Started With a

Bang!! Ended
1920s:
WithBoom
a Whimper
to Bust

Republican Domination
From

1921-1933 Republicans would

control the White House
Taking office in 1921- Warren Harding

Harding and Corruption

One

of the most corrupt presidencies

in American history
Not qualified to be president
Political machine candidate
Brings with him his Ohio Gang
Many of his appointees will be found
guilty
of many crimes-bribes, fraud,
misappropriation of funds, etc.

 Albert

Fall

Teapot

Hardings Secretary of
the Interior

Dome Scandal
First member of a Presidents cabinet to go to
prison
Harding will die of a heart attack just before
many of the scandals became public.
It is not my enemies that keep me awake at
night. It is my friends!-Warren Harding

 1923-1929-

Calvin Coolidge would be the

second Republican President of the
decade.

 1929-1933-

Herbert Hoover will be the

third Republican President of the
decade.

Three Republican PresidentsOne Secretary of the Treasury

Andrew

Mellon-Sec. of the Treasury

(1921-1933)

Mellons Influence
One

of the richest men in the world

when he became Sec. of the Treasury
Only Alexander Hamilton was a more
influential secretary than Mellon
Took Hamiltons ideas and developed
Supply-Side Economics, popularly
called Trickle-Down Economics

Supply-Side Economics

Theory advocated by Mellon that for an

economy to grow and employment to increase it
is necessary to provide tax cuts for the wealthy.
This theory is based on the principle that those
with high income will take income from tax cuts
and
invest, creating new businesses or expanding
present businesses, creating new jobs for
workers
Therefore, the wealth trickles down to those in
the
lower classes.

The Glorification of Big Business

In the 1920s the businessman was almost

worshipped.
Businessmen could do no wrong.
Supreme Court cases involving conflicts of
business with
labor were always decided in favor of
business.
Yellow-dog contracts were the norm
between business and the worker.
Henry Fords assembly line became the
norm for factories in the United States.

The U.S.: Legitimate Threats,

Fear, and Bigotry
1917- Russia had become a Communist
State
1921- Soviet Union is created from Russia
and adjoining states
Lenin called for a world revolution and the
overthrow of capitalism.
Communism was most successful in
eastern Europe.
Anarchism was also popular in Europe; the
call for the overthrow of all governments.

New Conflicts
Conflict

over immigration:
1) Old Immigration vs. New
Immigration
2) Sacco and Vanzetti
3) Russian Revolution of 1917
4) National Quota Act (1924)

Mitchell Palmer and the Red

Scare

Thousands of NEW immigrants came to the

U. S. after WW I, coming to escape the
chaos, the poverty, the fear of the future in
Europe, especially southern and eastern
Europe. (REVIEW of New Immigrants)
Many of these immigrants WERE
communists and anarchists.

Palmers own home was bombed, as well as

many
others.
There was a legitimate fear of the
Communists and the Anarchists.
But, the reality is that the rights of many
American citizens were violated by the actions
of Attorney
General Palmer, and it is also apparent that
he used the fear of communism to make
political points for
himself.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Italian immigrants and anarchists

The two called for the overthrow of
governments.
They were distrusted for legitimate and
illegitimate reasons.
Most scholars today DO believe that Sacco was
guilty of the crime, but believe Vanzetti was
innocent.
Vanzetti proclaimed his innocence right up to
his execution

Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s

William

Joseph Simmons organized the

new Klan in 1915.

Through

skilled marketing and focusing

on fears of immigrants, Catholics, and
blacks the Klan exploded in growth
from 4 to 6 million in the mid-1920s.

Conflicts:Racial, Ethnic, and

Religious
1)

Founding of the Ku Klux Klan- Called

themselves a Christian organization,
founded for the purpose of defending
Christ, protecting women, and
keeping
the white race pure
2) Racial issues:
a) Great Migration
b) Jim Crow Laws

2) Racial Issues (continued)

c)Booker T. Washington
debated
W. E. B. Du Bois
(1) Washington taught that blacks
should not protest against white prejudice,
but become economically prosperous and
whites would accept them then.
(2) Du Bois taught confrontation; helped to
found the NAACP

Immigration Restrictions

National Origins Act of 1924a) Under this act only 2% of those groups in
the U. S. in 1890 would be allowed.
b) This quota limited any new immigration to
be from those groups classified as Old
Immigrants.
c) Amendment in 1929 allowed more immigration
from northwestern Europe; making 87% of all
immigration to U.S. came from NW Europe

Newland Reclamations Act of 1902

provided irrigation for the southwest,
opening up the area for new settlements
and new farms.
Soon there were large farms and the
need for large numbers of workers for
those farms.
The answer was to relax immigration
quota rules for Mexicans coming to the
U. S. to work on those farms.
This is the reason there is such a large
Mexican population in the southwest.

