Chapter 24
THE NEW ERA
The Conflicting
Zeitgeist of the
Twenties
1.Extreme, reactionary
conservatism
2. Unprecedented
economic and social
change
Causes of conservative
reaction:
*turmoil of Progressive Era
*Disillusionment of
Wilsonian idealism
*Accelerated change in 20’s
Black Sox Scandal
Say it ain’t
so, Joe
Manifestation of Conservative
Reaction:
*Red Scare – Palmer raids
*Anti-unionism
*Nativism, Racism, Klan
*Partnership of Business & Gov
Change:
nd
2
Economic Change:
Industrial revolution
Social Change:
New National Culture-Auto
Resulting Change in Social
Values:
*Consumption Ethic
*Revolution of Manners &
Morals
The New Era:
America becomes an urban,
middle class, consumeroriented society
The Economy
nd
2
Industrial Revolution
Production up 60%
Without increase in workforce
Economic boom result of:
•Condition of European industry
•Technology and industrial
expansion
Houses
Roads
Oil/Gas
Tools
Auto
Rubber
Steel
Insurance
Glass
Stores
Welfare Capitalism
Attempt to avoid labor
problems
Shorter week
Higher wages
Paid vacation
Most bosses don’t follow
Ford’s lead
Some try Company Union
Unskilled worker wages up 2%
from 1920-26
Ave. income:
$1500
Min. for decent living: $1800
Women in Labor force
Pink Collar:
Low paying service
jobs
African-Americans
Kept out of professions
and skilled labor
Forced into menial jobs
Farmers
*1/4 income of nonfarmer
*3 million leave agriculture
*Some lose farm to banks
Farmers want
Parity-guaranteed fair price
Want gov. to buy surplus at
parity & sell to Europe
Consumerism
By the 1920’s there are many Americans
that can afford more than subsistence
items
Middle class buying new appliances,
watches, fashion and especially. . .
Advertising
Ads no longer simply conveyed
information, but identify the products
with glamour and convince people the
purchase of these products would be a
fulfilling experiences
Advertising given a boost by the
increase in national publications
The Lost Generation
&
American Literature
Gertrude
Stein by
Pablo
Piccasso
One of the centers of an
artistic colony
Stein wrote what is referred to
as abstract literature
“A rose is a rose is a rose”
Ernest
Hemingway
Sun Also Rises
Farewell to Arms
Old Man and the Sea
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Writes clear, clean prose w/o
excess
Iceberg Principle or Theory of
Omission
Do not tell everything
Allow reader to determine for
self
William
Faulkner
Yoknapatawpha Cycle
Stories of the American South
and human destiny
Sound & Fury-seen through
eyes of a man with mental
illness
Scott
and
Zelda
Great Gatsby
This Side of Paradise
Tender is the Night
Names the Jazz Age
Sinclair
Lewis
Babbit
Main Street
Elmer Gantry
All stories set in Midwest
Critique and satire of the
Middleclass
st
1 American Nobel for Lit.
H. L. Mencken
Eugene
O’Neill
Anna Christie
Desire Under the Elms
Long Day’s Journey into Night
The Iceman Cometh
Emperor Jones
Long Voyage Home
Mourning Becomes Electra
Moon for the Misbegotten
T. S. Eliot
Thomas
Wolfe
Charles and Mary Beard
Harlem Renaissance
Langston
Hughes
Prohibition
th
18 Amendment
and Volstead
Act go into effect January 1,
1920
Only 1500 Federal agents to
enforce it
Purple Gang
Alphonse
Capone
Arthur
Flegenheimer
Dutch
Schultz
Lucky
Luciano
Louis
Lepke
Buchhalter
Albert Anastasia
Lord High Executioner
Flaming Youth
Cotton Club
Mob run
White
customers
Black
entertainers
Satchmo
Louis
Armstrong
AGE OF
CELEBRITY
Charlie
Chaplin
Mary
Pickford
America’s
Sweetheart
Douglas
Fairbanks
Rudolph
Valentino
Clara Bow
The ‘It’ Girl
The first
“talkie”
1927
1928
Steamboat Willie
Jack
Dempsey
Bobby
Jones
Red
Grange
The
Galloping
Ghost
George
Herman
Ruth
The Babe
The Sultan
of Swat
The Bambino
Lindbergh lands in Paris
Takes off from New York at 7:52 am on
May 20, 1927
3,610 miles
33 1/2 hours
1920 KDKA in Pittsburg is the first
radio station
By 1923 there are over 500 stations
1927 the first national radio network
National Broadcast C ompany
Rise of Nativism
1921 new law – quota system
Immigration from a country not to
exceed 3% of 1910
National Origins Act 1924
2% based on 1890 census
Banned all immigration from
East Asia
Rise of the ‘New’ Klan
Not just about hating
African-Americans anymore
Also hate Catholics, Jews,
Immigrants
See themselves as guardians
of society’s ‘traditional
values’
*racial purity
*gender roles
Want compulsory school
Bible reading and no divorce
Fundamentalism
American
Protestants divided
Modernists: Middle class,
urban-adapt religion to
science & society
Fundamentalists: Mainly
rural-traditional faith, literal
interpretation of Bible
John
Scopes
Warren G.
Harding
Ohio Gang
Harry Daugherty & President
Harry Daugherty
*Boss of Ohio
*Attorney General
*accused of fraudulent
handling of German assets
seized during war
The head of the Veteran’s
Bureau was selling medical
supplies intended to treat vets
in VA hospitals
He escapes to Europe
Charles Forbes
His assistant takes one for the team
Albert
Falls
Teapot
Dome
Teapot Dome
Harding goes to Alaska
Dies on the way home
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert
Hoover
Al
Smith
Andrew
Mellon
Key Supreme Court Decisions
Lochner v. New York
Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co.
Adkins v. Children’s Hospital
U.S. v. U.S. Steel