The United States seeks postwar normality and isolation. The standard of living soars amid labor unrest, immigration quotas, and the scandals of the Harding administration.

Consumer goods fuel the business boom of the 1920s as America’s standard of living soars.




Henry Ford made cars affordable
- Used assembly line
1908 - Model T hit the market (cost
$825)
By 1920's - Model T came off the line every 10 seconds


Scientific management: approach to improving efficiency, in which experts looked at every step of a manufacturing process, trying to find ways to reduce time, effort and expense

Bolstered employees by doubling their wages and reducing their work days
– $2.35/day to $5/day
– 9 hours to 8 hours
– Gave weekends off


Cars changed life paved roads, gas stations, motels, shopping centers

Route 66 from
Chicago to
California




1920s – 1 st Automatic traffic signals used in
Detroit
1927 – Holland Tunnel opened to connect New
York City & New Jersey
(1st underwater tunnel specifically designed for cars)
Gave mobility to rural families, women, & young people








Enabled workers to live farther from jobs
- Led to urban sprawl
(spread of cities)
Auto industry became economic base for some cities
Boosted oil industry
Late 1920s - 1 car for every 5
Americans
1927 – The Model A replaced the Model T
Enabled customers to order a variety of colors
Traveled faster & smoother




Airplane industry started as mail service for U.S.
Post Office
Weather forecasting began
- Planes carried radios& navigation tools
1926 – Henry Ford built trimotor plane


Charles Lindbergh &
Amelia Earhart flights helped promote airlines
- 1927 - Charles
Lindbergh became the
1st person to fly nonstop across the Atlantic
- 1928 - Amelia Earhart became 1st women to fly nonstop across the
Atlantic



1927 - Lockheed
Company produced popular transport plane of the decade (Vega)
1927 - Nations 1 st commercial airline formed (Pan American
Airlines)
- Brought cities closer together
- Began transatlantic commercial flights






1920s were prosperous times for America
1920 to 1929 – Average annual income rose over
35%, from $522 to $705
People tired of sacrificing
Ready to spend money
New inventions
- Refrigerator
- Vacuum cleaner
- Electric stove
- Wrist watch

1921
Tellus Super model 20




Prosperity was a result of cheap power
1920's - electricity and petroleum become widely available
Widespread electricity made possible by
Samual Insull
- He formed GE
Company with
Thomas Edison







Electricity along with petroleum helped to transform the nation
Factories used electricity to run machines
Development of alternating current made it possible to distribute electricity over longer distances
- Gave electricity to suburbs
By end of 1920s, more homes begin to have electrical appliances
Appliances made housework easier & freed women for other activities
- Refrigerators , cooking ranges, & toasters
Appliances coincided with trend of women working outside home




Advertising agencies began hiring psychologists to learn to appeal to public
Made brand names familiar nationwide
Pushed luxuries as necessities


Results were impressive
- “Say it with Flowers” slogan doubled florists business between 1914 &
1924
- “Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet” caused people to choose cigarettes over candy
- 1923 – Listerine advertisements warned about the disastrous effects of halitosis


Businesspeople began working with service groups (Rotary, Kiwanis, & lions)
- Raised money for charities & boosted the image of the businessman
- promoted selves as benefactors of society





Most Americans believed prosperity would last forever
- Productivity increased, & businesses expanding
- Several mergers in auto industry, steel, electrical equipment, utilities
- Chain stores developed
- National banks were allowed to create branches
Not everyone became wealthy
Consumer Revolution: a flood of new, affordable goods became available to the public
Income gap between workers & managers grew
- 1929 - 60% of Americans lived in poverty



Farmers - food prices fell after World War I
- New machines increased productions
- Many farmers couldn't afford new machines
- Drought and insects also damaged crops
- Government refused to help farmers
Labor - violent strikes following WWI led to anti-union feelings across the country
- Court rulings caused the unions to lose power








