1920sRed ScareProhibition

Science v EvolutionMass ConsumptionCars, planes, radioRepublican Guard

Boom & Bust

Radicals• Reaction to WWI

– We bcm insular– Denounce commitments to 4n nations, ideas

• Quotas- seal off US from immigrants• Tariffs- seal US off economically

• Hysterical fear of Red Russia – post 1917– Tensions up from strikes

• Result of rising prices, frustrated workers• American’s conclusion: labor troubles due to Bolsheviks

– Reaction to strikes: severe

– Gen Strike- Seattle

– Mayer calls for Fed troops to head off anarchy

Big Red Scare 1919-20

• Crusade against liberals• Atty Gen A. Mitchell Palmer, (Fighting Quaker)-

excessive zeal– Totaled 6k

• After bomb attack on Palmer’s house, efforts double• (Quaking Fighter)• Dec 1919- Soviet Ark, SS Buford

– 249 illegal alien ‘radicals’ -> USSR– Motto: Ship or Shoot

• Sep 1920: Wall St bomb kills 38, wounds hundreds

Red Scare 2

• States pass anti-red laws- some against advocacy of violence for social change– Impinged on 1st amendment– IWWs and other radicals prosecuted– Red Scare used by business against unions

• Labor’s demand for ‘closed shop’ (all union)= Sovietism

Sacco & Vanzetti

• Nicola Sacco: shoe factory worker

• Bartolomeo Vanzetti: fish peddler– Arrested, convicted 1921: murder of MA

paymaster & guard• Italians, atheists, anarchists, draft dodgers• Case 6 yrs 1927 execution

– Evidence: flimsy– Trial fear driven

KKK: New Klan, like 1850s nativists

• Anti – 4nrs– Catholics– Blacks– Jews– Pacifists– Communists– Revolutionists– Bootleggers– Gamblers– Birth control– diversity

KKK 2

• Pro:– Anglo Saxon– Americans– Protestants– Ultra conservatism

• Spread fast S MW

• Mid 1920s: 5 million

KKK3

• Appeals to America’s – Love of excitement, adventure– Joining– Secret rituals

• Parades, fiery crosses• Whips, tar & feathers• Songs about killing Jews, Blacks, Catholics

• Late 20s investigation: embezzlement by officials– Exposed as vicious racket based on $10 initiation fee

• Membership drops

Quotas

• Emergency Quota Act 1921– 1920-1: 800,000 immigrants; mostly from S & E Euro

• 100% Amers: “Wretched refuse of E’s teaming shores”• 3% of nationality in US in 1910; per yr

• Immigrant Act 1924– Cut to 2% of census of 1890

• Eng & Ire: 65,721 yr• Italy: 5,802

– Goal: freeze US racial composition– Cut out Japanese immigrants

» Hate American rallies in J» L.A. and Canadians exempt from Quotas» By 1931 more foreigners left Amer than arrived

Prohibition

• Supported by churches & women– 1919: 18th amendment; volstead act

• Most pop S, MW• Opposed mostly: big cities, East, 4nrs• Wild Last Flings most assumed permanent

– Feds never fully enforce– Majority hostile to it– Hard to turn tradition into crime

– Enforcement hampered by• Post war disillusionment w/ self denial• Striking a blow for liberty• Returning soldires, workers

Prohib 2

• Youth made it fashionable– State & fed agencies understaffed– Snoopers underpaid, bribable– Public outcry of those killed by dry agents,

many innocent bystanders

• Corner saloons replaced by speakeasies– Secret password for entry– Hard liquor consumption goes up

Prohib 3

• Difficulty in transportation, concealing– High alcoholic content desirable– Rum W Indies– Whiskey CA– Home brew & bathtub gin pop

• Worst produced blindness or death

• Not entirely a failure:– Bank savings go up– Industrial absenteeism down– Over all liquor consumption down

• Prohibition was a darn sight better than no liquor at all.

