APUSH
Dr. I. Ibokette
Unit 9: The Interwar Years and the Domestic Front Front: 1919-1941
A. The “Roaring Twenties”,
B. The Great Depression, and
C. The New Deal:
As usual, use the recommended “4-step” reading and note-taking process. Also, use the
“looking ahead” and “recall and reflect” questions; as well as the “study questions” and key
terms and names provided as guides to both the context and significance of sub-themes within
the unit.
A. The “Roaring Twenties”
The Roaring Twenties: A Summation
“Scholars often characterize the 1920s as a decade of American prosperity and optimism.
It was the “Roaring Twenties”, the decade of bathtub gin, the model T, the $5 workday, the first
trans-Atlantic flight and the movie. It is often seen as a period of great advance as the nation
became urban and commercial. The decade is also seen as a period of rising intolerance and
isolation: chastened by WWI, historians often point out that Americans retreated into a
provincialism evidenced by the rise of the KKK, the anti-radical hysteria of Palmer raids,
restrictive immigration laws, and Prohibition.”
Overall the decade was a period of great contradictions: of rising optimism and
deadening cynicism; of increasing and decreasing faith; and of great hope and great despair. Put
differently, historians usually see the 1920s as a decade of intense social conflict.
Time Line:
1919: Palmer Raids
1920: Warren Harding elected President
1922: T. S. Eliot publishes The Wasteland
1923: Harding Dies; Calvin Coolidge takes over
- Bessie Smith records her first jazz album
1925: The Charleston becomes a dance craze
- Scopes Trial
1927: Charles Lindberg’s flight
- Ford introduced Model A
1928: Herbert Hoover elected President
1929: Ten million families own radio sets
- The Stock Market Crashed
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Key Terms & Names: Chapter 22
1. welfare capitalism
2. “pink-collar” jobs
3. A. Philip Randolph
4. “American Plan”
5. Issei/Nisei
6. Parity
7. The Jazz Singer
8. H.L. Mencken
9. Lost Generation
10. Sinclair Lewis
11. Harlem Renaissance
12. Alain Locke
13. Langston Hughes
14. Nativism & the Ku Klan Klan
15. National Origin Act, 1924
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16. Al Smith
17. Scopes “Monkey Trial”
18. mass consumerism
19. mass communication
20. Margaret Sanger
21. flapper
22. League of Women Voters
23. Lost Generation
24. Prohibition
25. Scopes Monkey Trial
26. Teapot Dome
Sub-Sections
a. Setting the Stage 633
 “Looking Ahead”
i. How did the technological innovations of the early 20th century affect industry and
American social life of the 1920s?
ii. What were some of the cultural conflicts of the 1920s, and what caused them?
iii. Is the term the “new era” a fitting description of the 1920s?
b. The New Economy 634
c. The New Culture 640
d. A Conflict of Cultures 649
e. Republican Government, 654
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f. End-of-Chapter Review, 656
 Looking Back
 Significant Events
Recall and Reflect, 657
i. What was the impact of the automobile on American life?
ii. How did labor fare during the 1920s? What particular problems did female, African
American, immigrant, and unskilled laborers face?
iii. How did religion respond to the consumer culture of the 1920s?
iv. What was the myth and what was the reality of the “new woman” of the 1920s?
v. What was the nature and the extent of nativism of the 1920s?
g. A Timeline of seven to ten key events/developments
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Why was American economic production and growth so successful during the 1920s? What
were its strengths and weaknesses?
2.
What were the major achievements in technology and science during the 1920s, and how
were they applied to society?
3.
4.
In what ways were working Americans of the 1920s better off? How were they worse off?
How did the status of organized labor change between 1919 and 1929?
5.
Describe the many factors that resulted in America becoming more of a consumer society
during the 1920s.
6.
What were the psychological effects on both individuals and society at large that resulted
from increasing consumerism in the 1920s?
7.
Compare the ideas and social commentary of artists and writers in the 1920s with the artists
and writers of the 1820s-1850s.
8.
Who were the prominent American writers in the 1920s? Why did a number of these writers
express negative views of society?
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9.
Describe the status of women in the 1920s. What aspects of their activities and behavior
showed significant change, and what remained the same?
10. Why did rural America have reason to be concerned about the course of events in the United
States during the 1920s? How did they respond to these events?
11. Compare the political philosophies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson with those
of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
B. The Great Depression: Chapter 23
Key Names and Terms
1. “Black Tuesday”
2. Causes of Depression
3. John M. Keynes
4. Dust Bowl
5. Okies
6. Scottsboro case
7. Clifford Odets
8. Erskine Caldwell
9. Soap Opera
10. John Dos Passos
11. Richard Wright
12. Hindenburg
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13. Orson Welles
14. Frank Capra
15. Life magazine
16. Popular Front
17. John Steinbeck
18. voluntarism
19. Hoovervilles
20. Hawley-Smooth Tariff
21. Agricultural Marketing Act
22. Reconstruction Finance Corp.
23. Bonus Army march
24. 1932 election and interregnum
Sub-Sections
a. Setting the Stage, 658
 “Looking Ahead”
i. What were some of the causes of the Gt Dep? What made it so severe, and why did it
last so long?
ii. What was the impact of the Gt Dep on farmers, minorities, and women?
iii. How did President Hoover and his administration try to deal with the Depression?
iv. What was the result of those efforts?
