Chapter 23

Coping with Change

1920-1929

Introduction• In many ways modern America began in the “Roaring Twentie

s”• It was a time of rapid economic growth, technological

advances, and changing social and cultural values• With millions of cars coming off Detroit’s assembly lines,

Americans took to the roads• They were entertained by movies and radio programs• They bought an array of new consumer products• All of these new developments in society stimulated great

artistic creativity, but also contributed to social tensions, fears, and culture wars

Introduction

1.) Why was the economy so prosperous in the 1920’s and how were different social groups affected by the economic boom?

2.) What were the dominant political values of the 1920’s, and how did Republican presidents of the period represent them?

3.) What was the new popular culture of the decade, and which Americans did it barely touch?

4.) What developments in the period contributed to both the social tensions and the artistic flowering?

A New Economic Order

• Booming Business, Ailing Agriculture• Demobilization following WWI disrupted the economy• Caused a sharp recession• By 1922, recovery had set in

• For the rest of the decade the economy grew rapidly and prospered

• Development of electric appliances• Refrigerators• Washing machines• Vacuum cleaners• Development of the automobile industries

Booming Business, Ailing Agriculture

Mass production of cars:

• created hundreds of thousands of jobs• Stimulated a host of related industries

• Rubber• Oil• Steel• Highway construction

American business also invested heavily abroad and loaned $$$$ to European nations to help them repay war debts

High protective tariffs in the 1920’s tended to suppress international trade

Booming Business, Ailing Agriculture

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ages rose overall during the decade

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ut not all workers shared in the pay increases:• Southern workers• African-Americans• Mexican-Americans• Recent immigrants• Female workers

Booming Business, Ailing Agriculture

American farmers did well during WWI

After the armistice European and domestic markets contracted

• Prices plunged• Farmers need to repay loans and mortgages• Farmers tried to compensate by growing more

• This created a surpluses that drown down produce prices furtherA

griculture remained a depressed sector of the economy throughout the 1920’s

New Modes of Producing, Managing, and Selling

Introduction of the assembly line and other technological advances brought more than 40% increase in productivity between 1919 and 1929

• History Channel video--assembly lineT

his led to bigger profits A

wave of corporate merges• By 1930, 100 corporations controlled almost 1/2 of the business done in the

U.S.A.• Competition disappeared

Corporations joined together in trade associations

• Fixed prices• Divide markets

New Modes of Producing, Managing, and Selling

A network of chain stores developed

• Displaced small, independently owned retail storesB

ig business successfully boosted sales and profits• Introduced credit• Relied heavily on advertising

Business influence and values pervaded all areas of American life in the 1920’s:

• Big businessmen became the new cultural heroes• Politicians vied to serve business• Organized religion tired to copy its selling techniques

Women in the New Economic Era

The proportion of women working outside the home stayed at about 24%

Working women earned less than men holding similar jobs

The growth of large corporation increased the need for:

• Secretaries• Typists• Filing clerks

Few women broke into management positions

Teaching and nursing were typical female professions

Struggling Labor Unions in a Business Age

The 1920’s were an unsuccessful time for organized labor

Union membership fell from 5 million in 1920 to 3.4 million in 1929

Management discouraged the growth of unions:

• Intimidation• Violence• Insistence on the open shop• Use of scab labor during strikes• Introduction by some companies of benefits such as stock purchase plans

Employers often charged that unions and strikes were Communist led

The Harding and Coolidge AdministrationsS

tand Pat Politics in a Decade of Change• 1920 election

• Republicans nominated Warren G. Harding

• Democrats nominated James Cox• Harding easily won

• Harding admin. was riddled with corruption

• He put friends in high positions which they abused

Stand Pat Politics in a Decade of Change

C

harles Forbes• Veterans’ Bureau chief• Stole bureau funds

H

arry Daugherty• Attorney General of the Justice Department• Sold influence and immunity from prosecution

A

lbert Fall• Sec. of the Interior• Leased govt. oil reserves at Teapot Dome, WY and other locations to favored businessmen

in exchange for bribes

Stand Pat Politics in a Decade of ChangeI

n the fall of 1923, Harding had a heart attack and died

Calvin Coolidge assumed the presidency

Republican Policy Making in a Probusiness EraI

n the Coolidge administration corruption lessened

The probusiness attitudes continued

High tariffs protected domestic manufacturers from foreign competition

“trickle down” theory

• Supported by Sec. of Treasury Andrew Mellon

• Congress lowered federal taxes for the wealthy

Republican Policy Making in a Probusiness ErA

Supreme Court declared the federal child labor law unconstitutional

Under Chief Justice William Howard Taft

• Appointed by Harding

Republican Policy Making in a Probusiness ErA

Even though Coolidge promoted govt. assistance to business, he opposed federal aid to all other groups

• He refused to extend relief to 1927 flood victims

• Twice vetoed the McNary-Haugen bill

• Which proposed to have Washington buy up surplus farm commodities at good prices

Independent Internationalism

T

he U.S.A. followed an independent internationalism• Protected what it saw as U.S. global interests only• Did not join the League of Nations or the World Court

I

nternational naval arms conference• 1921 • In Washington D.C.• Called by Harding’s Sec. of State, Charles E. Hughes• Treaties that imposed a 10-year moratorium on battleship construction• Pledged the major powers to respect each other’s territorial possessions in the

Pacific

Independent Internationalism

T

he 1920’s Republican administrations also insisted that the

WWI allies repay a portion of their war debts to the U.S.

