History USA 6 Markers

Two features of the leisure industry

The growth of the cinema industry (100 million cinema tickets were sold each week by the end of the decade), rise of Jazz (Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were popular, dance halls, dances included the Charleston)

Two features of the economic boom

Mass production (Henry Ford’s assembly line meant quick and cheap car production, about $300 in the mid-1920s), consumerism (hire purchase meant that people didn’t have to pay upfront for consumer goods)

Problems faced by US farmers in the 1920s

Overproduction (demand drops and supply increases, price drops in wheat from $2.50 per bushel in 1920 to $1.00 by 1929), high debt levels (many farmers took out loans to buy machinery)

Two features of the Red Scare

Fear of Communist revolution (workers’ strikes in 1919 increased fears of a Communist revolution), Palmer Raids (the government, led by Attorney General Palmer, carried out raids to arrest communists, anarchists and radicals, 6,000 were arrested and many were deported without trials)

Sacco and Vanzetti case

Controversial and biased trial (lack of concrete evidence, the judge, Frederick Thayer, was openly hostile to both men), widespread protests (the philosophers, writers and politicians defended them and there were worldwide protests)

Lives of Black Americans in the 1920s

Harlem Renaissance (cultural awakening for African Americans, particularly in Harlem, in literature, jazz music, art and intellectual thought, Duke Ellington), Racial segregation (Black Americans were segregated in schools, public facilities and housing, KKK used lynchings)

KKK

Conformed with the rise of nativism and the Red Scare, (promoted the defense of ‘traditional American values, against immigrants, Black Americans, Jews Catholics and communists), engaged in violent actions (cross burnings, lynching, promotion of racist candidates, controlled states such as Indiana)

Monkey Trial

Centered around John Scopes (the science teacher from Tennessee was put on trial for violating the Butler Act which prohibited the teaching of evolution), became a national debate over science vs religion (Clarence Darrow for the defense, William Jennings Bryan for prosecution, Scopes was fined $100, but highlighted modernism vs fundamentalism nationally)

Prohibition

Legal ban on alcohol (lasted 1920-33, brought about by the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act, driven by the Anti-Saloon League, which believed alcohol = domestic abuse), brought with it a rise in organised crime (organised gangs, such as Al Capone’s, profited from bootlegging, Speakeasies and Moonshine became popular)

Wall Street Crash

Stock market collapse (after a period Of rampant speculation, on October 29 1929, $14 billion dollars was wiped out in a single day), widespread economic impact (lead to the Great Depression, which lasted for a decade, unemployment rose to 25% in 1933)

Bonus Marchers

Marched for early payment of veterans’ bonuses (20,000 WWI veterans marched on Washington DC in 1932, payments were due in 1945, but they wanted them early), were violently removed by the US army (General MacArthur ordered the army to burn down their camps and force the veterans out, two veterans died and there were numerous injuries)

Hoover’s response to the Great Depression

Public works and the creation of jobs (authorized public works programs, such as the Hoover Dam, beginning in 1931, provided thousands with jobs, seen as too little to late, $400 million spent on public works were insufficient), Reconstruction Finance Corporation (provides emergency loans to banks, railroads and businesses, had a budget of $2 billion, but were criticized for supporting large corporations and not aiding those struggling

1932 Presidential Election

FDR was elected (ran against the incumbent Hoover who was blamed for the depression, Roosevelt promised a ‘New Deal’ and secured 84.5% of the electoral vote), the outcome was fueled by the unemployed, small businesses and banks (‘the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,’ Democrats gained 12 seats in the Senate)

Roosevelt’s First 100 Days

Closed banks (Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933, allowed only financially stable banks to reopen, within the first month, over $1 billion in deposits were returned to the banks), creation of major relief programs (the CCC employed 250,000 young men in public works projects, FERA provided $500 million in direct aid to the unemployed)

Alphabet Agencies

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps, employed 250,000 young men in public works projects, planted over 3 billion trees, payed workers $30 a month, and their families were net $25 a month), FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Agency, provided $500 million in direct aid to the unemployed)

Rural Electrification

Rural Electrification Administration (REA, created in 1935, by 1941 40% of rural homes had electricity), expansion of rural infrastructure (provided low-interest loans to local cooperatives and utility companies to build electric power lines, 2.5 million people benefitted from this)

Huey Long’s share our wealth programme

Proposal to redistribute wealth (was the governor of Louisiana and opposed the New Deal, proposed a large annual tax on incomes over $1 million and fortunes over $5 million), was popular (at its height, the programme boasted a reported 7.5 million members, the upper classes saw it as a threat to capitalism, the plan was never implemented as Long was assassinated in 1935)

Political Opposition to the New Deal

Opposition from Conservatives (the Liberty League was formed in 1934, argued that the New Deal expanded the federal government too much and was too socialist, had 120,000 members by 1936), Opposition from the left (Huey Long’s Share Our Wealth Program, Dr Francis Townsend believed the government should pay everyone over 60 $200 a month provided they spent it in 30 days, Father Coughlin founded the National Union for Social Justice in 1934 and wanted to reform the banking system and monetary policies but declined in popularity after he became anti-Semitic)

Radical Opposition to the New Deal

Communist Party USA (100,000 members, didnt’t think it went far enough), Socialist Party of America (led by Norman Thomas, 100,000 members, initially supported it, u-turned for the same reason as the CPUSA)

Business Opposition

NAM (National Association of Manufacturers, New Deal was damaging industry and growth, started a propaganda campaign in 1934 using radio, pamphlets, newspaper ads), the US Chamber of Commerce (objected to labour laws, such as the NIRA, as they argued that they were counterproductive and harmed market freedom)