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American History Unit 3 – The Roaring Twenties
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Learning Goal 1 – I will be able to:
-List and explain at least four problems the US faced after WWI and the solution(s) proposed for each.
-Define trickle-down economics and summarize how it works.
-List and explain three factors that could keep it from working.
II.
The Roaring Twenties
a. Boom Times
i. Return to Peace and Prosperity – Problems Harding’s administration faced
1. Factories hurt at first
a. Billions of dollars in contracts with gov’t cancelled b/c war over
b. Factories cut back production so got rid of workers they didn’t need
anymore
c. Millions of soldiers left military to look for jobs that were not available
d. Increase in unemployment
2. Prices up
a. Many conserved during the war or couldn’t buy some products
i. After war, bought more of them – demand goes up, prices go ____
b. Prices went up, wages didn’t
3. 1919, 4 million people went on strike
a. Major strikes in Seattle & Boston – blamed on Communists
i. Comm. Rev. in Russia in 1917, beginning of fear of Communists
ii. 1920 election, people seeking peace and comfort in life after upheaval from changes
during Progressive Era, then WWI.
1. Warren Harding – Republican Senator from Ohio
a. Calvin Coolidge running mate – promised a “return to normalcy.”
b. Won with 60% of the kvote.
iii. The economy
1. Cabinet tried to reduce taxes and government involvement
2. Trickle Down Economics
a. Theory that tax cuts for the wealthy will lead to investment and spending,
3.2creating jobs, and the wealth will “trickle down” to everyone
b. Proposed by Andrew Mellon
3. Economy recovered from postwar recession
iv. Teapot Dome Scandal
1. Gave jobs to friends – s__________________ s_____________________
2. Teapot Dome Scandal
a. Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall
b. Bribes from oil companies for control of oil reserves in CA & WY
i. Why was oil in high demand? Assembly line meant more _______
c. Albert Fall = first cabinet member ever convicted of a crime for actions
committed while in office.
v. Harding’s focus was on fixing the economy, since that would be more important than any
of his scandals or problems. But Harding died of a heart attack during his first term and
his vice president, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president.
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What is “trickle-down economics?” ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Scenario: To help our country reduce its national debt and to promote economic growth, our federal
government has proposed a tax cut for the top 1% of wage earners in our nation. Designers of this plan
claim that it will benefit all Americans to target just the wealthy for this tax cut. What is your response
to this plan? What emotions do you feel? Are you a believer? Skeptic?
_________________________because__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
CEO: The CEO of a large real estate business is looking to expand the deck on the back of the home and
put in a new hot tub. He plans to use the extra money from the tax cut to finance it.
The Small Business Owner: This small business owner runs a small, family owned construction
company. He and his three brothers most do small jobs for homeowners (additions, porches, decks, etc.)
The Unemployed Carpenter: The unemployed carpenter is the father of 3 small children. His last job
was on a construction crew building homes in Montana.
The Small Business Owner: This small business owner sells hot tubs to families in the area. On the
payroll are 10 other employees. There are two secretaries, four people who load and unload trucks, a
master plumber to hook up the water lines, an accountant, and two salespeople who work the floor.
The Unemployed Plumber: The unemployed plumber needs to find work, and fast; his wife is driving
him nuts!
The Unemployed Salesman: The unemployed salesman loves selling things and dealing with the public.
He/she has a good track record and is still searching for a job in a tough economy.
The Unemployed Accountant: The unemployed accountant just graduated from Pitt. At 22 years old
he/she is young, but eager to make lots of money. If only there were jobs available.
The Unemployed Powerlifter: In high school, he was a state champion football player with a state record
in the powerlift. Word experience is limited to manual labor jobs using brute strength alone.
The Small Business Owner: This small business owner owns a Toys R Us Franchise in western PA.
The High School Kid: The high school student is looking for some part time work to earn extra spending
money.
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Summarize what you saw in class today _______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
How can trickle-down economics theoretically help everyone? ____________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
What might keep it from working? List 3.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
How the theory of trickle-down economics works… (Fill in the table using your notes AND your knowledge of
the circular flow of money. You will NOT find this word for word in the notes!