Businesses began provided easy credit to lure customers
- “a dollar down and a dollar forever”
Installment plan - pay for goods over extended period with interest
Bull Market: a period of rising stock prices
Buying on Margin: buying stocks, only paying a small percentage of the purchase price
Banks provided money at low interest rates
Some economists & business owners thought installment buying was becoming excessive
- Thought it was a sign of fundamental weakness behind superficial prosperity
Most focused their attention on the present & didn’t worry about the future
- Thought prosperity would last forever



World War I left Americans exhausted
- Debate over League of Nations had divides them
Economy adjusted as cost of living doubled
- Farm & factory orders were down
- Soldiers took jobs from women& minorities
- Farmers & factory workers suffered


Many Americans responded to the stressful conditions by becoming fearful of outsiders
- Nativism swept nation
- prejudice against foreign-born people
- Isolationism became popular - pulling away from world affairs



The spread of
Communism was perceived as a threat to
America (The Red
Scare)
Communism economic, political system, single-party government
- ruled by dictator
- no private property



1919 - Vladimir
Lenin & the
Bolsheviks set up
Communist state in
Russia
U.S. Communist Party formed (70, 000 radicals joined)
- Some Industrial
Workers of the World join



American government feared
Communism would spread to the U.S. through immigrants
Feared infiltration of
– Anti-Capitalists
– People who refused to work
– Subversives
Propaganda
– Critics of government
– Supporters of “free speech”
– Anyone who was “ un-
American ” (pacifists, draftdodgers, conscientious objectors) poster
(1921):
“Lenin Lived,
Lenin Lives,
Lenin Will
Live.”
Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky started the Bolshevik
Revolution in Russia, a violent and murderous overthrow of the Romanov Czars. The provisional government gave
“power to the working class” on whose back the elite earned its wealth.


Several bombs were mailed to government
& businesses
- People feared Red conspiracy


Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer took action
- Appointed J. Edgar Hoover as special assistant
- They hunted down
Communists, socialists, & anarchists (Palmer Raids)
- Anarchists oppose any form of government
- Raids trampled civil rights & failed to find evidence of conspiracy




Red Scare fed fear of foreigners, ruined reputations & wrecked lives
The two most famous victims were Italian immigrants Nicola
Sacco and
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Shoemaker & fish peddler who evaded the draft during WWI
(Anarchists)


1920 - Sacco and
Vanzetti were arrested
& charged with the robbery & murder of a factory paymaster & his guard in South Braintree
Massachusetts
– Prosecutors only had circumstantial evidence
– They provided alibis
– Judge made prejudicial remarks throughout the trial

A painting of Sacco and Vanzetti during their trial.



Jury found them guilty & sentenced them to death
- There were widespread protests in U.S. & abroad
- 1927 Sacco & Vanzetti were executed in the electric chair
1961- new ballistics test proved that the pistol found on Sacco was used to kill the guard
(Couldn’t prove who actually pulled the trigger)





Anti-Immigrant Attitudes had been growing in
America since the 1880s
– Southern & Eastern European immigrants
Need for unskilled labor decreased in the U.S. after WWI
Nativists believed fewer immigrants were needed since there were fewer unskilled jobs available,
Also thought immigrant anarchists and socialists were Communist




Bigots used anti-communism as an excuses to harass groups unlike themselves
1915 - KKK was revived in
Georgia
- Called for a “racially & morally pure America”
KKK opposed blacks,
Catholics, Jews, immigrants, unions, & saloons
- Beat and killed minorities


Members were paid to recruit new members
- 1924 - 4.5 million members
- Indiana had the most Klan members

Klan dominated politics in many states

Violence led to a decrease in power
- Membership dropped by the end on the
1920s





1919 - 1921, number of immigrants grew almost
600%
141,000 to 805,000
Nativsists pressured Congress to limit immigration from certain countries (Southern &
Eastern Europe)
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 set up a
Quota system
- Established the maximum number of people who could enter the U.S. from each country
- sharply reduced European immigration


