The Roaring Twenties
US History
Recession From WWI
• When the war
ended, more than
2 million soldiers
came home looking
for jobs.
• Factories stopped
turning out war
materials.
Warren G. Harding
• Elected in 1920
and brings in all
his old friends
into office (“Ohio
Gang”)
• A series of
scandals took
place including,
Teapot Dome.
Teapot Dome Scandal
• The most serious scandal
during the Harding
administration.
• It involved Secretary of
the Interior, Albert Fall.
Two oil executives had
bribed Fall.
• In return, he secretly
leased them gov’t land in
California and at Teapot
Dome, Wyoming.
Coolidge Prosperity
• Harding dies, Calvin
Coolidge takes office.
• Coolidge wants to repair
the damage caused by
the scandals and forces
officials to resign.
• Industry begins to boom
and new products become
available (electric
refrigerators, radios,
phonographs, etc.)
Business
• Allowing installment
buying or buying on
credit.
• Soaring stock
market, corporations
sold stocks to
investors.
Vocabulary
• Bull Market: Ordinary people became
rich overnight and this drew others to
buy stocks. Such a period of increased
stock trading and rising stock prices in
know as a “bull market”.
• On Margin: Many people bought stocks
“on margin” which meant that an investor
bought a stock with just a 10% down
payment.
Foreign Affairs
• In the Soviet Union,
Lenin was creating a
communist state.
• Americans don’t like this,
but we still give them
$20 million in aid when a
famine hits Russia in
1921.
• An arms race in Europe
had helped caused WWI.
Now people are favoring
disarmament.
Kellogg-Briand Pact
• Signed in 1928
• The United
States and 61
other nations
signed this treaty
that outlawed
war.
Prohibition
• Bootleggers
smuggled in liquor
from Canada and the
Caribbean.
• Illegal bars,
speakeasies, opened
in nearly every city
and town.
• Rise of organized
crime and Gangsters.
New Rights for Women
• The 19th amendment
was ratified in 1920
giving women the
right to vote.
• Equal Rights
Amendment: stated
that no one can be
denied of things on
account of sex.
• Women began to
work.
Impact of the Automobile
• Car prices fell because
factories became more
efficient with the
assembly line.
• More roads were paved
and new highways were
built.
• Gas stations, tourist
camps, and restaurants
sprang up everywhere.
• By 1929, 4 million
Americans owed their
jobs to the auto industry.
Creating a Mass Culture
• Radio
• Movies-In the 20’s
millions of Americans
went to the movies
weekly.
• New music: Jazz;
Louis Armstrong
• Writers: F. Scott
Fitzgerald.
Fashion and Fads
• Flagpole sitting
• Dance Marathons
• Flappers: Young
women who rebelled
against traditional
ways of thinking and
acting. They wore
their hair cut short
and short dresses.
Harlem Renaissance
• In the 20’s, large
numbers of African
American musicians,
artists, and writers
settled in Harlem (NYC)
for a rebirth of African
American culture.
• Langston Hughes: best
known poet of the
Harlem Renaissance.
Heroes of the 20’s
• Athletes: Baseball
and Babe Ruth
• Aviator: Charles
Lindbergh--the
first person to fly
across the
Atlantic alone
(1927)