politics and
technology of the
1920s
Warren G. Harding
• He won the Presidential
election of 1920.
• He ran under the campaign
slogan of “return to normalcy”
following WWI.
• Promised a lack of foreign
influence in country’s affairs
• While on vacation in San
Francisco, he died of a heart
attack at age 57.
• Vice President Calvin Coolidge
then became the 30th
President of the U.S.
The Teapot Dome Scandal
• This was one of many scandals under the
Harding Administration.
• Albert Fall was the Secretary of the Interior.
• Fall secretly allowed people to lease
government land containing Navy oil reserves
in Teapot Dome Wyoming.
• In return, Fall received $300,000.
• Fall would become the first cabinet member
to go to prison.
The Ohio Gang
• This was a group of men all from Ohio that Harding gave
important positions to.
• Most of these men all played cards with Harding before he
became President.
• Many eyewitnesses have said that they all drank, smoked
cigars, and played poker.
• Some members of this group used their positions to sell
government jobs.
• This corruption and scandal helped to define Harding’s
term in office.
The Ohio Gang in the White House
“The air would be heavy with tobacco
smoke, trays with bottles containing
every imaginable brand of
whiskey…cards and poker chips at
hand—a general atmosphere of
waistcoat unbuttoned, feet on desk,
and spittoons alongside.”
Harding’s Legacy
• He is remembered most for the
scandals of his administration
• The drinking and partying of
the “Ohio Gang” and his
extramarital affairs
• Some say he would have been
impeached had he not died
• To protect him his wife burned
most (about 7/8) of his
personal documents
Calvin Coolidge
• When Harding died in office August
2nd, 1923, Coolidge became
President.
• Coolidge was on vacation at his
family’s farm in Plymouth Notch
Vermont.
• His father woke him at 2:30 am on
August 3rd and told him that
Harding was dead.
• Later that morning, Coolidge took
the oath of office from his father
standing in the family living room.
His father was a justice of the
peace.
• He returned public trust to the
office of president
Henry Ford
• Father was born in Ireland;
parents were farmers
• Born in Michigan
• Age of 15 began taking apart
watches…became known as the
town watch-smith
• Moved to the city to become a
machinist apprentice and
eventually began studying the
technology of cars
Ford and Edison
Assembly Line
• The assembly line was first used by Ford Motor Company.
• He used this to cut down the time it took to make a car.
• He believed that all cars should be made the same to cut
down on time.
• He first used the assembly line at his plant in Highland Park
Michigan in 1913.
• Using the assembly line it took 93 minutes to build a car
where it used to take 12 hours.
• Fordism = mass production of low priced good coupled
with higher worker wages
• He was able to reduce workdays from 6 to 5.
$5 Dollar Work Day
• Shocked the country by offering $5 a day
($110 per day in current money)
• Revolutionized “welfare capitalism”– believed
that by making his workers happy they
wouldn’t leave and they would work harder
• This made Detroit one of the most prosperous
cities in the country (things have changed a
bit)
1913 Ford Assembly Line
Model T
• The first assembly line product was the Model T
also called the “Tin Lizzie.”
• This also helped drop the price from $850 to $295.
• The automobile became an accepted part of
American life.
• By the mid-1920s there were many competitors:
most notably General Motors and Chrysler
• 21 of 26 families owned cars but did not have
indoor plumbing.
1908 Model T Advertisement
Mr. and Mrs. Ford in his first car
Ford on his Model-T
"I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be
large enough for the family, but small enough for
the individual to run and care for. It will be
constructed of the best materials, by the best
men to be hired, after the simplest designs that
modern engineering can devise. But it will be so
low in price that no man making a good salary
will be unable to own one—and enjoy with his
family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's
great open spaces.”
The Story of Us: Henry Ford & the
Model T
How Cars Changed Society:
• Cars let people live further out in the suburbs
and commute to jobs in the city
• Cars greatly increased the demand for oil…now
for the first time ever we have road-side gas
stations
• Rubber industry explodes…Goodyear tires and
others come onto the scene
• Increased the freedom of citizens to move
around the country at will without being
dependent on so many factors (railroads, tickets,
times, etc)
New Consumer Products
 Since Americans were working less and making more
money, new products were introduced to take advantage of
disposable income.
