APUSH 7B TEST PREP

The Roaring 20’s Recap: Everyone is doing amazing

The Great Depression is the worst economic downturn in modern history. By March 4, 1933: 

• The banking system had collapsed

• 25% of the labor force was unemployed, 

• Prices and productivity had fallen to 1/3 of their 1929 levels

• Reduced prices and reduced output resulted in lower incomes in wages

• Drought causes mass migration of farmers to urban centers

• Factories were shut down, farms and homes were lost to foreclosure, mills and mines were abandoned, and people went hungry. 

Causes of the Great Depression:

1. Republican Economic Policies

   1. Laissez Faire and Trickle Down 

2. Overproduction/Underconsumption

   1. people were not buying as much, but businesses kept producing

3. Uneven Distribution of Wealth

   1. The share of the national income for wealthiest 20% of the pop rose by 10%, and the share that went to the 60% of the poorest of the pop fell by 13%

4. Over Speculation of the Stock Market (the trigger)

   1. Buying shares because you THINK prices will go up  

5. Weak Banks

   1. buying on margin

 6. The Dust Bowl

a. Topsoil is picked up by winds carried across the Midwest and South.

Differences of Opinion:

•  three main ideologies emerged to fight the Depression

  • conservative

  •  liberal

  • Radical

• each had their own ideology:  a set of basic ideas, beliefs, and values

The Conservative Response(related to republicans):

• Conservative:  someone with traditional customs and values

  • values in the 1930s:  self-reliance, individual responsibility, and personal liberty  

  • opposed to:  large governmental efforts to affect change

  • strongly believed in:  

    • laissez-faire government (government does not interfere with business)

    • the business cycle – economic growth is usually followed by decline, panic, and recovery

The Liberal Response(reated to democrats):

• liberal:  committed to the expansion of individual liberty and government (govt as a solution to problems)

  • Strongly believed in: 

    • government should play a role in regulating economic affairs

    • increased spending on public works (government- funded construction projects to provide for such local needs as roads, bridges, and dams

    • increased taxes on corporations and the wealthy to raise money for social welfare programs to provide aid to those in need

The Radical Response (outside the main system):

• radical:  someone who wants to make sweeping social, political, or economic changes in a society

  • radicals seek change by democratic means or through revolution

  • socialists and communists are two examples

  • communists wanted to replace capitalism…  where economic decisions would move out of the marketplace and into the hands of government planners

  • wealth would be distributed to people according to their needs

Hoover’s Response:

Belief: leave the economy alone and it will fix itself

• Hawley-Smoot Tariff: ended all foreign trade due to retaliatory tariffs

• Debt Moratorium- suspension of WWI debts 

• Public Works: Most famous is the Hoover Dam 

• Hoover asked Congress to establish the National Credit Corporation (NCC).

  • created a pool of money to enable troubled banks to continue lending money in their communities

  • established because the Federal Reserve refused Hoover’s request to put more currency into circulation

  • to set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

    • used to make loans to banks, railroads, and agricultural institutions

• None of these attempts/efforts/measures worked.

Protest Farmers:

• The Farmers Holiday Association attempted to withhold farm products from the market

• A few violent clashes with authorities

• Some farmers resist so doesn't have much effect on farm prices

• Main effect: politicians are afraid of losing ag support in upcoming elections 

Protest - Bonus Army:

• Congress passed a bill giving WWI vets a 1000 dollar bonus paid in 1945. 

• Started in Oregon --  traveling east on board empty boxcars and cattle cars...  by the time they reached D.C., Thousands of veterans flocked to support their cause.

• Goal of the marchers:  convince Congress to allow half of their already promised bonus to be paid in 1932 and the other half in 1945

• Results:  Hoover ordered the US cavalry to fix bayonets to drive them out of D.C. 

The Election of 1932 was the WORST year of depression.