1924 – Amended law limited European arrivals to 2% of number of its national living in the U.S. in 1890
- Discriminated against southern, eastern
Europeans (Didn’t arrive until after 1890)



Law also prohibited Japanese immigration;
– Caused ill will between U.S. & Japan
– Japan had faithfully kept the Gentlemen’s agreement to limit emigration to the U.S. that had been negotiated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1907
Quota system didn’t apply to Western
Hemisphere
- Many Canadians & Mexicans entered


Government didn’t allow strikes in wartime

- 1919 over 3,000 strikes
Employers were against raises& unions;
- Labeled strikers as Communists




Boston police went on strike over raises & the right to unionize
- Hadn’t received a raise since beginning of WWI)
Mass. Governor Calvin
Coolidge ended strike by calling out the National Guard
- “there is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime”
Replaced strikers with new policemen


People praised
Coolidge for saving
Boston if not the nation from communism
- He was nominated as Warren G.
Harding’s running mate in the 1920 election



September1919 - Steel workers went on strike for the right to negotiate shorter working hours & a living wage
- Also wanted union recognition & Collective bargaining rights
Steel Companies hired strike beaters & used force (Police, Federal troops & state militias)







Used propaganda to link strikers to communist
Late negotiated
Talks deadlocked
Wilson appealed to both sides & the strike ended
January 1920
1923 - report on the harsh working conditions shocked the public
Steel companies agreed to a 8-hour day but no union




1919 - John L. Lewis became head of United
Mine Workers of
America
Led strike & defied a court order to return to work
Coal minors accepted arbitration
- Miners received 27% wage increase
- Lewis became national hero






1920s - union membership dropped from over 5 million to 3.5 million
Immigrants were willing to work for less
Hard to organize workers due to different languages
Farmers who moved to the city were used to relying on themselves
Less than 1% of African Americans & just over 3% whites were in union

The Harding administration appeals to
America’s desire for calm and peace after the war, but results in scandal




Warren G. Harding elected president
Wouldn't rock the boat
Said America needed normalcy


1921 - President Harding hosted
Washington Naval Conference

Problems arose concerning arms control, war debts, & the reconstruction of war torn countries after WWI

Invited major powers,

Russia wasn’t invited due to communist government


Sec. of State Charles
Evans Hughes proposed disarmament & others agreed


1928 – Fifteen countries signed the
Kellog-Briand Pact
- Nations denounced war as national policy
- Pact was ineffective since it didn’t provide for means of enforcement





Britain & France owed the U.S. $10 billion in war debts
Could pay money by selling goods to the U.S. or by collecting reparations from Germany
1922 - Fordney-McCumber Tariff raised taxes on
U.S. imports to 60%
- Britain, France couldn’t sell enough goods to repay U.S.
Germany defaulted on its reparation payments



Dawes Plan - U.S. investors lent reparations money to Germany
- Britain, France repaid
U.S.
Dawes Plan caused resentment on all sides
- Britain & France didn’t think the U.S. paid its fair share for WWI
- U.S. thought Britain &
France were financially irresponsible




Harding favored a limited government role in business,& social reform
He believed that government was getting the way of people's lives and businesses
Created Bureau of the
Budget to help the government more efficiently





Had capable men in cabinet
Secretary of State Charles
Evans Hughes went on to become chief justice of
Supreme Court ,
Secretary of Commerce
Herbert Hoover had done great job distributing foods & refugees in WWI
Secretary of Treasury
Andrew Mellon cut taxes & reduced national debt


Harding also appointed the Ohio gang –
His corrupt friends who caused him embarrassment
- Were unqualified

- They stole money from the government
Ohio Gang hurt Harding's presidency




Teapot Dome scandal— naval oil reserves were used for personal gain
Government had set aside oil-rich public at Teapot
Dome Wyoming & Elk Hills
California for use by the U.S.
Navy
Interior Secretary Albert B.
Fall leased land to private companies
- He received over $ 400,000 in loans, bonds, & cash


Fall became the is first person to be convicted of a felony while holding a cabinet post
- Fined $100,000 & spent a year in prison




