Roaring 20s
1920- women’s suffarage
An era of changing morality à
how do we become more alike
-red scare (when people were scared of communism)
Americans believed that foreigners
1. Could never be loyal to the US
2. Might take our jobs
3. Had unstable political ideas
4. Might have strange religions that God doesn’t like
Did WW1 make the US more Conservative? (how did we become more conservative)
1. Asian Immigration
2. Red Scare
3. Great Migration
4. Growth of the Klan, 1924
5. WW1
6. Emergency Quota Act of 1921
7. The national Origins Act of 1924
8. 3 consecutive presidents
9. Teapot Dome
10. Protective tariffs rise
11. Income tax 70 à 28 percent
12. Isolationism
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 (Immigration act of 1921):
Limited immigration to 3 percent of the American population and was based on the 1910 census numbers
The National Origins Act of 1924 (Immigration act of 1924):
Limited immigration to 2 percent of the American population and was based on the 1890 census numbers
Harding
- US Senator from Ohio
- Died August 2, from a heart attack
The Teapot Dome Scandal
- 1921- Sec. of the Interior Albert B. Fall secretly “leased” (sold it) the naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming without competitive bidding (to a friend)
Once this scandal became public, Harding’s administration was disgraced. Other events came to light. Bribes, theft, graft… Harding was dead within months
His administration was quite conservative
1. Progressive reform ends
2. Anti-trust efforts rise
3. Income tax on the rich goes from 70 percent down to 28 percent
Harding’s goals were to:
1. Disarm aggressive countries
2. Return to Isolationism (conservative)
3. Impose immigration quotas
Harding hosted the Washington Naval Conference in 1921 to set limits on battleships for Japan, USA, England, and France. Poor Japan gets less than the others, but this is actually good (?!)
WAR DISTRUPTS TRADE*
The battleship is the primary means of projecting power globally; A battleship can destroy a city (this is why we are limiting the number of battleships)
Industrialization
- The 1920’s was a time of many great inventions that would revolutionize the United States and the World
Automobile
How could this change everyday life?
Didn’t the automobile exist before the 1920s? What is the difference now?
What are the 3 industries that benefit from automobiles? Oil, Steel, Rubber
- The assembly line increased factory productivity and decreased product cost.
- Ownership increased greatly:
o 1910-1/44 households
o 1930- 1/1.3 households
- Basic Model T went for 290 dollars
Radio
Some conservatives believe that jazz is sinful because it makes you want to dance/move.
Jazz came out of the south and is the first form of music
Jazz eliminated the last spoken Shakespearian language
A whole genre of music came out of Harlem
Duke Ellington, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong- famous jazz musicians
Was a big part of the Harlem Renaissance
Urban Jazz clubs were known as speakeasies
The 1920’s was an age of changing morality in America. The flapper was a young, “rebellious” woman. This was due to the appeal of mess media and the new sounds of jazz. Some conflicts occurred with the change (Scopes Trial)
There was a teacher in Tennessee that talked about evolution and said that humans descended from apes. He got fired. He was approached by ACLU (American civil liberties union) and they said please sue your school district because evolution should be able to be taught in schools. He was hesitant but agreed. He won his case.
In the scope’s trail, it was really culture that was on trial
1. Small towns, farms, South, Midwest Protestant, Fundamentalist domestic women
2. North, large city, other religions, secular, working and drinking and smoking women
Typewriter
Business men hire secretary who go and work in the city
So women moved to the city and take jobs in a secretarial pool
Secretarial pool= business men didn’t have a specific secretary so when they need to have someone do something they would pull from this pool
Women have there own income and spend it independently- bought alcohol or cigarettes
Part to the problem was Prohibition.
The Volstead Act was passed in 1919 to enforce the 18th Amendment. This allowed police to fight “bootlegging”
Kansas- 95 compliance
NY- 5 percent compliance
The federal gov lost 11 billion dollar in revenue due to the 18th amendment and the states were required to spend 200 million for enforcement. This led to the states relying on income tax to balance their state budgets
Racial tensions ran high as well
The Great Migration had produced a revival of the KKK. By 1925, they
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Charles Lindbergh made the first transcontinental flight in 1927, he was pro-hitler, he was Americas first real celebrity
-1920 was the first time celebrities existed
To get all of the new stuff (radio, auto, typewriter) that America was producing, people could now buy on credit
A generational gap emerges in which older Americans view younger Americans as spoiled because they are buying things with money that has not yet been earned
IN an effort for the gov to spend money wisely, The Republican Congress created the Bureau of the Budget in 1921. Today it’s the Office of Management and Budget
Calvin Coolidge becomes president in 1924
An isolationist
Elected in one of the most conservative time
Disarm aggressive countries
Nativist
“Silent Cal”
- Took over from Harding in 1923
- Re-Elected in 1924
- A “Do-Nothing” President
- Tried to pay down the war debt (23 billion dollars!)- to make taxes cheaper for the rich
- Could this be a cause of the Great Depression?
