the roaring '20s

  • Charles Lindbergh - The Spirit of Saint Louis 1927
    • He was the first man to fly across the Atlantic ocean.
    • The first aircraft flight was only in 1903.
    • He was nicknamed “Lucky Lindy”
  • You could buy houses in catalogs in the 1920s.
  • Athletes and entertainers replace politicians as our celebrities.
  • Prohibition Documentary
    • many men were mistreating their families and spending funds on alcohol
    • prohibition pinned everyone against each other
    • it made people question the government.
    • the mayflower was filled with barrels of beer, at valley forge, George Washington made sure his men had half a cup of rum, John Adams began his day with hard cider, Thomas Jefferson collected wine, and Abraham Lincoln sold whiskey by barrel as a boy. Alcohol is throughout American history.
    • at the end of the 1800s, more drinks with higher alcohol content became easier to access as opposed to low-level drinks available previously.
    • Americans over the age of 15 drank three times as much in 1888 as they do today.
    • during this time, marriage was extremely frowned upon and marital rape wasn’t discussed.
    • six men in a bar agreed to not drink anymore. word spread across the country and many people went up and confessed and signed the Washingtonian pledge.
    • they were called ungodly because they thought that people could heal from other people and not by going to church.
    • at first temperance leaders wanted to limit alcohol, but then it shifted to total abstinence.
    • Fredrick Douglas took the pledge and said that if the world didn’t drink alcohol there would be no slavery.
    • when Susan B. Anthony was denied a speech at the men’s temperance movement, she created one for women. From then on, women’s suffrage and temperance were linked.
    • Alcohol becomes a scapegoat for all of the issues in society.
    • in 1851, Neil Dow from Maine got a petition signed that ended up banning alcoholic beverages in the state.
    • other states passed similar laws but by 1860 it was passed.
    • temperance and women’s suffrage were overshadowed by slavery and the civil war.
    • 1/3 of the federal budget came from taxing alcohol.
    • new immigrants came with new drinking habits
    • in 1870, german entrepreneurs created beer companies that tended to the alcohol demand that the immigrants had. they made millions of gallons of beer a year.
    • the 18th amendment banned people from purchasing or selling alcohol
    • consumption went down, and companies started making non-alcoholic drinks
    • there were gang wars over alcohol.
    • the word scofflaw was made by two separate people because they wanted to win a contest. historically, this is how every word is made. duh.
    • to pass a law means nothing, to enforce a law means everything.
    • the leader of the anti-saloon league wanted the Volstead act to be as strict as possible. it was very strict.
    • it banned all “intoxicating beverages” anything more than 1% alcohol.
    • drinking alcohol or making wine was not illegal. individuals and private clubs were allowed to keep the alcohol they purchased before the law was passed.
    • whiskey distilleries were still able to function for medical reasons.
    • people started using whiskey passes like whiskey to get alcohol, like weed cards.
    • jewish households were allowed a certain amount of wine per person as long as they got a pass from their rabbi. people were joining up to be rabbis to get alcohol or going to church to get alcohol.
    • president harding didn’t think prohibition would work. the twice-weekley poker meetings he had contained illegal alcohol.
    • “noble experiment” one agent for every 70,000 people. pretty wild.
    • the federal government wanted the states to enact their own laws, but they didn’t.
    • the states eventually weakened their laws. they wanted life sentences for people drinking. massive penalties for small offenses.
    • on march 22nd, 1920 at an isolated dock, 11 men loaded Canadian whiskey into transportation vessels. their route was blocked by prohibition agents who shot them. one of them was arrested at his home the following afternoon.
    • he was a police officer who quit and became a bootlegger after the incident. he sold alcohol to lawyers and other members of the state. tea.
    • ed hunt made sure things went smoothly between transactions between police, lawyers, mayors, etc and the bootlegger.
    • people started calling roy olstead (the old police guy) the good bootlegger.
    • 32,000 speakeasies opened in new york. the city was called “satan’s seat”
    • they hired 200 agents to cover all of the state of ny.
    • agents killed people that didn’t even do anything wrong.
