‘In search of the American dream’ USA Topic: Unit 3, Society and culture in change, 1917-1980

1917-1980 for Women

• Women were paid less than white men for doing exactly the same job.

• Women were less likely to get a job than a white male applicant.

• Women were more likely to be fired than a white man if a job needed cutting.

• Women were constantly passed over for promotion in favour of white men.

• Women were unlikely to reach the top level of their work environment.

• Women were seen as less committed and more unreliable than white men.

• Women were not given credit for their intelligence and ideas.

• Women were turned down for work or refused promotion on the grounds that they would get pregnant and leave.

Women’s Rights & Expectations

• Women did not have the vote

• It was thought un-ladylike to smoke or drink in public.

• A woman had to be accompanied by a male chaperone.

• Divorce and sex before marriage were rare.

• WW1 gave women the chance to work, for lower wages than white male, but when the war ended the women were often fired and replaced by the men returning from the war

• After this happened, women usually went back to becoming housewives

• Once the right to vote was given to women, they were only allowed to vote in larger numbers

The Impact of World War One

• During WWI 90,000 women served in the US armed forces in Europe, as clerks, radio electricians, nurses, chemists, accountants, in in many other roles.

• At home in America women also needed to fill the jobs left by men, who had gone away to fight in the war.

• Thus women started to work in jobs traditionally done by men (such as heavy industry, engineering, and transport).

• In doing this they proved that they could do the jobs as well as men, which won women great respect, and eventually the vote in 1920.

• Thus women in America were given greater political and social freedom, and changes to women’s positions in society continued to change as the decade went on.

Flapper Lifestyle

• Short hair and make-up

• Wore short skirts, and often bright colours

• Smoked and drank in public

• Went to speakeasies and the cinema without a chaperone

• Drove cars, and even motorbikes

• Danced with men in public, to jazz music, and in the new style

• Wore revealing swimming costumes on the beach

• Flapper icons included Joan Crawford, Louise Brooks, and Clara Bow

Opposition to Flappers

• Flappers were seen as too extreme by many traditional groups, conservatives and republicans, especially in rural areas.

• They met with disapproval from some religious groups.

• Many of the older generations disapproved with flappers and formed the Anti-Flirt League.

Real Change?

RURAL AREAS:

• Rural areas were still strongly conservative

• Religious traditions prevented any change

• Many were married women and did not work, therefore they could not afford the new labour-saving devices

• Women living in rural societies often spent a long time on housework, looking after the children and working on the farm too, (only 32% of farmhouses had running water in 1932).

• These women experienced little change and few benefits from the ‘roaring twenties’

Flappers

• In contrast the greatest change was experienced by women known as flappers.

• Generally from middle and upper-class backgrounds living in the northern states

• These women challenged traditional attitudes towards women through their behaviour.

• They aimed to become more independent socially, and freer in their behaviour and appearance.

CHANGING ATTITUDES TO SOCIAL ETIQUETTE AND THE JAZZ CULTURE

• The role that women were expected to fill altered through the 1920’s due to the influence that the consumer boom had.

• The mass production of labour-saving devices (such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines) meant that the domestic chores women did could be completed quicker and therefore they had more time.

• Some women used this opportunity to get a job, whilst others were able to take part in new leisure activities for the first time.

• Many women also took advantage of the opportunities for recreation offered by changes to the entertainment industry. The introduction of the radio meant that women were able to listen to jazz music at home, and many spent their newly found free time going to dance halls and the cinema.

• The popularity of these new forms of entertainment meant that new stars were born (such as Gloria Swanson, Jean Harlow, and Mae West), who became role models for many young girls.

EMPLOYMENT

• By 1930 2 million more women were employed than ten years earlier. However these tended to be in unskilled, low-paying jobs.

• In fact only 4% of university professors were women, despite the fact that a third of university degrees were awarded to women in 1930.

• Similarly medical schools only allocated 5% of places to women, meaning that the number of female doctors actually declined in the 1920’s.

• Instead women were still expected to fill ‘women’s jobs’, becoming things like librarians and nurses.

• Also men were still paid a lot more than women for doing the same job, and the Supreme Court banned all attempts to set a minimum wage for female workers, showing that the government were often the body preventing women from progressing in the world of work.

• For example in 1927 the government took the side of the employers when female textile workers went on strike about low wages. Many of the strikers were then arrested.

MEDIA

• The media, and especially magazines, constantly reminded women that they should marry and have children.

• If a women had gone out to work once she married she usually gave up her job and focused on domestic life.

• Yet despite this married women in the 1920’s tended to have fewer children than the generation before. In 1900 the average American women had 3.6 children, but by 1920 this had fallen to 2.6.

• Women were also less likely to remain in unhappy marriages in the 1920’s, with 100,000 divorces in 1914 and double this in 1929.

• Finally women were living longer, with the average lifespan in 1900 being 51, which by 1925 had risen to 63.

POLITICS

• Women were given the vote in America in 1920.

• A few women then did make progress in gaining political power. For instance in 1924 Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first women to be elected governor of a state, and in 1926 Berta Knight Landes became the first female mayor of an American city, Seattle.

• However, these were exceptions and on the whole women made little further political progress. From 1920 most political parties wanted women’s votes but did not see them as realistic candidates to represent them as politicians.

• What is more, most women seemed to have little interest in politics.

• After 1900 there existed a number of women’s associations involved in campaigning for equal rights for women in law and at work, but other than winning the vote in 1920 they achieved little else and often struggled to find support. For instance the women’s movement failed in its attempt to get the Equal Rights Amendment Act passed (to give them equality with men in the eyes of the law).

• Thus, by the 1920’s the feminist movement in America weakened, with many women taking advantage of their new found freedoms,but with little interest in politics itself.