3) Conflicts over Religion:

a) Fundamentalism vs. Modernism
b) Darwin and Evolution
c) 1925- Butler Act in Tennessee- banned
the teaching of evolution in schools.
d) Scopes Trial- John Scopes, in Dayton,
Tennessee, arrested for teaching evolution
(1) Scopes had been asked by the ACLU to
let himself to be arrested teaching evolution, so
there could be a trial.
(2) Scopes Trial- He was convicted, but in
the long run the liberals won the culture war.

New Role for Women

1920-

Nineteenth Amendment
First time women leave the home to
work in stores, offices, etc.
Flappers- wild, sexual, used drugs,
smoked, drank

New Ideas and New Science

New

Science- Albert Einstein

Theory of Relativity- launched
the Atomic Age
New Therapy- Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis- dream
therapy- Suppressed memories

New Forms of Art and Music

Cubism-

Pablo Picasso
Used geometric designs
Guernica

 Surrealism-

Salvador Dali
Dreamlike images

 Realism-

Edward Hopper

 Jazz-

the ONLY music considered

original to the United States!
The Father of Jazz- Louis Armstrong

 First

White Jazz Band that brought

jazz to white audiences:
The Original Dixieland Jazz Band

First Jazz Classical Music

George

Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue

 Another

form of music that became

significant in the 20s- BLUES!!
Bessie Smith- The Empress of the
Blues

New Forms of Literature

Literature

influenced by World War I

1) Lost Generation- Gertrude Stein
2) Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises
For Whom The Bell Tolls

King of the Jazz Age

F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby

The Harlem Renaissance

A renaissance of great literature written
by black writers.
Called the Harlem Renaissance, because
it was based in Harlem, the black ghetto
in New York City that was called the
black capital of the United States.
Significant authors: Langston Hughes,
Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston,
Richard Wright

New Inventions
Street

lights

Irons
Telephones
Washing

machines
Refrigerators

The Automobile
The

1920s was the Age of the Automobile.

The whole business boom of the 20s rested
on the automobile.
There were 8 million cars registered in 1920;
23 million in 1930.
Henry Ford, creating the assembly line, by
1925 was rolling a Model T off the assembly
line every 10 seconds, so the car sold for
only $700, making it available for almost
everyone.
Fordism- low-price, high volume marketing

Henry Ford

 The

automobile and related industries:

1) Steel mills
2) Rubber
3) Service stations
4) Oil industry
5) Highway construction
6) Camping- KOA
7) Motel/Hotel

New Forms of Entertainment

Radio

1) First radio station- KDKA- Philadelphia

2) November 2, 1920- Announced
Hardings election as President
3) 1926- General Electric (GE), RCA,
and Westinghouse formed the National
Broadcasting Company (NBC)
4) 1927- Columbia Broadcasting System
(CBS)

Homogeneous Culture
Listening

to the same entertainment

created a shared culture
Popular shows on radio that created that
homogeneous culture: The Shadow,
The Lone Ranger, Fibber McGee and
Molly,
The Grand Ole Opry a few examples

First network comedy show

1928-

Amos n Andy show

 MOVIES

1) Silent films- Stars of silent films in the

20s:
Clara Bow
(The It Girl)

Charlie Chaplin- The Little Tramp

Laurel and Hardy

First Talking Movie

1927- The Jazz Singer
Starred Al Jolson

Walt Disney and Mickey

Mouse
1928- Steamboat Willie

New Heroes
Babe

Ruth
Bobby Jones
Jack Dempsey
Charles Lindbergh- the greatest hero
of the 1920s in the world

Prohibition
The Temperance movement had begun in
the United States in the 19th century.
The idea of Prohibition had won wide support
among progressives before WW I as a
legitimate response to the serious social
problems associated with alcohol abuse.
The Prohibition cause also had a symbolic
dimension as a sign of the struggle of nativeborn Americans to those coming from
southern and eastern Europe; New
Immigrants.

