M

The Roaring Twenties - Vocabulary Flashcards (2025–2026 Social Science Resource Guide)

Introduction

  • The Roaring Twenties defined by post-World War I upheaval, rapid modernization, and mass culture; American pop culture (Hollywood, jazz) achieved global prominence. A hinge era between a pre-modern past and a modern industrial society.
  • Key tensions: extreme wealth alongside persistent poverty; secular modernity vs. religious traditionalism; urban modernity vs. rural conservatism; rising gender and racial tensions amid expanding civil rights.
  • Core mechanisms: mass production, mass media, mass consumption, and mass entertainment reshaped daily life and global influence.

Section I: Post-War America — The Dawn of a New Era

  • 1919: A pivotal year with massive WWI casualties, a brutal global flu pandemic, widespread labor unrest, and political violence.
  • Wilson’s Fourteen Points and Paris Peace Conference: push for self-determination, free seas, free trade, and a League of Nations; idealism clashed with Allied demands for punishment of Germany.
  • League of Nations: Wilson’s dream of a global cooperative security body; U.S. Senate (Henry Cabot Lodge) opposed participation, fearing loss of sovereignty; Wilson’s cross-country tour ended with health crisis.
  • The Treaty of Versailles: ultimately rejected by the U.S. Senate in 1919–1920; U.S. isolationism accelerated; legacy influenced postwar internationalism later (e.g., United Nations).
  • Erosion of Civil Liberties and Labor Strife: postwar strikes (steel, coal, etc.), anti-radical crusades, and the Palmer Raids; crackdown on dissent intensified civil-liberties concerns.
  • First Amendment Supreme Court cases: Schenck v. United States (1919) establishing the "clear and present danger" test; Debs v. United States (1919) upheld limits on dissent during war; Abrams v. United States (1919) marked limits to speech; Holmes’s dissent on Abrams foreshadowed later free-speech debates.
  • Sacco and Vanzetti (executed 1927): emblem of anti-immigrant and anti-radical sentiment in the Red Scare.
  • African American culture and politics: The Great Migration (1915–1970) reshaped urban demographics; Harlem Renaissance (New Negro movement) showcased Black artistic and political achievement.
  • Jazz and global diffusion: New Orleans origins, international spread via migrants and soldiers; jazz as a global cultural force.
  • The Red Summer (1919): widespread race riots and racial violence in northern cities signaling sharp racial tensions.
  • Marcus Garvey and UNIA: Pan-African nationalism, Black economic self-determination;Garvey’s movement inspired later Black nationalist currents despite legal troubles and eventual downfall.
  • Constitutional Amendments and the Progressive Era end: 18th Amendment (Prohibition) — taking effect in 1920; 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage) — ratified in 1920 but with uneven voter turnout; debates over gender, suffrage, and the national role of government persisted.
  • A Return to “Normalcy”: Harding’s 1920 election victory and a shift away from Wilsonian internationalism; Washington Naval Conference (1921–1922) aimed at armament limits; domestic scandals (Teapot Dome) damaged public trust; Coolidge’s pro-business governance (1923–1929).
  • The Dawes Plan (1924): international effort to stabilize German reparations and balance global debts through American credit; long-term global finance implications.
  • Section I Summary (essentials): Versailles peace and League fates; Wilson’s illness and Senate pushback; labor unrest and civil-liberties crackdowns; mass migration and cultural flowering; Prohibition and women’s suffrage; Republican ascendancy and limited international leadership.

