THE JAZZ AGE
U.S. HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 8
HARDING’S SCANDALS
• “Ohio Gang” – Harding’s
poker buddies participated in
bribes & fraudulent activities.
• Harding suffers a heart attack
prior to the revelation of their
activities. Calvin Coolidge
becomes president
HARDING’S SCANDALS
• Colonel Charles Forbes sold medical supplies &
kept $ for himself
• U.S. Attorney General Harry Daugherty is
accused of accepting bribes from a German
company during WWI. He refused to cooperate
with congressional committee stating that he
had confidential dealings with Harding.
Coolidge would dismiss him
• SEE POLITICAL CARTOON PG. 209
TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL
• Oil-rich public lands at Teapot Dome, WY & Elk
Hills, CA were set aside for use by the U.S. Navy.
Secretary of Interior Albert Fall got the oil
reserves transferred from the navy to the
Interior Department. He then secretly leased the
land to two private oil companies. Fall received
over $400k in loans, bonds, & cash. He was
found guilty of bribery
“SILENT CAL”
• Calvin Coolidge promotes
government policies that
would keep taxes down,
business profits up, provided
credit to assist expansion of
business, & kept tariffs high on
foreign imports. He would
distance himself from
Harding’s administration’s
ideals & scandals
POLITICS OF PROSPERITY
• Andrew Mellon , Secretary of Treasury: 3 major
goals: balance the budget, reduce government’s
debt, & cut taxes. Mellon believed that if taxes
were lower, businesses & consumers would
invest & spend more. This is known as supplyside economics
POLITICS OF
PROSPERITY
• Herbert Hoover , Secretary of
Commerce: introduced
cooperative individualism –
encourage businesses to form
trade associations that
voluntarily shared info with
federal government – all in an
effort to balance government
regulation of economy
UNABLE TO STAY ISOLATED
• U.S. Allies owe more than $110 billion at end of
WWI & U.S. is the dominant economic power
• Many Americans still favored isolationism – we
still had not ratified the Treaty of Versailles &
was not a part of the League of nations
• U.S. accepts that they are too powerful &
interconnected economically to stay isolated.
U.S. would rely on economic policies & arms
control agreements to maintain peace
THE DAWES PLAN
• Britain & France are unable to pay back debts to
U.S. as Germany is unable to pay back
reparations
• Charles G. Dawes made an agreement where
American banks made loans to Germany to help
pay reparations to Britain & France, accepting a
lesser amount of the reparations, & then they
would pay back more on their way debts to U.S.
THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE
• 8 major countries come to Washington D.C. to
discuss disarmament
• Five-Power Naval Limitation Treaty: Britain,
France, Italy, Japan, & U.S. agreed to 10-year
halt on construction of new warships
• Japan was upset about the treaty as it required
their navy to be smaller than U.S. & Britain
THE KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT
• Frank Kellogg, U.S. Secretary of State, & Aristide
Briand, French Foreign Minister, create a treaty
which the U.S. & 14 other nations agreed to
• Kellogg-Briand Pact: abandonment of war &
would settle all disputes peacefully. NO WAY
TO ENFORCE
RISE OF NEW INDUSTRIES
• Mass production allowed for finished goods to
increase & cost less to make. Employers would
be able to reduce operating costs & pay
employees more which allowed them to
purchase more consumer goods
FORD & THE MODEL T
• Introduction of the assembly, which divided
tasks into simpler ones as the product moved
along a “belt”, allowed for him to mass produce
the Model T. As this method became more
efficient the price of the Model T dropped.
• Demand will increase for Model T & the building
of it using the assembly line demonstrates
elasticity – an economic concept that shows how
sensitive product demand is to price
CAR COMPETITORS
• By mid 1920s, Chrysler & General Motors will be
unable to compete with Ford as they
implemented the use of the assembly line
• Growth in auto industry allowed other industries
to grow: steel, petroleum, rubber, plate glass,
nickel, & lead
CAR COMPETITORS
• Improvements & new variations
(color especially) U.S. will see a rise
in construction of paved roads
(Route 66)
• As more people drove cars there will
be a need for hotels, gas stations,
repair shops, public garages, &
shopping centers.
