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440

Normalcyand Good Times

1921–1929

. The Big Ideas ,SECTION 1: Presidential Politics

Societies change over time. President Calvin Coolidge tried to get the country back on track after the scandals of the Harding administration.

SECTION 2: A Growing EconomySocieties change over time. The United States experienced stunning economic growth during

the 1920s.

SECTION 3: The Policies of ProsperitySocieties change over time. While the economic policies of the U.S. government led to prosperity for

many during the 1920s, these policies were not without consequences.

The American Vision: Modern Times Video The Chapter 8 video “Tuningin to Radio in the 1920s,” describes the growth of a mass media culture in the United States and the importance of the radio.

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1920• Women vote in

national electionfor the first time

1921• Washington Conference

convenes

• Farm Bloc organized inU.S. Congress

1923• Hitler’s Munich

coup fails

1924• Leader of Soviet Union,

Vladimir Lenin, dies

1923• Teapot Dome scandal

erupts

• Ford Motor Companygains 50 percent of thenew car market

• President Harding dies

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▲ ▲

▼ ▼1925• Soldier-leader Reza

Khan pronouncedshah of Iran

1921 1923 1925

Harding1921–1923

Coolidge1923–1929

1924• Dawes Plan negotiated

with France, Britain, andGermany

• Calvin Coolidgeelected president

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441

Opening Night, Ziegfeld Follies by Howard A. Thain captures the excitementsurrounding the opening of a new musical revue in New York City.

▲

1928• Kellogg-Briand

Pact proposesan end to war

1926• British General Strike

paralyzes the British economy

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▼ ▼1929• Lateran Treaties with Italy

make the Vatican sovereignterritory

1929• U.S. radio sales

exceed $800million

1927 1929

Hoover1929–1933

1927• 15 millionth

Model T built HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the American Vision:Modern Times Web site at

andclick on Chapter Overviews—Chapter 8 to preview chapterinformation.

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Did you know that summarizing happens while you are reading, notjust after you have finished reading? Good readers stop periodically

to summarize information in their minds or on paper. This means theyrestate important ideas using only a few words. Summarizing helps thereaders make sure they understand what they have read. It also helpsgood readers predict what might come next in the text.

Use the natural breaks in the text, such as just before a new heading, as agood point to stop and summarize. This break is the author’s way of tellingyou the information is complete for the heading you just finished reading.Another good place to summarize is at the end of a paragraph that containsa lot of information. As you summarize, consider the facts you learned, thequestions you posed, and the connections and inferences you made as youread. These facts and thoughts should lead you to a summary statement.

Read the passage below. While you are reading, note the facts and your thinkingabout those facts on a sheet of paper.

Cars revolutionized American life. Althoughmany small businesses declined during the 1920s,the automobile created new small-businessopportunities for such enterprises as garages and gas stations.

The automobile eased the isolation of rural life,putting towns within reach of many farmers andthe countryside a mere ride away for city dwellers.Cars also enabled more people to live farther fromwork. An entirely new kind of consumer andworker, the auto commuter, appeared. Commuterslived in growing suburban communities and droveto work in the city. (page 451)

Your summary might be similar to this: Thegrowth of the car industry created new businessesand changed people’s lifestyles, especially withregard to where they lived and worked.

As you read, stop periodically to summarize the information the text hasprovided. Try summarizing on paper and in your mind. As you summarizeinformation, with your teacher’s permission, talk to other students to findout how they summarized a specific section.

Summarizing

SUMMARIZINGSummarizing is critical toeffective note taking. Use aCornell note-taking system tocapture important facts andsummarize information.

442 CHAPTER 8 Normalcy and Good Times

As you read the text under “The Rise ofNew Industries” and “The ConsumerSociety” on pages 450–454, ask yourselfquestions similar to the ones above aboutnew industries. Consider the impact newindustries and technological changes hadon other industries and the U.S. economy.

Conducting cost-benefit analyses and applying basic economic indicators willhelp you analyze and understand the economic behavior of the U.S. economy.

When you were younger, you probably received an allowance that was the sameamount every week. As you get older, you’re likely to be paid by the job. In otherwords, you can make more money by taking on more jobs, such as babysitting, mow-ing lawns, and washing cars. When you charge $5 to wash a car and you wash 1 car in2 hours, your hourly earnings are fairly low. When you wash 4 cars in 2 hours, yourpay rate increases. Of course, you still have to do a good job. If the quality of yourwork suffers as you get faster, you will lose customers and your earnings will decrease.

Historians and economists recognize that economic growth is based on eco-nomic performance indicators, such as the rate of production, distribution, and useof goods and services. Through their analysis of the use of goods and services, his-torians and economists determine whether production and distribution are operat-ing with little waste or at a savings.

Read this passage from your textbook on the impact of the assembly line on the productionand the price of Model Ts.

In 1908, the Model Ts first year, it sold for $850. In 1914 mass production reduced theprice to $490. Three years later, improved assembly-line methods and a high volume ofsales brought the price down to $360. By 1924 Model Ts were selling for $295, and Fordsold millions of them. (pages 450–451)

Why do you think the Model T got cheaper as time went on? Do you think that the amount of cars sold increased or decreased over this period of time? What do you think the impact of mass production is on an industry? What newindustries or products needed to be created as a result of the availability of cars for the average American? How has mass production influenced the economy of the United States?

443

Historical Interpretation As you study history, you should learn to show the connec-tions, casual and otherwise, between particular historical events and the larger social, economic, and political trends and developments.

Analyzing Economic BehaviorAnalysis Skill Standard H16

Guide to Reading

ConnectionIn the previous chapter, you learnedabout the social and cultural changesthat occurred during the 1920s. In thissection, you will discover how PresidentCoolidge focused the country on busi-ness and personal virtue after the scan-dals of the Harding Administration.

• After appointing several friends to posi-tions in the government, PresidentHarding endured a presidency plaguedby scandal. (p. 445)

• Calvin Coolidge steered the countrytoward an emphasis on business andpersonal virtue. (p. 447)

Content Vocabularynormalcy, immunity

Academic Vocabularypresume, integrity, percent

People and Terms to IdentifyOhio Gang, Albert B. Fall, Teapot Domescandal, Progressive Party, Robert M. La Follette

Reading Objectives• Describe the corruption that tainted

the Harding administration.• Explain how Calvin Coolidge restored

public confidence after assuming the presidency.

Reading StrategyTaking Notes As you read aboutPresidents Harding and Coolidge, use themajor headings of the section to createan outline similar to the one below.

Preview of Events

Presidential Politics

Presidential PoliticsI. The Harding Administration

A.B.

II.A.B.

1920Women vote in national election for the first time;Warren G. Harding elected president

✦1926

1923Teapot Dome scandal; Harding dies;Calvin Coolidge becomes president

1924Coolidge elected presidentin his own right

✦1920 ✦1922 ✦1924

. The Big Idea ,Societies change over time. While in office, President Harding appointedmany friends to government positions. This led to several scandals and accusa-tions of corruption. Following Harding’s death, Calvin Coolidge became presi-dent and worked to restore integrity to the presidency. Coolidge continued thenation’s expanding prosperity and put a strong focus on business. WithDemocrats divided over a candidate, President Coolidge easily won the 1924election.

The following are the mainHistory–Social Science Standardscovered in this section.

11.2 Students analyze the relation-ship among the rise of industrializa-tion, large-scale rural-to-urbanmigration, and massive immigrationfrom Southern and Eastern Europe.

11.2.9 Understand the effect of politicalprograms and activities of theProgressives (e.g., federal regulation ofrailroad transport, Children’s Bureau, theSixteenth Amendment, TheodoreRoosevelt, Hiram Johnson).

11.5 Students analyze the major political,social, economic, technological, and culturaldevelopments of the 1920s.

11.5.1 Discuss the policies of PresidentsWarren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and HerbertHoover.


The Harding Administration

After appointing several friends to positionsin the government, President Harding endured a presi-dency plagued by scandal.