T

hen they made it difficult for them to do so• Curtailed their sales of goods in the U.S. with high protective

tariffs

Progressive Stirrings, Democratic Party Divisions

Progressive reform sentiment did not completely disappear in the 1920’s

A coalition of labor and farm groups in 1924 revived the Progressive Party

• Nominated Robert LaFollette for presidentD

emocrats nominated John W. Davis• The party was split between urban and rural wings

Republicans nominated Coolidge

Coolidge easily won

Women and Politics in the 1920’s: A Dream Deferred

Ratification of the 19th amendment had less impact on politics in the 1920’s than many women’s rights advocates predicted

The women’s movement splintered:

• Some feminists backed an equal rights amendment• Other feared it would undermine laws protecting female

workers

Mass Society, Mass Culture

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ities, Cars, Consumer Goods• This was the 1st decade in which the majority of Americans lived in

cities• City life-styles and values spread to more and more of the

population• The new consumer goods were most readily available to city

dwellers• New electric appliances transformed household duties• Supermarkets• Commercial bakeries

Cities, Cars, Consumer Goods

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utomobiles had the biggest impact on American culture• Traffic jams• Parking problems• Mounting accidental deaths• Reduced parental supervision of young adults• The spread of suburbs

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Soaring Energy Consumption and a Threatened Environment

The mass production and sales of cars and electric appliances took a heavy toll on the environment and natural resources

Generating enough electricity to power the new appliances consumed millions of tons of coal

The biggest users of oil and gasoline were the millions of automobiles

Soaring Energy Consumption and a Threatened Environment

The nation wasted and needlessly depleted fossil fuels

Pollution of the atmosphere all came from the cars, power plants, steel mills, and other industries

Cars also made it easier for people to visit wilderness areas

• Tourists’ demands for good roads, hotels, and other amenities in pristine areas soon threatened to ruin them

A few groups protested

Americans on the whole were indifferent to the environmental threat

Mass-Produced Entertainment

Americans increasingly turned to mass-produced entertainment

• Assembly line production made work less fulfilling and less time consuming

Popular magazines built massive circulations

• Reader’s DigestA

ll over the U.S. people listened to the same radio programs and watched the same movies

• Produced a more homogeneous national culture

Mass-Produced Entertainment

The new standardized culture did not permeate all segments

In rural areas, evangelical Christians denounced much of the mass entertainment as godless

Mexican-Americans and African-Americans maintained most of their own vibrant ethnic culture

Celebrity Culture

Mass communication made possible by radio and film created nationwide heroes and media events

Sports celebrities:

• Babe Ruth• Ty Cobb• Jack Dempsey

Charles Lindbergh

• Solo flight across the Atlantic• History Channel video--flight• History Channel speech--Coolidge on Lindbergh

Cultural Ferment and Creativity

The Jazz Age and the Postwar Crisis of Values

• In the so-called Jazz Age, some young people rejected the values of their elders on sexual matters, dress, and decorum

• The ideas of Sigmund Freud became popular• psychoanalysis

• Women asserted their freedom by discussing sex openly, wearing makeup, smoking, and shortening their skirts, and their hair

The Jazz Age and the Postwar Crisis of Values

This upheaval in manners and morals primarily affected the urban middle class

Most farmers, African-Americans, industrial workers, and recent immigrants were more concerned with economic survival than experimenting with new life-styles

Alienated Writers

The 1920s saw the emergence of many talented writers writers

• Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott FitzgeraldT

hey were often critical of:• the narrow-minded, small-town values of prewar America• the materialistic business culture of the twenties

Some felt so uncomfortable with the 1920’s America that they spent much of the decade abroad

They did care deeply about finding and creating an “authentic” American culture through their works

In his American Mercury magazines, Henry L. Mencken championed the works of these new writers

He also kept up a steady barrage of ridicule of American politics and society

Architects, Painters, and Musicians Confront Modern America

A

rchitecture• American cities in the 1920s were filled with skyscrapers

P

ainters• American artists painted the American scene• Urban and rural• Past and present

T

homas Hart Benton• Edward Hopper• Joseph Stella• Georgia O’Keeffe

Architects, Painters, and Musicians Confront Modern America

M

usicians• New classical composers appeared

• Aaron Copland

• The unique contribution of America to the musical world was jazz• George Gershwin• Jelly Roll Morton• Louis Armstrong• Duke Ellington

