Chapter 23 - The New Era

Technology and Economic Growth

  • Debilitation of European industry after WWI

  • Technological development

    • Radio - transmit speech and music

    • Planes and commercial traveling - radial engine and pressurized cabins

    • More industries affected by technological events

  • The first analog computer, genetic research

Economic Organization

  • National organization and consolidation - condensing production to a few firms

    • US Steel

  • New forms of corporate organization

    • Modern Administrative system (General Motors) - divisional organization

  • Trade Associations - encourage coordination in production and marketing techniques

    • Worked better in more centralized industries

  • Fear of overproduction - curb competition through consolidation/cooperation

Labor

  • Rise in standard of living, improved working conditions, etc

  • Employers used "“Welfare Capitalism” to avoid labor unrest

    • Henry Ford - shortened workweek, raised wages, paid vacations, etc

    • Company unions where workers could voice grievances

    • Not as effective as people thought - wage increases were not enough to maintain a standard of living

    • Many people lost jobs because of new technology

  • Labor organization struggled - Unions were conservative and did not adopt to the new realities of modern economy

Women and Minorities

  • “Pink-collar” jobs - low paying service jobs occupied by women (underpaid)

    • Could not rely on labor organizations

  • African Americans - excluded from trade unions

    • Exception: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (led by an African American)

  • Asians - Chinese Exclusion Act

    • Japanese immigrants and Filipinos took the place of the Chinese workforce

    • Anti-Filipino riots, laws that made it more difficult for Japanese to buy land

  • Mexican immigrants (Major part of unskilled workforce)

    • Faced hostility and discrimination but employers needed them as low-paid, unskilled, unorganized workers

The strength of corporations prevented effective labor organization

  • Corporate leaders spread the idea of protecting the open shop (no worker could be required to join a union)

    • “American Plan” - Getting rid of unions, protecting open shop

  • Government worked with corporations to get rid of unions

    • Quelling strikes, Supreme court ruling against strikers

Farmers and the Agricultural Industry

  • New technologies to increase production - an increase in tractors

  • Invention of hybrid corn, chemical fertilizers/pesticides

    • Production increased but demand did not -resulted in surpluses and a decline in food prices

    • A drop in Farmers’ income

  • Developed the idea of “Parity” to prevent these declines

    • Setting an adequate price for farm goods and ensuring that farmers would earn back their production costs no matter the fluctuations in the market

    • High tariffs against foreign agricultural goods

    • Government buys surplus crops and sell them abroad

  • McNary-Haugen Bill - Demand for Parity and Congress approved of the bill but the President Vetoed it

Consumerism

  • Creation of a mass consumer culture -people could afford things outside of their necessities

    • Cosmetics, wristwatches, household appliances, and automobiles

  • Automobiles

    • Farmers could leave to the cities and city people can leave to the countryside

    • Now middle-class and working-class people could travel for vacations (paid vacations)

    • Emergence of a well-developed and independent youth culture

 Advertising

  • Changed after WWI - tried to influence people to buy products by associating them with prestige and glamour

  • Values of promotion and salesmanship

  • New vehicles of communication - wire services, newspapers, etc

    • Mass-circulation magazines - Time magazine, The Reader’s Digest

Movies and Broadcasting

  • Moves were becoming popular - introduced “standards” to films/Hollywood

    • Created Motion Picture Association to review films and ban “offensive” content

  • First commercial radio station - KDKA and first national radio network

    • Not as centralized as film making so it was usually more diverse and controversial then film

Modernist Religion

  • People should abandon some of the traditional beliefs and accept a faith that would help individuals to live more fulfilling lives in the present world

    • Harry Emerson Fosdick - spokesman for liberal Protestantism

Women

  • Many women were educated but professional opportunities were still limited

    • Most women were in “traditionally feminine” fields

    • Most working women were working class

  • 1920= redefinition of the idea of motherhood - challenged the assumption that women had an instinct for raising children and should instead rely on advice and assistance

    • Companionate marriage -wife shared in her husband’s social life and was less “devoted” to children

    • Believed their marriages to be something of romantic love

  • Developing birth control

  • The Flapper

    • No longer needed to maintain a traditional femininity - smoke, drink, wear makeup, etc

  • Tried to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (National Woman’s Party)

    • Did pass the Sheppard-Towner Act - provided federal funds to states to establish prenatal and child health-care programs

      • Program was terminated after issues - would introduce untrained outsiders and discourage birth-control, etc

Creation of a new youth culture - education was becoming more important

  • New concept where teens could be around peers instead of family

Disenchantment from the generation who fought in WWI

  • The Lost Generation: sense of personal alienation

  • Felt like the suffering and dying from the war was in vain

  • “Debunkers” writers who critiqued modern society

African Americans

  • The Harlem Renaissance - flourishing culture through a new generation of black artists and intellectuals

  • Harlem = center

Traditional Cultures

  • Prohibition Law was not working very well (supported by middle class progressives)

    • Very easy to acquire alcohol and organized crime figures took over the Alcohol industry (Al Capone)

    • 1933 repeal of the 18th amendment

  • Trying to limit immigration (supported by middle class progressives)

    • Unable to do much because employers fought to keep immigration

    • After the war, immigration was associated with radicalism

    • The National Origins Act of 1924 - banned immigration from east Asia and annual immigration from Europe could not exceed 2% of the people that came last year

    • Favored Northern and Western Europe

  • The New KKK

    • More concerned with Catholic, Jewish, and foreign people instead of African Americans

    • Feared and attacked those who challenged “traditional values” - began to persecute white Protestants who they considered guilty of irreligion, promiscuity, and drunkeness

    • Enforced prohibition and wanted Bible readings in school

Religion

  • American Protestantism was divided into 2 - the modernists (urban/middle-class people) and defenders of traditional faith (provincial/rural)

    • Fundamentalists (people who defended traditional views) - named after The Fundamentals

    • The bible should be interpreted literally and opposed the teachings of Darwin

    • Gained political strength

  • Scopes “Monkey Trial” (about the Tennessee law that prohibited teachers from teaching anything that goes against the bible)

    • American Civil Liberties Union offered to become the defendant of anyone who would defy the law —> John T. Scopes defended by Clarence Darrow

    • Even though Scopes was still fined, it was a victory for the modernists - ended the Fundamentalists’ political activism

Politics

  • Tension between different wings in the Democratic Party

    • Were not united in backing a presidential candidate

    • Chose Alfred Smith in the Election of 1928 but he was unable to unite everyone

      • Anti-catholic sentiment

  • Election of 1928 - Herbert Hoover wins

Harding and Coolidge Presidencies

  • Harding was unable to do much during his own presidency - he was unable to abandon all of the party bosses who help him - Daugherty and Fall (appointed these people to positions)

    • They engaged in fraud and corruption - Teapot Dome scandal

  • Coolidge - similar to Harding and took a passive approach

    • Believed that the government should interfere as little as possible

  • Despite their passiveness, the federal government was working effectively and efficiently to adapt public policy to help business and industry operate with max efficiency

    • Relationship between private sectors and the federal government

    • Andrew Mellon - worked for reductions in taxes on corporate profits, personal incomes, and inheritances

  • Hoover in the Commerce Department - was a notable progressive

    • Encouraged voluntary cooperation in the private sector as the best way to maintain stability

    • Government who play an active role in creating this

    • Associationalism - creation of national organizations of businessmen

      • Help stabilize their industries and promote efficiency

Amendments to know

13th - abolished slavery

14th - gave citizenship

15th - voting rights

16th - income tax

17th - direct election of the senate

18th - Prohibition of alcohol

19th - Women’s voting rights