First…
A tax ____________________ is given to __________________________________________
Second…
They take that money and _______________________________________________________
Third…
Because people are spending that money, businesses __________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Finally…
___________________________________________________ are created for the unemployed.
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Problem
Solution
Explanation
Factories
hurt after
WWI
Prices up
1919 strikes
Corruption
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
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Learning Goal 2 – I will be able to:
-Cite 6 examples of the growing economy in the 1920s
-Define tariff and explain how they can both help and hurt
-Define and explain the importance of the assembly line
-Define installment plan and explain how they help the economy
-Summarize and explain the impact of electricity and the car on the economy
-Explain why the decade was called the Roaring Twenties
b. The 1920s Economy
i. August 1923, Harding dies of heart attack and Coolidge takes office
ii. Well liked, honest, trustworthy, restored faith in gov’t after Teapot Dome
iii. Fired all officials linked to Teapot Dome
iv. “the business of America is business.”
v. Expanded tax cuts for wealthy and raising tariffs
1. Tariff = tax on imported goods
a. Raises prices on imports as incentive to buy American
b. Tariffs help American businesses, can hurt b/c they lead to higher prices
vi. Business Booms
1. 1920s = rapid economic growth, “The Roaring Twenties.”
2. 1921-1929, American manufacturing nearly doubled
vii. Ford’s Model T
1. Early 1900s, cars = luxury items for the wealthy!
2. Henry Ford wanted everyone to be able to afford one
3. Model T (“Tin Lizzie”) cost $850 in 1908, but down to $290 by 1925
a. Cut production costs with moving assembly line
i. Conveyer belts, workers did specialized jobs
b. 1914, upped wages to $5/day, compared to $2 or $3 in other factories
i. Keep employees from quitting, and keep production up!
ii. Lowered workday to 8 hours and hired minorities
4. Installment plans
a. Helped keep costs low
b. Instead of saving for months, buy the car and make monthly payments
i. Sell more cars! Ford makes more money, and it keeps prices down
1. When the supply of something goes up, prices go _______.
2. Helped the economy because it led to more people
s______________ m______________________!
5. Cars changed how people lived – freedom, entertainment status, teenage “issues”
viii. Growing Industries
1. How the car affected the economy
a. Jobs making steel for car bodies, rubber for tires, glass for windows, etc.
b. Gov’t spent millions paving roads and building bridges
i. Jobs & money flowing through economy
c. Roadside businesses, gas stations, restaurants, motels, car repair shops
d. Assembly lines and installment plans took off in other businesses too
e. 1929, 85% of homes had electricity
i. New products like washing machines, vacuums, refrigerators
1. Created jobs and people spent m_____________________
ix. Hoover Elected – wins 58% of the vote – economy made him and Republicans VERY
popular
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Learning Goal 2 – I will be able to:
-Cite 6 examples of the growing economy in the 1920s
-Define tariff and explain how they can both help and hurt
-Define and explain the importance of the assembly line and how it led to the car dramatically changing life in
the US
-Define installment plan and explain how they help the economy
-Summarize and explain the impact of electricity on the economy
-Explain why the decade was called the Roaring Twenties
Examples of
growing US
economy
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The Story of Henry Ford's $5 a Day Wages: It's Not What You Think
There’s an argument you see around sometimes about Henry Ford’s decision to pay his
workers those famed $5 a day wages. It was that he realized that he should pay his workers
sufficiently large sums to that they could afford the products they were making. In this manner
he could expand the market for his products. It should be obvious that this story doesn’t
work: Boeing would most certainly be in trouble if they had to pay their workers sufficient to
afford a new jetliner. It’s also obviously true that you want every other employer to be paying
their workers sufficient that they can afford your products: but that’s very much not the same
as claiming that Ford should pay his workers so that they can afford Fords. So, if creating that
blue collar middle class that could afford the cars wasn’t why Ford brought in his $5 a day
wages, what was the reason? Actually, it was the turnover of his staff.
At the time, workers could count on about $2.25 per day, for which they worked nine-hour shifts. It was pretty good money in
those days, but the toll was too much for many to bear. Ford’s turnover rate was very high. In 1913, Ford hired more than
52,000 men to keep a workforce of only 14,000. New workers required a costly break-in period, making matters worse for the
company. Also, some men simply walked away from the line to quit and look for a job elsewhere. Then the line stopped and
production of cars halted. The increased cost and delayed production kept Ford from selling his cars at the low price he
wanted. Drastic measures were necessary if he was to keep up this production.
That level of turnover is hugely expensive: not just the downtime of the production line but
obviously also the training costs: even the search costs to find them. It can indeed be cheaper
to pay workers more but to reduce the turnover of them and those associated training costs.
Which is exactly what Ford did. As Paul Krugman points out, the effects are obvious:
But in any case there is a fundamental flaw in the argument: Surely the benefits of low turnover and high morale in your work
force come not from paying a high wage, but from paying a high wage “compared with other companies” — and that is
precisely what mandating an increase in the minimum wage for all companies cannot accomplish.
