The Lost Generation Roaring 20s aka Jazz Age

� The Lost Generation

“Roaring 20’s” aka “Jazz Age” aka “Time of Wonderful Nonsense” Unit 8

Culture and Conflict �Brief Post-World War I depression �Labor management conflicts �Thousands of returning veterans led to high unemployment for women and minorities �Various postwar strikes �Authorities portrayed as anti-American revolutionaries and possibly Communistinspired Russian Revolution

�WWI had spawned a culture of conformity anyone who advocated for change was seen as different �Committee on Public Information �Americans became very distrustful of anyone or anything different �Leads to the end of the Progressive Era Change viewed as undemocratic

The “Red Scare” 1919 -1920 �Fear over appeal of Socialism to working class �Ideological likeness with Bolsheviks in Russia �Communism �US government crackdown on dissent and radicalism �Unions and Anarchists targeted International Workers of the World or “Wobblies” �Helped by newly formed American Legion

Palmer Raids �Attorney General A Mitchell Palmer leads crackdown on communists in the US � 6000 radicals rounded up and arrested Civil liberties routinely denied to those arrested or suspected of being communists � 249 eventually deported Many were innocent

Culture of Fear �Bombs exploded at Palmer’s house and at Wall Street �Wall Street bomb killed 39 �Paranoia sweeps the nation over influence of immigrants

�Sacco and Vanzetti �Anarchists, Draft Dodgers, Atheists, and Italians �Convicted on flimsy evidence for robbery and Murder �Executed in 1927 despite someone else's confession

Fear and Immigration �Red Scare led to “nativist” resurgence �Literacy test instituted in 1917 �Johnson-Reed Immigration Restriction Act, 1924 �“Emergency Immigration and Quota Act” �Imposed national quotas for immigrants from outside Western Hemisphere Limited immigration to 3% of US immigrant population in 1910

Favored “old immigrants” over “new immigrants” �National Origins act of 1924 �Set limit to 2% of 1890 �Sought to specifically limit immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe Proximity to Soviet Union Language and religious differences

Mexican Americans �Chief source of immigrant labor after Johnson. Reed Act �Quota Act �Agricultural jobs, construction, manufacturing �Specifically in Southwest US, i. e. California �Not generally interested in becoming citizens

A Truly American Culture

“Roaring 20’s” �Jazz Age �Time of Wonderful Nonsense �Popularity of celebrities �Depended on journalists and radio promoters �KDKA in Pittsburgh 1 st commercial Radio Station – 1920 � 1923 – NBC � 1928 – CBS �Broadcast “soap operas” over radio

Importance of Print � 1920 – 2325 Daily newspapers, 12876 Weekly Newspapers �Time, Life, Readers Digest all began during the 1920’s �Advertising helped produce 1 st mass culture �Encouraged conformity

Sports �First appearance of large sporting events and professional athletes �Babe Ruth – Baseball �Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, Knute Rockne – Football �Jack Dempsey – Boxing �Bobby Jones – Golf

Golden Age of Hollywood �“The Birth of a Nation” �Charlie Chaplin �Rudolph Valentino – 1 st Heart Throb �Clara Bow – 1 st Sex Symbol �Al Jolson in “The Jazz Singer” 1 st talkie � 3 Stooges �Marx Brothers

The “Lost Generation” �World War I created generation of disaffected, alienated intellectuals �Writers and artists �Many settled in Paris �Focused on psychological toll of living in postwar period Web

�Many came to question democracy itself �Spurred debate over proper role of government in economy and life in general �John Dewey �Ernest Hemingway �F Scott Fitzgerald “Great Gatsby”

Aviation �Charles Lindbergh “Lucky Lindy” – 1 st to fly across the Atlantic �May 21, 1927 �Spirit of St. Louis �Amelia Earhart died trying to fly around the world �Artist Georgia O’Keefe

Consumer Culture �Remarkable period of growth began in 1922 and lasted until 1929 �Shift from capital goods to consumer goods production �Both durables (vacuums, washing machines) and perishables (food) �Led to complete transformation of American life �Designer Coco Chanel

�Consumer credit to facilitate purchases became common �Rise of advertising and mass marketing to generate demand for products �Make products seem the answer to a consumer’s desires by playing upon people’s emotions and vulnerabilities �Many poor excluded from consumer revolution

�Celebrating American business �Reverence for the corporation �Henry Ford perfects the assembly line for the Model T �Cut production from 14 hours to 1½ �Said that you can buy the Model T in any color as long as its black �Believed you had to pay workers fair wages so they could afford to buy the new products

�Stock buying gained in popularity �Rise of welfare capitalism among employers �Benefits, Vacations, etc. �Woolworths and Sears and Roebuck were the dominant companies

�Change in position of industrial workers as demand for industrial labor slowed �Dramatic increase in available workforce through immigration led to weakening of unions

Part II

Changing Role of Women �Women workers earned less than male workers, even for same jobs �Drawn to white collar work for better opportunities �Concentrated in “female” professions �Female college enrollment increased 50 percent during decade � 19 th Amendment

