The Roaring 20’sAn era of prosperity,

Republican power,

and conflict

The 1920 ElectionThe 1920 ElectionThe 1920 ElectionThe 1920 Election

Why did Harding’s “Return to “Normalcy”appeal ?

Politics of the 1920s

• Return to conservative “hands off” government - very pro-business

• 3 consecutive Republican presidential victories

• Return of “small government” Federal spending dropped from a high of $18.5 billion in 1919 to an average of $3 billion in the 1920s

Warren Harding• Republican Senator from Ohio. • Mixed Cabinet:

– Charles Evans Hughes, Hebert Hoover, Andrew Mellon

– “Ohio gang”• Reduced income tax• Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act

of 1922• Bureau of the Budget• Pardoned Debs • Dies in office in 1923 from

heart failure

Teapot Dome Scandal

• Teapot Dome, Wyoming- gov. owned oil fields

• Sec. of Interior Albert Fall leased the land to oil executives who bribed him.

• Fall became 1st cabinet officer to go to jail.

• Attorney General Harry Daugherty - bribed not to prosecute certain criminals

Calvin Coolidge• “Silent Cal”• Cuts spending further• Vetoes World War I veterans

bonus bills & McNary-Haugen Bill of 1928

• Wins reelection in 1924 against conservative Dem. John Davis but does not run for reelection in 1928.

• “The business of America is business!!”

• “You build a factory you build a temple. He who works there worships there.”

Foreign Policy TensionsForeign Policy Tensions

InterventioniInterventionismsm DisarmamentDisarmament

• Collective Collective securitysecurity

• ““WilsonianismWilsonianism””

• Business interestsBusiness interests

• IsolationismIsolationism

• NativistsNativists

• Anti-War Anti-War movementmovement

• Conservative Conservative RepublicansRepublicans

Washington Disarmament Washington Disarmament ConferenceConference(1921-1922)(1921-1922)

* Harding Sec. of State Charles Evans Hughes* Harding Sec. of State Charles Evans Hughes

5 Goals Goals naval disarmament and the political situation in naval disarmament and the political situation in the the Far East. Far East.

5 Agreed to respect possessions in Pacific & Open Door Agreed to respect possessions in Pacific & Open Door PolicyPolicy

Five-Power Treaty Five-Power Treaty (1922)(1922)5 A battleship ratio was achieved through this ratio:A battleship ratio was achieved through this ratio:

US Britain Japan France US Britain Japan France ItalyItaly 5 5 3 1.67 5 5 3 1.67 1.671.67

5 Japan got a guarantee that the US and Britain Japan got a guarantee that the US and Britain would stop fortifying their Far East territories would stop fortifying their Far East territories [including the Philippines].[including the Philippines].

5 LoopholeLoophole no restrictions on small warships no restrictions on small warships

European Debts to the USEuropean Debts to the US

Hyper-Inflation in Germany:Hyper-Inflation in Germany: 19231923

Dawes PlanDawes Plan (1924) - Circular (1924) - Circular LoansLoans

Kellogg-Briand Pact Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)(1928)

5 15 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and 15 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and war as tools of foreign policy.war as tools of foreign policy.

5 62 nations signed.62 nations signed.

5 ProblemsProblems no means of actual enforcement and no means of actual enforcement and gave gave Americans a false sense of security. Americans a false sense of security.

Andrew Mellon - Secretary of Treasury to Harding,

Coolidge & Hoover

1. One of the richest men in America

2. Cut corporate taxes on large corporations

3. Reduced income tax on wealthiest of America

“Give tax breaks to large corporations, so that money can trickle down to the general public, in the form of extra jobs.”“Give tax breaks to large corporations, so that money can trickle down to the general public, in the form of extra jobs.”

The New Economy1. Increasing Industrialization - nations manufacturing rose by 60% in the 1920s2. Rapid Urbanization - for the 1st time more

live in cities than in rural areas3. Increasing size and power of the Middle Class

- Per capita income increased by 30%4. Unemployment below 4%5. Indoor plumbing, central heating

& 2/3 of all homes had electricity

Consumer Economy

Rise of the Automobile

1. In the 1920s Americans owned 80% of the world’s cars - 26.5 Millionregistered in 1929 compared with 1.2 million In 1913

2. General Motors founded by William Durant, and improved by Alfred P. Sloan - largest automobile manufacturer and 5th largest company in America by 1920

Age of ProsperityRise of millionaires and billionaires, butRise of millionaires and billionaires, butExtreme maldistribution of wealth Extreme maldistribution of wealth Top 0.1% had combined income of bottomTop 0.1% had combined income of bottom42% of Americans.42% of Americans.

