The Roaring Twenties The Red Scare Prohibition Gangsters

The Roaring Twenties The “Red Scare” Prohibition Gangsters The Jazz Age Flappers

Politics • President - 1920: Warren G. Harding • “Return to normalcy” • In a nation weary of war abroad and sacrifice at home Harding offered American’s a return to the good old days

What wasn't’t normal after the war? • • People were changing: Technology changes the social scene Mass media Prohibition and organized crime

Why? • Factories were converted for wartime production. • Neutrality prior to WWI: The US wanted to remain out of the European issues. • Great Migration: After the war many European refugees entered the US.

Women’s Suffrage 19 th Amendment On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment by a vote of 304 to 89 and the Senate followed suit on June 4, by a vote of 56 to 25.

Harding

Harding • Government to Serve Business

Harding • Corruption in Office – Flagrant violation of Prohibition • General Harry Daughtery – Teapot Dome Scandal (1923) • Secret leasing of oil reserves to private corporations – Extramarital Affairs • Don’t go in that closet!

Coolidge • “Silent Cal” as President (1923 -1924, 1924 -1928) • “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time. ” • He was re-elected in 1924 with the slogan “Keep Cool With Coolidge”

Coolidge

Coolidge • Government to serve Business – “After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. ”

Coolidge • Social Policies – Vetoed… • Farm Relief Bill • Veterans Bonus Bill – Refused to aid MS flood victims of 1927

Hoover • Associative State: – Not premised on governmental coercion or intervention. – Preferred a voluntary, non-governmental approach to economic matters, the better, he reasoned, to protect the "American character. “ – E. g. , gov. to encourage cooperation between unions and corporations, not regulate them.

Rise of Mass Media • • Films Radio Newspapers Magazines (Tabloids)

Media • Prior to the 1920’s America was separated into regional cultures. • Most Americans didn't’t know about the rest of the country. • Films and nationwide news-gathering and radio produced the beginning of a national culture.

Films • Movies- Between 1910 -1930 the numbers of theaters in the US rose from 5000 to about 22500. • By 1929 the population of America was 125 million, the nations theaters sold roughly 80 million tickets sold each week.

films • Popular Films- 1927 - “The Jazz Singer” the first sound film in film. Sound films were called “Talkies” • Other film stars include Charlie Chaplin whose character was known as the “little tramp”.

Radio • Helped create a national culture. • Everyone was listening to the same news, the same jokes, the same sporting events. • People were becoming more connected.

A. Radio and the Movies • First radio station = KDKA (Pittsburgh)— 1920 • NBC = first radio network (1926) • Average annual movie attendance = 90 million • The advent of “talkies” (1927) • Disney pioneers in the arena of animation and sound (1928)

104. 3 Oldies • by 1922 more than 500 stations were established. Soon most of the country was listening to the same jokes, commercials, music, sports, religious services, and news.

Radio and Jazz • The Jazz Age – With the African American migration to the cities came the Jazz Age. – Jazz grew out of ragtime and blues. In 1929 2 -3’s of all radio were devoted to jazz. – Controversy, Why?

Newsies • Americans followed the movie stars off screen lives through newspapers and magazines. • Profits drove papers not the quality of the

Tabloids • Tabloids-is a compact newspaper that relies on large headlines, few words, and many pictures to tell the story. • Tabloids replaced the serious new with entertainment that focused on fashion, sports, and sensational stories about crimes and scandals. • articles.

Prohibition The 18 th Amendment

What was ‘Prohibition’? • A law called the Volstead Act introduced in the USA in January 1920. • It banned the manufacture, sale and transport of alcohol. • The federal government had the power to enforce this law. • It theory the USA became ‘dry’. • It has since become known as the ‘noble experiment’.

Why was prohibition introduced? 1. It already existed in many states 2. Moral reasons 3. Campaigners like the Anti-Saloon League of America 4. The First World War

What is the message of this cartoon?

What were the effects of prohibition? 1. 2. 3. 4. Speakeasies Moonshine Smuggling Organized crime

Speakeasies • Secret saloon bars opened up in cellars and back rooms. • They had names like the ‘Dizzy Club’ and drinkers had to give a password or knock at the door in code to be let in. • Speakeasies sold ‘bootleg’ alcohol, smuggled into America from abroad. • Before Prohibition there were 15, 000 bars in New York. By 1926 there were 30, 000 speakeasies!

Moonshine • A spirit made secretly in home made stills. • Several hundred people a year died from this during the 1920 s. • In 1929 it is estimated that 700 million gallons of beer were produced in American homes.

‘Bootleggers’ • Smugglers called ‘Bootleggers’ made thousands of dollars bringing in illegal alcohol to America. • America has thousands of miles of frontiers so it proved easy. • Famous smugglers like William Mc. Coy made fortunes by bringing alcohol from the West Indies and Canada.