Reading Connection If you were captain of a team andhad to choose between your friend or a better player for ateammate, whom would you choose? Read on to learn aboutthe difficulties Warren G. Harding faced as a result of poorchoices for his government appointments.

The oldest of eight children, Warren G. Hardingwas born in 1865 in Corsica, Ohio. As an adult, hewas active in civic and fraternal organizations, andhe also published the Marion Daily Star. In1898 Harding was elected to the Ohio legislature. Hefit in comfortably with the powerful Ohio Republicanpolitical machine and won election as lieutenant gov-ernor in 1903. He failed in his bid for governor in1910 but was elected to the United States Senate fouryears later. After serving one term in the Senate,Harding ran for and won the presidency with CalvinCoolidge as vice president in 1920.

In August 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge wastaking a short vacation at his family’s homestead inPlymouth Notch, Vermont. The straitlaced Coolidgewent to bed at 9:00 as usual on August 2, but at 2:30A.M., his father woke him. “I noticed that his voicetrembled,” Coolidge said later. “I knew that somethingof the gravest nature had occurred.” After learningthat President Warren G. Harding was dead, Coolidgedressed hurriedly and went downstairs. Shortly after-ward, in a small, sparsely furnished room lit by a flick-ering kerosene lamp, the elder Coolidge, a farmer andjustice of the peace, got out the family Bible andadministered the presidential oath of office to his son.Later, while painting a portrait of the new president,artist Charles Hopkinson asked, “Mr. Coolidge, whatwas the first thought that came into your mind whenyou were told that Mr. Harding was dead and thepresidency was yours?” Coolidge replied, “I thought Icould swing it.”

—adapted from Flappers, Bootleggers, “Typhoid Mary” and the Bomb

Calvin Coolidge assumed the presidency during atime when Americans yearned to go back to simplerand steadier times after the carnage of World War I.Coolidge’s predecessor, Warren G. Harding, had tai-lored his presidency to this goal.

A Self-Doubter in the White House With his sil-ver hair and impressive bearing, Harding looked likea president, but he thought he lacked the intellectualqualifications for the job. “I have such a sure under-standing of my own inefficiency,” he once said, “thatI should really be ashamed to presume myself fittedto reach out for a place of such responsibility.”

Despite such doubts, Harding’s political philoso-phy fit in well with the times. He ran on the cam-paign slogan to return to normalcy, or a return to“normal” life after the war. Harding’s charm andgenial manner endeared him to the nation. The quietgloom of President Wilson’s last years was replacedby the open, easygoing atmosphere of the first daysof the Harding administration. On the day of his elec-tion, he went out to play a round of golf—a confi-dent, relaxed gesture.

The Ohio Gang Harding made several distin-guished appointments to the cabinet, including for-mer Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes assecretary of state, former Food Administrator HerbertHoover as secretary of commerce, and businesstycoon Andrew Mellon as secretary of the treasury.

Many of Harding’s other appointments, however,were disastrous. He gave many cabinet posts andother high-level jobs to friends and political alliesfrom Ohio. Harding named Charles “Doc” Sawyerfrom Marion, Ohio, as White House physician, a postthat came with the rank of brigadier general.

Calvin Coolidge (right) being sworn in as president after his 1924 election

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CHAPTER 8 Normalcy and Good Times 445

Harding made his boyhood friend Daniel Crissingerchairman of the Federal Reserve Board and selectedColonel Charles R. Forbes—another Ohio acquain-tance—to head the Veterans Bureau. Harding feltmore comfortable among his old poker-playingfriends, known as the Ohio Gang, than he didaround such sober and serious people as HerbertHoover. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the daughter ofTheodore Roosevelt, was a keen observer ofWashington society. She wrote that it was common tofind the Ohio Gang in the White House study, andhere she describes a typical scene:

“The air [would be] heavy with tobacco smoke,trays with bottles containing every imaginable brandof whiskey . . . cards and poker chips at hand—a general atmosphere of waistcoat unbuttoned, feet on desk, and spittoons alongside.”

—quoted in The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932

The Ohio Gang did more than drink, smoke, andplay poker with the president. Some members usedtheir positions to sell government jobs, pardons fromcriminal convictions, and protection from prosecu-tion. Forbes sold scarce medical supplies from veter-ans hospitals and kept the money for himself, costingthe taxpayers over $200 million. When Hardinglearned what was going on, he complained privatelythat he had been betrayed. He said that he had notroubles with his enemies, but his friends were a dif-ferent story: “They’re the ones that keep me walkingthe floor nights!”

In June 1923, amid the scandal in the VeteransBureau and rumors of other unethical behavior,Harding and the First Lady left to tour the West. Enroute from Alaska to California, he became ill withwhat was probably a heart attack. He died in SanFrancisco on August 2, shortly before the news of theForbes scandal broke.

The Teapot Dome Scandal Other scandals alsocame to light. Harding’s secretary of the interior,Albert B. Fall, secretly allowed private interests tolease lands containing U.S. Navy oil reserves atTeapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California. Inreturn, Fall received bribes from these private inter-ests totaling more than $300,000. Eventually theSenate investigated what the newspapers named theTeapot Dome scandal, and Secretary Fall became thefirst cabinet officer in history to go to prison.

The last Harding administration scandal involvedAttorney General Harry Daugherty, Harding’s for-mer campaign manager. It concerned a Germanowned American company that the American gov-ernment had seized during World War I as enemyproperty. To acquire the company and its valuablechemical patents, a German agent bribed a “go-between” politician, and a portion of the bribe ended up in an Ohio bank account thatDaugherty controlled.

Under investigation by his own JusticeDepartment, Daugherty refused to turn overrequested files and bank records. He also refused totestify under oath, claiming immunity, or freedomfrom prosecution, on the grounds that he had hadconfidential dealings with the president. Daugherty’sactions disgusted the new president, CalvinCoolidge, who demanded his resignation. The tat-tered reputation of Harding’s presidency dissolvedin scandal and corruption.

Describing Why was Harding’semphasis on “normalcy” an effective campaign strategy?

Reading Check

Teapot Dome Scandal In this cartoon, Democrats are enjoying thetroubles the Teapot Dome scandal has caused for the GOP elephant.Who is shown being dragged along by the scandal? Why?

Analyzing Political Cartoons


“Silent Cal” Takes Over Coolidge was very differ-ent from Harding. Harding had enjoyed the easy con-versation and company of old friends. Coolidge,joked a critic, could be “silent in five languages.” Withhis simple and frugal manner, he contrasted not onlywith Harding but also with the spirit of the time, thebooming, materialistic era of the Roaring Twenties.

Coolidge quickly distanced himself from theHarding administration. He named Harlan FiskeStone, dean of the Columbia Law School, to replaceDaugherty as attorney general. He also asked themost capable cabinet members—Hughes, Mellon,and Hoover—to stay on.

Coolidge’s philosophy of government was simple.He believed that prosperity rested on businessleadership and that part of his job as president was tomake sure that government interfered with businessand industry as little as possible. He once said,“Four-fifths of all our troubles in this life would dis-appear if we would only sit down and keep still.”

Calmly and cautiously, Coolidge worked torestore integrity to the presidency. Coolidge’s presi-dency avoided crises and continued the nation’sexpanding prosperity. Coolidge easily won theRepublican Party’s nomination for president in 1924.

The Coolidge Administration

Calvin Coolidge steered the country towardan emphasis on business and personal virtue.

Reading Connection Do you think Coolidge’s motto,“The chief business of the American people is business,” isappropriate for today? Why or why not? Read on to discoverhow Coolidge’s administration handled the issues of the time.

