Chapter 11
The Roaring Twenties
Section 1
The Red Scare
-In 1920, Warren G. Harding wins presidency.
-Wanted Americans to return to “Normalcy”
-Many factors caused the U.S. people to have anything
but “normalcy.”
Reason #1
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Russian Revolution
-March 1917 Czar Nicholas II abdicates.
-Lenin and Bolsheviks take over.
-Caused a civil war [“Reds” vs. “Whites”]
-Lenin and “Reds” win in 1920.
-Creates new country called The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic
[USSR]
-Made Communism the official form of government.
-Communism had 4 basic ideas:
 1.
Govt. owned all land and property
 2.
One political party [Communist]
 3.
No individual rights
 4.
Spread Communism over world
-Communists hated U.S. b/c of our rights.
-Caused a Red Scare in U.S.
-Intense fear & hatred of Communists.
-Caused many American Communists to be jailed or deported.
Reason #2
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Schenck vs. U.S.
-U.S. Supreme Court ruling
-Sets up the “Clear and Present Danger
Clause”
-Anything that presents a danger to the
nation or a person is not protected under
free speech and the 1st Amendment.
-Ex. Yelling fire in a crowded movie
theater
Reason #3
 Palmer Raids
 -U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
created a govt. groups to arrest suspected
subversives.
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-People trying to overthrow the
government
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-Most were Communists
 -Palmer jailed and deported thousands
 -Majority of them were innocent
 -Palmer’s groups were led by J. Edgar
Hoover, Director of the FBI
Warren G. Harding
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-Harding
becomes Pres. at end of Red Scare.
-Makes Herbert Hoover Sec. of Commerce.
-Had 3 major goals:
1. Isolationism
-Wanted to again follow Isolationism
2. Disarmament
-Policy that nations would give up their weapons
3. Limiting Immigration
-B/c of the Red Scare, the nation became more nativist.
-Hatred of foreigners
-Most Americans blamed all the U.S. problems on immigrants
-To slow immigration, Harding set up an immigration quota.
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-Numerical limit
Immigration was limited to 3% or about 350,000 per year.
Teapot Dome Scandal
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-Harding dies before a major scandal appears.
(Murder? Suicide? Natural Causes?)
-Teapot Dome Scandal
-Harding and his Secretary of the Interior, Albert
Fall, lease Govt. oil fields in Wyoming and
California to private oil companies
-Albert Fall receives about $400,000 in
exchange for helping the lease go through.
-Fall is caught and goes to jail.
-”The Fall Guy”
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
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-Coolidge takes over for Harding after his death.
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-Wins re-election in 1924.”Keep it Cool with Coolidge”
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-Major believer in U.S. business.
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-Follows a policy called Laissez Faire.
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-Govt. will stay out of business
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-Also continues Isolationism.
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-Helps to pass Kellog-Braind Pact
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-Nations agree not to use threats of war against each
other.
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-Pact to prevent another world war.
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-Coolidge decides not to run in 1928.
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-Herbert Hoover runs in his place
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-Wins 1928 election
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Section 2
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Consumer Economy
-1st shopping mall and
1st fast food restaurant
open in 1920’s.
-1st fast food
restaurant is A&W
Root Beer
-Main growth caused
by consumer economy
-Large amounts of
buying by public.
Credit
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Consumer economy helped U.S. grow b/c of
installment plan
-Paying for a product over time
-Credit
-Major items bought on credit:
Cars
Furniture
Vacuums
Radios
Refrigerators
Electricity Lights up the 1920s
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Electricity use grew b/c of buying on credit.
-Jumped from 16% to 60% of homes with electricity
-Major producer of electric goods was General Electric
-Also provided new products for families:
Electric toasters
Electric coffee pots
Electric ovens
Electric Irons
Electric sewing machines
Electrical Goods of
1920s
Henry Ford and the Model-T
Henry Ford
-1920’s saw the 1st mass-market cars.
-1st affordable U.S. car builder was Henry Ford
-His 1st attempt at a car was called “Quadricycle”
-By 1903, built his own car company
-1908 creates his 1st car for sale
-Called Model-T
-Came in one color [Black]
-Built using Assembly Line
-One person does a specific job in
building a product.
Model T
Assembly Line
Assembly Line
General Motors
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-Ford’s major competitor was General
Motors
-G.M.’s major car was the Chevrolet
-Offered cars in many colors
-Ford countered G.M. in 1928 with the
Model-A
GM’s Chevrolet
Ford’s Model A
Section 3
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New Women
-1920’s saw birth of new thinking.
-Biggest change came to women
-Young women of the 1920’s were called
Flappers
-Young women who went against society and
old-fashioned ideas.
-Women also worked for voting rights.
-19th Amendment gives women right to vote in
1920
Flappers
Cities and Migration
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-Cities and rural areas had many Demographic Changes
 -Stats that describe a city
 -Age, Race, Income
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-Major changes came b/c of Great Migration
 -Movement of African Americans from
rural south to cities in north
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-Another major growth came to suburbs
 -Areas within driving distance to major cities.