    • agents were easily bribable and in the first year they fired half of them.
    • the mullan-gage law levied heavier penalties on offenders, a flask was viewed the same as a handgun. people were stationed in restaurants, allowed to raid people’s homes, pat people down, etc.
    • frank mather was a good agent who did his job properly and poured whiskey into a nearby stream. there was an incident between him and a sheriff and they shot each other and they both died.
    • George Remus was the biggest bootlegger. He was the Rockefeller of bootlegging. He was a German immigrant, left school at 15, went to law school, and he was a defense attorney in Chicago. He found himself defending bootleggers. He was intrigued by how quickly his clients paid their fines.
    • He had a drug company and he owned alcohol he would buy and sell alcohol from himself in what he called “the circle.”
    • His sales were strictly cash, sometimes 70k a day, all tax-free.
    • He started talking about himself in the third person which is kinda weird.
    • He had secret meetings with someone from the government and he was promised he would never go to jail. He paid him more than 250,000 dollars in bribes.
    • William McCoy was another bootlegger. He got alcohol from the Bahamas.
    • Winston Churchill didn’t like prohibition.
    • People would drop barrels of alcohol off of ships and then the people that wanted it would wait for it to come to the shore.
    • the 18th Amendment put democracy on trial.
    • Mabel Walker Willebrant was the most famous non-celebrity person in the us.
    • They gave her the job of being in charge of the prohibition clauses. She became a Teetotaler after she joined the justice department.
    • She wanted to believe that the justice department was booming and was enforcing the law. She believed prohibition could work.
    • Those who drank drank more during prohibition.
    • What people drank added to the risk because it had toxic chemicals in it.
  • Teetotaler: someone who never touches alcohol.
  • The Real McCoy meant something was authentic.
  • one of the most popular dances in the ‘20s was the charleston.
  • they had these things called nickelodeons where you could pay a nickel and watch a movie in a small telephone booth type of ordeal.
  • it was called the roaring twenties because things were happier in America (at least for the rich white folk), with new technology, and an economic boom
  • the underlying theme of the chapter: pop culture
    • entertainment, fashion trends, food, religion, etc.
    • the 1920s, popular culture reshapes itself to reflect an urban industrial, consumer-oriented society
    • for the first time, more people are living in cities than outside of cities
    • the industry is running our economy
    • people wanted to buy more stuff, materialism.
      • it became citizens’ number one obligation.
    • we see the rise of modern advertising in the 1920s.
  • there were new dances, illegal alcohol, and cars with few laws.
  • importance of the 1920s
    • one of the most rapid periods of change in US history.
    • great economic growth
    • the division between rich and poor grew
    • the second wealthiest time for Americans in US history
    • the rich got richer, the poor got poorer
    • the middle class got larger
    • athletes become celebrities during this time
    • government aligned with buisness
    • laissez-faire
  • cont
  • domestic laundry
  • social changes in values: gender, individualism, sexuality, alcohol.
  • concern with immigration - xenophobia and nativism
  • challenges to American civil liberties
  • election of 1920 - democrat James Cox and republican Warren G Harding.
    • Harding went from the US Senate to the Oval Office.
    • He was from Ohio
    • James Cox was the governor of Ohio.
    • This was the first election women could vote in.
    • Cox talked about the treaty of Versailles and the league of nations, but that wasn’t an issue by this point. Harding didn’t say much about anything.
  • Eugene V Debs - socialist
    • Fifth time running for president. He ran from jail and got a million votes.
    • It concerned the other candidates because the people wanted a socialist nation.
  • “Return to Normalcy” was the phrase Harding said to win the presidency. Slutty.
    • “America’s present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration; not surgery but serenity.”
    • He wanted to stay out of global conflicts and have a period of peace.
    • This is a message to mainstream America, white folks, not marginalized groups.
    • White, anglo-saxan, protestant
  • Harding won with 404 in the electoral college,
    • The south was democratic, the north was republican.
  • The “Ohio Gang”
    • This was Harding’s cabinet. His besties.
