Post WWI Issues

• Over production• Increase unemployment• Racism and fear of

outsiders• League of Nations

divided the country• Deal with issues at

home

Post WWI America

• Nativism – prejudice against foreign-born people

• Isolationism – staying out of world issues

• Communism – economic and political system based on a single-party gov ruled by a dictatorship

• Anarchist – opposition to any form of gov

Fear of Communism

The “Red Scare”• 1919• Red = Communism• 70,000 ppl• Laborers• Spread wealth to everyonePalmer Raids • Hunted down communists,

socialists, and anarchists• Violated rights• Didn’t work

Nativism

“Keep America for Americans”

Sacco and Vanzetti• Italian Immigrants• Anarchists• Sentenced to death for

“robbery and murder”• Little proof

Nativism

• Ku Klux Klan– 4.5 million people by 1924– Drive out immigrants

• Quota System– 1921– Max. # of immigrants– 150,000 per year– No Japanese

Isolationism

• G.B. & France had to pay back U.S. for WWI

• Fordney-McCumber Tariff– 60% on imports– G.B. and France couldn’t

sell anything to U.S.

• Dawes Plan – Help Europe get out of debt.1. U.S. loaned Germany $2.5

billion2. Germany paid G.B. &

France3. G.B. & France paid U.S.

Prohibition

• Alcohol Caused:– Corruption– Crime– Abuse– Accidents– Social Problems

• 18th Amendment– Outlawed the manufacture,

sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages

– 1919

• Gov couldn’t enforce it

Elliot Ness- Head Agent of the Untouchables.Incorruptible Federal Agents.Enforce Prohibition.

Prohibition

• Speakeasies (quietly)– Underground– Hidden saloons/nightclubs

• Bootleggers – Smuggler’s carrying liquor in

boots– Canada, Cuba, West Indies

• Organized Crime– Chicago: Al Capone– $60 mil a year

• 21st Amendment– Repealed Prohibition– 1933

Science v. Religion

• Fundamentalism– Protestant extremists– Literal interpretation of

the Bible– Skeptical of science

• Darwinism/Evolution

• Illegal to teach evolution in Tennessee– Biology teacher (Scopes)

did anyway– Arrested

Science v. Religion

Scopes “Monkey” Trial• Clarence Darrow– Defense attorney

• William Jennings Bryan– Prosecutor

• Should science or religion be taught in school?

• July 10, 1925• Scopes was found guilty

and fined $100

Women’s Suffrage

• Organized• Local, State, Federal• Wide base of supporters• Cautious lobbying• Ladylike behavior• 19th Amendment– 1920– Women’s right to vote

Women

• Flapper – Emancipated young

woman– New fashions– Bobbed hair

• Double Standard– Greater sexual freedom to

men than women

• Work and Leisure time• Fewer children• More equality

The “Roaring” 20s!

“The business of America is business”

Automobile• Assembly Line– One person does same

task over and over

• Opened up America• Gas Stations, motels,

interstate system, etc• Urban Sprawl– Spreading cities– Easier to travel

Airplane• Charles Lindbergh• Amelia Earhart• Travel, Transportation

(goods/people)

Day to Day Life

• Average income – Increased from $522 to $705

• Appliances– Irons, Refrigerators, Cooking

ranges, Toasters

• Installment Plan– Buying on credit– Spent money they didn’t

have

• Advertisement– Billboards, Magazines– Play on emotions

Cities

• “The” place to be!• 2-5 mil people– NYC largest

• Fast paced• Became impersonal and

dangerous

Mass Communication

• More newspapers– Literacy

• Reader’s Digest• Radio– Wider world

Art and Entertainment• George Gershwin

– Composer

• Georgia O’Keeffe– Painter

• Sinclair Lewis– Writer – Criticized materialism

• F. Scott Fitzgerald– Writer – “Jazz Age”– Negative side of 1920s

• Ernest Hemingway– Writer – Criticized glorification of war

Harlem Renaissance

• Literary and artistic movement

• Celebrate A.A.• Harlem, NYC, NY• “Black is beautiful”

Harlem Renaissance

• Great Migration– 100s of 1,000s A.A.

moved North

“Thinkers”• James Weldon Johnson– NAACP– A.A. rights

• Marcus Garvey– Jamaican immigrant– Build a separate society

Harlem Renaissance

Writers• Claude McKay– Jamaican immigrant– Resist prejudice and

discrimination– Black ghetto life

• Langston Hughes– Poet– Lives of working-class

A.A.

