Happy Monday!!!
 Take out your vocab so I can come around a
check it
 Did you know: there are 216 noodles in a can
of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup
 Can you identify these 1920s slang
word?
1. Applesauce
2. Big cheese
3. Bee’s knees
4. Giggle water
5. Jalopy
6. Flat tire
7. Lounge Lizard
8. Sheba
9. Shiek
10.The Real
McCoy
Interwar Period
the Roaring 20’s
Postwar Trends
 League of Nations left much of America
divided
 Returning soldiers faced unemployment or
took jobs away from women and AfricanAmericans
 Many responded by becoming fearful of
outsiders
 Nativism- prejudice against foreign-born people
 Isolationism- policy of pulling away from
involvement in world affairs
Communism
 People feared the spread of communism-
economic and political system based on a singleparty government ruled by a dictatorship
 In order to equalize wealth and power, communism
would put an end to private property, substituting
gov’t ownership of factories, RR, and other businesses
 The panic in the US began in 1919 after
revolutionaries in Russia (Bolsheviks) overthrew
the czarist regime
 A Communist party formed in the US and 70,000
joined
 Called it the “Red Scare”
Limiting Immigration
 “Keep America for Americans” became the attitude
of most Americans
 As a result of the Red Scare and anti-immigrant
feelings, the KKK rose again
 Devoted to “100% Americanism”
 Targeted African-Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews
and other foreign-born people
 Congress responded to the nativist pressure by
limiting immigration from certain countries
 The Emergency Quota Act 1921 set up a quota system
that established a maximum number of people who
could enter the US from each country
 Law prohibited Japanese immigration
Harding struggles for peace
 Problems surfaced regarding arms control, war
debts and reconstruction of war-torn countries
 1921, President Warren G. Harding invited
several nations to the Washington Naval
Conference
 Sec. of State urged no more warships be built for 10
years, suggested that the 5 major powers (US, GB,
Japan, France and Italy) scrap many of their largest
warships
 Later in 1928, 15 countries signed the KellogBriand Pact which denounced war as a national
policy (unfortunately there was not way to enforce)
High Tariffs and Reparations
 New issues arose when it was time for GB and France
to pay back the $10 million they borrowed from the
US
 They had 2 options:(1) selling goods to the US (2)
collecting reparation from Germany
 1921, America adopted the Fordney-McCumber Tariff
which raised taxes on US imports to 60%
 Made it impossible for GB and France to sell enough goods
to pay the debt
 GB and France looked to Germany
 When Germany failed to make the payments, France
marched in
 US Banker Charles G. Dawes steps in and came up with the
Dawes Plan- US investors loaned Germ $2.5 billion to pay
back GB and France who would then pay back the US
Scandal Hits Harding
 Harding cabinet included the “Ohio gang”, some
of Harding’s poker buddies who soon caused
embarrassment
 Used their offices to become wealthy through graft
 EX: head of Vet. Bureau was caught illegally selling gov’t and
hospital supplies to private companies
 The worst example was the Teapot Dome Scandal
 Gov’t had set aside oil-rich lands at Teapot Dome, WY
and Elk Hills, CA for use by the US Navy
 Sec. of Interior got the reserves transferred to the Interior
Dept. and then leased the land to 2 private oil companies
 Harding dies of a stroke in 1923 and Calvin
Coolidge become president (and reelected the
next year)
Industry flourishes
 Calvin Coolidge (R ) was very pro-
business
He and his successor (Herbert Hoover)
favored gov’t policies that kept taxes
down and business profits up
Goal was the keep gov’t interference
minimal
High tariffs on imports, wages rose and so
did productivity
Impact of Automobile
 With the automobile came paved roads
 Route 66- from Chicago to California with little towns
on the way
 New houses had garages or carports and a driveway
 Gas stations, repair shops, motels, tourist camps
and shopping centers, Traffic signals early 1920s,
Holland Tunnel (1st underwater tunnel) in 1927
 Liberated rural families to travel into the city for
shopping and entertainment
 Urban sprawl -cities spreading in all directions
 Became a status symbol
Airplane Industry
 Began as a mail carrying service for the
USPS
 With the development of weather
forecasting, planes began carrying
radios and navigation instruments
 1927 Pan American Airways
inaugurated the 1st transatlantic
passenger flight
Electrical convenience
 Gasoline powered much of the economic
boom of the 20’s but electricity transformed
the nation
 Electricity was no longer restricted to central
cities but spread to the suburbs