Section II: Prosperity and Technological Advancements

  • Mass Production of the Automobile: Henry Ford and Fordism; Model T (1908) and massive assembly-line production; dramatic cost reductions and widespread car ownership by the late 1920s; $ Ford’s $5 daily wage ideology and welfare capitalism transformed labor relations and urbanization.
  • Welfare capitalism: company-sponsored benefits, profit-sharing, and employee representations; aim to reduce union activity and embed loyalty within firms (e.g., Ford’s Sociological Department).
  • A Nation on Wheels: roads and suburbs expand; a national highway network develops; cars reshape daily life, work commutes, and social interactions; road trips become a national pastime.
  • Mass Consumption: electrification and appliances revolutionize households; refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners become common; advertising and mass marketing create consumer culture.
  • Easy Credit and Installment Buying: credit-enabled consumption expands; by mid-to-late 1920s installment plans proliferate across products, fueling debt but expanding affordability.
  • Mass Communication: The Radio
    • The Radio Revolution: radio grows from a niche to a mass medium; RCA, NBC, and the broader broadcasting ecosystem emerge; Radio Music Box concept popularizes at-home listening.
    • Regulation and reach: government regulation (Federal Radio Act of 1927) established frameworks; radio consolidates national culture and transnational influence.
    • Radio nationalism and public figures: presidential fireside chats later mirror evolving state-society dynamics; early figures like Father Coughlin use radio for mass mobilization.
  • Movies: Hollywood as a global powerhouse; from silent films to talkies (The Jazz Singer, 1927) marking the transition to sound cinema; consolidation reduces the number of studios but expands global reach; film as major cultural export.
  • Sports and Leisure: Babe Ruth, college football, and mass spectator culture; sports celebrities become national icons; mass media expands fan culture.
  • Advertising and mass media: brands, mascots, and celebrity endorsements cultivate consumer identity; planned obsolescence emerges as a strategy; mass advertising drives demand.
  • The Civilian consumer base and modern infrastructure: electrification, road networks, mass production underpin a consumer economy; urban-rural divides in adoption persist.
  • Section II Summary (essentials): Ford’s assembly line and Fordism redefine manufacturing and labor relations; welfare capitalism and company unions reshape worker loyalty; automobiles catalyze economic growth and urban expansion; electrification and mass advertising foster a mass consumer culture; radio and cinema unify and export American culture; mass media transforms sports and entertainment into national pastimes.

Section III: Social and Cultural Upheaval

  • The View from Middletown (Muncie study): sociologists Lynds document a microcosm of modern America; rising wealth gaps, changing religious observance, more women in schools and the workforce; urban-rural divides and shift away from traditional centers of authority.
  • No Room in The Melting Pot: Resurgent Racism and Nativism
    • The New Ku Klux Klan: revival (1915–1925) expands beyond the South into the Midwest and West; 250,000+ members in Indiana at peak; KKK influence in politics and policy; anti-Catholic legislations in some states.
    • Race and Citizenship: Supreme Court cases (Ozawa v. United States, 1922; United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 1923) redefine whiteness and naturalization eligibility; Johnson-Reed Immigration Act (1924) sharply limits immigration by national quotas.
    • Eugenics and Pseudoscientific Racism: eugenics movement inflates racial hierarchies; Buck v. Bell (1927) upholds sterilization laws; Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act (1924) enshrines anti-miscegenation policies; transnational influence echoes in Nazi policy later.
  • “New Women”: Changing Gender Ideals
    • Flappers and modern femininity challenge traditional gender norms; urban youth, new dating and consumer roles; companionate marriage debates; divorce rates rise; Nevada courts promote rapid divorces as part of a mass tourism/cosmopolitan culture.
    • Women at Work: rising female employment in clerical, nursing, teaching, and social work; substantial but still gendered limits; by 1930, around 25 ext{–}30 ext{%} of women worked outside the home; households still heavily rely on women for budgeting and shopping.
  • American Moderns and the Lost Generation
    • Bohemians and expatriates move to Paris; modernist experimentation in literature (Hemingway, Fitzgerald) and art (Stein, Picasso); transatlantic exchange redefines American culture.
    • Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro Movement: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Du Bois, Duke Ellington, and others illuminate Black cultural production; Harlem as a center of art, music, and intellectual life; the New Negro reframes Black identity.
  • Freud and Psychiatry in American Society
    • Freud’s theories influence popular culture, literature, and advertising; psychiatry enters mainstream discourse; debates over modern psychology and the self shape social attitudes toward gender and morality.
  • The Scopes Trial and Aimee Semple McPherson
    • Scopes Trial (1925): clashes over Darwinian evolution vs. Biblical literalism; Bryan vs. Darrow becomes symbol of religion vs. science; legal outcome deemed constitutional limits on teaching evolution in public schools (ultimately upheld in 1927).
    • Aimee Semple McPherson (Sister Aimee): evangelical preacher who leverages radio, mass rallies, and showmanship to build a national evangelical movement; harmonizes traditional faith with modern media.
  • Prohibition and Crime
    • Prohibition era fosters bootlegging, speakeasies, and organized crime; high-profile gangsters (e.g., Al Capone) amass wealth and power; widespread illegality and corruption strain law enforcement; social and cultural divides sharpen as moral reform collides with illicit markets.
  • Section III Summary (essentials): Middletown highlights social change; KKK revival exposes persistent white supremacy; immigration and naturalization laws tighten; eugenics rationalizes racist policies; the New Woman redefines gender roles; Harlem Renaissance expands Black cultural influence; modernism and Freud reshape culture; Scopes, McPherson, and Prohibition define religious and moral conflicts.

