The 1920’s Business Boom or False Prosperity?

Greed and Scandal under Harding

Pardons - Eugene V. Debs

The Ohio Gang – Corrupt Politicians

Theft: The head of the Veterans Bureau caught selling hospital supplies for his own profit

Fraud: The Alien Property Custodian caught selling German property for profit

Teapot Dome Scandal: Secretary of the Interior was caught excepting bribes from oil companies for them to lease land from the government in Teapot Dome, Wyoming

Under Coolidge Prosperity for some

Coolidge was lassiez faire and loves big business

Recession - In 1921 recession hits farmers hard because they over produced for WWI and now have too much food to sell

Recovery – To big business after 1921 there was a great recovery in our economy almost 30% – 40%!

Under Coolidge Prosperity for somePro Business policies

Lowered Taxes for business and people

The government balances the budget and wipes out national debt, raises tariffs and demands repayment of WWI debts

Increased tariffs protected American business from European competition (Actually weakened world economy)

The Federal Reserve Board assisted Big Business

Trust busting took a back seat

Standard of living skyrockets for most – not all

“Silent Cal”

Economic Boom Bypasses Others

Inflation in the US economy wiped out any extra money that you made

Farmers got hurt they over produced for WWI and could sell their crops

Farm profits fell 50% in the 1920’s and most farmers went to find other jobs

Stock Market Speculation

Buying on Margin Make a small down payment on

a stock and have the profit pay back the bank

Mass Consumption

better machinery in factories

more demand for consumer goods standardized mass production

higher production and higher wages

The effects of New Industries on American Life Radio

The first commercial radio station went on the air in the 1920s in Pittsburgh, while the first public radio station opened on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.

By 1922, 3 million American households had radios, and purchases of receivers had increased by 2,500%, giving the industry annual sales of $850 million by 1929.

The effects of New Industries on American LifeMotion pictures

A fledgling industry before World War I, motion picture production became one of the ten largest industries in the United States during the 1920s.

In 1922, theaters sold 40 million tickets a week. By 1929, that number had grown to 100 million a week.

One of the capitalists who cashed in on Hollywood was Joseph P. Kennedy, patriarch of the Kennedy's, one of the nation's most influential political families. During eight months in

Hollywood, he made $6 million.

The effects of New Industries on American LifeNew electric appliances

A floodtide of new electric appliances lightened the load of the middle-class American housewife vacuum cleaners toasters washing machines refrigerators

Women became America's greatest consumers, purchasing appliances and other items that would have been considered a luxury just a generation before.

The effects of New Industries on American LifeAutomobile industry

Nowhere was the psychology of consumption more evident than in the automobile industry.

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

By the late 1920s, there was one automobile for every five Americans, allowing, theoretically, for every person in the United States to be on the road at the same time.

The effects of New Industries on American LifeTwo factors led to the rising popularity of cars: Cost-- The price of automobiles declined steadily

until the mid-1920s so that many well-paid working families could now afford to purchase a car. The Model T Ford, for example, cost just $290 in 1926.

Credit-- In 1925, Americans made 75% of all automobile purchases on the installment plan.

1920s Ford Model T Henry Ford (1863-1947) was the chief figure in this

expanding industry. Ford did not invent the automobile, but he did the most to promote the car by developing more efficient and cheaper means of production. He built his first car in his garage in 1896. Symbolic of the American century to come, the door of the shed was too small and he had to remove bricks to make way for the car. Ford is said to have remarked:

"Americans can have any kind of car they want, and any color they want, as long as it's a Ford, and as long as it's black."

Shifting Cultural Values Leisure

Movies, Jazz, Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, Card Games, Swept the country.

Flappers – Pretty women in short cut skirts, smoked, drank, danced free to do as they pleased

Literature Many writers left the United States

because they were sickened by all of this technology mumbo jumbo and changing cultural values, Ernest Hemingway

Harlem Renaissance Well educated African Americans in

Harlem, NY wrote about society and made jazz and blues famous beginning the Jazz age

Women Changing Roles Women in the Work Force – 1930

22% of the workforce was women and was slowly increasing in the lower paid jobs but not in the higher payed jobs

Involvement in Politics – In 1920 Women could vote for the first time

Women helped improve working conditions and were very visible in the house hold as the wife and mother

Constitutional & Legal Issues

Threats to Civil Liberties

The Red Scare A nationwide fear of communists, socialists, anarchists,

and other dissidents suddenly grabbed the American

psyche in 1919 following a series of anarchist bombings. Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

Regardless of the actual guilt of Sacco or Vanzetti, most scholars believe they did not have a fair trial because of the fact that they were anarchists with criminal

connections. The Ku Klux Klan

(KKK) is the name an organization that has advocated white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativm.

Restrictions on Immigration

Quotas

Prohibition

Alcohol was outlawed in the United States, however it was impossible to enforce, bootlegging and gangsters like Al Capone made it very difficult to keep it illegal, it was repealed in 1933 by the 21 amendment

The Scopes Trial

Darwinism vs. The bible in public schools

Stock Market Crash of 1929October 28, 1929

“Black Tuesday”

Discouraging news leads to sell off

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Ripple Effect

“The greatest invention of the 20th Century is compound interest and savings”

-Albert Einstein