 By the end of the 1920’s more and more
homes had electric irons and wealthier homes
had refrigerators, cooking ranges and
toasters
Mass Advertising
 Advertising agencies hired psychologists
to study how to appeal to people’s
desire for youthfulness, beauty, health
and wealth
 Brand names became familiar and
luxury items soon became necessities
Mouthwash was a big example
Superficial Prosperity
 During the 20’s most Americans believed
prosperity would go on forever
 Industries provided another solution to the
problem of luring customers
 Easy credit or “a dollar down and a dollar
forever”
 The “installment plan” enabled people to buy
goods over an extended period of time without
having to put down much money at the time of
purchase
City Life
 Between 1920-1929, nearly 2 million
people left rural areas for cities every
year
 City dwellers read and argued about
major issues
 City dwellers tolerated drinking,
gambling, and casual dating
 Major battle between traditional and
modern values
Prohibition
 18th amendment went into effect in January
1920
Manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic
beverages was illegal
However, alcohol was allowed for medical and
religious purposes
 Reformers thought drinking led to crime, wife
and child abuse, accidents on the job and other
serious social problems
 Support came from south and west and
Protestants
 Was very hard to fund and enforce!
Speakeasies and Bootleggers
 To get liquor illegally, drinkers went
underground to hidden saloons called
speakeasies
Spoke quietly inside to avoid detection
Had to have a card or a secret password
 People also learned to distill alcohol in
secret
Bootleggers (smuggled in boot legs)
Organized Crime
 Prohibition contributed to organized
crime in every major city
 Chicago was notorious because of Al
Capone
Bootlegging empire netted over $60
million/year
Science v. Religion
 Fundamentalists-skeptical of scientific
knowledge
Literal interpretation of the Bible
Rejected to theory of evolution
Strong support in south and west
Scopes Trial
 March 1925, Tennessee passed that
nation’s first law that made it a crime to
teach evolution
 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
promised to defend any teacher who
challenged the law
John T. Scopes, a young biology teacher,
accepted the challenge
Was arrested and put in jail for reading an article
in class about evolution
Scopes Trial cont.
 The ACLU hired Clarence Darrow to defend
Scopes
 William Jennings Bryan served as special
prosecutor
 Trial was a fight over evolution and the role of
science and religion in public schools and
American society
 Bryan was questioned for his religious beliefs
Ended up admitting that the Bible might be
interpreted in different ways
 Scopes was found guilty and fined $100
Women of the 20s
 In the rebellious, pleasure-loving atmosphere
of the 20s, many women began asserting their
independence and demanded the same
freedom as men
 Flapper-an emancipated young woman who
embraced new fashions and urban attitudes
Close-fitting hats, waist less dresses an inch above
the knee, skin toned stockings, boyish bob
hairstyles
Began smoking cigarettes, drinking in public,
talking openly about sex
Danced the foxtrot, tango, Charleston
Pop culture
 More people went to high school- taxes to
finance schools increased
Increased literacy
 Radio became the most powerful
communication medium
Heard news as it happened, sports, radio shows
 Spent time working crossword puzzles,
playing mahjong, dance marathons, sports
Negro National baseball league
Babe Ruth- Yankees
Entertainment and Art
 Movies- first without sound then with
sound called “talkies”
 Jazz music
 Literary boom- F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Ernest Hemingway
Harlem Renaissance
 Literary and artistic movement
celebrating African-American culture
 Great Migration brought African
Americans to the north
 Many moved to Harlem, a neighborhood
on the Upper West Side of NYC
Became the world’s largest black urban
community
Suffered overcrowding, unemployment, and
poverty
Authors
 Harlem Renaissance encouraged a new pride in
African-American experiences
Wrote about the trials of being black in a white
world
 Claude McKay-novelist, poet, urged African
Americans to resist prejudice and
discrimination. Wrote of the pain of life in
the black ghettos
 Langston Hughes-poet, described difficult lives
of working-class African Americans
 Zora Neale Hurston-portrayed the lives of poor
Southern blacks
Jazz
 Born in the early 20th century in New
Orleans
 Blended instrumental ragtime and vocal
blues
 Joe “King” Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band
brought it north
 Famous jazz musicians: Louis Armstrong,
Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith
Happy Wednesday!!