Just as Harding’s promise of “normalcy” hadappealed to war-weary voters in 1920, the virtue ofhis successor came as a welcome change from the tur-moil of the Harding administration’s corruption. Bornon July 4, 1872, John Calvin Coolidge grew up on theVermont farm that his family had worked for fivegenerations. While governor of Massachusetts,Coolidge rose to national prominence for his handlingof the Boston police strike in 1919. Shortly afterward,he was asked to run as Harding’s vice president.

Return to Normalcy Warren Harding didsome of his campaigning from his front porchin Ohio. Why do you think Harding’s slogan,“Return to Normalcy,” was successful?

History

Inkwell depicting Warren Harding


The Election of 1924 Even though the scandals ofthe Harding administration presented the Democratswith a ready-made issue, they lost the chance for vic-tory. Deeply divided between their urban Easternconstituency and their rural following in the Southand West, the Democrats had difficulty agreeing on anominee. They finally compromised on John W.Davis of West Virginia after 103 attempts to findsomeone acceptable to a majority of the delegates.

The Republicans effectively campaigned on the slo-gan “Keep Cool with Coolidge,” and they urgedAmericans to retain the party that favored business.

In his economic policies, Coolidgealigned himself—and the govern-ment—with prosperity and big busi-ness. Not everyone was content tochoose between the Republicans andDemocrats. Defectors from both par-ties joined farm, labor, and religiousactivists to form the new ProgressiveParty, nominating Wisconsin senatorRobert M. La Follette as their candi-date. Although La Follette captured 16.6percent of the popular vote, or a total ofalmost 5 million, he and Davis com-bined could not keep the Republicansfrom winning the election. Coolidgewon easily with more than half the pop-ular vote and 382 electoral votes.

In a speech to the American Societyof Newspaper Editors in 1925, Coolidge said, “Thechief business of the American people is business.The man who builds a factory builds a temple. Theman who works there worships there.” The WallStreet Journal joyously exclaimed, “Never before, hereor anywhere else, has a government been so com-pletely fused with business.” By avoiding war,reform, and scandal, Coolidge promised to give the United States the normalcy Harding had failed to deliver.

Summarizing How did CalvinCoolidge restore public confidence after becoming president?

Reading Check

Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: presume, nor-

malcy, immunity, integrity, percent.2. People and Terms Identify: Ohio

Gang, Albert B. Fall, Teapot Dome scandal, Robert M. La Follette.

3. Evaluate the effects of the TeapotDome scandal on citizens’ views of the federal government.

Reviewing Big Ideas4. Explaining How did the Ohio Gang

tarnish the Harding Administration?

Critical Thinking5. Interpreting How did the Democrats

lose the chance for victory in the election of 1924?

6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to compareand contrast the politics and presiden-cies of Harding and Coolidge.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Photographs Examine the

photograph of Calvin Coolidge on thispage. How did Coolidge’s actionsdemonstrate effective leadership fol-lowing the Harding administration?

Writing About History8. Expository Writing Imagine you are

a newspaper reporter during PresidentHarding’s term. Write an article break-ing the news of the Teapot Dome scandal. CA 11WA2.4a

Cool Coolidge President Coolidge believed the nation would run moresmoothly if the government was less involved. How did the public react to Coolidge’s message on Election Day?

History

Politics Presidency

Harding

Coolidge

For help with the concepts in this section of AmericanVision: Modern Times go to andclick on Study Central.

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Study CentralHISTORY

Culver Pictures



Guide to Reading

A Growing Economy

Industry Society

Changes in 1920s

1920First commercialradio broadcast

✦1926

1922Congress passesFordney-McCumber Act

1923Ford gains 50 percentof the new car market

1927The 15 millionth Ford Model Trolls off the assembly line

1929U.S. radio salesexceed $800 million

✦1920 ✦1923 ✦1929Preview of Events

ConnectionIn the previous section, you learned aboutthe Harding and Coolidge administrations.In this section, you will read about theeconomic growth and prosperity thecountry experienced during the 1920s.

• Mass production and the assembly lineallowed new industries, such as auto-mobile and airplane manufacturing, togrow. (p. 450)

• Easily available credit and advertisingcombined to create a nation of con-sumers eager for new goods. (p. 453)

• Increases in productivity and decreasesin foreign markets led to lower pricesfor farmers. (p. 455)

Content Vocabularymass production, assembly line, welfarecapitalism, open shop

Academic Vocabularyinnovation, consumer, structure

People and Terms to IdentifyModel T, Charles Lindbergh, NationalBroadcasting Company, ColumbiaBroadcasting System

Reading Objectives• Analyze how the growing importance

of the automobile and other new indus-tries improved the U.S. standard ofliving.

• Analyze the growing economic crisis infarming in the 1920s.

Reading StrategyOrganizing As you read about thebooming era of the 1920s, complete agraphic organizer to analyze the causesof economic growth and prosperity inthe 1920s.


the resulting prosperity and effect on the Americanlandscape.

. The Big Idea ,Societies change over time. During the 1920s, mass production and theassembly line revolutionized industry and society. Wages increased and workhours decreased, providing people with more time and more money to spend onnew consumer goods. The growing automobile industry gave rise to new busi-nesses and eased the isolation of rural populations. The airline and radio indus-tries also expanded. Advertising became an important tool for selling goods, andmore people began to purchase items on credit. While many people benefitedfrom the prosperous economy, farmers suffered from falling agricultural priceswhen technological advances increased yields.


11.2.1 Know the effects of industrial-ization on living and working condi-

tions, including the portrayal ofworking conditions and food safety in

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.

11.4.5 Analyze the political, economicand social ramifications of World War I

on the home front.

11.5.1 Discuss the policies of PresidentsWarren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and

Herbert Hoover.

11.5.4 Analyze the passage of theNineteenth Amendment and the changing

role of women in society.

11.5.6 Trace the growth and effects of radioand movies and their role in the worldwide

diffusion of popular culture.

11.5.7 Discuss the rise of mass production tech-niques, the growth of cities, the impact of new

technologies (e.g., the automobile, electricity), and

The Rise of New Industries

Mass production and the assembly lineallowed new industries, such as automobile and air-plane manufacturing, to grow.

Reading Connection How would businesses, govern-ments, and your family be affected if airline travel did not exist?Read on to learn how the transportation industry changed dur-ing the 1920s and 1930s.

The technological innovations of the late 1800scontinued to show their effects into the next century.None of them, though, had a greater impact than theautomobile.

At around 2:00 A.M. on June 4, 1896, Henry Fordand his friend Jim Bishop readied Ford’s “horselesscarriage” for a test. The shop doors were too small forthe contraption to pass through, so Ford immediatelyseized a sledgehammer and began knocking out anopening in the brick. Ford later recalled the scene thatfollowed:

“Mr. Bishop had his bicycle ready to ride ahead and warn drivers of horse-drawn vehicles—if indeedany were to be met with at such an hour. . . . I set the choke and spun the flywheel. As the motor roared and sputtered to life, I climbed aboard andstarted off. . . .”

There were many such trips in the following days.Bishop would bicycle ahead, stopping at saloons and

stores to warn people that theyshould come out and hold theirhorses. Many of the onlookersresponded by calling out, “Crazy

Henry!” As he climbed out of thecar, Ford invariably responded,

“Yes, crazy. Crazy like a fox.”

—adapted from The Fords: An American Epic

Although neither Henry Ford nor Jim Bishop real-ized it at the time, “Crazy Henry’s” horseless car-riage would revolutionize American transportationand with it American society. By the 1920s, the auto-mobile had become an accepted part of Americanlife. In a 1925 survey conducted in Muncie, Indiana,21 out of 26 families who owned cars did not havebathtubs with running water. Explaining why herfamily decided a car was more important than indoorplumbing, a farm wife said, “You can’t ride to townin a bathtub.”

