Tuesday, October 18, 2011
1. Student Questions:
pg 640-647
2. Quiz
- 5 Questions over the Reading Material
- A sixth question will be a review question over one of the terms from the Honors US History 10 Notecard
List. The possible terms for use on this quiz are:
Black Codes
Birth of a Nation
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
Charles River Bridge vs Warren Bridge
Bessemer Steel
Coureurs de Bois
the Corrupt Bargain
Boss Tweed
Coercive Acts
Cherokee Nation vs Georgia
3. Student Presentation:
Topic: Henry Ford
4. Lightning Round – Why Should I Care?
- 1920s increase in manufacturing output
- 33% increase in per capita income
- The destruction of European industry in WWI
- The automobile industry
- Radio
- Trade associations
- Maldistribution of wealth and purchasing power
- Welfare capitalism
- Henry Ford
- Average worker wage below the poverty line
- Pink-collar jobs
- A. Philip Randolph
- Parity
5. Discussion Topics:
- The importance of technology in economic health
- The role of government in union vs management disputes
- The interdependence of an entire population in the health of an economy
6. Practice Essay Question:
1. Compare and contrast the growth of business in the 1920s with the role of organized labor. Evaluate the
gain in power and prestige of each
7. Homework:
a) On the front of the piece of paper, write down all of the evidence that the 1920s was a good decade
economically in America. On the back of that paper, write down all of the evidence that is was not a good
decade economically in America
b) Prepare for tomorrow’s in-class discussion: Modern Equivalent
8. Additional Notes:
I. Roaring Twenties
A. Introduction
1. Census of 1920 revealed that more Americans lived in urban centers than in rural settings
a. 51% of the population lived in centers of 2500 or more
b. Urban centers began to dominate American culture.
c. The prosperity of this era illustrated the new urban dominance with the rise of skyscrapers, new housing
starts and over 600,000 miles of road construction.
d. The "progress of the age," automobile, radio, movies, and numerous new electrical appliances, centered in
the metropolis and reached rural areas much later.
2. The end of World War I brought a cumulative disillusionment as Americans wondered if the sacrifice of the
conflict was worth the fragile and questionable peace.
3. Frederick Jackson Turner had predicted that with the closing of the frontier, the US would become more
urbanized and change its values, previously rooted in a large frontier setting.
a. A resurgence of US business undermined reforms won by the previous generation.
b. A national best seller for 2 years was Bruce Barton 's Man Nobody Knows , depicting Jesus Christ as the
founder of the modern business system and the Apostles as a type of corporate Board of Directors, emphasizing
values thought lost by 1900.
c. A rush toward rampant materialism and hedonism replaced the idealism and social consciousness of the
progressive era as Americans took what many feared to be a turn for the worse away from the best American
values and idealism.
B. Major Changes of the 1920s
1. Growth of Science and Technology
a. The Automobile changed life more than any other invention
(1) Ford perfected the assembly line -- component parts at one end were fully assembled within 93 minutes,
reducing the cost to $295 for a Model T by 1923.
(2) With the faster, more cheaply produced cars, more people could afford to own a car, and this produced
increased demands for related industries - roads and highways, auto parts stores, service stations, hotels and
restaurants.
(3) It aided the development of suburbia, because it was no longer necessary to live near work or near shopping
areas.
(4) Extended cities emerged like Los Angeles CA or Dallas-Ft Worth TX
(a) As people moved out of inner cities, businesses moved in and real estate values skyrocketed.
(b) Businesses built up, not out, and ultra tall skyscrapers emerged with the use of the steel beam -- the walls
were non-load bearing.
(c) The development of a fast, safe elevator followed.
(5) Suburbs were not cut off from the excitement of the inner city.
b. Development of a Mass Culture
(1) The rise in popularity of the radio homogenized American culture by the mid-20s with coast-to-coast
hookups.
(a) Although expensive at first, everyone bought a radio
(b) Station KDKA aired the first commercial broadcast in Pittsburgh PA, giving the results of the 1920
presidential election.
(2) The growth of the motion picture industry
(a) At the end of WWI, motion pictures were primitive and about 30 minutes long, but in the 1920s, a plot
emerged as the method of making pictures evolved.
(b) W.D. Griffith made the first feature length (11/2 hour) film.
(c) 1927 - Jazz Singer was the first such film with sound tract.
(3) An improved phonograph came into wider usage in the 1920s.
c. Changes in the Home
(1) Labor-saving devices in the home, previously available to only the rich, were now mass marketed, such as
small compact vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, clothes washing machines (which became indispensable), electric
irons and toasters.
(2) These time-saving devices freed many women from the home, allowing them to attend the college or
university for the first time.
(3) Safe and reliable contraceptives became available for the first time.
(a) Nov 1921 - Margaret Sanger , NY nurse, + Mary Ware Dennett's Voluntary Parenthood League formed the
American Birth Control League (forerunner of Planned Parenthood) to dispense information on birth control
methods
(b) But society still dictated that married women have children and remain at home.
(4) Changes in Food Preservation
(a) By 1929, canned food was universally used by the middle class.
(b) Clarence Birdseye perfected a quick freezing food process that did not cause food cells to burst, allowing
previously frozen food to taste good.
(c) By the end of the decade, plastics and cellophane were in widespread use.
(5) Other changes
(a) Cigarette lighters were developed
(b) Telephones, popular in the home, but still only for the super rich
(c) Air conditioning used in businesses and theaters and by the rich.
2. Industrial Changes
a. Construction - number one industry in the 1920s
(1) As America fell in love with the automobile, a construction boom resulted.
