Section II – Currents of Thought:
prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan on behalf of the state of Tennessee.
Bryan argued from the traditionalist point of view saying that the theory of
evolution goes against everything the “good book” (Bible) stands for.
Darrow argued from the modernist point of view. Darrow’s main argument
was that society should be in search of the scientific truth and not be
ignorant to the facts. Many issues were brought up by Darrow and many
Americans began to question their religions a little more as a result of this
trial. In the end Scopes was found guilty and fined a mere $100 for his
actions. This was a small victory for histories “perennial loser” William
Jennings Bryan. However, Bryan never knew that he won the trial due to
the fact that he died 5 days before the trial was over.
As stated earlier, the popular theme of the 1920s was “change”. These
changes did not come about by themselves, but were brought about by
different people, groups, and themes.
Religion:
Religious belief encountered some stiff competition in the years following
WWI. People began to question their religion when their religion failed to
give them adequate answers to the questions of WWI and the resulting
influenza pandemic. How does one worship a God that tolerates suffering
on such an enormous scale? This was the main question that leads people
to explore new ways to restore their faith in God. During 1920s there was
an extreme rise in Atheism (belief in no god at all), which heightened the
Red Scare due to the fact that Atheism was the only accepted “religion” in
the Soviet Union. There was also a rise in cults, nudist colonies, yoga,
Ouija boards, and even groups such as one French self-help group whose
main belief was that anything could be achieved if one began the morning
by repeating, “Everyday, in every way, I am getting better and better.”
Al Capone:
By 1929 Al “Scarface” Capone (pictured) had
eliminated many of his enemies and competition for
leadership in the Chicago Mafia. The famous St.
Valentines Day Massacre, which took place on Feb.
14, 1929, eliminated what was left of Capone’s
enemies in the Chicago Mafia. Following this
massacre, Capone had finally secured his position
as the leader of the Chicago Mafia and in reality the
city of Chicago. Although he did not reach the top
of the Chicago Mafia until the end of the 1920s, he
was very active throughout the 1920s in a host of
illegal activities done by the Chicago Mafia. Using
his notorious cut throat tactics, Capone kept the streets of Chicago flowing
with alcohol during the Prohibition Era of the 1920s. This accomplishment
has made him the most notorious “bootlegger” and “gangster” in U.S.
history.
Traditionalists versus Modernists:
The religious debates gave birth to the traditionalist versus modernist
debate. Traditionalists were people who opposed the changes that were
taking place during the 1920s. They liked things the way they were and
saw no need for them to change. They wanted all religion to stay the
same, and were against the many technological advances of the 1920s.
On the other hand, modernists were people who embraced change. In
general, modernist felt that changes meant things were getting better.
Scopes Monkey Trial:
When his prostitution ring and bootlegging industry were at their height,
Capone was brining in over $60,000,000 a year. The key to Capone
success was that he had mayors, legislators, governors, congressmen, and
over half of the Chicago police force on his payroll that seemed to turn the
other cheek during a Capone crime. Eventually Capone’s time came to an
end. A Federal Prohibition Task Force known as the “Untouchables”, under
the leadership of Elliot Ness, began disrupting Capone’s illegal activities.
Although many people credit the Untouchables with taking down Capone, it
was President Hoover who really deserves the credit. Under Hoover’s
direction the FBI gathered enough evidence to bring Al Capone down.
During the years of 1931 and 1932 Ralph Capone, who was Capone’s
brother, Capone’s “right hand man” Frank Nitti, and Al Capone himself were
all found guilty of federal income tax evasion (failure to pay income taxes to
the U.S. government). In October of 1931, Capone was sentenced to 11
What brought the traditionalist versus modernist
debate to the attention of many Americans was
one of the most famous trials in U.S. history. The
Scopes Monkey Trial is this trial and it took place
in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. Dayton,
Tennessee city officials actually competed to have
the trial in their town for the purpose of attracting
tourists in order to stimulate the town’s economy.
The central issue of this trial was teaching the
theory of evolution in a public school. John Scopes (pictured), a substitute
high school biology teacher, was on trial for teaching the theory of evolution
to his students. While Scopes was defended by Clarence Darrow, he was
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years in a federal prison. Capone eventually ended up in Alcatraz, but was
released in 1939 due to complications from syphilis”, which was causing his
mental stability to rapidly deteriorate. Capone eventually died in his home
in Miami in 1947 of a brain hemorrhage. It is rumored that he was found
dead in his back yard sitting in a lawn chair with his fishing pole in his
empty pool.
