The Roaring ’20s and the
Great Depression
1920-1940
AMERICA BECOMES MODERN
First census to indicate
Majority of America lived
in urban areas-split
between urban and rural.
Creation of “generation
gap” and “juvenile
delinquency”-split
between old and young.
Major shift in ethnic
trends brought on by
immigration laws.
Movement of AfricanAmericans to urban
North.
CULTURE WARS
Nativism
– Ku Klux Klan
Fundamentalism
– Scopes Trial
Youth Movement
– Flappers
Organized Crime
– Prohibition
Race and Ethnicity
– Immigration Act of 1921 and
1924
– Harlem Renaissance
http://www.u-shistory.com/pages/h1398.html
http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/j
cheek3/roaring_twenties.htm
CONSUMERISM
High Employment
Commercial Credit
Rise of Madison Avenue
– The “hard sell”
– Mass marketing
Low Savings Rates
New Consumer Luxury
Items
http://www.digitalhistory.u
h.edu/database/article_di
splay.cfm?HHID=454
WARREN HARDING
President (1921-1923)
“Normalcy”
Corruption
– TeaPot Dome
– Daugherty and Liquor
– Affairs
Died in Office
http://www.whitehouse.go
v/history/presidents/wh29
.html
http://www.infoplease.co
m/ce6/history/A0848032.
html
CALVIN COOLIDGE
President (19231929)
Called “Silent Cal”
Caretaker President
Support based on
prosperity
http://www.whitehous
e.gov/history/presiden
ts/cc30.html
HERBERT HOOVER
President (1929-1933)
Engineer and
philanthropist
Secretary of Commerce
under Harding and
Coolidge.
President at the start of
the Great Depression and
believer in
“Volunteerism”.
http://www.whitehouse.go
v/history/presidents/hh31.
html
1920s ECONOMIC POLICY
Sec. of Treasury Andrew
Mellon
– Believed in “trickle-down”
economics
– Cut or eliminated taxes for
rich
Heavy investment in
stocks
Protective tariffs
http://www.few.eur.nl/_few
/people//smant/meconomics/crash1929.ht
m
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Contributing Factors
–
–
–
–
–
–
Maldistribution of Income
Protective tariffs
Overinvestment in Stocks
Sick industries
High debt/low savings
Money Supply
Started in October 1929
Reached worst point in 1933
with 24.9% unemployment
http://www.huppi.com/kan
garoo/Timeline.htm
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT
President (1933-1945)
Well-liked.
Promised “New Deal” but
had few specifics
Influenced by
Progressives
Paraplegic
http://www.whitehouse.go
v/history/presidents/fr32.h
tml
1st NEW DEAL
First term
Most Dynamic Period of
Legislation
Focused on Relief, Reform, and
Recovery
–
–
–
–
–
–
21st Amendment
Civilian Conservation Corps
Tennessee Valley Authority
Agricultural Adjustment Act
National Industrial Recovery Act
Securities and Exchange
Commission
– Federal Depositors Insurance
Corporation
http://history.sandiego.ed
u/gen/20th/1930s/newdea
l.html
CHALLENGERS
Conservatives
Socialists
Southerners
Politicians
– Huey Long
– Father Charles Coughlin
– Dr. Francis Townsend
Supreme Court
– Schechter v. US
– Butler v. US
http://us.history.wisc.e
du/hist102/lectures/le
cture20.html
2nd NEW DEAL
2nd Term
Focused more on
dealing with critics
and helping labor
Social Security Act
Fair Labor Standards
Act
2nd AAA