Unit 5:
Boom and Bust
Chapter 15
The Jazz Age
Roaring 20s Begin
I. A Clash of Values
A. War is Over
1. US attempts a return to isolationism
* a national policy of avoiding
involvement in world affairs
a. Shun diplomatic commitments w/
foreign countries
b. Denounce foreign ‘radical’ ideas
2. atmosphere of disillusionment
a. economic recession
b. influx of immigrants
c. racial/cultural tensions
3. Scenario
a. immigration stopped during war – up
again in 1921 after WWI
b. most new immigrants from S & E
Europe
1) seen as threat to stability and
order
2) seen as threat to returning
soldiers who need jobs in an
economy with rising prices and
unemployment
c. leads to a rise in racism and nativism
Post War Intolerance
NATIVISM
* nativism = a preference for nativeborn people and a desire to limit
immigration
4. The Sacco & Vanzetti Case
a. The Crime: 2 Italian, Anarchist,
Immigrants accused of murdering a
paymaster and guard during a payroll
holdup in Boston. April 1920.
b. The Evidence: Flimsy at best see pg
490-491
c. The Verdict: Guilty! Says the Judge: “this
man, although he may not actually have
committed the crime, is nevertheless
morally culpable, because he is the
enemy of our existing institutions”
d. The Sentence: Death – both executed in
1927
Sacco and Vanzetti
4. Eugenics – emphasized that human
inequalities were inherited and warned
against breeding the unfit or inferior
a. superiority of American stock.
WASPs = White, Anglo-Saxon,
Protestants
b. led to strict immigration control
5. Plight of Black Americans in the 1920s
a. Great Migration: Southern Rural blacks
move to northern, industrial cities
b. Racial Prejudice: poverty, frozen out of
many jobs, high unemployment
c. Rise of KKK – devoted to persecuting
minorities in US
- blamed immigrants for nations trouble
- attacked blacks, Catholics, Jews etc.
- used threats & violence to frighten
“undesirables”
- influence declines in late ‘20s due to
scandals & power struggles within
organization leadership
KKK
The Klan: Gainesville, GA
B. Immigration Restrictions
1. Anti-immigrant feelings rise – even in big
biz
a. racism
b. fear of competition for jobs
c. worries about political radicals (Red
Scare)
2. Emergency Quota Act of 1921
a. only 3% of an ethnic grp (already here)
admitted (based on 1910 census)
- restricted # imms. from all countries
- discriminated heavily against people
from S & E Europe
b. Effect? Ethnic identity & National Origin
determined admission into US
3. National Origins Act of 1924
a. made immigration restriction permanent
b. quota at 2% (1890 census) – so, larger #s
from N & W Europe allowed
c. 1929 addition to this act resulted in N & W
Europeans = 87% of quota
1. “America realizes that she is no longer a desert country in need of reinforcements to her
population. She realizes that her present numbers and their descendants are amply sufficient
to bring out her natural resources at a reasonable rate of progress. She knows that her
prosperity at this moment far exceeds that of any other land in the world. She realizes that
unless immigration is numerically restrained she will be overwhelmed by a vast migration of
peoples from the war-stricken countries of Europe. Such a migration could not fail to have a
baleful effect upon American wages and standards of living, and it would increase mightily our
problem of assimilating the foreign-born who are already here. Out of these thoughts have
risen the general demands for limitation of the number of immigrants who may enter this
country.
2.” There has come about a general realization of the fact that the races of men who have
been coming to us in recent years are wholly dissimilar to the native-born Americans; that
they are untrained in self-government-- a faculty that it has taken the Northwestern
Europeans many centuries to acquire. America was beginning also to smart under the
irritation of her 'foreign colonies'-- those groups of aliens, either in city slums or in country
districts, who speak a foreign language and live a foreign life, and who want neither to learn
our common speech nor to share our common life. From all this has grown the conviction that
it was best for America that our incoming immigrants should hereafter be of the same races
as those of us who are already here, so that each year's immigration should so far as
possible be a miniature America, resembling in national origins the persons who are already
settled in our country. . . ."