Franklin Roosevelt’s Campaign:

• While campaigning for president, Roosevelt promised a New Deal for the American people:  relief, recovery & reform

• this New Deal would do whatever was needed to promote recovery

Roosevelt’s first 100 Days (roosevelt’s alphabet soup):

• Emergency Banking Act gave the federal government broad power to help reopen the nation’s banks

• Beer-Wine Revenue Act legalized the sale of beer and wine

• Reforestation Act established the Civilian Conservation Corps – provided work for 250,000 men

• Federal Emergency Relief Act granted money to states for relief projects to help the unemployed

• Agricultural Adjustment Act set prices for farm crops while trying to reduce overproduction

• Tennessee Valley Authority funded construction of flood control dams and power plants

• Federal Securities Act regulated the sale of stocks and bonds

• Homeowners Refinancing Act provided aid to families in danger of losing their homes

• National Industrial Recovery Act established the Public Works Administration to supervise building projects and the National Recovery Administration to encourage fair business practices

• Banking Act of 1933 established the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) to protect depositors from losing funds in banks 

OTHER NOTES:

• Black Tuesday (oct 29 1929)

• Stock Market Crashes

• WW2 brought the US out of the Great Depression, assisted by the New Deal

The goal of the foreign Policy was to: Be influential in world affairs (mostly through trade); Build safeguards against war;avoid becoming too closely involved with other countries.

Examples: Washington Conference (1921), Dawes Plan (1924), Kellogg-Briand Pact (1927).

The Washington Conference: The US, Britain, and Japan sign an agreement saying everyone will reduce their navy. 

The Dawes Plan:

 Loans given to Germany from the United States designed to help/reduce the amount of reparations they had to pay.

1. Great Britain and France owed US lenders $11 billion.

2. Germany stopped paying reparations in 1923; GB and France relied on these reparations to repay the US banks.

3. American banks loaned money to Germany, who  used it to pay reparations to GB and France, who then repaid what they owed American lenders

The Kellogg-Briand Pact: 

• 60+ countries signed an agreement promising NOT to use war to resolve disputes

• Ultimately, this pact outlawed war

• Tried to Make war Illegal

• No way to punish or give anyone a consequence if they go against this policy

By the 1930’s:

US is fully entrenched in isolationist policies in order to focus on economic recovery and other domestic affairs. Foreign Policy (FP) is Largely driven by economic interest. 

• FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy (1933) is formal abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine(1820’s- Western hemisphere is closed to foreign affairs)/Roosevelt Corollary non-interventionist approach to FP in Latin America

  • Mexico- Gov seized US own oil wells, FDR did not intervene on companies behalf

  • Cuba- Nullification of the Platt Amendment

• Recognition of the Soviet Union for trade

Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937:

Neutrality Acts are passed to keep the US out of foreign conflicts. Labeled ANY country in conflict as belligerent.

1935 - Americans were forbidden to travel on “belligerent” ships, prohibited the sale of arms and ammunition to 

1936 – Forbade the extension of loans and credits to belligerents (excluding civil wars)

1937 – Expanded ‘35 and ‘36 laws to include civil wars; forbade shipment of arms to belligerents

By 1939:

The world is in turmoil

• Japan invades Manchuria

• Germany pulled out of the League of Nations and began building an air force

• Italy invaded Ethiopia

• Nanjing Massacre

• Germany annexed Poland and Czechoslovakia 

• Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary allied itself with Germany

• Hitler invaded Poland

Public Feelings about World War 2:

The American public was sympathetic to Great Britain, but  seriously divided on whether or not the US should get involved in European affairs. 

By 1940 there were serious concerns about the Allies ability to win the war and people feared that Hitler would take control of all the W European Democracies, leaving the US defenseless. 

• Blitzkrieg scares people

• US public wants to help Briain

• Still, not concerned enough to get involved directly

Cash and Carry:

• In September of 1939, Congress changed Neutrality laws to allow nations to buy war materials in cash as long as they provided their own transport

  • Directly helped British and French

Lend-Lease Act:

In March 1941 the Lend-Lease Act is passed by congress

• Says: The US can lend or lease arms & other supplies to any country vital to the USA

• The US’s attempt to help its Allies and also stay neutral

Abandonment of Isolationism:

FDR wins the 1940 election (again), in his third term. He serves 4 terms and then dies. Later, this was resolved to only being allowed 2 terms.

