1920s and Great Depression

Great Depression

• Major global economic crisis in the 1930s when millions lost jobs, banks failed

• poverty spread after 1929 stock market crash

Shantytown/Hooverville

• Makeshift communities of shacks built by homeless people

• They were named “Hoovervilles” to blame President Hoover for the economic problems

Lost Generation

• Group of young people/writers who came of age during or right after WW1

• They felt disillusioned by the war, society, and traditional values

• Believed the world had become morally lost and directionless after the mass destruction and trauma of the war

Demobilization

• Process of a country bringing troops home and reducing its military forces after a war

• Soldiers return to civilian life, wartime production stops, and the nations shifts back to a peacetime economy

“Rugged Individualism”

• Idea that people should succeed through their own hard work and independence, without government help

• President Herbert Hoover promoted this idea during the Great Depression believing that people, not the government, should solve economic problems

“Return to Normalcy”

• President Warren G Harding’s slogan after WWI

• Telling U.S to go back to a quiet, stable, pre-war way of life

• Less international involvement, fewer reforms, and a focus on everyday American Life and business

Bonus Army

• Group of WWI veterans who marched to Washington D.C. in 1932 to demand early payment of their promised bonuses

• Government forced them out, leading to a violent clash

Deficit Spending

• When a government spends more money than it collects in taxes, especially under FDR’s New Deal

Hoover Dam

• Massive concrete Dam built on the Colorado River

• Major public works project created to provide jobs, control flooding, store water, and generate hydroelectric power

Speculation

• When people buy stocks or other assets to make quick profits, doing big risks

• Heavy speculation helped inflate the stock market bubble that eventually crashed in 1929

Red Scare

• Period of intense fear in the U.S. of communism and radical ideas

• Two major scares both marked by suspicion, arrest, and accusation against people thought to be communist

Buying on Margin

• When people buy stocks by paying only a small part of the price upfront and borrowing the rest

• Another factor that lead to the stock market crash in 1929

KKK

• White supremacist hate group

• Targeted POC, immigrants, and Jews

Dust Bowl

• Severe drought and poor farming practices caused huge dust storms across the Great Plains

• Destroyed farmed, Forced many families to move west, especially Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas

Prohibition

• Led to tax revenue and illegal alcohol sales

• Repeal in 1933 helped create jobs and generate government income

18th Amendment

Ban of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol

Bootleggers

• People who illegally made, transported, or sold alcohol during the Prohibition

Scopes Trial

• Case in Tennessee where a Teacher, John Scopes, was tried for teaching evolution in school which violated state law

• Highlighted conflict between modern science and traditional religious beliefs

Palmer Raids

• Government raids led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer

• Hunted down suspected communists, anarchists, and radicals

New York City

• A lot of unemployment and poverty

• Shantytowns

• Soup kitchen

• Center for arts, culture, and political, activism

Model T

• Car by Henry Ford

• Affordable, durable, and easy to mass-produce

• Revolutionized transportation and helped make cars accessible

Creditor Nation

• A country that lends more money to other countries than it borrows

• After WWI the U.S became one cause it loaned large amounts of money to European countries

Harlem Renaissance

• Cultural Movement in Harlem, New York

• African American artists, writers, and musicians celebrated Black culture and creativity

Black Tuesday (Oct 29,1929)

• When Stock Market Crashed

• Marked the start of the depression

• Millions of stocks lost value, wiping out investors’ saving and triggering widespread of economic collapse

Gertrude Stein

• Key figure in the Lost generation

• Hosted a famous Paris salon where artists and writers gathers

Ernest Hemingway

• Part of the Lost Generation of writers in the 1920s and wrote things like The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms

Warren G Harding

• 29th President

• Promoted “normalcy” and favored pro-business policies

• His presidency was ruined by scandals like the Teapot Dome

Calvin Coolidge

• 30th President

• Pro-business policies, limited government, and a quiet leadership style

• Did little to prevent economic collapse

Teapot Dome Scandal

• Bribery scandal during Warren’s administration

• Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, secretly leased federal oil reserves to private companies

• He received bribes in return

Dawes Plan

• Agreement to help Germany pay its WWI reparations

• This helped European economies recover and stabilized Germany’s economy for a bit 

Kellogg Briand Pact

• International agreement that U.S agreed to not use war to resolve conflicts

• Promoted peace but no enforcement

Henry Ford

• Founder of Ford Motor Company

• Made cars like Model T affordable to average Americans

• Didn’t Like Jews (Anti-Semitic)

F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Wrote the Great Gatsby

• Tender Is the Night, reflected the loss of wealth and optimism from the Depression

Impact of the Lost Generation

• Critiqued Traditional Values and question the American Dream

• Explored themes of disillusionment, war, and moral decay in the works

• Influenced literature, art, and culture with modernist style and new forms of expression

• Helped shape the identity of the 1920s and 1930s, leaving lasting legacy in American arts

Impact of the Dust Bowl

• Forced Migration from families in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kasas to move west to Cali and other states

• Crops and farmland were destroyed, worsening poverty for farmers

• Respiratory issues and hardship

• Led to federal programs for soil conservation and relief for affected farmers

Impact of Women during the 1920s

• Challenged traditional roles by adopting new fashions, behaviors, and social attitudes

• More women entered offices, factories, and professions, gaining economic independence

• Women could vote

• Women became prominent in literature, arts, and entertainment, helping define the roaring twenties 

Impact of Demobilization on the US economy

• Soldiers returned home, and wartime factories closed, causing  unemployment to rise (Job Loss)

• The shift from a wartime to a peacetime economy led to a brief recession (Economic Slowdown)

• Workers faced wage cuts and poor conditions (Labor unrest)

• Prices rose while incomes fell creating economic tension (inflation and hardship)

Impact of the Scopes Trial

• Highlighted clash between modern science and traditional religious beliefs

• Sparked discussion about education, religion, and academic freedom

• Turned trial into a high-profile event, influencing public opinion and popular culture

• Paved the way for gradual acceptance of evolution in schools and greater analysis of laws restricting education

Impact of Electricity

• Household convenience

• Industrial Growth

• Urbanization and entertainment

• Cultural change

US and Isolationism

• Avoiding alliances (U.S refused to join the League of Nations)

• Passed tariffs and restricted immigration

• Concentrated on economic growth and internal affairs

• While it kept the U.S. out of European conflicts, it also limited influence in global affairs