    • They would meet up for gambling. Harding gambled away white house china.
    • They had drinks even though it was outlawed at the time.
    • He would bang ladies in the white house closets. Man whore.
    • Respected Cabinet Members
    • Charles Evans Hughes: Secretary of State
    • Andrew Mellon: Secretary of Treasury
    • Herbert Hoover: Secretary of Commerce
      • Ran the food administration during WWI
    • Will Taft: Cheif Justice
    • Mabel Willebrandt: Assistant Attorney General
  • Washington’s Conference - 1921
    • Meeting in Washington. One of the top moments in Harding’s presidency.
    • US, Belgium, China, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Portugal - arms limitation. We negotiate formal treaties to weaken the strength of formal militaries.
    • A) 4-Power Treaty (1921) - US, France, Great Britain, Japan: Respect territories in the Pacific.
      • This is reinforcing the open-door policy.
    • B) 5-Power Treaty (1922) - 5 biggest navies maintained the size of their navies relative to other nations (US, GB, Japan, Italy, France)
      • This was the most powerful out of all of them.
      • US: 500k tons, GB: 500k tons, Japan: 300k tons Italy: 175k tons, France: 175k tons. The agreements were for defense.
      • This prevented aggressive navies to prevent warfare.
    • We agreed to both of these for money. We had open access to markets and we didn’t have to spend money on ships.
    • C) 9-Power Treaty (1922) - nations at the conference respected open door policy.
    • This meeting was the day after armistice day (November 12th)
  • Harding believed in laissez-faire (unlike Progressives)
  • Set the tone for Republican economic policies for the rest of the decade.
  • The Lincoln Memorial was opened in 1922. Cool.
  • Teapot Dome Scandal
    • The corruption of the Ohio Gang.
    • It was named after the town in Wyoming where this was occurring.
    • Albert Fall - Secretary of the Interior
    • Harry Daugherty - Attorney General
    • Fall took money from New York companies and let them drill for oil into areas that were meant for conservation.
    • Fall was giving Daugherty money to not get him in trouble. He was taking bribes.
    • Daughtery was also taking bribes for liquor. Lil shithead.
    • The president wasn’t involved, but it was his cabinet and he appointed all these people. Boo.
    • August 2, 1923: Harding suddenly died of a heart attack in San Francisco.
    • He becomes the first president to go to Alaska during this war.
    • His wife was in the hotel with him when he died. People thought she killed him because she was jealous. She knew about all of the affairs.
    • There were also suspicions that Fall or Daugherty killed him.
    • His wife refused an autopsy so we don’t know what happened.
    • She burned all the correspondents between his other people.
    • The letters she didn’t get to burn were published. One was a whole book of a lady that had his child and was talking about their baby and sexy stuff.

1/3 video notes

  • Charles Forbes was the first director of the veteran’s bureau. During his time, he was building hospitals for veterans. People were coming back from WWI wounded and looking for help. This dude stole 200 million dollars that were set aside for the veterans. He spent two years in jail and paid ten thousand dollars in fines.
  • With all this drama Harding went on a tour of understanding. While on this tour he died rip.
  • In 1922 republicans lost seats in congress.
  • There was a book written by one of his girlfriends about the affair she had with the president. His reputation over time was tarnished.
  • Coolidge became the next president. Boen on the fourth of July. He became president after Harding’s death. This is a return to conservative economic policy. “The man who builds a factory builds a temple,” he said. “The man who works there worships there.”
  • Believes that the executive branch is only there to support congress. Passive indifference. He never really said anything. He was inaugurated by his dad.
  • This man insisted on twelve hours of sleep a day and an afternoon nap. Slept away his presidency.
  • He represented what seemed like a forgotten moral conscience for the united states. Dancing, jazz, the country was out of control.
  • He would buzz the secret service and hide under his desk. He was seen always with his hat bot sometimes his clothes as he was running around the white house. He had a mechanical bull in the white house.
  • Election of 1924. Coolidge ran republican. Davis ran for democrat. LaFollette ran for progressive.
