1920s/Post WWI

postwar issues

• Cong doesn’t allow US to join League of Nations

• 1918 Pandemic

  • Influenza outbreak killed 50 million

  • 600,000 or more Americans

• Demobilization

  • 4 million men needed jobs back

  • Military production ended

  • Farm prices fell

  • Inflation

  • Recession on 1921

postwar red scare

• Divide over the peace process

• Unstable economy

• Fear of Communism

  • Anti-German hysteria

• Xenophobia

• Palmer Raids

  • A. Mitchell Palmer (Attorney General) accused anarchists of threatening to bomb/bombing gov’t officials’ buildings

  • Arrests of socialists, anarchists, and labor leaders

  • arrests = violation of civil liberties

  • Palmer lost credibility

postwar labor conflict

• Unions had gained power

  • Progressive Era

  • World War I

  • inc in wages, less hours

• Strikes of 1919

  • Workers wanted to continue wartime success

  • Inflation and standard of living prevented that from happening

  • strikes usually failed bc era strongly favored business

• Union membership declined

what happened to unions after WWI?

• Union membership declined by 20%

  • “Open-Shop” → nonunion workers allowed

  • “Welfare Capitalism” preemptive improvement

    • Companies are willing to pay workers more & give them better hours so that workers don’t join unions/strikes

  • Meeting strikes with violence

  • Government support for business

  • Court Injunctions against strikes & nullified labor laws aimed @ protecting workers’ welfare

  • Difficult to organize diverse groups

postwar racial violence

• Great Migration

  • Increased competition for jobs and housing

  • 1917 riot in East St. Louis

  • 1919 riots in major cities

  • Hundreds dead and injured

• Tulsa Race Massacre 1921

  • African Americans stopped a lynching

  • Thousands of black businesses and homes destroyed

  • Hundreds were killed

• Confederate Monuments

  • Jefferson Davis and Confederate Generals

  • Celebrate the “Lost Cause”

postwar decline of progressive ideals

• 19th Amendment was the last Progressive success

• People were tired of war

• People were tired of causes

• Wanted to return to simpler times

• Republicans gained control of government

  • Tariffs

  • Business

  • laissez-faire

postwar economic cycles

• 1921- Recession

• 1922-1928 Economic Prosperity

  • Standard of living increased

  • Income increased

  • Indoor plumbing and central heating

  • ⅔ of homes had electricity

  • However 40% of families lived in poverty

  • Farmers were struggling again

• 1929 Economic Disaster

causes of economic prosperity

• Increase in Manufacturing between 1919 and 1929

• Increased Productivity

• Energy Technologies

• Government Policy

• Consumer economy

how did increased productivity encourage economic prosperity?

• Research and scientific management

• Improved methods of mass production

• Henry Ford → invented assembly line

  • Paid double minimum wage

how did energy technologies encourage economic prosperity?

• Increase in steel and electricity

• 1930 → Oil was 23% of energy

• Electric motors and appliances

how did government policy encourage economic prosperity?

• Republicans favored big business

• Corporate tax cuts

• Did not enforce antitrust legislation

• Tax cuts for the wealthy

• Low interest rates

how did a consumer economy encourage economic prosperity?

• Items of luxury and convenience

• Advertising (status)

• Credit

  • don’t pay all at once; slowly pay over time

• Big Box stores

positive impact of automobiles

• Opened up new markets & supported old ones

  • E.g. gas stations, motels, need more highways built; steel & oil industry take off

• Cultural Impact

  • Commuting 

  • Travel

  • Shopping malls

  • Freedom

    • Young ppl would go away from prying eyes to explore their sexuality in the car

negative impact of automobiles

• Railroads suffered

• “Bordello on wheels”

  • sexual activity → breakdown of morals

• Traffic jams/accidents

• Safety concerns

  • No laws (no speed limit, traffic lights, etc)

postwar farm problems

• 1916-1918 Success

  • Wartime demand in Europe

  • Government subsidies

• New Struggles

  • Farmers borrowed to keep up with demand during war → debt

  • Chemical fertilizers and gas tractors helped inc production but didn’t solve probs

• Surpluses led to falling crop prices

postwar changing society

• 1920 More people lived in Urban areas

• Looser morals and mass consumption

  • Young vs. old

  • Wets vs. drys

  • Science vs. religion

  • Modern vs. traditional

  • Urban vs. rural

• Music, dances, movies and fashion

  • Music broke down lots of barriers, esp racial barriers

• Jazz Age

  • Symbol of modern culture in cities

  • Youth expression of rebellion

effects of mass media

• results in more homogenous society (less regionalized)

