1920s America: A Cultural and Political Overview

Red Scare

Fear of communism in the US after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, leading to a nationwide crusade against suspected un-American individuals.

Criminal Syndicalism Laws

Laws making it illegal to advocate violence for social change, restricting traditional American ideals of free speech.

American Plan

A policy supported by some businesses where employees were not required to join unions.

Prohibition

The 18th Amendment banning alcohol, enforced by the Volstead Act, popular in the South and associated with increased bank savings and decreased absenteeism.

18th Amendment

Prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the US.

Lindbergh Law

Passed in 1932, making interstate abduction in certain circumstances a death-penalty offense.

John Dewey

Educator who advocated 'learning by doing' and believed in 'education for life' as a primary goal.

Equal Rights Amendment

Campaigned for by the National Women's Party in 1923 to grant equal rights to women in the US Constitution.

Flappers

Young women in the 1920s who expressed disdain for traditional behavior by wearing short skirts, drinking, driving cars, and smoking.

Jazz

A musical genre that thrived in the 1920s, contributing to the cultural liberation of the era.

Harlem Renaissance

A black cultural movement that emerged in Harlem, contributing to the assimilation of immigrants.

Modernism

A philosophical movement during the 1920s that questioned social conventions and contributed to new life in American literature.

H.L. Mencken

Writer who attacked marriage, patriotism, democracy, and prohibition in his monthly American Mercury.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Author of 'This Side of Paradise' and 'The Great Gatsby', contributing to the new life and artistic quality of American literature.

Earnest Hemingway

Writer who responded to propaganda and patriotism, portraying disillusioned American expatriates in Europe in 'The Sun Also Rises'.

Sinclair Lewis

Author of 'Main Street' and 'Babbitt', contributing to the new life and artistic quality of American literature.

Bureau of the Budget

Created in 1921 to help the president submit an annual budget to Congress, preventing extravagant appropriations.

Andrew Mellon

Treasury Secretary whose tax policies and reductions shifted the tax burden from the wealthy to middle-income groups.

Stock Market

Became increasingly popular to the average citizen in the 1920s, with little government management of the national debt after WWI.

Automobile Industry

Started an industrial revolution in the 1920s, leading to increased jobs, support industries, and a rise in America's standard of living.

Airplane

Invented due to gasoline engines, leading to the first flight in 1903 and the subsequent growth of the aviation industry.

Radio

Invented in the 1890s, with voice-carrying broadcasts transmitted in the 1920s, contributing to significant educational and cultural contributions.

Motion Picture

Became popular in the 1920s, with Hollywood as the movie capital of the world, leading to increased assimilation of immigrants.

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Italian anarchists convicted in 1921 of murder due to prejudice against their nationality, beliefs, and draft dodging.

Ku Klux Klan

A group that grew in the 1920s, promoting intolerance and prejudice, particularly against immigrants, Catholics, blacks, Jews, and others.

Emergency Quota Act of 1921

Placed a quota on European immigrants to the US, limiting them to 3% of their nationality living in the US in 1910.

Immigration Act of 1924

Replaced the Quota Act, further cutting quotas for foreigners to 2% and banning Japanese immigration.

Al Capone

A notorious gangster in Chicago who engaged in violent gang warfare and was eventually convicted of income-tax evasion.

John T. Scopes

Indicted in Tennessee for teaching evolution, leading to the famous 'Monkey Trial' where he was found guilty.

Model T

An automobile created by Henry Ford, marking the start of an industrial revolution in the 1920s.