While that’s talking about the living wage argument it applies here as well. The point is not so
as to be paying a “decent wage” or anything of that sort: it is to be paying a higher wage than
other employers. That gets your workforce thinking they’ve got a good deal (for the clear
reason that they have got a good deal) and if the workers think they’ve got a good deal then
they’re more likely to turn up on time, sober, and work diligently. They’re more likely to turn
up at all which was one of the problems Ford was trying to solve. It’s also not true that the offer
was of $5 a day in wages. It was all rather more complicated than that:
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The $5-a-day rate was about half pay and half bonus. The bonus came with character requirements and was enforced by the
Socialization Organization. This was a committee that would visit the employees’ homes to ensure that they were doing things
the “American way.” They were supposed to avoid social ills such as gambling and drinking. They were to learn English, and
many (primarily the recent immigrants) had to attend classes to become “Americanized.” Women were not eligible for the
bonus unless they were single and supporting the family. Also, men were not eligible if their wives worked outside the home.
Outside of the military it’s difficult to think of an American workforce that would be willing to
accept such paternalism even if wages were doubled today. So it wasn’t $5 a day and it was
done actually to reduce total labor costs by reducing labor turnover. And as a final nail in the
coffin of the argument that it was done so that the workers could afford the cars, there’s this.
Car production in the year before the pay rise was 170,000, in the year of it 202,000. As we
can see above the total labour establishment was only 14,000 anyway. Even if all of his workers
bought a car every year it wasn’t going to make any but a marginal difference to the sales of the
firm. We can go further too. As we’ve seen the rise in the daily wage was from $2.25 to $5
(including the bonuses etc). Say 240 working days in the year and 14,000 workers and we get a
rise in the pay bill of $9 1/4 million over the year. A Model T cost between $550 and $450
(depends on which year we’re talking about). 14,000 cars sold at that price gives us $7 3/4
million to $6 1/4 million in income to the company.
It should be obvious that paying the workforce an extra $9 million so that they can then buy $7
million’s worth of company production just isn’t a way to increase your profits. It’s a great way
to increase your losses though.
The reason for the pay rise was not as some of our contemporaries seem to think it was. It was
nothing at all to do with creating a workforce that could afford to buy the products. It was to
cut the turnover and training time of the labor force: for, yes, in certain circumstances, raising
wages can reduce total labor costs.
In one sentence: What is the main theme/idea of this reading? ______________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
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Learning Goal 3 – I will be able to:
-Define Red Scare and explain the reaction to it
-Identify Sacco & Vanzetti and summarize what their case shows about America at the time
-Identify John Scopes and summarize the importance of his trial
-Define Great Migration and summarize how it affected northern cities like Pittsburgh
c. Competing Ideals
i. The Red Scare
1. After Communists took over Russia in 1917, Americans feared it here
2. Blamed communists for strikes in 1919
3. “The Red Scare” = time of fear of Communists (Reds)
4. April 1919, bombs found in mail addressed to famous Americans
a. Never found out who, but suspected Communist Party
5. June 1919, bomb exploded outside Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s house
a. Palmer Raids = police raids to break up Communist groups, arrested
people without evidence, claimed radicals planned revolution
ii. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
1. Italian-born anarchists (wanted no government)
2. Arrested for robbery and murder of factory paymaster and guard
3. Found guilty and executed in 1927 with questionable evidence
iii. Religious Ideals
1. Seemingly a battle between traditional (customary) values and the values of the
newfound freedoms of young people
2. Fundamentalism or the literal word-for-word translation of the Bible.
a. Believed scientific theories like evolution conflicted with the Bible
3. States passed laws to prevent teaching of evolution in schools
4. Scopes Trial – May 1925, TN teacher John Scopes on trial for teaching evolution
a. Clarence Darrow – defense attorney, Wm. Jennings Bryan – prosecutor
b. Scopes found guilty and fined $100
c. State supreme court overturned conviction, debate remained
iv. Minority Rights
1. During WWI, minorities left south for jobs in factories in northern states
2. Great Migration – Blacks moved into northern cities like Pgh, Detroit & Chicago
3. Racial Tensions
a. White laborers feared competition for jobs especially after the postwar
recession before 1920; Race riot in Detroit left 19 dead
b. New Ku Klux Klan – harassed Catholics, Jews, Blacks, immigrants
c. 1922 NAACP placed ads in papers presenting facts about lynchings of
blacks in the South
d. 1924, Indian Citizenship Act – citizenship to all native Americans
v. Restricting Immigration
1. Fears growing of immigrants who were poor and didn’t speak English
2. Emergency Quota Act of 1924 banned immigration entirely from East Asia
vi. Main idea – As people’s fears grew, the government responded by taking more action.