Organized Crime • The enormous profits to be made attracted gangsters who started to take control of many cities. • They bribed the police, judges and politicians. • They controlled the speakeasies and the distilleries, and ruthlessly exterminated their rivals.

Al Capone • By 1927 he was earning some $60 million a year from bootlegging. • His gang was like a private army. He had 700 men under his control. • He was responsible for over 500 murders. • On 14 th February 1929, Capone’s men dressed as police officers murdered 7 members of a rival gang. This became known as the ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre. ’

Satirical Paper Religious Awakening • Religious Fundamentalism • Evolution vs. . Creationism

Issues in Religion • Scopes Monkey Trial • Carnival-like atmosphere around the Trial • John Scopes defied the law and was arrested for teaching evolution in 1925. • Scopes was found guilty and the penalty was $100 fine, which he never paid. • Challenged religion and traditional ideology.

The Red Scare • Life in the 1920’s seemed to be unstable. • The overthrowing of governments abroad and the labor strikes and bombings at home convinced people that political violence posed a real threat to the US.

Immigration Restriction • 1917 Literacy Test • National Origins Quota Act (1924) • Slanted toward favoring “old immigrants” • Doors wide open to western hemisphere countries • Increased mechanization had reduced need for labor

The Red Scare • Red Scare An intense fear of communism and other politically radical ideas. • People felt that the instability in America was a result of immigrants bringing there radical ideas from abroad

Russia • Picture of Russia

American Fears • The USSR’s desire to spread communism to other nations alarmed many Americans. • Americans were already weary of Europe after WWI.

Fear of Communism • In 1919 Russian backed communist tried to overthrow Germany and the Communist came into power in Hungary. • Similar chaos threatened to seep into the US. • In February a shipyard went on strike in Seattle and the mayor proclaimed that this was the work of revolutionaries.

Culture of Fear • With the help of the Newspapers the public’s anxiety about the fear of communism rose.

Sacco and Vanzetti • Began on April 15, 1920 when gunmen robbed and killed the guard and paymaster of a shoe factory in South Braintree, Mass. • A few weeks’ later police arrested 2 Italian immigrants n connection with the crime.

The Case • Despite a strong alibi supported by many wit nesses, Vanzetti was found guilty. Most of Vanzetti's witnesses were Italians who spoke English poorly, and their trial testimony, given largely in translation, failed to convince the American jury.

SACCO-VANZETTI

Decision • On April 9, 1927, after all recourse in the Massachusetts courts had failed, Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death. • Sacco and Vanzetti were executed on August 23, 1927

Labor Strikes • A wave of strikes helped fuel the Red Scare in 1919. The number of strikes per month climbed from 175 in March to about 370 in august. • Many Americans believed that the communist agitators were behind this labor unrest.

• In actuality the strikes were a result of the decline in the standard of living that the workers had achieved during WWI

Foreign Policy • Isolationism: To avoid political or economic alliances with foreign countries. • America’s isolationist ideals are one reason why Harding opposed the American membership in the League of Nations.

Foreign Policy • The US was not apart of the League of Nations, but still attempted to develop peace abroad. • Kellogg-Briand Pact- 15 nations pledged to not use threat of war in there dealing with one another. More than 60 nations joined the pact.

Great Migration reasons • Economics - Jobs • People were moving from the South to the North. • From rural areas to cities.

African Americans Move North • Because of “The Jim Crow Laws” African Americans began to move north where they felt they would receive more fair treatment, as well as find a better paying job.

Harlem Renaissance- A revival of African-American arts, entertainment, and literature. Writers 1. Langston Hughes- Perhaps the best writer during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes focused on poetry to address racial injustices in America. 2. Claude Mc. Kay- Known for his militant verses in poems written to inspire African. Americans to stand up against discrimination.

Musicians 3. Louis Armstrong- Armstrong helped to spread Jazz to all parts of the United States. Jazz originated amongst the African-American community in America. 4. Duke Ellington- Self taught musician and one of the most famous composer of his time. Played at the famous Cotton Club.

Political leaders 5. W. E. B. Du Bois Helped start the N. A. A. C. P. (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). This organization protested the “shameful treatment of the African. Americans”.

6. Marcus Garvey- Garvey began the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Garvey had two goals: A. ) Black people should go back to Africa B. ) “Black is beautiful”.

“The Sexual Revolution”, Divorce and the “New Woman” • Apparent loosening of American sexual mores • Sex seen as fun and discussed with frankness • Sexual content in magazines, movies and songs • Jazz as the musical complement to the era • The sexual revolution in literature

“The Sexual Revolution” (cont. ) • F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise (1920) • The “flapper” stereotype • Sexual revolution more of a sideshow for most American women • Triumph of romantic love • Changing feminist goals • Escalating American divorce rate

Flappers • Flappers symbolized the youth revolution in the 20’s. • This new type of young woman was: rebellious, energetic, fun loving, and bold. • Not all young women were flappers; those who did became a symbol of a cultural revolution.