 Some new inventions or products of the 1920’s:
1. Electric Razor
6. Frozen Foods
2. Hair Dye
7. Electric Iron
3. Vacuum Cleaner
8. Washing Machine
4. Glass Cookware
9. Mouthwash
5. Deodorant
Airline Industry
• 1903 the Wright
brothers make their
first flight
• By 1928 – 48 airlines
were serving 355
American cities
• Now the USA is also
connected by air
Charles Lindbergh
• In 1927, Charles
Lindbergh made the first
solo flight across the
Atlantic Ocean
• Plain was called the
“Spirit of St. Louis”
• He had formerly been a
US Mail pilot
Lindbergh part 2
• He did not have a parachute or a radio because he
needed to save weight.
• He only packed a few things:
1. Razor
3. 5 Sandwiches
2. Passport
4. Quart of Water
• The flight took him over 33 hours and 3,605 miles to
reach Paris.
• He landed at Le Bourget airfield in Paris with more than
100,000 people there to cheer him on.
• This established “Lindy” as an international celebrity.
New York Times, May 21st, 1927
“Early in the morning on May 20, 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh took
off in The Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field near New York
City. Flying northeast along the coast, he was sighted later in the
day flying over Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. From St. Johns,
Newfoundland, he headed out over the Atlantic, using only a
magnetic compass, his airspeed indicator, and luck to navigate
toward Ireland. The flight had captured the imagination of the
American public like few events in history. Citizens waited
nervously by their radios, listening for news of the flight. When
Lindbergh was seen crossing the Irish coast, the world cheered and
eagerly anticipated his arrival in Paris. A frenzied crowd of more
than 100,000 people gathered at Le Bourget Field to greet him.
When he landed, less than 34 hours after his departure from New
York, Lindbergh became the first person to fly solo across the
Atlantic Ocean.”
The Radio Industry
• In 1920 the Westinghouse Company broadcast the election
of President Harding.
• This broadcast by radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh was the
first long-range broadcast in history.
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Columbia
Broadcasting System (CBS) were competing against each
other from coast to coast.
• Hire bands, entertainers, make shows, etc to compete
• Radio helped to link the nation together.
• By 1929 10 million radios were in use across the country.
• Now the country was linked through media for instant
access to the news
Live Radio Band
Radio Assembly Line Production
Mass advertisement in the media begins
The invention of sliced bread!!!!
Easy Consumer Credit
• People starting having confidence in the
economy
• They believed in the “Buy now, pay later”
pitch
• 75% of radios and 60% of automobiles in the
1920s were bought on installment plans
• This was a COMPLETELY new way of
purchasing smaller goods in America
Uneven Prosperity
• Farming in American
had been in a
depression since 1921
• Farmers earned 1/3rd
the income of city
workers
• A bushel of wheat that
sold for $2.94 in 1920
dropped to $1 in 1929
and 30 cents in 1932.
Personal Debt and Income Distribution
in the 1920s
Other Economic Danger Signs
Uneven
Prosperity
Personal Debt
• The rich got richer
• Huge corporations rather than small business dominated industry.
• Many Americans believed that they could count on future income to cover
debt. They bought on installment plans boasting “easy terms.”
Playing the Stock
Market
• The rapid increase of stock prices encouraged:
• Speculation, the practice of making high-risk investments in hopes of
getting a huge return, and
• Buying on margin, the practice of allowing investors to purchase a stock
for only a fraction of its price and borrow the rest at high interest rates.
Too Many Goods,
Too Little
Demand
• Rising productivity had brought prosperity, but it also created a surplus of
goods. Manufacturers had more product than consumers could buy.
Trouble for
Farmers and
Workers
• Farmers unable to pay their debts defaulted on bank loans, which caused
rural banks to fail. Coolidge vetoed a farm relief bill.
• While companies grew wealthy, many factory workers remained poor,
especially in distressed industries.