1920s: Jazz Age/ Roaring Twenties

Overall, a reaction against what went on in
Units 2 and 3
 US tired of imperialism, war, sacrifice
 Desire to get to “Normal”
 People tired of progressive ideas of early 1900s
Characteristics of “Normalcy”







Conservative: Back to how America used to be
Get most out of life: Carefree, optimistic, confident
Isolation/PeaceUS does not sign Treaty or join
League of Nations
Laissez-Faire=profits, big business
Prosperity/individual opportunity
Traditional values (conformity)
Rep. Party in power (Wilson=Dem)
BUT…



The 1920s will not be “normal”
Stock Market Crash: October 29,
1929
DEPRESSION
Desire to return “Normal”…BUT PostWar Troubles…
Demobilization: Normal, however…


4.5 million soldiers return
Women lose jobs
Buying spree=shortages=prices double
Recession 1920-1921



○
Prices fall, factories cut back, fire workers
Farm crisis=prices fall=debt
○


12% Unemployment
$2 Billion government contracts from war gone
Labor Problems
Protests and strikes


1919: 3,600 work stoppages involve 4
million workers
○
○
○
○


Seattle: 36,000 shipyard workers
Boston: Police strike
Penn: 365,000 steel workers
United Mine Workers: 400,000
Negative spin-off effectbusinesses shut
downlay off workersreasons to strike
Labor Problems, cont’d…
Blamed on communists, socialists,
radicals and immigrants in unions
Red Scare





Bolshevik Revolution (Russia) 1917 Lenin
Radicals (commies) ran unions
Role of Communist International Socialist
Party in US, 1901: Eugene Debs
A. Mitchell Palmer
US Attorney General
Palmer Raids: To round up immigrants
and “radicals”




Arrests
Deportations
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial (1920)


Robbery 1920Executed 1927
Judge Webster Thayer
Republicans in Power
1920 Election: Warren Harding: Probusiness platform, cut US debt,
promote economic growth




Charles Dawes: Spending cuts
Fordney-McCumber Tariff
Andrew Mellon: Tax cuts for rich = Trickle
Down Effect
Impact of Republican Policies

Positive impact on business
 Business profits up 60%

Negative impact on workers
 1920: 5 million workers in unions
 1923: 3.6 million workers in unions
 “Yellow dog” contracts

Negative impact on farmers
 Prices drop, overseas purchases drop, debt
New Directions for Women
Positive and negative

19th Amendment passed
Equal Rights Amendment NOT approved


○
Is the right to vote enough?
○ Mary Anderson=Yes
○ Alice Paul=No
Political Scandals and Laissez-Faire
Teapot Dome Scandal 1921
Veterans Bureau Scandal 1923



Charles Forbes
1924 Election

Calvin Coolidge: “Silent Cal,” continue with
Republican ideas and “back to normal”
 “The business of America is business”
 Revenue Act of 1926 – tax cuts rich
 Cuts in government spending = No government
welfare
1928 Election
Herbert Hoover: Continue with
Republican ideas and “back to normal”
 Alfred E. Smith was the Democratic
candidate

 Gov. of New York
 Supported by liberals, immigrants, Catholics
A Nation Divided

But this was supposed to a nice, calm,
easy, tranquil and serene decade…
Racial Divisions
Even though 13th, 14th, 15th
Amendments


African-American migration north
○

800,000 in1920s/2.5 million by 1930
Racial and economic tensions
○

25 race riots throughout US by 1919
KKK 1915 (William J. Simmons)
○
5 million members by mid 1920s
Nationality Divisions: “Nativism”
Immigration Act of 1924: Quota
system/2% rule


Xenophobia yet 25% of Americans born
overseas
Immigrants =/= “American”
Fear of economic competition
Fear of “radicals” and “commies” Red
Scare
Even fear of Native Americans trying to
assimilate




○
○
Dawes Act of 1884: Give Indians farm land
Poverty issues
Yet…Some Advances
NAACP Anti-lynching Committee (est.
1909)
A. Philip Randolph: Union Work



Black Nationalism: Marcus Garvey




Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
United Negro Improvement Association (est.
1914)
Back to Africa Movement
Previous work by W.E.B. DuBois and
B.T. Washington
Overall…







A major class of values =
polarization
Urban v. rural
Young v. old
Liberal v. conservative
“wet” v. “dry”
Rich v. poor
Tradition v. new ideas
Boom Times: Prosperity and Productivity

Republican policies seem to be working:
 ConfidenceInvesting
 Business expansion: GNP up to $100 billion
by 1929
○ Purchasing power 32%
○ Use of electricity (2/3 of homes)
 Scientific Management techniques
○ Fred Taylor: Delegating tasks
Henry Ford

Henry Ford: Assembly line
 Car=$850 in 1909, $250 in 1924
Increase in production=lower production
costs=lower price for cars = sell more
cars = need more production
 http://www.history.com/shows/americathe-story-of-us/videos/henry-ford-andthe-model-t#henry-ford-and-the-model-t

Changes in Workplace

The industrial factory worker does not
seem to benefit
 Immigrants seen as un-American
○ Boring, repetitive work
○ Dangerous conditions
○ Long hours, low wages
Changes in Lifestyle
Example of spin-off
 More cars=more roads=a more
migratory society:

 More mobility: Geographically and socially
 More travel=new areas grow
 Social life: Young people getting away from
home
Changes in Lifestyle

New buying habits
 Alfred P. Sloan (head of G.M.)
○ Installment buying plans
○ Planned obsolescence
○ Advertising: “New and Improved!”
Life in the Twenties
On the surface: “Lots of fun”
 Beneath: A clash of values and ideas

Prohibition

Part of progressive reforms:
 Combat poverty, violence,
poor health, absenteeism from
work
○ 18th Amendment (January
1919)
○ Volstead Act (October 1919)
 Yet, actually increased crime
○ Organized mobs: Al Capone
○ Bootlegging and speakeasies
○ Law abiding folks = criminals
Youth Culture

Again, clash of values
 Generations: Conservative v. Liberal
lifestyles
 Women = “Flappers” defied traditions
 College kids = wild times (Crazy kids)
 Leisure time = fun fads (idiots)
Mass Entertainment

More money to spend
 Radio: KDKA Pittsburgh
 Movies:
○ Cecil B. DeMille
○ Al Jolson: “talkies”
○ BUT censorship (Will Hays)
 Sports heroes: Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe
 Cultural heroes: Charles Lindbergh, Amelia
Earhart
Religious Revival
A conservative response to this fun
 Scopes Trial 1925: Clarence Darrow v.
William J. Bryan

 Trial about free expression v. religious ideas
over the issue of evolution as developed by
Darwin
Overall…

What was supposed to be a
“comfortable” decade was really a
decade of discomfort and
inconsistencies
A Creative Era

Music: JAZZ: Stars in New Orleans
 Like the migration of people, it works its way
North
○ St. Louis, Memphis, Kansas City, Chicago,
NYC
○ New ideas = New art (music)
 Reflects cultural diversity
 The nation/music was diverse
 This bothered some traditionalists
A Creative Era, cont’d…

Harlem Renaissance: Expression of
black culture/pride (cultural freedom)
 Self Expression=Racial Expression
○ Pan Africanism
 Music, art, literature, theater
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy
9zs
Literature: The “Lost Generation”

Reaction against
 World War I
 Middle Class Consumerism = Conformity
 Disillusionment with USA
○ F. Scott Fitzgerald
○ Ernest Hemingway
○ Sinclair Lewis
○ H.L. Mencken
Visual Arts
Show life of urbanization and
industrialization
 Edward Hopper: Art should reflect the
experiences of modern life