Section IV: Economic Crisis and the End of the Roaring Twenties

  • The 1928 Election and Domestic Divisions: Southern rural “drys” vs. Northern urban “wets” factions within the Democratic Party foreshadow realignments; Hoover’s rise amid prosperity.
  • The Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression
    • 1929 crash begins a decade of economic crisis; initial public confidence collapses; widespread bank failures and evaporating credit; unemployment soars; consumer demand collapses; deflation deepens hardship.
  • Domestic Factors in Depression
    • Overproduction in agriculture and industry; reduced consumer spending; bank runs, mortgage defaults, and collapsing financial institutions; rural and urban poverty widen; Dust Bowl exacerbates rural displacement (Okies to California).
  • International Factors
    • Dawes Plan and international debt cycles create a fragile global financial system; after the crash, foreign investment and trade fall; the world slips into a global downturn; gold standard dynamics complicate recovery.
  • Hoover’s Response and its Limitations
    • Limited government intervention; emphasis on voluntary action and private philanthropy; some public works (Hoover Dam) and RFC lending but no widespread direct relief; belief in self-help and localism delays decisive federal action.
  • The Bonus Army and Political Backlash
    • 1932: Bonus Army march on Washington; federal forceful eviction undermines Hoover’s popularity and accelerates his defeat.
  • The Great Depression’s Human Toll
    • Widespread unemployment, poverty, and displacement; social ills intensify; public faith in private charity erodes; long-lasting impacts on American life.
  • Section IV Summary (essentials): 1928–1932 reveals a split Democratic Party, Hoover’s gradual and limited response to a systemic crisis, and the onset of the Great Depression, setting the stage for the New Deal era.

Conclusion

  • The 1920s began with extraordinary economic and cultural dynamism but ended in deep crisis; the era’s innovations in production, media, and culture laid the groundwork for post–New Deal America and the United States’ later role as a major global leader in culture and economy.
  • The period’s paradoxes—prosperity intertwined with inequality, liberal modernity coexisting with nativism and prohibition—shaped American politics, society, and international outlook for decades.

Timeline (highlights)

  • 1919–1920: Versailles peace efforts; League of Nations debate; Red Scare intensified; labor unrest
  • 1920: Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition) takes effect; Nineteenth Amendment (women’s suffrage) ratified
  • 1921–1922: Washington Naval Conference; Harding’s presidency; Teapot Dome scandal
  • 1924: Johnson–Reed Immigration Act; Dawes Plan begins to stabilize European debt
  • 1927: Buck v. Bell upholds sterilization laws; The Jazz Singer signals sound-era cinema
  • 1929: Stock Market Crash (Black Tuesday, Oct 29, 1929); beginning of the Great Depression
  • 1930–1932: Smoot-Hawley Tariff; bank failures; Dust Bowl; Bonus Army incident (1932)

Key Terms (glossary-style, for quick recall)

  • Schenck extrm{ v. United States}: clear and present danger standard for speech during wartime
  • Ozawa extrm{ v. United States}, Thind extrm{ v. United States}: race and citizenship determinants
  • Sacco extrm{ and }Vanzetti: emblematic Red Scare case
  • Johnson–Reed Immigration Act extrm{ (1924)}: national origins quotas; Asians excluded
  • Buck extrm{ v. Bell} (1927): sterilization allowed; eugenics jurisprudence
  • Buckley extrm{ Bell}; Racial Integrity Act extrm{ (1924)}: anti-miscegenation laws
  • Kellogg–Briand extrm{ Pact} (1928): renunciation of war as national policy
  • Dawes extrm{ Plan} (1924): German reparations and international debt cycle
  • Teapot Dome extrm{ scandal}: major domestic corruption in Harding era
  • New extrm{ Negro Movement}; Harlem Renaissance
  • Fordism extrm{ and welfare capitalism}: mass production and worker relations
  • Installment buying: consumer credit fueling mass consumption
  • Radio; RCA; NBC; FRC: rise of mass media and regulatory infrastructure
  • Scopes extrm{ Trial}: science vs. religion in education
  • Prohibition extrm{ (18th Amendment)}: nationwide ban on alcohol; enforcement challenges
  • GID extrm{ / FBI}: Palmer Raids and domestic surveillance
  • Great Migration: mass Black urban movement from the South to the North and West