The Great Depression and the New Deal

• The Great Depression meant that for women they had jobs since they were the Sole Wage earner in the family or to boost their husband's wage. For work, it meant that working class families (who suffered the most) heeded the jobs more.
  

• The Great Depression Somewhat re-asserted traditional family dynamics since it there were jobs, they were usually given to men, specifically white men and women Sometimes had to hold the domestic role.
  

• The women's Bureau of Labor was seen as a hinderence to some since it supported government legislation of the Supreme Court's 1968 Muller vs Oregen (which ruled that women's working hours should be no more than to hours a day) and when it pushed for legislation (such as when it pressed for a minimum wage when men didn't have one yet)
  

• For those who couldn't find work, they haal to rely on relief programmes to have money but had to join with migrants and minorities and so were at the bottom.
  

• Under the New Deal, women faced that the burden of feeding the family, fell onto them and is that men came first in plicies on unemployment and working conditions than families.
  

• Eleanor Roosevelt tried to help these women by treating army-run camps for to work in forestry, with the first Camp (Camp Tera) setting up in 1933 by private donations and by 1936, there were 36 camps which took 5000 women a year.
  

• At this time, life was hardest for black Americans since they benefited less than whites and were even edged out on the worst jobs by whiter.

Women in WWII p.64

• 1940 - Selective Training and Service Act prepared to draft men into the military and train women to fill their places. The more experienced men who knew how to
  

• The effect of this was having women learning how to be build and assemble Ships and aircrafts go to war and possibly not return. While also having married women leave their children for this work.
  

• This Solution to this was having women learn how to build and assemble them and other weapons or machinery that was needed for the war. The 1941 Lanham's Act gave extended provision to childcare, with 130,000 going to childcare
  

• This led to women having move skills of which they could use elsewhere and a wage for their efforts, Living their family money to survive. It also increased amount of women working
  

• The Women's Land Army of America re-formed to provide farm workers countrywide

Post-war changes p.65-66

• 50 % of married women who worked in the war left since the majority of returning men wanted their jobs back but also social pressures.
  

• Female employment rate role in the 1940s with an increase of 12.1% because barring married women from many jobs was rarely reinstated after the war
  

• The general public in 1936 had 82% of people believe married women shouldn't work, which then decreased to 78% in 1938 and 13% in 1942.
  

• Women were still not equal to men after the war since they were still paid lower weyes than men for the same work

Suburban living - "the problem that has no name” - Friedan

• Each of the pictures are directly or indirectly advertising products or a way of life that is pushing commercialism and the American Dream
  reserved
  

• The problem that has no name" - Frieden. The "Problem" that is refering in the quote is the women going back to traditional roles and consumerism

Life in the suburbs

• Suburbs emerged after the war since there was an economic and building boom. that made homes more affordable.
  

• In Suburban living there was a pattern of the wage-earning husband going to work while the Wife stayed home and kept the house clean and children locked after This discouraged women from working since if they did it would of become to expensive to have childcare and maids.
  

• This way of living was something to aspire to but also potentially frustrating since advertisements of the suburbs and the links of it towards the American made it something to aspire to but was frustrating since those in the inner cities then left to life in Suburbs, but those who stayed were usually those who couldn't afford it.

• Another reason was that Non-white ghettos grew-caused by, and fostering racism. The education and job opportunities available to women who lived in these areas meant that they were young to have to be exceptional and work exceptionally hard to change their situation.

• For women in the suburbs, if you worked you were often excluded from friend groups of thank who didn't while housewives could also be. excluded if they conform to the demands of the development or the group.

• Commercial businesses attempted to overcome this by creating labour saving devices and advertisers that helped people have a chance to work.
  

• The Suburbs had very little impact for those living in rural communities until they develoyed malls of Shopping centres, which then became a focal point for many Fural housewives, since it provided a greater variety of goods at a better price.

The Politics of Equality

• In 1961, President Kennedy, influenced by Eleanor Roosevelt, set up a Commission of Enquiry on the Status of women.
  

• In 1963, it published its results, Praising the Equal Pay Act (passed Conspross Later that your) and wider job opportunities for nomen in federal government, Following a presidential directive of 1960
  

• However, the Commission also found that the Equal Pay Act was badly weeded and needed enforcing
  

• Women accounted for 3 of workers, but were discriminated against inaccess to training, Work and promotion. Their wages were uniformly lower and minimum wage refellations didn't apply to low paid work that many women did
  

• The report also said that non-white women were in a worse position then whites because of racial discrimination
  

• The 1963 report noted that, from infancy, girls weren't encouraged to think about careers. Parents, even those who could afford it, seldom
  encouraged their daughters into higher education
  

• The 1958 Education Act had said Schools should have Job Counsellors to work with Students but at the time there were only 12,000 of them with very few being in low-income areas
  

• Few counsellors were trained but their advice was described as patchy and dangerous, especially in considering the abilities and needs of girls they counselled. This report had some effect on government thinking,
  

• In 1964, the Civil Rights Act included Sexual equality, as well as racial equality, in its provisions, Women, like all non-white Americans, soon found there was a wide gap between the passing of a law and its enforcement

The Feminine Mystique & What It Led To

• In 1963, Betty Friedan, a psychologist and journalist, published a book called the-Feminine Mystique about the constraints of Suburban lite and the problems of white, educated, married men. This got many women thinking about women's rights and their own lived in a new way

• It would cause controversy which ensured it would be widely read and argued about on tv.

• The national organisations aimed to work within the political system. to get equality and better enforcement of the Civil Rights Act and Equal Pay Act

• Since 1923, Congress had regularly been asked to pass an Equal Rights Act but had constantly failed to do so, this made women's groups wanting to put Pressure on Congress to change their mind.

