Chapter 20 (1920-1932)

Overview of the 1920s: Prosperity and Contradiction

• The 1920s is characterized as a decade of profound contradictions, often remembered as the "Jazz Age" or the "Roaring Twenties."

• Positive Cultural Images: Includes flappers, jazz music, consumer abundance, cultural innovation, economic prosperity, mass consumer culture, widespread automobile ownership, radio entertainment, and the Harlem Renaissance.

• Deep Cultural Undercurrents and Conflicts: The era also included nativism, immigration restriction, the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), clashes between religious fundamentalism and modernism, Prohibition, civil liberty restrictions, and persistent inequality.

• Political Climate: Dominated by pro-business Republican governments favoring laissez-faire policies, low taxes, and limited regulation.

• Structural Economic Weaknesses: The surface prosperity masked agricultural depression, declining union strength, wealth inequality, and stock market speculation, leading to the crash of $1929$ and the Great Depression.

The Sacco-Vanzetti Case and Postwar Intolerance

• The Case: In May $1920$, during the Red Scare, police arrested Nicola Sacco (a shoemaker) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (an unskilled laborer). Both were Italian immigrants and anarchists who believed in abolishing government, churches, and private property through violence if necessary as part of class warfare.

• Conviction and Appeal: Accused of a robbery and murder at a South Braintree, Massachusetts factory. Despite limited evidence, they were convicted in $1921$. The case drew international attention from intellectuals like novelist John Dos Passos, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, physicist Albert Einstein, and muralist Diego Rivera.

• The Verdict: Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller appointed a commission led by Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell, which upheld the conviction. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed via electric chair on August 23, $1927$.

• Vanzetti's Perspective: He claimed he suffered because he was both a radical and an Italian, highlighting the era's dual prejudices.

• Global Reaction: Protests occurred in Argentina, France, and Italy. A Danish newspaper remarked that "America… has begun a new role: that of reaction."

• Historical Significance: The case symbolized the fragility of civil liberties for unpopular causes and the triumph of pro-business conservatism. John Dos Passos lamented, "They are stronger. They are rich. They hire and fire the politicians…"

The New Consumer Economy and Business Culture

• Mass Production Revolution: Henry Ford perfected assembly line techniques. The Model T automobile dropped in price from $\$\,850$ in $1908$ to $\$\,260$ by $1924$, making it affordable for the working class.

• Automobile Impact: By $1929$, over $26\times 10^6$ automobiles were registered (roughly $\frac{1}{5}$ Americans). This spurred suburban development, altered family life, and created industries for gasoline, tires, and motels.

• Consumer Durables and Electricity: By $1929$, $\frac{2}{3}$ of homes had electricity. Wealth grew for appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and telephones.

• Mass Media and Entertainment:     * Radio: Pittsburgh's KDKA began broadcasting in $1920$. By $1929$, over $12\times 10^6$ households owned radios.     * Cinema: Weekly movie attendance reached $100\times 10^6$ tickets by mid-decade; Hollywood became a global center.

• Modern Advertising: Pioneers like Edward Bernays applied psychology to manipulate consumer desire, shifting from product info to lifestyle aspirations. Bruce Barton's $1925$ book "The Man Nobody Knows" portrayed Jesus Christ as the world's greatest salesman.

• Consumer Credit: Installment buying allowed immediate purchase with future payments. By the late $1920s$, $60\,\%$ of automobiles, $80\,\%$ of radios, and $75\,\%$ of furniture were bought on credit, creating financial vulnerability.

Pro-Business Government: The Republican Era

• Leadership: Three Republican presidents: Warren G. Harding ($1921$-$1923$), Calvin Coolidge ($1923$-$1929$), and Herbert Hoover ($1929$-$1933$).

• Harding's "Return to Normalcy": Focused on reducing taxes and government spending while rolling back regulations.

• Scaled Tariffs: The Fordney-McCumber Tariff ($1922$) protected American industry.

• Andrew Mellon: Treasury Secretary who slashed taxes on the wealthy to stimulate investment.

• Scandals: The Teapot Dome scandal ($1922$-$1923$) involved Secretary of Interior Albert Fall accepting bribes for oil leases on federal reserves in Wyoming. Fall was the first cabinet member sent to prison.

• Coolidge Doctrine: Calvin Coolidge famously stated, "the chief business of the American people is business," maintaining a small-government, non-interventionist approach.

Cultural Conflicts: Nativism, Fundamentalism, and Pluralism

• Immigration Restriction Laws:     * Emergency Quota Act ($1921$): Limited immigration based on each nationality's $1910$ population percentage.     * National Origins Act of $1924$ (Johnson-Reed Act): Set quotas at $2\,\%$ of each nationality's $1890$ population to favor Northern Europeans and exclude Asians. Italy's quota dropped to $4,000$ while Greece's dropped to $100$.