• Selective Service Act (1940): as the public opinion shifted to believe that Germany was becoming a direct threat to the US, Congress created the first peacetime draft in US history

• Atlantic Charter: statement issued in 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II, months before the US officially entered the war

• Shoot-on-Sight: a policy during World War II that ordered the U.S. Navy to sink any German or Italian ships in waters that the U.S. considered vital to its defense

The Pacific & Japan seeking an Empire:

Under the leadership of Hirohito and General Tojo, Japan plans to build its empire by taking control of Southeast Asia

• In 1940, Japan invades French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies

• The US realizes that Japan is a threat to its interests in the Philippines 

  • Sends aid to China

  • Cracks Japan’s coded messages

• Japan sees Hawaii and the US as a threat to its expanding empire

The Attack on Pearl Harbor:

On December 7th, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. 

• Pearl Harbor the most important US naval installation in the country

• Home to the US Pacific Fleet

Japan’s goal was to send a message and prevent the US from interfering with its plan in Asia. 

The attack killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged 19 U.S. Navy ships, including 8 battleships.

On December 8th, 1941 President Roosevelt declared war on Japan in his “A Day That Will Live in Infamy,” Speech

• Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States and the US officially entered WWII.

FDR & WW2:

• President FDR originally declared neutrality 

• After the attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US declared war on Japan, then Germany.

• December 7, 1941, Effects of Pearl Harbor  

Executive Order 8802 and the Braceros program

“Europe First” Strategy:

• War in Europe and the Pacific at the same time was too costly

• The Allies focused on winning back Europe from Germany while defending against Japan

Alliance with the USSR

• Winston Churchill (Britain)

• FDR (America)

• Joseph Stalin (USSR)

Postponement of the Invasion of France:

• Limited Allied resources and inexperienced US troops convinced FDR & Churchill to postpone attempts to liberate France from German occupation.

• Focused on Africa first = left the Soviets on their own to fight Hitler on the eastern front

Operation Overlord:

• Allied invasion of France began on June 6, 1944 (“D Day”) led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Within 2 months, Allies liberated France from German occupation and crossed into Germany

Liberation of Concentration camps:

• US & British troops pushed into Germany from the west, the Soviets from the east 

• The Nazis killed about 6 million Jews (40% of the world’s Jewish population) before the Allies liberated the camps

• V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) marked the German surrender on May 8, 1945 after Hitler’s suicide on April 30 (FDR had died on April 12^th)

President Truman

War in the Pacific:

Island - Hopping Strategy: 

• Island Hopping 

  • liberating weaker Japanese-held islands in the Pacific and using them as bases as the forces moved closer to Japan

• Battle of Midway

  •  Allied victory and last Japanese offensive … turning point in the Pacific

• Heavy losses

  • Iwo Jima cost 6,800 US lives (22,000 Japanese)

  • Okinawa cost 12,000 US lives (100,000 Japanese)

Atomic Bomb on Japan:

• Manhattan Project developed the atomic bomb

• Truman had to decide on a land invasion or use of the atomic bomb.

• August 6, 1945 Hiroshima

• August 9, 1945 Nagasaki

Japanese Surrender:

• August 14, 1945 Japanese surrender to US

• V-J Day- Sept. 2, 1945

Consequences of the War:

Lessons Learned from WW1:

• United Nations:

• In order to prevent countries in the future from obtaining too much power = A collective group of Nations to ensure peace to replace the League of Nations

• To help the US practice a new policy of Internationalism instead of Isolationism

• World bank:

  • An International Bank for reconstruction and development was designed to provide loans to help countries recover from war and develop their economies

The 3 R’s:

Relief for people out of work

Recovery for business and the economy as a whole

Reform of economic institutions to prevent future problems

The Programs of FDR’s First New Deal

Relief Programs - created jobs with government stimulus $ in order to provide individual and direct relief to the unemployed and increase demand for more goods

