Unit VII: Chapters 24-28 1920-1945
The 1920’s, 1930’s & WWII
EQ: The social, political and economic changes brought on by the Roaring ‘20’s did NOT
last through the 1930’s.
US entry into WWII was inevitable.
College Board Outline
19. The New Era: 1920s
 The business of America and the consumer economy
 Republican politics: Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover
 The culture of Modernism: science, the arts, and entertainment
 Responses to Modernism: religious fundamentalism, nativism, and Prohibition
 The ongoing struggle for equality: African Americans and women
20. The Great Depression and the New Deal
 Causes of the Great Depression
 The Hoover administration’s response
 Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal
 Labor and union recognition
 The New Deal coalition and its critics from the Right and the Left
 Surviving hard times: American society during the Great Depression
21. The Second World War
 The rise of fascism and militarism in Japan, Italy, and Germany
 Prelude to war: policy of neutrality
 The attack on Pearl Harbor and United States declaration of war
 Fighting a multifront war
 Diplomacy, war aims, and wartime conferences
 The United States as a global power in the Atomic Age
22. The Home Front During the War
 Wartime mobilization of the economy
 Urban migration and demographic changes
 Women, work, and family during the war
 Civil liberties and civil rights during wartime
 War and regional development
 Expansion of government power
Essay Prompts
Chapter 24
The 1920’s witnesses an assault by rural and small town America on urban America. Assess the validity
of this generalization.
Chapter 25
How do you account for the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930’s?
Chapter 26
Analyze the responses of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to the problems of the Great Depression.
How effective were these responses? How did they change the role of the federal government? Use your
knowledge of the period 1929-1945 to construct your essay.
Chapter 27
How and for what reasons did US foreign policy change between 1920 and 1941?
Chapter 28
World War II is often referred to as the “good war.” What is meant by this and to what extent is it a fair
description?
Chapter Twenty-four Main Themes
1. The effect of the automobile boom and various technological breakthroughs on the economic
expansion and agricultural malaise of the 1920s.
2. The attempt by businesses to craft a system of "welfare capitalism," and the reasons for its
ultimate failure.
3. The emergence of a nationwide consumer-oriented and communication-linked culture, and its
effect on society and the "new woman."
4. The disenchantment of many artists and intellectuals with postwar life, and the broad cultural
conflicts over ethnic and religious concerns that plagued the New Era.
5. The ardently pro-business administrations of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, which,
despite their dissimilar personalities, followed a very similar course.
A thorough study of Chapter Twenty-four should enable the student to understand:
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The reasons for the New Era industrial boom after the initial period of economic readjustment
following World War I.
The nature and extent of labor's problems in the New Era, particularly with regard to "welfare
capitalism."
The plight of the American farmer in the face of agriculture conglomeration and advancing
technology.
The changes in the American way of life and American values in the 1920s in the areas of
consumerism, communications, religion, and the role of women.
The reflection of and reaction to these changed values in American literature and art.
The effects of prohibition on American politics and society.
The reasons for xenophobia and racial unrest in the 1920s, and the religious controversies
that dominated the era.
The debacle of the Harding administration, and the pro-business tendencies of all Republican
administration in the 1920s.
Chapter Twenty-five Main Themes
1. The economic and structural weaknesses underlying the apparent prosperity of the 1920s that
led to the Great Depression, and how the stock market crash of 1929 touched it off.
2. The effects of the economic pressures of the Depression on the American people, especially
farmers, minorities, and women.
3. The cultural milieu of the Depression Era as reflected in photography, radio, movies, books,
and the Popular Front, and how the culture reflected both the escapist and populist tendencies
of the time.
4. The frustrations of Herbert Hoover's administration in dealing with the Depression, and how
his inability to ameliorate hard times swept Franklin Delano Roosevelt into the presidency.
A thorough study of Chapter Twenty-five should enable the student to understand:
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The relationship between the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great
Depression.
