The Roaring 20’s
US History
Standards and Objectives
• QC-D1B - Describe and evaluate the impact of
scientific and technological innovations of the
1920s.
• QC-D1C - Identify and evaluate the impact of
new cultural movements on American society
in the 1920s
• QC-D1D - Identify the characteristics of social
conflict and social change that took place in
the early 1920s
I. Science and Technology
A. Air and Roads
1. In the early 1900’s the Wright brothers forever
changed the world with their invention of the
early airplane.
2. Airplane proved to be useful in WW1 combat
3. After the war America became obsessed with
flying. Pilots became celebrities.
I. Science and Technology
A. Air and Roads
4. Significant pilots include
A. Charles Lindbergh – who was the first pilot to cross
the Atlantic.
B. Amelia Earhart – The first women to fly solo across
the Atlantic
I. Science and Technology
A. Air and Roads
5. Henry Ford helped to change the way
Americans lived by making the automobile
more affordable.
6. Suburbs began to grow around cities and
highways began being built throughout the
country.
A. The Federal Highway Act (1916) – Encouraged states
to create high departments to repair roads.
I. Science and Technology
B. The Fundamentalist Beliefs
1. Because of a change in society, many Americans
feared for the nation’s moral decline
2. Fundamentalism – a religious movement who
rejected science and evolutions, and favored
creationism.
A. Evolution – human beings had developed from lower
forms of life.
B. Creationism – the belief that God created the world
1. Billy Sunday – passionate fundamentalist preacher
I. Science and Technology
B. The Scopes Trial
1. Evolutionists and Creationists clashed in a
historic trial in 1925.
2. Tennessee passed the Butler Act which made
the teaching of evolution in schools illegal.
3. John T. Scopes taught evolution and was placed
on trial.
A. Found guilty which was later overturned
B. Did little for the fundamentalists cause
II. Culture and Society
A. Immigration
1. The end of the war brought a rise in immigration.
These new immigrants brought a rise in nativism
2. Sacco and Vanzetti
1. Two immigrants were charged with murder
2. Although no one knew if the two were guilty, many
jumped to conclusions because of their ethnicity.
3. Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty and executed.
4. Emergency Quota Act – limited immigration
II. Culture and Society
B. New Morality
1. Role of women began to change significantly.
More women were available in the workforce
and were becoming independent and obtaining
educations.
2. Fashion changed significantly. Stage and screen
stars were extremely influential.
A. Flapper – unconventional women of the 1920’s who
rebelled against traditional ideas.
II. Culture and Society
C. Prohibition
1. In 1920, the government passed the 18th
Amendment.
A. 18th Amendment – banned alcohol
2. The government found that enforcing this
amendment was a problem.
A. Bootleggers and speakeasies – illegal sale of alcohol
3. Organized crime became big business and gangsters
corrupted local politicians.
A. Al Capone
B. 21st Amendment- repealed the 18th amendment
II. Culture and Society
D. Pop Culture
1. Literature
A. The Lost Generation – authors critical of American
ideas and values.
1.
2.
3.
E.E. Cummings
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
II. Culture and Society
E. Pop Culture
2. Spectator Sports and Radio
A. Radio allowed baseball and boxing to become
extremely popular.
B. Babe Ruth became a national hero and Jack
Dempsey was an idolized boxer
1. Jim Thorpe = Native American football star
C. Most radio stations played the popular music from the
day (Jazz)
D. Mass Media not only entertained but provided
information to people.
II. Culture and Society
E. Pop Culture
E. Motion Pictures and Music
1.
2.
Motion pictures became very popular in the 1920’s.
Movie stars became national celebrities
A.
B.
3.
Jazz Music became so popular in the 1920’s, that the time
period became known as the Jazz Age
A.
B.
4.
Charlie Chaplin
Mary Pickford
Louis Armstrong
Bessie Smith
Night clubs and radio brought the music to new audiences
1.
Duke Ellington – band leader
II. Culture and Society
E. Pop Culture
F. Harlem Renaissance
1. An outpouring of creativity from the African
American culture. What was it like to be black in
America?
2. Writers, authors and musicians fled to Harlem during
the 1920’s.
A.
Langston Hughes – poet
II. Culture and Society
F. Racial Unrest
A. Return of soldiers after WWI led many African
Americans who had moved North competing for
jobs.
B. In Chicago, a race riot erupted after several
African Americans went to a whites only beach.
C. The riot lasted for several days.
II. Culture and Society
G. The Red Scare
A. Americans were terrified of communism thanks
to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.
B. As strikes began to erupt throughout the country,
many feared that communists might seize power.
C. This led to a nationwide panic known as the Red
Scare.
II. Culture and Society
C. The Red Scare
D. Several scary incidents led to the creation of a
special department in the government.
E. J. Edgar Hoover headed the division that
eventually came to be know as the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
II. Culture and Society
D. The Palmer Raids
A. A. Mitchell Palmer organized a series of raids on
headquarters of radical organizations.
B. Focusing on foreign residents, authorities
detained and deported hundreds of suspects.
C. Led the congress to limit immigration.
III. Economy and Politics
A. Economy
1. WWI had created a great economic prosperity
in America.
2. With no plans for demobilization, huge
problems in the economy began to emerge
A. Crop Prices fall – overseas demand drops
B. Cancellation of government contracts and return of
soldiers led to extreme unemployment.
C. High inflation and rising unemployment led to a sharp
recession
III. Economics and Politics
A. Economy
3. Recession of 1920
A. Farmers lost land, businesses shut down and many
turned to crime to survive.
1. Farmers did not share the prosperity that a consumer society
provided to others.
B. Nonetheless, the assembly line as well as growing
airplane and radio industry and a new consumer
society helped to avoid disaster…..for a while.
III. Economics and Politics
A. Economy
3. A Consumer Society
1. Easy consumer credit – allowed individuals to go into
debt to buy new goods
2. Mass Advertising – appealing, persuasive messages
led to a consumer society.
3. Welfare Capitalism – Companies allowed workers to
buy stock, participate in profit sharing and receive
benefits
III. Economics and Politics
B. Politics
1. Return to Normalcy
A. Warren G Harding was elected in 1920 on the idea of
America returning to normalcy after WWI.
B. His election would lead to a new Republican era on
the 1920’s.
C. Harding was committed to the free enterprise system
and was determined to end the post war recession.
D. His fiscal policies were successful and by 1921 prices
plunged and unemployment was significantly
reduced.
III. Economics and Politics
B. Politics
2. Harding and Friends
1. Harding filled his cabinet with old friends from Ohio.
They became known as the Ohio Gang.
2. The Ohio gang soon betrayed Harding ‘s trust
A.
B.
Teapot Dome Scandal – cabinet members accepted bribes
in exchange for the use of federal land
Harding was criticized for standing by his man and died
shortly after.
III. Economics and Politics
B. Politics
3. Harding and Friends
3. Calvin Coolidge took office the day after Harding’s
death.
4. He continued the policies of Harding and America
continued to prosper and in 1928 he decided not to
run for re election.
III. Economics and Politics
B. Politics
4. Herbert Hoover
A. Elected in 1928, Hoover had several government jobs
before he became president.
B. He was forced into a policy of isolationism by
Congress, but understood the need for trade.
C. Hoover’s ideas of self reliance and rugged
individualism play a huge role in his downfall during
the great depression.