Flapper image

Differences between rural and urban? Most moral populations wanted to preserve traditional values, not to change them like the flappers.

Sports, Fads, & Heros • The “Black Sox” scandal (1919) • Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb • The Significance of the Negro Leagues • College Football and Boxing • Beauty Pageants and Crossword puzzles --1 st Miss America (1921)

Charles Lindbergh “Lucky Lindy” May 20 th 1927 at the age of 25 Lindbergh completed the first continuous flight across the Atlantic Ocean. From New York-Paris the trip took 33. 5 hours.

Amelia Earhart Was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. Earhart disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean while trying to fly around the world.

United States Economy • Rise in productivity. • Productivity is a workers level of output, whether in goods or in services, over a give period. • Gross National Product, which is the total value of goods and services a country, produces annually.

• From 1921 -1929 the GNP rose about 6% per year. Productivity rose because the nation developed new management methods and new technologies. • Usual growth rate 3. 5%

Production • Henry Ford-Ford, an engineer with a lighting company worked on inventing the “horseless carriage”. • In 1896 Ford built his first version of a lightweight, gas-powered car he called the “quadricycle”.

• By 1903 Ford had started his own car company. 5 years later Ford sold 30000 of an improved vehicle that he called the Model T.

Fordism • Ford’s Assembly line – is a manufacturing process in which each worker does one specialized task in the construction of the final product. • Ford did not invent the assembly line; he simply made it more efficient. The assembly line turned out a Model T every 24 seconds.

• The more cars Ford made, the less each one would cost the consumer. In 1914 the Model T cost $490, in 1915 the car cost $390.

Ford Affect • Ford’s automobile making become the nations larges single manufacturing industry in the 20’s. • By the late 20’s automakers used 15% of America’s steel, 80% of its rubber, 50% of its glass, 65% of its leather and upholstery, and 7 billion gallons of gas each year. • By 1929 about 3. 7 million people owed there jobs directly or indirectly to the automotive industry.

Prosperity • Industry in America was booming, people were making and spending a lot of money. • Most Americans were enjoying the prosperity. • Life expectancy had gone up by 10 years. 59 for men and 63 for women. People expected good times to continue under Hoover.

Stock Market • In 1925 the market value of all stock was $27 billion, but over the next few years stocks soared. • In 1928 the market raised $11 billion. Since 1914 workers wages had gone up 40%. Soon the idea that everyone could be rich. • The idea that all you had to do was simply place your money in the Stock Market and it would go up was a prominent viewpoint. • Now Americans who usually would not make such risky investments were placing their savings in the market.

Growing Division of Wealth • While most Americans enjoyed a better standard of living, others struggled to survive. Many unskilled workers (African Americans and immigrants) remained poor. • For some farmers in the mid 1920’s brought not prosperity, but devastation.

• Farm prices were high during WWI, but after the war the recovering Europe farm industry and cheaper farm imports pushed American farmers out of the European market. • During the more prosperous times the farmers borrowed money and bought equipment and land. • As the agriculture depression came farmers could not pay off there debts. Farmers were forced to abandoned agriculture.

Welfare Capitalism • Welfare capitalism- Employers raised wages and provided such benefits as paid vacations, health plans, recreation programs, and English classes for the recent immigrants, all in the interest of strengthening company loyalty and morale. • Companies thought that by doing so, they believed they could avoid union interventions, prevent strikes, and keep productivity high.

Economic Danger • Climbing stock market, consumer confidence, and labor stability all pointed the way to a bright future. The division of wealth was growing. • The rich were getting richer. • The huge corporations, rather than the small businesses dominated the industry.

Farmer Depression • During the more prosperous times the farmers borrowed money and bought equipment and land. • As the agriculture depression came farmers could not pay off there debts. Farmers were forced to abandoned agriculture.

Danger • Many Americans became accustom to credit spending during the 20’s. The increase in personal debt signaled trouble. They believe they could count on future income to cover their debts. • Speculation the proactive of making high -risk investments in hopes of getting a huge return.

• Buying on margin this option allowed investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction of its price (10 -50%) and barrow the rest. The brokers charged high interest rates and could demand the payment of the loan at any time. If the stock went up the borrower could sell the stock at a higher price, enough to pay off both the loan and the interest charges and still make money.

Overproduction • Too many goods • By the late 1920’s the countries warehouses were overstocked, they produced more goods than consumers would buy. • The stock market kept rising, but the overproduction caused industry to slow. • The automobile industry slumped after 1925 and industries that depended on it declined. A “ripple effect” was caused.

Falling Economy • Agriculture fails and struggles. • Life was exceeding hard for many factory workers. • Although the industry was making profits, the workers were still working long hours for low pay.

• These factors: uneven wealth, rising debt, stock market speculation, over production, and hardships of farmers and workers signaled trouble in the economy.