Sexual Satisfaction, by Margaret Sanger, and the anthropological book
“Recreational Sex Without Guilt” – a book on Samoan Life, by Margaret
Mead. As sex became an issue in the 1920s “Freudian psychosexual”
thought was widely accepted as Sigmund Freud (pictured) provided an
unscientific approach into human behavior.
Women:
Of all the movements during the 1920s, the “Feminist Movement” is by far
the most important. The female role, voice, image in politics, the
workplace, and in society in general would be changed forever during the
1920s. The most important piece of female legislation was the passage of
the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote (female suffrage).
The passage of this law is a
credit to the life long works and
visions of Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and Susan B.
Anthony. This
amendment was ratified in
1919 and was first seen in
action during the election of
1920. From this point on,
women took an active role in
local, state, and national
government. Female activist
groups, such as the National
Women’s Party (NWP),
became increasingly
common during the 1920s in
their effort to increase
women’s rights. These laws
helped women gain jobs and
fair treatment in the
workplace, as the
percentage of women in the
workforce rose dramatically.
Women began to view their
career as more important than
raising a family. Declining
marriage rates and rising
divorce rates of the 1920s prove
this trend. Women also began
to change their image and
carry themselves differently
than they had in the past. An
increasing amount of women
began to cut their hair short,
raise their skirts above the knee, and bind their breasts in an effort to show
more “cleavage” and look “sexy”. Evidence of this trend is the amount of
cloth that a typical woman’s outfit contained during the 1920s. In 1913 the
average woman’s outfit contained 19 yards of cloth compared to only 7
yards of cloth in 1928. These women gained the name “flappers”, and as
the 1920s roared ahead more and more flappers began to appear. Women
drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes in public for the 1 st time, and engaged
openly and freely in various sexual encounters. While this behavior was
true of men prior to the 1920s and throughout the 1920s, this was very
revolutionary for women to be acting the same way. In many ways women
claimed that they had became a “1st class” citizen during the 1920s.
Sacco and Vanzetti Case:
This trial took place in the year 1920, and
was a product of the Red Scare. The two
men on trial, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti (pictured), were both suspected
immigrant anarchists, communists, and WWI
draft dodgers. After a payroll robbery and
shooting of two people, these two men were
arrested on May 20, 1920. Based on very
“circumstantial” evidence, they were linked to
the crime. They both were found guilty and executed using the electric
chair on August 23, 1927. Many people to this day still believe that these
two men were innocent of this crime, and were only executed to show the
American public how immigrant communist anarchists will be dealt with in
the U.S. This situation is a prime example of the anti-immigrant and anticommunist thought that plagued the 1920s.
Sigmund Freud:
Sex was a major issue in the 1920s. Historians
point to the 1920s as the 1st sexual revolution, with
the 1960s being the 2nd sexual revolution. During
the 1920s sex began to change from the purpose of
procreation (having babies) to the purpose of
recreation (having fun). All types of people began to
explore the sexual world. Books pertaining to sex
permeated the American culture such as;
“Happiness In Marriage” – A Manual For Achieving
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Ku Klux Klan:
The 2nd Gold Rush:
Although origins of the KKK can be traced
back to the 1860’s after the Civil War, in the
1920’s the KKK was in its prime simply
because of its immense membership statistics.
In 1924 it was reported that there were over
4,000,000 members of the KKK. While the
original reason for the rise of the KKK was to
keep recently freed African-Americans in the
south after the Civil War from having a say in
the political processes of the southern states,
the KKK had somewhat changed its stance by the 1920s. While the KKK
still despised African-Americans, it now began target and attack the
massive amounts of immigrants coming to the U.S. as well. Mainly angry
about the American jobs these immigrants were taking, the KKK often
resorted to violence against immigrants. It would be safe to say that the
KKK was a “Nativist Terrorist” organization during the 1920s.
California became Florida, the Oregon Trail became the Dixie Highway,
and the 49ers were now the 21ers, 22ers, 23ers, and 24ers. Like the many
Americans who headed west on the Oregon Trail in 1849 to strike it rich in
the California gold mines, the same was true of people flocking to Florida in
the early 1920s hoping to find riches in the newest form of gold, LAND.
Just like people heading to California on the Oregon Trail used their
covered wagons and horses to haul their family and belongings, people
used a new kind of “horseless carriage” to do the same along the newly
constructed Dixie Highway which linked Florida to almost every major
northern U.S. city in some round about way. It made sense to go to
Florida. Land in Florida was cheap, it was sunny throughout the year, and
the southern soil had a long history of being perfect for farming.