Harding tried to help his image by going on a speaking tour in the west
- Had heart attack &
Died on August 2, 1923
VP Calvin Coolidge assumed presidency
- Restores faith in government
1924 – Coolidge was elected president




Calvin Coolidge wanted to minimize government interference in business “ the chief business of the American people is business”
He favored policies that would keep taxes down
& business profits up , & give businesses more credit to expand
Coolidge’s approach worked in the 1920s
- Lower income taxes gave people more money to spend
- Wages rose and new technology increased productivity


Demographics: statistics that describe a population.
Real Time Demographics

Migration North

African Americans moving north at rapid pace.

Why?




Jim Crow laws
New job opportunities in north
1860 – 93% in south
1930 – 80% in south

Struggles:


Faced hatred from whites
Forced low wages



Post-WWI: European refugees to
America
Limited immigration in 1920s from
Europe and Asia.

Employers turned to Mexican and
Canadian immigrants to work.
– As a result: barrios created
 Spanish speaking neighborhoods.


After the tumult of
World War I, Americans were looking for a little fun in the 1920s.

Women were independent and achieving greater freedoms.
 ie. right to vote, more employment, freedom of the auto
Chicago
1926


Challenged the traditional ways.

Revolution of manners and morals.

A Flapper was an emancipated young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes.

Early 20 th Century teachers

Many women entered the workplace as nurses, teachers, librarians, & secretaries.

Earned less than men and were prevented from obtaining certain jobs.


American birthrates declined for several decades before the
1920s.
Margaret Sanger and other founders of the American Birth
Control League - 1921

Trend continues in
1920s with development of birth control.

Margaret Sanger
 Birth control activist
 Founder of American
Birth Control League
 ie. Planned
Parenthood


Marriage was based on romantic love .

Women managed the household and finances.

Children were not considered laborers/ wage earners anymore.
 Seen as developing children who needed nurturing and education



One example of the clash between city & farm was the passage of the 18 th
Amendment in
1920.
 Launched era known as Prohibition
Made it illegal to make, distribute, sell, transport or liquor.
Prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933 when it was repealed by the 21 st Amendment



Reformers had long believed alcohol led to crime, child & wife abuse, and accidents
Supporters were largely from the rural south and west

Carrie Nation, an aggressive Temperance advocate often entered private property to destroy alcohol paraphernalia. There is a now a bar named for her in San Jose.
Problems:

Never consistently enforced





Bootlegging : illegal sale of alcohol
Bars turned into speakeasies , secret nightclubs
Corruption of police and government officials
Expensive to prosecute
Alcohol consumption increased 300%

Poster supporting prohibition






Many Americans did not believe drinking was a sin
Most immigrant groups were not willing to give up drinking
To obtain liquor, drinkers went underground to hidden saloons known as speakeasies
People also bought liquor from bootleggers who smuggled it in from
Canada, Cuba and the
West Indies
All of these activities became closely affiliated with …
Speakeasies

Once the alcohol had been confiscated, it had to be destroyed. Most often kegs and bottles were broken at the raid site and poured down city gutters. Just as often, conscientious, law-abiding citizens were waiting down the street with empty jars, bottles, and buckets to collect the wasted moonshine.


Prohibition contributed to the growth of organized crime in every major city

Al Capone –
 Chicago, Illinois
 famous bootlegger
 “Scarface”
 60 million yr (bootleg alone)

Al Capone was finally convicted on tax evasion charges in 1931
Capone took control of the
Chicago liquor business by killing off his competition
 Talent for avoiding jail
 1931 sent to prision for taxevasion.