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Learning Goal 3 – I will be able to:
-Define Red Scare and explain the reaction to it
-Identify Sacco & Vanzetti and summarize what their case shows about America at the time
-Identify John Scopes and summarize the importance of his trial
-Define Great Migration and summarize how it affected northern cities like Pittsburgh
SITUATION
Red Scare
Sacco & Vanzetti
Scopes
Migration/Immigration
EFFECT(S) / FEAR
GOVERNMENT ACTION(S)
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In 2008, Christopher Finan wrote a book entitled, From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the
Fight for Free Speech in America. On the next couple pages you will get an idea of how both the Palmer Raids
and the USA PATRIOT Act have similarly limited the free speech rights of Americans because of threats to
national security. Like most laws passed by Congress, there was/is significant debate over the
Constitutionality of these and the need for them.
The USA PATRIOT Act in 2013: What It
Currently Means for Libraries by Jacob Hill
and Johanna Delaney
Jacob Hill, A.C. Buehler Library at Elmhurst College
Johanna Delaney, Hinsdale Public Library Board of Trustees
It could be anybody in your library; the student who reserves the same study room every week. A teenager
who is always requesting DVDs that are not in the system. That retiree who consistently requests help filling
out FOIA forms. Suddenly you’re staring at an official document naming that person as central to an
investigation by a United States government law enforcement agency. In circumstances such as these, YOU
would be compelled to compile and submit patron records. These types of investigative requests fall under the
USA PATRIOT Act, and compliance is mandatory. Information can include anything and everything related to a
person’s library “footprint,” such as computer usage documentation, circulation data, print records, internet
histories, and interlibrary loan requests.
Provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act can potentially affect any librarian in America. It doesn’t matter what kind
of library, or what kind of services are provided, or how we feel about government investigations; when a
formal request is received, there is a legal obligation to disclose the relevant information available. Additionally,
due to “gag order” provisions in the statutes, a librarian who receives an order under the USA PATRIOT Act is
prohibited from discussing the issue with anyone other than a library’s attorney and staff who would assist in
fulfilling the request. Anyone who violates such a gag order could face severe penalties. What does this mean
for libraries? How do we proceed if presented with an order under the Act? The following is an overview of the
current USA PATRIOT Act and a brief summary of procedural recommendations from the American Library
Association (ALA).
The Patriot Act Today
More than ten years after it was enacted, the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate
Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001—i.e., the USA PATRIOT Act (herein also "the
PATRIOT Act" or "the Act")—remains in full force and effect and relevant to public, private, and academic
libraries. Originally enacted in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the PATRIOT Act amended a
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variety of federal statutes to expand the power of law enforcement officials to gain access to business,
medical, educational, and library records and to monitor telephone communications, public computers, and
internet traffic. Although the Act has been criticized by the ALA, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and
legislators who are concerned about the potential for abusive invasions of privacy under the Act, it has
survived such criticism as well as a number of challenges in federal court.
For libraries, Sections 215 and 505 of the PATRIOT Act are particularly pertinent. Section 215 allows FBI
agents to present a library with an order issued ex parte (from one party) by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court (FISC) "requiring the production of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents,
and other items) for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence
activities."1 Under such an order, a library may be required to produce not only documents but also computer
files and hard drives. Furthermore, Section 215 prohibits a librarian from discussing a FISC order with the
patron who is under investigation. Under Section 215’s gag order provision, a librarian may only discuss the
FISC order with (1) another staff member for the purposes of producing the subject material and (2) an
attorney whose advice is sought regarding the order.
Under Section 505 of the Patriot Act, the FBI may issue "National Security Letters" (NSLs), requiring records of
electronic communications from any library or library consortium that is deemed to be a "wire or electronic
communications service provider."2 Unlike an order that is issued under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the
issuance of an NSL is not subject to judicial oversight. Rather, the FBI may issue an NSL simply based on a
claim that the "records sought are relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international
terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."3 In addition, a gag order provision like that in Section 215
restricts the disclosure of any information regarding the NSL, and anyone convicted of violating the gag order
faces up to five years in prison.
Importantly, both Sections 215 and 505 provide that investigations of United States citizens may not be
conducted solely on the basis of activities that are protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Furthermore, due to concerns about the potential for abuse, Sections 215 and 505 were originally subject to
“sunset” provisions that allowed them to expire unless expressly re-authorized by Congress. Despite the
objections of the ALA and others, however, Section 215 was most recently re-authorized in 2011 until 2014.
And in 2006, Section 505 was made a permanent federal statute.
Challenges to the PATRIOT ACT
Amendments to the Act passed in 2006 allow for challenges to the validity of FISC orders and NSLs and their
accompanying gag orders. Any such challenges are subject to strict legal standards, however, which may
effectively bar most actions. To date, lawsuits challenging orders under the PATRIOT Act have had minor
effects. Most recently in July 2012, a cellular phone service provider challenged the constitutionality of a
National Security Letter it received in a United States District Court.4 This is only the fourth time NSL statutes
have been been significantly challenged (the first ruling, Doe vs. Ashcroft [2004], resulted in increased
Congressional oversight of aggregate NSL requests5), so it remains to be seen what might develop in the
years ahead.
