Bell Ringer

• What problems could you see developing in the USA after WWI?

• What was the Red Scare?

• Why are the 1920’s called “the roaring” twenties?

Bell Ringer

• What is normalcy?

• Who did the new KKK discriminate against?

• What is credit (in terms of economics & buying things)?

Ch 26-29: The Roaring Twenty's: 1920s in the USA

After WWI(1918-1920)

• As the boys came home after WWI, the United States would demobilize, and develop many problems – Soldiers now need jobs ->

unemployment is an issue– The economy will go into a recession

(war production -> peace/normal production almost ALWAYS causes a recession)

– Growing unions will go on strike (AFL, IWW)

– Fear of immigrants who may be communists or anarchists (Red Scare)

Sacco & Vanzetti• Both Sacco & Vanzetti were Italian immigrants to

the USA (Nativist feeling in USA)• Sacco learned English & worked in a shoe factory,

Vanzetti had numerous low paying jobs • Both men were apart of unions, and both were

open members of the East Boston Anarchists’ group

Sacco & Vanzetti- The Crime• April 15, 1920 the Slater-Morrill Shoe Company

factory in Braintree, MA was robbed. The company payroll was stolen and 2 men were killed by two bandits with hand guns who “looked Italian.”

• Three weeks later Sacco & Vanzetti, known to the police as radicals, were arrested by the police. Both were carrying hand guns with ammunition.

Sacco & Vanzetti- The

Trial

• During the trial: S & V had fled to Mexico instead of being drafted, both were anarchists, both were Italians, and both had lied about the weapons.

• Both men had alibies saying that they were not around the scene of the crime, and neither had a criminal record.

• The defense of S & V was largely paid for by working class people who were members of Unions

• The Prosecutor kept going back to the fact that the men were Immigrant Anarchists (Paranoia-> RED SCARE)

• The men were found guilty and sentenced to death (Even after someone confessed to the crime), and the case was appealed numerous times. Sacco and Vanzetti would die on July 27, 1927

Nativism Revived• As the Red Scare heightens

more people become Nativists.

• This leads to a quota system which restricts the number of immigrants that can come from each country

• By 1924 the quotas will be dropped, and all immigrants from Asia are banned.

• By 1929 only ¼ of the immigrants enter the US as did in 1921

Revived KKK• The Nativist feelings of the time led to

the rebirth of the KKK.• The Birth of a Nation portrayed the

clan as heroic, chivalrous, individuals who for to save society

• By 1920 Klan membership would reach 3-4 million, and actually win political offices in numerous southern states

• This time however the Klan became equally anti-immigrant, anti-African, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-woman, and anti-union (Only liked WASPs), and continued to push their political agenda through terror & intimidation.

Racial Tension• The tension created by immigrants revived

social problems for Black Americans.• Lynching and race riots were again becoming

an issue in society.• Marcus Garvey would start the Back- To-

Africa movement, where he encouraged blacks to return to land of their ancestors.

• The movement attracted 2 million followers, and established a company with the intent of moving people back to Africa.

• Garvey was charged and convicted for mail fraud in 1925, and the movement died out.

• WEB DuBoise V Booker T Washington V Marcus Garvey

The Start of the 1920s

• As the 1920s start– Warren G Harding becomes President

with promises to return the USA back to Normalcy

– He supports a free enterprise system that favors: private ownership of land, resources, and factories (strongly favors owners/hurts workers)

– Harding selected many of his friends to political office

– Harding made Chicago banker Charles Dawes his Financial Advisor.

– The Country quickly had a surplus, products became cheaper so more people could buy them, and unemployment dropped

Teapot Dome Scandal

• Many of Harding’s political appointments took bribes and were suspected of serious crimes

• Harding’s friend (the Secretary of the Interior) convinced Harding to give his office control over the nation’s oil reserves.

• This man then leased the reserves to two companies for $360,000 to do with as they pleased.

• This scandal shook the public’s trust in how the government was being run

Foreign Policy-Washington Naval Conference• In 1921 Harding would invite

Great Britain, France, Japan, & Italy to Washington to discuss naval disarmament (getting rid of weapons)

• The US offered to scrap 30 war ships, and other nations soon followed suit.

• The Washington Naval Conference limited the production of large war ships, but many nations got around this by building more small war ships.

• Harding would die in 1923, his VP takes over

Foreign Policy- Dawes Plan• By 1923 Germany had stopped payment on their

reparations from WWI.• Dawes will step in: The US loaned money to the

Germans (with a low interest rate), who paid the British and French, who repayed their loans to the US.

• The circular flow of money was known as the Dawes Plan, and would work until 1929

Foreign Policy- Kellogg-Briand Pact• In 1928 Herbert Hoover is

President of the USA• The US will sign the Kellogg-

Briand Pact with 61 other nations.

• The Pact effectively outlawed war, and rejected conflict as a form of “national policy”

• The US had returned to their isolationist ways that they held in the early 1900s

Foreign Affairs- League of Nations (1920s)• In the 1920s the League of Nations was tasked with

keeping world peace• If you measure success by not allowing another World

War in the 1920s, then they succeeded. However, the League realistically experienced a mix of successes and failures.