 Take out your 20s packet so I can come
around and check it
 Did you know: The “ZIP” in zip code
stands for zone improvement plan
Interwar Period
Causes of the Great Depression
The Good Times
 The 1920’s were a time of superficial
prosperity
Businesses were doing well
Wages were increasing
People bought all kinds of “luxury” items
Cars, toasters, washers, vacuums, sewing machines
People thought the good times would continue
forever and bought fancy items on credit or
with installment plans, assuming they would
just pay it later
Trouble Ahead
 As the 1920s advanced, economic prosperity
slowed, but few noticed
1. Industries were in trouble
 Railroads, lumbering and mining industries
were no longer making profits
 Companies had to start laying people off
 People without jobs do not have money to spend,
which hurts other businesses
 People were also laid off b/c a lot of companies
began using machines to do the work
Trouble Ahead
2. Farmers were in Debt
 During WWI, farmers produced a lot of crops and sold a lot of
crops
 After WWI farmers should have slowed production, but they
didn’t
 They were unable to sell all their crops
 Farmers needed money and took out loans
 Many farmers never repaid their loans which caused rural
banks to fail
 Many farms were foreclosed on
 Congress tried to help and passed price-supports (McNaryHaugen Bill)
 Gov’t would buy excess for and sell it overseas
 President Coolidge vetoed the bill
Trouble Ahead
3. Consumers had less money to spend
 As businesses failed, wages were cut and
people could not spend money on “extra”
items
 Since nobody was buying, more businesses
failed, causing more unemployment, which
caused even less money to be spent in stores
Trouble Ahead
4. Living on credit
 People were living above their means
 People could not afford to buy items out right so they paid for
them on credit and assumed they would pay it back later
 Credit Cards
 Installment Plans -paying off the total cost in monthly
payments
 Buying Stocks on the Margin- many wanted to invest in the
stock market, but could not afford to pay the full amount of the
stock so they borrowed from a broker (took out a loan to pay
for it)
 Many couldn’t pay back the full amount of their loans or were
so strapped for cash they couldn’t spend money on other items,
which hurt other businesses, causing more people to become
unemployed
Trouble Ahead
5. Uneven distribution of wealth
 Rich got richer, poor got poorer
 Most earned less than $2,500 a year
 Had no savings
 Relied on credit
Hoover takes over
 1928- Hoover wins the election
 Little focus on the economy
 People think the good times will continue
 People believed investing in the stock market was the key to riches
 Dow Jones Industrial Average was high (Bull Market)
 People began engaging in Speculation
 Buy low, sell high
 Make quick money
 Many didn’t realize the risk, thought the market would continue to
increase
 People began buying Stocks on the Margin
 Many couldn’t afford to pay the full amount of the stock so they
borrowed money from a broker
 Makes the market appear stronger than it actually is
 If Stock price declines, people have no way of paying off the loan
 The government did little to discourage excessive borrowing
The Stock Market Crashes
 By early September 1929 many began to
question the strength of the market
People began selling their stocks
 Black Tuesday- October 29, 1929
Confidence in the market collapsed
People began selling their stocks for pennies
16 million stocks sold
Could not pay back their loans
Caused banks to close, by November investors had
lost 30 billion dollars
Stop and Think!
 How did the stock market crash help
cause the Great Depression?

The
Great
Depression
Begins
1929-1940- time period where the economy plummeted and unemployment
rose
 Banks Failed
 People panicked and went to their banks demanding their money
 Many banks invested the money in the stock market and did not
have the money to give back
 Many lost their entire life savings
 The government did not insure bank accounts
 Today, FDIC up to $250,000
 By 1933-11,000 of 25,000 banks failed
 Businesses Failed
 The Gross National Product (total output of goods) was cut from 104
billion to 59 billion
 90,000 businesses failed
 Unemployment Rose
 From 3%-25%
The Great Depression
 The Depression Spread throughout the world
European nations were still trying to recover from
WWI
Wall Street was the center of the financial world
Many nations relied on the US for loans
Many also relied on the US to buy goods
US passed the Hawley Smoot Tariff Act
Highest protective tariffs in US History
Designed to protect American farmers and businesses
It failed It stopped Europeans from buying American goods
 Increased unemployment
 encouraged other nations to pass similar tariffs
Hardships and Suffering
 The Depression in Cities
Many lost their homes, jobs
Homelessness increased
Shanty towns emerged- little towns consisting of
shacks
Soup kitchens
Bread lines
There was no direct relief for families
Cash payment or food provided by the gov’t
African-Americans and minorities were hit even harder
Hardships and suffering
 The Depression in Rural Areas
Farms were foreclosed on
 The Dust Bowl
drought struck in the 1930s
For decades farmers in the Midwest broke up
farmland, removing the protective grass covering,
exposing dirt
Leaving a lot of land unusable
When the drought struck and winds picked up dust
became unbearable
Hardest hit was Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico,
and Colorado
Many abandoned their farms and moved to California
Stop and Think!!
