The Roaring Twenties

A Review in Pictures

24-1 A Time of TurmoilFear of Radicalism

• 1917: Russian Revolution- Bolsheviks urge workers around world to overthrow capitalism

• Anarchists behind series of bombings• ~ Leads to Red Scare: Gov’t. goes after

Communists and others w/ radical views• -Palmer Raids: Atty. Gen. Palmer and J. Edgar

Hoover arrest, deport suspects• ~ Sacco and Vanzetti (Italian immigrants)

arrested and executed

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Workers demand wage increases to keep up w/ rising prices; leads to strikes in 1919 (ex- Boston Police force- largest strike, Nat. Guard called in, strike collapses, all fired).

• Public supports firing of striking steelworkers~ Union membership drops as a result of association b/w unions and radicalism

Who does the government support?

Racial strife

• 1919: Over 70 Afr. Americans lynched in South

• Race riot in Chicago left almost 40 dead~ Many Afr. Amer. Turn to Marcus Garvey, who supported a “back-to-Africa” movement (UNIA)

“Great Migration” to Northern cities for jobs

After the War: A Return to Normalcy

• Warren G. Harding : Rep.(1865-1923). Elected to the Presidency in the 1920s, Harding urged a "return to normalcy." The policies of his administration were generally conservative, especially regarding taxes, tariffs, immigration restriction, labor rights, and business regulation. Harding's administration was marked by corruption and scandal, although most of the scandals did not become public knowledge until after he died of a stroke in office in August 1923.

Warren G. Harding

24-2 Desire for Normalcy Harding and Coolidge

• 1920: 1st election for women vote• Harding wins on “Return to Normalcy”

platform~“Less government in business and more business in government”~Presidency filled with scandal (Ohio Gang)

-Teapot Dome Scandal: Sec’t of Interior Albert Fall took bribes + made illegal deals

• Harding dies, V.P. Calvin Coolidge takes over.

Teapot Dome Scandal

• Teapot Dome, WY: Site of federal oil reserves; leased without competitive bids

Coolidge Takes Over• Coolidge is “A friend to business”

~Laissez-faire policy- business prospered• isolationist

~Kellogg-Briand Pact: 1922-15 nations pledge not to make war except in self-defense~negotiated w/Latin America (Mexico) instead of sending troops

“Silent Cal”• Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933). Coolidge

did little as Warren G. Harding's vice president (1921-23), but when he assumed the presidency after Harding's death, he acted quickly to repair the damage of the Harding administrations scandals and to secure the 1924 presidential nomination.

24-3 A Booming EconomyGrowth in the 1920s

• Post WWI recession lasts for 2 yrs; economic growth after

• Gross National Product (GNP) increases from $70 billion to $100 billion by 1929~Technology (esp. electricity), new management techniques, and the assembly line increase productivity. Result: reduced production costs and lower prices

Electric appliances, new advertisements, and installment buying lead to consumer

culture• Due to increase in jobs, people have more

money to spend

The Automobile Age

• Detroit, MI becomes automobile manufacturing center of world (Henry Ford, Model-T). Assembly line speeds production: autos available to larger group of Americans

~Effect of automobile: other businesses grow, travel increases, suburbs expand

What industries were affected negatively?

• Farmers do not share in prosperity; after war, had to compete with Europe

• Trucks -business from railroads; electricity replaces coal (hurts mining industry)

Technology Changes Life• Avg. income rises- more $ to spend-• Assembly line (Ford: model-T) speeds

production: autos available to larger group of Americans

• Installment buying (credit)• New machines- washing machine, fans,

toasters, electric refrigerator, etc

• Henry Ford’s Model T: an affordable $335 due to the assembly line

TO SUM IT UP:Technology Changes Life

• Avg. income rises- more $ to spend- consumer economy

• Assembly line (Ford: model-T) speeds production: autos available to larger group of Americans

• Installment buying (credit)• New machines- washing machine, fans,

toasters, electric refrigerator, etc

Installment buying

• Makes larger items affordable• Pay a small amount of money each month

24-4 The Roaring TwentiesSocial and Cultural Change

• 1927: First solo flight across Atlantic by Charles Lindburgh sets tone for change-First trans-Atlantic flight (Lindbergh, Earhart) signals beginning of air age.

1927-First trans-Atlantic flight signals beginning of Air Age

• New freedoms for women~19th Amendment (1920)- vote and hold office

WHAT IS AN EFFECT OF THIS???????~work outside home~Flapper- new liberated woman

Youth in the 20’s

Changes in Society• Youth in the 20s

~fads: flag-pole sitting, Charleston, bobbed hair, flappers, zoot suits~ led to generational conflicts

• Entertainment: Motion Picture spreads cultural changes

• movies and radio lead to growth of advertisement

• sports and fads become the rage

The Jazz Age• Harlem Renaissance instills interest in

African American culture and prideGrowth of black art, music, and cultural

identity~Jazz music (Armstrong)~writers (Langston Hughes’ poetry,

Zora Neale Hurston’s books)~art

• The Lost Generation• Artists and writers who saw little hope for

the future; resentment over “senseless” war

• Expatriates lived in Paris~ Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis

Culture Clash

• 18th Amendment (1919-prohibition) divides nation, leads to willingness to break law (repealed in 1933 w/21st Amendment)

• ~speakeasies• ~bootleggers

• Nativism- re-emergence of KKK~Congress passes Emergency Quota Act

• Scopes Trial: 1925 TN- illegal to teach evolution. Science vs. Religion

• ~W.J. Bryan: prosecution, C. Darrow: defense

• ~ TN Supreme Court overturned Scope’s conviction

Election of 1928

• ~Herbert Hoover: Republican candidate, Protestant, “dry”

• ~Alfred E. Smith: Democrat, Roman Catholic, “wet”

• -Became race of traditional values vs. modern values

• HOOVER WINS

Change and Conflict

• Conflict in Society• Ideas and values

~young and old~native-born and immigrants~blacks and whites- resurgence of the KKK~science and religion- Scopes Trial challenges teaching of evolution