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Protecting Patron Privacy under the PATRIOT Act
Although the American Library Association's Code of Ethics6 and Illinois Law7 impose upon librarians an
affirmative duty to protect the privacy of patrons and the confidentiality of library records, if presented with a
legitimate FISC order or NSL, librarians are compelled to turn over to law enforcement officials whatever
documents, etc., are specified. Nevertheless, in complying with such an order or NSL, a library must continue
to protect patron privacy and the confidentiality of records to the extent possible under the law.
Accordingly, as a matter of course, every library should:





Adopt policies to ensure patron privacy and the confidentiality of records.
Designate a staff member to be in charge of handling any law enforcement requests (generally the library
director or a supervising librarian).
Avoid creating unnecessary records and avoid retaining records "that are not needed for efficient
operation of the library."8
Adopt specific procedures that are to be followed if presented with a FISC order or NSL under the
PATRIOT Act. For guidance see Confidentiality and Coping with Law Enforcement Inquiries: Guidelines
for the Library and Its Staff, on the ALA website (http://www.ala.org/offices/oif/ifissues/confidentiality).
Ensure that all staff members are familiar with library policies and procedures regarding patron privacy in
general and FISC orders and NSLs under the PATRIOT Act in particular.
Conclusion
According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org), there have been over 250,000
NSL requests since 2002—to place this number in context, prior to the USA PATRIOT Act, there had been a
cumulative total of 8,500 requests. Although numbers are down from the 2003-2006 time period, there were
still 16,511 requests in 2011. In addition, 1,745 FISA applications were approved in 2011, none of which were
rejected by authorizing authorities. This figure reflects a 10.5 percent increase in applications over the previous
year.9 It is clear that both FISA and NSL orders will remain a part of the Justice Department’s toolkit for years
to come, and imperative that we remain informed on these topics.
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Obama calls for changes to Patriot Act, surveillance procedures
By CHRISTI PARSONS AND KEN DILANIAN, THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED, AS INDICATED BELOW.
WASHINGTON -- In an effort to quell growing public unease, President Obama released new
information about domestic spying, called on Congress to change the Patriot Act to increase
oversight and safeguards, and urged lawmakers to consider allowing adversaries to appear
against the government for the first time in the secret court that authorizes surveillance.
Obama made clear in a nearly one-hour news conference that he was responding to what he
called the “very passionate but not always fully informed debate” that has erupted in the weeks
since a former National Surveillance Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden, leaked classified
surveillance programs to the media.
In response to a question, Obama said he doesn’t believe Snowden was a whistle blower or “a
patriot.” He urged the self-proclaimed leaker to return to America from Russia, where he has
been granted temporary asylum, to face felony charges, including espionage.
Obama said he is considering proposals to restrict the NSA from secretly collecting virtually all
Americans’ telephone calling records, the most controversial of the programs Snowden
exposed. He said he also is considering proposals to create a permanent staff of lawyers to
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advocate for the public, or to allow outside groups to file “amicus briefs,” in cases before the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has approved the telephone surveillance effort.
The goal, he said, is to ensure the 11 judges on the court hear a voice raising civil liberties
concerns.
“It’s not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programs,” Obama said in the
White House East Room. “The American people have to have confidence in them, as well.”
One idea under consideration at the White House, aides said, would require telecommunication
companies to archive domestic telephone calling records, rather than the government, so the
NSA could obtain a warrant and search it for numbers linked to suspected terrorists overseas.
As the president spoke, the Justice Department released a 24-page administration White Paper
that explains the government’s legal basis for the NSA’s bulk collection of so-called telephone
metadata - phone numbers, duration and dates, but not names or content - under Section 215 of
the USA Patriot Act.
Following Snowden’s disclosures that the NSA has secretly collected domestic telephone
records, as well as the contents of Americans’ emails, texts, chats and videos while targeting the
Internet activity of foreigners, the president has largely defended the system as designed to fight
terrorism without invading the privacy of Americans.
Obama argued, as he has in the past, that the leaks of classified information did not reveal any
abuses of the law. But he conceded a need for greater openness and additional safeguards to
reassure Americans that government surveillance programs do not violate privacy or civil
liberties. The press conference was his first in more than three months. Obama leaves Saturday
for an eight day vacation with his family on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off Cape Cod in
Massachusetts.