�Changing attitudes toward marriage and sexuality �Greater openness in attitudes toward sex �Push for compatibility and companionship in marriage �Flapper culture among young women �Shortened hair, hemlines, and smoked in public

Margaret Sanger �Leading birth control activist �Contraceptives were illegal across most of the US in the 1920’s �Comstock Laws – Forbade mailing of “obscene” information “Contraceptives and Abortion” �Founder of the American Birth Control League �Later became Planned Parenthood �Opened first US birth control clinic in 1916

Harlem Renaissance �Continuation of the Great Migration from rural South to the urban North for African-Americans �Faced job and housing discrimination �Segregation in the North led to productive cultural expression �Black literary and artistic awakening �Langston Hughes – Poetry �Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington – Jazz

Dance Hall Culture �Two of the most prominent places to listen to Jazz and celebrate the Harlem Renaissance were the Savoy Ballroom �Savoy Ballroom, in NY, was not segregated and allowed interracial dancing �Dance contests were extremely common and drew huge crowds �Cotton Club only allowed white patrons, but many of the entertainers there were black and were some of the biggest stars of the time

Rise of Black Nationalism �Service in WWI aroused expectations in black soldiers that were not fulfilled �Immediate postwar period rife with race riots �Lynching's becoming increasingly common �Role of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association

�“Back to Africa” movement �Fostered black nationalism, separatism, capitalism and self-sufficiency �Black Star Line financed the movement

Changing values? �Agricultural depression during 1920 s � 1 st signs of the coming Great Depression and “Dust Bowl” � 1920 census reported U. S. as majority urban nation for the 1 st time �Economic and cultural vitality of nation shifted to the cities �Forced rural Americans to protect their values and way of life

Urbanization, 1920

Back lash to Change �Initially, broad support for Eighteenth Amendment (1920) �Encouraged lawlessness and organized crime �Al Capone �Growth of the Mafia �Mixed support for Prohibition led to conflict across the US

KKK’s Resurgence �Added Jews and Catholics to original focus on blacks �Preached message of “Anglo-Saxon” racial superiority, Protestant superiority, and traditional morality �“It was Anti-Foreign, Communist, Negro, Evolution, Bootlegging, Adultery, gambling, and birth-control”

�More than 5 Million members before 1925 �Increased greatly in Midwest �Govt. investigation reveals fraud amongst leadership in 1925 Discredited

Scopes Monkey Trial �TN teacher arrested for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution �Butler Act �Violated Protestant fundamentalism or literal interpretation of the Bible �Science and Protestant fundamentalism had long been on a collision course �Became a national phenomena

�William Jennings Bryan 3 X Democratic candidate for president represented prosecution �Clarence Darrow, famous lawyer, represented John Scopes �Scopes was convicted, but overturned on a technicality �Never retried �Symbolic victory for modernism

Politics of the Roaring 20’s

Warren G Harding �Elected in 1920, After Wilson �Republican nominee �“Return to Normalcy” �Plagued by scandals perpetuated by “Ohio Gang” �Friends he appointed to office �Aware of own intellectual shortcomings �Died in San Francisco mired in controversy

The Ohio Gang �Teapot Dome Scandal �Secretary Albert Fall sells govt. oil reserves to businessmen at huge discount for $100, 000 �Charles Forbes stole $250 million from the Veteran’s Bureau �Harry Daugherty allowed bars to violate prohibition for a fee �Many more scandals, but people don’t seem to care sense easy credit allowed people to buy, buy

“Silent Cal” �Despite Harding scandals Republican Calvin Coolidge elected in 1924 �Believed in minimalist government �Undid many of the progressive era programs and laws �Worked especially to reduce government’s control over the economy

�Revenue Act of 1926 �Twice vetoed Mc. Nary-Haugen Bill �Govt. control over US farm production / prices

1924 Election � 1924 Coolidge defeats Alfred E. Smith was NY governor and 1 st Catholic candidate for president Dry vs. wets Rural vs. urban

Tale of Two Presidencies � 1 st term Coolidge was one of the most effective and busy presidents in history �Then his youngest son dies from a blood infection from a toe blister from playing tennis �He blames himself, and his work schedule �Turns a blind eye to the signs that will cause the Great Depression; doesn’t care �Often sleeps up to 15 hours a day, violent rages then reclusive

Election of Herbert Hoover �Replaced Coolidge in 1928 �Republican �Directed Food Administration during WWI �Commerce secretary for Harding and Coolidge Very Popular �Excellent Engineer, horrible politician �Brought different functional groups together to manage economy

�Associationalism Businesses should want to work together for the good of America

Republican Leadership �Return to the Gilded Age �Andrew Mellon Secretary of the Treasury practiced Trickle Down Economics �Tax cuts for rich would eventually lead to new jobs for poor �Business leaders put in charge of new progressive agencies to help workers �New laws were then not enforced �Many monopolies were allowed to reform

Laissez Faire Government �Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover all believed that government regulation was generally bad �Higher taxes �Less Freedom �Slowed progress due “beaurocratic or red tape” �Core Republican belief

Discussion Questions �What was the Harlem Renaissance? What was its impact on American culture? �Describe the situation of farmers in the 1920 s. Was this decade a good time, economically and morally, for them?