post-war american life€¦ · • fear of a flood of aliens from war-devastated europe ... piano...

Post-War American Life

The “Roaring Twenties”

1919-1929

Radical Influences • Radical foreign ideas were denounced, especially

after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia

• Led to the “Red Scare” - Attorney General A. Mitchell

Palmer led a crusade against those whose

“Americanism” was suspect

• Labor unions were targeted as “communism in

disguise”

• Palmer Raids – suspected radicals and communists

were deported in 1919-1920 raiding homes and

offices. Nearly all ended up being released

Radical Influences

• Sacco-Vanzetti Case – in 1920 two Italian immigrants

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested on

a murder charge near Boston. Evidence was

contradictory but they were sentenced to hang when the

trial revealed they were anarchists and atheists. They

were executed in 1927.

• Suppressing the Socialists – various laws passed to

make it illegal to be a socialist party member. In 1919,

Schenck v. United States upheld the conviction of a man

who had criticized conscription and Abrams v. United

States (1919) which upheld the conviction (20 years) of

Jacob Abrams for distributing a pamphlet asking workers

to rise against military intervention in Russia

A Ku Klux Klan renewal

• Modern Klan originated in Georgia in 1915 but did not

gain strength until the 1920s

• Attacked Immigrants, Jews, blacks, Catholics, aliens,

religious modernists, pacifists and internationalists

• By 1924, had 5 million members

• Plan of terrorism spread fear among minorities and

led to the Klan to gain political control in several

states

• Internal corruption led to its decline after 1925

Immigration - 1921

Immigration

• Fear of a flood of aliens from war-devastated Europe

led to the Immigration Act of 1921 which limited

immigration from any country to 3% of that nation’s

nationals residing in the US in 1910

• This quota system reduced immigration to a trickle

and specifically targeted those from eastern and

southern Europe (next slide)

• In 1924, the Johnson Act lowered the quota to 2%

of a nations nationals in 1890. It also allowed

unlimited immigration of native-born Canadians and

Latin Americans and barred “Oriental” immigration all

together

Immigration

• 14 million immigrants had arrived in the United States

between 1900 and 1920

• Quotas favored people of Anglo-Saxon descent

– No African country could send more than 100 people a year

– China, Bulgaria, and Palestine could send 100 each

– 34,007 could come from England or Northern Ireland

– 3845 from Italy

– 51,227 from Germany

– 124 from Lithuania

– 28,567 from Ireland

– 2248 from Russia

Prohibition

Federal

agents seize

an illegal

still in

1922. The

north and

west

generally

tried to find

ways

around the

law.

Prohibition

• World War I allowed prohibitionists to argue that cereal

products should be used to feed the soldiers and not make

alcohol.

• During the war, most Americans willingly accepted this

belief and stopped or restricted the consumption of alcohol

• In December 1917, the 18th amendment was passed and

went in to effect by January 1920.

• Forbade the manufacture and sale of all intoxicating

beverages

• Intoxicating beverages (as defined by the Volstead Act-

1919) were those containing more than one-half of one

percent of alcohol.

• Despite the law, drinking not only increased but became

more fashionable in the next decade

Prohibition

Gangsters

• Prohibition led to crime because of the profits

that could be made from illegal alcohol.

• Chicago gang wars (over control of the

industry) resulted in over 500 murders in the

1920s

• Al Capone, dubbed “Public Enemy Number

One” for ordering the massacre of 7 rivals,

could not be convicted of murder - only tax

evasion - and served 8 years

Gangsters

“Scarface”

Al Capone

Organized

crime was

one of the

biggest

businesses

in the U.S.

generating

$12-$18

billion in

1930.

Evolution and Education

• John T. Scopes, a Tennessee high

school science teacher was arrested for

teaching evolution, in violation of state

law

• Prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan

and defended by Clarence Darrow, the

case was a media spectacle

• Scopes was convicted (later overturned)

but 5 days after the trial, Bryan died of a

stroke


John T.

Scopes was

convicted

of teaching

evolution

(which

officially

remained

illegal in

TN until

1967).


The trial

was a

media

spectacle in

the summer

of 1925,

and was

followed

nationwide.

Mass Production and

Consumption

• After the rationing of the war years,

Americans wanted to have all the latest

modern conveniences

• Assembly-line production allowed more

goods to be produced cheaper then ever

before (with the result that workers were

forced into monotonous, unskilled and

dehumanizing jobs)

• Henry Ford’s production line allowed a new

car to roll off the production line every 10

seconds by the mid-1920s

Evolution of the Automobile

• Henry Ford’s first automobile, the Model T,

was introduced in 1909 and cost $950

(11,000 were sold that first year)

• He introduced the assembly line in 1913 and

turned out 248,000 in 1914

• The cost was also reduced to just over $300

• He paid his workers $5 a day (twice the going

rate) so they could afford to buy the cars too -

and fired anyone caught driving another

brand

Evolution of the Automobile

On Ford’s

assembly

line,

workers

repeated

the same

task for

each car -

very little

skill was

needed.