-Suburbs grew for 2 reasons:
► 1. Cars
► 2. More Money to buy homes
► -Both allowed people to move out of cities but still work
there
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American Heroes
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-1920’s saw America’s fascination with heroes
-4 major heroes of 1920’s
1. Charles Lindbergh
-May 20, 1927
-25 year old “Lucky Lindy” flies his plane, “The
Spirit of St. Louis” nonstop from NY to Paris
• -Flight takes 33 1/2 hours
• -1st nonstop flight across Atlantic
• -Receives Congressional Medal of Honor
Lindbergh and Spirit of St.
Louis
Amelia Earhart
 -Repeats Lindbergh’s
flight in 1932
 -Also flies from
California to Hawaii
 -Tries to fly around
world but disappears
Jack Dempsey
-Boxing champ of the
world 1919-1926
 -First fight to sell $1
million worth of
tickets
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Babe Ruth
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-George Herman Ruth
-NY Yankee great
-Sets Home Run record with 60 in 1927
-Isn’t broken until 1961(Roger Maris)
Had more home runs than all but 3 teams in the
league combined. Today that would be hitting
more than 124 in a season.
 -Considered one of the greatest players ever
Babe Ruth Pictures
Mass Media
 -1920’s saw a growth of Hollywood
 -Also saw growth of mass media
– -Using print, radio, and TV to provide info to a
large # of people
 -TV in 1950’s
 -Cell Phones and Internet today
Movies
 -1st movies began in
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-During 1920’s about 90
million people watched
movies a week
-U.S. population only
125 million at the time
-1927 the 1st talking
motion picture was
released
-Called “The Jazz
Singer’
Newspapers
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More and more people were reading newspapers
Biggest newspaper chain was owned by William
Randolph Hearst [Citizen Kane]
Biggest papers:
New York Times
San Francisco Examiner
New York Journal
Examiner and Journal owned by Hearst
Radio
1st radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh
 -Growth of new music in 1920’s
 -Influenced by African Americans
 -Called Jazz
 -2/3 of all radio stations in 1920’s were
playing Jazz
 -Major Jazz musician was Duke Ellington
 -Major Jazz clubs were the Cotton Club
and the Saratoga club, located in Harlem
part of NYC
 -1920’s became known as the Jazz Age
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Harlem Renaissance
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-Harlem is a section of NYC
-In 1920’s Harlem became center of culture
-Especially for African Americans
-Became known as Harlem Renaissance
-2 major writers of the Harlem Renaissance:
James Weldon Johnson
Alain Lockes
-Harlem became the social and cultural place to be in
the U.S. during Jazz Age
Lost Generation
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-Youth and writers of the 1920’s were called the
Lost Generation
-2 famous writers of the Lost Generation
F. Scott Fitzgerald [The Great Gatsby]
Ernest Hemingway [The Sun Also Rises]
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Prohibition
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-18th Amendment becomes law on
January 16, 1920
-Makes alcohol illegal
-To enforce the amendment, the govt.
uses the Volstead Act
-Anything with 1/2 of 1% of alcohol was
illegal
-Internal Revenue Service [IRS] enforced
act
The Mafia
 -18th Amendment created new criminals in
1920’s
 -Most people got their alcohol from bootleggers
 -Suppliers of illegal alcohol
 -Illegal alcohol was sold in speakeasies
 -Secret bars during prohibition
 -Biggest and most powerful bootleggers and
speakeasies were controlled by organized
crime [Mafia]
 -NYC & Chicago were centers for the Mob
Al Capone
 -Most famous gangster
of the 1920’s was Al
Capone
 -Scarface
 -Made $60 million from
bootlegging
The Untouchables
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Al Capone is finally brought down by
special FBI/Treasury Dept. group called
the Untouchables.
Group was led by Elliott Ness
-Capone was convicted of tax evasion in
1931 and sent to Alcatraz
Elliott Ness
The Untouchables
Charles “Lucky” Luciano
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Most famous gangster in NYC
Created the “Commission”
The Commission was made up of the heads of
NYC five mafia families.
The Commission would meet to discuss problems
and work to prevent a mob war.
Luciano was the head of the Commission and
leader of the US heroin trade
Luciano is deported in 1946 to Italy.
Lucky Luciano
New York’s “Five Families” of the Mafia
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The Bonano or Bonnano Family
The Columbo Family
The Genovese Family
The Gambino Family (John Gotti)
The Lucchese Family
Scopes Trial
 -John T. Scopes was arrested in Dayton TN. for teaching
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
– -Man evolved over time from other species [Not Apes]
 -Illegal in TN. public schools to teach anything but
Creationism
– -God created man and Earth
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-Scopes represented by Clarence Darrow
-Tried by William Jennings Bryan
-Found guilty and fined $100
-1st trial broadcast on radio
-Split the entire nation on ideas of religion and science
Racial Tensions
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Summer of 1919 saw huge violence
against African Americans
-The bloodiest was in Chicago
-Called “Red Summer”
The Ku Klux Klan
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The Great Migration and racism allowed an old
group to gain power again.
1915 William Simmons revives the KKK
-Group was destroyed earlier by President U.S.
Grant
-By 1924, 4 million new members
-Began to show up in northern states as well
-Carried out crimes against blacks, Jews,
Catholics, and immigrants
-KKK marched on D.C. with 100,000
-KKK took control of 6 state govts.
-Lost power and major support in 1927