• They held meetings, collected petitions and data, demonstrated and Cobbied Politicians (federal state and local) for change,

• They saw themselves as needing to work steadily for change, while they hoped would come sooner rather than later their work was educating people and campaigning about the problems and providing services and support for work

Youry Radicals!
4
-A Second Strand to the women's Liberation movement had its members predominantly under 30, white, middle-class and college educated.
-Some had jobs, but often working at a lower level than the men they went to college with, even if they had better qualifications
or with
- Many had also worked with black American Civil Rights groups, radical groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committe (SNCC) or Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Some had tried to raise the issue of women's equality within these groups, but despite their radical ideas, the men who dominated these movements were sexist (e.q Seldom letting nomen Speak at public meeting))
-At best, women attempts to raise their issues were met with Condekension, at worst, they were halt with actual hostility and abuse. So they set up local, radical groups to push for women's liberation and equality IM ST
-They wanted immediate change and many drew direct ravallels between their Situation and the Situation of black Americans, It was the smaller, radical groups that first used the phrase women's liberation
-the national magazine that spread news from all groups, started in March 1968, wat called Voice of the Women's Liberation Movement. Run by Volunteers it began by selling 200 copies and 2,000 by next year but collapsed under the workload
19h all - Unfortunately, the media focused on the more extreme and inflammatory elements of feminism, just MLK excluomed ubout Cavell Rights
-Both Strands of the affort movement wanted broadley the same things. They wanted women to have equal rights, opportunities and pay. They wanted them to have the right to decide about their own bodies to be able to use contraception, married or not, to choose to have an abortion; to choose with it thom to have sex with. They did work together.
In 1970, almost every feminist group, including Now and much smaller groups such as the National Coalition of American News, participated in a Strike of women on 26th August 1970, 50th Anniversary of the vote
-Some women didn't go to work while many more took part in the Countrywide Murches and demonstrations, with $6fans like "Don't Iron While the Strike Is Hot
-They all presented the Jame 3 demands, equal opportunity in sobs and education; Free childcare Community controlled and free abortion on demand

-The Strike you a lot of publicity for the membership of Now vote by over 50% (1006 in 1967 - 40,000 in 1974), bringing issue of equality to the public eye
-Unfortunately, the radical groups drew the most publicity because they were calier for men to dismiss and make foun of than the Now Campaigners
-Kate Millet's Sexual Politics (1970) tackled the dominance of men in literature and their attitudes to women. She went to extreme lengths to criticise the Patriarchy in literature.
-On the other hand, Gloria Steinem's M magazine (strst issued in Jan 1972) was widely Praised as catering to the real needs of modern, profession -It's possible that, in the liberal atmosphere of the 60's and 70's, Lefillation to change the position of women would still have passed.
-However, it's unlikely since the campaigns of black Americans and other minority groups seem to show that changes in the law, the first step to Changes in reality, were only gained after considerable campaigning and publicity for the cause.

Young Radicals, Groups & Movements

• A Second Strand to the women's Liberation movement had its members predominantly under 30, white, middle-class and college educated.
  

• Some had jobs, but often working at a lower level than the men they went to college with, even if they had better qualifications

• Many had also worked with black American Civil Rights groups, radical groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committe (SNCC) or Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

• Some had tried to raise the issue of women's equality within these groups, but despite their radical ideas, the men who dominated these movements were sexist (e.q Seldom letting women Speak at public meetings)
  

• At best, women attempts to raise their issues were met with condescension, at worst, they were met with actual hostility and abuse. So they set up local, radical groups to push for women's liberation and equality

• They wanted immediate change and many drew direct parallels between their situation and the situation of black Americans, It was the smaller, radical groups that first used the phrase women's liberation
  

  VOICE OF THE WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT & STRIKE

• The national magazine that spread news from all groups, started in March 1968, wat called Voice of the Women's Liberation Movement.

• Ran by Volunteers it began by selling 200 copies and 2,000 by next year but collapsed under the workload

• Unfortunately, the media focused on the more extreme and inflammatory elements of feminism, just MLK excluomed ubout Civil Rights
  

• Both Strands of the effort movement wanted broadley the same things. They wanted women to have equal rights, opportunities and pay. They wanted them to have the right to decide about their own bodies to be able to use contraception, married or not, to choose to have an abortion; to choose with it thom to have sex with. They did work together.

• In 1970, almost every feminist group, including Now and much smaller groups such as the National Coalition of American News, participated in a Strike of women on 26th August 1970, 50th Anniversary of the vote

• Some women didn't go to work while many more took part in the Countrywide Marches and demonstrations, with slogans like "Don't Iron While the Strike Is Hot
  

• They all presented the Jame 3 demands, equal opportunity in sobs and education; Free childcare Community controlled and free abortion on demand

• The Strike you a lot of publicity for the membership of Now vote by over 50% (1006 in 1967 - 40,000 in 1974), bringing issue of equality to the public eye

• Unfortunately, the radical groups drew the most publicity because they were calier for men to dismiss and make fun of than the Now Campaigners

KATE MILLET’S SEXUAL POLITICS:

• Kate Millet's Sexual Politics (1970) tackled the dominance of men in literature and their attitudes to women. She went to extreme lengths to criticise the Patriarchy in literature.

• On the other hand, Gloria Steinem's M magazine (First issued in Jan 1972) was widely Praised as catering to the real needs of modern, profession

• It's possible that, in the liberal atmosphere of the 60's and 70's, legislation to change the position of women would still have passed.
  

• However, it's unlikely since the campaigns of black Americans and other minority groups seem to show that changes in the law, the first step to Changes in reality, were only gained after considerable campaigning and publicity for the cause.

Why was there opposition to the women’s liberation movement? What forms did it take?

