The The Roaring Roaring TwentieTwentie

ss

World War One was a shocking experience for the country

• After seeing the horrors of a European war, most Americans wanted to return to the isolationism Washington spoke of in his farewell address.

Wilson & Democrats rejected!

• Senate refused to sign Treaty of Versailles

• Senate refused to join League of Nations

• Voters elect Republican Warren Gamaliel Harding

“Back to ‘Normalcy’”

Harding wanted America to return to life and work without a war to fight or sacrifice for…”normality”

Harding was extremely pro-business

Post war ProblemsPost war Problems Recession: Factories stopped making war Recession: Factories stopped making war

supplies and 2 million soldiers came supplies and 2 million soldiers came home from Europe looking for work.home from Europe looking for work.

Closed factoriesClosed factories

++ High UnemploymentHigh Unemployment

==

Recession (no one wants to buy Recession (no one wants to buy anything)anything)

Post war Problems• Corruption & Scandals!• Harding was yet another president

who appointed his buddies to important government jobs

• Charles Forbes head of the Veterans Bureau, convicted of stealing MILLIONS from that bureau – that’s right, he was stealing money from veterans right after a WAR

Corruption & Scandals

• Albert Fall, Secretary of the interior leased government land in CA & WY for oil companies to drill on

• Teapot Dome Scandal

Scandals & Betrayals lead to Heart Attack!

• Harding dies in office 1923.

• Vice President Calvin Coolidge takes over as President

““Silent Cal” CoolidgeSilent Cal” Coolidge

The business of America is

business.

The Coolidge Administration• Coolidge VERY pro-business• He cut regulations on businesses• Coolidge appointed business leaders

to head government agenciesHypothetical Example: the owner of

the biggest slaughterhouses in the US being put in charge of the USDA

Coolidge Economy• By 1923, Factories switched from

making weapons to making consumer goods

• more people had $ from jobs in factories, those people started buying goods, demand went up so factories hired more people, those people started buying goods, factories hired more people, and on and on…

Automobiles Spur Industry

Car Body

Tires Windshield Power Assembly

How many How many different jobs different jobs can you come can you come up with?up with?

• The boom of the 1920’s was called “Coolidge Prosperity”

• More and more Americans were buying consumer goods

• More and more Americans were using CREDIT to buy these goods

• Stock prices continued to rise

Economic Boom!

Bull Market• When the stock

market goes through a period of increased trading & rising stock prices, it is known as a Bull Market

• The opposite is known as a Bear Market

• Bull Market = good • Bear Market = bad

Headed for Disaster

• Many investors were borrowing $ to buy stocks (buying on margin)

• Stocks became overvalued (not worth the $ that people bought them for)

• Many consumers were borrowing $ to buy consumer goods (buying on credit)

Foreign Policy in the 1920’s

• Isolationism (Europe): United States still refused to join League of Nations

• Interventionism (Latin America): 1926 Marines sent to Nicaragua to oversee elections. 1927 US diplomats convince Mexico not to take over foreign owned oil & mining companies

The Soviet Union• Americans did not support

communism in the Soviet Union (Russia)

• Communism is an economic system where all wealth & property are owned by the community

• Despite dislike of communism, Americans sent tons of food to Soviet Union, saving millions of lives

• Fear of communists (The Red Scare) will soon grip USA

Visualize Whirled Peas

• 1928 – United States & 61 other nations sign Kellog-Briand Pact

• The pact outlawed war• There was no way to enforce the

pact• It will soon fail

Homework

•724-729

•Question 5 (a & b)

1920’s Culture• Lots of crazy fads;

– Flagpole sitting

– The Charleston

– Flappers

Jazz

• Jazz music became very popular during the 1920’s

• It was a blend of the blues and European classical music (Ragtime)

• At the time jazz was considered a bad influence on young people

• An original art form created by African Americans

Louis Armstrong• Jazz Ambassador; trumpet/coronet

Bessie Smith• One of the greatest Jazz/Blues singers of all time

Duke Ellington• Composer, pianist, bandleader

Writers

• Ernest “Papa” Hemmingway

• Wrote of his wartime experiences as ambulance driver in Europe

• Powerful writer of short, declarative sentences

F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Wrote The Great Gatsby

• Novel about wealthy partiers unable to find happiness

Langston Hughes• Poet & author

– The younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly, too.

Zora Neal Hurston

• Writer who traveled through the South collecting African American folktales

Heroes

• George Herman “Babe” Ruth

• Orphan from Baltimore

• Pitcher & power-hitter for the New York Yankees

• Hit 60 Home Runs in one season

Charles “Lucky” Lindbergh

• 1st solo transatlantic flight

• Plane called “The Spirit of St. Louis”

• Later became vocal supporter of Hitler and the Nazis

Red Scare

The Soviet Union was successful!

• A worker-based communist government had been created and was thriving

Communism demands an international worker revolution

“Workers of all countries unite, you have nothing to lose but

your chains.” Karl Marx

Our 1st Question:

• At the time (1920’s) was this international revolution a threat to the US government?

How would you describe the Harding & Coolidge

Administrations?

• Pro-business generally means anti-labor

Were the Republican administrations of the 1920’s anti-

labor?

• During WWI, the War Industries Board was generally pro-labor.

• After the war, workers wanted higher wages

• Management said “NO!”

• What do workers do when they don’t like the way they’re being treated?

Were the Republican administrations of the 1920’s anti-labor?

• Strikes were broken using the police and private detectives (Pinkertons)

Bad times for working people

• Few strikes were successful

• Many workers badly beaten

• Company Unions formed

• Union membership declines significantly

How do workers feel about the government?

• Their wages have not gone up

• Their strikes have been violently attacked

• The government has not helped them at all

Birth of the Red Scare

• If American workers are unhappy, what might they do?

• What kind of people might influence them to do that?

Foreign Radicals!Foreign Radicals!

• Fear of foreign radicals leads to unfair Fear of foreign radicals leads to unfair trial & execution of Sacco & Vanzettitrial & execution of Sacco & Vanzetti

• Fear of foreign radicals leads to Fear of foreign radicals leads to resurgence of the KKKresurgence of the KKK

• Fear of foreign radicals leads to Fear of foreign radicals leads to Quota Quota SystemSystem (limits on immigration) (limits on immigration)

Final Question

• What are two events that contributed to the Red Scare?