AP Themes:

3. Economic Transformation:
• Significant economic growth in the 20s.
• New technologies, techniques, and
especially marketing fueled much of this
transformation.
• Consolidation of pre-war era continued.
• Union membership declined- hostility from
government and people; welfare capitalism.
• Farmers faced continued difficulties- falling
demand and overproduction resulted in
falling prices.
1. Culture
 Culture became more “national” in character-
radio, movies, national consumer goods, etc.
 Many became more disillusioned or cynical after
WWI.
 People, particularly women, began pushing
against some boundaries- increased economic
freedom spurred demands for social freedom.
1. American Diversity
 What is “American”?
 Fears of subversion left over from WWI- led to
hostilities against minorities, immigrants,
political “radicals”
 Congress restricted immigration.
 KKK rose in popularity as a response to
“outsiders”
 At the same time, Harlem Renaissance
demonstrated a flourishing African-American
culture.
1. American Identity
 Many Americans, especially in rural
America, sought to maintain traditional
notions of Americanism- traditional
gender roles, prominence of religion, etc.
Fought against urbanization,
secularization, modernization.
 Prohibition, anti-Darwin, etc.
Cultural clashes in US
 Traditional America vs. Modern
America
 Hostility towards un-American ideas
 Why? Feared communism……..
Red Scare
 Rise of KKK

 Immigration restriction/Anti-
immigrant feelings
 Sacco and Vanzetti
 Scopes Trial---evolution vs. creation
 Liberated woman vs. traditional
 Flappers
 Margaret Sanger----Birth control
 African Americans move to the cities
 led to race riots in some cases
 Americans violate Prohibition
 18th Amendment
 Volstead Act
3. Revolution in styles and
technologies.
 electricity, radio, automobile, mass
media
 Fads---new dances, music &
clothing
4. American heroes:
 Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh
5. Presidents during the 1920’s
 Conservative Republicans
 Supported laissez faire
6. Foreign policy during the 1920’s and
early 30s- Isolationism the general
trend
The New Era of the 1920s
 Consumerism flourishes because of credit,
advertising, and economic (GNP) growth
 US Government fosters business growth

 Entertainment grows further as big business

 Technology and middle class expand

 New attitudes and uses of time emerge, but some

oppose modern changes (reactionary)
 Decade ends with economic collapse
 The Economy & Big Business
 Recession- 1920–21 (drop in war production)
 Electricity spurs recovery and growth (1922–29) with
new goods for factory and for home
 Improved wages combine w/ installment plans stimulate
consumption
 National per capita income ↑ by 30% by 1929.
 Consolidation continues; oligopolies control
production, marketing, distribution, finance
 Relatively small number of large companies dominate
their respective industries- continuation of trend from
around 1900.
Glenwood Stove and Washing Machine
Business Lobbying; Fate of Labor
Unions & Farmers
 Business and professional organizations lobby
government as special-interest groups
 US Government lowers taxes on wealthy and
corporations, raises tariffs, eases regulation
 Supreme Court voids minimum-wage laws and
restrictions on child labor, restricts strikes
 Farmers suffer rising debt because of falling
prices (overproduction/foreign competition)
The Second Industrial Revolution
 U.S. develops the highest standard of
living in the world
 The twenties and the second
revolution
 electricity replaces steam
 Henry Ford’s modern assembly line
introduced
 Rise of the airline industry
 Modern appliances and conveniences
begin to change American society
 The Automobile Industry
 Auto makers stimulate sales through
model changes, advertising
 Auto industry fostered the growth of
other businesses
 Autos encourage movement and more
individual freedom.
 Patterns of Economic Growth
Structural change
 professional managers replace
individual entrepreneurs
 corporations become the dominant
business form
Big business weakens regionalism,
brings uniformity to America
 Economic Weaknesses
 Railroads poorly managed
 Cotton fabrics increasingly displaced by man-made materials.
 Coal displaced by petroleum
 Farmers face decline in exports, prices
 By 1921 farm exports ↓ by more than $2 billion [approx. $23 billion
in today’s currency]
 By 1929, per capita farm income only $273 [3,304] (national per
capita was $681 [$8,242]).
 Growing disparity between income of laborers, middle-class
managers
 Middle class speculates with idle money
•Beginning of the Jazz Age in New
York City
•Acceptance of African American
culture
•African American literature and
music
J
A
Z
Z
Migration to Cities;
The Great Migration
 Majority of Americans are urban by 1920;
during 1920s, 6 million more leave farms
 Great Migration of blacks to urban north
accelerates (1.5 million leave South, 1920s)
 Discrimination and violence in North results in
black movements for racial independence
 Garvey (UNIA) attracts large following with
demands for black pride and separatism
 IKA
Imperial
Klans of
America
Revived Ku Klux Klan (1915–1925)
 Recruits 5 million men and women (1923) by
emphasizing native, white, Protestant
supremacy; opposes other races and religions
 Expands from rural South to new cities,
claims new immigrants mongrelize US
 Continues earlier terror tactics and mystical
rituals; declines after rape scandal (1925)
 Reflects pervasive intolerance of 1920s
Rise of the KKK was due to challenges to
traditional America.
1925: Membership of 5 million
1926: Marched on Washington. 50,000+
Attack on urban culture and defends
Christian/Protestant and rural values- found
followers in cities
Against immigrants from Southern Europe,
European Jews, Catholics and American
Blacks
Used tactics of violence and intimidation- first
terrorist group in America
Sought to win U.S. by persuasion and gaining
control in local/state government.
Violence, internal corruption, and a rape
scandal result in Klan’s significant decline by
1930 but will reappear in the 1950s and 1960s.
 •Red Scare, 1919 to 1921, was a
time of great upheaval…U.S.
“scared out of their wits".
•"Reds” as they were called,
"Anarchists” or "Outside
Foreign-Born Radical
Attorney General
Mitchell Palmer Agitators” (Communists).
•Anti-red hysteria came about after WWI and the
Russian Revolution.
•6,000 immigrants the government suspected of
being Communists were arrested (Palmer Raids)
and 600 were deported or expelled from the U.S.
•No due process was followed
 •The U.S. Government began to
restrict certain “undesirable”
immigrants from entering the U.S.
•Congress passed the Emergency
Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration
Act of 1924
• Kept out immigrants from
southeastern Europe.
 •The U.S. Government began to restrict certain
“undesirable” immigrants from entering the
U.S.
•Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of
1921,
1921 in which newcomers from Europe were
restricted at any year to a quota, which was set
at 3% of the people of their nationality who
lived in the U.S. in 1910.
•Immigration Act of 1924,
1924 the quota down to
2% and the origins base was shifted to that of
1890, when few southeastern Europeans lived in
America.
Cartoon from 1919:
“Put them out and
keep them out”
 •Nicola Sacco and
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
were Italian
immigrants charged
with murdering a guard
and robbing a shoe
factory in Braintree,
Mass.

