The Roaring 20’s

Melissa CarterWMHSAPUSH

Election of 1920

Harding won the election!

Red Scare 1919-1920

• Fear of Communism (“Reds”)• “Fighting Quaker” Attorney General

A. Mitchell Palmer– Sought Reds and radicals– “Palmer Raids”

• Deportation of Russians• Legislation further infringed upon

civil rights- (of radicals)

• Unions = Reds = Anarchy• Industries banned unions= American

Plan

• Anti-foreignism (xenophobia)/nativism

• Anti-Communism

Sacco & Vanzetti• Convicted of murder in

1921• Little evidence to

support a conviction• Men were Italian,

atheists, and anarchists

• Both men were executed in 1927

Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti

“Tyranny of the establishment over the poor and politically non-

conforming.”

Ku Klux Klan

• Resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s• Anti-immigrants, anti-black, anti-

Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-Communist…….

• Pro-WASP, ultraconservative• Spread throughout the South (Bible

Belt) and Midwest• Social organization• Music, parades, meetings and rallies

After gaining over 5 million followers the Klan fell to corruption and scandal during the late 1920s.

Immigration Restriction

• “100 percent Americans” were upset at the increase in European immigration post-WWI

• Emergency Quota Act of 1921– Set a quota (3%) per nation– Based upon census in 1910

• Immigration Act of 1924– Quotas cut to 2%– Based upon census in 1890

• Both immigration restriction acts favored Northern Europeans

• Most Asians were shut out completely• Canadians and Latin Americans were

allowed in

• Some Americans supported diversity and pluralism

Prohibition

• 18th Amendment & Volstead Act = abolition of alcohol- most popular in the South & West

• Impossible to enforce• Rumrunners and bootleggers• Speakeasies

Evading the law

• Home distilling– “Home brew” & “bathtub gin”– Sold to speakeasies all over the US– Could result in illness, even death

• Speakeasies– Passwords and codes– Hidden entrances– Drop shelves to hide liquor– Hidden storage rooms

Organized Crime

• Gangsters controlled illicit and many legal businesses in major cities, like Chicago, during the 1920s

• Violence was common, convictions were not

• Made millions off the public

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

• 1929• 7 men murdered• Rival gang• Chicago• Believed to be the

work of Al Capone (Public Enemy #1) - never convicted

Scopes Trial• Teaching of evolution or creation in

schools?• Southern states outlawed the teaching of

evolution (Bible Belt states- large # of Fundamentalists)

• Tennessee- John Scopes was indicted for teaching evolution to HS students

• Scopes defended by Clarence Darrow• Prosecution: William Jennings Bryan• Outcome- Scope was found guilty and

but not punished

“Monkey Trial”

2nd Industrial Revolution

• Increased industrial output and labor force due to technological advances

• Electricity replaced steam• Automatic machinery–Workers as a machine (monotonous)

• Mass production technique – Fordism–Moving assembly line– Increased productivity by 40%

Auto Industry

• Henry Ford• Assembly line- 1 car every 10

seconds left the line• Ford increased wage scale $5 for 8

hrs.• Reduced turnover rate• Employed AA• Cars more affordable

Consumerism

• Demand for new housing• Increased automobile ownership=

suburbs• Increased consumer products on

the market• Mass advertising• Consumption (need for more)• “Buying on margin” (credit)- I

want it NOW!

Taking Flight

• Wright Brothers (Orville and Wilbur) @ Kitty Hawk, NC- 1903

• Charles Lindbergh, “Lucky Lindy”- Spirit of St. Louis- first trans-Atlantic flight (NY to Paris)

Radio

• Advertising (commercials)• Vaudeville comedy• Music• Baseball and college football games• Turned college football into a popular

sport

Movie

s

• Celebrities: Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo, Clara Bow

• Studios: Paramount, Fox, MGM, WB, Universal

• The Jazz Singer – 1st movie using sound (talkies)

• Construction of grand movie houses

• Concerns: sexual morality of celebrities

• Led to: censorship of films

D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation

• Film released in 1915• Glorified the Klan• Reignited feuds

between white & black southerners

Baseball

• “Sultan of Swat”- Babe Ruth• Popular and profitable• Baseball becomes a business• AA banned from baseball league-

formed their own the Negro National League

Fla

pp

ers

• New image of young women• Short, bobbed hair• Shorter hemlines• Smoking and drinking- seen in

speakeasies• Dancing the charleston• Listening to Jazz

Changing Values• Young Americans reject the traditional

values of their elders regarding:– Sex….Dress…Public behavior…Religion

• Embrace the ideas of Sigmund Freud– Repressing sexuality could damage

mental and emotional health

• Margaret Sanger- advocate of birth control

• Pre-marital sex on the rise• Sex used in advertising

Agriculture

• Did not see prosperity in the 20’s• Farmers: in debt, surplus, dropping

prices• McNary-Haugen bills– Designed to help stabilize farm prices – Provides for government purchase of

surplus produce at a fixed price, then resale to Europe

– Vetoed by Coolidge twice

Jazz Age

• Rising popularity of Jazz music• Dance halls• Early career of Louis Armstrong

Harlem Renaissance

• Cultural creativity• African American community in NYC• Development of artists, musicians,

authors

Cultural Contributions

• F. Scott Fitzgerald- The Great Gatsby• Ernest Hemingway- A Farewell to Arms• Sinclair Lewis- Main Street & Babbitt• William Faulkner- The Sound and the

Fury & As I Lay Dying• Poets:– Langston Hughes, e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot

• Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright

Bull Market

• Booming Economy• Get-rich-quick schemes• Wild speculation• Buying stocks on margin – Pay a down payment now, pay the rest

later = in debt

TWENTIES POLITICS

Presidents of the Twenties

• Warren G. Harding- “Return to Normalcy”• Calvin Coolidge- “Silent Cal”• Herbert Hoover-

Harding’s Presidency• “Ohio Gang”• Corruption & Scandal– Teapot Dome Scandal

• Involved Albert B. Fall and the leasing of government land (with oil) for bribes.

• Laissez-faire approach toward business• Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act-

increased the rate to 38.5% (pro-business)

• Died before term ended

Foreign Affairs• Washington Conference (1921)-talks

on naval disarmaments- Belgium, China, France Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Portugal and the Netherlands

• Five-Power Treaty- US, France, GB and Japan- agreement to respect each other’s territory in the Pacific

• Nine-Power Treaty- agreement to respect the Open Door policy- guaranteeing the territorial integrity of China

“Silent Cal” Coolidge

• Harding’s VP- stepped into office • Elected in 1924• Supported limited government & laissez-faire• Cut government spending• Vetoed bills for:– Bonuses for WWI veterans– McNary-Haugen Bill