The Harlem Renaissance

Led by the growing African-American population in the northern cities

Harlem in New York City

New York City had a concentration of:

• Recording companies• Book and magazine publishers• Theater productions• African-American civil-rights organizations

• NAACP headquartersT

hese drew African-American artists, writers, composers, musicians, and intellectuals

• Most of the U.S.A. and the West Indies

The Harlem RenaissanceW

hites flocked to Harlem’s jazz clubs to hear these musicians

All-black stage shows played on Broadway

White-owned publishing houses printed the novels and short stories

• Langston Hughes• Claude McKay• Explored the African-

American experience in their works

The Harlem Renaissance

Some sympathetic whites also produced works portraying African-American life

• George Gershwin’s musical Porgy and BessM

any whites though held romanticized and stereotyped views of Harlem and African-Americans

A Society in Conflict

Immigration Restriction

• In 1924 and 1929, the U.S. govt. passed restrictive laws that drastically cut the total # of immigrants permitted to enter the U.S.A.

• They also established quotas for each nationality• Laws excluded Chinese and Japanese entirely and eastern and

southern Europeans received small quotas• Reflected the fears and intolerance of the time

• Total immigration fell to 280,000 in 1929• It averaged 1 million a year between 1900-1914

• This discriminatory, national-origins quota system remained in U.S. law until 1965

Needed Workers/Unwelcome Aliens: Hispanic Newcomers

The 1920’s, National Origins Act did not curtail immigration from Western Hemisphere countries

By 1930, about 2 million Mexicans had arrived in the U.S.A.

Most lived in the Southwest

Most worked in agriculture

Agribusiness wanted the cheap labor

Mexicans experienced bitter resentment from nativist Americans

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

The Sacco-Vanzetti case further illustrated the intolerance and divisions in society in the 1920’s

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants

They were convicted of robbery and murder

Vanzetti (on left)Sacco (on right)

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

The evidence against them was circumstantial

The prosecution probably prejudiced the jury by stressing their ethnic origin and political radicalism

They were found guilty of the crimes and were executed in 1927

Fundamentalism and the Scopes TrialS

everal states passed laws prohibiting the teaching of any scientific theory that contradicted the account of human origin given in the Bible

John T. Scopes

• High school teacher in Dayton, TN

• Challenged the state’s law by teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution

Fundamentalism and the Scopes TrialT

he American Civil Liberties Union hired a team of distinguished lawyers headed by Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes

William Jennings Bryan assisted the prosecution

Scopes was convicted

Fundamentalism and the Scopes Trial

The fundamental religious position was ridiculed in the courtroom and in the national press

But states still passed anti-evolution laws

Textbook publishers deleted mention of Darwin’s theories to appease local school boards

History Channel video--Scopes trial

The Ku Klux Klan

Another indication of social conflict and intolerance was the rise of the KKK

Preached hatred toward blacks, Jews, Catholics, immigrants, and the new urban values

Membership grew to an estimated 5 million

For a short time it exerted real political power in a few states

• OR, OK, INI

t threatened, intimidated, beat, and murdered those it considered to be dangerous to a “purified” America

The Garvey Movement

Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

Led by Marcus Garvey

Mostly poor urban African-Americans

Preached black pride

Black “economic solidarity”

A return to Africa

At its peak the UNIA had 80,000 members

The first mass movement among African-Americans

Prohibition: Cultures in Conflict

Prohibition split Americans

Supporters:

• Native-born• Fundamentalist Protestants• Rural areas

Opponents:

• Liberals• Intellectuals• Rebellious youths• Big-city immigrants

Prohibition: Cultures in Conflict

Enforcement of prohibition broke down almost immediately

Many Americans did not believe in it

Organized crime was busy supplying the demand for illegal liquor

Prohibition became a big issue in the 1928 election

History Channel video--prohibition raid

Hoover at the Helm

T

he Election of 1928• Democrats nominated Alfred Smith• Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover• Hoover easily won• Many fundamentalist Protestants would not vote for Smith

because he was a Catholic, did not support Prohibition, and came from NYC

• The biggest reason for Hoover’s victory was economic prosperity and Republican promises that things would get even better

Herbert Hoover’s Social ThoughtH

oover encouraged voluntary cooperation among corporate leaders:

• Raise wages• Plan production and

marketing• Standardize products

Herbert Hoover’s Social Thought

He believed in self-regulation by business would ensure economic growth and a better life for all

• He did not believe in govt. interventionA

fter the Great Depression set in, he clung to voluntarism and was reluctant to use govt. power

• This greatly handicapped his ability to deal with a sick economy

ConclusionI

n the 1920’s Americans tried to adjust to the mass production, mass culture, and urban society that had emerged

The decade’s political leadership was for the most part conservative and backward looking

Those who found this new world unfamiliar and threatening often reacted with repression and hate

• Supporters of prohibition, fundamentalists, KKKO

thers embraced the new life-styles made possible by radios, cars, movies, and electric appliances

The social change also produced an outpouring of creative energy

• Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, American literature