The automobile was just one part of a rising stan-dard of living that Americans experienced in the 1920s. Real per capita earnings, essentiallyunchanged during the previous 30 years, soared 22percent. Meanwhile, as Americans’ wages increased,their work hours decreased. In 1923 U.S. Steel cut itsdaily work shift from 12 hours to 8 hours. In 1926Henry Ford cut the workweek for his employeesfrom six days to five, and International Harvester, amaker of trucks, tractors, and other farm machinery,instituted an annual two-week paid vacation foremployees.

At the same time, the rise of mass production, orlarge-scale product manufacturing usually done bymachinery, created more supply and reduced con-sumer costs. This formula reshaped the Americaneconomy. Within this prosperous and productiveatmosphere, innovation thrived and new indus-tries emerged.

The Assembly Line Another major industrialdevelopment enormously increased manufacturingefficiency. First adopted by carmaker Henry Ford, theassembly line divided operations into simple tasksthat unskilled workers could do and cut unnecessarymotion to a minimum. In 1913 Ford installed the firstmoving assembly line at his plant in Highland Park,Michigan. By the following year, workers were build-ing automobiles every 93 minutes. Previously, thetask had taken 12 hours. By 1925 a Ford car wasrolling off the line every 10 seconds. “The way tomake automobiles,” Ford said, “is to make one auto-mobile like another . . . to make them come throughthe factory all alike, just as one pin is like another pinwhen it comes from the pin factory.”

Ford’s assembly-line product was the Model T —affectionately called the “Tin Lizzie” or “Flivver.” In1908, the Model T’s first year, it sold for $850. In 1914mass production reduced the price to $490. Threeyears later, improved assembly-line methods and ahigh volume of sales brought the price down to $360.By 1924 Model Ts were selling for $295, and Ford sold

Henry Ford

➤

millions of them. His business philosophy was simple:lower the cost per car and thereby increase the volumeof sales. “Every time I reduce the charge for our car byone dollar,” he boasted, “I get a thousand new buyers.”In this way, Ford made the automobile available to mil-lions of American consumers.

Ford also increased his workers’ wages in 1914 toan unprecedented $5 a day and reduced the workdayto eight-hour shifts. Ford took these dramatic steps tobuild up workers’ loyalty and to undercut unionorganizers.

There were strings attached, however, to the wageincrease. Ford created a “Sociological Department,”which set requirements workers had to meet. Forinstance, the common practice of renting living spaceto nonfamily members was strictly forbidden.Investigators visited employees’ homes to verify theireligibility and to see that they spent their wages inapproved ways. Workers who transgressed could bedisqualified from extra pay, suspended, or even fired.

The low prices made possible by Ford’s mass-production methods not only created an immensemarket for his cars but also spawned imitators. Bythe mid-1920s, other car manufacturers, notably

TheAssemblyLineThe idea of an assemblyline had existed beforeHenry Ford, but he helpedpopularize its use in manu-facturing. Ford combinedsub-assembly lines intoone continuously movingline, which was positionedat waist level to reduceback strain. Ford’sHighland Park factory fea-tured a multistoried assem-bly line that reduced theconstruction time of a sin-gle Model T from 12 hours,8 minutes to 1 hour, 33minutes. How did Ford’sassembly techniqueaffect the price of hisproduct?

Tires were assembledand delivered down-stairs using chutes.

1

Engines and gas tankswere assembled at otherends of the factory floorand delivered to the chassissub-assembly..

2

Automobile bodies wereassembled and dropped ontothe separately-assembled chas-sis with a pully.

1

2

3

Automobile bodies wereassembled and dropped ontothe separately-assembled chas-sis with a pully.

3

In 1914 Ford Motor Companyproduced 308,162 automobiles—more than all other auto manu-facturers combined.

General Motors and Chrysler, competed successfullywith Ford.

The auto industry spurred growth in other indus-tries, such as rubber, plate glass, nickel, and lead.Automaking alone consumed 15 percent of thenation’s steel, and the flood of cars stimulated atremendous expansion of the petroleum industry.

The Social Impact of the Automobile Henry Fordwas the force behind a social revolution related to theautomobile. He almost single-handedly changed theauto from a toy of the wealthy to an affordable neces-sity for the middle class.

Cars revolutionized American life. Althoughmany small businesses declined during the 1920s, theautomobile created new small-business opportuni-ties for such enterprises as garages and gas stations.

The automobile eased the isolation of rural life, put-ting towns within reach of many farmers and the coun-tryside a mere ride away for city dwellers. Cars alsoenabled more people to live farther from work. Anentirely new kind of consumer and worker, the autocommuter, appeared. Commuters lived in growingsuburban communities and drove to work in the city.


The Consumer Goods Industry Many other newgoods came on the market to take advantage of risingdisposable income. Americans bought such innova-tions as electric razors, disposable facial tissues, frozenfoods, and home hair dye.

Many of the new products were created for thehome. As indoor plumbing became more common,Americans’ concern for hygiene spawned the devel-

opment of numerous house-hold cleaning products. Byappealing to people’s healthconcerns, advertisers wereable to convince homemakersto buy cleansers to protecttheir families from disease.

New appliances adver-tised as labor-savers changedthe home. Electric irons, vacuum cleaners, washingmachines, refrigerators, gasstoves, and improved glasscookware changed the waypeople cleaned their homesand prepared meals.

Another lucrative category of consumer productsfocused on Americans’ concerns with fashion, youth-ful appearance, and success in personal and businessendeavors. Mouthwash, deodorants, cosmetics, andperfumes became popular products in the 1920s.

The Airline Industry After the successful flight ofthe Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the avia-tion industry began to develop rapidly. Leading theway was American inventor Glenn Curtiss. Curtissowned a motorcycle company in Hammondsport,New York. Fascinated by airplanes, he agreed in 1907to become director of experiments at the AerialExperiment Association, an organization founded byAlexander Graham Bell.

Within a year, Curtiss had invented ailerons—sur-faces attached to wings that can be tilted to steer theplane. Ailerons made it possible to build rigid wingsand much larger aircraft. They are still used on air-craft today. In 1912 Curtiss designed the first flyingboat. In 1919 one of his flying boats became the firstaircraft to cross the Atlantic.

Curtiss’s company began building aircraft, and itmade the first airplane sales in the United States. Thecompany grew from a single factory to a hugeindustrial enterprise during World War I, as ordersflooded in from allied governments for his biplanesand engines. Although Curtiss retired in 1920, hisinventions made possible the airline industry thatemerged in the 1920s.

After entrepreneurs such as Curtiss started build-ing practical aircraft, the federal government beganto support the airline industry. President Wilson’spostmaster general had introduced the world’s firstregular airmail service in 1918 by hiring pilots to fly

i n H i s t o r y

Bessie Coleman c. 1892–1926

Bessie Coleman was the firstAfrican American woman to receivea pilot’s license and the first tobecome a stunt pilot. She performedin her first air show in September1922 in Garden City, Long Island.

Coleman was born in Atlanta,Texas, to an African American motherand a Choctaw father. Too poor toattend college for more than oneterm, she moved to Chicago to become a pilot. No flight school sheapplied to, however, was willing to admit an African American. Withthe help of a Chicago publisher, Coleman then went to France totrain. Back home, she championed the African American causethrough her public statements and impressive flying feats.

Coleman’s achievements inspired the founding of Chicago’sCoffey School of Aeronautics. Its graduates helped train the U.S. military’s first African American pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen, whoserved with distinction in World War II.

Amelia Earhart1897–1937

Amelia Earhart, perhaps theworld’s most celebrated woman pilot,saw her first airplane at the IowaState Fair when she was 10 years old.She was unimpressed: “It was a thingof rusty wire and wood and not at allinteresting. . . .” In her early 20s,however, she attended a California“aerial meet,” a fateful decision.

Known for promoting women’s fly-ing, Earhart seemed destined for celebrity from early on. By 1932she was flying solo across the Atlantic.

