THE ROARING T WENTIES
THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
 U.S. develops the highest standard of living in the world
 The Twenties brought a second revolution
Electricity replaces steam
Modern assembly introduced
 Productivity rose to meet consumer demand
THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
 Auto makers stimulate sales through
model changes, advertising
 Auto industry fosters other
businesses
steel, rubber, glass, paint,
petroleum
 Autos encourage suburban sprawl
PATTERNS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH
 Structural change
Professional managers replace
individual entrepreneurs
Corporations become the
dominant business form
 Big business weakens
regionalism, brings uniformity to
America
 Retailers emphasize marketing
and design, buying on credit
ECONOMIC WEAKNESSES
 Railroads poorly managed, trucking creates
competition
 Coal displaced by petroleum
 Farmers face decline in exports, prices
 Growing disparity between income of laborers, middleclass managers
 Middle class speculates with idle money
CITY LIFE IN THE JAZZ AGE
 Rapid increase in urban
population
 Skyscrapers symbolize the new
mass culture
 Communities of home, church,
and school are absent in the
cities
WOMEN AND THE FAMILY
 Ongoing crusade for equal rights
 “Flappers” seek individual freedom
Divorce rates double
Smoke and drink in public
Birth rates decline
“Women’s professions” grow
 Discovery of adolescence
Teenagers no longer need to work,
attend high school
PROHIBITION
 19th Amendment led to
“speakeasies” & “bootleggers”
 Resulted in the emergence of
organized crime
 Repealed in 1933
HERO WORSHIP
 Attendance at sporting
events skyrocketed as mass
media glorified sports heroes
 Charles Lindbergh made the
1st nonstop solo flight across
the Atlantic and became the
most beloved hero of the
time
MASS CULTURE
 Increased literacy created a wider
audience
 Newspapers & mass circulation
magazines flourished
 Motion pictures became a national
pastime in the ’20s
 Radios reached mass audiences as
well
THE FLOWERING OF THE ARTS
 Lost Generation: "Exiled" American writers put U.S. in
forefront of world literature
 Alienation from 20s’ mass culture
T.S. Eliot: emptiness of the modern man
Ernest Hemingway: sought violence and adventure
F. Scott Fitzgerald: emptiness of wealth
RACE RELATIONS IN THE ’20S
25 race riots erupted in 1919 and the
KKK regained power
NAACP moved its headquarters to Harlem,
sought anti-lynching legislation
Marcus Garvey founded the Universal
Negro Improvement Association (UNIA),
Black Star Cruise Line
JAZZ & THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
 “Jazz Age” – most popular music of the time
 In the 1920s, Harlem was the world’s
largest black urban community
 Harlem became the origin of a number of
creative works celebrating African American
culture
 Jazz became a driving force in spreading the
Renaissance to the white population
THE RURAL COUNTERATTACK
 Rural Americans identify urban
culture with Communism, crime,
immorality – resulting in an upsurge
of bigotry and rise of repression
 “Red Scare” led to Palmer Raids
Immigrant “radicals” arrested and
forcibly deported
 1927-- Sacco and Vanzetti executed
 New restrictions on immigration
THE FUNDAMENTALIST CHALLENGE
 Fundamentalists stress
traditional Protestant orthodoxy,
biblical literalism
 Fundamentalists strengthen
grassroots appeal in new
churches
 Clash between fundamentalism
& evolution theory led to Scopes
“monkey trial” in 1925
WARREN G. HARDING (1921-1923)
 Ushered in a “Republican Era” of presidents
 Won popularity by promising a “return to
normalcy” after the war
 Advocated isolationism and international
disarmament, but promoted the expansion of
U.S. trade
 Administration plagued by scandals, most
notably Teapot Dome – Harding’s Secretary
of the Interior gave oil drilling rights on govt.
lands in exchange for illegal payments
CALVIN COOLIDGE (1923-1929)
 “The business of America is business”
– Laissez faire policies helped fuel the
economic boom of the 1920s
 Signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact – more
than 60 nations agreed not to threaten
each other with war
REPUBLICAN POLICIES
 Blocked Congressional aid to farmers as unwarranted
interference
 Government-business cooperation
 Tariffs raised (Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act)
 Corporate, income taxes cut
 Spending cut
THE DIVIDED DEMOCRATS
 The urban-rural split weakened Democrats
 1924 Election saw a major shift in political loyalties
 Democrats gain more Congressional seats than
Republicans after 1922
THE ELECTION OF 1928
 Democrat Al Smith carried urban vote
Roman Catholic governor of New York
 Republican Herbert Hoover won the race
Protestant, conservative
Foresaw an end to poverty in America
 Religion and traditional values were the
campaign’s decisive issues
“HEALTHY” ECONOMY?
 High confidence in the economy encouraged risky
investments.
 No one heeded the economic danger signs:
Uneven prosperity
Personal debt
Stock market manipulation
Overproduction
Troubled farmers & workers