Unit 6:
The Roaring 20s
DEMOBILIZING AFTER WW1
• Transition from wartime to peacetime
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Government was ill prepared for conversion
Hundreds of factories closed
Crop prices fell
Unemployment skyrockets
Soldiers?
• Americans went on a spending spree with the money
they saved during the war.
– Inflation and the value of the dollar shrank.
– Leads to a recession
• 100,000 businesses went bankrupt.
• Crime increased
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Immigration- Return to Nativismfavoring native-born interests over
immigrants
• 100,000’s of immigrants entering the
US per year
• Worry that immigrants were taking
jobs from US citizens
• Thought that restricting immigration
would ease urban crowding and reduce
ethnic conflict
Emergency Immigration Act
1921- capped number of people
allowed to enter the US at
375,000. (Later cut to 164,000)
with Immigration Act of 1924
POSTWAR ISSUES
UNIONS VS. BUSINESS
• National War Labor Board
• After the war Corporations reduced wages and
paid less attention to employee safety.
• American Federation of Labor – group of unions
representing skilled workers.
• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) – saw
socialism as the solution to workers’ problems.
– Goal was to put the working class in control of the
machinery of production and distribution without
regard to the capitalist masters.
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Red Scare- Fear of communism
after WWI
• Radical groups supporting
anarchy or communism after
the war stirred up suspicion and
alarm
• Palmer Raids on homes and
businesses of people believed to
want to overthrow the
government
• Civil liberties and basic rights
were stomped on
• Thousands arrested
PEOPLE FEAR LABOR UNIONS
• Middle – class Americans began to view
unionism as a threat to their way of life.
• Results:
– 1) Overall union membership declined in the
1920s
– 2) Failure of many strikes to achieve workers’
goals.
– 3) Exclusive politics of many unions refused or
limited membership to unskilled employees,
women, African Americans, and most immigrants.
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Prohibition (18th Amend.)banning of alcohol because
alcoholism caused crime, violence,
and families being torn apart
• Led to rise of illegal behavior
• “Bootlegging”- making and
selling illegal alcohol
• “Speakeasies”- secret drinking
clubs
• Corruption, bribery, and crime
doom prohibition.
• Overturned by the 21st
amendment in 1933
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Eugenics- the human
race can be improved
by forbidding people
with undesirable
characteristics to
reproduce
• Seen as a threat to
the poor and weak
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Scopes Trial- 1925, Bryan vs. Darrow.
• Scopes found guilty of teaching
evolution and violating state law
• 1 year later, Tennessee Supreme
Court overturns the conviction
William Jennings Bryan- well known
politician and fundamentalist- taking the
Bible’s teachings literally
• Sought to ban the teaching of
evolution in schools
• Feared teaching evolution would lead
to a belief in Social Darwinism
Clarence Darrow- defended John
Scopes’ right to teach evolution in
Tennessee (Anti-evolution law in place)
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Margaret Sanger
devoted her life to
legalizing birth
control and making
it universally
available for women
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Flappers- young women
who cut & dyed their hair and
wore more promiscuous dress
• Wore makeup, beads,
bracelets, cigarette holders
• Went to Jazz clubs and
danced all night
• Dating not just to find a
marriage partner, now its to
have fun away from parents
• Young people thought
older people who sent men
to die at war didn’t deserve
respect
Social Issues of the 1920’s
Race Relations
• Revival of the KKK which claimed to
defend American ideals and values
against other races
• Millions of members in the US
• KKK supported lawmakers won
control of state legislatures in OR, OK,
IN, and Texas
• African Americans faced violence and race
riots; dozens killed
• Asians couldn’t get married to whites and
couldn’t become citizens in some states
• Jews couldn’t rent apartments or get into
colleges
• Catholics faced religions prejudice