The Roaring 20s

Module 23
Politics in the 1920s
- The politics of the 1920s is a fundamental shift away
from the governmental activism of the Progressive Era.
- The Elections of three consecutive Republicans, Harding, Coolidge and
Hoover will harken back to the laissez faire pro-business
presidencies of the Gilded Age.
- Republicans seek to serve the public good by avoiding
direct government action and through promotion of big
business - ie trickle down economics.
Why turn away from Progressivism?
- Americans are seeking a return to normalcy after the
sacrifices and hardships of World War I/
- Many believed that limiting the US role in foreign
affairs to prevent future wars.
- Americans supported the interests of big business through
tax cuts and high tariffs. They believed the government
should stay out of the economy.
- Additionally, most Americans believed in rugged
individualism - people are responsible for their own
well being, not society.
Social Issues of the 1920s
- There are two primary issues in the 1920s.
- Immigration
- Modernity vs. Fundamentalism.
Immigration and - Isolationism in practice.
- Emergency Quota Act of 1921 -
limited immigration to 3% of

the Red Scare

the population in the 1910
census.
- The National Origins Act -
Discriminated against south
and east Europe, Asia and
Africa. Only 2% of 1890 census
population is allowed. (There
were almost none here, so no
more could come.)
- Japanese are totally
excluded.
- Immigration drops from over a
million/year to only 150,000
by 1927.
- By 1931 there are more
leaving than arriving.
-
The Red Scare
- Americans are afraid that Communist leaders and labor unions are planning
a revolution
- Results from: Labor Unrest, Fears of the Communist (Russian) Revolution, Nativism
- Attorney General Mitchell Palmer - leads the Palmer Raids - arrests more than
10,000 suspects. (Most of whom had done nothing wrong)
- Results of the Red Scare
- Mass Deportations - anyone suspected of Communist sympathies.
- The demise of strong labor unions in America
- Backlash against unfortunate people like:
- The Best Example:
- The Sacco and Vanzetti Trial, 1921
- Italian Immigrants - anarchists and draft dodgers.
- Accused of murder, almost no evidence.
- Convicted and executed in 1927.
- Becomes a symbol of mistrust towards immigrants in the US.
-
Cont.
- Racial Tension
- The Great Migration -leads to racial tension
- Chicago Race Riots - 58 dead
- The Birth of a Nation
- KKK propaganda film - leads to:
- KKK becomes a national force.
- More than 5 million members, powerful in the South
and Midwest.
- At this point they are more Nativist than racist.
- Anti-immigrant
- Anti-modernist
- Endorsed 100% Americanism
 Modernity vs.
Fundamentalism
Prohibition
- Prohibition is a deeply controversial subject
even once it is passed in the 18th amendment.
- Rural areas support it.
- Urban areas are against it.
- To enforce prohibition, Congress will pass the
Volstead Act.
- Never fully enforced. Less than 1500
agents nationwide.
- The strongest resistance comes from
immigrants.
- However, by restricting the supply
bootleggers and Speakeasies flourished.
The Scopes Trial
- A teacher in Dayton, TN is fired
from their job for teaching Darwins
theory of evolution in a biology
class.
- Evolves into a media spectacle with larger
social implications.
- Science v. Religion
- Modern Society v. Traditional beliefs.
- In the end Scopes is convicted, but
his sentence is later overturned by
a court of appeals.
Women in the 1920s
- Women have a great deal more freedom in society.
- Flappers - short hair, short skirts, silk stockings.
- Smoked cigarettes, drank liquor.
- Women have more time for leisure as well, with new technology in the home.
- Vacuum cleaners.
- Washing machines.
- However women still face discrimination outside the home.
- Still treated as second class citizens behind men.
Cont.
- Notable Women
- Mary McLeod Bethune
- Creates the National Council of Negro
Women
- VP of the NAACP - leads the charge for
bringing lawsuits to try to get equal rights.
- Founds Bethune-Cookman University
- Margaret Sanger
- Advocate for birth control and opened the
first birth control clinic in the United States.
- Helped found Planned Parenthood
- Alice Paul
- Feminist and architect of the 19th
amendment.
African Americans in the 1920s
- Marcus Garvey
- Founds UNIA - calls for Negro Nationalism
- Glorified black culture and traditions of the
past.
- Message of racial pride and independence -
through education.
- Worked towards black separation from
white society.
- Garvey was frustrated by continued violence and
discrimination.
- Promotes a return to Motherland Africa -
Liberia
- Eventually convicted of mail fraud and deported.