• Radio 

  • National stations grew 

  • NBC and CBS

• Same programs from coast to coast 

  • News

  • Sports

  • Comedy, quiz shows

  • Music

• Newspapers

  • Carried national news

• Movies

  • Talkies and animation

  • 80 million tickets a week

• Popular Heroes

  • Sports figures

  • Adventurers

architecture

• Industrial Design

  • Art Deco

  • Functional and aesthetic

  • Skyscrapers (even higher than the ones built in the 1880s)

  • Simple forms with modern materials

• Suspension Bridges

• Tunnels

• Stadiums

• In addition to cultural changes, this showed there was no limit to what Americans can do → nationalism

modernism

• Critical view of the Bible

• Science combined with religious faith

• Evolution over creation

fundamentalism

• Accept the Bible as true

• God created the universe in 7 days

• Blamed modernists for moral decline

• Supported by rural preachers

revivalists

• Foundation in the Great Awakenings

• Used the Radio to reach audience

  • Coast to Coast movement

• Billy Sunday used radio to…

  • Attack drinking, gambling and dancing

  • Took ppl away from religious doctrine

• Aimee Semple McPherson

  • Attacked communism and jazz

• Attempted to hold onto religious values

• ACL (American Civil Liberties Unit)

Scopes Trial

• Creationism vs. Evolution

• Famous attorneys Darrow (evolution) and William Jennings Bryan (creationist)

• John Scopes- Science teacher in Tennessee

  • Broke the law by teaching evolution

  • Found guilty and fined

• Fundamentalism was discredited even tho Bryan won trial

  • Bryan can’t defend himself

  • The law remained

  • Verdict was overturned later

how was prohibition a “failed moral experiment”?

• • Poorly enforced

    • Consumption = gray area, couldn’t rlly be enforced

  • Not enough agents, low pay → ppl supposed to be enforcing law are actually drinking

  • Speakeasies, bootlegging

  • 18th amendment epealed in 1933 21st Amendment

Volstead Act

• Sale, manufacture, transport and consumption of alc prohibited

• Unpopular in cities

• Political division

  • Dems didn’t support prohibition; Repubs did

how did prohibition lead to the rise of organized crime?

• smuggled (bootleg) liquor sold and consumed illegally

• ppl realized this could be big business

  • e.g. Al Capone

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Convicted & sentenced to death even tho there wasn’t good evidence that they committed the crime (eyewitness testimony)

• liberals argued they didn’t receive fair trial bc they’re poor anarchist Italians

quota laws

• 1921 Quota Act

  • Limit to 3% of foreign borns from a given nation can immigrate 1910 census

• 1924 Quota Act

  • Limit to 2% of 1890 census

  • Japanese banned

• 1927 Quota Act

  • Limit of 150,000 per country

  • Canadians and Mexicans exempt

  • 500,000 Mexicans came in the 1920s

return of the KKK

• Equal Opportunity Klan… hated everyone

  • Blacks, Jews, Anarchists

  • Catholics, Communists, Immigrants

• Tactics

  • Fear, violence, 

  • Lynchings, cross burnings

• Popular in Midwest (v.s. Old Klan that was popular in South)

  • b/c great migration brought more afr amers to industrialized midwest

  • Gained political power in 7 states

what led to the decline of the Klan?

• Fraud

• Corruption

• Criminal Activity

women’s gender roles

• Political Rights

  • Did not bring equality

  • Did not vote in a bloc (just voted same as husbands/fathers)

• Domestically

  • Traditional roles for men and women (women @ home, men working)

• Female labor Force

  • Limited to clerks, nurses, and teachers

  • Lower wages, less prestige

  • Discrimination and harassment

changing morals for women

• Increased sexuality

  • Sigmund Freud → mental illness caused by thinking abt sex in unhealthy way

  • Pop Culture

• Flappers

  • Young independent women

  • Smoked, drank, short skirts

• Changing Morals

  • More divorces, less children

  • Worked for themselves

Margaret Sanger

• • Promoted birth control

    • E.g. condoms, pill

  • Talking abt birth control is seen as erotic 

  • Illegal in most states

changes in education

• State compulsory school laws

• Universal public high school

  • Student population doubled

• Changing curriculums

  • John Dewey, learn by doing

  • Science is taught in schools (goes against religious explanations) and nutrition

  • More vocational programs

  • Night school for working immigrants

literature

• The Lost Generation (name of literary & arts movement)

  • Critique of post-WWI Amer society, e.g.:

    • Disillusioned with life in the U.S.