  • Definitions
    • 5 power treaty: the five major nations had a cap on the size of their navy to prevent the arms race
    • 9 power treaty: nations had to respect the open door policy.
    • Teapot dome: you already know.
    • Ohio gang: harding’s homies
    • Laissez-Faire: hand free economy. anti progressivism. government’s approach to business and economy.
    • McNary-Haugen Bill: never passed, vetoed twice by Coolidge. proposed a tariff on agricultural products.
    • Kellogg-Briand: treaty that outlawed war. This obviously worked very well and there was never any war ever again. Most popular treaty, least effective.
    • Dawes Plan: America gives money to Germany so they could replay Britain and France. We get interest on the loans and we get that bank.
    • Young Plan: Final and reduced payment for German reparations from WWI
    • Alfred Smith: Great candidate for president, ran in 1928, lost because he was a catholic and because of Hoover’s impeccable reputation.
    • Hoover ran the food administration.
    • People thought Catholics would be more loyal to the pope than the constitution. We only had two catholic presidents.
    • Hoover-Ball: A combination of volleyball, medicine ball, and badminton. It was with a weighted ball so the president could get some exercise.

friday’s notes with smith back in the flesh

  • the roaring twenties economic boom
    • second wealthiest time in American history
    • it all relied on the construction and automotive industries. when people needed no more buildings and cars we had a hard time.
    • art deco- the artistic movement of the ‘20s
    • increase in industrial-looking buildings. shiny, metallic.
    • important buildings
    • Chrysler building, the empire state building, Woolworth tower (gothic, built before the ‘20s)
    • Woolworth was like our Walmart or target.
    • the car
    • employed a lot of people
    • lots of companies built cars in Detroit
    • the car industry carried glass, steel, lumber, rubber, leather, lightbulbs, electrical wires, and more. those industries benefited.
    • ford made one new car every minute.
      • taylorism- scientific management refining the production process.
    • electricity
    • a lot of the remote regions (like suburban areas) didn’t have electricity, only cities did. most of the population lived in cities.
    • the industrial workers were doing 20% better, farmers were only 10% better. many farmers were still struggling to make money.
    • many people were coming from latin america because most people were living in cities and there was a void in the agricultural labor force
    • labor strife/unions (american plan)
    • unions struggle with the rise of big buisness
    • with an open shop you couldn’t join a union- no union members could work there.
    • many employers had employees sign “yellow dog contracts” promising not to join a union.
    • welfare capitalism: looked to decrease union membership by making the job more attractive with fewer hours, including insurance, vacations, and gym memberships.
    • the courts favored business throughout the 1920s
    • 1920s appliances
    • refrigerators
    • vacuum cleaners
    • washing machines
    • “consumerism” - societal focus on acquiring material items
    • radio and advertising
    • advertising is born in the 20s due to the focus on consumerism.
    • athletes, actors, and actresses gained social status
      • a lot of this is due to the rise of money, more people can go to movies and sports games and listen to radio shows.
    • there were long-worded ads in newspapers
    • sears started in the 1920s. you would receive a catalog and mail the money and they would ship it to you.
    • marconi invented the technology in 1986
    • fessenden invents the voice-carrying radio in 1900
    • department stores were rising
    • “posses today/pay tomorrow” installment buying - so you could go to the store and give them some money for a product, and then pay it off
    • this would later become credit cards
  • impact of the automobile
    • cars weren’t safe during this time.
    • “you can have any color you want, as long as it’s black” black dried quicker and they could get away with it because the demand was so high.
    • cars shifted the american psyche
    • they were called “scoodilypooping chariots” by old people.
    • scoodilypooping means sex.
    • there were no laws, and no traffic lights, and police had to conduct traffic
    • in 1951 the US experienced its 1,000,000th death from the automobile.
  • 12/17/1903 - Wright brothers fly the first plane
    • by wwi we had military planes. they weren’t effective.
    • by wwii there was commercial flights.
    • charles lindenburgh - The Spirit of Sait Louis
      • he had the first solo flight across the atlantic ocean.
  • both the car and the plane hurt the train.