• The women's Liberation movement attracted opposition from mainly men but also radicals
  

• Some radical women's groups declared that all men were the enemy. which didn't help the cause at all
  

• Conservatives of all kinds rejected the movement, stressing even more strongly the un-Americanness of its demands and the abandonment of traditional roles
  

• As the swing away from 60's Liberalism kicked in, demands for women's Liberation lost Support, along with other liberal demands

• Opponents, just like the local movements, had different agenda, with some not minding the equal rights arm of women's liberation but objected to the Calls for free contraception and abortion
  

• Others, such as Phyllis Schlafly, objected to demands for an ERA and set up u group called STOP ERA ('Stop Taking Our Privileges) to campaign against it in 1972.

Which gains and limitations did the women’s liberation movement have?

• In 1967, LBJ extended his executive order calling for affirmative action to improve employment conditions for these discriminated against on the grounds of race, creed or colour to cover sexual discrimination as well.

• The order only covered federal employees or businesses working for the federal government
  M From 1970, a few states allowed for abortions in very tightly specified Circumstances
  

• In 1972, Supreme Court ruled on the Eisenstadt VS Baird case, allowing access to contraception to unmarried and married women
  

• Abortion was federally legalised on 22 January 1973, by a Supreme Court ruling in the Case of Roe VS Wade, although there were holes about the timing and health of the mother
  

• On 22nd March 1972, ERA was passed as an amendment to the Constitution by Congress. All it needed was a ratification by 38/56 States. Congress set a deadline of 1982 for the ratification with it resulting in 15 States refusing to ratify ERA. As of today, there still isn't an Equal Rights Act.
  

• The USA didn't Sign up to the 1974 UN policy of introducing non-discrim- ination against women in all aspects of life. It was still very difficult. to enforce legislation and employers became much more practised at Finding acceptable reasons to discriminate against women in the work place

• Since The women's Liberation movement disintegrated, partly because of the consentive
  opposition it faced and the growing conservatism of the country, but also fragmented

• All women didn't need, or want, the same things and although, the broad arms of the groups were similary the local issues they took a stand on varied
  

• The fact that so many of them were middle-class white women meant they didn't seem to represent women as a whole either; many working-class and non-white women felt excluded
  
  

• They set up their own campaign groups, such as the Congress of Labour Women (the CLUW, focused on the rights of working women, especially in Industrial work), the Mexican American Women's organization and the National Alliance of Black Feminists.

BETTY FRIEDAN

• Betty Friedan was a US psychologist and writer and in 1963 published a book called "The Feminine Mystique which was about the constraints of suburban life and the problems with white, educated and married women

• Friedan's book Lot many nomen thinking about women's rights and their own lives in a new way,
  

• The controversy of the book ensured it was videly read and argued about, including on tv.
  

• This spurred some women (especially educated, middle-class, white women) to organise themselves and work more actively for women's rights
  

• The first and biggest movement was the National Organisation for Women, set up on 30th June 1966 with Friedan as a founding member.

• This organisation along with others pushed for an ERA

PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY

• A conservative woman who opposed the ideas of the women's liberation groups.
  

• Setup Stop ERA (Stop taking our Privaleges) to stop the Equal Rights Act being passed
  

• Also Set up Eagle Forum, a conservative organisation to support family values and Campaign against equal rights and abortion
  

• She opposed ERA since the believed women were designed to have babies, thus they shouldn't be equal in the matter of work and would need the support of a husband
  

• She didn't want her daughters to be able to choose some jobs such enlisting in the army.
  

• Women would love various tax and benefit privileges under ERA
  

• Her Campaign was one of the reasons an ERA was still not ratified in 1980.

Why did people want to move to America?

In America one could make pots of money in a short time,

acquire immense holdings, wear a

white collar and have polish on ones

boots – and eat white bread, soup and

meat ….even if you were an ordinary

workman. In America, people were

‘citizens’ and not ‘subjects’ as they

were in many European countries

‘Why legislate?’ P.71

• Immigration legislation of the 20% was set off for various reasons. One reason was that there was a post-war isolationism: the government wanted less contact with the rest of the world, immigration was a controllable point of Contact
  

• There was the Dillingham report and the Red Scare (1914-1920), which red to sears that many of these public immigrents may be communists, anarchists or worse.
  

• There was a Spike of unemployment.
  

• Public reaction was extreme, but on the other hand, there were bombings, there were Strikes where some of the Strike leaders had communist sympathies.

• There were riots in some cities and the years after the war had people in a Swirl of hostility to anarchists, black people, Catholics, Communists, immigrants who posed a threat to WASPs and their values.

Explain why there was a growth in opposition to immigration into the USA in the 1920’s

Ghettos developed as people tended to live with others from their own country

There was a feeling that ‘new’ immigrants would take work for very low wages

Immigrants were blamed for increases in crime, drunkenness and prostitution

WWI increased the hostility towards German immigrants and led to a growing belief in Isolationism

Many Americans feared that Immigrants would bring dangerous new political ideas with them

Government action to restrict immigration

1917 - Immigration Act

1921 - Emergency Quota Act

1924 - Johnson-Reed Immigration Act

1929 - National Origins Formula

1917 - Immigration Act

All foreigners wishing to enter the USA had to take a literacy test.

They had to prove that they could read a short passage in English.

Many people from poorer countries, especially in Eastern Europe, could not afford to take English lessons and failed the test.

In addition the act banned all immigration from Asia, and charged an immigration fee of $8.

1921 - Emergency Quota Act

This act introduced a quota system.

New immigrants were allowed in as a proportion of the number of people of the same nationality who had been living in the USA in 1910. The figure was set at 3%.

In other words, the act reduced the number of immigrants from Eastern Europe.