Earhart’s most daring flight was her last. In 1937 she set out to flyaround the world with her navigator. Two-thirds of the trip was cov-ered when their plane disappeared. On the trip, she had written herhusband, “Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. . . . I wantto do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as menhave tried.”

Student WebActivity Visit theAmerican Vision:Modern Times Web siteatand click on StudentWeb Activities—Chapter 8 for an activ-ity on politics andeconomic in the 1920s.

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HISTORY

452 CHAPTER 8 Normalcy and Good Times(l)CORBIS, (r)Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College


mail between Washington, D.C., and New York. In1919 the Post Office expanded airmail service acrossthe continent. The aviation industry received an eco-nomic boost in 1925 with the passage of the KellyAct, which authorized postal officials to contractwith private airplane operators to carry mail.

In 1926 the aviation industry received another boostwith the passage of the Air Commerce Act, which pro-vided federal aid for building airports. It was theextraordinary transatlantic solo flight of former airmailpilot Charles Lindbergh in 1927, however, thatdemonstrated the possibilities of aviation and wonpopular support for commercial flight. By the end of1928, 48 commercial airlines were serving 355 Amer-ican cities.

To increase flying, advertisers praised the benefitsof commercial flying for business executives, as in this1928 ad for the Ford Motor Company’s “Trimotor”plane: “When the occasion comes for your first timeup, it will not be to ‘joy-ride’ in an antiquated andhazardous machine; but far more probably it will beto reach some distant meeting-place in advance ofbusiness competition!”

The Radio Industry In 1912 Edwin Armstrong, anAmerican engineer, invented a special circuit thatmade long-range radio transmission of voice andmusic practical. The radio industry began a few yearslater. In November 1920, the Westinghouse Companybroadcast the news of Harding’s landslide electionvictory from station KDKA in Pittsburgh—one of thefirst public broadcasts in history. That success per-suaded Westinghouse to open other stations. In 1926the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) estab-lished a permanent network of stations to distributedaily programs. By 1927 almost 700 stations dottedthe country, and the Federal Radio Commission wasestablished to regulate them. Sales of radio equip-ment skyrocketed from $12.2 million in 1921 to $842.5million in 1929, by which time 10 million radio setswere in use in the United States.

In 1928 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)assembled a coast-to-coast network of stations to rivalNBC. The two networks sold advertising time andhired popular musicians, actors, and comedians fromvaudeville, movies, and the nightclub circuit to appearon their shows. In 1928 Americans experienced com-plete coverage of the first presidential election cam-paign conducted over the airwaves, when the radionetworks sold more than $1 million in advertisingtime to the Republican and Democratic Parties.

Analyzing How did technologicalinnovations such as the assembly line impact the nature of work?

Reading Check

The Consumer Society

Easily available credit and advertisingcombined to create a nation of consumers eager for new goods.

Reading Connection Have you ever purchased some-thing with credit or bought an item because of advertising?Read on to discover the beginnings of the widespread con-sumer culture in America.

Higher wages and shorter workdays resulted in adecade-long buying spree that kept the economybooming. Shifting from traditional attitudes of thriftand prudence, Americans in the 1920s enthusiasti-cally accepted their new role as consumers.

Easy Credit A major aspect of the economic boomwas the growth of individual borrowing. The pros-perity of the 1920s gave many Americans the confi-dence to go into debt to buy new consumer goods.

Credit had been available before the boom, butmost Americans had considered debt to be shameful.Now, however, American attitudes toward debtstarted changing as people began believing in theirability to pay their debts over time. Many listened tothe sales pitch, “Buy now and pay in easy install-ments,” and racked up debts for the family car, radio,furniture, washing machine, and vacuum cleaner.Americans bought 75 percent of their radios and

Washing machine advertisement➤


Finance andMiscellaneous

16.1%

Government9.6%

Services11.6%

Trade13.6%

Transportation andOther Public Utilities

9.8%

ContractConstruction

4.4%

Manufacturing21.9%

Mining2.5%

Agriculture10.5%

Percentage of National IncomeGenerated by Industry, 1919–1928

Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.

Farm Wages

Source: Historical Statistics of the United States:Colonial Times to 1970.

Mon

thly

Wag

es(in

cludi

ng ro

oman

d bo

ard)

19221920 1924 1926 1928 1930

$30$35$40$45$50$55

Year

1. Interpreting Graphs How far did farm wages fallbetween 1920 and 1930?

2. Understanding Cause and Effect What caused thedecline in wages? Do you think farmers could havedone anything to prevent this?

60 percent of their automobiles on the installmentplan. Some started buying on credit at a faster ratethan their incomes increased.

Mass Advertising When inventor Otto Rohwedderdeveloped a commercial bread slicer in 1928, he faceda problem common to new inventions: the bread slicerwas a device that made a product—sliced bread—that no one knew they needed. To create consumersfor their new products, manufacturers turned toadvertising, another booming industry in the 1920s.

Advertisers created appealing, persuasive messagesthat linked their clients’ products with qualities associ-ated with the modern era, such as progress, conven-ience, leisure, success, fashion, and style. In a 1924magazine advertisement for deodorant, the headlineread, “Flappers they may be—but they know the art offeminine appeal!” An advertisement for a preparedspaghetti product told the busy homemaker that heat-ing is the same as cooking: “Just one thing to do and it’sready to serve.” Advertisers also preyed on consumers’fears and anxieties, whether they be jarred nerves dueto the hectic pace of modern life or insecurities aboutone’s status or weight.

The Managerial Revolution By the early 1920s,many industries had begun to create modern organi-zational structures. Companies were divided intodivisions with different functions, such as sales, mar-keting, accounting, and operations. To run these divi-sions, businesses needed to hire managers. Managersfreed executives and owners from the day-to-day

business of running their companies and allowedthem to develop long-range plans and goals.

The managerial revolution in companies created anew career—the professional manager—and compa-nies began to hire large numbers of people with man-agerial training from business schools. The largenumbers of managers helped to expand the size ofthe middle class, which in turn added to the nation’sprosperity. Similarly, so many companies relied onnew technology to drive their business that engineerswere also in very high demand. They too joined theranks of the rapidly growing middle class.

Welfare Capitalism Middle-class Americans werenot the only members of the new consumer society.Industrial workers also prospered in the 1920s, partlydue to rising wages and partly because many corpo-rations introduced what came to be called welfarecapitalism. Companies allowed workers to buystock, participate in profit sharing, and receive bene-fits such as medical care and pensions.

Benefits programs also made unions seem unneces-sary to many workers. During the 1920s, unions lostboth influence and membership. Employers promotedthe open shop—a workplace where employees werenot required to join a union. With benefits coveringsome of their basic needs, workers were able to spendmore of their income. Many eagerly purchased con-sumer goods they previously could not afford.

Analyzing Bias How did advertis-ers try to convince Americans to buy their products?

Reading Check


The Farm Crisis Returns

Increases in productivity and decreases inforeign markets led to lower prices for farmers.

Reading Connection How often do you eat fresh veg-etables and fruit grown by local farmers or your own family?Read on to find out what President Coolidge thought aboutsubsidizing industries such as farming and manufacturing.

American farmers did not share in the prosperityof the 1920s. As a group, they earned less than one-third of the average income for workers in the rest ofthe economy. Technological advances in fertilizers,pesticides, seed varieties, and farm machineryallowed them to produce more, but higher yieldswithout a corresponding increase in demand meantthat they received lower prices. Between 1920 and1921, corn prices dropped almost 19 percent, andwheat went from $1.83 a bushel to $1.03. The cost tofarmers of the improved technology, meanwhile,continued to increase.