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) – directed by one of FDR’s closest friends Harry Hopkins, it provided grants of $ to local and state governments operating soup kitchens and other forms of relief for the jobless and homeless

• Public Works Administration (PWA) – directed by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, it allotted $ to state and local governments for the building of roads, bridges, dams, and other public works

• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – employed young men on projects on federal lands (trail building, cabin building, fire prevention, etc.), housed them in camps, and paid their families small monthly sums

• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – huge experiment in regional development and public planning, it hired thousands of people in one of the nation’s poorest regions to build dams, operate electric power plants, control flooding, and produce fertilizer (it sold electricity to the public for rates well below those charged by a private company, but critics saw it as too socialistic)

Recovery Programs – promoted improvement in general economic conditions

• National Recovery Administration (NRA) – with antitrust laws temporarily suspended, this government agency’s purpose was created to help each industry set guidelines for fair wages, hours, and working conditions for its workers, as well as set levels of production and set prices; workers were also given rights to organize and bargain collectively; companies who participated displayed the blue eagle & stamp (appealed to patriotism)

**NOTE - This complex program had limited success before the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1935 (Schechter v. United States)

• Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) – encouraged farmers to reduce production (and thereby boost prices) by offering to pay government subsidies for every acre they plowed under (intentionally destroying crops) or for destroying livestock. Like the NRA, the AAA was declared unconstitutional in a 1935 Supreme Court decision

Reform Programs – to address the institutional issues that had triggered or worsened the Depression

• Glass-Steagall Act – increased government regulation of banks and limited how banks could invest customers’ money

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – government guarantee of individual bank deposits 

Other Programs of the First New Deal (enacted after the Hundred Days congressional session)

• Civil Works Administration (CWA) – government agency that hired temporary workers for government construction projects

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – government agency created to regulate the stock market and place strict limits on the kind of speculative practices that had led to the Wall Street crash in 1929; the SEC also required full audits and financial disclosures by corporations to prevent fraud and insider trading

• Federal Housing Administration (FHA) – government agency that insured low-interest bank loans for the building of new houses and repairing old ones; intended to promote home construction

The Programs of the Second New Deal

Relief Programs

• Works Progress Administration (WPA) – much bigger than the relief agencies of the First New Deal, the WPA spent billions of dollars between 1935-1940 to provide people with jobs. Led by Harry Hopkins, it employed 3.4 million men and women after its first year of operation. Many were put to work constructing new bridges, roads, airports, and public buildings. Unemployed artists, writers, actors, and photographers were paid by the WPA to paint murals, write histories, and perform in plays. A sub-agency, the National Youth Administration (NYA), provided part-time jobs to help young people stay in high school or college, thereby keeping full-time jobs available for adults. 

• Resettlement Administration (RA) – government agency that provided loans to sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and small farmers; it also provided camps where migrant workers could find decent housing

Reform Programs 

• Wagner Act (1935) – guaranteed a worker’s right to join a union and a union’s right to bargain collectively; it also outlawed business practices that were unfair to labor, as determined by a new government agency called the National Labor Relations Board; as a result, labor membership shot upward and a new union of unskilled workers led by John L. Lewis called the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was formed when its members broke away from and began to rival the long-standing American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• Rural Electrification Administration (REA) – government agency that provided loans for electrical cooperatives to supply power in rural areas

• New Federal Taxes – a revenue act of 1935 that significantly increased taxes on incomes of the wealthy, increased the tax on large gifts from parent to child, and on capital gains (profits from the sale of stocks and other property)

• The Social Security Act (1935) – created a federal insurance program based upon the automatic collection of payments from most employees and employers throughout people’s working careers; the Social Security trust fund would then be used to make monthly payments to retired people over the age of 65; also receiving benefits under this new law were workers who lost their jobs (unemployment compensation), people who were blind or disabled, and widows and orphans; this will for generations affect the lives of nearly all Americans.

• Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) – a final political victory for organized labor and last major reform of the New Deal, this law established several regulations for business involved in interstate commerce; included a minimum wage ($.40/hr), a maximum standard work week of 40 hours with extra pay for overtime, and child labor restrictions on hiring people under 16 years old

A.  POLITICS - Republican Dominance of Government

1. Business Doctrine – T. Roosevelt’s death in 1919 and disillusionment over the war allowed the return of old-guard conservative Republicans; however, they no longer argued for laissez-faire, but rather, accepted limited government regulation to stabilize business; Republicans believed that the entire nation would benefit from strong business

2. Harding’s Presidency

   1. Accomplishments – Republican Warren G. Harding won the presidency by a landslide in 1920, pledging little more than a “return to normalcy;” the idealism and activism of the Progressive Era were over.  He signed legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Congress that reduced income taxes and increased tariffs

      1. Harding died suddenly in 1923 while traveling in the West

   2. Teapot Dome Scandal – Congress discovered that Harding’s Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall accepted bribes for granting oil leases near Teapot Dome, WY to his friends (supposed to be naval reserves); Harding also potentially accepted bribes not to expose scandal; Fall was convicted and became first Cabinet member jailed for crime committed in office

3. Prohibition – conflicting attitudes towards the 18^th Amendment (which had partly been passed during wartime, largely to conserve grain and maintain a sober workforce)

   1. defying the law –speakeasies = illegal clubs/bars that sold bootleg (smuggled liquor); city police and judges bribed to look the other way; rival factions of gangsters (including Al Capone) fought for control, and organized crime became big business; these gangs soon expanded to sex work, gambling, and narcotics; organized crime battles for control of illegal businesses led to increase in violent crime (St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and hits to kill rival gang members)

   2. political discord and repeal – most Republicans supported the “noble experiment” of Prohibition while Democrats were divided on the issue; Southerners supported it, but northern city politicians called for repeal; eventually the evidence of criminal activity, as well as the Great Depression, convinced the nation to repeal the 18^th Amendment with the 21^st Amendment (ratified in 1933)

B. ECONOMICS of the Twenties – similar to the Gilded Age

1. Mixed Economic Development – brief postwar recession (1921), business prosperity (1922-28), and economic disaster (1929); during prosperity, unemployment was 4% and standard of living improved (indoor plumbing and central heating, and by 1920 two-thirds of homes had electricity); but prosperity was far from universal as 40% of families lived at or below poverty line and struggled on $1500/yr – farmers were particularly hard hit in the 1920s economy because Europe no longer depended on American crops after WWI ended

2. Causes of Business Prosperity – business boomed, especially car, steel, chemical, and oil industries (64% rise in manufacturing output)

   1. increased productivity – most affected by Henry Ford’s 1914 introduction of moving assembly line (workers focused on one part of production and increased speed of production)

   2. energy technologies – although coal was still used for railroads and to heat homes, many factories and homes switched to oil or electricity, combined with oil increased for auto use; spurred economic development

   3. government policy – favored business with corporate tax cuts and no enforcement of antitrust laws; also large tax cuts for higher-income Americans created imbalance in incomes and increased speculation in stock markets; the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates and relaxed regulation of banking 

   4. stock market popularity/growth – more Americans bought stocks, not only for business owners and the wealthy (twice as many shares traded each day by 1929 than in 1920); viewed stock market as way of getting rich quickly; could invest savings, take out loans to buy stocks, or buy “on margin” by paying small percentage of stock price and having stockbroker pay the rest (sell the stock when it’s at a higher price to pay off cost and still make a profit)

3. Consumer Economy 

   1. new products - electricity in homes enabled purchase of appliances like refrigerators, vacuums, and washing machines; automobiles became more affordable (one out of every five Americans owned car by 1929); advertising manipulated demand by encouraging consumerism and making it seem like buying products would improve lives

   2. buying on credit – stores increased sales by allowing customers to buy on credit or make installment payments instead of paying full price at sale (over half of cars bought on credit)

   3. automobiles – by the end of the decade, there was an average of 1 car per family; cars replaced railroads as the key promoter of economic growth; other industries like steel, glass, etc. became dependent on auto sales; social impact was significant in new ways of shopping, dating, traveling for pleasure, traffic jams, injuries and death 

