Features questions USA

US economy in 1920

American businesses gained control of international while their rivals were busy fighting replacing Germany as world leader in chemical and plastics industries.

Increased demand, encouraged manufacturers to mechanise the production process, which meant that goods could be made more quickly and cheaply.

The economic boom

The car industry played a very important role in the boom of the 1920s leading the way in technological development and stimulating growth in other industries. Henry Ford Pioneer new method of production, the electric conveyor belt and the assembly line. The time to assemble Ford model T was reduced from 13 hours to 1 hour and 33 minutes. Mass production methods cause the cost of the model T to fall from $850 in 1914 to $295 in 1926. The mass production of cars stimulated growth in other industries and encouraged development of suburbs and benefited rural areas.

Another feature was consumerism. Americans had more money to spend on consumer items in this period. Wages increased by 25% in the 1920s while prices stay the same or fell. There was a craze for household gadgets, radios, telephones, and vacuum cleaners. Americans began to spend money on items which were not essential.

The leisure industry in the 1920s

Cinema developed in this period from silent black and white films to the first ‘talkie’, two colour films and animations such as those from Walt Disney. Cinema became more popular because there was an increasingly wide range of films on offer. The movie industry worked hard to maintain peoples interest through the publicity of popular film stars through the introduction of new technology. In 1910 the US had 8000 cinemas however in 1926 there were 17,000.

The popularity of spectator sports such as baseball and boxing grew. Tennis and goal for professionalised and the National Football League was established. Matches were broadcast on the radio which meant people could follow sports teams and they could never hope to go see as the sports became more popular attendance group and the top players became stars and more people were interested in playing the sport themselves. For example, Babe Ruth was a baseball player who moved from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1920. He was a powerful hitter who held records for most runs and most homeruns for many years.

the lives of women in the 1920s

During the 1920s younger middle class and upper class women began to challenge the traditional attitudes towards women. They wanted a more independent social life and a more liberal lifestyle for women. They adopted this new approach and were called Flappers. The influence of jazz culture encourage this independent flapper lifestyle as did flapper role models – movie stars such as Clara Bow famously kissed, drank, smoke and danced the Charleston in films such as Our modern maidens.

The 19th Amendment, giving all women the vote, was finally passed by Congress in 1919 and came into effect in 1920.The 1920 presidential election was the first election that women across America were allowed to vote in. Jeanette Rankin became the first congresswoman representing the state of Montana.

Farming in the 1920s

Farmers income increased and they had to work harder to provide and produce for the Europeans who have lost all their farms and factories due to the war. America supplied 30% of the worlds we are 55% of its cotton at this time. Prices rose as demand increased and farmers were trying to get loans to expand their farms to increase production.

However there were a number of problems faced by American farmers in the 1920s the economic decline in Europe after 1918 led to falling sales of American food overseas. Prohibition destroyed the market for wheat and barley and high tariffs on imports to the USA forced other countries to impose high tariffs on American rate which led to a lower demand for it. Total farm income fell from 32 billion in 1919 to 13 billion in 1928.

Older industries in 1920s

The coal industry faced increased competition from oil, gas and electricity; there was a falling demand from the railroad industry and there was more international competition from cheap imports. Mechanisation led to the loss of many jobs in mining; many minds were forced to close and there was an increase in strikes and industrial unrest within the industry.

The railroad industry faced in increasing competition from the development of a national road network; the growth in car ownership made business very difficult as people preferred using cars to travelling on the railways. Companies found it harder to generate profits.

The Palmer raids red scare

Many feared that immigrants would spread communist and anarchist ideas into America events during 1919 and 20 added to these phases leading to the gross and xenophobia.

In September 1920 an anarchist bomb exploded on Wall Street killing 38 people.

In 1919 3600 workers strikes added to the fear that communist revolution was pending.

Such actions gave rise to the red scare the fear that anarchist and communist threatened America.

The Palmer rates were organised by the attorney General Mitchell Palmer head of the US Department of justice this involve the rest of over 6000 suspected communist in 36 cities across America trade unionist Jewish and catholic people and black people were particularly targeted. These people were held for several weeks without charge and hundreds well later deported.

The Monkey trial

The period 1910 to 1929 so growing divide between conservative minded rule areas and modern urban areas of America. The rural areas tended to be very religious especially those in the Bible states of the south east such as Alabama and Tennessee many people in these states were Christian fundamentalist to believe that everything in the Bible had had to be taken literally and must not be questioned.

Traditional and modern America clashed over the monkey trial, which was an argument about Darwin’s theory of evolution.

A biology teacher called John scopes ignored the band of teaching of evolution in schools. He was arrested and put on trial in July 1925. The case was important because it showed how the fundamentalist were trying to curb freedom of thought.

Prohibition

Prohibition was introduced because:

Alcohol cause an increase in crime and lawlessness. Alcohol consumption was said to be linked to domestic violence and child abuse. Bear was associated with Germany and many considered it to be unpatriotic to drink it after the USA formally entered the first world war.

