roaring twenties
TRANSCRIPT
Warren G. Harding
• Chosen by political bosses for his easiness to control
• Promoted laissez-faire and ignored antitrust laws
Return to Normalcy
• Harding’s idea of returning the U.S. to the period of peace and prosperity prior to World War I
Teapot Dome Scandal
• Secretary of Interior Albert B. Fall secretly leases oil-rich public land to private companies for drilling
• In return he received money and land
• Caused public to lose trust in the Harding administration
Purchasing Stocks
• Speculation: making high risk investments in hopes of making high returns on their money
• Buying on Margin: buying stocks for only a portion of what they cost and borrowing the difference
Mechanization
• Increase in use of machinery for production allowed manufacturers to produce more and charge less
Consumerism
• Advertisers convinced Americans that they not only wanted, but needed certain products
• Installment Plan: allowed consumers to pay a little at a time– Meant people could purchase more
expensive items
Economic Boom
• People began to purchase more cars, clothes, appliances, and other goods…….on credit
• Easy credit allowed the economy to boom in the 1920’s
Farmers
• During WWI farmers did well because of a high demand for their products
• After WWI overproduction caused prices to fall
• Many farmers could not repay their loans and many lost their homes and land
The Red Scare
• After WWI, the Russian Revolution brought a Communist government to power in Russia
• Americans feared the spread of communist ideas to the U.S.
Palmer Raids
• A. Mitchell Palmer and his agents hunted down communists, socialists, and anarchists
• Deported and/or jailed suspects without trial
Sacco and Vanzetti
• Italian born immigrants
• Convicted of murder based on circumstantial evidence
• Became the symbol of nativist distrust of foreigners during the 1920’s
Ku Klux Klan
• Originally targeted African Americans
• In 1920’s they began to attack Jews, Catholics, and immigrants
Schenk v. U.S.
• Schenk was arrested for urging draftees not to report for duty during WWI
• Supreme Court said government could silent free speech when “clear and present danger” was involved
Emergency Quota Act of 1921
• Passed to curb the number of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe
• Restricted newcomers to 3% of the population for that nationality
Immigration Act of 1924
• Dropped the immigration number down to 2% and based it on the population in 1890
• Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants
Prohibition
• 1920, 18th Amendment passed that forbade the manufacturing and sale of alcohol in the U.S.
• Law was controversial and was in place until 1933
Fundamentalism
• The belief that everything in The Bible is true
• Many people saw advances in technology and science as an attack on Christianity
Scopes Trial• 1925 court case pitting the teaching of
evolution against fundamentalism
• John T. Scopes was tried for breaking Tennessee law against teaching evolution
• Defended by Clarence Darrow
• Prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan
• Drew national attention and controversy
Henry Ford’s Innovations
• $5/Day: $5/Day: Paying employee’s this wage was a way for them to buy his automobiles
• Assembly Line: Assembly Line: Increased efficiency and production of the automobile
• Model T: Model T: First mass produced car; offered in “any color, as long as it was black”
The Automobile
• Provided freedom for Americans
• Brought new job opportunities in road building, mechanics, gas stations, motels, etc..
Consumer Society
• Americans began purchasing through credit or installment plans
• This plunged Americans into deep consumer debt
George Eastman
• Developed the Kodak Camera
• Amateur photographers emerged
• Leads to the development of photojournalism
Babe Ruth
• Baseball star who captured America with his massive home runs
• Helped make baseball America’s game
Orville and Wilbur Wright
• First to achieve successful flight
• Airplanes would be used for military and commercial travel
Motion Pictures
• The Great Train Robbery, the first motion picture
• Soon, every city had movie theaters
Talkies
• Motion pictures with sound became popular
• The Jazz Singer was the first motion picture with sound
Margaret Sanger
• Spread information about the controversial birth control pill
• Started the American Birth Control League
Changes Surrounding Women
• An increase in women entering the workforce during the 1920’s
• Women started wearing shorter hair and shorter skirts
Changes Surrounding Women
• Flappers:Flappers: challenged traditional gender roles, would have men visit their homes, changed the way women dressed and looked
Harlem Renaissance
• A literary and artistic movement celebrating African-American culture
• Saw the rise of African-American poets, writers, artists, singers, and the birth of jazz
Langston Hughes
• Harlem Renaissance's best known poet who wrote about the difficult lives of working class African-Americans
Louis Armstrong
• Jazz musician who was perhaps the most important and influential musician in the history of jazz
“Lost Generation”
• Disenchanted writers from the 1920’s
• Many were disillusioned by WWI
• Wrote about the pitfalls of materialism and greed of the 1920’s
Sinclair Lewis
• Became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature
• Criticized middle America
F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Writer who revealed the negative side of the 1920’s excess
• Most famous book, The Great Gatsby