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
• Standard of living for Americans soars with
improvements in electricity, advertising,
expansion of businesses, mergers of companies,
& an increase in chain stores
• Disposable income would allow Americans to
purchase innovations that would allow for them
to make their lives easier at home (i.e
refrigerator, vacuum, washing machines)
AIRLINE INDUSTRY
• Glenn Curtiss developed ailerons – surfaces
attached to wings that could be tilted to steer a
plane. This would allow for bigger planes to be
built
• Federal government supported the airline by
funding the first world’s airmail service.
• Kelly Act 1925: allowed for postal officials to hire
private pilots
AIRLINE INDUSTRY
• Air Commerce Act 1926:
provided aid to build
airports
• Transatlantic flights
(Charles Lindbergh &
Amelia Earhart) promoted
cargo & commercial airlines
• Pan American Airways
(founded in 1927)
transported transatlantic &
eventually domestic flights
RADIO INDUSTRY
• Most powerful communication medium of the
1920s. Allowed for people to hear something as
it was happening – live. In 1913, Edwin
Armstrong’s special circuit made it possible to
transmit sounds via long-range radio
• November 1920: Westinghouse Company
broadcasted news of Harding’s election victory
RADIO INDUSTRY
• 1926: National broadcast Company (NBC) set up
a network of stations that broadcasted daily
programs
• 1928: Columbia Broadcast Systems (CBS) set up
a coast-to-coast network of stations to rival NBC
• Both networks will sell advertising spots & hire
musicians, actors, & comedians to produce &
star in shows that would air at specific days &
times to entertain the American people.
• The first presidential election campaign that
used the radio to advertise their candidates was
in 1928
CONSUMER SOCIETY
• Easy consumer credit – installment plan
• Mass advertising – linked products to progress,
convenience, leisure, success, & style
• Managers would be a new addition to business
organizations. These split the load of managing
the business or corporation
• Uneven prosperity between minorities, whites, &
many who lived in the Deep South
FARM CRISIS
• American farmers earned 1/3 of the income of
other American workers.
• Improvements in fertilizers, seed varieties, &
farm machinery aided them in producing more
but demand was extremely low so they sold for
less.
• Other contributing factors: European output
would rise after WWI & their demand for
products from U.S. farmers decreased; FordneyMcCumber Act 1922 raised tariffs that caused
foreign markets to ban purchasing agricultural
products
SACCO-VANZETTI CASE
• Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti: Both were
Italian immigrants, anarchists, & had evaded the
draft during WWI. Sacco was a shoemaker,
Vanzetti was a fish peddler. They were arrested
& charged with robbery & murder of a factory
paymaster & his guard in Massachusetts.
Witnesses stated that the criminals appeared to
be Italians & all other evidence was
circumstantial. The judge made prejudicial
remarks as well.
SACCO-VANZETTI CASE
• They were found guilty & sentenced to death on July
14, 1921. Protests across U.S., Europe, & Latin
American would go forth as people felt that they
were found guilty because of their radical beliefs or
being immigrants & NOT because of the evidence.
• After 6 years of appeals they were executed on
august 23, 1927. Ballistics tests in 1961 proved that
the gun found on Sacco was the gun that killed the
guard but there was no proof that he pulled the
trigger.
• SEE CHART ON PG. 218
KU KLUX KLAN’S RETURN
• The new “KKK” founded by William J. Simmons.
• Displayed a prevalent, discriminatory, 100%
Americanism attitude against foreigners &
would keep blacks in their place, destroy
saloons, opposed unions, & wanted
Jews/Catholics out of the country.