Illegal business scheme to make profit.
– Gangsters bribed police or gov’t officials.
– Forced local businesses a fee for “protection”.
 No fee - gunned down or businesses blown to bits



Valentines Day –
February 14, 1929
Rival between Al Capone and Bugs Moran
– Capone – South Side
Italian gang
– Moran – North Side Irish gang

Bloody murder of 7 of
Moran’s men.
– Capone’s men dressed as cops



Prohibition failed:
 Why? Government did not budget enough money to enforce the law
The task of enforcing
Prohibition fell to 1,500 poorly paid federal agents --- clearly an impossible task!
Federal agents pour wine down a sewer




By the mid-1920s, only
19% of Americans supported Prohibition
Many felt Prohibition caused more problems than it solved
 What problems did it cause?
The 21 st Amendment finally repealed
Prohibition in 1933

A.
B.
Fundamentalists believe that the biblical account of creation is true.
1. Aimee Simple McPherson: radio evangelist
Many others believe in
Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Traditional






Christian, religious , fundamentalism
The way things always were
Consistency
Anti-Immigrant, Nativist
Strict social activity: no drinking, prostitution, dancing, smoking, etc.
Women stay at home
Modern









Experimental
Open to new ideas
Looser social activity
World travel
Acceptance of new fashion
Sexually active
Women participate equally
Rebellious
Young

Scopes was a biology teacher who dared to teach his students that man derived from lower species


In March 1925,
Tennessee passed the nation’s first law that made it a crime to teach evolution: Butler
Law
The ACLU promised to defend any teacher willing to challenge the law
– John Scopes did



The ACLU hired
Clarence Darrow, the most famous trial lawyer of the era and an agnostic, to defend Scopes
The prosecution countered with
William Jennings
Bryan, the threetime Democratic presidential nominee and fundamentalist
Darrow





Trial opened on July 10,1925 and became a national sensation
In an unusual move, Darrow called Bryan to the stand as an expert on the bible – key question: Should the bible be interpreted literally?
Under intense questioning, Darrow got Bryan to admit that the bible can be interpreted in different ways
Nonetheless, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100
Bryan
Darrow




Bryan "I do not think about things I don't think about."
Darrow "Do you think about the things you do think about?"
Bryan "Well, sometimes."




During the 1920s, developments in education had a powerful impact on the nation.
Enrollment in high schools quadrupled between 1914 and
1926.
Public schools met the challenge of educating millions of immigrants

1.
2.
A.
3.
Public High Schools take on new roles in preparing students for the future.
Vocational schools for industrial jobs.
Home Economics for future home makers
Traditional to prepare college bound students.


Increases in Mass media during the 1920s
– Print and broadcast methods of communication.
 Examples:
– Newspapers
– Magazines
– Radio
– Movies
Newspapers:
27 million to 39 million
Increase of 42%
Motion Pictures:
40 million to 80 million
Increase of 100%
Radios:
60,000 to 10.2 million
Increase of 16,983%



Literacy increased in the 1920s… as a result
 Newspaper and magazine circulation rose.
By the end of the
1920s…
 10 American magazines -
- including Reader’s
Digest, Saturday Evening
Post,Time – boasted circulations of over 2 million a year.
 Tabloids created




Although print media was popular, radio was the most powerful communications medium to emerge in the 1920s.
News was delivered faster and to a larger audience.
Americans could hear the voice of the president or listen to the World Series live.


Silent film actor
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=DvVQOOu1AUY&NR=1


Even before sound, movies offered a means of escape through romance and comedy
 ie. talkies
Walt Disney's animated
Steamboat Willie marked the debut of Mickey Mouse. It was a seven minute long black and white cartoon.


First animated with sound: Steamboat
Willie (1928)
By 1930 millions of
Americans went to the movies each week

1.
The “Jazz Singer” staring Al Jolson becomes the first talkie.





In 1929, Americans spent $4.5 billion on entertainment.
(includes sports)
People crowded into baseball games to see their heroes
Babe Ruth was a larger than life American hero who played for Yankees
He hit 60 homers in
1927.

A.
1.
2.
BASEBALL:
George Herman
“Babe” Ruth of the
New York Yankees.
Hit 60 homeruns in
1927.
Leroy “Satchel”
Page of the Negro
Leagues.