The alcohol trade went underground, developed into organise crime under the control of powerful gangsters. Bootleggers such as Al Capone made large sums of money smuggling alcohol into the country moonshiners distilled their own illegal home brewsspeakeasies selling illegal alcohol sprung up in large numbers.

The Wall Street crash

The Wall Street crash was caused by rise and share prices due to many people buying and selling shares increasing demand. 1.5 million Americans bought shares in 1927 to 1929. Speculators made a living just from buying and selling shares.

People started to lose confidence in how much money American businesses could make which began to affect the share prices of those companies. Most shares were overvalued and there was only one way share prices could go which was down. The Wall Street crash affected the economy which had a knock on effect to most Americans during the 1930s this became known as the great depression. People were more careful about how they spend their money but this held back the economic growth that would have solved the situation.

The economic crisis after 1929

Unemployment rose from 3.2% in 1929 to 24% in 1933 and there was no national benefits scheme so some had to rely on charities. Peoples living standards fell as they had to cut spending on food and fuel. Over 1 million people travel with the country and cars on the railroad or even on foot in search of work and a place to live –they were sometimes referred to as hobos.

Banks were needed to help protect people savings to provide mortgages for people to buy homes and to give loans to businesses. Banks began to fail in 1929 and many banks had little in the way of cash reserves as they had been investing their customers money on the stock market. By the end of the 1930s 10,000 banks had failed. As banks closed people lost their savings and businesses were cut off investment which made the depression even worse.

Hoovervilles

Hooverville was shantytowns built of packing boxes and congregated iron sheets named after President Hoover. There was no sanitation and little access to clean water. The biggest Hooverville were in New York City Washington DC and St. Louis. Some became semi permanent like those in St. Louis and Seattle and ended up with up with a mayor and police force.

Hoovers reaction to the Great Depression

What he believed:

Volunteerism – Hoover believed that it was not the job of the government to take over businesses and for them to pay employees decent wages. Instead he worked with businesses and local governments to try to persuade people to take action rather than forcing them to. Hoover encourage charities to help people in need.

1929- Federal Farm board - brought surplus farm produce to keep prices up

1932- Emergency relief act - government offered 300 million in loans to states to provide unemployment pay

Reaction and popularity:

Republicans believed that if the government stepped in to help people in crisis then people would become dependent on government and would do nothing to help themselves.

Became increasingly unpopular after the Gt Depression - introduced an income tax based on how much a person earned - unpopular with rich - had 63% tax instead of 25% previously.

Lost landslide defeat to FDR in 1932 presidential election - FDR had 42/48 states

AAA

The Agricultural Adjustment agency dealt with rural poverty and low crop prices. Subsides were made to farmers to destroy their crops and slaughter animals in an effort to push prices up again.

By 1936, farm incomes were 1.5 times higher than they were in 1933.

However the AAA was declared invalid by the Supreme Court in 1936.

NRA

The National Recovery Administration encouraged employers to deal with over production and poor working conditions. It introduced voluntary codes of practice for minimum wages, limited working hours and improving conditions for workers. Workers were given the legal right to join trade unions, although few did until the Wagner act.

As an incentive, companies complying with the code could display a blue eagle symbol. 2.3 million businesses were part of the scheme by the end of 1933.

WPA

Second new deal – works progress administration.

overall job creation schemes – manual labourers were given work on road and Park building or planting trees to hold back the ravages of the Dust Bowl in the Midwest young people were helped to stay at college or join training programs; women were offered projects ranging from sewing to teaching; writers and performers were employed as researchers or travelling entertainers.

8 million people were employed on this scheme at a cost of 11 billion.

The Wagner Act

It was intended to increase workers rights after the Supreme Court had declared the national industrial recovery act of 1933 invalid. This gave workers the legal rights to join trade unions and stopped employers sacking union members. The national labour relations board was set up to protect workers against unfair practices and help unions get recognition from employers.

Union membership rose to 9,000,000 and the NLRB had 226 lawyers by 1939. Unfortunately, they were increasing numbers of strikes many of which became violent as employers tried to stop them.

The Election of 1932

The result of Hoover’s apparent lack of empathy with the population was seen in the 1932 presidential election. The American people did not share his opinion that the country had passed through the worst period of the Depression, and that with continued effort the country would recover rapidly. As the election approached, Hoover became more and more unpopular. He had tried to solve the problems caused by the Great Depression, but people had not seen any improvements in their lives.

The Democratic Party’s candidate in the election was Franklin D Roosevelt. He offered a different vision of how to solve America’s problems in a speech pledging “a new deal for the American people”. In contrast, Roosevelt was becoming increasingly popular as he offered people hope with his plan to deal with the Great Depression. He blamed Republican politicians like Hoover, as well as the bankers and the rich, for the Great Depression. He promised to set up public works projects to give people jobs.

Roosevelt won the election, receiving around 23 million votes and winning 42 states. Hoover got around 16 million votes and won only six states.