New Economy• Trade associationsTrade associations

• ““welfare capitalismwelfare capitalism””

• ““Pink collarPink collar”” jobs jobs

• ““American PlanAmerican Plan”” - open shop - open shop

• Farmers struggle - call for Farmers struggle - call for ““parityparity””

• Unions struggle post Red Scare - Unions struggle post Red Scare - membership declines 20%membership declines 20%

18th Amendment

• Prohibition & Volstead Act Ratified in 1919, in effect January 1920 (passed over Wilson’s Veto)

• What were the intended goals?

• What were the results?

• 21st Amendment 1933

“You can get much further with a kind word and a gun 

than you can with a kind word alone.”

• 1920's also brought about great changes for women...

• 1920 - 19th Amendment • more women worked outside

the home• more women went to college

and joined the professions• characterized by the

FLAPPER/ "new woman"– (bobbed hair, short dresses,

smoked in public...)

• Black Americans in this period continued to live in poverty

• sharecropping kept them in de facto slavery

• 1915 - boll weevil wiped out the cotton crop

• white landowners went bankrupt & forced blacks off their land

• Movement of African-Americans from the South to Urban areas of United States

• More than 1.5 million• 1914 – 1930• Escape racism, find

better jobs, overall better life in the North

• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

• James Weldon Johnson was instrumental in increasing the NAACP's membership from 9,000 to almost 90,000.

• Marcus Garvey - Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

• Black pride• "Our union must know no clime,

boundary, or nationality… to let us hold together under all climes and in every country…"

• “Back to Africa Movement” • Black Star line• attracted many investments:

government charged him with fraud

• eventually deported to Jamaica, but his organization continued to exist

The 20’s is The Jazz AgeThe Flappers

make upcigarettes

short skirts

MusiciansLouis ArmstrongDuke Ellington

WritersF. Scott FitzgeraldErnest Hemingway

Culture of the Roaring 20’s

RadioKDKA Pittsburgh

GE, Westinghouse,& RCA form NBC

Silent MoviesCharlie Chaplin

“Talkies”The Jazz SingerStarring Al Jolson

Mary Pickford“America’s Sweetheart”

“Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin

Blue skies smiling at me Nothing but blue skies do I see Bluebirds singing a song Nothing but bluebirds all day long Never saw the sun shining so bright Never saw things going so right Noticing the days hurrying by When you're in love, my how they fly Blue days, all of them gone Nothing but blue skies from now on

1st Radio Broadcast - 1920

At 6:00pm, on Tuesday, November 2, 1920, a few men in a shack in Pittsburg changed the course of history.

By 1930 10 million radios and 800 stations including NBC (1924) and CBS (1927)

Celebrity “Heroes”Babe Ruth &Ty Cobb

Jack Dempsey

Charles Lindbergh The Spirit of St. Louis

• 1st person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean by

• 33 hours and 39 minutes• Received a prize of

$25,000• Parades larger than

those for WWI veterans• Why the big deal?

The JazzSinger (1927)

• The 1st feature length motion picture with synchronized dialogue.

• Starred Al Jolson

• Marked the decline of the silent film era

Election of 1928

Herbert HooverRepublican

Al SmithDemocratic Party

CatholicTammany Hall

“A Chicken in Every Pot. A car in every garage”

““AssociationalismAssociationalism””

But Al Smith wins nearly every major city. Why did he lose the rural vote?But Al Smith wins nearly every major city. Why did he lose the rural vote?

Anti-Immigrant

• “100% Americanism”• Emergency immigration

Act of 1921 - sets up quota system - 3% of nationality -1910

• National Origins Act of 1924 - 2% of 1890 & no East Asian immigrants at all

• 1929 - limit to 150,000 year

The Ku Klux Klan Great increase

In powerAnti-black

Anti-immigrant

Anti-women’s suffrage

Anti-bootleggers

Anti-Semitic

Anti-Catholic

Grand Dragon David StephensonGrand Dragon David Stephenson

Scopes “Monkey” TrialEvolution vs. Creationism

Dayton, TennesseeFamous Lawyers

Science vs. Religion

John ScopesHigh School Biology teacher

Darrow vs. Darrow vs. BryanBryan