Unit 8: 1920s and Great Depression

New media/new forms of entertainment

• Listening to the radio

  • Able to listen to new music & hear about distant events

• Going to the movies

  • Silent movies featuring Charlie Chaplin

• Newspapers/Magazines

Jazz

• American musical form developed by African Americans, based on improvisation, blending blues, and ragtime

New Technology

• Electric appliances for the household were one of the biggest new market segments in the 1920s

new trends in consumerism

• Americans were spending more money!

• Manufacturing improved during and after the war → prices for goods decreased 

  • Able to buy commercial goods (refrigerators, cars, telephones, electric stoves)

Prohibition (18th amendment)

• 18th Amendment: nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages 

• Led to the rise of Organized Crime

  • Al Capone & other gangsters made their fortunes from the illegal distillation and sale of alcohol

Darwin’s Theory vs.Christianity  

• Fundamentalists: Believed that Darwinism (evolution) was undermining the foundations of Christianity

• Debate over what should be taught in public schools

Speakeasies

Secret drinking establishments 

flappers vs. conservative

• Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms. They challenged the previously accepted mores of society in every regar

women

dress

• Short bob hairstyle 

• Shorter dresses 

• Form fitting clothing 

• Makeup

Role in Society

• Women (especially single women) are working more

• Many in “traditionally feminine” roles 

  • Domestic service

• Able to earn wages 

  • Consumerism

• More freedom in personal life 

• BUT pressure to get married and have children  remained high

voting

• women were allowed to vote

KKK (resurgence)

• Against African Americans, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, progressives, etc. 

Red Scare  

• Period of widespread fear of extreme left movements (communism and socialism) 

  • Fear of European immigrants 

• Same time that Labor Riots were occurring 

• Palmer Raids: Violent law enforcement raids targeting radical leftists and anarchists 

Women’s suffrage

fighting to gain rights

NAWSA, NWP, NACW 

National American Woman Suffrage Association

• Lobbied and petitioned to pass state suffrage amendments that would lead to a national amendment

National Association of Colored Women 

• Promoted progress of women of color through suffrage and education

National Woman’s Party

• Used more intense methods to enfranchise women 

• EX: Hunger strikes, marching with picket signs in front of the White House

19th amendement (1920)

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

over-speculation

• High risk investing with the hopes of making a large profit 

  • People were buying stocks at prices that did NOT reflect the actual value of the company

credit

buy now, Pay later

bank failures

• The depressed economy caused many banks (especially small banks) to go bankrupt. At that time there was no deposit insurance, so many people withdrew their deposits from banks and kept their money as currency. Many bank runs occurred, as depositors were wary of bankruptcy.

stock market

• Where businesses sell part ownership in their company and people sell or trade stocks.

• The stock market in the 1920’s was booming! 

• People were purchasing tons of items 

• Businesses were making lots of money as people consumed more

• Companies started advertising their products to get people to buy more!

• Stock values of companies were always going up! 

• There were many small investors

Bank run

• when a large number of depositors try and withdraw at the same time 

• Few banks could handle this number of withdrawals → led to banks closing 

• Banking system collapses

impacts of the stock market crash

• everyone lost money

• investors and businesses both put significant amounts of money into the market

• when it crashed, tremendous amounts of money were lost

• Businesses closed and people lost their savings.

Federal reserve system

• Failed to curb many of the poor decisions made by banks during the 1920s

• When the banking system started to collapse → federal reserve reduced the amount of money in circulation 

• Led to a severe drop in spending 

Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930

• Tariffs: Taxes on imported goods 

• Hawley Smoot Act: Increased tariff by 20% → Other countries placed tariffs on the U.S. in response 

• → Global trade plummeted 

• → no one to sell American goods to

unemployment during the great depression

• 24.9%

impact on farmers/everyday people

• Dust Bowl: Drought in the central and southern great plains during the 1930s → worsened farming conditions 

• As a result → many farmers moved to CA or other places to find relief

• No income → No money to spend → don’t purchase goods 

• Companies that produce goods lay off workers and reduce wages 

• Less income to spend

Hoover

• Relied on volunteerism and local/state governments 

• Bonus Army: Sent federal troops to evict the veterans 

• Believed that providing money to big businesses would “trickle down” to help everyday individuals

The New Deal

• FDR’s domestic programs

• Roosevelt proposed and Congress passed 15 major bills 

• Involved the 3Rs in the different programs 

President Roosevelt 

• Believed that providing money to big businesses would “trickle down” to help everyday individuals

• Bonus Army: Sent his wife Eleanor Roosevelt to talk with the troops, she empathized with them 

• Utilized the 3 Rs to end the depression and prevent another from returning 

Roosevelt’s 3Rs

• Relief: provide relief from immediate hardships of the depression (JOBS)

• Recovery: Help the economy bounce back from the depression

• Reform: Instituted changes that would prevent a future depression 

WPA (Works Progress Administration)

• Created new jobs in road construction, harbor creation, etc.

• Provided jobs for displaced artists, writers, actors, etc. 

• reform

AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration)

• paid farmers for not planting crops in order to reduce surpluses and increase prices

• recovery

FDIC (Federal Department Insurance Corporation)

• insure bank customers against the loss of up to $5,000 of their deposits if their bank should fail.

• reform

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

• unmarried men aged 18-25 from relief rolls and sent them into the woods and fields to plant trees, build parks/roads/fight erosion (BRP)

• relief

CWA (Civil Works Administration)

• created construction jobs,

• improved/constructed buildings and bridges

SSA (Social Security Administration)

• Created the pension system for retirees 

• Established unemployment insurance for those who lost their jobs 

• Created insurance for victims of work related incidents 

• Continues to still provide basic economic security to millions of Americans 

• reform

FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Act)

• Gave federal grants to states that funded salaries for government workers as well as local soup kitchens and other direct-aid to the poor programs.

• relief

Impact of the New Deal

short term —> New Deal programs helped improve the lives of people suffering from the events of the depression.

In the long run —> New Deal programs set a precedent for the federal government to play a key role in the economic and social affairs of the nation.

Criticism of the New Deal 

• Some said FDR was a socialist

  • Bringing government in direct control of certain industries 

• Expanded government power TOO much 

• Threatened individual freedom 

  • Actual socialists said that FDR was not doing enough!