4. Economic Shortcomings 

   1. Farm Problems – the demand & government regulation of prices during WWI ended, as well as increased productivity caused by fertilizers and gasoline, created surpluses and falling prices for farmers

   2. Labor Problems – labor union membership declined by 20% as some companies insisted on “open shop” (leaving jobs open to non-union workers) and adopted the practice of welfare capitalism (voluntarily offering benefits and higher wages in order to reduce interest in organizing unions – Ford paid $5/day for factory work); in the South, companies used police, state militia, and local mobs to resist efforts to unionize the textile industry; courts routinely issued injunctions against strikes

C. ART, LITERATURE, MUSIC - A New Culture – by 1920, for the first time, more than half of the American population lived in urban areas; the culture of the cities, based on popular tastes, morals, and habits of mass consumption, clashed with the strict religious and moral codes of rural America; moralists blamed the automobile, music, dances, movies, and fashions for destroying America’s morals

1. The Jazz Age – made possible by phonographs and radios; high school and college youth embraced jazz music and dances brought north by African-Americans as part of Great Migration; conflicts because of racism developed (white artists given more air time and arguments against jazz as improper and immoral because of roots in African and African-American cultures)

   1. radio – first broadcast in 1920; there were 800 stations and 10 million radios by 1930 (one-third of all homes); the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) provided networks that enabled people coast-to-coast to listen to the same programs = national culture 

   2. Hollywood and the movies – elaborate theater “palaces” were built, movie stars like Greta Garbo & Rudolf Valentino were idolized by millions, talkies (movies with sound) were introduced in 1927; by 1929 80 million tickets were sold each week

   3. popular heroes – while politicians had been heroes in the earlier era, Americans now adopted heroes from sports (boxer Jack Dempsey and baseball player Babe Ruth) and media like Charles Lindbergh, first person to fly non-stop across Atlantic 

2. Literature:  The Lost Generation – group of writers who criticized materialism, consumerism, and conformity and challenged conservative beliefs in religion and morality =  F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Sinclair Lewis; some moved into exile in Europe; expressed loss of faith in American Dream 

3. Art & Architecture – Art Deco Style (modernist simplification of forms while using machine age materials); musical theater like composer George Gershwin blended jazz and classical music; painters like Edward Hopper explored the idea of loneliness of urban life

4. Harlem Renaissance – by 1930 almost 20% of African-Americans lived in the North, where they still faced discrimination but found some improvement in their earnings and standard of living; largest community was Harlem in NY City with population of 200,000 by 1930; became famous for its concentration of talented actors, musicians, painters, and writers; writer/poet Langston Hughes, jazz musicians Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, singer Bessie Smith; challenged racism and focused on bringing African-American experiences into mainstream culture; expressions of African-American pride based on “New Negro”

D. IMMIGRATION – World War I caused another increase in nativism. During the war, there were anti-German attitudes, but after the war there was a rise in anti-Eastern European attitudes, especially because of the Red Scare. Attacks on communism strengthened, and attacks on immigrants rose. 

1. Nativism – immigration resumed between 1919-1921, triggering nativism/Red Scare 

   1. Quota Laws (National Origins Acts of 1921 & 1924) – Congress passed two laws that severely limited immigration by setting quotas based on nationality (intentionally used 1890 census to prevent immigration from “undesirable” countries); the laws reduced the number of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and dramatically curbed immigration from Asia (especially Japanese); Canadians and Latin Americans were exempt from the law; these laws ended traditional US policy of unlimited immigration

   2. Sacco & Vanzetti – liberal American artists and intellectuals rallied to support two Italian immigrants who in 1921 had been convicted in Massachusetts of robbery and murder (limited evidence and the judge publicly spoke against anarchists); many believed they were innocent and had been targeted because they were immigrants and anarchists; after six years of debate and appeals, they were executed in 1927

E. WOMEN – After World War I, women gained the right to vote with the 19^th Amendment and became more active within society =  birth of a “new woman”  

