The Roaring Twenties
Adjusting to Peace 1919-1921
• Americans are disillusioned after WWI
• America returns to a policy of Isolationism
• With the end of the war new problems emerge:
– Returning soldiers are looking for work
– No programs exist to help soldiers returning from war
– Factories have to change from war production to
consumer goods
– Women have gotten used to working outside the
home
– Farmers have lost their markets in Europe
– Government has stopped its’ wartime spending
Recession
• Recession: a decline in GDP
• A decrease in production
• Characteristics include:
– Higher unemployment
– Lower wages
– Lower supply of goods
The Red Scare
• The Red Scare was a fear of communism and
political unrest
The Red Scare
• The end of WW I causes Americans to fear
communists, anarchists, and immigrants
• Russia’s Czar has been over-turned and executed
• Communists, led by Lenin, have seized power in
Russia
• Germany and Hungary are facing similar issues
• A wave of labor strikes have erupted in the US
with socialist leaders
• Anarchists started WW I( assassination of
Archduke!)
Palmer Raids
• In 1919, an Italian Anarchist set off a bomb outside of
the home of the Attorney General, Mitchell Palmer
• It was another in a series of attacks on government
officials in 8 American cities
• Palmer believed that this was a part of a communist
plot to take over the US
• In January of 1920, Palmer ordered the arrest of 4,000
suspects without a warrant
• J.Edgar Hoover, his assistant, led the raids
• Most were later released, but 600 were deported
J. Edgar Hoover
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Hoover was an Assistant Attorney General
The Palmer Raids gave him publicity
When Palmer is eventually killed, Hoover will take over
He forms the FBI and is named the Director
One of his biggest targets for investigations:
communists and people who knew communists
• He will dramatically change how federal law
enforcement operates and is viewed by the public
• He will remain in charge until the 1970’s
• He is still a controversial figure in US history
The Sacco and Vanzetti Cases
• Anti-communist hysteria impacted immigrants, too
• 2 Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti were convicted of committing a murder during
a robbery
• The robbery was alleged to have been committed in
order to fund a revolution against the US
• The evidence against them was circumstantial
• Pressure to release them came from around the world
• The Judge in the case was extremely partial in
conducting the trial
• Both men were found guilty and executed in 1927
Rise of Nativism and Racism
• Nativism: dislike/distrust of foreigners
• Believed that white, Protestant Americans
were superior to all other people
• These attitudes led to new restrictions on
immigration and Jim Crow Laws in the South
Examples of Jim Crow Laws
Never assert or even intimate that a white person is
lying.
Never impute dishonorable intentions to a white person.
Never suggest that a white person is from an inferior
class.
Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior
knowledge or intelligence.
Never curse a white person.
Never laugh derisively at a white person.
Never comment upon the appearance of a white female.
Ku Klux Klan
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Racist organization created after the Civil War
Purpose was to preserve white supremacy
Membership had a resurgence in 1915
The Klan continued to target African-Americans,
but also targeted immigrants, Catholics, Jews,
and other minorities
• Major race riots broke out after the War
• Chicago Riot of 1915 was the worst w/ 38 killed
• Lynching and segregation of African-Americans in
the South will continue
Race Riots
* Cause – Southern African Americans
moving north to find jobs (The Great
Migration)
* Effect – Many whites saw new African
American workers as threats (job insecurity)
Racial tension riots in several northern cities
in 1920s
Great Migration
Three Republican Presidents
• Warren G. Harding
• Calvin Coolidge
• Herbert Hoover
Policies Favoring Big Business
* Higher protective tariffs (foreign taxes) –
kept international competition low
* Lower taxes on the wealthy – allow wealthy
business owners to put more money into
their business, not in taxes
* Lax enforcement on Anti-trust laws –
allowing big business to become more
powerful
Harding 1921-1923
• “Return to Normalcy” – wanted US to be
isolationist and focus on just US problems
• Discouraged immigration, but did not like
nativism and racism
• Refused to join League of Nations, raised
tariffs to protect US business
Harding
• Washington Naval Conference: Invited other
nations to send delegates to discuss arms
reduction treaty
• Supported U.S. membership in the World
Court (an international tribunal used to
prosecute war crimes)
Teapot Dome Scandal
• Harding’s greatest weakness was his appointment
of friends to office (many were corrupt)
• Called the “Ohio Gang”
• His Secretary of the Interior accepted bribes for
leases of land for oil exploration in Teapot Dome,
WY
• His Secretary of the Navy, Charles Forbes, stole
millions from the construction of military
hospitals
• These and other scandals result in Harding being
given a poor rating as President
Harding’s Death 1923
• Harding dies suddenly after suffering from
pneumonia and heart issues
• He was on a visit to Washington and San
Francisco
• Doctors treated his illness and thought he was
better
• He died of a heart attack in San Francisco
• VP Calvin Coolidge will become President
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yk09dv9
3wk
Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929
Coolidge
• Nickname “Silent Cal”
• Know for his unusual speaking style and long
periods of silence….unusual for a politician!