• Dominate political activities in several states (&
eventually ties to U.S. Congress)
• Membership grows to 4 million by 1924 by
declines toward end of decade due to scandals &
decline in immigration
NATIONAL ORIGINS ACT
• Emergency Quota Act 1921: quota system
created for immigrants coming over from
European countries & from Japan completely.
Japan angry over it as they had always kept their
end of the Gentlemen’s Agreement (T.
Roosevelt)
• National Origins Act 1924: made immigration
restrictions permanent & set quotas to 2% for
each ethnic group based off of 1890 census that
would be allowed to come in
MEXICAN IMMIGRATION
• The acts did NOT apply to immigrants in
western Hemisphere (Canada, Mexico). This
allowed for Mexican immigrants to come into
the U.S. in large numbers filling the need for
cheap labor for agriculture, mining, & railroad
employers
CHANGES FOR WOMEN
• Flapper: en emancipated young woman
sporting new fashions & new urban attitudes
• Double standard
• Work opportunities: teachers, nurses, librarians,
typists, filing clerks, secretaries, stenographers,
& office machine operators
• Family life & responsibility changed allowing for
women to have more freedom to work due to
innovations that simplified household duties.
FLAPPER
WORK
OPPORTUNITIES
RELIGIOUS
FUNDAMENTALISM
• Fundamentalism led to
skepticism of scientific
discoveries & theories.
Fundamentalists believed
that all stories in bible are
true.
• Revivals is how the
expression from
fundamentalist is delivered
(Billy Sunday). These
teachings led to the call for
laws prohibiting the teaching
of evolution in schools as
fundamentalists believed in
creationism
SCOPES TRIAL
• March 1925, Dalton, TN: John Scopes
taught evolution in his classroom which
was against the law. He was arrested in &
tried in July 1925.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
hired Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes.
William Jennings Bryan served as special
prosecutor.
• Darrow put Bryan on the stand to
answer questions as to whether or
not the bible was true.
• Scopes never denied teaching
evolution & would be found guilty.
Paid $100 fine (overturned on
technicality)
PROHIBITION
• 18th Amendment: made the manufacture, sale,
& transportation of alcohol illegal (but not
consumption). Ratified in 1919, goes into effect
January 1, 1920.
• Volstead Act 1919: creates the Prohibition
Bureau in the Treasury Department to enforce
the Prohibition amendment. This would be
underfunded & would not be able to maintain
strict control of access to illegal alcohol.
PROHIBITION
• Speakeasies &
bootleggers surfaced in
an effort to get around the
law against alcohol
• Organized crime flourished
under prohibition (i.e. Al
Capone)
• Amendment will be
repealed in 1933 by the 21st
amendment
SPEAKEASIES
CULTURAL INNOVATIONS
• Artists & writers will challenge traditional ideas
using bohemian lifestyle of places to give them
greater freedom of expression
• Modern American art will be influenced by a
diverse range of styles with each of them
attempting to express the individual (i.e. John
Marin – NYC, Charles Sheeler – applied
photography &geometric forms, Georgia O’Keefe
– landscapes & flowers)
CULTURAL INNOVATIONS
• Poets influenced poetic style & subject matter
using clear, concise images (i.e. Amy Lowell,
William Carlos Williams, T.S. Eliot)
• Authors would write on topics such as the
negative side of the period’s gaiety & freedom,
clash between traditional &modern values,
denouncing war & critiqued Americans for their
conformity & materialism
CULTURAL INNOVATIONS
• Major writers: F.Scott
Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby),
Edna St. Vincent Millay (My
Antonia), & Ernest
Hemingway (The Sun Also
Rises, A Farewell to Arms),
Sinclair Lewis (Babbit, Main
Street), Edith Wharton (Age of
Innocence)
Ernest
Hemingway
F. Scott
Fitzgerald
Edith
Wharton
Georgia O’Keefe
POPULAR CULTURE
• Americans will spend $4.5 billion on
entertainment. Pastimes include crossword
puzzles/mahjong to flagpole sitting, dance
marathons, & attending athletic events (baseball
becomes national pastime)
Called by some an Era of Wonderful
Nonsense, the '20s had its share of fads
and follies. One of the most interesting
was flagpole sitting. The man at left was
one of 13 people who were flagpole sitting
in Baltimore at one time in 1926.
