CHAPTER 24: The New Era
LEARNING TARGETS:
1. Explain the elements of economic changes of the 1920’s
2. List the weaknesses of the American economy in the 1920’s
3. Discuss the impact of the rise of the city.
4. Analyze the key elements of the literary movement of the 1920’s
5. Describe the main features of the rural reaction of the 1920’s
6. Outline the personalities and contributions of the key political figures of the 1920’s
7. Explain the failures and successes of the Democrats from 1920-1930
8. Analyze the election of 1928.
9. Discuss the policies of the Republican Party during the 1920’s.
10. Describe the changes wrought in the American family in the 1920’s
PRESIDENTIAL ADMINSTRATIONS
WARREN G. HARDING (R-1921-25)
Washington Disarmament Conference (1921-22)
-Nine Power Pact
-Five Power Pact
-Four Power Pact
Separate Peace signed with Germany (1923)
Teapot Dome Scandal (1924)
Depression on the Farms (1921)
CALIVN COOLIDGE (R-1925-29)
Stock Market begins to make spectacular gains (1926)
Kellogg Briand Pact (1928)
Chiang Kai-Shek brings new “Nationalist” leadership to China (1928)
HERBERT HOOVER (R-1929-33)
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
Stock Market Crash (1929)
Establishes a Moratorium on War Debt
Japan Invades Manchuria (in violation of the Open Door Policy) – 1931
CHAPTER 24 ID’S
1914-1920
Mass Production (Ford)
After Ford started one of the first assembly line plants at Highland Park, Michigan, he developed a dream of
a huge plant that would turn raw materials into finished automobiles rapidly in great numbers. He started mass
production at Highland Park, but it was nothing like what he was able to do in his dream plant on the Rogue
River near Detroit. Ford saw that he has to control the movement of goods and keep it flowing constantly for
mass production to work. The River Rogue plant was a huge amount of land covered with factories. The parts
moved while the workers stayed put. The plant was like a huge machine with everything working together at
exactly the right speed. It was extremely efficient and produced millions of cars at very low prices.
1920’s
Welfare Capitalism
While parts of the economy improved as a result of mass production during the 1920’s, other parts declined.
One of the areas of the economy that didn’t fare as well was unions. The government had taken a more prolabor stance during the early 1900’s, but businesses were able to portray unions as radical because of a series of
strikes in 1919. Also, employers used a technique called welfare capitalism to lure workers away from unions.
The employers spent money on improved working conditions, pensions, paid vacations, and company
cafeterias. These were some of the union demands, and the workers didn’t have a need to organize to get what
they wanted so union membership decreased.
1923
Equal Rights Amendment
The feminist movement declined after the passage of the Twentieth Amendment because women no longer
had a cause to unify them. Their position in society was still below men because they were paid less for jobs
and were unable to get jobs that they were qualified for. Alice Paul’s National Woman’s Party kept the feminist
movement alive. In 1923, they got an Equal Rights Amendment introduced in Congress. The amendment said
that men and women would have equal rights before the law anywhere in the U.S. or its possessions. The ERA
was controversial and was seven opposed by some women’s groups on the grounds that women needed special
laws to limit their workweek and give them minimum wages. It failed.
1920’s
Flapper
Another reason for the decline of the feminist movement was that the young women of the 1920’s weren’t
out for social progress. They were more interested in individual freedom of expression. They disliked the
Victorian morality of the early 1900’s and created a new image. H.L. Mencken called it the flapper image.
Flappers cut their hair short, wore skirts above the knee, and went out to shock their elders. They smoked,
drank, and demanded sexual fulfillment from men.
1920’s
Expatriates
The biggest contribution of the 1920’s was in literature. The new literature was made up mostly of people
commenting on and criticizing society. Many of these writers had been disillusioned by WWI and upset by
American materialism so they left for Europe. Authors like Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and T.S. Eliot saw
American society as flawed and impure. They thought that after WWI, Americans had lost the good ideals and
dreams they had had.
1920’s
Harlem Renaissance
The cultural contributions during the 1920’s came not only from whites, but from blacks too. W.E.B.
DuBois became the intellectual voice of the black community in Harlem, New York. DuBois, along with
professor, James Weldon Johnson, led the Harlem Renaissance. The NAACP followed the leaders to Harlem.
After that, black literature started to grow. Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes all portrayed
the black tragedy through their writings which were read by millions of people. Art and music also flourished
during the Harlem renaissance. Jazz musicians raised money for their artists or author friends.
1920’s
Jazz
Part of the Harlem Renaissance was the development of jazz. It grew out of the blues music sung in New
Orleans. It spread all over the country as blacks migrated north to Saint Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, and New
York. The blues became a national folk music, while most American music of the period was heavily
influenced by jazz.
1919-1920
Red Scare
After WWI, Americans received a sense of strong nationalism. The result of this nationalism was s desire
for unity and conformity. This led to a dangerous situation in America because of the greater number of
immigrants. As a result of this desire for conformity, Americans were scared by the Russian revolution that put
the country into the hands of communists. They were also scared by a trend towards communism in American
radicals. There really weren’t that many communists, but a couple of strikes, and bombs heightened the
tension. Americans were scared of a Communist takeover.
1919-1920
Palmer Raids
As a result of the Red Scare, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer tried to get rid of all communists from
America. He called for a series of raids by federal officials to seize communists and anarchists. The people he
caught were deported without any kind of hearing or trial. Basically, it was only immigrants that the federal
officials went after. Americans supported the Palmer raids and did many things on their own like lynching
immigrants. Finally, other members of the government stood up and made the people realize how stupid all this
was. Palmer said that there was going to be a revolution in New York that never happened, and the Red Scare
died out in 1920.