• Became well-known as Governor of MA during
the Boston Police Strike of 1919
• Told the AFL-CIO that “there was no right to
strike against public safety by anyone,
anywhere, anytime”
• Elected VP w/ Harding in 1921
Coolidge
• Became Pres in 1923 when Harding died
unexpectedly
• Coolidge had been on vacation in Vermont
when he was notified about Harding’s death
• Took oath at family cabin. His dad
administered the oath since he was a notary
Coolidge
• Elected to 2nd term in 1924
• Symbolized old-fashioned values of honesty
and thrift
• Pro-business and laissez-faire
• “The business of America is business.”
• Credited with the business expansion and
economic growth of the 20’s
Herbert Hoover 1929-1933
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Son of a Quaker Blacksmith
Educated as a civil engineer at Stanford
Self-made millionaire in the mining industry
Served as director of humanitarian aid in
Belgium before and after WWI
• Served as Secretary of Commerce
• Donated his salary as President to charity
Hoover
• Believed in “rugged individualism”
• The idea that people should work hard to get
ahead and not rely on the government
• Believed that government should provide
everyone free education and equal opportunity
• Gov’t interference in the economy would hurt
national prosperity
• The reasons for America’s economic success was
our work ethic, ingenuity, and individual initiative
Hoover
• Eight months after he took office, the stock
market crashed
• The US entered into the Great Depression in
October of 1929; it will last 10 years
• 25% of the American workforce will be
unemployed
Factors that led to the Prosperity of
the 1920’s
• Rise of the Automobile
• Car ownership grew from 8-24 million
• By 1929, one in every nine workers was
employed in auto-related jobs
• Raw materials needed include: steel, glass,
rubber, oil, leather, paint, etc…
• In 1909, people worked 20 months to buy a car
• By 1920, people only had to work 3 months to
buy a car
Rise of the Automobile
• Ford dominated the market
• 2 of every 3 cars produced in the US was a
Ford
• By 1925, he made 1.6 million cars a year; one
every 10 seconds!
• Average price for a Ford was $300
• Low cost was achieved by using assembly line
for production
Rise of other new industries
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Vacuum cleaners
Refrigerator
Toaster
Motion Pictures
Trans-Atlantic phone service
Electricity for home and commercial use
Increase in chemical, oil, and gas industries
Glenn Curtiss
• Developed the first sea plane that could take
off and land on water in 1908
• Idea was used by Naval pilots
• Built the first plane to cross the Atlantic
More Efficient Production
• Electric conveyor belts used in assembly lines;
increased speed
• Efficiency leads to lower prices
• Skilled workers no longer needed
Age of Mass Consumption
• Increased production leads to greater demand
for consumer goods
• Higher wages gave workers buying power
• Retailers offer programs for installment
purchasing or buying on credit
• Small down payment and monthly payments
allowed consumers to buy cars, furniture,
appliances, etc…
Speculation Boom
• Speculation is the purchase of an item to be resold at a profit
• 1920’s saw increases in speculation on stocks and
bonds
• As corporate profits soared, speculation
increased
• As more people invested in stocks, the higher the
prices went
• People were able to “buy on the margin” or buy
stock on credit
Uneven Prosperity
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Wealth was highly concentrated in the 1920’s
.01% of Americans had 42% of the capital ($)
3/4th of Americans had no savings at all
Farm prices were at an all time low due to
improved farming techniques and increased
production
• Railroads faced competition from cars and trucks
• Minorities faced discrimination in hiring and pay
Cultural Values in Conflict
Prohibition
• Purpose – to reduce domestic violence , increase
work productivity, and decrease crime
• Supporters – many Protestant churches and many
women
• Outlawed sale, production and consumption of
alcohol
• 1919-1933
• Created by the Volstead Act
• 18th Amendment
Women’s Temperance Movement
• Purpose – Many women wanted to ban
alcohol to reduce domestic violence and
thought alcohol was immoral
• Started in 1840s
Frances Willard
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Helped organize Prohibition Party in 1882
Wanted to ban alcohol to curb crime
Believed alcohol was immoral
Helped pass the 18th Amendment
(Prohibition)
Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925
• Creationism vs. Evolution
• John Scopes, Tennessee biology teacher,
arrested for teaching evolution
• William Jennings Bryan – Government
prosecutor who believed evolution opposed
Bible
• Clarence Darrow – Scopes’ attorney and
defended Scopes’ actions
Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925
• Scopes convicted of teaching evolution
• Fined $1, never enforced
Restrictions on Immigration
• Several laws passed in 1920s limiting
immigration
– Immigration Act of 1921
– Immigration Act of 1924
– Immigration Act of 1929
– All limited amount of immigrants
– Targeted immigrants from South and Eastern
Europe (Poland, Italy, Greece etc.)