Changing Market Conditions Many factors con-tributed to this “quiet depression” in American agri-culture. During the war, the government had urgedfarmers to produce more to meet the great need forfood supplies in Europe. Many farmers borrowedheavily to buy new land (at inflated prices) and newmachinery in order to raise more crops. Sales werestrong, prices were high, and farmers prospered. Afterthe war, however, European farm output rose, and thedebt-ridden countries of Europe had little to spend onAmerican farm products. Congress had unintention-

ally made matters worse when it passed the Fordney-McCumber Act in 1922. This act raised tariffs dramati-cally in an effort to protect American industry fromforeign competition. By dampening the American mar-ket for foreign goods, it provoked a reaction in foreignmarkets against American agricultural products.Farmers in the United States could no longer sell asmuch of their output overseas, and prices tumbled.

Helping Farmers Some members of Congress triedto help the farmers. Every year from 1924 to 1928,Senator Charles McNary of Oregon and Represen-tative Gilbert Haugen of Iowa proposed the McNary-Haugen Bill, which called for the federal governmentto purchase surplus crops and sell them abroad whileprotecting the American market with a high tariff.They believed their plan would immediately raise thedomestic price of crops, aiding farmers as theFordney-McCumber tariffs helped manufacturers.

Congress passed the bill twice, but PresidentCoolidge vetoed it both times. He argued that withmoney flowing to farmers under this law, the farmerswould be encouraged to produce even greater sur-plus volumes, which the government would beunable to sell. American farmers remained mired inrecession. Their problems would only grow worsewhen the Great Depression began in 1929.

Synthesizing What factors led tothe growing economic crisis in farming in the 1920s?

Reading Check

Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: mass production,

innovation, assembly line, consumer,structure, welfare capitalism, openshop.

2. People and Terms Identify: Model T,Charles Lindbergh, NationalBroadcasting Company, ColumbiaBroadcasting System.

3. Summarize the factors that led to thenew consumer society in the UnitedStates during the 1920s.

Reviewing Big Ideas4. Describing How did the automobile

impact American society?

Critical Thinking5. Analyzing How did the United States

government help spur the growth ofthe airline industry?

6. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list some ofthe new industries that grew in impor-tance during the 1920s.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Advertisements Examine

the advertisement on page 453. Howdid the growing consumer cultureimpact the nation’s economy?

Writing About History8. Expository Writing Write an article for

a contemporary newspaper analyzingthe impact of Charles Lindbergh’stransatlantic flight on the developmentof aviation in the United States and theworld. CA 11WA2.3c

NewIndustries



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Guide to Reading

ConnectionIn the previous section, you learned howindustry changed society. In this section,you will discover how the governmentencouraged the economic growth of the1920s.

• During the 1920s, Andrew Mellon andHerbert Hoover worked to improvebusiness efficiency and promote eco-nomic growth. (p. 457)

• Although the United States returned to a policy of isolationism after WorldWar I, various treaties attempted tolimit the arms trade and the possibilityof a future war. (p. 458)

Content Vocabularysupply-side economics, cooperative indi-vidualism, isolationism, moratorium

Academic Vocabularyprinciple, philosophy, reverse

People and Terms to IdentifyCharles G. Dawes, Charles Evans Hughes,Kellogg-Briand Pact

Reading Objectives• Explain Andrew Mellon’s economic

strategies for maintaining prosperity.• Describe how the United States

remained involved in world affairs with-out joining the League of Nations.

Reading StrategyOrganizing As you read about govern-ment policies in the 1920s, complete agraphic organizer similar to the onebelow by filling in ways the governmentattempted to stimulate economic growthand prosperity.

Preview of Events

The Policies of Prosperity

Ways to StimulateGrowth and Prosperity

✦1923 ✦1929✦1920 ✦1926

1922Fordney-McCumberAct passed

1924Dawes Plan negotiated withFrance, Britain, and Germany

1928Kellogg-Briand Pact signedby 15 nations

1921Washington Conference begins discussing naval disarmament

. The Big Idea ,Societies change over time. Under the guidance of Secretary of the TreasuryAndrew Mellon, the government created policies that encouraged economicgrowth and contributed to the stock market boom. Mellon focused on reducingthe federal debt and lowering taxes. President Hoover also created agencies tohelp American businesses prosper. Although many Americans favored isolation-ism, the country had grown too powerful to remain completey isolated. TheUnited States tried unsuccessfully to help European countries repay war debts.During the Washington Conference, the United States and eight other nationstook steps to avoid future wars and end the naval arms race.


11.4 Students trace the rise of theUnited States to its role as a world powerin the twentieth century.

11.4.5 Analyze the political, economic andsocial ramifications of World War I on thehome front.

11.4.6 Trace the declining role of GreatBritain and the expanding role of the UnitedStates in world affairs after World War II.

11.5 Students analyze the major political,social, economic, technological, and culturaldevelopments of the 1920s.

11.5.1 Discuss the policies of Presidents WarrenHarding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.

Promoting Prosperity

During the 1920s, Andrew Mellon andHerbert Hoover worked to improve business efficiencyand promote economic growth.

Reading Connection Have you ever used a credit cardor purchased something on credit? Read on to learn howAndrew Mellon, the Secretary of the Treasury, tried to reducethe nation’s debt.

Andrew Mellon became the chief architect of eco-nomic policy in the United States in the 1920s, and heserved as secretary of the treasury in three successiveRepublican administrations.

After Election Day 1920, President-elect Hardingbegan searching for a qualified American to serve assecretary of the treasury. The leading candidate wasAndrew W. Mellon, a successful banker and industrial-ist, but Harding worried about Mellon’s ties to industryand his relative anonymity. Harding’s campaign man-ager, Harry Daugherty, reassured the president with aringing endorsement of Mellon:

“A man who can quietly make the millions thismodest-looking man has gathered in is little short of amagician. If there is one thing he knows it’s money. He will make for you the greatest Secretary of theTreasury since Alexander Hamilton. . . .”

—adapted from Mellon’s Millions

Harry Daugherty’s confidence in Andrew Mellonproved to be well founded. Mellon’s policies encour-aged growth and led to a stock market boom.

The Mellon Program Mellon firmly believed thatthe government should apply business principles toits operations. In 1921 he convinced Congress to cre-ate both the Bureau of the Budget to prepare a uni-fied federal budget and the General AccountingOffice to track government spending.

When Mellon took office, he had three majorgoals—to balance the budget, to reduce the govern-ment’s debt, and to cut taxes. He was convinced thatthese policies would ensure prosperity.

Mellon began by cutting government spending.The federal budget fell from $6.4 billion to less than$3 billion in seven years. One major expense was the

interest on the national debt. World War I costs hadraised the debt from $5.7 billion in 1917 to almost $26billion by 1920. Mellon refinanced the debt to lowerthe interest on it and persuaded the Federal Reserveto lower its interest rates as well. These steps, com-bined with increased tax revenue from the nation’seconomic boom, reduced the debt by $7 billionbetween 1921 and 1929.

Mellon also focused on reducing tax rates. Hebelieved that high taxes reduced the money availablefor private investment and prevented businessexpansion. Mellon further argued that high tax ratesactually reduced the amount of tax money the gov-ernment collected. If taxes were lower, businessesand consumers would spend and invest their extramoney, causing the economy to grow. As the econ-omy grew, Americans would earn more money, andthe government would actually collect more taxes ata lower rate than it would if it kept tax rates high.This idea is known today as supply-side economics.

At Mellon’s urging, Congress dramatically reducedtax rates. When Mellon took office, most taxpayerspaid 4 percent federal income tax, while wealthyAmericans in the highest bracket paid 73 percent. By1928 most Americans paid .5 percent while thewealthiest Americans paid 25 percent. While many ofMellon’s economic policies were beneficial in theshort-term, they would contribute to the stock mar-ket crash in 1929 and the Great Depression.

Hoover’s Cooperative Individualism Mellon’sprogram was only part of the government’s effort topromote economic growth. Secretary of CommerceHerbert Hoover tried to promote economic stability in various industries by balancing government

Andrew W. Mellon

➤

regulation with his own philosophy of cooperativeindividualism. This idea encouraged manufacturersand distributors to form their own trade associations,which would voluntarily share information with thegovernment. Hoover believed this system would pro-mote economic efficiency.