Harlem Renaissance

Performers• Paul Robeson

– Son of a slave– Actor– Moved to Soviet Union

• Louis Armstrong– Jazz singer– “scat”

• “Duke” Ellington– Jazz pianist– “scat”

• Bessie Smith– Female blues singer

Struggling AgricultureDuring WWI • High demand– Increased price

After WWI• Low demand– Too much extra– Decreased price

• Farmers were broke

Decrease in Spending

Late 1920s• Buying Less• Rising Prices• Stagnant (unchanging)

Wages• Overbuying on Credit• Huge gap between

super wealthy and average American

1928 Election

Herbert Hoover• Keep the Prosperity!• Did little to help the

economy

The Stock Market

• Stock – share “piece” of a company

• Stock Market – buying & selling stocks

• Buy low (cheap) and sell high (expensive)– Earn money

Stock Problems

• Speculation – buying A LOT of stocks then selling individually– Hope for a quick profit– Buy A LOT increases

price– Sell make profit

• Buying on Margin – buying stocks with small % of personal $ and borrowing $ from bank to pay for remainder– Pay back with $ earned

from stock

The Crash

“Black Tuesday”• October 29, 1929• Stock prices plummeted– 16.4 million shares

(stocks) sold

• People lost $• Margin buyers – didn’t

have $ to pay back

Panic!

After 1929 Crash• Americans panicked• Withdrew $ from banks• Banks lost all the $ they

invested in the Stock Market– Didn’t have $ to give

people

• 1929 – 600 banks closed• By 1933 – 11,000 of

25,000

Great Depression

Causes• Tariffs & War Debt• Low demand for goods• Farm Crisis• Credit• Wealth Gap

Great Depression

• 1929-1940• National production

decreased 50%– $104-$59 billion

• 90,000 bankrupt businesses

• Unemployment increased– 1929- 3%– 1933- 25%

Great Depression

• Homelessness• Hunger• Unemployment• Hoovervilles– Shantytowns – Shacks build out of scrap– 100s-1,000s of people– Named after Pres. Hoover

• “Let it be” • Did nothing

Great Depression

• Soup Kitchens– Provided free or low cost food – Charity organizations

• Bread Lines– Lines of people waiting for

food

• Hoboes– Poor drifters– Hitched rides on Railroads– Teenagers– Some fathers/husbands who

couldn’t provide for families– 50,000 hurt or killed

Great Depression

Rural Life• Some farmers grew

food for families• ½ million lost their land– Foreclosures

• Tenant farming• Faced a devastating

drought– Dust Bowl

Dust Bowl

• Early 1930s• Great Plains area

– Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado

• Huge dust storms– Dust traveled 100s of miles– All the way to the East Coast

• Crops turned to dust = no food

• Fields blown away• Many farmers migrated to

California

Effects of Great Depression

• Suicide increased 30%• Alcoholism• Mental hospitals• Kindness to strangers• Savings & Thriftiness

President Hoover

Boulder (Hoover) Dam• $700 mil• World’s tallest• Electricity• Flood Control• WaterFederal Farm Board• Farm aidFederal Home Loan Bank Act• Homes and BusinessesFew others

Bonus Army

• 1932• 15,000 WWI veterans• Demanded bonus pay– NOW!– Payable 1945

• Hoover – – “communists and

criminals”– “go home!”

FDR

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt– Elected 1932

• New Deal– Relief for needy– Economic recovery– Financial reform

• FDR’s Fireside Chats– Radio talks about issues

of public concern– Clear, simple language

New Deal – 1st 100 Days!

• Glass-Steagall Act (1933)– Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation (FDIC)• Federal insurance for bank accounts• Up to $5,000

• Federal Securities Act (1933)– Held companies responsible for

all stocks sold

• Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) (1934)– Regulated the stock market– Prevented “rigging”– Inside information

New Deal – 1st 100 Days!

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)– Raise prices– Decrease production

• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)– Fix 5 existing dams– Build 20 new– 1,000s of jobs– Flood control– Power

New Deal• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

– Men– 18-25– Infrastructure– Parks/Planting trees– Environment protection– 3 mil. men– $30 month

• National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)– Public Works Administration– $ for schools

• Civil Works Administration (CWA)– 4 mil jobs– Schools (40,000)– Roads (1/2 mil. Miles)

New Deal

• National Recovery Administration (NRA)– Standardized prices– Lower unemployment

• Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)– Gov’t loans for foreclosures

• National Housing Act– Federal Housing Administration

(FHA)• Loans for homes

– Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)• $500 mil for direct relief

Criticism

• Deficit Spending– Gov’t spending $ so Americans

can earn $

• Liberals – not enough action• Conservatives – too much

action• NIRA and AAA were repealed• Huey Long

– Senator from L.A.– Challenged New Deal

Programs