The 18th Amendment took effect in January

1920.
The Volstead Act was passed to enforce the
18th Amendment.
Saloons and bars closed; liquor
advertising stopped; arrests for
drunkenness declined
Yet prohibition was discredited by the
end of the decade, and in 1933 the 18th
Amendment was overturned.
Why a failure? It is virtually impossible,
in a democracy, to enforce rules of behavior
that is not supported by a large population
of the citizenry.

Foreign Policy in An Isolationist Age

July 1921- Washington Naval
Conference
1) US, Great Britain, France, Italy, and
Japan
2) 10-year moratorium for building
battleships.
Kellogg-Briand Pact- Called for the
outlawing of war

Credit, Stock Market, Crash

The increasing wealth of the 20s flowed
disproportionately to the wealthy.
Workers incomes were rising, but not at a
rate that kept pace with the nations
growing industrial output.
Therefore, if these workers did not have the
money to buy all the goods being produced,
then, sooner or later, production of goods
would decline, and unemployment would
increase.

The first time consumer credit is introduced is in

the 20s. It will be called INSTALLMENT buying.
The first company to offer credit will be the
General Motors company
1) 1919- created the General Motors
Acceptance Corporation (GMAC)
2) With its creation, GMAC buyers could buy a
car without waiting until they had enough
cash; a truly novel idea at the time.
By 1929, credit purchases accounted for 75% of
all automobile sales.
By 29 Americans owed, in charge accounts,
over
$7 billion; up from $4.5 billion in 1919.

Main Causes of the Stock Market Crash

The Great Depression, begun by the Stock

Market Crash, would create the worst
economic depression in the history of the
world, before or since.
Oct. 29, 1929 is considered the first day
of the Great Depression. It would last until
January 1942, with the U. S.s entry into World
War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by
the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941.

Main Causes?
1) Unequal distribution of wealth in the
20s
2) Excessive stock speculation that took
place during the latter part of that
decade
This uneven distribution of wealth took
place on three levels:
1) Between the rich and middle and
lower classes
2) Between industry and agriculture
3) Between the U. S. and Europe

Roaring Twenties
Era of Enormous Prosperity

Nations total income rose from $74 billion in

1923 to $89 billion in 1929 (a 25% increase).
Rewards of prosperity not evenly shared
1) 1/10 of 1% (.001) of the very richest
Americans had a total income equal to
the bottom 42%.
2) That same .001 % controlled 34% of all
savings, while 80% had no savings at all!!

For an economy to function properly, total

demand must equal total supply:
1) Those whose needs were not satisfied
could not afford more.
2) The wealthy could satisfy their needs, but
by spending a small portion of their
income.
3) The bottom 75% had an income of less than
45% of the national income.
4) The top 25% of the population took in more
than 55% of the national income.
5) That 25% could not buy as much as the total
that could be bought by the 75% of the
population.

 The

U. S. came to rely upon two things in

order for the economy to remain on an
even keel:
1) Credit sales from all classes
2) Luxury spending and investment from
the rest
Between 1925 and 1929 the total amount
of total family debt increased from $1.4
billion to $3 billion. Today, it is over $11
trillion.

Major Reason for Growing Gap Between the

Rich and the Working Class:

Increased manufacturing output

From 1923-1929 average output per
worker- Increase of 32% in
manufacturing
Wages increased only 8%.
Increased productivity went into
corporate profits and to stockholders1) Corporate profits- +62%
2) Stock dividends- +65%

How The Federal Government Contributed to

the Growing Gap Between the Rich and the
Middle Class

Three Republican Presidents-ALL pro-business

Under Sec. of the Treasury Mellon, a
millionaire got a 70% tax cut EVERY year.
Supreme Court (pro-business appointees):
Adkins v. Childrens Hospital (1923)- Ruled
that minimum-wage legislation was
unconstitutional because Congress did not
have the right to tell employers how much
they should pay their employees.

Example of the Unequal Distribution of

Wealth
Henry Ford -personal income-$14,000,000.00
Average American-personal income -$ 750.00
By 2010 dollars- Fords income-$345,000,000.00
By 2010 dollars- Average Americans- $18,500.00
Between 1920 and 1929:
Per Capita Disposable Income1) Average American- Rose 1%
2) Top 1%Rose 75%
GROSS INCOME- Income Tax= Net (take home) pay
- Total Expenses
= Disposable Income
The higher percent of disposable income a nation has,
The healthier the economy!