  • impact of the radio
    • people were able to be exposed to more music, news, and radio shows
    • this caused celebrities to shift away from politicians
    • this was the first time many people heard a different accent
    • by the end of the decade most people have a radio in their house
  • The Great Train Robbery: the first movie.
    • it was about a train robbery. it lasted twenty minutes.
    • it had no sound. it was released in 1903.
  • nickelodeons: five-cent theater. used a lot for wwi propaganda.
  • The Jazz Singer: the first movie with sound.
    • did blackface, but embraced jazz culture.
    • the main character was played by a white guy
    • the actor (al jolson) was an advocate for equality
  • famous athletes
    • jack dempsey (heavyweight champion)
    • he becomes the symbol of the underdog.
    • jim thorpe and bobby jones
    • there was nothing thorpe couldn’t do. football pro.
    • thorpe was also a gold medalist.
    • thorpe was a native american.
    • jones was a famous golfer.
    • babe ruth
    • a million people went to watch the Yankees in 1920
  • flappers
    • societal norms were being challenged
    • things were still covered up, knee skirts challenged societal norms
    • they were smoking and drinking in public.
    • not all young women were like that, only a low percentage.
  • 18th amendment - prohibition
    • volstead act - nebraska was the last state to ratify
    • urban protests against the amendment. there were supporters in the middle of nowhere where people were religious
    • it was very expensive to enforce.
    • speakeasies were secret bars where you could buy alcohol.
    • bootleggers stashed alcohol in their boots.
    • the real mccoy-term for “legit.”
    • alcohol had unsafe items because it wasn’t legally regulated.
  • al capone
    • in one year he was making the equivalent of 30 million a year.
    • he helped fund the neighborhood so they wouldn’t snitch on him.
    • he was very philanthropic.
    • he was responsible for two murders in new york and the valentine’s day massacure.
  • prohibition ends in 1933.
  • 20th ammendment moved inauguration to January 20th
  • 21st repeals the 18th and ends prohibition
  • Scopes trial
    • compulsory education: making it a law to educate children
    • morality and religion
    • modernists - historical view of much of the bible
      • accepted darwin’s theory of evolution without abandoning faith
    • fundamentalists - condemned modernists and blamed them for all of society’s issues. flappers, scoodilypooping.
      • every word in the bible accepted as literal truth
      • creationism: god created the universe in seven days
    • faction: a group
    • Tennessee vs John Scopes
    • Scopes was a substitue biology teacher in Tenessee and taught Darwin’s theory of evolution.
  • the harlem renaissance
    • since so many black people were moving to the north in the great migration, they brought their music and culture with them.
    • the rise of jazz
    • lots of poetry from here, too. langston hughes (id)
    • dances, dress, culture.
    • the first time the white population embraced black culture.
  • nativism
    • quota acts
    • emergency quota act 1921 - limited immigration of 3% of the # of foreigners from a given nation from a 1910 census. this was the first time the US put a numerical limit on immigrants.
      • after the war most immigrants came from southern and eastern europe
    • immigration act of 1924 (natural origins act of 1924) - changed it to 2% based off of 1890 census
      • forbade all japansese people (part of wwii)
      • canadians and latin america excempt
  • sacco and vanzetti
    • 1921 - convicted of robbery and murder because they looked like the guys who comitted the murder
    • the courts could never prove they did it. the judge said “i don’t care, they’re going to jail.” everyone was biased because it seemed like italians was a part of an anarchist socialist movement. they were sentanced to death.
    • they were executed in 1927. this caused protests here and abroad. there were proests in england about civil liberties here in the us.
    • the soviets looked to the us violations of equality throughout the cold war
  • KKK
    • 20,000 kkk members marched in dc in 1924
    • this version was against everyone. they hated everyone who wasn’t a white, anglosaxan, protestant.
    • some politicians had to speak and satisfy that group to get elected.
    • one of the leaders of a klan in indiana was convicted of murder. when that happened membership declined after that. but that doesn’t mean it dissapeared.
  • kahoot
    • prohibition caused an increase in organized crime