The early beginnings and economic causes for the onset and durability of the Great Depression
The problems of unemployment and underemployment, and the inadequacy of relief.
The particular problems of farmers in the Dust Bowl.
The impact of the Depression on minorities, particularly African-Americans and HispanicAmericans.
The impact of the Depression on working women and the American family.
The reflection of the economic crisis and the desire for escape as portrayed in American
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culture.
President Herbert Hoover's policies for fighting the Depression.
The historical and economic debate over the causes of the Great Depression
The Great Depression in context of the global depression afflicting the rest of the globe
Chapter Twenty-six Main Themes
1. The flurry of New Deal programs offered by FDR to combat the Depression, and how they
played out in the realms of economic confidence, agriculture, industrial recovery, and regional
planning.
2. The critics on the right and left of New Deal policies, and how they inspired Roosevelt to
launch what's referred to as the "Second New Deal."
3. The challenges facing the New Deal after Roosevelt's landslide in 1936, particularly increasing
conservative opposition, his own political blunders, and continuing hard times.
4. The economic, political, and party legacies of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
A thorough study of Chapter Twenty-six should enable the student to understand:
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The series of emergency measures enacted by Roosevelt immediately after his inauguration
and designed to restore economic confidence.
The New Deal programs for raising farm prices and promoting industrial recovery.
The first federal efforts at regional planning.
The political pressures from both the left and the right that spurred FDR to embrace both
federal relief programs and Social Security after 1935.
The changes in the strategies of organized labor during the New Deal period.
The effects of both the Court-packing scheme and the recession of 1937 on the New Deal.
The impact of the New Deal on minorities and women.
The lasting significance of the New Deal to the American economy and political system.
The varying historical assessments of the New Deal.
Chapter Twenty-seven Main Themes
1. The character of America's "unilateral internationalist" foreign policy in the 1920s, whereby
the United States tried to increase its role in world affairs, especially economically, while
avoiding commitments.
2. The response of America to the growing world crises in the 1930s, particularly isolationism and
legislated neutrality.
3. The gradual road to American military involvement in WWII, leading up to the attack on Pearl
Harbor in 1941.
A thorough study of Chapter Twenty-seven should enable the student to understand:
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The new directions of American foreign policy -- and the attempts to replace the League of
Nations as a guarantor of global stability -- in the 1920s
The effects of the Great Depression on foreign relations under both Hoover and Roosevelt.
The patterns of Japanese, Italian, and German aggression that eventually led to World War II,
and the response to each by the Roosevelt government
The factors that led to the passage of neutrality legislation in the 1930s, and Roosevelt's
application of the legislation to various foreign crises.
The growing pro-English sentiment in the United States after the onset of WWII, and its effect
on American neutrality up until 1941.
The specific sequence of events that brought the United States into the war, culminating with
the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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The American role in the Sino-Japanese War that preceded and eventually became part of
what is normally considered World War II
Chapter Twenty-eight Main Themes
1. The initial American strategies for fighting the European and Pacific fronts, and the military
engagements that characterized the first half of the war.
2. The profound effect of World War II on the American economy, and the attempts by the
Roosevelt administration to stabilize the wartime economic boom
3. The impact of the war experience on organized labor and minorities at home.
4. The development of advanced technologies during the war and their impact on the course of
the conflict.
5. The events leading to Allied victory in Germany and Japan, culminating in the fall of Berlin and
President Truman's decision to use the Atomic Bomb.
A thorough study of Chapter Twenty-eight should enable the student to understand:
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The efforts of the federal government to mobilize the nation's economy for war production.
The critical importance of the vast productive capacity of the United States in defeating of the
Axis.
The effects of American participation in the war on the Depression and on New Deal reform.
The changes that the wartime involvement brought for women, labor, and racial and ethnic
minorities.
The contributions of the United States military to victory in North Africa and Europe.
The contributions of the United States military to victory in the Pacific.
The historical disagreement over President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb
The 1920’s witnesses an assault by rural and small town
America on urban America. Assess the validity of this
generalization.