"It is true that 75 per cent of our immigration will hereafter come from Northwestern
Europe; but it is fair that it should do so, because 75 per cent of us who are now here owe
our origin to immigrants from those same countries. . . ."
Flow of immigration under 3% law –
based on 1910 census – largest
quotas come from countries shaded
in black
The flow of immigration under 2% law –
Smallest quotas come from the lightly
shaded countries and those shown in
white (Turkey, Spain, Romania,
Hungary, etc. ) Largest quotas from
countries shaded in black
4. Hispanic Immigration to US
a. lack of immigrants in the labor pool
led to rise of Mexican immigration
b. irrigation jobs ala Newlands
Reclamation Act of 1902 open to
Mexican immigrants
- 70,000 Mexicans flee to US after
Mexican Rev.
- National Origins Act of 1924
exempted natives of Western
Hemisphere from quota system
C. The New Morality
1. New Morality vs Traditional Values
2. What was the new Morality?
a. glorified youth and personal freedom
b. more women working outside the home
- establish personal identity
- independence from parental authority
- provide wages – can buy things!
c. more women attend college
d. increased freedom thanks to auto
- provides independence/privacy for
youth
- shift: socializing at home to
socializing w/ friends
3. Women in the 1920s
a. more social freedom
b. the “flapper” : the symbol of the
revolution in manners and morals –
young dramatic, stylish, and
unconventional woman
- short skirts
- short hair
- danced the tango, foxtrot, and
the new Charleston
c. intellectual achievements contribute to science, medicine, law
& literature
The Flapper
Flapper fashion embraced all things and styles modern. A fashionable flapper had
short sleek hair, a shorter than average shapeless shift dress, a chest as flat as a
board, wore make up and applied it in public, smoked with a long cigarette holder,
exposed her limbs and epitomized the spirit of a reckless rebel who danced the
nights away in the Jazz Age.
Hairstyles circa 1922, 1925,1925,1926
The Flapper
by Dorothy Parker
The playful flapper here we see,
The fairest of the fair.
She's not what Grandma used to be,-You might say au contraire.
Her girlish ways make a stir,
Her manners cause a scene,
But there is no more harm in her
Than in a submarine.
She nightly knocks for many a goal
The usual dancing men.
Her speed is great, but her control
Is something else again.
All spotlights focus on her pranks.
All tongues her prowess herald.
For which she well may render thanks
To God or Scott Fitzgerald.
Her golden rule is plain enoughJust get them young and treat them
rough.
4. The Fundamentalist Movement –
supporters of traditional values
a. saw moral decline in American
society
- consumer culture
- relaxed ethics
- increased urbanization
b. Fundamentalist beliefs
- literal translation of Bible
- rejected theory of evolution –
supported creationism
c. Scopes Monkey Trial
- laws against teaching evolution
- ACLU determined to overthrow this
law
- arrange to have John Scopes
(Biology teacher), arrested for
teaching it
- Trial: Defense atty Clarence Darrow
vs. prosecuting atty, William
Jennings Bryan
- Scopes guilty, but Darrow bested
Scopes Trial and
Prohibition
Bryan many times in trial – Bryan
dies 5 days later
- Result? Fundamentalists further
isolated from mainstream
Protestantism
D. Prohibition
1. Why ban alcohol? (18th Amendment Jan.
1920)
a. unemployment
b. domestic violence
c. poverty
2. Volstead Act
a. enforces prohibition
b. increased fed. gov’t’s police powers
(previously been left to the states)
3. Effects of Prohibition
a. Rise in ORGANIZED CRIME
- bootlegging
- smuggling
- speakeasies – illegal bars
b. Crime became big biz
- gangsters corrupt public officials
- most notorious – Al Capone
(Chicago)
Al Capone
4. Repealing Prohibition
a. 21st amendment, 1933
b. defeat for supporters of
traditional values & for those
who favored the use of
fed. police powers to achieve
moral reform
5. Lasting effect of Prohibition
a. anti-alcohol laws
b. alcohol awareness - less
drinking at work etc.