DANCE MARATHONS
MOVIES AND RADIO SHOWS
• Entertainment exploded with SOUND in movies
▫ Jazz Singer (1927) was the first “talking” picture
▫ Steamboat Willie (1928) was the first animated
“talking” cartoon
• Playwrights & music writers would provide a true
American sound
▫ George Gershwin merges traditional with jazz (Porgy
& Bess)
▫ Irving Berlin – Puttin’ on the Ritz, & White Christmas
• Radio, movies, newspapers, & magazines all aimed
not just at entertaining but helping to unify the
nation
George Gershwin
SPORTS
• Boxing (Jack Dempsey) & baseball (Babe Ruth)
would gain in popularity with Americans due to
motion pictures & radio
• College football (Red Grange, a.k.a. “Galloping
Ghost”) gained prestige with newspaper
coverage
• Golf (Bobby Jones) & tennis (Bill Tilden, Helen
Willis) would thrill fans.
• Swimmer Gertrude Ederle will swim the English
Channel in 14 hours in 1927
Only Babe Ruth, left,
rivaled Jack Dempsey as
the most popular
athlete of the 1920s
HARLEM RENAISSANCE
• A flowering of activity that led to a
literary & artistic movement
celebration African American
culture & racial pride
• Writers: proud defiance & bitter
contempt of racism are two major
characteristics found in many
writings.
▫ Claude McKay – Harlem Shadows
▫ Zora Neale Hurston
▫ Langston Hughes
JAZZ & BLUES
• Music: jazz influenced by Dixieland & ragtime using
syncopated rhythms & improvisational elements would
become extremely popular throughout the country
• Musicians:
▫ Louis Armstrong – introduced jazz in Chicago 1922, did
imaginative solos using the cornet & trumpet
▫ Edward “Duke” Ellington – blended improvisation &
orchestration using different instruments. Played at the
Cotton Club in Harlem, NY which only served whites
▫ Bessie Smith “Empress of Blues” sang songs of unfulfilled
love, poverty, oppression themes of blues music (soul style
of music from African American spirituals
▫ Others: Cab Calloway, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Cab Calloway
Louis Armstrong
Bessie Smith
Duke
Ellington
THEATER
• Shuffle Along is the first musical
written, produced, & performed by
African Americans
• Actors/Actresses:
▫ Florence Milles
▫ Paul Robeson – Emperor Jones,
Show Boat, Othello)
▫ Josephine Baker
• Apollo Theater is where many
actors/actresses would perform
AFRICAN AMERICANS & 1920S
POLITICS
• Great Migration allowed the opportunity for
African Americans to re-enter politics as they
would have influential voting in certain
neighborhoods
▫ Oscar DePriest will serve in House of
Representatives from Chicago in 1928
• SEE MAP PG. 226
NAACP BATTLES INJUSTICE
• Urges the protest of racial violence & fought for
legislation to protect African American rights
• Continue to fight for anti-lynching bill even after
having one passed in House of Representatives
but defeated in Senate in 1922.
• Demonstrated their influence as a powerful
political force organizing against the nomination
of Judge John J. Parker to the U.S. Supreme
Court which Senate would not give him
BLACK NATIONALISM
• Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro
Improvement Association that had a radical
message of black pride “Negro Nationalism”.
Garvey appealed to over a million African
Americans by urging them to gain economic &
political power by educating themselves.
• He advocated separation & independence from
whites as well but emphasized that they would
not find justice or freedom in America &
proposed that they go back to Africa.
• He would be convicted of mail fraud & jailed.
• Movement will dwindle after mid 1920s, but
black pride, economic independence, & political
involvement would continue & be the backbone
of the civil rights movement later