Gangsters

• Crime goes up due to Prohibition (profits)– Gang Wars: comp. 4 illegal customers

• 20s Chicago over 500 killed• 25: ‘Scarface’ Al Capone (booze distrib)• Pub Enemy #1- made millions illegally• 29 massacre of 7 disarmed rival gang members

– Not convicted– Later arrested for tax evasion

» Served most of 11 yr sentence» Released dying of syphilus

Gangsters 2

• Gangsters prostitution gambling narcotics– Merchants pd protection $$ to gangsters 2

keep from harm

Lindbergh Kidnapping

• 1932: baby kidnapped, held for ransom, murdered

• Congress passed Lindbergh Law– Interstate abduction in certain cases gets

death penalty

Education

• More states req’r young to stay in school

• Till 16 or 18

• #HS grads doubles in 20s– To ¼

• John Dewey- prof Columbia U– Learn by doing principles of progressive edu– Edu for life: primary goal– Create socially useful adults

Scientific advances

• Hookworm wiped out by 20s by massive Public Health program– Better Nutrition & Health Care increased life

expectancy from 50 (1901) to 59 (1929)

• Opposition to both Edu & Sci from Fundamentalists– Charged teaching Darwinism (evolution)

destroys faith in God & contribs to moral breakdown of youth

Scopes Trial

• 3 Southern states outlawed teaching evolution– TN, heart of bible belt– Likeable HS Bio teacher: John Scopes

• Indicted for teaching evolution in Dayton, TN• Defended by ACLU; Clarence Darrow• Prosecution: Wm J Bryan- presby fund.

– Darrow q’d Bryan as expert on bible

– Bryan died 5 days after trial ends

– Scopes found guilty; fined $100

– SP CT upheld; set aside fine: technicality

– Absurdity of trial cast ridicule on cause

Mass Consumption

• Prosperity- real, sustained– After recession 1920-21; 7 yrs widely shared

growth• WWI + Andrew Mellon’s tax policies favor

expansion of capital investment• Machines increase productivity• Assembly line production perfected by Ford’s

Rouge River plant- Detroit produced a finished car every 10 sec

• Supplying electricity to run machines bcm big business

Mass Consumpt 2

• Auto becomes accessible in cost to all– 30 million by 1930

• Mass markets are needed– Birth of advertising industry

» Image makers» Buying on credit» Buy now; pay later

The Automobile

• Gas engine (Daimler-Benz) adapted in US– 1890s Henry Ford & Ransom Olds – 1910 69 companies

• Annual production 181,000 cars– Early models stall frequently- hand cranked– Passed by horse drawn carriages, “Get a horse!”

– Model T (Tin Lizzy; flivver) cheap, rugged, reasonably reliable

• Standardized parts

Auto 2

• Ford- ill educated; mechanical genius– Socially, culturally narrow– “History is bunk”– By mid 20s- Ford Roadster: $260

• 2 enforce prohibition; pub’d notice: – Will cost a man his job to have odor of beer, wine or

liquor on his breath or to have any on his person or in his home

– By 1930: 20 mill Model Ts sold• 20% Americans owned one

Impact of autos• Thousands of new jobs

– Gas 25 Cents per gallon 1913• Gas stations, garages, rubber, glass, road construction• By 1930 – 6 mill employed directly/ indirectly• Rise in standard of living• Oil business booms- esp CA, TX, OK

– RRs hard hit by competition

– Speedy marketing of foodstuffs

– Roads expand; pd 4 by gas taxes

– More Amers owned cars than bathtubs (can’t go to town in a washtub)

» Consolidation of school districts, churches

» Suburbs expand

» 1 mill Amers died in auto accidents by 1951- more than in all wars to date

» Boosted gang activity

Flight• Wright Bros- 2 obscure bicycle repair men

– Kitty Hawk, NC- Dec 17, 1903– Air born: 12 seconds; 120 feet

• Used WWI• By 1920- various passenger lines]• Charles Lindbergh “flying fool”- 1st solo flight to

Paris• Prize: $25,000; “Spirit of St. Louis” 33.5 hrs

– Boosted aviation– RRs lost passengers, mail– Air war now possible– Isolation is gone

Radio

• Guglielmo Marconi- Italy; invented 1890s– Wireless telegraphy

• Used for long range communication WWI• Later: voice carrying radio

• 1920 Pittsburgh sta KDKA broadcast news of Harding’s landslide

Republicans are back• Harding: well liked, ez going, warm, personable,

gracious, liked people– Mediocre mind– “God, what a job!” out of his depth

• No ‘crap detector’ Ohio Gang: morally bankrupt– “Not a bad man, just a slob”

– Promised to gather best minds about him• Charles Evans Hughes- Sec State• Andrew Mellon- Sec Treasury• Herbert Hoover- Sec of Commerce• Albert B Fall- Sec of Interior (scheming anti conservationist)• Harry M Daugherty- Atty Gen (sm town lawyer)

