AP US History

East High School

Mr. Peterson

Spring 2011

COPING WITH CHANGE, 1920-1929

Focus QuestionsWhat economic innovations came in the 1920s, and

what was their effect on different social groups?What political and social ideas shaped the

administrations of Presidents Harding and Coolidge?What developments underlay 1920s’ mass culture,

and how did they affect American life and leisure?What social developments contributed to the cultural

creativity and conflicts of the 1920s?How did Herbert Hoover’s social and political

thought differ from that of Harding and Coolidge?

A New Economic Order

Booming Business, Ailing AgricultureAfter recovering from 1920 depression,

economy booms3% unemploymentTremendous growth in nonfarm economy

New consumer goodsAutomobile

Ford Model A

Production facilities worldwideHigh tariffs

Fig. 23-1, p. 698

Fig. 23-2, p. 699

p. 699

New Modes of Producing, Managing, and Selling

Assembly-line work“Fordization”Fordism worldwide

Business consolidationCorporate giants dominate

Chain storesAdvertising and credit sales

Targeting female consumers

23CO, p. 696

Struggling Labor Unions in a Business Age

Craft unions didn’t fit with mass-production

Anti-union violenceStrikes failedRacial discrimination in unions

Stand pat Politics in a Decade of Change

The Evolving Presidency: Scandals and Public-Relations Manipulation

Warren G. Harding elected in 1920“normalcy”

Notable cabinet selectionsCharles Evans Hughes (State), Andrew Mellon

(Treasury), Herbert Hoover (Commerce)Harding dies of heart attack in 1923Weak cabinet picks caught up in scandal

“Teapot Dome” and Sec. of Interior Albert FallAttorney General committed suicide

p. 703

Calvin Coolidge“Silent Cal”Radio addresses

Republican Policy Making in a Pro-business Era

Supreme Court under Taft Overturned federal ban on child laborAid for flooding rejectedFarm supports rejected

p. 705

Independent InternationalismWashington Naval Arms Conference

Significant arms reductionsKellogg-Briand Pact

Renounced aggression and outlawed war

Progressive Stirrings, Democratic Party Divisions

Rural prenatal and baby-care centers passed

Federal Radio Commission establishedElection of 1924

Republicans nominate CoolidgeProgressive Party nominates Robert La

Follette in 1924Democrats split and nominate John DavisCoolidge wins in landslide

Women and Politics in the 1920s: Achievements and Setbacks

Women’s Joint Congressional Committee createdCall for constitutional amendment banning

child labor rejected by states

Mass Society, Mass Culture

Cities, Cars, Consumer GoodsUrban majority in 1920 census

By 1930, 40% of blacks live in citiesLaborsaving devices ease houseworkStore-bought clothes become the normGrowth of automobiles provides freedom

of movement

Fig. 23-3, p. 707

Fig. 23-4, p. 707

Mass-Produced EntertainmentMass-circulation magazines

Saturday Evening Post and Reader’s DigestBook-of-the-Month ClubRadio

KDKA in Pittsburgh reports Harding electionNBC and CBS createdAmos ‘n Andy

MoviesThe Ten Commandments by Cecil B. De MilleThe Jazz Singer introduces synchronized soundMickey Mouse

p. 710

p. 697

p. 711

Celebrity CultureMiss AmericaBabe Ruth-“The Sultan of Swat”Jack Dempsey and Gene TunneyCharles Lindbergh

The Spirit of St. Louis

p. 712

Cultural Ferment and Creativity

The Jazz Age and the Postwar CrisisMedia and literary creation

New types of behaviorDancing, drinking, parties

Sigmund Freud and psychologyChanging “courtship”

“the flapper”Shorter skirts, short hair, make-up, losing the

petticoat

p. 717

p. 714

p. 715

Alienated Writers“The lost generation”Rejected old order

H.L. Mencken and American MercuryErnest Hemingway-A Farewell to ArmsSinclair Lewis-Babbitt

p. 713

The Harlem RenaissancePoet Langston Hughes-The Weary BluesComposer William Grant-Afro American

SymphonyArtists Aaron Douglas and Augusta SavageNovelist Claude McKay-Home to HarlemHarlem jazz clubs attracted blacks and

whitesJazz spreads throughout country and

Europe

A Society in Conflict

Needed Workers/Unwelcome AliensHispanic newcomers, immigration soarsFarm workers sustained California citrus

industryLabor needed

p. 719

p. 719

Nativism, Anti-radicalism, and the Sacco-Vanzetti Case

Anti-Semitic propaganda in Henry Ford’s Dearborn Independent

Immigrant radicals Sacco and Vanzetti convicted of murder and executed

Fundamentalism and the Scopes TrialTennessee outlawed teaching of evolution

ACLU recruits challenger of lawSubstitute teacher John Scopes tried

Defense attorney Clarence Darrow William Jennings Bryan assists prosecution and

defends fundamentalist biblical account of creation

The Ku Klux KlanRise of new Klan in 1920s

“100 percent Americanism”Anti-black, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, ant-

immigrantDerides lost purity of America

Spreads from South throughout countryControls much of government in Oklahoma

and OregonCollapses when Indiana Grand Dragon

accused of raping his secretary and he commits suicide

p. 721

The Garvey MovementMarcus Garvey

Universal Negro Improvement AssociationUrges black economic solidarityUrges blacks to go “back to Africa,” to

“Motherland”Criticized by most black leaders, including

W.E.B. Du Bois and NAACP

p. 722

Prohibition: Cultures in ConflictProhibition loses support and is repealed

in 1933, 21st AmendmentDrinkers, rum runners, moonshiners become

bolderOrganized crime rises

Speakeasies bring Capone $60 million

“drys” vs. “wets”1928 election sees prohibition as major issue

Hoover at the Helm

The Election of 1928Democrats nominate Catholic Al SmithRepublicans choose Herbert Hoover

Distrusted by many conservativesHoover wins in a landslide

Map 23-1, p. 725

Table 23-1, p. 725

Herbert Hoover’s Social Thought“The Great Engineer”

More of an activist than Harding and Coolidge

Believed in “rational economic developmentSupport “voluntarism” for businesses to

support welfare capitalismBuilt Boulder (Hoover) DamCreated a Federal Farm Board

p. 726

AP US History

East High School

Mr. Peterson

Spring 2011

COPING WITH CHANGE, 1920-1929