1924 - Johnson-Reed Immigration Act

The quota was reduced to 2% of the 1890 census.

In other words,since there had been a lot more people arriving from Northern Europe by 1890, more of these groups were allowed to enter.

1929 - National Origins Formula

This restricted immigration to 150,000 per year.

There were to be no Asians at all. Northern and Western Europeans were allocated 85% of places.

By 1930 immigration from Japan, China and Eastern Europe had virtually ceased.

Red Scare,

The so-called "Red Scare" refers to the fear of communism in the USA during the 1920’s.

It is said that there were over 150,000 anarchists or communists in USA in 1920 alone and this represented only 0.1% of the overall population of the USA.

The Dillingham Commission

• The Dillingham Commission investigated the impact of immigration on the USA from 1907 and made its report in 1941, which said that immigration was beginning to pose a serious threat to American Society and culture. Saw that old immigrants had adapted to lise in the USA than the new immigrants who didn't.

• It failed to take in account how its findings made no concession for the Shorter span of time the new immigrants had had to adapt.

The effects of immigration

• Resistance to immigration was strong in urban areas since the newcomers would Create competition to everything at a point where rural migrants moved to cities
  
  

• Immigration quota applied to Europe and Asia but not South America since there was a need for cheap labour in California and Texas in agriculture, mining and more
  

• Immigration changed for the South as immigrants from Mexico were
  coming through rapidly and had to work timesly since many were illegal immigrants and employers could exploit them for fears of immigration

A melting pot?

• The influx of immigrant groups meant that for (particularly urban) parts of America ,they broke down into informally segregated sections, not just ghettos for black people and were Seperate districts for most ethnic groups of any significant size, These areas had a Shops selling items and churches following the practises of the ‘old’ country.
  
  

• This changed over time since foreign-born immigrants had American Children, the old country and old traditions became less important. As well, foreign language newspapers decreased in Publishings with there being 1,300 in 1984-75 in the 1960's
  
  

• Living and Working Standards of Changed between new arrivals and their Children Since the children may have became more intergrated into the country it they were given encouragement to do so and the many parents encouraged their children to have an education
  a job that they would work hard on and improve their loves since they came to the US to have a better life.

The effects of WWII

Italians (14.2% of foreign born immigrants), German (10.8%) and Japanese (fewer than 1%) were treated as enemy aliens.

After Pearl Harbour, 120,000 Japanese (75% of them US citizens) were shut up in internment camps.

As the war progressed, attitudes towards enemy aliens worsened, even if families had lived for several generations in the US.

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of young men who were technically aliens, volunteered to fight for the US army or navy.

WW2 & AFTER

• In 1952, the government passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which still used quotas.

• However, this didn’t allow for the refugees fleeing Europe after the war.

• When Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, there was a new wave of refugees.

• Kennedy was a firm opponent of the quota system, when he was assassinated he was working on a new immigration law which would abolish quotas.

• President Johnson brought the law to Congress after Kennedy’s death and it became law in 1965.

1940 - Alien Registration Act

Requires non-Citizens to register with the Federal government; it's a wartime measure, but after the war it's normalised as the green card" system; if a non-citizen has a green card, it entitles them to live and work in the US indefinitely; in 1950, a Vetting Procedure makes sure that green cards only go to Legal immigrants - those processed and registered by the immigration service

1948 - Displaced Person Act

Allows for the immigration of 415,000 people displaced by the war over 4 years, but within the quota limit

President Truman had argued for the admissions to be separate from the numbers administered by the quota, but failed to convince Congress.

1953 - Immigration and Nationality Act

Revises the terms of immigration; retains both a limit to the number of be immigrants to be admitted (150,000) and the quota system,

Although many argue against the quotas; the balance, based on the 1920 census, means that about 85% of immigrants come from northern and western Europe, the Act lous (McCarran-walter ikiived for 100,000 Asian immigrants and introduces a preference system for doesn't apply for the Western the refugee Relief

1953 - Refugee Relief Act

Extends the 1948 Displaced Persons Act, allowing for 214,000 refugees from Europe; this time, they are dealt with outside the set numerical limit

1965 - Immigration and Nationality Act

Abolishes quota, sets a limit of 170,000 immigrants a year and allows for more Asian immigration; immediate family members of us citizens are allowed in outside this limit; the law still doesn't apply to the western hemisphere.

1966 - Cuban Adjustment Act

Gives citizenship to Cubans entering the country after 1959,

1968 - Armed Forces Naturalisation Act

Amends the 1965 Act to make anyone a US Citizen who has fought for the USA in WW1, WW2, Korea or Vietnam (or any other) war.

1976 - Immigration and Nationality Act

Expands to include the western hemisphere for the first time, the number and Nationality of immigrants allowed in US 20,000.

The changing patterns of Immigration

The Vietnamese War saw a huge increase in the number of Asian refugees, by 1985 there were over 700,000

Vietnamese Refugees in the US Immigration Laws didn’t apply to people from the Western hemisphere, especially Mexico. In 1976, a 20,000 limit was placed on entry to the US

After the 1976 Law was passed, large numbers of illegal immigrants from countries such as Mexico entered the US, many to be with their families. This was hard to control as the border between the USA and Mexico measures 3,169km.

What factors affect people’s attitudes to immigrants?

• Attitudes tended to shift with government policy. Republican, conservative governments were more likely to want to restrict immigration and control immigrants.

• Liberal politicians, such as Kennedy, were keener to accept and adapt to immigrants and their varying cultures. People had different attitudes in different parts of the country, depending on levels of immigration.

• However, as many people becamemore conservative, they began to think, not in terms of immigrants enriching the culture (as Kennedy suggested), but in terms of them destroying it.