Impact of the Automobile

• By 1914, Ford had turned out his 500,000th car

• By 1930, he had turned out more than 20 million

• By 1929, there was a car for every 5 Americans

• With millions owning cars, they could travel leading to

the need for gas stations, destinations, and tourist

services

• This desire to travel led to the federal government

setting aside money for road construction

Impact of the Automobile

Despite

highway

funds being

available as

early as

1916, roads

saw little

improvement

Here is U.S.

Route 1 in

VA in 1916.

Improving Roads

The Federal

Highway Act of

1916 did start to

improve roads

(albeit very

slowly) – leading

to the massive

paving of

American

highways during

the 1920s

Flight

• The first powered flight of a “heavier

than air machine” took place at Kitty

Hawk, NC on Dec 7th, 1903.

• It lasted just 120 feet.

• Later in the day, the Wright brothers

were able to stay aloft for almost an

entire minute but the uses for this new

form of transportation were limited.

Flight The first

powered

airplane

flight, piloted

first by

Orville then

his brother

Wilber

Wright,

generated

little attention

at first. By 1909, the airplane had been demonstrated as

being useful to the military for reconnaissance

and attack purposes.

Air Mail Service

Charles

Lindbergh was

the first to

contract his

service for the

delivery of Air

Mail (from

Chicago to St.

Louis) in 1925.

Charles Lindbergh flies to Paris

Flight

New York to Paris in 1927 in a record 33 hours.

He was welcomed by huge crowds. Here he

speaks to America upon his return.

During the 1920s,

America and the

world became

fascinated with

“daredevil” pilots

such as Charles

Lindbergh. He

attracted celebrity

status when he

flew non-stop from

Radio

• The first commercial radio station went

on the air in 1920.

• Within 9 years, 10 million families owned

radios and became the instrument for

spreading mass national culture.

• Some of the most popular radio

programs were sports broadcasts and

comedy routines.

Radio

Operating

the

transmitter

of one of

the first

broadcast

stations in

the U.S. -

in Detroit.

Radio

The 1924

Freed-

Eisemann

radio receiver

with a separate

loudspeaker,

illustrates the

way most

Americans

heard the radio

programs of

the day.

Movies and Hollywood

The very

first motion

picture was

exhibited in

the United

States in

1896 using

a projector

designed by

Thomas

Edison.


In 1903, the

first film to tell

a story was

produced - The

Great Train

Robbery. It,

like many

short films of

the day, was

accompanied

by a live

musician

playing a

piano score.


• By 1910, there were more than 10,000 movie

houses in the United States.

• Silent films were so popular that it is estimated

that more silent films were made between 1903

and 1927 than the number of talking films

made since!

• Because of the high cost of making studio-

based films (sound stages), the industry was

dominated by just 5 studios in the late 1920s -

Fox, Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, and

RKO.


In addition, the

motion picture

industry led to a

tremendous growth

in the Southern

California

economy, which

attracted movie

production because

of its near year-

round sunshine -

necessary for early

cameras.

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford

(above) were two of the early stars.


By the mid-20s, stars such

as Rudolph Valentino and

Clara Bow were the envy of

the American public.

Other leading stars of the 20s

included Charlie Chaplin,

Greta Garbo, among others.


In 1927, the first

major advance in

movie technology

debuted in The Jazz

Singer starring Al

Jolson -- sound! It

was the first

“talking picture.”

The “talkie”

spelled the end for

the silent film era -

and the careers of

many actors whose

voices did not fit

with the image they

had created.

Dramatic Culture Changes

• The Harlem Renaissance

– The great migration from the South

– The urban ghetto

– Rediscovery of black folk culture –

primarily a literary movement but to

some extent it included music, theatre,

art, politics

– Negro nationalism: Marcus Garvey

The Harlem Renaissance

James Weldon Johnson was one of the

founders of the Harlem Renaissance. He

founded and was secretary of the NAACP

from 1916 to 1930 and was also a gifted

poet.

He published Fifty Years and other

Poems as an ironic commentary on the

50th anniversary of emancipation.

He teamed with W.E.B. DuBois to form

an intellectual center around which other

literary and artistic talent developed.