White House officials said they will work with Congress to pursue changes to Section 215 of
the Patriot Act. Ideas on the table include reducing the length of time the records are held,
currently five years. The government also could reduce the scope of its investigations when it
runs a terrorist-linked number through the database and gets a hit. Currently, NSA analyzes the
numbers called by the alleged terrorist, and then everyone those people called, and then on to a
third so-called “hop” of calling relationships that could include millions of people.
Obama said he also will form a high level group of outside exerts to review current surveillance
technology and capabilities, and ensure it is in line with American values. “We need new
thinking for a new era,” he said.
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Apr 15, 1920:
A paymaster and a security guard are killed during a mid-afternoon armed robbery of a shoe company in South
Braintree, Massachusetts. Out of this rather unremarkable crime grew one of the most famous trials in American history
and a landmark case in forensic crime detection.
Both Fred Parmenter and Alessandro Berardelli were shot several times as they attempted to move the payroll boxes of
their New England shoe company. The two armed thieves, identified by witnesses as "Italian-looking," fled in a Buick.
The car was found abandoned in the woods several days later. Through evidence found in the car, police suspected that a
man named Mike Boda was involved. However, Boda was one step ahead of the authorities, and he fled to Italy.
Police did manage to catch Boda's colleagues, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who were each carrying loaded
weapons at the time of their arrest. Sacco had a .32 caliber handgun--the same type as was used to kill the security guards-and bullets from the same manufacturer as those recovered from the shooting. Vanzetti was identified as a participant in a
previous robbery attempt of a different shoe company.
Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists, believing that social justice would come only through the destruction of governments.
In the early 1920s, mainstream America developed a fear of communism and radical politics that resulted in a anticommunist, anti-immigrant hysteria. Sacco and Vanzetti, recognizing the uphill battle ahead, tried to put this fear to their
advantage by drumming up support from the left wing with claims that the prosecution was politically motivated. Millions
of dollars were raised for their defense by the radical left around the world. The American embassy in Paris was even
bombed in response to the Sacco-Vanzetti case; a second bomb intended for the embassy in Lisbon was intercepted.
The well-funded defense put up a good fight, bringing forth nearly 100 witnesses to testify on the defendants' behalf.
Ultimately, eyewitness identification wasn't the crucial issue; rather, it was the ballistics tests on the murder weapon.
Prosecution experts, with rather primitive instruments, testified that Sacco's gun was the murder weapon. Defense experts
claimed just the opposite. In the end, on July 14, 1921, Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty; they were sentenced to
death.
However, the ballistics issue refused to go away as Sacco and Vanzetti waited on death row. In addition, a jailhouse
confession by another criminal fueled the controversy. In 1927, Massachusetts Governor A. T. Fuller ordered another
inquiry to advise him on the clemency request of the two anarchists. In the meantime, there had been many scientific
advances in the field of forensics. The comparison microscope was now available for new ballistics tests and proved
beyond a doubt that Sacco's gun was indeed the murder weapon.
Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August 1927, but even the new evidence didn't completely quell the controversy. In
October 1961, and again in March 1983, new investigations were conducted into the matter, but both revealed that Sacco's
revolver was indeed the one that fired the bullet and killed the security guards. On August 23, 1977, Massachusetts
Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had not received a fair trial.
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Learning Goal 4 – I will be able to:
-Define Prohibition, 18th Amendment, and 21st Amendment
-Explain how average, law abiding Americans broke the Prohibition laws
-Identify Al Capone and explain how gangsters dominated the alcohol business in the 1920s
d. Prohibition
i. 18th Amendment outlawed manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages
took effect in 1920.
ii. Nearly impossible to enforce, Volstead Act set fines and punishments
iii. Made it at home (bathtub gin) or went to illegal bars
iv. Organized criminals (bootleggers) controlled illegal alcohol; made millions
v. Al Capone – Chicago gangster murdered rivals and earned over $60 mil/yr (St.
Valentine’s Day Massacre), never convicted of murder, brought down for tax evasion
(not paying his taxes!)
vi. Growing disdain for prohibition, 1933, 21st Amendment ended it
vii. 21st A. repealed the 18th A. – only amendment EVER repealed
Prohibition
18th Amendment
21st Amendment
How citizens broke law
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http://www.history.com/topics/saint-valentines-day-massacre
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre – 5 facts:
1: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
2: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
3: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
4: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
5: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.history.com/topics/al-capone/videos/the-many-moods-of-al-capone
The Many Moods of Al Capone – 5 facts:
1: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
2: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
3: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
4: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
5: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Al Capone was born in Brooklyn on January 17, 1899, fourth of seven sons and two daughters. His parents,
Gabriel and Theresa, had immigrated to the United States six years before from Castellammare di Stabia,
sixteen miles from Naples, Italy. He died of cardiac arrest at his estate on Palm Island—in Biscayne Bay,
between Miami and Miami Beach, Florida—just eight days after his 48th birthday.