• Nativism and Eugenics: Belief that immigrants threatened American culture. Pseudoscience like Madison Grant's "The Passing of the Great Race" ($1916$) and Lothrop Stoddard's "The Rising Tide of Color" argued for Nordic superiority.

• The Resurgent Ku Klux Klan (KKK):     * Revived in $1915$, claiming $5\times 10^6$ members by $1924$.     * Targets: Blacks, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and radicals.     * Influence: Strong in the Midwest (Indiana, Ohio) and West (Oregon). Indiana Grand Dragon David Stephenson's $1925$ murder conviction led to the Klan's decline.

• The Scopes Trial ($1925$):     * Conflict: Fundamentalists (literal Bible interpretation) vs. Modernists (science/evolution).     * Incident: John Scopes was charged for teaching evolution in Dayton, Tennessee.     * Prosecution/Defense: William Jennings Bryan (prosecution) vs. Clarence Darrow (defense, recruited by the ACLU).     * Outcome: Scopes convicted (later overturned on technicality), but Bryan's reputation was damaged during cross-examination regarding biblical literalism.

Prohibition and the "New Woman"

• Prohibition: The 18th Amendment and Volstead Act ($1919$) banned alcohol. Supported by rural Protestants and women's groups.

• Failure of Enforcement: Led to speakeasies and bootlegging. Al Capone's Chicago gang made roughly $\$\,60\text{ million}$ annually. Repealed by the 21st Amendment in $1933$.

• The Flapper: Young women who bobbed hair, wore short skirts, and smoked/drank in public, symbolizing sexual liberation and independence.

• Female Progress: The 19th Amendment ($1920$) granted suffrage. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was first introduced in $1923$ but failed to pass.

Diverse Cultures: Harlem Renaissance and Minorities

• Great Migration: Massive movement of African Americans to northern cities continued.

• Harlem Renaissance: Cultural capital in NYC. Featured writers Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, and Claude McKay. W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Crisis" provided a platform.

• Jazz: Transformation of music by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Bessie Smith.

• Marcus Garvey: UNIA leader advocated Black nationalism and "Back to Africa."

• Mexican Americans: Over $600,000$ entered in the $1920s$ for agriculture/railroad labor. LULAC formed in $1929$ for civil rights.

• Native Americans: Indian Citizenship Act ($1924$) granted citizenship. The Meriam Report ($1928$) criticized reservation conditions.

Civil Liberties Defense

• ACLU ($1920$): Founded by Roger Baldwin to defend constitutional rights for unpopular groups.

• Judicial Shifts: Oliver Wendell Holmes argued for a "marketplace of ideas" (Abrams v. United States, $1919$); Louis Brandeis emphasized speech's link to self-government in Whitney v. California ($1927$).

• Key Cases:     * Pierce v. Society of Sisters ($1925$): Protected parents' rights to choose religious education.     * Meyer v. Nebraska ($1923$): Protected the right to teach foreign languages.

Structural Economic Problems and the Great Crash

• Agricultural Depression: Post-war European recovery caused demand to collapse. Wheat fell from $\$\,2.50$/bushel in $1920$ to $\$\,1.00$ by $1930$. Coolidge vetoed the McNary-Haugen price support bill twice ($1927$, $1928$).

• Wealth Inequality: By $1929$, the richest $1\,\%$ owned $36\,\%$ of national wealth. Productivity gains favored capital; workers' wages stagnated.

• Labor Decline: Employers used the "American Plan" and "company unions" to stop collective bargaining; AFL membership dropped.

• Stock Speculation: Dow Jones rose from $75$ ($1922$) to $381$ (Sept $1929$). Investors used "margin buying," borrowing $90\,\%$ or more.

• The Crash ($1929$):     * Black Thursday (Oct 24): Initial sharp fall.     * Black Tuesday (Oct 29): Market collapse; $16\times 10^6$ shares traded; Dow fell $12\,\%$ in one day.     * Total Impact: $\$\,30\text{ billion}$ in value evaporated. Dow bottomed at $41$ in July $1932$.

The Great Depression and Hoover's Response

• Bank Failures: $9,000$ banks collapsed between $1930$-$1933$, losing $\$\,7\text{ billion}$ in deposits.

• Unemployment: Surged from $3\,\%$ ($1929$) to $25\,\%$ ($1933$).

• Causes: Underconsumption, overproduction, agricultural crisis, banking weakness, and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff ($1930$) which triggered retaliatory trade barriers.

• Hoover's Failures: Urged voluntary cooperation, but opposed direct federal relief, fearing it created dependency.

• Intervention: Created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation ($1932$) to loan to businesses.

• Bonus Army ($1932$): WWI veterans demanding their pensions were attacked by the Army under Douglas MacArthur, destroying Hoover's popularity.

• 1932 Election: Franklin Roosevelt won in a landslide, ending the Republican era.