 Why did many farm families leave their
land during the Great Depression?
Hardships and Suffering
 Effects on the American family
Lots of extra time bc of unemployment
Hobos began wandering the streets
There was no Direct Relief for families
Cash payment or food provided by the govt
Some cities tried to provide some relief for
families
New York City- $2.39 per family each week
Hardships and Suffering
 Poor diets increased
 malnutrition increased
 Overall health decreased
 Schools shut down
 “wild boys” –kids who rode the freight
trains
Very dangerous
 Depression increased
suicide increased
Happy Wednesday!
 Take out your “Stormy Weather” movie
sheets so we can finish the movie
 Did you know: an ant can survive up to
2 days underwater
Interwar Period
Hoover’s plan
Hoover’s approach
 Hoover tried to reassure Americans that the
nation’s economy was sound
 Americans had to remain optimistic
 Business as usual
 Depression is a normal part of the business cycle
 The economy will fix itself
 Believed government’s role was to encourage and
facilitate cooperation not control it
 Americans values individualism therefore Hoover
opposed any form of federal welfare or direct
relief
 Felt it would weaken peoples self-respect
 His answer to the problem was to let individuals,
charities and local organizations pitch in and help
Stop and Think!!
 Why was Hoover reluctant to help
people during the Depression?
Cautious steps
 Hoover called together key leaders in
business, banking and labor
 Urged them to work together to find a solution
 Asked employers not to cut wages or lay off
workers and asked laborers not to strike
 Created a special organization to help private
charities generate contributions
 None of this worked
 Shantytowns arose in every city and hobos
continued to roam
Democrats Win Congress
 As the difficulties increased the political
tides turned against Hoover and the
Republicans
 The Democrats took advantage of the
anti-Hoover sentiments to win more
seats in Congress
People’s reaction to Hoover
 Farmers burned their corn and wheat
and dumped their milk on highways
rather than sell it at a loss
 People were calling shantytowns
“Hoovervilles”
 Hoover continued to hold firm to his
principles
Hoover Takes Action
 Backed the creation of the Federal Farm Board-
intended to raise crop prices by helping members to
buy crops and keep them off the market until prices
rose
 Federal Home Loan Bank Act (1932)- lowered
mortgage rates for homeowners and allowed
farmers to refinance to avoid foreclosure
 Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) authorized
up to $2 billion for emergency financing for banks,
life insurance companies, RR, and other large
businesses
 Hoover believed that the money would trickle down to
the average citizen through job growth and higher wages
 Businesses still failed
Bonus Army
 In 1932, 10,000-20,000 WWI Vets and their families marched
in Washington DC and called themselves the Bonus Army
 Supported the Patman Bill under debate that authorized the
gov’t to pay a bonus to WWI Vets who hadn’t be paid
adequately for their service
 Bill was approved in 1924 but was to be paid out in 1945
(cash and life insurance) but Vets wanted to be paid
immediately
 Built shantytowns in front of the Capitol
 July 28- Hoover sent troops to disband the Bonus Army
 Gassed more than 1,000 people including an 11 month old
baby who died and an 8 yr old who was permanently
blinded- Hoover’s image suffered and FDR easily won the
next election
Stop and Think!!
 How did the treatment of the Bonus
Army affect President Hoover?
Happy Thursday!!!
Take out your Economic Briefing Packet
so I can come around a check it!