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b. The Coming of the Gt Dep. 660
c. The American People in Hard Times 662
d. The Dep and American Culture 669
e. The Unhappy Presidency of Herbert Hoover 675
f. End-of-Chapter Review 679
 Looking Back
 Significant Events
Recall and Reflect, 681
i.
Was the stock market crash the cause of the Great Dep.? Why or why not?
ii.
How did farmers fare during the Depression? What environmental conditions contribute
to their plight?
iii.
What particular problems faced women, both black and white, who worked outside the
home?
iv.
How did radio affect both social life and the life of the family?
v.
What was the Popular Front? What group did it comprise? How did they respond to the
Depression?
vi.
What popular protest arose in response to the Dep? How successful were these protests?
vii.
How did Hoover’s political beliefs affect his attempts to deal with the economic crisis of
the Depression?
g. A Timeline of seven to ten key events/developments
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What caused the stock market to crash in October 1929? Could this crash have been avoided?
2. Prior to the stock market crash in October 1929, what were the major weaknesses in the
economy of the late 1920s?
3. What are the major interpretations regarding the causes of the Great Depression? Why is
there little historical consensus regarding the causes?
4. Accurately characterize the depth and breadth of the Great Depression.
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5. How did the American people—men, women, minorities—generally respond to the Great
Depression?
6. How was the American family affected by the Great Depression?
7. What were the popular cultural similarities and differences in the 1930s among radio
programs, the movies, and literature?
8. Why did the radical left enjoy growing popularity in America during the 1930s? Why did this
popularity prove to be largely temporary?
9. What did President Hoover offer in the fight against the Great Depression? Why was he
ineffective in this fight?
10. Characterize Herbert Hoover’s personality during his presidency. How did his personal
image with the American public change between 1928 and 1932?
11. Why was Franklin Roosevelt elected president in 1932? What was his campaign platform?
C. The New Deal: Chapter 24
Key Names and Terms
1. Emergency Banking Act
2. AAA
3. NIRA/NRA
4. U.S. v. Schechter
5. TVA
6. Glass-Steagall Act
7. SEC
8. FERA, CWA, CCC
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9. First v. Second New Deals
10. American Liberty League
11. Townsend Plan
12. Father Coughlin
13. Senator Huey Long
14. National Labor Relations Act
15. industrial unionism/ CIO
16. John Lewis
17. Social Security Act
18. WPA
19. Court packing plan
20. Roosevelt recession
21. Fair Labor Standards Act
22. broker state
23. Eleanor Roosevelt
24. Black Cabinet
25. John Collier
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26. Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
27. Frances Perkins
28. Marian Anderson
29. federal welfare state
Sub-Sections
a. Setting the Stage 683
 “Looking Ahead”
i. What emergency measures did FDR take in his first 100 days as president?
ii. Who were the major critics of FDR’s New Dea, and how did their criticism
influence FDR’s “Second New Deal”?
iii. What were the principal achievements of the “Second New Deal”?
b. Launching the New Deal 684
c. The New Deal in Transition 690
d. The New Deal in Disarray 697
e. Limits and legacies of the New Deal 700
f. End-of-Chapter Review 706
 Looking Back
 Significant Events
Recall and Reflect, 631
i. What New Deal programs were aimed at agricultural and industrial recovery, and what
was the effect of the programs in both areas?
ii. What criticisms did critics on both the left and the right level at the New Deal? How did
FDR and his administration respond to these criticisms?
iii. What gains did organized labor make during the 1930s? How did labor achieve these
gains?
iv. How did New Deal programs treat minorities – African American, Hispanic Americans,
and Native Americans?
v. What was the impact of the New Deal on Women?
vi. How did the New Deal affect the western United States?
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g. A Timeline of seven to ten key events/developments
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How was Franklin Roosevelt able to quickly restore the public’s confidence in government
and the economy in 1933?
2. How have historians assessed the efforts of both Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt in
fighting the Depression? Where do they praise and criticize these two men?
3. Was Franklin Roosevelt a progressive president in the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt and
Woodrow Wilson? What similarities and differences did he share with these two men?
4. What did Franklin Roosevelt accomplish during his first hundred days in office?
5. What evidence supports the argument that Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal were
liberal?
6. What evidence supports the argument that Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal were
conservative?
7. How did the New Deal programs evolve between 1933 and 1935?
8. Who were the major critics of the New Deal and what were their complaints? What effect did
these complaints have on the New Deal?
9. Why were there critics of the New Deal from both the political left and the political right?
10. What was the significance of the results of the 1936 elections?
11. Why was the New Deal in disarray by 1937-1938? Why were there no additional New Deal
programs after 1938?
12. What impact did the New Deal have on women and minorities?
13. What did the New Deal accomplish in the 1930s? What did it not accomplish? Why did it fail
to end the Depression?
14. How might the New Deal have been more successful?
15. What have been the long-term legacies of the New Deal? What major historical assessments
have been made of it?
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16. Discuss the fundamental shift that took place in the 1930s regarding the role of the federal
government to help people in economic hardship. How would you assess this shift? Has it
been useful or not? How does it relate to you personally today?
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