Marcus Garvey – the other side Marcus Garvey represented another

side of the Harlem intellectual

movement. He rejected all

compromise and integration with

whites, and founded the United

Negro Improvement Association

(UNIA) to promote African identity

and unity.

He established the Black Star Line (a

steamship company) the became a

key element in the “Back to Africa”

movement. Poor management led to

its near financial collapse. In 1923 he

was convicted for mail fraud as a

result of stock sales in the company

and was deported in 1927.


Claude McKay

signaled the

beginning of

the Harlem

Renaissance in

1922 when he

published

Harlem

Shadows, an

eloquent book

of poetry.


Langston

Hughes became

known as the

“poet

laureate”of

Harlem during

the 1920s. His

poetry described

the urban life of

the African-

American

ghettoes of the

1920s.


“The Brown Madonna”

published by Alain Locke

in The New Negro: An

Interpretation. The

poetry, prose and art of

the Harlem Renaissance

sought to bring a new

dignity to African-

American women in an

age where the

predominant stereotype

was of an “Aunt

Jemimah” mammy image.


• The Harlem Renaissance

– NAACP

• Organized in 1910 – by both black and white

• Strategy was legalistic – eliminate the “grandfather

clause”

• Attack on lynching

– Political strength

• Oscar DePriest first black Congressman elected

from North (from IL in 1928)

• Legal victory: Scottsboro Case


• The New Morality

– Revolution in manners and morals

– F. Scott Fitzgerald led revolution

– Sigmund Freud's theories promoted

discussion of sex

– Sex in books, magazines, and movies.

– New views of marriage

• Roles within the family change

• Rise in divorce rate


• Women's Movement

– Alice Paul and the militant movement

– Carrie Chapman Catt and the National

Suffrage Association

– Nineteenth Amendment ratified

– Equal Rights Amendment proposed 1923

– Working women

• Increased in number

• Most still traditional occupations

League of Women Voters

Maud May Wood Park was one of

the leaders of the Women’s

Suffrage Association (along with

Carrie Chapman Catt) which

reorganized after the 19th

Amendment went into effect. The

goal of the new organization was to

education newly enfranchised

women to cast their votes effectively

and intelligently.


• Creation of American music

– Classical music:

• Interest in it grew because of immigrants

• Led to the Metropolitan Opera "Golden Era”

– Light Classical Music:

• Irving Berlin & Jerome Kern – Ragtime band

• George Gershwin

– Jazz - distinctly American music**

• Fletcher Henderson, King Oliver, Duke Ellington,

Jelly Roll Morton – Big Band/ Jazz musicians

Jazz Music

Edward Kennedy

“Duke” Ellington

formed a band in

1918 and by the

1920s had

received local

Harlem notice for

his jazz piano

arrangements. He

later achieved

international

acclaim through

radio broadcasts.

Literary Revolution** (AHCD Slides)

• The Modernist movement in literature

included works by:

– Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott

Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos,

John Steinbeck, Richard Wright, Eugene O'Neill,

Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, and Maxwell

Anderson

• A parallel movement - the Southern

Renaissance - included:

– Thomas Wolfe and William Faulkner

Modernism in Art and

Architecture • Landscape artists: Grant Wood – painter of “American

Gothic”

• Impressionism – Claude Monet, Degas, Renoir

• Louis Sullivan (teacher and mentor to…) & Frank

Lloyd Wright – simplicity, space flowed from interior

to exterior

• Gutzon Borglum- Mt. Rushmore begun in 1927 cost

$1 million. Died in 1941 (only ¾ completed – only

Roosevelt’s head undone. Finished by his son in 1941)

• Metropolitan Museum of Art expanded

• Museum of Modern Art – established in 1929

The New Pastime - Sports

• Development of Baseball – radio broadcasts became

common and more than 20 million fans paid to see

games in 1927 alone - the year that George Herman

“Babe” Ruth hit 60 home runs

• Football – College football especially popular. 1st

professional league created – American Professional

Football Association and the National Football League

was created in 1922.

• Tennis – American Bill Tilden won Wimbledon in

1920, 21, and 30 (3x). He was also US champion

1920-25 and 29 (7x)

Booming Economy

• Unemployment was down from 4.27 million in 1921 to

just over 2 million in 1927

• General level of wages rose - 40% of all families

earned more than $2000 a year

• But, prosperity was concentrated at the top!

• From 1922 to 1929, real wages in manufacturing rose

1.4% a year per capita, but stockholders gained 16.4%

a year

• 42% of families made less than $1000 a year

• 0.1% of the top earners received as much as the

bottom 42%

post-war american life€¦ · • fear of a flood of aliens from war-devastated europe ... piano...

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