Did you know: Babe Ruth wore a
cabbage leaf under his baseball cap to
keep cool; he changed it every 2
innings
Interwar Period
FDR and the New Deal
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
 Democrat, elected in the election of 1932
 Inaugurated in March 1933
 20th Amendment-move presidential inauguration
to January (ratified in Feb. 1933 so FDR missed it)
 “lame duck” amendment- shortens time btwn election
and inauguration
 Between the time of election and the time he
took office, FDR worked to pick advisers
known as the “Brain Trust”
 Came up with the “New Deal”
Hundred Days
 Period of intense activity lasting from March
9- June 16, 1933
 Congress passed more that 15 major pieces of
New Deal legislation
 Expanded the fed. Gov’ts role in the nation’s
economy
 First step was the carry out reforms in banking
and finance
 Closed all banks (bank holiday) to prevent further
withdrawals
 Emergency Banking Relief Act- banks were to be
inspected, if they couldn’t repay debts they would
remain closed
Fireside Chats
 Radio talks about issues of public
concern, explaining in clear, simple
language
 Made people feel like he was talking
directly to them
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself”
The 3 R’s- Relief
 Relief: bring immediate help to those who
need it
 CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp)- Provided jobs for
young single males on conservation projects
Built new roads, strung telephone lines, planted
trees
 TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)- provided jobs
building dams to bring running water and electricity to
poor regions in the South
 WPA (Works Progress Administration)- created as
many jobs as quickly as possible in construction of
airports, highways, and public buildings.
Also hired artists, musicians and actors
3 R-s- Recovery
 Recovery: “pump-priming” temporary
programs to restart the flow of
consumer demand
AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Act)- aid
farmers by regulating crop production so
prices would rise
NRA (National Recovery
Administration)- reformed banking
practices and established fair codes of
competition for business
3 R’s- Reform
 Reform: permanent programs to avoid
situations causing contractions and
Insurance for citizens against econ.
Disaster
FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation)- protected bank deposits up to
$5,000
Wagner Act-defined unfair labor practices and
established the National Labor Relations Board to
settle disputes between employers and employees
SSA (Social Security Act)- provided pension for
retired workers and their spouses and helped
people with disabilities
Regulating Banking and
Finance
 Glass-Steagall Act- established the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
 Federal Securities Act- required corporations to
provide complete information on all stock
offerings and made them liable for any
misrepresentation.
 Established the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC)
 21st amendment (sell alcohol to raise gov’t
revenue by taxing alcohol)
Results of the New Deal
 By the end of the Hundred Days, millions of
Americas had benefited from the New Deal
programs
 Public confidence in the nation’s future had
rebounded
 FDR practiced the policy of deficit
spending- spending more money that the
gov’t receives in revenue
 Said it was a necessary evil to be used in an
economic crisis
Stop And Think!!
 Look over the list of New Deal
programs. Identify which programs
addressed the different areas of need
 You have a limited amount of time to
do this so start working!!!
Critics of the New Deal
 Many critics believed the New Deal interfered
with the workings of a free-market
economy
 Fed. Gov’t had too much control over agriculture
and industry
 American Liberty League- believed the
New Deal violated respect for rights of
individuals and property
 3 of the toughest critics expressed views that
appealed to the poor: Father Coughlin, Dr.
Francis Townsend, and Huey Long
FDR and the Supreme Court
 Schechter v. US (1935): struck down the
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) as
unconstitutional
 Said it gave legislative power to the executive
branch
 Butler v. US (1937): struck down the
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) saying that
agriculture is a local matter and should be
regulated by the states not the fed. Gov’t
 Overall FDR’s New Deal was defeated in 7 of 9
SC decisions
FDR’s Response
 Judiciary Reorganization Bill
 Allowed him to appoint 6 new Supreme Court
justices
 Also called the “court packing bill”
 Never happened
 1937, an elderly justice retired and FDR
appointed a liberal justices, shifting the
balance of the Court
 Over the next 4 years because of
resignations, FDR appointed 7 new judges
End of the Great Depression?
 In 1938, FDR scaled back on the New Deal
policies and unemployment rose again
 Production and unemployment wouldn’t
match pre-1929 levels until the US entered
WWII and industries began production of
war materials
 However, the New Deal DID provided shortterm relief to many!
Long Term Impact
 People now looked to the gov’t for help in
times of need
 Gov’t is responsible for social welfare
 Thousands of federal jobs were created to
maintain new agencies
 Gov’t became active in settling labor disputes
 Greatly regulated business- 40 hr work
week, minimum wage, etc.
 Ushered in an era of increased taxes paid by
citizens