(2) First high speed roadway Pennsylvania Turnpike , built with divided all concrete, all-weather highways.
(3) First coast-to-coast highway, US 66, was completed.
b. Electrification
(1) In 1929, 1/2 of the families living in private homes had electricity
(2) As the steam engine disappeared, the use of electricity increased.
(3) Its increase led to a 75% increase in worker efficiency (1920-29).
(4) By 1930, electricity was the major power source in the home and shop.
c. Big Business continued to expand.
(1) General Electric - Radio Corporation of America
(a) 1919, GE created a wholly-owned independent subsidiary, RCA
i) Its purpose -- to dominate the building of radio and phonographic equipment, controlling patent rights and
high technology of the 1920s.
ii) By 1929, 90% of all radio equipment had RCA tubes, or were built with equipment on which RCA held patent
rights.
iii) An improved 17-year patent could be reissued for 17 years.
(b) RCA also had future markets and made a pooling agreement with Westinghouse and AT&T, who together
dominate the telecommunications industry
(c) RCA established an international cartel with British Marconi (inventor of the first wireless) -- in exchange for a
British agreement to sell no products in the Western hemisphere, RCA agreed to market nothing in the Eastern
hemisphere.
(2) By 1930, 200 giant manufacturing companies controlled by 2,000 men produced 50% of America's non-food
consumer goods. (Source: A.A. Merle & Gardner Means Modern Corporations and Private Property ).
3. Marketing Changes
a. Installment buying increased when the torrent of consumer goods reached a saturation point and new
methods of buying goods were expanded to include even smaller purchases
(1) Installment buying previously was limited to large purchases (land or homes).
(2) By the end of the 1920s, it will be the acceptable way to buy all kinds of goods.
b. Birth of the Modern Advertising Industry - Advertising sophistication created demands for products previously
not heard of, like cigarettes, bathroom fixtures, central heating.
c. Subtle Changes in the Automobile Industry
(1) In 1920, Ford offered one standard, affordable model, Model T, in one color.
(2) Chevrolet perceived the demand for personalized automobiles in multiple colors
(3) Chevrolet created such a demand that Ford lost its dominant position.
(a) 1928 - Ford shut down completely for 18 months, converting to produce a Model A
(b) It emerged again as the best auto, but just weeks before the stock market crash.
4. Changes in Working Conditions
a. Reduction in Hours
(1) 1923 - US Steel offered its workers three eight-hour shifts instead of a 12-hour shift, partially because of
pressure from Harding.
(2) By the mid-20s, steel making was so efficient that workers were given more time off.
b. Welfare Capitalism - An American Plan of Business
(1) If workers are taken care of, no unions or strikes would be needed.
(a) Increased employee benefits included one-week paid vacations (two-weeks for seniority), basketball courts
and baseball diamonds near factories where workers could play for an hour, a nurse or doctor available at the
factory to treat injuries or illnesses, and company cafeterias offering good food at reasonable prices
(b) Union membership declined in the 1920s -- AF of L had 5 million members in 1920, but only 3,444,000 by
1929.
(2) Only one major flaw -- Unions could not compete with industrial prosperity, so that wages were not raised
significantly.
(a) Workers had more time off but no money to spend
(b) Prices increased faster than wages so that workers could not buy many of the products they manufactured
themselves.
(c) Attempts were made to sell US products overseas, but trade barriers on foreign imports entering the US
prevented capital from going overseas so US goods could be bought.
5. Changes in Foreign Investment
a. The flow of US capital out of the country was significant as investments were made in several foreign
countries -- Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe.
b. Trade barriers, however, hindered the expansion of the US economy, because it kept US goods out of those
countries, where trade barriers were raised in response to our barriers and increased the price of US goods
entering them.
6. Results of these Changes on American Society
a. Rural isolation disappeared
b. The Age of automation was well underway by the end of the decade.
c. Labor-saving devices liberated women from the kitchen and the home -- the beginning of the modern
women's rights movement
d. Growth of the Cosmetic Industry
(1) Beauty, youth and thinness were portrayed for women in advertisements era.
(2) Women were usually portrayed at home using the new modern conveniences.
(3) Artificial means were needed to make one attractive, creating a burgeoning cosmetic industry.
(4) 1921 - first Miss America Pageant encouraged tourism for Atlantic City NJ
(5) 1929 - 1 in 6 marriages ended in divorce, probably not due to the women's liberation movement, but more
than likely the result of increased consumerism which raised expectations in marriage to unrealistic levels.
e. No real significant gains for women in the market place occurred in the 1920s.
(1) Most job opportunities for women were clerical -- telephone and telegraph operators, clerks, bookkeepers,
stenographers, secretaries and sales persons.
(2) Although 1/3 of all graduate degrees went to women, only 4% of full professors were women, and women
were still denied access to law and medical schools.
(3) 75% of Black women were limited to domestic service, laundry work or agricultural jobs.
(4) Although women in Congress increased, in most cases they were widows who filled the vacancies of their
dead husbands.
(a) Alice Robertson (OK) presided over the House of Representatives (for thirty minutes), the first woman to do
so.
(b) Rebecca L. Felton (GA) symbolically filled a vacancy in the US Senate (although such a vacancy lasted only
one day).
(5) Successful business women usually ran or owned companies that designed and marketed products for
women.
(6) The growing airline industry at first had women pilots as a novelty, but as the end of the decade approached,
increasingly, women were used, not as pilots, but as "hostesses" during the flights to serve the passengers.
(7) The American work force in 1920 had 23% women but only 24% in 1930.
f. Women failed to make real gains because the goal of many remained "To Catch A Man!"