Boom and Bust1920 - 1941

Unit 6

The Jazz Age

A Clash of ValuesChapter 17 Section 3

Nativism Resurges

• 1920s was a time of economic growth and cultural turmoil

• World War I and the Red Scare led to nativism• Majority of immigrants were coming from

Southern and Eastern Europe • Many people blamed immigrants for taking

jobs that would have gone to soldiers coming home

Nativism Resurges

• The Sacco-Vanzetti Case– April 15, 1920 two men robbed and murdered two

employees of a shoe factory in Massachusetts – Police arrested two Italian Immigrants, Nicola

Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for the crime– Newspapers reported that the men were

anarchists and Sacco owned a gun similar to the one used in the crime

– The two were found guilty and executed six years later

Nativism Resurges

• Return of the Ku Klux Klan– Targeted Catholics, Jews, and Immigrants– By 1924, 4 million people belonged to the Klan– The Klan did decline in the late 1920s• Scandals and power struggles within the group• Membership shrank and politicians that were backed

by the Klan were voted out of office• New immigration restrictions deprived the Klan of one

of its major issues

Nativism Resurges

• Controlling Immigration– Emergency Quota Act • Restricted annual admission to the United States

– National Origins Act• Made immigration restriction a permanent policy

Nativism Resurges

• Hispanic Immigration– Employers needed laborers for agriculture,

mining, and railroad work– Mexicans were exempt from the National Origins

Act because they were from the Western Hemisphere

– 700,000 Mexican immigrants migrated to the US in the 1920s

A Clash of Cultures

• Women in the 1920s– 19th Amendment – Gave women the right to vote– Women are seeking ways of breaking free of

traditional roles and behaviors – The car allowed women to get out of the house

and go out with friends– Women began working to break away from

parental authority and establish financial independance

A Clash of Cultures

• Women in the 1920s – Fashion was changing too• Women cut their hair into a bob• Flesh colored stockings• Smoked Cigarettes • Drank liquor • Wore makeup

– Women also attended college • Encouraged students to pursue careers and to

challenge traditional ideas about women’s roles

A Clash of Cultures

• Margaret Sanger – believed people could improve their standard of living by limiting the number of children they had– She founded the American Birth Control League in

1921 to promote knowledge of birth control – This organization later became known as Planned

Parenthood

A Clash of Cultures

• Fundamentalism– Many feared that America was losing its

traditional values– Beliefs of Fundamentalists• The Bible was literally true without any error• Rejected Darwin’s theory of evolution – saying that

human beings had developed from lower forms of life over the course of millions of years• Creationism – the belief that God created the world as

described in the Bible

A Clash of Cultures

• Fundamentalist – Billy Sunday • Former professional baseball player who preached with

showmanship and rapid fire sermons

– Aimee Semple McPherson • Conducted revivals and sermons in Los Angeles • Used a flamboyant theatrical style using stage sets and

costumes

A Clash of Cultures• The Scopes Trial – 1925 Tennessee outlawed any teaching that denied

the story of creation according to the Bible– The American Civil Liberties Union advertised for a

teacher willing to be arrested for teaching evolution– John T Scopes – biology teacher – volunteered – William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor who

represented creationists – Clarence Darrow defended Scopes– After 8 days of trial Scopes was found guilty and fined

$100– The trial was broadcasted over the radio and the

Fundamentalists began to decline

A Clash of Cultures

• Support for Prohibition – Religious reasons, reduce unemployment,

domestic violence and poverty • 18th Amendment – Outlawed the consumption, manufacture, or

transportation of alcohol• Volstead Act – Made the US Treasury responsible for enforcing

prohibition

A Clash of Cultures

• Prohibition– During the 1920s treasury agents made more than

540,000 arrests – Speakeasies – places that sold liquor illegally – Organized Crime• Al Capone – had many police officers, judges, and other

officials on his payroll • Capone dominated Chicago’s organized crime

A Clash of Cultures

• 21st Amendment – Repealed the 18th Amendment– Prohibition did not improve society the way it was

thought that it would