THE
TWENTIES
1919-1929
CHAPTER 11
SECTION 1
A BOOMING ECONOMY
THE AUTOMOBILE
DRIVES PROSPERITY
The US enjoyed an economic boom in the
1920s. Much of the growth came from the
automobile industry.
Henry Ford – introduced a series of
methods and ideas that revolutionized
production, wages, working conditions, and
daily life.
FORD PIONEERS MASS
PRODUCTION
Mass Production – the rapid manufacture of
large numbers of identical products.
Model T – a reliable car the average
American could afford
FORD PIONEERS MASS
PRODUCTION CONT.
Scientific Management – experts to improve
Ford’s mass-production techniques
Assembly Lines – a worker added something to
construct the automobile
The assembly line allowed Ford to continue to
drop the sale price of his cars
Model T $350 1916
$290 1927
FORD PIONEERS MASS
PRODUCTION CONT.
In 1914 Henry Ford more than doubled the
wages of a large number of his workers, from
$2.35 to $5.00 a day, with Saturday and
Sunday off.
Ford became very rich and also one of the
shapers of the modern world.
THE AUTOMOBILE
CHANGES AMERICA
The boom in the automotive industry
stimulated growth in other industries related
to manufacturing or use.
Road construction boomed, people had a
sense of freedom and prosperity, and altered
residential patterns.
A BUSTLING ECONOMY
Consumer Revolution – a flood of new,
affordable goods became available to the
public
Electrical power helped to support this
revolution, washing machines, vacuums,
irons, radio, and refrigerator
ADVERTISING AND CREDIT
BUILD A CONSUMER
CULTURE
Advertising in magazines and newspaper ads
became more common, they focused on the
desires and fears of Americans rather than
what was needed.
ADVERTISING AND CREDIT
BUILD A CONSUMER
CULTURE CONT.
Installment Buying – in which a consumer
would make a small down payment and then
pay off the rest in monthly payments
This allowed many Americans to
own things they would have had
to save for years to buy
THE BIG BULL MARKET
MAKES FORTUNES
Bull Market – a period of rising stock prices
Buying on Margin – another form of buying
on credit (stocks)
Get Rich quick mentality!
CITIES, SUBURBS, AND
COUNTRY
The economic boom did not affect all parts
of the nation equally. While urban and
suburban areas prospered, rural Americans
faced hardships.
PEOPLE FLOCK TO
CITIES
Immigrants and Farmers flocked towards
the cities
Northern cities were their destination
Empire State Building symbolized
the power and majesty of the
United States
THE SUBURBS GROW
Improved mass transportation and the use of
automobiles caused cites to expand outward
SECTION 1
A BOOMING ECONOMY
How did the booming economy of the 1920s led to
changes in American life?
How did Henry Ford increase the production and sale of
automobiles?
How did buying on margin allow more people to invest in
the stock market?
What impact did the development of suburbs have on
American society?
SECTION 2
THE BUSINESS OF
GOVERNMENT
President Harding: “Return to
Normalcy,” Rather then reform
Harding and his successor,
Calvin Coolidge, favored more
conservative policies that aided
business growth. A more
laissez-faire approach.
THE HARDING
ADMINISTRATION
NEW POLICIES FAVOR BIG
BUSINESS
Andrew Mellon – wealthy banker appointed
Secretary of the Treasury by Harding
He supported legislation that advanced
business (low taxes on individuals and
corporations)
NEW POLICIES FAVOR
BIG BUSINESS
Harding raised protective tariff by 25%,
while European nations also raised tariffs
Herbert Hoover – Secretary of Commerce
worked with business leaders to achieve
voluntary advancements for industry
(progressives used legislation while
Hoover got people to work together)
THE OHIO GANG CASHES
IN
The Ohio Gang were close friends to
Harding that were not honest public servants.
They saw government service as a chance to
get rich.