Florida started as a vacation spot for the rich, but as soon as many people
began to make more money it became everybody’s vacation spot. Hotels,
resorts, and tourist attractions dotted the coastline of Florida throughout the
state. Soon houses and communities sprung up all over the state. With all
of this new building construction, more money was created in many ways to
either spend or save. Most spent the money rather than save it. Paying
the builders, hotel room rentals, house sales, furniture sales, gas stations
and restaurants along the Dixie Highway are just a few of the obvious way
money was made and put back into the U.S. economy. The end result of
this is more money changing hands and that meant more “fuel and oil” to
help run the finely tuned and revamped economic machine of the U.S.
which seemed to have fully recovered after the devastation of WWI and the
brief recession that followed. While this situation was great, it created
some huge problems in the future.
A typical KKK member was a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) male.
KKK rituals demonstrated hatred towards blacks, immigrants, Jews, and
Catholics as these groups of people were seen as the root of all “American
Problems”. The symbol of the KKK became the burning cross, which also
grew to become a symbol of hatred. While the KKK persecuted anyone
who was not white and Protestant, they did do some good. In many towns
throughout U.S. the KKK was also known as America’s “Moral Police.”
Their goal was to rid America of prostitution, gambling, drinking, and other
lawlessness. Although this was good, they often overstepped their
boundaries using excessive brutality. A sign from a KKK parade is below.
BOOTLEGGERS, PIMPS, HANGERS-ON,
GET RIGHT OR GET OUT
WIFE-BEATERS, FAMILY DESSERTERS,
HOME WRECKERS,
WE HAVE NO ROOM FOR YOU
GO JOY RIDING WITH YOUR OWN WIFE!
Section II Questions: The following questions are to be completed on
a separate sheet of paper.
1. What was the reason for the exploration of new religions?
2. Briefly explain the viewpoint of traditionalist.
Just as fast as the KKK grew, it would fade out even quicker. Plagued by
corruption within the KKK leadership, the KKK began to disappear in the
late 1920s from America. Although it was almost gone by the end of the
1920’s it was not dead. As you will see, there will be a resurgence of the
KKK in the 1950s when the Civil Rights Movement takes place. After the
height of the Civil Rights movement the KKK would fade away again, but
not totally die. The current membership in the KKK is estimated to be
around 5,000.
3. Briefly explain the viewpoint of modernist.
4. What was John Scopes on trial for?
5. Who was the defense attorney for John Scopes?
6. Who was the prosecuting attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial?
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7. Explain why you think the trial of John Scopes gained the name
“Scopes Monkey Trial”?
24. Make an educated guess as to why the concept of “family” was hurt by
the feminist movement of the 1920s?
8. What was Al Capone the head of?
25. When did the KKK form?
9. What was Al Capone’s main contribution to the 1920s?
26. Why did the KKK originally form?
10. Why was Al Capone so successful at making so much money through
illegal activity?
27. By the 1920s, what type of organization had the KKK become?
28. Why did the KKK add immigrants to the list people they typically
“terrorized”?
11. What was the name of the Federal Prohibition Task Force that began
disrupting Capone’s illegal businesses?
29. Explain what a WASP is?
12. Who was the leader of the Federal Prohibition Task Force that began
disrupting Capone’s illegal businesses?
30. Explain the general beliefs of the KKK.
13. What was Al Capone convicted of sent to prison for?
31. Explain how the KKK was both good and bad during the 1920s?
14. What were Sacco and Vanzetti on trial for?
32. After the 1920s, when did the KKK “resurge’?
15. What was the verdict and sentence in the Sacco and Vanzetti Trial?
33. Where did the 2nd Gold Rush take place?
16. What did the verdict of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial come in reaction
to?
34. What was the “new gold” in the 2nd gold rush?
35. What do you think a “horseless carriage” is?
17. How did American’s view of sex change during the 1920s?
36. How did this Gold Rush help increase economic activity in the U.S.?
18. What psychologist’s viewpoints became increasingly popular during the
1920s?
19. What was the name of Freud’s theory that provided an “unscientific”
approach to human behavior?
20. What amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to
vote?
21. What is the 1st election in U.S. history in which women were allowed to
vote?
22. What 2 women worked for the passage of the “women’s suffrage”
amendment?
23. Explain what a “flapper” is.
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