1. General Roles Family & Education – despite 19th Amendment, not a significant increase in women voting (around only 35-40% of eligible women voted and women of color still excluded); middle class women enjoyed more appliances (easier home life) but otherwise remained homemakers, and there was little shift in women’s participation or wages within the labor force

2. revolution in morals – young men and women revolted against sexual taboos; fueled by writings of Sigmund Freud who stressed role of sexual repression in mental illness; pre-marital sex became more common as Margaret Sanger promoted the use of contraceptives for birth control, despite its illegal status in almost every state

3. flappers – influenced by movie stars and their own desire for independence, women shocked their elders by wearing dresses hemmed at the knees rather than ankles, bobbing their hair, smoking cigarettes, and driving cars (emphasized making their own money and having more control over lives)

4. divorce – women’s suffrage led to the liberalized divorce laws and an increase in divorce from one in six marriages by 1930

5. education – universal high school education became the new American goal and by the end of the 1920s the number of high school graduates had doubled to over 25% of school-age adults; percentage of women earning college degrees increased from 19% in early 1900s to 39% by 1928

F. RACE AND CLASS

1. Marcus Garvey founded United Negro Improvement Association and promoted individual and racial pride and Black nationalism (Black separatism, economic self-sufficiency, and Back-to-Africa movement to found own nation); DuBois didn’t agree with Back-to-Africa but endorsed its emphasis on racial pride and self-respect

2. Ku Klux Klan – most extreme expression of racism; this “new clan” emerged in the mid-West (40% of members lived in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois) and attracted new members because of the silent film Birth of a Nation (KKK Reconstruction heroes), backlash of the race riots of 1919, and new advertising techniques; 3-8 million members directed hostility to Catholics, Jews, foreigners, suspected communists, and African Americans; emphasized extreme nationalism and fundamental/conservative ideas to counter 1920s modernity;  after an initial surge, membership declined as the Northern press revealed fraud & corruption

3. Eugenics – pseudo-scientific movement spread throughout the Progressive Era and 1920s; aimed to improve the genetic quality of the human population by limiting the number of children people of color and the working class had because the dominant class believed they would pass on traits that were “unfit” for the human race; some states promoted compulsory sterilization and began to sterilize patients at mental institutions and/or prisons – supported by Supreme Court ruling to try to wipe out these genes (which disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minorities, and people of lower economic status) or encouraged sterilizing people after giving birth or during medical procedures without informing them; Margaret Sanger’s development of birth control was also part of this effort to limit the children certain communities would have; also encouraged people to prove they were genetically superior and then have larger families (“fitter family” competitions at fairs)

   1. After World War II and the Nazi experiment, the Eugenics movement lost its momentum and was considered inhumane. 

G. INTELLECTUAL IDEAS -  sharp divisions between young and old, urban modernists and rural fundamentalists, prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists, nativists and the foreign-born

1. Religion – increasingly used technology and strategies of 1920s entertainment; churches/ministers owned and ran radio stations, advertised religious services, and created large followings with energetic services/charismatic preachers

   1. modernism – influenced by the changing role of women, the Social Gospel movement and expanded scientific knowledge, large numbers of Protestants began to define their faith in new ways; they took a more historical and critical view of certain biblical passages and felt they could reconcile Darwin’s theory of evolution and other scientific advancements with their faith (less emphasis on literal interpretation of the Bible)

   2. fundamentalism – preachers taught that every word in the Bible must be accepted as literally true (more common in rural areas); emphasized creationism; felt modernism was causing a decline in morals; major radio evangelists Billy Sunday and Aimee McPherson

2. The Scopes Trial – highlighted the debate over religion; Tennessee outlawed the teaching of Darwin/evolution in public schools, so ACLU persuaded a biology teacher named John Scopes to teach the theory of evolution to challenge law; he was arrested and tried for violating the law in 1925; the entire nation followed trial in newspapers and on the radio; Scopes was defended by Clarence Darrow while William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor (and testified as a Bible expert); Scopes was convicted, but his conviction was overturned on a technicality; the Northern press asserted that Darrow and the modernists had discredited fundamentalism in the cross-examination of Bryan