(100 years worth of floor cleaner) pg. 331
THE TEAPOT DOME
SCANDAL EXPLODES
Teapot Dome Scandal – Secretary of the
Interior arranged for the transfer of oil
reserves intended for the Navy to other
locations and leased those properties to
private oilmen in return for loans
COOLIDGE PROSPERITY
Calvin Coolidge – Vice President when
Harding died his father a justice of the peace,
used the family Bible to swear in his son as
President
SILENT CAL SUPPORTS
BIG BUSINESS
Coolidge was for productive businesses and
once stated “The man who builds a factory,
builds a temple”
He continued to reduce the national debt, and
trimmed the federal budget
This gave a great boom for
the national economy
TROUBLES BREW
BENEATH THE SURFACE
During this time Farmers struggled to keep their
land and unions demanded higher wages, Jim
Crow laws were in play and Mexican Americans
faced shamefully low wages.
“Silent Cal,” remained silent, he
mistrusted the use of legislation
to achieve social change
AMERICA’S ROLE IN THE
WORLD
The U.S. continued to play an important role
in world business and trade. Foreign policy
was shaped by what happened in WWI.
SEEKING AN END TO
WAR
Washington Naval Disarmament
Conference – set out to limit naval build-up
and solve disagreements without resorting to
war
Kellogg-Briand Pact – 1928, this set to
“outlaw war” and agreed to by 62 nations but
soon was unenforceable
COLLECTING WAR DEBTS
U.S. insisted that Britain and France repay
their war debts for that to happen Germany
had to make reparations to them
Dawes Plan – arranged U.S. Loans to
Germany
HUH????
SECTION 2
THE BUSINESS OF
GOVERNMENT
How did domestic and foreign policy change
direction under Harding and Coolidge?
What were the causes and effects of the
Teapot Dome scandal?
What policies did Calvin Coolidge favor to
support economic growth?
How did the United States support world
peace efforts during the 1920’s?
SECTION 3
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
TENSIONS
TRADITIONALISM AND
MODERNISM CLASH
America became split not by north-south or
east-west but by urban and rural regions
Modernism – emphasize science and secular
values over traditional ideas about religion
Rural populations generally embraced a more
traditional view of religion, science, and
culture
EDUCATION BECOMES
MORE IMPORTANT
Rural views differed from urban on the topic
of education. Rural communities saw value
in the “Three R’s” ( reading, writing, and
arithmetic). Urban America saw mental
ability, not muscular fitness as essential for
success.
RELIGIOUS
FUNDAMENTALISM GROWS
Fundamentalism – reaffirmed belief in the
fundamental, or basic, truths of Christian
religion. (scientific questions)
AMERICANS CLASH
OVER EVOLUTION
Scopes Trial of 1925 – fundamentalism and
modernism clashed over the theory of
evolution (Darwin)
Clarence Darrow – celebrated defense
attorney defended the Scopes (pg. 336)
RESTRICTING IMMIGRATION
NATIVISTS OPPOSE
IMMIGRATION
There was a move to limit immigration not
only from Asia but also from southern and
eastern Europe
Congress passed a law requiring
immigrants to be literate in their
own language, Wilson vetoed the
law and congress overrode him
QUOTA LAWS LIMIT
NEWCOMERS
Quota System 1921 –Emergency Quota Act
and The National Origins Act (number of
immigrants of a given
nationality each year
could not exceed two
percent of the number
currently in the U.S.)
THE NEW KU KLUX KLAN
THE KLAN RISES AGAIN
Ku Klux Klan – originally the KKK had
been form to terrorize African Americans
who sought to vote, though if morphed to
target Jews, Catholics, and immigrants
AMERICANS OPPOSE
THE KLAN
Individuals, as well as organizations such as
the NAACP and the Jewish Anti-Defamation
League battled the Klan
PROHIBITION AND CRIME
Prohibition – the banning of alcohol use
GOVERNMENT BANS
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES
Eighteenth Amendment – forbid the
manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol
in the U.S.