• When the economy was doing badly, as in the 1970s, people were most likely to react against both blacks and immigrants who were at the bottom of the heap, because they were seen as a drain on the economy.

• They were almost always among the first to lose their jobs and become dependent on welfare, so people complained that their taxes were being spent on welfare payments to immigrants.

• By 1980, attitudes had shifted towards a desire to control immigration, both legal and illegal. It was a swing back towards what some analysts called 'nativism': a form of the isolationism of the 1920s.

• In 1980, in response to housing and job shortages in Cuba, the Cuban government gave people permission to leave from the port of Mariel (leaving and entering Cuba was usually restricted).

• The government sent a boatful of refugees to nearby Florida and many others left on hired ships. The ships were packed full by government officials; 14 people died on one boat that capsized.

• The arrival of these refugees was, for many Americans, the last straw.

• The Carter administration handled things badly. Officials could not keep the refugees out; they kept those whom they rounded up in awful conditions in refugee camps and prisons

Why did people go to the cinema in the 1920’s?

• Initial novelty of technology

• Attraction of the stars - sex appeal, fashions

• Cheap prices- tickets as low as 5 cents - affordable

• Cinema were an interesting form of

  escapism – cowboys, pirates, etc, as

  well as the luxury of some theatres.

• Improved transport – cinemas were accessible

• More leisure time - people had time and money

Hollywood

• Until 1913 most American films were produced in New York.

• But when the film company Thomas Edison started taking many other film companies to court for using their technology illegally, they relocated to California to avoid the lawsuits.

• Then when WWI interrupted the powerful film industries of France and Italy, Hollywood began to dominate as the home of film production across the world.

• By 1920 thousands of people were employed by the Hollywood film industry and many big film companies had their studios there (Paramount, Warner bros, RKO, Columbia).

• As a result movies stars started to move to California, as this was where their work was, and started to build luxury mansions in the hills (Gloria Swanson and Charlie Chaplin).

How were movie stars influential?

• It soon became clear that many people would go to the cinema just to see a certain actor

• Fan magazines of these actors were produced and details of their and other actors lives, especially into the rumours and actions such as going to parties and clubs while taking drugs and drinking

• If an actor passed, like Rudolf Valentino in 1926, their death would have been nation news and had people in the streets for their funeral

The Evils of Hollywood!

The Hollywood film industry quickly provoked criticism.

Many Americans believed that the movies it produced were lowering the moral standards of American society.

Hollywood was particularly blamed for its blatant use of sex symbols, and the poor moral messages of some films.

For instance Clara Bow was known as the first ‘it girl’, after starring in a risqué film of the same name.

Hollywood responded to these criticism by setting up the Hays Code.

Jazz Origins

Originated with black slaves centuries earlier (they were encouraged to sing in order to work harder and increase production).

The percussion based beat that accompanied the songs used to be made with washboards, cans, and pickaxes, etc.

Over time this developed and certain rhythms emerged that became known as jazz.

As many black musicians could not actually read music they improvised on their instruments and made it up as they went along – this came to be a defining feature of jazz music.

Originally this style of music used to be called ‘blues’,‘rag’ or ‘boogie woogie’, but white people disapproved of these names, believing them to be slang sexual terms, so as the music became more popular with the white community they renamed it JAZZ.

It was in the 1920s that it became particularly popular with the young white middle-classes, and by the end of the decade it was by far the most popular form of music, becoming associated with the decade ever since.

The Impact of Jazz

• Jazz became the big attraction at night clubs and speakeasies, which often had large house bands with famous lead musicians.

• Originally the most famous jazz bands were black, such as Duke Ellington’s band at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York (the most famous jazz venue in America).

• Their songs became more popular as recordings were played on the radio, such as Louis Armstrong’s Tiger Rag.

• However soon white bands started to imitate them and become popular, such as the bands led by Paul Whiteman or Bix Beiderbecke.

Jazz Hatred

Some people saw jazz as a sign of the decline in moral standards.

They believed that its improvisation and relaxed nature meant that it wasn’t ‘real’ music, and that the dancing it encouraged was sexualised and improper.

Some cities, such as New York and Cleveland, even banned the public performance of jazz in dance halls – though this made it even more exciting for the young.

Thus numerous groups in America openly criticised jazz music and the culture it prompted, labelling it as sinful and immoral (the reasons for which they often blamed on the connections it had to the black community, who they saw as less in control of their ‘animal instincts’!)

One example of this view was shown in the Ladies’ Home Journal, 1922…….

The Radio

The radio had a massive influence on many Americans.

The first radio station, Station KDKA, began in 1920 and by 1930 there were more than 600 stations in the USA.

The first national station was the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), started in 1926. Many families bought radios on instalment plans, made possible by the mass production of radios, which made them much cheaper.

By 1930 40% of households owned a radio.

Radios enabled people to listen to music, sports events and adverts in their homes for the first time, and became the main source of family entertainment.

It made events accessible to people, who would not normally have been able to afford to attend them, thus making sporting heroes across America, such as the boxer Jack Dempsey.

By the late 1920’s radio broadcasts reached more than 50 million people across America and contributed to a dramatic increase in political and social awareness among the population, as it meant that people who were not literate were able to follow the news.

The Gramophone

• The gramophone (a record player) had been introduced in the late 19th Century and the industry had grown rapidly after 1900, peaking in 1921 with sales in America of $106 million.

• However by 1922 the radio had destroyed the market, due to the free music that it offered.

• Thus through the 1920’s gramophone sales fell, and when the stock market crashed in 1929 most small gramophone companies either shut down or were bought out by bigger companies.

Speakeasies

The introduction of Prohibition in 1920 resulted in an increase in drinking clubs (known as speakeasies), which were illegally run by gangsters.