II. Cultural Innovations
A. Art & Literature
1. Greenwich Village & the South Side
a. Greenwich Village = NYC; South Side
of Chicago
b. Bohemian lifestyle – artistic and
unconventional – perfect place for
artists and writers to flourish, focus on
creativity
2. Modern American Art
a. diverse range of artistic styles
b. urban landscapes; cubism,
realism
Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks depicts isolated
people in the city
3. Poets & Writers – varied styles and subject
matter
a. poet Carl Sandburg glorified Midwest and
expansive nature of American life
b. poet Vincent Mallay praised women’s
freedom and equality
c. poet Gertrude Stein – important literary
critic
d. poet/writer T.S. Elliot concentrated on
negative effects of modernism
TS Elliot: The Hollow Men
A penny for the Old Guy
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw.
Alas! Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
T.S.Eliot, author of The Waste Land
(1922) and The Hollow Men (1925).
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a
whimper.
e. playwright Eugene O’Neill portrayed
realistic characters and situations
f. Novelist Ernest Hemingway wrote
about disillusionment and
reevaluated myths about American
heroes – result of his WWI
experience as an ambulance driver
g. writer F. Scott Fitzgerald exposed
emptiness and superficiality of
modern society The Great Gatsby
B. Pop Culture
1. Economic Prosperity
a. Americans had more leisure
time and more money
b. Americans able to enjoy various
forms of entertainment/pop
culture
2. Baseball, Boxing, and Other Sports
a. Media coverage (motion pictures, radios,
newspapers, magazines) of sports
helped to increase its popularity
•Baseball – Babe Ruth famous worldwide
•Boxing – Jack Dempsey
•College Football – Red Grange of the
Univ of IL
•Golf – Bobby Jones
•Tennis – Bill Tilden; Helen Wills
•Swimming – Gertrude Ederle – swam the
English Channel in record time
3. Rise of Hollywood
a. Silent Movies
- live piano players set the tone in
the theater
- subtitles revealed the plot
b. First “talkie”: The Jazz Singer
1927
- golden age of Hollywood began!
4. Popular Radio Shows and Music
a. 1920 – KDKA Pittsburgh launched
one of 1st commercial radio
broadcasts: election results of the
1920 Presidential Election –
Harding’s landslide victory
b. Radios
•played pop music of the day
•comedy shows such as
Amos ‘n’ Andy
c. Significance of 1920s mass media?
1) broke down patterns of
provincialism
2) unified Americans through shared
national culture
3) spread new ideas and attitudes of
the times
III. African American Culture
A. The Harlem Renaissance
1. Effects of Great Migration
a. Black American sought to escape
segregated society of South & to find
economic opportunities
b. New York City neighborhood of Harlem –
area full of night clubs & music – culture
movement known as the Harlem
Renaissance – significance?
Harlem
1) stimulated artistic development
Renaissance
2) racial pride
3) sense of community
4) political organization
2. The Writers
a. Claude McKay: immigrant from
Jamaica – criticized racism in
America
b. Langston Hughes: examined the
place of blacks in a white world
- many of his poems expressed a
positive, hopeful message –
things may not be good now, but
there is hope for the future
3. Jazz, Blues, and the Theater
a. Music Biz grew thanks to radio &
phonograph
b. Most important musical development of
the 1920s was JAZZ
- American style of music that
Birth of Jazz
developed from ragtime & blues and
which uses syncopated rhythms &
melodies
- Louis Armstrong: 1st great coronet &
trumpet soloist in jazz music.
Known for improvisation
- Duke Ellington: bandleader who
created his own sound of
improvisation & orchestration using
diff. combos of instruments
- Cotton Club – Harlem neighborhood
nightspot where many black
American artists got their starts (could
play there, but couldn’t be a
customer!)