Volstead Act – a law that enforced the
amendment
AMERICANS BREAK THE
LAW
Bootleggers – sold illegal alcohol to
consumers
Al Capone (pg. 342)
SECTION 3
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
TENSIONS
How did the Scopes Trial illustrate the urbanrural split in the 1920s?
How did new laws change U.S. immigration
policy in the 1920s?
How did the goals of the new Ku Klux Klan
differ from those of the old Klan?
What were the effects of the Eighteenth
Amendment and the Volstead Act?
SECTION 4
A NEW MASS CULTURE
NEW TRENDS IN POPULAR
CULTURE
AMERICANS ENJOY MORE
LEISURE TIME
Living an urban lifestyle aloud for more time
for leisure and the ability to afford
entertainment.
AMERICANS FLOCK TO
THE MOVIES
Charlie Chaplin – comedian and most
popular silent film star
The Jazz Singer – the first movie with sound
synchronized to the action
THE RADIO AND
PHONOGRAPH BREAK
BARRIERS
The phonograph and radio became powerful
instruments of mass popular culture
Radio brought distant events into millions of
homes.
AN AGE OF HEROES
SPORTS HEROES WIN FANS
Babe Ruth – leading sports hero and homerun king
LUCKY LINDY CROSSES
THE ATLANTIC
Charles Lindbergh – aviator flew from New
York with the Spirit of St. Louis to France
WOMEN ASSUME NEW
ROLES
FLAPPERS CHANGE OLDER
LIMITS
Flapper – young woman with short skirts
and roughed cheeks with cropped hair style
known as a bob
MODERNISM IN ART AND
LITERATURE
The Arts Reflect a Mood of Uncertainty
Sigmund Freud – Austrian
psychologist, argued that human behavior
was driven by unconscious desires not
rational thought
Modern Painting Challenges Tradition
POST WAR AMERICAN
LITERATURE FLOWERS
“Lost Generation” – American writers of the
1920s that no longer had the cultural guideposts
of the Victorian era
F. Scott Fitzgerald – novelist, explored the
reality of the American dream of wealth,
success, and emotional fulfillment. The Great
Gatsby 1925
Ernest Hemingway – novelist, wrestled with
the meaning of war and life itself
SECTION 4
A NEW MASS CULTURE
How did the new mass culture reflect technological
and social changers?
How did movies and the radio cut across geographic
barriers?
How did the new mass media contribute to the
popularity of heroes?
What political gains did American women make
during the 1920s?
What impact did World War I have on postwar
American literature?
SECTION 5
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
A NEW “BLACK
CONSCIOUSNESS”
MIGRANTS FACE CHANCES
AND CHALLENGES
Many migrants moved north for a better life
and pay
Blacks began to have a voice in the growing
political culture in major cities
Not free from all oppression, large numbers
of blacks were forced to live in the poorest
areas (such as New Yorks; Harlem)
GARVEY CALLS FOR
RACIAL PRIDE
Marcus Garvey – Jamaican born, Garvey
immigrated to Harlem in 1916. He promoted
the idea of universal black nationalism, he
advocated the separation of the races “Back
to Africa” movement
THE JAZZ AGE
A UNIQUE AMERICAN MUSIC
EMERGES
Jazz – a musical form based on
improvisation
Louis Armstrong – unofficial ambassador of
jazz
Bessie Smith – “Empress of the Blues”
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
AFRICAN AMERICAN
LITERATURE FLOWERS
Harlem Renaissance – flowering of African
American culture
Claude McKay – Jamaican immigrant
considered to be the most militant writer of
his time
“If we must die – let it not be like hogs,
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot.
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Marking their mark at our accursed lot…
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we will face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying but fighting back!”
AFRICAN AMERICAN
LITERATURE FLOWERS
Langston Hughes – probably the most
powerful African American literary voice of
his time
Zora Neale Hurston – she collected folk
tales of her rural native Florida