The Twenties 1919 1929 A Booming Economy Henry

The Twenties 1919 -1929

A Booming Economy Henry Ford Increased Sales Reduced work day hours/raised salaries Rise of suburbs Increased production Car culture Led to lower car prices Related industries Led to more sales -- gas stations, highways, advertising vacations, motels Scientific management assembly line mass production

• Car culture leads to Consumer culture • More advertising leads to consumer revolution Installment buying small down payment and pay off rest in monthly installments Bull market period of rising stock prices Buying on margin pay 10% and then pay off over time; the stock serves as collateral

• A "Bull Market" • • For five years prior to 1929, rising prices typified the stock market. During this period, American investors enjoyed an enormous "bull market. " (The opposite, a market characterized by falling prices, is called a "bear market. "). Americans invested in the stock market for six reasons during the 1920 s: 1. Rising stock dividends. 2. Increase in personal savings. 3. Relatively easy money policy. 4. Companies invested their over-production profits in new production. 5. Lack of stock market regulation. 6. Psychology of consumption.

The Business of Government • Warren G. Harding – less Progressive reform; return to laissez-faire • Trusts friends to make important decisions – Ohio Gang • Teapot Dome Scandal – Secretary of Interior Albert Fall transferred oil reserves from navy to Interior – Leased reserves to private oilmen (bribes) – Albert Fall went to jail

Social & Cultural Tensions • Modernism vs. Fundamentalism science vs. religion Clarence Darrow Defense attorney vs. William Jennings Bryan Prosecutor • Scopes Trial --John Scopes taught evolution; trial became known as the “Monkey Trial” --Illustrates the urban/rural split – science v. religion

• Nativists oppose immigration • Quota Act of 1921 • National Origins Act – Quota system – limits the number of immigrants to U. S. • Brought about by fear of Russian Revolution and Red Scare

• Rise of the KKK again • Tulsa Race Riots

• Prohibition – Volstead Act = 18 th Amendment – no alcohol

A New Mass Culture • Movies – Rudolph Valentino – silent movie star – Charlie Chaplin the “Little Tramp” – The Jazz Singer – 1 st “talkie” • Sports – Babe Ruth– baseball home-run king – Jack Dempsey – boxing – Gertrude Ederle – 1 st woman to swim English Channel • Flight – Charles Lindbergh– flew Spirit of St. Louis over Atlantic from NY to Paris • Art – Georgia O’Keefe– modernism challenges traditionalism

Literature – – Sinclair Lewis F. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway Gertrude Stein • Women – The New Woman – The Flapper –experienced new freedom • New appliances changed daily lives (more leisure) • Suffrage – more political power • More women working

The Harlem Renaissance • New “Black Consciousness” – Marcus Garvey– Jamaican immigrant settled in Harlem • Promoted black nationalism • “Back to Africa” -- Separation of the races • Jazz Age – Jazz was a blend of blues, ragtime, & popular music – Emerged from the south – New Orleans • • Louis Armstrong – trumpeter Bessie Smith – jazz singer George Gershwin – Jewish immigrant; composer Duke Ellington – band leader

By: Langston Hughes I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen, " Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed– I , too, am America.