•Bessie Smith: “empress of the
blues”
•Eventually, others borrowed heavily
from jazz, produced a quieter version
that appealed to white audiences ”
Big Band” (great for dancing)
B. African American Politics
1. Role of Harlem Renaissance: brought
int’l fame to many black Americans +
sparked a political transformation in the
US
2. Great Migration led to increased political
power of black Americans – created a
strong voting bloc in the north
3. NAACP
a. battled discrimination and
segregation through the legal
system – in the courts
b. led efforts in Congress to pass antilynching legislation
c. political strength of black Americans
evident with the defeat of Judge
John Parker’s nomination to the
Supreme Court
4. Rise of Black Nationalism – Marcus Garvey
a. glorify black culture & traditions of the
past
b. Garvey founded the Universal Negro
Improvement Assoc. (UNIA) - believed
blacks could gain economic and political
power by educating themselves
c. Eventually, Garvey proclaimed that blacks
could never find justice or freedom in the
US – developed plan to lead blacks to
new homeland in Africa
d. $ sent in for his cause was
wasted/mismanaged. Garvey jailed,
deported back to Jamaica – organization
collapsed
Chapter 16
Normalcy & Good
Times
I. Presidential Politics
A. The Harding Administration
1. 1920 Election
a. Democratic Platform
1) continue Progressive Mvmt
2) support League of Nations
3) increase role of gov’t in economy
b. Republican Platform
1) return to Laissez-Faire
2) avoid foreign entanglements
3) “normalcy” (a return to a state of
normal) – Harding’s campaign
slogan
c. Republicans – Warren G.
Harding win
- more in tune w/ public mood:
tired of wartime wage & price
controls; anxious to avoid
another foreign war
Warren G. Harding
2. The Republican Formula: Lower
Spending + Lower Taxes + Higher
Tariffs = Economic Growth
a. run gov’t more efficiently – return to
laissez faire – avoid heavy federal
spending
b. appointed Andrew Mellon as Sec. of
Treasury (1 of 6 richest men in US)
- Who is Sec of Treasury today?
c. believed in cutting taxes on industry
to spur economic growth
d. cut gov’t spending (did by 1/3)
US Secretary of the Treasury
Official Seal
Incumbent:
Timothy Geithner
since: January 26, 2009
First
Alexander Hamilton
Formation
September 11, 1789
Presidential
succession
Fifth
Website
www.treasury.gov
3. Political Scandals - Harding: hard working
& good natured, but remembered for
scandals while in office
a. Ohio Gang: a group of political friends
from Ohio that Harding appointed to
high gov’t posts
1) good appts: Sec of State Charles
Hughes, Sec of Commerce Hebert
Hoover, Sec of Treasury Andrew
Mellon
2) most not qualified – or just plain
corrupt
3) stories of misconduct made it to the
press
- Charles Forbes, head of Vets
bureau: swindled country out of
$200m
- Reports of Ohio gang selling
favors, including pardons & appts
to office
b. Harding takes trip to Alaska, gets sick,
dies Aug 1923
c. Teapot Dome Scandal – new out after
Harding’s death
1) secret, illegal leasing of gov’t oil
reserves to pvt oil companies in
Teapot Dome, WY
2) Albert B. Fall, Sec. of Interior,
leased the reserves to oilmen who
paid him kickbacks
d. Harding’s Atty Gen. Harry Daugherty
forced to resign in 1924 charged w/
bribery & fraud
e. Harding admin goes down in history as
most corrupt in US History
B. The Coolidge Administration
1. VP Coolidge of MA takes over
a. “Silent Cal”
b. untouched by scandals of Harding admin
- Integrity earns him honor of being
one of most popular Presidents
- distanced himself from most in
Hardings admin
- Kept Harding’s most capable:
Hughes, Mellon, Hoover
c. Philosophy: to make sure gov’t interfered
w/ biz and industry as little as
possible **America’s prosperity rested
on biz leadership
Calvin Coolidge
2. 1924 Election
a. Coolidge (R) v. Davis (D) v. LaFollette (P)
b. Ds turn away from Progressivism, Ps call
for gov’t to spend more time
regulating biz than fighting labor unions
c. Farmers support Ps to demand gov’t
subsidies
d. Coolidge wins easily “Keep Cool with
Coolidge”
- avoided war, avoided scandal,
avoided reform – but supported biz
Prosperity
- “The chief business of the American people
is business”
II. A Growing Economy
A. The Rise of New Industries
1. Wages UP, Productivity UP – thanks
to new technology
a. more $ to spend
b. more stuff to buy: radios,
washing machines, vacuum
cleaners, phones & CARS
2. The Assembly Line
a. Henry Ford made mass production of
autos possible thru use of AL
- divide operations into simple tasks –
cut unnecessary motion to min.