• The League had global success with limiting child labor, improving women’s rights, and establishing the World Health Organization

• If a Country misbehaved the League could issue harsh criticisms of nations, and impose economic penalties (not trading with nations that misbehaved).

• However, non-members of the League were not required to follow its decisions.

• The League was hampered by the lack of a standing army, and the non participation of the USA (BUT not COMPLETELY useless)

The Roaring Twenties• The 20s will be characterized by economic

success, general prosperity, and changing cultural values

• At the end of the 1920s the US was producing 40% of the world’s manufactured goods

Economy• Mass Production and Division of Labor would both play a

HUGE part in the 1920s.• Henry Ford would continue his success from starting in 1915.• Ford would produce one car every 10 seconds by 1930.• Model T Fords had dropped drastically in price from $850 in

1909 to $260 in the 1920s

• Items such as: radios, refrigerators, telephones, vacuums, and toasters all became cheaper & made life easier

• Plastics & synthetic materials (both of which had been developed during the war) also became prominate in society and made life easier

• It was this extra time that allowed many people to enjoy leisure activities such as listening to the radio, seeing a movie, going to sporting events, listening to new music, or maybe visiting a speak easy

• The availability and cheap prices of almost everything led to advertising.

• This becomes the rise of a consumer culture in the USA

• For the first time people had the ability to buy on credit or on an installment plan

Cultural Changes• The 1920s experiences the birth of

jazz music. • Before the 20s music was largely

church based, and most people had never heard music like jazz. Jazz was often accompanied by singing that featured improvisation, another new thing for society.

• Louis Armstrong became a cultural phenomenon overnight.

• This was the Jazz Age, and jazz music will fill clubs and airwaves across the country

Harlem Renaissance• As blacks moved across the

nation many of the artistically talented headed to Harlem.

• The outpouring of talent from the African Americans writers, artists, and musicians who gathered in the city.

• Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Wallace Thurman (and more) become famous from this Renaissance

1920s: Traditionalists & Fundamentalists

• The 1920s will become a cultural war

• On one side of the war are the Traditionalists and Fundamentalists.

• These groups fear that the “new” culture of the 1920s are corrupting Americas youth & society as a whole (They are old people)

• They believe that young people should turn back to the Bible, God, and traditional family values

1920s: Modernists• The other side of this culture

war are Modernists (They are young people)

• They are excited by the new music, mobility (cars are CHEAP), movies, dancing, and style

• Women/Girls are especially fond of the 1920s as make-up, clothing, style are radically different from before.

• This is the age of Flappers.

1920s: Prohibition

• The problem when the young battle the old is that the young DON’T VOTE!!!

• The Fundamentalists and Traditionalists see alcohol as a major social problem

• The Women’s Christian Temperance Union will be influential in the passage of the 18th Amendment, aka Prohibition

• This law will make the production, sale, or transport of alcohol illegal.

• Drys -> People in favor of Prohibition

• Wets -> People against Prohibition

Scopes “Monkey” Trial• John Scopes, a TN school science

teacher taught the theory of evolution to his students, even though it was prohibited by law.

• The battle of science vs the bible was the real focus of the case.

• William Jennings Bryan, the champion of Fundamentalism, would prosecute Scopes, but would be tricked into expressing that the bible may not be infallible.

• Scopes was found guilty, but Science won the day.

• Prohibition will cause the rise of organized crime (Al Capone)

• The competition between rival gangs will actually cause worse social problems than the ones that the removal of alcohol was meant to fix

• Speakeasies will supply the public with illegal alcohol for elevated prices

• Bootleggers will also attempt to make their own alcohol, and many people will DIE from back liquor

• Even though Congress passes Prohibition the never actually funded the enforcement of the law.

Stock Market Crash: October 1929• The “Roaring” Twenties will die in

late October 1929• Almost EVERYONE “played” the

market in the 1920s. Stocks always seemed to go up, so people continued to put more and more money into the market

• The educated bankers realized stock prices were grossly inflated, and started to sell their stock.

• This caused a panic, and on Black Thursday Oct 24 the Market will loose 11% of it’s value

• Brominate bankers and families will buy large quantities of stock on Friday to temporarily stabilize the market.

• On Black Monday Oct 28, stocks crash again dropping 13% of their value, and on Tuesday Oct 29th lose 12% of their value.

• Entire fortunes will be lost in a matter of minutes.• Banks had invested people’s savings into the stock market

to earn money for further investment, and when people when to pull on their savings there was no money…

Smoot-Hawley Tariff• In addition to the Market Crashing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff would

be signed into law.• President Hoover, trying to protect US farmers, wanted a tariff

placed on foreign goods to make imported products more expensive.

• This led to retaliatory Tariffs by nations such as Canada, Britain, France, & Germany

• The Tariff caused international trade to drop to catastrophically• US exports declined by 66%, and the nations GDP dropped by over

50% (other nations were similar or worse)• The Great Depression had begun