent of marriage
Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance Diffused from New Orleans with
immigrating African Americans Jelly Roll Morton Joseph Joe King Oliver
Harlem Renaissance One of largest African
American communities Writers Claude McKay, Zora
Neal Hurston, Louis Armstrong and Eubie Blake
Marcus Garvey (United Negro Improvement Association) His efforts helped inspire the
Nation of Islam
New Generation of Writers Energetic and non WASP
H.L. Mencken “Bad Boy of Baltimore” American Mercury – criticized marriage, patriotism,
democracy, prohibition, the South, do-gooders, Rotarians, and middle-class American.
F Scott Fitzgerald Graduate of Princeton
Wrote – This Side of Paradise (1920) – became Bible of the young and the Great Gatsby – (pitfalls of social standing)
Theodore Dreiser wrote An American Tragedy – dealt with murder of pregnant working girl by her ambitious young boyfriend
New Generation of Writers Cont.. Ernest Hemingway
Sun Also Rises – told of disillusioned veterans of WWI A Farwell to Arms - about WWI war experience
Probing of Americans small town life – Sherwood Anderson Winesburg Ohio, Sinclair Lewis Main Street and Babbitt
William Faulkner Fictional chronicle of an imaginary county – Sound and the Fury, As
I Lay Dying, Abasalom, Abasalom!
Pound – Make It New T. S. Eliot Waste Land Eugene O’Neil
Theatrical Play – “Strange Interlude”
New York’s Greenwich Village
Architectural Innovation Frank Lloyd Wright
Building should blend with the landscape and not imitate Ancient Greece
Created the Prairie Style House
Designed many well known homes and buildings during career
Wall Street’s Big Bull Market Several hundred banks failed annually Florida Boom and Bust
Prinz Valdemar blocked the Miami Harbor Hurricanes devastated coast
National debt rocketed Speculators ran wild and bought large shares of stock National debt rocketed from the 1914 figure of 1.2 billion to
almost 24 billion in 1921 Republican Congress created the Bureau of the Budget. Mellon (Sec. of Treasury) reduced taxes created during wartime
In 1921 made 1 million paid 663,000 in taxes In 1926 made 1 million paid 200,000 in taxes Shifted tax burden from wealthy to middle class.
Wall Street Cont… Controversy of Mellon
Reduced national debt by 10 billion from about 26 billion to 16 billion
Critics believed debt should have been further reduced
Accused of encouraging the bull market
Refusal to collect national income taxes created more money for frenzied speculation that would contribute the collapse of the stock market.