Chapter 23 The 1920s Coping With Change 1920

Chapter 23 The 1920’s: Coping With Change 1920 -1929

Introduction • Why was the economy so prosperous in the 1920’s? • What were the dominant political values of the 1920’s? • What was the new popular culture of the decade and which Americans did it barely touch? • What developments in the period contributed to both the social tensions and artistic flowering?

Booming Business, Ailing Agriculture • Economy grew rapidly and prospered largely due to electrical appliance industry (refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners) and automobile industry • Related industries also prospered • American businesses invested abroad • High Protective Tariffs suppressed international trade • Farmers suffered from surpluses and low prices

New Modes of Producing, Managing and Selling • Assembly line and other innovations increases production 40% • Chain Stores • Installment Buying • Modern National Advertising • Business leaders were the new American Hero

Women in the New Economic Era • 24% of the workforce were women • Secretaries, typists, filing clerks • Teaching and Nursing

Struggling Labor Unions • Union membership fell from 5 million to 3. 4 million • Intimidation, Open Shop, Scab labor • Benefits

Stand Pat Politics in the Decade of Change • 1920 Warren G. Harding defeated James M. Cox • Charles Forbes- stole money from the Veterans bureau • Attorney General Harry Daugherty sold immunity from prosecution • Secretary of Interior Albert Fall- Tea pot Dome Scandal

Republican Policy Making in the Pro-business era • Calvin Coolidge replaces Harding upon his death • High Protective Tariffs • Andrew Mellon convinces Congress to lower taxes • William Howard Taft and the Supreme Court rule Federal Child labor Law is unconstitutional • Coolidge vetoes bill to buy surplus farm commodities

Independent Internationalism • US protected American interests but refused to join the League of Nations • Charles E. Hughes called for an arms reduction treaty at the Washington Naval Conference in 1921

Progressive Stirrings, Democratic Party Divisions • Election of 1924 – Democrats nominate John W. Davis – Progressives nominate Robert La. Follette – Republicans nominate Calvin Coolidge who wins easily

Women and politics in the 1920’s: A Dream Deferred • 19 th Amendment did not lead to a great influence of women in politics • Women's Rights groups splintered over goals of the movement

Cities, Cars, Consumer Goods • Traffic jams, parking problems, accidental deaths, reduced parental supervision of young adults • New consumer goods available to city dwellers • New electrical appliances • Henry Ford and the $5 Day

Soaring Energy Consumption and a Threatened Environment • Coal • Oil • Air Pollution

Mass-Produced Entertainment • Reader’s Digest • Radio Programs • Silent to Talkies/ Movies

Celebrity Culture • • Babe Ruth Ty Cobb Jack Dempsey Charles Lindbergh

The Jazz Age and the post War Crisis of Values • Sigmund Freud • Women/Flappers • Jazz

Alienated Writers • Lost Generation – Sinclair Lewis – Earnest Hemingway – F. Scott Fitzgerald • Harlem Renaissance – Langston Hughes – Zora Neal Hurston – Countee Cullen

Architects, Painters, Musicians Celebrate Modern America • Frank Lloyd Wright • Artists – Thomas Hart Benton – Edward Hopper – Georgia O’Keeffe • Musicians – – George Gershwin Bessie Smith Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington

Advances in Science and Medicine • Arthur Compton – X-Rays • Whooping Cough, Measles, Influenza • Life Expectancy

Immigration Restriction • Established quotas for each nationality • Laws excluded Chinese and Japanese entirely • Eastern and Southern Europeans received small quotas • National Origins Quota remained US law until 1965

Needed Workers/Unwelcome Aliens: Hispanic Newcomers • The 1920's National Origins Act did not limit immigration from Western Hemisphere countries • 1930's about 2 million Mexicans arrived in the US • Nativism

Nativism, Anti-Radicalism and the Sacco and Vanzetti Case • Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Italian immigrants were convicted of robbery and murder • Evidence was circumstantial • Ethnic Origin and Political Radicalism

Fundamentalism and the Scopes Trial • Several states passed laws prohibiting the teaching of any theory that contradicted creationism • John T. Scopes- Substitute Teacher from Dayton Tennessee, fired and fined for teaching evolution • ACLU hired Clarence Darrow to represent Scopes • William Jennings Bryan assisted the prosecution • Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple Mcherson

The KKK and Garvey Movement • KKK- 5 million members • Marcus Garvey- UNIA (United Negro Improvement Association) – Black pride – Economic solidarity – Return to Africa Movement – 80, 000 Members

Prohibition: Cultures in Conflict • 1928 Election Issue – Organized Crime – Democrat Alfred E. Smith – Republican Herbert Hoover • Supporters – Native born fundamentalists Protestants – Lived mainly in rural areas • Opponents – Liberals – Intellectuals – Rebellious Youths – Immigrants

Herbert Hoover’s Social Thought • Encouraged voluntary cooperation among corporate leaders – raise wages – plan production – marketing – standardized products • Self Regulation would ensure economic growth and a better life for all