CHAPTER
20
Politics of the Roaring Twenties
Overview
Time Lines
SECTION
1 Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues
SECTION
2 “Normalcy” and Isolationism
SECTION
3 The Business of America
Chapter Assessment
Transparencies
CHAPTER
20
Politics of the Roaring Twenties
“The business of America is business.”
President Calvin Coolidge
THEMES IN CHAPTER 20
Economic Opportunity
Science and Technology
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CHAPTER
20
Politics of the Roaring Twenties
“The business of America is business.”
President Calvin Coolidge
What do you know?
• What images come to mind when you think of
the Roaring Twenties?
• What people and events characterized the
1920s?
• What names have been given to other decades?
What might be a good nickname for the
1990s?
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CHAPTER
20
Time Line
The United States
1920 The 19th Amendment is ratified.
1921 Saco and Vanzetti are convicted.
The Federal Highway Act funds a national
highway system.
1922 Coal miners in Scranton, Pennsylvania go on
strike.
1924 The Teapot Dome scandal erupts.
1925 A. Philip Randolph organizes Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters.
1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed.
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CHAPTER
20
Time Line
The World
1921 Chinese Communist Party is founded in
Shanghai.
Vladimir Ilich Lenin adopts the New
Economic Policy.
1922 Benito Mussolini is appointed prime
minister in Italy.
1923 Adolf Hitler’s putsch in Germany fails.
1924 Vladimir Illich Lenin, founder of the
Soviet Union, dies.
1926 Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan.
1928 Joseph Stalin launches the first five-year
plan in the USSR.
1929 Institutional Revolutionary Party is
organized in Mexico.
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SECTION
1
Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues
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Learn About
postwar conditions in America.
To Understand
how fear of communism affected civil liberties and the
labor movement.
SECTION
1
Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues
Key Idea
The Russian Revolution brings a
Communist government to power. Many
Americans fear that a similar revolution
will occur in the United States. Political
radicals and labor activists meet with
increasing resistance.
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SECTION
1
Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues
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Section 1 Assessment
SEQUENCING
What were the major events involving labor unions between
1917 and 1929?
1919
Boston police strike
begins.
1925
Steel strike begins
under William Z.
Foster.
Coal strike begins
under John L. Lewis.
1917
A. Philip Randolph
organizes the
Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car
Porters.
1929
1920
Steel strike is
broken.
SECTION
1
Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues
Section 1 Assessment
FORMING AN OPINION
Do you think Americans were justified in their fear of
radicals and foreigners in the decade following World War I?
THINK ABOUT
• the goals of the leaders of the Russian Revolution
• the impact of radicals in the United States
• the challenges facing the United States
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SECTION
1
Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues
Section 1 Assessment
ANALYZING
What factors led union organizers to call so many strikes in
1919?
THINK ABOUT
• economic factors
• labor leaders’ determination to fight for worker rights
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SECTION
2
“Normalcy” and Isolationism
Learn About
the policies of the Harding administration.
To Understand
the development of postwar isolationism and the
immigration quota system.
HOME
SECTION
2
“Normalcy” and Isolationism
Key Idea
The Republicans return to isolationism and
the kind of policies that characterized the
period before the Progressive Era and its
reform movements.
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SECTION
2
“Normalcy” and Isolationism
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Section 2 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
Did the following events benefit, have a mixed impact, or harm the
country?
Election of Harding
Naval disarmament agreement
Kellogg-Briand Pact signed
Fordney-McCumber Tariff passed
Dawes Plan implemented
Increase in immigration in 1921
Immigration quotas created
Teapot Dome scandal uncovered
SECTION
2
“Normalcy” and Isolationism
Section 2 Assessment
GENERALZING
How do you think the Harding administration viewed the
role of America in world events?
THINK ABOUT
• policies on trade and tariffs
• efforts to enforce peace
• attitudes toward immigrants
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SECTION
2
“Normalcy” and Isolationism
Section 2 Assessment
EVALUATING
How successful was Harding in fulfilling his campaign
pledge of returning the country to “normalcy”?
THINK ABOUT
• events in foreign relations
• changes in immigration laws
• scandals during Harding’s administration
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SECTION
3
The Business of America
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Learn About
the impact of automobiles, electric power, advertising,
and installment buying on the American consumer.
To Understand
how consumer goods became the foundation of the
business boom of the 1920s.
SECTION
3
The Business of America
Key Idea
During the prosperous 1920s, the automobile
industry and other industries flourished.
America’s standard of living rises to new
heights.
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SECTION
3
The Business of America
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Section 3 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
What events illustrate the technology and business changes of the
1920s?
Development of the
automobile industry
Invention of new
electrical appliances
Technology and Business
Changes of the 1920s
Expansion of the
airline industry
Spread of modern
advertising
SECTION
3
The Business of America
INTERPRETING
Section 3 Assessment
3
Do you agree with President Coolidge’s statement “The man
who builds a factory builds a temple—the man who works
there worships there.”?
THINK ABOUT
• the goals of business and of religion
• the American support of business
• the difference between workers and management
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SECTION
3
The Business of America
Section 3 Assessment
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Do you think the changes in the 1920s gave Americans more
control over their lives?
THINK ABOUT
• the impact of new technology
• the influence of advertising
• the results of installment buying
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Chapter
20
Assessment
1. What impact did the Russian Revolution have on the
United States?
2. Explain how the Red Scare, the Saco and Vanzetti
case, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan reflected
concerns held by many Americans.
3. What evidence suggests that strikes were a risky
activity for workers during the 1920s?
4. What did Harding want to do to return America to
“normalcy”?
5. What evidence shows that the United States was
interested in an isolationist foreign policy?
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Chapter
20
Assessment
6. Describe the primary goal of the immigration quota
system established in 1921 and amended in 1924.
7. Summarize the Teapot Dome scandal.
8. How did changes in technology in the 1920s influence
American life?
9. Describe the new methods used by advertisers
beginning in the 1920s.
10. What evidence suggests that the prosperity of the
1920s was not on a firm foundation?
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