The First hundred days

One feature was Roosevelts determination to take away the fear that the American people were feeling. One of the ways he did this was a\to talk to ordinary Americans over the radio. These conversations became known as ‘fireside chats’ and in them Roosevelt explained what he was trying to do using language that ordinary citizens would understand. He made 30 of the speeches and was the first American president to do this.

Another feature was that it set out to help farmers. The Agricultural Adjustment Act gave subsidies to farmer so that they could cut down the production. This meant that less wheat and cotton was produced and prices rose to a point where farmers could make a living. Roosevelt also set up the farm credit administration to help farmers pay their mortgages.

Attitude towards black Americans

The Jim Crow laws – introduce segregation, separating black-and-white Americans in schools parks, hospital swimming pools, libraries and other public places. Life for black Americans living in the south was very hard as they could not vote and denied the right to a decent education and a good job. They could not marry my white Americans between 1900 and 1919 1360 black Americans were lynched.

The great migration – segregation did not exist in southern states. So many black Americans decided to migrate to the industrial cities of the north in search of a new job and a better standard of living. Move to cities like Chicago Detroit New York and Philadelphia demand for workers in factories was high as American industry was booming. They continue to be treated a second class citizens even in the north they receive low pay and lived in poor neighbourhood called ghetto.

The Sacco and Vanzetti case

The case of Sacco and Vanzetti was important because it was clear instance of racial discrimination and highlighted the unfairness of the US legal system towards immigrants.

On fifth of May 1922 Italian immigrants were arrested and charged with carrying out a robbery of a shoe factory in Massachusetts in which two people died. Their case aroused mass media attention and the judge seems determined to find the two men guilty. They were both self confessed anarchists and the prosecution focus mainly on their status as immigrants and their radical beliefs. The jury found them guilty and they were sentenced to death their appeal failed and they were executed by electric chair in August 1927.

The Ku Klux Klan

The Klan was only open to wasps; members saw themselves being superior to other races and they were anti-black people anti jewish people anti catholic people and anti-communist people. The concerns over immigration and the red scare caused the clown members to rise sharply in the 1920s; 100,000 members in 1920 rising to 5,000,000 members by 1925.

The Klan suffered a sharp decline in membership following the conviction in 1925 of David Stephenson, the Grand dragon of the Indiana Klan following the rape of a woman on a Chicago train. They had very powerful members in 1925 so this dramatically reduced popularity and had a big impact on the KKK. By 1925 there were only around 200000 members left.

Rural electrification

The TVA began to solve the problem of only 10% farms having electricity by building dams to provide electric electricity and lending money to local cooperative to lay cables. The electric home and farm authority bracket EHFA bracket was set up to help farmers by electrical appliances on credit and encourage companies to make cheaper models for sale in the TVA area. This was so popular they expanded into the second new deal and the rural elation administration spread these programs all around the USA.

By 19 41 35% of farms had electricity and 417 cooperatives had taken loans to lay cables. However, some utilities companies slowed this process down by building cables to Richard areas which meant the poor areas did not always qualify for REA help.

The Social security Act

The 1935 Social Security act aimed to deal with the problem of poverty. It set up a national system of Social Security providing pensions for the over 65 to aid widows orphans and people with disabilities as well as an unemployment benefits jointly funded by federal state government. Grants would also be paid to help very poor families and people with disabilities.

While it helped in the long run it’s immediate effects were limited as people had to pay the taxes 1st to be able to qualify domestic servants and agricultural labourers were not covered by the scheme.

Supreme court challenge to the new deal

New Deal agencies such as the NRA (National Recovery Administration) and the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Agency) were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It argued that:

the agencies had overstepped the powers of the federal government

the federal government could not impose laws on the individual state governments.

By 1936, the Supreme Court had ruled against 11 out of 16 of the so-called alphabet laws. Roosevelt was concerned that more of the New Deal might be struck down too.In 1937, he tried to enlarge the court by ‘packing’ it with six new justices who might be more supportive however his plan backfired.

Court Packing

In 1937, he asked Congress to allow him to add a new judge to the Supreme Court for every existing judge aged over 70.

This would mean adding six of his own judges and was called court-packing.

Congress didn't agree to FDR's plan, but afterwards the Supreme Court stopped challenging the New Deal. Gradually the old Republican judges retired or died and Roosevelt could replace them.

Roosevelt received a lot of criticism for his threat - some people felt it was disrespectful to the American system of government and that he was acting like a dictator.

Liberty leagues opposition

The Liberty League was founded in 1934 by conservatives from both parties to protect the rights of businesses to make their own decisions. They campaignedand spoke against New Deal measures and paid for appeals against it.

Francis Townsend

Dr Francis Townsend set up an organisation called the Old Age Revolving Pension Plan. Townsend proposed that everyone over the age of 60 who was retired should get a pension of $200 a month provided they spent this money. This would provide jobs for the unemployed and a stimulus to the economy

Bonus Mar