He was entirely obscure when he fled to Chicago in 1919 at age 20, fugitive from a psychopathic killer, the
chief lieutenant of an Irish gang whose subordinate Capone had pounded into a hospital case during a bar brawl.
No one in the saloon knew the name of the hefty Italian kid, but William Lovett had a useful description: not
too long before, Capone's left cheek, jaw and neck had received three scars.
Although by 1922—contrary to myth—he had already attained modest notoriety in Chicago, as late as
December 1925 both The New York Times and Brooklyn Eagle got his name and status wrong when, as favor to
his old mentor Frankie Yale, Capone briefly returned to Brooklyn and engineered a mini-massacre. The
Times misspelled his name and pegged him as doorman of a dive called the Adonis Club, site of the
slaughter. The Eagle called him an "alleged former Chicago gunman" and imagined that he was the Adonis's
bouncer.
Yet by 1927 he had become a Chicago landmark. Tour buses regularly plied past his headquarters in the
Metropole Hotel, south of the Loop. When the four Italian aviators Mussolini had sent on an around-the-world
tour to glorify his regime reached Chicago, the police recruited Capone as an official greeter on the sound
theory that his presence would forestall a threatened anti-fascist demonstration more surely than would the riot
squads. It's not surprising that by then he was almost equally well known throughout the country as in Chicago.
As The New York Times put it, "Probably no private citizen in American life has ever had so much publicity in
so short a period"—this time spelling his name right. When the national Daughters of the Nile convened at the
Medinah Temple, one complained, "Why, I haven't seen Al Capone since I've been in Chicago, and I've been
here three days. I thought he'd be on the reception committee." The incumbent mayor of Monticello, Iowa,
running unopposed for re-election, almost lost anyway to a write-in campaign for Al Capone. A town official
explained that "Monticello has never been on big city maps" and the locals figured this might be her chance.
What is surprising is how quickly Capone also became known worldwide. When five Spanish actors, a stage
director and two French script writers stopped in Chicago on their way west to MGM, they asked to see just one
sight: "Where's Capone?" their spokesman demanded. In tiny Oradea, Romania, Cornel Capovici tacked a
picture of Capone to the front of his house and insisted that this was his long-lost son. In Russia, head
commissar Vyacheslav Molotov cited Capone as the logical culmination of capitalist rapacity. John Gunther,
then a foreign correspondent, reported that the Viennese considered him the real mayor of Chicago.
All this celebrity scandalized the Chicago Daily Times, which groused that Capone had become America's
"trademark known in the jungles of Java or the wastes of Lapland," indeed better known, worldwide, than
Charles Lindbergh or Henry Ford! In time, Al Capone would transcend "mere" celebrity to become an allusion.
Even today, well over 60 years after his death—thanks to re-run movies and TV specials—most people know at
least the highlights (and attendant myths) of Capone's career: at minimum, the murders of Dion O'Banion and
Hymie Weiss, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the Palm Island estate, the role of Eliot Ness and the
Untouchables (largely myth), perhaps his concealed weapon jail time in Philadelphia, certainly the irony of
Capone's final conviction—not for murder or even bootlegging, but for tax evasion!—and his stretch in
Alcatraz.
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Learning Goal 5 – I will be able to:
-Define flappers and explain their importance
-Summarize how life changed for women in the 1920s
-Compare the struggles of teens in the 1920s to teens today
e. Women in the 1920s
i. 1920s = first time more than ½ of the population lived in urban areas
ii. Economic growth opened more doors for young people to gain independence
1. Freedom before “settling down”, parties, dance clubs, music, fast cars
iii. Educational opportunities – high school attendance doubled, opportunities for women
iv. Changes for Women
1. Nellie Ross and Miriam Ferguson became first female governors in 1925
2. National American Women Suffrage Association (Suffrage = right to v________)
a. Formed in 1890 by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
th
3. 19 Amendment – Women’s suffrage (1919)
a. 1928, 145 women serving in state legislatures
4. Women only 5% of doctors, lawyers, architects, but percentages growing
5. Flappers – empowered by the increase in rights and opportunities for women
a. Women who challenged traditional views of women
b. Cut hair short, wore makeup, wore shorter dresses, smoked
c. Arguments b/t parents and kids b/c of dance crazes Charleston, Toddle,
Shimmy
HOW LIFE CHANGED FOR WOMEN IN THE 1920S. LIST ALL THAT APPLY
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Learning Goal 6 – I will be able to:
-List and explain four new entertainment options available to people in the 1920s
-Identify and explain the importance of the national heroes Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford,
Rudolph Valentino, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Charles Lindbergh, & Amelia Earhart and how they became
celebrities
-Compare life in the 1920s to life today (using information in both Learning Goals 5 and 6)
f. Entertainment in the 1920s
i. Music/Dancing
1. 1920s = The Jazz Age; developed in New Orleans, brought north by G. Migration
2. Louis Armstrong – trumpet, Big Band sounds, Blues from rural South of
Mississippi Delta grew during 1920s as well
ii. Radio in people’s homes
1. 11/2/1920, KDKA first radio station
2. NBC, CBS broadcast shows, speeches, weather, sports
iii. Movies
1. Silent at first, but “talkies” or movies with sound by end of decade
2. 1929, 123 million people in country, 95 million movie tickets/week sold!