The Harlem Renaissance
- Primarily the result of the Great Migration
- Leads to an explosion of black culture.
- Showed a new spirit of unity and pride among African Americans - centered in the Harlem
neighborhood of NYC.
- An exploration of what makes uniquely black culture - black painting, poetry, literature etc.
- Most notable author
- Langston Hughes
- Called the Poet Laureate of Harlem
The Harding
Presidency
The Harding Years
- Laissez Faire
- Pro-Business
- Conservative Supreme Court Appointments - including Taft
- SCANDALS
Accomplishments
Washington Conference Treaties:
First major world disarmament conference, 1921-1922
---- what led to it?
Major failures
no agreements to limit military land forces
no restrictions on small warships such as
destroyers, subs
What major country was NOT present?
Failures - SCANDAL
- The Teapot Dome Scandal
- Sec. Of Interior, Albert Fall, leased out oil reserves that had been
set aside for the U.S. Navy at Teapot Dome, WY for use by private
individuals
- Bribery! Took $100,000 from an oilman & $300,000 from Henry Sinclair
in exchange for leases to the land
- Scandal breaks in 1923 but Harding dies before it breaks publicly
The Coolidge
Presidency
Accomplishments and Failures
- Laissez Faire - The business of America IS business.
- Economics under Coolidge
- The Boom Years - large businesses are doing extremely well.
Post-War consumerism and friendly federal government's push growth.
- New technology, such as the assembly line (Henry Ford/Ford Motor
Company) will drive a production boom.
- HOWEVER, not all is well. Farmers are experiencing major challenges.
- Prices down in 20 & 21 & never recovered
- Wheat production up during war ; return of foreign products & end of
govt purchases brings price down
- Agricultural revolution led to surplus of crops
- 1 in 4 farms sold for debt or taxes in the 1920s
 The Hoover
Presidency (And
the Crash)
The Election of 1928
- Coolidge opts not to run again, opening the door for the Secretary of
Commerce (Remember business is great) to run for President.
- Hoover is a Laissez Faire supporter supporter of Rugged Individualism.
- The idea that people should help themselves out, the government should not be involved in
peoples economic lives nor national economics in general.
- A self made man, excellent administrator and humanitarian.
Hoovers Domestic Policy
- Major problem:
- Farm prices are falling down down down. Passes the Agricultural Marketing Act to prop up
prices but they just continue to fall.
- Hawley-Smoot Tariff
- To help farmers, Congress raises tariffs to the highest rate ever during peacetime - more than
60%.
- BACKFIRED
- Causes foreign trade with the US to plummet.
- Other nations retaliate by raising their own tariffs.
- American factories begin to close or relocate overseas.
- However the stock markets continue to grow.
- But wait you say, how could that be?
- Easy Credit - very low cost and easy to attain loans mean people can borrow well beyond their
means to pay it back. So spending continues to climb even as the economy falters.
Black Tuesday
- The bubble finally bursts on October 29th, 1929.
- This crash marks the period as the beginning of the Great
Depression.
Causes of the Crash
- Speculation - buying unstable, risky stocks to get rich quick - hoping for a quick
profit.
- Buying on Margin - buying stock with money that has been borrowed.
- A Failure of Government and Society
- Greed
- Inflated sense of prosperity (Ignoring the weakness in agriculture.)
- Laissez-Faire policy toward business. No common sense regulation.
- Overproduction and underconsumption
- Farmers and factories have both been producing at record levels even as demand
for their products fell. Warehouses are now filled with worthless goods. New
production will not start until old stock is cleared.
- Income disparity
- The gap between rich and poor is at an alltime high. Sticky wages mean workers
dont have enough money to buy the products they are producing.
- Worldwide Depression
- Europe is in financial ruin as a result of WWI. No overseas market for US goods.
The Immediate Effect of the Crash
- Massive unemployment, more than 12 million unemployed by
1932 (25% OF THE ENTIRE ADULT WORKFORCE)
- Massive bank failure of banks.
- As the market crashes investors run to their banks to pull out their
savings. With so many people requesting their money at once the banks
cannot pay people back.
- Causes bank runs as people fear losing their entire savings.
Hoovers Response
- Calls for Rugged Individualism
- Government should help people to help themselves.
- Hand-ups not hand-outs
- Hoover did not believe it was the governments responsibility to assist
Americans. They are responsible for their own fates.