New “old guard”• Improving on Laissez-faire trend

– Gov helping business be profitable• Sup Ct: filled 4 vacancies in 3 yrs w reactionary

judges– Taft as Chief Justice surprisingly liberal

• Axed progressive legislation– Killed federal child labor law– Restricted gov intervention in econ– 1923: Adkins v.Children’s Hosp: overturned a min wage

law for women» Because they had the vote; no protection needed

• Anti trust laws ignored• ICC dominated by men favorable to RRs

Post war economy• RRs go back to private management

– Esch-Cummins transportation Act 1920• Encouraged private consolidation of RRs & pledged ICC co-

op

– Shipping: Merchant Marine Act 1920• Let shipping board dispose of much of hastily built wartime

fleet- bargain basement prices

– Labor- deprived of wartime support• Bloody steel strike 1919 broken by branding strikes ‘red’ &

exploiting ethnic + racial divisions• Railway labor board ordered paycut 12% 1922

– Provoked 2 mo strike

– Stopped by injunction

– Union membership down 30% 1920-30

Post War 2• Black migration in WWI

– Huge reign of terror- race riots in Chicago• 23 blacks died; 15 whites

• Veterans: 1921- Veteran’s Bureau created to operate hospitals, private, vocational rehab– New pressure groups- ‘American Legion’ 1919

• Militant patriotism, conservatism, anti radicalism

• Lobbied for vet benefits- esp pensions & readjusted compensation for wages lost

• ‘Bonus Bill’ passed 22- Harding Vetoed.

• 1924 Adjusted Compensation Act passed– Gave all vets ‘pd up inusr policy’ due in 20 yrs

– Added 3.5 billion to total cost of war

– Coolidge vetoed; congress overrode

– Congress passed joint resolution ending war 1921

Post War 3

• League of Nations- at first ignored by early 20s US sent unofficial observers– Disarmament sparked by business’ unwillingness to

finance enlarged navy• Washington Conf 1921-2

– 10 yr moratorium on shipbuilding

– Scaled down navies of US, BR, Japan- 5:5:3

– 5 power naval treaty ‘22: US + Br agree not to fortify far E possessions

– 4 power treaty ‘22: replaced old Anglo-Japanese alliance w/ Br, Japan, Fr & US to preserve status quo in Pacific

– 9 power treaty ‘22: signatories agree to protect open door to China

Post War 4• No restrictions on sm warships

– Other nations built up cruisers, destroyers, subs• Congress ratified 4 power treaty w/o commitment to use 4c

or joint action• Effort to outlaw war: Kellogg Briand Pact 1928

– Pact of Paris ratified by 62 nations

– Useless in showdown

• Tariff goes up 1922– Fordney-McCumber tariff: almost as high as Payne-

Aldrich T• Chain reaction• Europe needed to sell goods to US to pay off war debts• Wd buy US goods w/ profit

– Now Europeans raise tariffs too

Harding Scandals• 1923 Charles Forbes

– Forced to resign from Veterans’ Bureau• Looted 200 mill in connection w/ building hospitals• 2 yrs in Fed Penn

• Teapot Dome: leasing of Naval Oil Reserves– WY, Elk Hills CA

• Albert Fall had gotten Sec of Navy Denby to transfer (after ‘gift’ of $400K) from Oil men

– Oil men indicted by 1923; acquitted– Fall gets 1 yr for taking bribes

Harding Scandals

• Attorney Gen Daugherty – Senate investigation for illegal sale of liquor

permits, pardons• Forced to resign• Tried 1927; hung jury; released

• Harding on tour across US 1923– Died in AK of Pneumonia, thrombosis

Coolidge

• Sworn in by dad J.P. middle of night– Honest, moral, frugal, ‘Silent Cal’, shy– Favored status quo; big business

• Supported Mellon’s tax, debt reductions– OK w/ industrial bigness– Clearly not involved in scandals– Public shock fades; lulled by prosperity

Farmers

• Gov’t price supports stop after WWI– Gas engine tractors- revolutionized sowing, cultivation

• Production goes up• Acreage expands• Surplus builds… depression hits farmers

– Farm bloc in Congress passed:• Capper-Volstead Act: exempts farm co-ops from anti trust

presecution• McNary-Haugen bill: 28- kept agri prices up & lets Gov buy

surplusses to sell abroad• Loss to gov paid by special tax on Farmers- passed 2x;

vetoed by Coolidge

Election 1924

• Dems split, nominated Conservative lawyer John W Davis– Progressive party offers La Follette again

• Davis: 8.3 mill• Coolidge: 15.7 mill

Coolidge Foreign Policy

• Isolation continues

• Armed intervention in Latin Amer– Troops removed from Dom Rep 1924– Haiti- troops 1914-34– Nicaragua troops removed 1925; back 1926-