3. Movie stars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino, etc.
iv. Sports/Celebrities
1. Sports heroes Babe Ruth, (New York Yankees, best baseball player of his era and
most popular person in the country in the 1920s) Satchel Paige & Josh Gibson –
Homestead Grays, Negro League Team in Pittsburgh
2. Jim Thorpe – Native American football player
3. Charles Lindbergh – first to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart – first woman
a. http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_n28.html
v. Writers and Artists
1. The Harlem Renaissance
a. Harlem = neighborhood in NYC
b. Period of African American artistic accomplishment
c. Writers Langston Hughes, Claude McKay
2. The Lost Generation – term for those who criticized 1920s society
a. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald
b. Sinclair Lewis – first American to win Nobel Prize in literature
i. New Directions in Architecture – Art deco
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Learning Goal 6 – I will be able to:
-List and explain four new entertainment options available to people in the 1920s
-Identify and explain the importance of the national heroes Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford,
Rudolph Valentino, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Charles Lindbergh, & Amelia Earhart.
-Compare life in the 1920s to life today (using information in both Learning Goals 5 and 6)
Entertainment in
the 1920S
Similarities Between Life in the 1920s and Today
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UNIT 3 NEED TO KNOW
1. WARREN HARDING
2. TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS
3. TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL
4. “RETURN TO NORMALCY”
5. 3 PROBLEMS HARDING FACED
6. 3 PROPOSED SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS HARDING FACED
7. CALVIN COOLIDGE
8. TARIFF
9. HENRY FORD
10.6 EXAMPLES OF GROWING ECONOMY IN THE 1920S
11.INSTALLMENT PLAN
12.“ROARING TWENTIES”
13.RED SCARE
14.PALMER RAIDS
15.SACCO AND VANZETTI
16.JOHN SCOPES
17.GREAT MIGRATION
18.PROHIBITION
19.AL CAPONE
20.18TH & 21ST AMENDMENTS
21.ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE
22.FLAPPERS
23.SHIMMY & CHARLESTON
24.JEANNETTE RANKIN
25.RUDOLPH VALENTINO & CHARLIE CHAPLIN
26.BABE RUTH
27.SATCHEL PAIGE & JOSH GIBSON
28.CHARLES LINDBERGH & AMELIA EARHART
29.KDKA
30.LOUIS ARMSTRONG
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Learning Goal 1 – I will be able to:
-List and explain at least three
problems the US faced after WWI
and the solution(s) proposed for each.
-Define trickle-down economics and
summarize how it works.
-List and explain three factors that
could keep it from working.
Learning Goal 2 – I will be able to:
-Cite 6 examples of the growing
economy in the 1920s
-Define tariff and explain how they
can both help and hurt
-Define and explain the importance
of the assembly line
-Define installment plan and explain
how they help the economy
-Summarize and explain the impact
of electricity on the economy
-Explain why the decade was called
the Roaring Twenties
Learning Goal 3 – I will be able to:
-Define Red Scare and explain the
reaction to it
-Identify Sacco & Vanzetti and
summarize what their case shows
about America at the time
-Identify John Scopes and summarize
the importance of his trial
-Define Great Migration and
summarize how it affected northern
cities like Pittsburgh
Learning Goal 4 – I will be able to:
-Define Prohibition, 18th
Amendment, and 21st Amendment
-Explain how average, law abiding
Americans broke the Prohibition laws
-Identify Al Capone and explain how
gangsters dominated the alcohol
business in the 1920s
Learning Goal 5 – I will be able to:
-Define flappers and explain their
importance
-Summarize how life changed for
women in the 1920s
Learning Goal 6 – I will be able to:
-List and explain five new
entertainment options available to
people in the 1920s
-Identify and explain the importance
of the national heroes Louis
Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, Mary
Pickford, Rudolph Valentino, Babe
Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Charles
Lindbergh, & Amelia Earhart.
-Compare life in the 1920s to life
today (using information in both
Learning Goals 5 and 6)
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