Eugenics
• Definition – Believing the human race could
be enhanced through purposeful breeding
• Created by Charles Davenport
• Example – Not allowing the mentally ill to
have kids would decrease mentally illnesses
• Denies freedom
• Promotes racial and ethnic superiority
Social Darwinism
• Based on Charles Darwin’s The Origin of
Species
• Supporters believed human races competed
for survival just as animals and plants did
• Promoted racism
Emergence of New Values
Women
• 19th Amendment (1920) – gave women the
right to vote (suffrage)
• New household machines = more time for
women to attend college = more
independence
Changes in Moral Standards
• Young independent 1920s women often:
A. Drank alcohol and publicly smoked
B. Wore less restrictive clothing
C. More openly opinionated
D. Attended dances without older
chaperone
E. Wore short hair with lots of makeup
• Often called “flappers
Speakeasies
• Definition - Secret bars where passwords
granted people entry
• Sold illegal alcohol
• Often supplied by organized criminals who
smuggled alcohol into cities
• Violated 18th Amendment (Prohibition)
Bootleggers
Sigmund Freud
• Psychiatrist and author
• People began to read his work
• Sexuality was discussed more openly
Tin Pan Alley
• A section of NYC where song-writing and
musical ideas merged together
• Various styles like jazz, blues, and ragtime
blended together to form American popular
music
• Sheet music was purchased to be played/sung
at home
• Vaudeville became the most popular form of
stage entertainment
Vaudeville
Tin Pan Alley
• Famous songwriters emerged:
– Irving Berlin
– Cole Porter
– Scott Joplin
– George and Ira Gershwin
Youth and the Lost Generation
• Young people started some “zany” fads during
the 20’s:
– Flagpole sitting
– Dance marathons
– Hot dog eating contests
– Etc…
“The Lost Generation”
• A group of writers rejected the desire for
material wealth
• They felt they didn’t fit into normal life after
the horrors of WWI
• Felt the US had become too materialistic and
lacked spirituality
• Many moved to Paris
Ernest Hemmingway
• Author who had experienced to horrors of war
in both WWI and the Spanish Civil War
• Wrote A Farewell to Arms & The Sun Also Rises
• Both depict the horrors of war and how it
changes people
Sinclair Lewis
• Wrote Babbit and Main Street
• Ridiculed the narrowness and hypocrisy of
American life
• Innovative in giving strong characterizations of
modern working women
• First American to win Nobel Prize for
Literature
F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Wrote The Jazz Age and The Great Gatsby
• Tells the story of self-made men who are rich
but unhappy
• Hints that the search for material success
leads to tragedy
The Great Migration
• 2 million African-Americans moved from the
South to the Northeast and Midwest from
1910-1930
• Many sharecroppers wanted to escape from
continued “enslavement” to the land
• Northern cities seen as safe from Jim Crow
Laws
• Saw big cities as “the Promised Land”
• Escape from poverty and racism
The Harlem Renaissance
• The general awakening of African-American
culture in the 1920’s
• The Jazz Age refers to in significance of JAZZ as a
unique form of music indigenous to the US
• The Harlem Ren. Begun with the rise of a middle
class African-American population in Harlem (NY)
• An increase in black pride, confidence in their
own prosperity and future
• Recognition of music, visual art, dance, etc… from
the African-American community spread
throughout society
Harlem Renaissance
• Langston Hughes
• One of America’s best poets
• Drew of his personal experiences in writing what
is was like to be black in America
• Wrote poems, novels, plays, and newspaper
columns
• Became one of the most popular writers of the
era
• He expressed a mood of rugged determination to
overcome racial prejudice
Alain Locke
• Artists and writer
• Expressed a new pride in his heritage
• Attacked racism through art
Countee Cullen
• Leading poet of the era
• Won more major literary prizes than any other
African-American writer of the 1920’s
Zora Neale Hurston
• One of the first successful African-American
women authors
• Her greatest work, The Eyes Watching God is
considered a masterpiece of the era
Marcus Garvey
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Jamaican-born political activist
Controversial for his Back to Africa Movement
Known for his fiery rhetoric and fancy uniforms
His goal was the total liberation of all African
people around the world
• He stressed racial unity and helped AfricanAmericans set up their own businesses
• Spoke to those who were disillusioned by the
“promised land”
Popular New Heroes
• The increased production brought about by
machinery lead to an increase in leisure time for
Americans
• Leisure time allowed for new activities and
entertainment
• People began to attend sporting events, go to
movies, read popular magazines, listen to radio
programs, etc…
• Sports and events created new popular heroes to
admire and respect
Babe Ruth
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“The Sultan of Swat”
A baseball powerhouse hitter
Gave the Yankees national attention
Was more popular than most movie stars of
the era
Jack Dempsey
• Most successful boxer of the era
• Won more bouts than any other boxer of the
era
• Flashy dresser and womanizer
Charles Lindbergh
• First person to fly solo over the Atlantic
• His plane was The Spirit of St. Louis
• took him 33 hours to fly the 3.600 miles in a
single engine plane
• Flew through ice, fog, and rain
• Suffered from sleep deprivation
• Became a national hero and celebrity