- The Model T
b. made auto affordable (not just a luxury for
the wealthy)
c. Ford’s philosophy: lower the cost per car
= increased volume of sales
d. increased pay, established 8 hr shifts =
increased worker loyalty, decreased
union influence
e. competition grew: GM, Chrysler
Henry Ford with Model T in
Buffalo, NY, 1921
Henry Ford
3. Success of Auto Industry = ripple effect
on economy
a. steel, rubber, glass
b. construction industry
c. fed & state gov’t built roads
d. motels, gas stations
4. Social impact of Auto
a. affordable to middle class
b. new biz opportunities
c. higher demand for educated workers
(mgrs, sales)
- high school enrollment 2X
- college enrollment almost 2X
- biz schools
d. eased isolation of rural life
e. enabled people to live farther from work –
more suburban
5. Consumer Goods Industry – more $, more to
buy
a. For the home:
- indoor plumbing
- household cleansers
- frozen foods
b. New Appliances
- electric irons
- vacuum cleaners
- washing machines
- refrigerators
c. For You
- electric razors
- disposable tissues
- home hair dye
6. Airline Industry
a. 1st flight? Orville & Wilbur Wright, Kitty Hawk, NC
Dec. 1903
b. Glenn Curtiss – invents ailerons – made it possible to build
rigid wings & much larger aircraft
c. WWI – use of airplanes in war
d. US gov’t use of airplanes: USPS airmail service 1918
- Kelly Act 1925: authorized postal official to contract w/
pvt airplane operators to carry mail - economic boost
to airplane industry
- Air Commerce Act 1926: provided federal aid for
building airports
e. Charles A. Lindbergh - 1st solo, trans-Atlantic flight 1927
- symbolized American ingenuity, courage & ability
- individ. effort mattered in the machine age!
f. 1928: 48 airlines serving 355 US cities – advent of airline
advertising
7. Radio Industry
a. 1912: Edwin Armstrong invented special circuit
that made long-range radio transmission of voice
and music practical
b. 1920: 1st radio station KDKA Pittsburgh, PA
announces election results
c. 1926: NBC established permanent network of
stations to distribute daily programs
d. By 1927: 700 stations nationwide; Fed. Radio
Commission regulates them
e. 1928: CBS competing with NBC – both sell ad
time, hire musicians, actors, comedians etc; play
pop music; ads to Political Parties in 1928 election
f. 1929: 10 m radio sets in home in US; almost 40%
of US population
B. The Consumer Society: higher pay + shorter
workdays = buying spree
1. Easy Consumer Credit
a. 1920s prosperity gave Americans
confidence to go into debt to buy
consumer goods – to buy on credit –
believed in their ability to pay off debts
over time
b. Rise of auto & expensive long-lasting
goods convinced people to buy on
installment plans/credit (bought 75%
radios, 60% autos on installment)
c. Personal debt rose 2 ½ times faster than
income
d. Stimulated production, but people began
getting in debt over their heads
2. Mass Advertising
a. Americans had to be convinced that they
needed all the new products available
b. Preyed on consumers’ fears and
anxieties:
- health concerns? buy cleansers etc
- hectic pace of modern life? Buy labor
savers (iron, fridge etc)
c. Linked products to progress and success
- concerned with fashion and appeal?