33• Yanqui Imperialism

Debts

• Private loans, allied war debts, German Reparations– 1914 US= debtor nation $4bill– 1922 US= creditor nation $16 Bill– Key: 10 bill loaned by treasury to allies

during/after war• Allies think repayment unfair

– Loans = war costs– US post war tariffs make trade impossible so.. No

repayment

Debts 2• The Fix: allies seek 32 bill in reparations

from G– Fr Ruhr Valley– Berlin allows currency to inflate dramatically– G on verge of anarchy/ collapse– Calls for debt cancellation

• Dawes Plan- 1924 (vp 1924-28) rescheduled repayments – Amers loan more to G; this is paid to BR/FR

who pay us back• Stops after crash 1929

1928 Hoover

• Sec of commerce- unpop w/ bosses– Darling of masses– V. Al Smith (Catholic) Wet, Liberal

• Nation not ready to dump Nobel Experiment– Too urban, Catholic “Happy Warrior”– On the radd-eo contrast w/ dignified Iowa born Hoover

» Rugged Individualism» Favored industry, thrift, self-reliance» Millionaire (engineering) recoiled from any kind of

planned econ- too much like socialism

Hoover landslide

• Wage earners, farmers, not sharing in prosperity– Agricultural & Marketing Act June 29: to help

farmers help selves thru cooperatives• Est: Federal Farm Board w/ ½ bill to lend to farm

orgs to buy, sell, store surpluses• Farm Board creates Grain Stabilization Corp &

Cotton Stabilization Corps to buy up surpluses, stabilize prices… both failed

– Wheat fell to 57 c a bushel; cotton to 5 c a lb

Farmers

• Cling to tariff– stampede Hoover into pledge– Result: Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930: highest

protective tariff in peace time history• Average duty on non free goods rose from 38% to

almost 60%• Ended foreign trade

The Crash

• Over speculation: prices too high; profits not real– Federal Reserve Board allowed to curb spec

• British raised interest rates to bring back capital lured abroad by Amer. Investments– 4n investors began to dump ‘insecurities’ +

mass sell off followed• Black Tuesday: Oct 29, 29

– End of 1929 stockholders lost $40 bill in paper value

Causes of Crash

• 1. Over production of farm and factory goods

• 2. uneven distribution of wealth– money in hands of a few wealthy

• 3. Over extended credit – installment plan buying

• 4. Over speculation• Chain reaction: collapse of Europe’s financial

houses

Hoover’s response

• Reputation: wonder worker; efficiency engineer– The Dole in England seen as soul destroying;

humiliating• Could weaken/ destroy nation’s fiber

– Rugged Individualism• Up by bootstraps• Industry, thrift, self-reliance- GT Amer. Hallmarks

– Compromise: assistance for RRs, banks, rural credit corps to restore financial health at top of pyramid.. Benefits to trickle down

Hoover’s response 2

• Public Opinion: harsh- fed far away Belgians but willing to help only banks, big businesses who caused this mess

• Willing to feed pigs; not people

• Trickle Down: at last recommends Gov spend big sums on public works projects; got 2.25 Bill from congress– Warns nation prosperity can’t be restored by

raids on public treasury

Hoovers Response 3• Public works: impressive: Hoover Dam on

CO river.. Voted in Coolidge’s term– Began 1930 under Hoover; completed 36– Created huge man made lake for irrigation,

flood control, electric power

• Refused to pass Muscle Shoals Bill (socialistic scheme) to dam TN River bcs it would sell electricity in competition w/ TN Valley Cos run by private citizens– Will become TVA under FDR

RFC

• Reconstruction Finance Corp– w/ ½ bill in capital– Gov lending bank– Direct relief to insurance cos banks, agri orgs,

RRs, state and local govs• Benefits are too little; too late• Gov profits too much

– AKA: Millionaire’s Dole

Midterm elections 1930

• Dem Majority in House; close in Senate

1932• Bonus Army

– Vet’s drive for premature payment on deferred bonus voted by Congress 1924; payable 1945

– Thousands (Bonus Expeditionary Force) DC• Summer, set up unsanitary public camps shacks on giant

vacant lot: Anacostia Flats- Hooverville• Menace to public health• Intimidation of Congress• Pending bonus bill fails by sm margin• Hoover pays return fare of about 6,000 rest refuse to

decamp.. Ordered to do so• Riots; 2 lives lost• Hoover responds to demands of DC authorities, sends army

to evacuate flats

Bonus Army 2

• Gen Douglas Mac Arthur led troops w/ bayonets.. Tear gas, torched shanties

• Hoover now booed