1920
Sacco and Vanzetti
Although the major Red Scare ended in 1920, two Italian aliens, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti,
were arrested in Massachusetts for a payroll robbery and murder. They were tried and convicted because of
their ideas, rather than the prosecutors’ case. During the 1920’s, many people tried to get the decision reversed,
but the courts rejected all the appeals. They were executed in 1927.
1917-1920
18th Amendment/Volstead Act/Prohibition
As a result of Progressivism and religious pressure, Congress adopted the 18th Amendment to the
Constitution that outlawed the sale or manufacture of alcoholic beverages. The Volstead Act of 1920 said it
was illegal for anyone to make sell, or transport any drink that was over .5% alcohol by volume. These laws
would have been okay in the country, but in the cities, they were impossible to enforce. The wealthy could
afford illegal liquor, so organized crime grew to supply the liquor. Police refused to enforce the laws, and in
1933, Prohibition was repealed. Prohibition did reduce drinking among people who couldn’t afford illegal
liquor.
1915-1925
KKK
The KKK first showed its ugly head during Reconstruction in the South to counteract the Republicans.
They died out, but returned in 1915. The Klan revived as a result of the prejudice and fear of the American
people. Instead of focusing on blacks, the KKK now focused on the new immigrants. They targeted Italians,
Russians, Jews, and Catholics. The Klan got into politics and did have some influence. The organization used
many violent methods to make people conform such as beating, flogging, burning with acid, kidnapping,
lynching, and right out murder. By 1925, the Klan had died out again because of public outrage at some more
vicious acts, and scandals among its top leaders.
1917
Literacy Test
For the same reasons the Klan revived in the 1920’s, the government passed laws to limit immigration. One
of those laws was a literacy test passed in 1917 for someone to get into the country. Wilson vetoed the law, but
Congress passed it anyway. It did help to reduce immigration.
1921
Emergency Immigration Act
After WWI, there was a rumor that there was a flood of people waiting to leave war-ravaged Europe and
come to America. The American government didn’t want that to happen, so Congress passed the Emergency
Immigration Act. The act set up quotas that said that the U.S. would only allow 3% the number of nationals
living in the U.S. in 1910 in immigrate from Europe. The act didn’t please Nativists.
1924
National Origins Quota Act
Navitists thought that the Emergency Immigration Act didn’t do enough. They thought that Anglo-Saxons
had built America and were superior to all other races. They felt that the U.S. was being overrun by inferior
races that were diluting the bloodline. In response to this sentiment, Congress passed the national Origins
Quota Act in 1924. It limited European immigration to 150,000 people a year, most of which could come from
England, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia. It also banned all Oriental immigrants.
1925
Scopes Trial
The Scopes trial was a case of fundamentalism against the new science. High school biology teacher, John
Scopes, broke a Tennessee law by teaching Darwinian Theory in his class. William Jennings Bryan took the
stand against Scopes, while Clarence Darrow was the defense attorney. Darrow made Bryan look like an idiot.
Scopes was convicted, but was only given a small fine. H.L. Mencken thought that the trial meant the death of
fundamentalism, but he was wrong. Religion actually picked up as people in the country drove to the city to go
to church. The cities also provided places for evangelists to preach to huge numbers of people.
1920
Election of 1920
In the Election of 1920, Republicans replaced Democrats as the head of government. Warren G. Harding
was elected president with Calvin Coolidge as Vice President. Harding ran on the slogan “return to normalcy.”
1923
Teapot Dome Scandal
After Harding become president, he made some good cabinet appointments but two
bad appointments. Those two bad appointments ruined his administration. One of those
was Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. Fall was involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal.
He was given about $400,000 in loans and brides by two oil promoters in return for naval
oil reserves all over the country.
1928
Election of 1928
In the election of 1928, Democrat Al Smith ran against Republican Herbert Hoover.
Smith was an urban democrat who worked with Tammany Hall in New York and gained
in power from a poor boy. Hoover was an old-time Protestant. Hoover destroyed Smith,
but Smith won a majority in the twelve major cities.
1920’s
Self-made Man
Although Hoover and Smith came from different backgrounds, they were similar in
one way. They were both self-made. They both grew up from poor backgrounds to
become wealthy and influential. They proved the American ideals of social mobility and
equality of economic opportunity.
THE 1920’s
City
Middle Upper
Classes/Immigrants
Population Split
Rural
Farmers/Fundamentalist
“Bible”
Evolution
Modernist (Darrow)
Scopes trial (1925)
Fundamentalists (Bryan)
Economic Issues
Consumerism-Advertising:
Sex Sells
McNary-Haugen, Bill
Prohibition
Against
Red Scare
Palmer Raids
(Volstead Act; 18th
Amendment) Cite
Reason For
Immigration
Favor
KKK (1915 Ga., Tenn.)
Promote literacy test &
Work on Machines in
factories
Support
National Origins Act, 1924
Saccos-Vanzetti Trial
Support
Black Americans
Harlem Renaissance
Jazz, Blues
Role of Chicago Defender
Sharecroppers: many have
moved North after/during
WWI
Women
Flappers
National Womens PartyAlice
Paul
Birth Control-Margaret
Sanger
“Wets”
Responsible for bringing
about Prohibition through the
Temperance Societies
vs.
“Drys”
Laborers
Union Membership falls
Welfare Capitalism
Continuous drain of farmers
to the cities
Politics
Republican Party
Democratic Party
Split
North & Midwest
Immigrants
And First Generation
Catholics and Jews oppose
prohibition
vs.
South & West Pro-Prohibition
Fundamental
KKK
Literature
Art
Introduction of Deco
Regionalism