Chapter 22: The Roaring Twenties
1920s
- 1920s goes by many names: Roaring Twenties, Jazz Age, Age of the Flapper, Prosperity Decade, New Era
- New economy (new standard of living): Mass consumption of cars, household appliances, film, radio
- Sexual restraints loosened
- Many Americans turned their backs on the reforms from the Progressive Era
- Return to religion
- Revival of the KKK
Economic Boom
- The Roaring Twenties was a decade of economic recovery from high inflation and wartime devastation
- However, the 1920s began with a depression
- The economy would recover and the 1920s would be a prosperous decade, but not everybody would prosper
- While the rest of the country boomed, farmers were in a depression for the entirety of the decade
Republican White House (1921-1933)
- Restored high protective tariffs and dismantled wartime controls over industry
- Reduced taxes
- Sidelined various socialist and anarchist organizations and union activism
“Return to Normalcy”
- By the Election of 1920, the United States was recovering from World War I, Influenza Pandemic, the Red Summer, and strikes
- The Russian Revolution and creation of the first communist state led to a Red Scare
- 1920-1921 Economic depression
- Warren G. Harding (Republican) won the Election of 1920 in a landslide under the slogan: “Return to Normalcy”
Teapot Dome Scandal
- Harding’s presidency was plagued with corruption
- Several officials conspired to lease federal land in Wyoming to private oil companies for money
- Damaged the reputation of the Harding administration
- Largest scandal in American history up until the Watergate Scandal in 1972
Activism for Women continues in the 20s
- 1919 – Eighteenth Amendment ratified prohibiting alcohol
- 1920 – Nineteenth Amendment ratified giving women the right to vote
- Urged action against high mortality rate of infants
- Federal aid for education
- Fought for the Equal Rights Amendment
Calvin Coolidge
- August 1923, President Harding died of a heart attack
- Vice President Calvin Coolidge became president
- Coolidge distanced himself from the scandals but continued Harding’s policies
- Fired officials from Harding’s administration who were involved in scandals
Kellogg-Briand Pact
- Fifteen nations signed and agreement to outlaw war
- Showed nations wanted to avoid war, but would ultimately fail
Election of 1928
- 1920s – Republicans controlled the presidency and both houses in Congress
- President Coolidge said he wouldn’t run for the Election of 1928
- Herbert Hoover won the election
Department Stores
- Mid 1800s – Small shops combined into department stores
- Marshall Field and Company was a popular establishment in 1852
- For the first time, people could buy kitchen supplies, clothes, toys, and more in the same place
Automobiles
- Automobiles sped up culture of consumption by promoting the use of credit
- 1927 – 60% of cars purchased using credit
- Other large consumer purchases also made using credit
- 1919-1929 – Access to credit increased expenditures for household appliances by 120%
Henry Ford’s Assembly Line
- By 1925 – Ford’s factories produced a Model-T every ten seconds
- 1920 – Nine million registered cars
- 1930 – 27 million registered cars
- United States owned more cars than Britain, Germany, France, and Italy combined
- 80% of cars were driven on American roads
Indianapolis 500
- 1909 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex was built
- Started hosting different types of events including motorcycle races
- Crowds started at around 15,000 but got progressively smaller, so it was changed it into a 500-mile automobile race
- 1920s – Up to 100,000 people would watch drivers race for a $50,000 reward
Film Industry
- By 1920s, making movies became more expensive so only a few companies controlled the industry
- 1923 – Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner (children of Polish immigrants), started Warner Brothers
- Universal, Paramount, Columbia, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) were founded or led by Jewish executives
Disney
- The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 by Walt and Roy O. Disney
- 1928 – created a mouse character named Mortimer and later named Mickey Mouse
Radio
- 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi transmitted first transatlantic radio message
- 1920 – Radios became available in homes
- 1930 – Half American homes had a radio
- Soap companies sponsored daytime dramas for housewives
- Stations controlled by National Broadcasting Company (NBC) or - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
- Helped spread American culture
Mary Pickford
- “America’s Sweetheart”
- Earned one million a year by 1920
- Popularized the “flapper”
- Women wanted to be just like her
- Fashionable, short skirts, makeup, cigarettes
Babe Ruth
- After World War I, Americans needed heroes
- George Herman Ruth was known as the “Sultan of Swat” or ”The Bambino”
- Grew up as an orphan in the slums of Baltimore
- Saved Major League Baseball
- 1920 – 54 home runs
- More recognizable than President Harding
Charles Lindbergh
- May 21, 1927 – First non-stop flight over the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris
- “Hero of the decade”
- Symbolized individualism and effort
Coney Island
- Between 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement park in the United States
- Movie theaters
- Jazz broadcasting throughout the amusement park
The Great Gatsby
- Written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Captures the Roaring Twenties with its speakeasies (since it was during Prohibition), flappers, consumer culture, the age of the automobile, and the darker side of the 1920s
Speakeasies
- Also known as blind pigs or blind tigers
- Appeared between 1920-1933 during the Prohibition era when alcohol was illegal
- Sold alcohol illegally
- Speakeasies furthered integration because people of all races would gather
- Often operated by organized crime organizations
Al Capone
- Notorious Chicago mob boss
- Became rich through bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling
- Ruthless with rival gangs
- During Great Depression, Capone ran a soup kitchen that served hot meals to thousands of the unemployed
- Capone sent to prison in 1931 for income-tax evasion
Flapper
- Generation of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed hair, listened to jazz music, wore makeup, drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes, drove automobiles, and often engaged in casual sex
Harlem Renaissance
- Intellectual and cultural awakening of Black American music, dance, literature, art, and politics that originated in Harlem, New York City
- Influential Black writers in the Caribbean and Europe
- Some prominent figures from the Harlem Renaissance include: Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston
Jazz
- Music genre that originated in African American communities in New Orleans
- Louis Armstrong was among the most influential figures in jazz
- The Roaring Twenties is often referred to as the Jazz Age
- Jazz shaped the Harlem Renaissance
Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
- Founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant
- Built largest Black nationalist organization in the world
- Published the newspaper Negro World
- Organized parades
- Started the Black Star Line – passenger ships that was Black-owned, Black-staffed, and would only carry Black people between the Americas and Africa
The Fundamentals
- 1910 – Evangelist A.C. Dixon commissioned 90 essays called The Fundamentals to combat religious liberalism
- Evangelists believe in literal truths in the Bible
Scopes Trial
- John T. Scopes was tried for teaching evolutionary theory
- Clarence Darrow (a liberal from Chicago) volunteered to defend Scopes
- William Jennings Bryan (a three-time presidential candidate who fought against corporate greed) was the prosecutor
- William Jennings Bryan took the stand: Incoherent testimony
- John T. Scopes was found guilty
- Few people cared about the verdict; Darrow won in the public decision
- Fundamentalist Christians retreated and would not reemerge until decades later
Rebirth of the KKK
- 1915 – The Birth of a Nation inspired the rebirth of the KKK
- KKK held elaborate rituals
- Started just in Georgia and Alabama, then spread throughout the country
- KKK endorsed mayoral candidates
- Recruited members through fraternal organizations like the Freemasons and through churches
- “Nightriding”