Buy mouthwash, deodorant etc
3. Managerial Revolution
a. industries began to create
organizational structure
b. divided into divisions with diff.
functions (sales, accounting,
operations etc)
c. managers with biz skills hired –
created expansion of middle class
d. engineers needed for new
technology – expansion of middle
class
4. Welfare Capitalism
a. companies allowed industrial
workers to buy stock, participate in
profit sharing, receive benefits such
as med. care and pensions
b. unions less important with rise in
employee benefits
c. employers promoted open shop
d. with benefits covering certain needs,
workers could spend more of their
income
C. Division in American Society – The Farm Crisis
1. 1900 = 42% Farmers; 1929: 25% Farmers
a. young people lured to cities for better pay,
more exciting life
b. other left farms as they weren’t sharing in
prosperity of the decade
- after WWI, not longer selling to
European Allies, demand down – but
farmers had bought lots of new
equipment on credit!
- urbanization: people ate less due to
less hard labor
- less grain needed for livestock – we
have cars now
- prohibition: no grapes for wine, no
barley for beer
2. Result? Overproduction of farm goods and
prices way down
a. Advances in tech. only added to
overproduction
b. falling food prices made it hard to make
farm mortgage pays.
3. 1920-21: ½ m farmers lost their farms –
bankruptcy
4. Gov’t attempts to help
a. Federal Farm loans increased
b. McNary-Haugen Bill – gov’t buys surplus,
sell it overseas while protecting
US market w/ high tariff – Coolidge vetos
2X
c. Farmers in recession thoughout 1920s
III. The Policies of Prosperity
A. Promoting Prosperity
1. The Mellon Program (Sec. of Treasury
Andrew Mellon – chief architect of
economic policy in the US in the 1920s)
a. believed gov’t should apply biz
principles to its operations
- created Bureau of Budget – to
prepare Budget
- General Accounting Office – to
track gov’t spending
b. 3 Major Goals
1) balance budget
2) reduce gov’t debt
3) cut taxes
c. Accomplishments?
1) cut spending
2) reduced debt
3) cut taxes
For most: from 5% to .5%
For wealthy: 73% to 25%
d. Supply-Side Economics - economic
theory that lower taxes will boost
the economy as biz and individuals invest
their $, thereby creating higher tax revenue
2. Hoover’s Cooperative Individualism
a. encouraged manufacturers &
distributors to form trade
associations to reduce cost and
promote economic efficiency
b. expanded Office of Foreign &
Domestic Commerce to find new
markets & biz opportunities
c. established Bureau of Aviation –
regulate airline industry
d. established Federal Radio
Commission – set rules for radio
transmission
B. Trade & Arms Control
1. US becomes dominant economic power - due
to WWI, US shifts from debtor nation
to creditor nation
2. Isolationism
a. most Americans favored isolationism –
nat’l policy of avoiding involvement in
foreign affairs
b. Though not a member of League of
Nations – hard for US to be isolationist –
too powerful, too economically connected,
too involved in int’l affairs
- promoted peace thru agreements
with individual countries instead of
thru L of N
3. The Dawes Plan – plan for European
economic recovery
a. after WWI, European economies
suffered
- high debt burden
- no $ to buy American exports
b. Dawes Plan: American banks would
make loans to Germans – Germans
could pay their reparations payments to
Brits and French – Brits and French
would accept less in reparations & pay
more of their war debts (to US)
c. unsuccessful – Europeans further into
debt to US banks & corporations
4. Washington Conference – plan for
disarmament
a. 3 agreements
1) Five-Power Naval Limitation Treaty
(Brits, Fr, Italy, Japan, US)
- freeze naval production to 1921
levels
- build no warships for 10 yrs
- US & Brits wouldn’t build new
naval bases in w. Pacific
2) Four-Power Treaty (US, Japan,
France, Brits)
- respect e/os Pacific territory
- negotiate disagreements
3) Nine-Power Treaty
- preserve = trading rights in
China (Open Door Policy)
- guaranteed China’s
independence
b. Problems with the treaties
1) didn’t limit land forces
2) Japanese unhappy – limited them to
smaller Navy
5. Abolishing War
a. Kellogg-Briand Pact – outlaws war
b. ratified by 62 nations – all agreed to
abandon war and to settle disputes by
peaceful means