To assist American businesses, Hoover also cre-ated several other agencies. He expanded the Bureauof Foreign and Domestic Commerce to find newmarkets and business opportunities for Americancompanies. He also established the Bureau ofAviation to regulate and support the airline industryand the Federal Radio Commission, which set rulesregarding radio frequencies and radio transmitters.

Evaluating What government poli-cies were intended to promote economic growth and improvebusiness efficiency in the 1920s?

Trade and Arms Control

Although the United States returned to a policy of isolationism after World War I, varioustreaties attempted to limit the arms trade and the possibility of a future war.

Reading Connection Do you think it is possible to havea world without war? Read on to discover attempts to ensurepeace after World War I ended.

Before World War I the United States had owedbillions of dollars more to foreign investors than for-eigners owed to Americans. By the end of the war,

Reading Check

the situation was reversed. Former wartime alliesowed the United States more than $10 billion in wardebts incurred for food and armaments. By the 1920sthe United States was the dominant economic powerin the world—its national income far greater thanthat of Britain, Germany, France, and Japan com-bined. This new power presented the United Stateswith a unique diplomatic challenge.

Isolationism In his victory speech after the 1920election, President Harding declared the issue ofAmerican involvement in the League of Nations“deceased.” The majority of Americans, tired ofbeing entangled in the baffling, mutually hostile, anddangerous politics of Europe, favored isolationism.They simply wanted to be left alone to pursueprosperity.

The United States, however, was too powerful, tooeconomically interconnected with other countries,and too widely involved in international affairs toretreat into isolationism. American delegations par-ticipated in many League conferences. It was UnitedStates policy to promote peace through agreementswith individual countries rather than doing sothrough the collective efforts of the League. Total iso-lationism became difficult, if not impossible.

The Dawes Plan The United States’s formerwartime allies had difficulty making the paymentson their immense war debts. They claimed that highAmerican tariffs had closed the American market totheir products and hampered their economic recov-ery. If they could not sell their products in the UnitedStates, they could not acquire the money they neededto pay off their war debts. They also argued that theUnited States should be willing to bear more of thefinancial burden because it had suffered far fewerwartime casualties than its allies.

The United States government took the stancethat American taxpayers should not be asked toassume the debts of others. American officialsargued further that America’s allies had gained newterritory as a result of the victory over Germany,while the United States had gained nothing. Thesecountries also were receiving reparations—hugecash payments Germany was required to make aspunishment for starting the war and causing somuch destruction. These payments, however, werecompletely crippling the German economy.

It was vital for the United States that Europeaneconomies be healthy so that the Europeans couldbuy American exports and repay their war debts.Thus, in 1924, Charles G. Dawes, an American

Harding’s Cabinet Some members of Harding’s cabinet (posing here withthe president, seated center, in 1921) were effective administrators. What agen-cies did President Hoover create during his administration?

History


banker and diplomat, negotiated an agreement withFrance, Britain, and Germany by which Americanbanks would make loans to the Germans that wouldenable them to meet their reparations payments. Atthe same time, Britain and France would accept lessin reparations and pay more on their war debts.

Although well intended, the Dawes Plan did littleto ease Europe’s economic problems. Britain, France,and Germany went through the motions of payingwhat they owed while in fact going deeper into debtto American banks and corporations.

The Washington Conference Despite severe eco-nomic hardship, the major powers were involved in acostly postwar naval arms race. To help halt this armsrace, the United States invited representatives fromeight major countries—Great Britain, France, Italy,China, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, andPortugal—to Washington to discuss disarmament.The Washington Conference opened on November12, 1921.

In his address to the delegates, Secretary of StateCharles Evans Hughes proposed a 10-yearmoratorium—or pause—on the construction ofmajor new warships. He also proposed a list of war-ships in each country’s navy to be destroyed, begin-ning with some American battleships. The delegatescheered Hughes’s speech and then entered intolengthy negotiations.

Their efforts produced three agreements. In theFive-Power Naval Limitation Treaty, Britain, France,Italy, Japan, and the United States essentially formal-ized Hughes’s proposal. The Four-Power Treatybetween the United States, Japan, France, and Britain

recognized each country’s island possessions in thePacific. Finally, all the participating countries signedthe Nine-Power Treaty, which guaranteed China’sindependence.

As a long-term effort to prevent war, the confer-ence had some serious shortcomings. It did nothingto limit land forces. It also angered the Japanesebecause it required Japan to maintain a smaller navythan either the United States or Great Britain. It did,however, give Americans cause to look forward to aperiod of peace, recovery, and prosperity.

Abolishing War The apparent success of theWashington Conference boosted the belief that writ-ten agreements could end war altogether. Perhapsthe highest expression of that idea occurred whenU.S. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and FrenchForeign Minister Aristide Briand proposed a treaty tooutlaw war. On August 27, 1928, the United Statesand 14 other nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact.Eventually 62 nations ratified it.

Though it had no binding force, the pact was hailedas a victory for peace. It stated that all signing nationsagreed to abandon war and to settle all disputes bypeaceful means. The Kellogg-Briand Pact and theDawes Plan were perhaps the most notable foreignpolicy achievements of the Coolidge administration.

Identifying Why did the DawesPlan fail to ease Europe’s economic problems?

Reading Check

Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: principle, supply-

side economics, philosophy, coopera-tive individualism, reverse, isolationism,moratorium.

2. People and Terms Identify: Charles G.Dawes, Charles Evans Hughes, Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Reviewing Big Ideas3. Determining Why did Andrew Mellon

work to reduce federal tax rates?

Critical Thinking4. Evaluating What efforts did the United

States make to promote permanentpeace and worldwide economic recov-ery? Were these efforts successful?Explain your answer.

5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizerlike the one below to list the majorterms of the treaties resulting from theWashington Conference.

Analyzing Visuals6. Analyzing Photographs Study the

photograph on page 458 of PresidentHarding’s cabinet of advisers. What dif-ferences do you see between politicsand the media then and now?

Writing About History7. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are

an American business owner or farmerin the 1920s. Write a letter to your rep-resentatives in Congress explaining whyyou think cutting tax rates is a good orbad idea. CA 11WA2.3a

Major Terms of Treaties



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SOURCE 1:Stephanie Kosior married a Connecticut farmer withthree children. She was responsible for handling all of thehousehold work. In the 1920s, the Kosior farm was notequipped with modern appliances. In a radio broadcastaired in 1981, she talked about those days.

[W]e had one of those cast iron stoves. Well, I hadto have that wood stove going in the summer to cookand bake. You know, I used to say this, thinking outloud, I said, “I’ve got to get out of this kitchen or I’mgonna go crazy.” This, you know, the heat. You look attoday, now, do you realize how I appreciate that hotwater? You know, so many years, and I still don’t takeit for granted. Having all the hot water I want. Or hav-ing an automatic machine. You know what means tome? Today, the modern women, they take all that for granted.

When I got my automaticwashing machine, I couldn’tbelieve it. You know what Iwas doing? I was looking forany kind of laundry, just so Icould use that. I couldn’tbelieve that I could put myclothes in there, and thatthey got washed and rinsedautomatically. Because whatI used to do, the blankets Iused to wash by hand, andrinse them. Can you likethink about all that now? Alot of the, you know, thosefarm women that worked sohard, and got oh so many different problems later,physical, as a result. . . .

. . . Do you realize I had to keep putting fuel woodin that stove, in that heat, and. . . . Can you imaginethe heat in that kitchen? . . . That’s one thing I don’tthink I ever want to do again.

Oh no, it’s easy now. They have conveniencesnow, canners, electricity, electric stoves, fans. It was a tough life. . . .