- “The chief business of the American people is business.”- Calvin Coolidge
- Cal believed in laissez-faire economics and left the economy and big businesses alone
- He, too, pursued a policy of Isolationism
- IN the panic of 1920 the compent of deregulation was a laissez faire gov who doesn’t want to deal with business (?)
Hoover
This is where people migrate to the other side of the political parties (ie the deep south was democratic but now they are considered republicans)
- Al smith who was a Catholic ran for the democratic candidate
- The Dems are split and for the first time since the Civil War the South votes Republican
- Choices? Hoover and Smith
Southerners could either become friends with Catholics or with African-Americans. They didn’t like anyone who wasn’t just like them. This is the first time the South votes Republican for the 1st time since the Civil War
Because of Al Smith running some north republicans become democrats
This is not a switch this is a slow migration that is starting in 1928
- Seven months into Hoover’s term the stock market crashed
- He chose to do nothing. Just like Coolidge
- Cardboard and tin slums grow across urban America as unemployment grows. They were known as “Hoovervilles”
Credit contraction- When the banks stop loaning money or limits it
What happens in an economic crisis and how did it happen
Who started it? The rich, the government (because they are a laissez-faire gov and they are friends with businesspeople and want to help them, they are avoiding the economic stan point), bankers
Causes for the Great Depression:
0. Bank failures in the Midwest
1. Stock Market had a steady decline from Oct 1929 to mid-1930
a. Credit was easy to get to buy stocks
b. People used their own stocks for collateral on other stocks.
c. A lot of stock “speculation” (buying/selling for quick profit)
d. No form of investment training, little knowledge for investors
e. Investment trusts were run by people who were unmonitored
f. Too much borrowing. Everyone owes everyone else (Margin Act)
2. Overproduction and underconsumption
a. Technology (assembly line) allowed production to rise to meet WW1 needs. But after the war no one slowed down! Production rose 32 percent, but wages rose only 8 percent. They can’t afford to buy all that stuff.
3. The Rich
a. The rich people already had enough stuff (except alcohol…) and didn’t want the crappy stuff made for the masses (24% left over). The rich tend to save money
b. Re-distribution of income (taxes) doesn’t help. It encourages saving rather than spending
c. Unions were weak and monopolies were strong. Ownership isn’t interested in increasing labor’s pay
4. Foreign Trade:
a. Post-war reparations: US helped Allies by giving them loans. Germany repays France and England with worthless currency. France and England repay the US with the same worthless currency. When US aid to Germany ends, Germany stops repaying loans.
Why didn’t Hoover do something?
1. Laissez-Faire perspective
2. Strict Constructionist interpretation of the Constitution (“It doesn’t say I can”)
3. Fear of deficit
4. Sec. of Treasury said not to
Actually, he did act. He just waited too long.
What he did:
1. Emergency Relief and Construction Bill (300 million) Hoover is forced into this one and says any state who gets money has to pay it back
2. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
They gave bailout loans to banks, RR’s, etc… They only have $500 million and can only save the most needy corporations
3. Agricultural Marketing act gave loans to farmers. They were supposed to store the crops and sell them after the depression
The outcome of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff stops have of Americans exports and imports- hurt trade
Signs of Unrest
As the depression gets longer, some trouble begins
1. Europeans are in a depression because we’re no longer loaning them money, and Germany’s economy is a significant problem
2. Veterans, farmers, and laborers can’t find work and eat at “soup kitchens” or stand in “bread lines”
3. The US Communist Party is up to 2-3%. They blame Capitalism. They’re still around today
4. Farmers get together and agree not to sell until the price goes up. They join “collectives” and rig foreclosure auctions
5. Veterans march on Wash. DC to get their promised bonus of 1000 after leaving the army, but instead of paying the “bonus army”, the gov’t has the real US Army beat them up and chase them away with tanks and grenades. Many die.
The great depression started because of the failure of banks in the Midwest
Migration occurs to the plain states and out of the plain states
FDIC- federal deposit
A panic lead to credit retraction leading to bank failure
The dust bowl is a response to poor land management
Argumentation- worry abt order of ideas