    • Hypocrisy of religion

    • Futility and sacrifice of war

    • Financial interests of government

    • Foolishness of materialism

    • Sex

• Artists excessively used alcohol & drugs, sometimes put themselves in exile

• Authors

  • Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis

• Poets and Plays

  • Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Eugene O’Neill

Harlem Renaissance

• Harlem was largest African American community in North

• 1920s celebration of black culture

  • Actors writers, poets, artists and musicians

• African American experience in America

  • Bitterness, resentment, joy and hope

• Jazz

  • Integrated audiences and orchestras

  • Broke social barriers

  • Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith

United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)

• Marcus Garvey, 1916

  • Founder of UNIA

  • “They don’t want us? Then let’s live separately… white US & separate black US”

    • Separatism and economic self-sufficiency

  • Back to Africa Movement

    • Black Star Steamship Lines

    • Very few made the trip

  • 1925 charged with fraud

    • Deported to Jamaica

• Racial pride and black nationalism

• Legacy of Black Nationalism

describe republican control overall in this era

• Three Presidential Administrations

• Solid Control of Congress

• Business and Industry thrived

• Farmers and Unions struggled

• Conservative Federal Courts

• Protect business and profits

how did republicans control the economy?

• Less spending

  • Fewer government/social programs that had been implemented during progressive era

• Lower taxes

  • Wealthy and corporations

• Higher tariffs

  • Alienated farmers and small business

• Limited Government Regulation

• Profits over progressivism

election 1920

• Republicans

  • Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge

  • “Return to Normalcy”

    • Done w/ progressive ideas, race riots, labor strifes, Euro probs… we just want simpler Amer

• Democrats

  • James Cox and FDR

• Republicans won

  • Urban modernism over rural values

• Idealism of the Progressive Era was over

summary of Warren G. Harding presidency

• Good Intentions

  • Popular and friendly

• But didn’t exercise strong leadership

• Administration remembered for scandals

  • Harding was not at fault, but responsible

good parts of Harding’s presidency

• cabinet appointments

  • Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes

    • Diplomacy and arbitration

  • Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover

    • International loans and trade

  • Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon

    • Shrunk post war debt

    • Balanced budget

      • In given year gov’t has taken in more money than they have spent

      • You haven’t paid your debt, but you’ve balanced your budget

• Chief Justice appointment of William Howard Taft

bad parts of Harding’s presidency

• Secretary of Interior (responsible for all resources within US territory) Albert B. Fall

  • Schemer and anti-conservation

  • Teapot Dome Scandal

    • Leased a lot of oil land to priv companies in exchange for stock in their company (illegal)

• Attorney General Harry Daugherty

  • accepted bribes → didn’t prosecute bootleggers

• Veterans Bureau Charles R. Forbes

  • Graft and fraud

domestic policy during Harding’s presidency

• Supported by Republican Congress

• Reduction in income taxes (particularly for wealthy)

• Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)

  • Raised the tariff on most goods

• Bureau of the Budget

  • Single Congressional budget to vote on

• Pardons for Espionage and Sedition Acts

• Conservative Supreme Court

  • Adkins v. Children’s Hospital

    • Women do not deserve special protection in workplace

  • Sided with ownership and management

Coolidge & election of 1924

• Coolidge (repub) took over in 1923 after Harding died of heartattack

• Coolidge won election 1924

Coolidge Administration

• Limited Government (Laissez-faire)

  • More conservative, less regulatory 

• Vetoed McNary-Haugen Bill

  • Gov’t buys crops from farmers and then gov’t sells them

  • Would have subsidized farmers

• Pro-business conservatives ran agencies

  • Protected business over progressive ideas

• 1924 Adjusted Compensation Act

  • Vetoed bonuses for WWI soldiers

  • Passed over his veto

election 1928

• Republicans Herbert Hoover

  • Self-made millionaire

  • Served in 3 different cabinets

  • “Coolidge prosperity”

  • “Poverty will soon be ended”

• Democrats Alfred E. Smith

  • Roman Catholic

  • Anti Prohibition

• Hoover won in a landslide

  • Won anti-Catholic Democrats