B. In Boxing: Jack
Dempsey turned boxing into a legitimate sport.


William Harrison "Jack"
Dempsey ("The Manassa Mauler")
(June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983) was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first million dollar gate. He is listed #10 on The
Ring's list of all-time heavyweights and #7 among its Top 100 Greatest
Punchers. He is a member of the
International Boxing Hall of Fame . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmaPxa-eZss

Gertrude Caroline
Ederle (October 23,
1905 – November
30, 2003) was an
American competitive swimmer . In 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English
Channel .


Famed composer George
Gershwin merged traditional elements with American Jazz.
 Someone to Watch Over
Me
 Embraceable You
 I Got Rhythm
Gershwin




In the late 1920s,
Duke Ellington, a jazz pianist and composer, led his ten-piece orchestra at the famous Cotton Club.
 Band: “The
Washingtonians”
Ellington is known as one of America’s greatest composers.
Mood Indigo




Jazz was born in the early 20 th century
In 1922, a young trumpet player named
Louis Armstrong joined the Creole Jazz Band.
Louis Armstrong: the single most important and influential musician in the history of Jazz.



Bessie Smith, blues singer, was perhaps the most outstanding vocalist of the decade
She achieved enormous popularity and by 1927 she became the highestpaid black artist in the world



Born Eleanora Fagan
Gough
One of the most recognizable voices of the 20s and 30s.
– Embraceable You
– God Bless the Child
– Strange Fruit




Charleston
Swing Dancing
Dance Marathons


Flagpole sitting:
Where young people would sit for hours and even days on top of a flagpole. (The record: 21 days!)





Walt Disney only attended one year of high school.
He was the voice of
Mickey Mouse for two decades.
As a kid he loved drawing and painting.
He won 32 Academy
Awards.


Georgia O’ Keeffe captured the grandeur of New York using intensely colored canvases
Radiator Building,
Night, New York , 1927
Georgia O'Keeffe




Writer F. Scott
Fitzgerald coined the phrase “Jazz
Age” to describe the 1920s
Fitzgerald wrote
Paradise Lost and
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby reflected the emptiness of New
York elite society


Ernest Hemingway, became one of the best-known authors of the era

 Wounded in World War I
In his novels, The Sun Also
Rises and A Farewell to Arms , he criticized the glorification of war
Hemingway - 1929
 Moves to Europe to escape the life in the United States.
 “Lost Generation” (Gertrude Stein)
 Group of people disconnected from their country and its values.

His simple, straightforward style of writing set the literary standard



Great Migration saw hundreds of thousands of African
Americans move north to big cities
1920:
 5 million of the nation’s 12 million blacks (over 40%) lived in cities
Migration of the Negro by
Jacob Lawrence


Harlem, NY became the largest black urban community


Harlem suffered from overcrowding, unemployment and poverty
Home to literary and artistic revival known as the Harlem
Renaissance




Missouri-born Langston
Hughes was the movement’s best known poet
Many of his poems described the difficult lives of working-class blacks
 “Thank you Ma’am”
Some of his poems were put to music , especially jazz and blues




Write novels, short essays, short stories
Traveled throughout the South in a battered car collecting folk tales, songs, and prayers of black southerners
Published these in her book, “Mules and Men”

African-Americans performers.
1. Paul Robeson a major dramatic actor. Widely acclaimed for his performance in Othello and in The Emperor
Jones.
2. Cab Callaway: popularized “scat” or jazz singing.



Founded in 1909, the NAACP urged
African Americans to protest racial violence
W.E.B Dubois , a founding member, led a march of
10,000 black men in
NY to protest violence

Marcus Garvey and the
UNIA





United Negro Improvement
Association challenged the
NAACP and idea of racial equality
Criticized passivity of early
Civil Rights activists Du Bois and Washington
Advocated militant racial separation and a return to the
African homeland
Instituted Liberia , a home for freed slaves
Garvey, himself, was criticized for dividing the movement
A Jamaican by birth, Garvey prompted thousands to leave the U.S. for Africa.