The entertainment at speakeasies was often black American jazz bands, and the popularity of the music meant that both black and white crowds were drawn in, causing young black and white Americans to mingle socially for the first time.

Other entertainment at speakeasies included dancers and cabarets (performances), which also became very popular. Some acts became famous and people travelled from miles around to see then.

Some of the best known are Fred and Adele Astaire at The Trocadero, Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club, which also employed Ethel Waters as a jazz singer and Bojangles Robinson as a tap dancer.

Dancing

One of the biggest changes in American popular culture was seen in dancing. Dances before World War One were slow and formal, but by the 1920’s they had become faster and more care-free.

One of the best known dances was the Charleston, which had a swift pace and many sudden changes in rhythm.

Other popular dances were the Black Bottom, the Vampire, Shimmy, Turkey Trot, and Buzzard Lope.

These often shocked the older generations who saw them as immoral and scandalous.

Thus the new styles of dancing only added to the negative view of jazz and clubs that many people held.

Yet despite this through the 1920’s a craze for dance marathons grew.

Definitiond of words/phrases known during the period

Speakeasy - Illegal drinking saloon

Bootlegger - A person who produced or sold alcohol illegally

Bathtub gin - Home-brewed gin

Still - A device for distilling alcohol

Moonshine - Illegally distilled alcohol

Rum runner - Someone who illegally transports alcohol across a border

What was Prohibition?

Prohibition was the period of time between January 1920 and December 1935 when it was illegal to make, sell or transport alcoholic drinks in the USA (but not to drink alcohol).

The Temperance Movement

During the 1800’s, TEMPERANCE, or not drinking alcohol, was common in rural areas, especially amongst devout Christians.

Some movements were so strong that they persuaded local governments to ban the sale of alcohol.

This campaign gathered pace until it became a national campaign to ban alcohol.

By 1916, 21 States had banned saloons.

In 1917, the movement had enough support to pass the 18th Amendment or VOLSTEAD ACT. In July 1919, it became illegal to make, sell or transport alcohol.

Problems with Prohibition

• Rise & Creation of Crime

• Led to thousands of deaths from spiking

• Within a short time, there was more speakeasies than saloons. In 1930 New York, there was 30,000

Rise of the Gangstar

The rise of the gangsters tells us a lot about American society at this time. The gangsters generally came from immigrant backgrounds.

In the early 1920s the main gangs were Jewish, Polish, Irish and Italian. Gangsters generally came from poorer backgrounds within these communities.

They were often poorly educated, but they were also clever and ruthless. Dan O’Banion (Irish gang leader murdered by Capone), Pete and Vince Guizenberg (hired killers who worked for Bugsy Moran and died in the St Valentine’s Day Massacre), and Lucky Luciano (Italian killer who spent ten years in prison) were some of the most powerful gangsters.

The gangs fought viciously with each other to control the liquor trade and also the prostitution, gambling and protection rackets that were centred on the speakeasies.

They made use of new technology, especially automobiles and the Thompson sub-machine gun, which was devastatingly powerful but could be carried around and hidden under an overcoat.

In Chicago alone, there were 130 gangland murders in 1926 and 1927 and not one arrest. By the late 1920s fear and bribery made law enforcement ineffective.

The other effects of Prohibition

Alcohol-related crimes actually increased during the Prohibition era

Gangsters quickly took over the supply of alcohol. They soon became extremely rich and powerful through bribery and violence.

Bootleggers (smugglers working for gangsters) smuggled alcohol across the border from Canada

Secret bars or clubs called speakeasies were set up to sell alcohol illegally. They were controlled by gangsters.

Many officials, including police and politicians, took bribes from gangsters to ignore the trade in alcohol.

Alcohol was just too popular! People would find a way of getting hold of it…

Prohibition enforcement officers were supposed to find and destroy alcohol, and arrest the traders. But there were very few such officers.

It was difficult to enforce: by 1929 40,000 people were in jail for Prohibition offences, and 1,360 people had been killed by police trying to enforce the law.

People set up secret distilleries on farms to produce illegal alcohol

Impact of TV on US Society

• Changing perceptions of major events (Vietnam)
  

• Less Cinema attendance
  

• Expansion of Consumerism
  

• New form of advertising
  

• Became a key part of entertainment
  

• Key Source of Communication and Information
  

• Changed habits of being at home or outdoors

Introduction of TV in the 50’s

• The first commercial TV was demonstrated at the 1939 World Fair
  

• It also filmed Roosevelt opening the fair, making him the first president on TV
  

• TV was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (as well as radio)
  

• TV was sponsered, just like radia, and commercials and adverts created a national culture and represented the Zeitgeist.
  

• Advertisements showed Very few black Americans and during the post-war "baby-boom, adverts targeted towards the growing number of children.

What did TV do t the Cinema insustry

It decreased the viewership steadily over the years with the years 1950-1980 of people going to the cinema, the attendance starts at 55 million in 1950 to then dip dramatically to 20 million by 1980, with the lowest being 19.5. million in 1976

Development of non-commercial TV

• The 1967 Public Broadcasting Act Set up the government-funded Corporation For Broad casting (CFB), which set up the Public - Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1969
  

• PBS was a national Station, made up of groups of local Stations, mostly not in for profit - with education as their main aim
  

• PBS were free from the influence of sponsers, but had their own messages.

• PBS had a liberal agenda, with a brief to educate and entertain, and to Prestore standards.
  

• Educational TV took off with PBS, as well as educational programmes on the Main Channels. The biggest success in children's education was the PBS programme Sesame Street (1967-Present), which all throughout the 70's taught children about racial tolerance and sharing, as well as counting and reading.
  