SOURCE 2:In the mid-1920s, the General Federation of Women’sClubs conducted a survey that indicated most women pre-ferred to own automobiles, telephones, and radios ratherthan vacuum cleaners and sewing machines. The organi-zation concluded that women wanted to escape boredommore than avoid hard work. In a letter to the March1926 Women’s Home Companion, Mrs. C.S. ofWashington challenged this idea.

[T]he radio, the piano, and so on, elbowing the washboardand tubs, are viewed withamazement. Here is where youlost the meaning of it all.

The Mother doesn’t havetime, in her inefficient kitchenroutine, to enjoy these things, asyou suggest. Her life is a perpet-ual round of recurring tasks.Why, then, did she consent tothe purchase of these things?

Her job is to make a happyhome. She must establish goodconditions for the family, to securenormal lives for the children, and

hold them in a charmed circle until they are strong enoughfor the world’s temptations, despite the poverty. . . .

In the 1920s, new technologies transformed the lives of Americans. The automobile and theradio reduced the distance between people and communities. New household appliancesaltered people’s lives. In often-heated debates, Americans argued about the value of these newmachines and gadgets.

460 CHAPTER 8 Normalcy and Good Times460 CHAPTER 8 Normalcy and Good Times

First meal cooked using an electric range➤

I am in a log shack inCanada’s northland. . . .Three bosom friends arehere in the shack with me—my ax, my dog, and mywireless3 receiving set.These are vital possessions.If I lose my ax, a frozendeath awaits me when thewood fire dies. If I lose mydog––well, you who loveyour dogs in places wherehuman friends abound justremember where I am. If I lose my wireless set, then I am again cut off from thegreat outside world which I have so recently regained. . . .

I reach over and touch aswitch and the music of anorchestra playing at Newark,N.J., fills the room. . . . A slightturn of the magic knob and

I am at Pittsburgh, Pa., listening to a man telling storiesto thousands of America’s listening children. With thatmagic knob I can command the musical programs andpress news sent out from a dozen radio broadcastingstations. At will I amuse myself or garner the details of a busy world where things are happening. . . .

. . . I may be at “the back of beyond,” but the wholeworld has marched right up to the edge of the littlecopper switch at my elbow.

If to-morrow some great fortune would grant methree hundred dollars would I cast away my tubs andwashboard1, with which I weekly grind out the familywashings? Or equip my ancient kitchen with the loveli-ness of linoleum2, gas range, kitchen cabinet? Orindulge in refrigerator, washer, and electric iron?

Alas, no, though my heart yearns for them. I wouldbuy a piano that these children might learn right now,as they should, the love of music. I would buy goodbooks and some better furniture to make the homebrighter for them. For now is the time they need suchthings so badly, not a few years later, say after Motherhas had her kitchen modernized.

That is what the statistics you gathered say to me, ahumble but ambitious mother.

SOURCE 3:M.J. Caveney, writing in the April 1920 Collier’s maga-zine, described the effects of the new medium of radio onlife in the northern wilderness.

CHAPTER 8 Normalcy and Good Times 461CHAPTER 8 Normalcy and Good Times 461

➤1 washboard: a metallic board on which clothes were rubbed

during washing2 linoleum: a smooth-surfaced floor covering

➤3 wireless: radio

A farm family listens to the radio in 1925.➤

Source 1: How did new household appliancesimprove Kosior’s life?

Source 2: How did Mrs. C.S. disagree with the survey on modern technology?

Source 3: What was the effect of radio uponCaveney?

Comparing and contrasting sources: How do Kosior, Mrs. C.S., and Caveney agree intheir views about the impact of new technologiesand the value of these technologies?

CA CS3; HR4; HI3

CORBIS

Section 323. What were Andrew Mellon’s strategies for maintaining post-

war American prosperity?

24. What was the goal of the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

Critical Thinking25. Summarizing Summarize the United

States’s attempts at trade and arms control during the 1920s.Do you think these attempts were effective?

26. Civics Based on what you know, why did people supportRobert La Follette in the election of 1924? Explain what role athird-party candidate may play in presidential elections.

27. Organizing Use a graphic organizer like the one below tolist the factors that helped create a new consumer society inthe United States during the 1920s.

1. normalcy2. immunity3. mass production4. assembly line5. welfare capitalism

6. open shop7. supply-side economics8. cooperative individualism9. isolationism

10. moratorium

11. presume12. integrity13. percent

14. innovation15. consumer16. structure

17. principle18. philosophy19. reverse

Reviewing Content VocabularyOn a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence.

• Minimal interference with business

• Cut government spending and debt

• Eliminated or reduced taxes

• High tariffs

Government’s Role

• Mass production reduced prices

• Technology such as autos, airplanes,and radios led to new industries

• New consumer goods fueled manufacturing boom

Business Innovation

• More disposable income

• More leisure time

• Easily available credit

• Mass advertising

New Consumer Society

Prosperity

Reviewing the Main IdeasSection 120. How did President Coolidge restore public confidence?

Section 221. What were four new industries, besides the automobile

industry, that grew in importance during the 1920s?

22. How did Henry Ford increase worker loyalty and impact thelabor movement?

New Consumer Society

Reviewing Academic VocabularyOn a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence thatreflects the term’s meaning in the chapter.

462462

Standards 11.2, 11.2.1, 11.2.9, 11.4, 11.4.5, 11.4.6, 11.5, 11.5.1, 11.5.4, 11.5.6, 11.5.7

Standards Practice


Self-Check QuizVisit the American Vision—Modern Times Web site at

and click on Self-Check Quizzes —Chapter 00 to access your knowledge of the chapter content.tav.mt.glencoe.com

HISTORY

Writing About History28. Analyzing Economic Behavior

Research the production of the personal computer duringthe last 30 years. Explain how computers have impacted theU.S. economy. Has their use increased or decreased? Howhas the price of computers changed? Have new industriesbeen created?

29. Describe how automobiles changed the stan-dard of living during the 1920s. Explain their cultural andeconomic effects on society.

30. Interpreting Primary Sources In December 1928, PresidentCoolidge delivered his annual State of the Union message toCongress. Read the excerpt and answer the questions thatfollow.

“The great wealth created by our enterprise and indus-try, and saved by our economy, has had the widest distri-bution among our own people, and has gone out in asteady stream to serve the charity and the business of theworld. The requirements of existence have passed beyondthe standard of necessity into the region of luxury.

. . . The country can regard the present with satisfactionand anticipate the future with optimism. The mainsource of these unexplained blessings lies in theintegrity and character of the American people. Theyhave had great faith, which they have supplementedwith mighty works. . . . Yet these remarkable powerswould have been exerted almost in vain without theconstant cooperation and careful administration of theFederal Government. . . .”—from President Coolidge’s Annual Message to Congress,

December 4, 1928

a. According to Coolidge, how should Americans feel aboutthe present economy and the future economy?

b. Whom does Coolidge credit for U.S. prosperity?

Cost

1908 1912 1916 1920 1924

0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900

$1,000

Year

Cost of a Model T, 1908–1924

Standard 11.4.5: Analyze the political, economic, and socialramifications of World War I on the home front.

Directions: Choose the phrase that best completes the following sentence.

One of the effects of World War I on the Americaneconomy was

A a sharp rise in unemployment.

B stronger government control over industry.

C a sharp decrease in taxes.

D the abolition of labor unions, which were seen asunpatriotic.

32.

Economics and History31. The graph above shows the cost of a new Model T automo-

bile between 1908 and 1924. Study the graph and answer thequestions below.a. Interpreting Graphs By how much did the cost of the

Model T drop from 1908 to 1920?

b. Evaluating How was Henry Ford able to lower the priceof the Model T?

Self-Check QuizVisit the American Vision: Modern Times Web site at

and click on Self-Check Quizzes—Chapter 8 to assess your knowledge of chapter content.tav.mt.glencoe.com

HISTORY


normalcy and good times - 1.cdn.edl.io · normalcy and good times ... 11.2.9 understand the effect...

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