• It was one of the first shows to have a racially balanced cast. Its popularity meant that Children watching it in well-off, all-white Suburbs absorbed a positive view of other races.
  

• In 1981, on the conservative buckswing, its government funding was withdrawn

Documentaries

• More serious documentaries began to be made in the 1960's, following the huge audience for the Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates in 1760.
  

• This meant that people who might not buy a newspaper to read about issues of the day were happy to sit and watch programmes about them
  

• The danger of this was they would accept the Slant goven to the issues by the programmes-makers

TV Reflecting Real Life

• In the 70's, real life began to seep into entertainment with the most infamous being M*A*S*H, a drama series set in the Korean war but actually considered issues that were very relevant on the war in Vietnam. This was deliberate by the show's creators
  

• This made the war a discussion point for people and Contributed to the Popular Feeling against the war-although it was less significant than news.

TV reflecting African-American life

• Some series started that reflected black family life. They were comedies and to they were just as unrepresentative as the comedies of White American life.
  

• However, they showed black families in their own homes, leading normal lives which was better than black people being presented as servants or criminals
  

• Some white people who had little or no contact with black people, such as those in rural Communities in the North East, came to see black Americans as normal people, not exotic, foreign and dangerous

TV reflecting & Mocking Politics

• Political Satire became more popular with Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in (1968-1973) being one of the first Sketch Shows to openly make fun of politicians
  

• Laugh-in drew on aspects of the counter-culture and many of its punchlines fed into everyday language

• Making fun of Politicians in this way reached many more members of the public than criticism in serious newspaper, radio or TV debates. It also meant that began to look at Politicians in a different light,
  

• They both were less respectful and more on the look-out for mistakes.
  

• Books and films, as well as tv shows, began to focus on government conspiracies and cover-ups in the 1960's and 1970's. These theories covered a wide range of events, from the assassination of President Kennedy to covering of alien landings

The News on TV

• News Programmes got more prime-time broadcasting and lasted for longer. They also did more in-depth analysis, not just reporting what was happening

• This meant that people who watched these programmes become politically aware and
  more interested in the issues. Issues raised on the news could become a talking point at work, as well as home.

Broadcast News

• Radio news impacted how people recieved news from the 1920's-1940's since it was quicker and therefore better way of getting news,

• A Voice have a more authorative and deeper impression than newsprint, during the Depression it gave reports on the Stockmarket crisis which fuelled fears about the fulling Share Prices, causing people to Panic and sell their Shares and make the crisis worse.

• Roosevelt's radio talk also helped him to restore confidence and trusts in the banks and for WWII, radio played an important part in mickly and efficiently reporting on the ware
  

• Television impacted the Second Red Scare as Ed Murrow, infamous WW2 reporter, became co-producer and presenter of the CBS news series See It Now in 1951,

• On 20th October 1953, Murrow broadcast a story on the Red Scare about a young airman losing his job because of possible family communist sympathies.

• In the 60's, Live news coverage of the Cuban Missile crises and the Moon Landing Showed the power of television and as many viewed it due to it having pictures with politicians who were part of the Cuban Missile Crisis were glued to their Sween).

• For the 70's, the Watergate Scandal and its hearings were live broadcasted which changed Reblic opinion about the presidency and government
  

• Broadcast news moved on from Simply presenting the details of the events by giving its own interpretations. These interpretations often began as the Views of the programme makers but the broadcasting Company had the final say over what was broadcast.

• Anchormen explained the situation, generally with maps if needed and became seen as the “teacher figures", Walter conkite's 1968 documentary on Vietnam was the most infamous at the time because it was shocking to many that someone they trusted was criticising a government they were uncertain about
  

• Television affected news in Vietnam since broadcast news gave its own interpretation of the events, Shaping its presentation of news to fit the
  interpretation. Many Americans were unaware of the extent to which the news was giving an interpretation. - often simply by as selection of which news items to run

• Americans didn't notice, as broadcast news developed, that Jimmy Carter was shown in a positive light, with Carter also responding well but once it became clear that his administration was managing both policy making and Congress, the media began to withdraw Support to the point they saw him as incompetent and seized upon events that underlined this.

• The media's treatment of President Jimmy Carter shows how media has changed since the 1930's because his brother was involved in various scandals with the IRS and had reflected badly on Carter. In October 1979, Carter was shown collapsing in a marathon which he later admitted contributed losing his re-election. That same year he was ridiculed as weak as he was attacked by a rabbit while fishing and got rid of it with a paddle

Why did governments in Great Britain, Egypt, Japan and the USSR try to control TV Programming?

Why do you think the US government didn’t?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Which approach had the most powerful political impact and why?

1, TV was paid as a licensing fee to watch it along with a set. In USSR, TV was paid by thestate to spread communism

2: The USA didn't as they wanted to spread entertainment and commercialism

3. The upper classes was able to watch TV but all had the working class not be able to, you had a fee to watch tv, communism in was spread across the USSR, entertainment was spread

4. The USSR played traditional plays and operas to spread communism

What kinds of activities did TV replace in Fort Wayne, Indiana?

In what ways has TV weakened the bnds of community and in what ways has it brought people closer together?

1. The children were influenced by having new ideas and increased vocab, the cinemas were emptying and books were sold less.

2. They wore similar clothes, shows were watched and discussed together, local businesses used timed advertisments bring customers, people had too many similarities

How did the Kennedy/Nixon debate influence Viewers?

How is TV used by politicians past & present?

How can Tv influence public opinion?

1. Nixon had 8 years experience as VC, JFK was a newcomer and allowed people to have their own influere due to people believing JFK won on TV, while on Radio Nixon won.

2. TV was used by Politicians to promote themselves, show their life in the white House and debutes

3. Daily evening news presented news across the world and allowed opinions of the public to be developed by themselves