•The trial lasted 1920-1927. Convicted on circumstantial

evidence, many believed they had been framed for the
crime because of their anarchist and pro-union
activities.
•In this time period, anti-foreignism was high as well.
•Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men, but
they would be executed.
Immigration Quotas; Sacco &
Vanzetti Case
 Nativists succeed in reducing total numbers of
immigrants, especially new immigrants
 1921, 1924, and 1929 Acts set up yearly quotas
favoring immigrants from north/west Europe
over those from south/east Europe
 Immigration shifts to Western Hemisphere

 Trial/execution of Italian anarchists reflects

anti-immigrant bias and anti-radicalism (MA)
 •Goal: was to reduce crime and poverty
and improve the quality of life by making
it impossible for people to get their hands
on alcohol.
•Called the "Noble Experiment"
•Midnight, January 16th, 1920, US went
dry.
•The 18th Amendment,
Amendment known as the
Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture,
sale and possession of alcohol in America.
Prohibition lasted for thirteen years.
•So was born the industry of bootlegging,
speakeasies and Bathtub Gin.
•No other law in America has been violated so
flagrantly by so many "decent law-abiding"
law-abiding
people.
•Overnight, many became criminals.
criminals
•Mobsters controlled liquor created a
booming black market economy.
•Gangsters owned speakeasies and by 1925
there were over 100,000 speakeasies in New
York City alone.
 Al Capone Elliot Ness, part
of the
Chicago Untouchables
gangster
Detroit police during Agent with the
inspecting Prohibition U.S. Treasury
equipment who controlled Department's
found in a the Prohibition
“bootlegging” Bureau during a
hidden time when
underground industry.
bootlegging was
 “Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can't stop what it's meant to stop.
We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime,
It can't prohibit worth a dime,
Nevertheless we're for it.”
Franklin Pierce Adams, New York World
“It is impossible to stop liquor trickling through a dotted
line”
A Prohibition agent
 “Flappers” sought
individual freedom
Ongoing crusade for
equal rights
Most women remain in
the “cult of domesticity”
sphere
Discovery of adolescence

Teenaged children no
longer needed to work
and indulged their
craving for excitement
 The Playful flapper here we see,
The fairest of the fair.
She's not what Grandma used to be,
You might say, au contraire.
Her girlish ways may make a stir,
Her manners cause a scene,
But there is no more harm in her
Than in a submarine.

She nightly knocks for many a

goal
The usual dancing men.
Her speed is great, but her
control
Is something else again.
All spotlights focus on her
pranks.
All tongues her prowess herald.
For which she well may render
thanks
To God and Scott Fitzgerald.
Her golden rule is plain enough
 Fundamentalism;
Scopes Trial (1925)
 Evangelical Protestant denominations grow
 Advocate literal interpretation of Bible; reject
materialism, science, and “modernism”
 Darrow and Bryan debate TN’s ban on teaching
evolution; other states follow TN
 Pentecostal churches also expand in cities

 KKK, nativism, and religion reflect attempts to

sustain traditional values in new era
 1925

The first major conflict

between religion vs. science
being taught in school was in
1925 in Dayton, Tennessee.
 John T. Scopes Clarence William J. Bryan Dayton,
Respected high Darrow Sec. of State for Tennessee
school biology Famous trial President Small town in the
teacher arrested lawyer who Wilson, ran for south became
president three protective
in Dayton, represented against the
times, turned
Tennessee for Scopes evangelical encroachment of
teaching modern times
leader. and secular
Darwin’s Theory Represented the teachings.
of Evolution. prosecution.
 The trial is The right to The acceptance
conducted in a teach and of science and
carnival-like protect Biblical that all species
atmosphere. teachings in have evolved
The people of schools was from lower
Dayton are seen the focus of forms of beings
as ‘backward’ the over billions of
controversy. years was under
Advertising; Radio
 Increases demand for new products/services
through use of psychology and celebrities
 Radio emerges as key advertising medium

 US Govt rejects public funding of radio

 Programming focuses on entertainment

 Many workers able to purchase goods only by

using credit or by working extra jobs
 Indoor plumbing spreads to urban workers
 •Westinghouse
Radio Station KDKA
was a world pioneer
of commercial radio
broadcasting.
•Transmitted 100
watts on a
wavelength of 360
meters.
•KDKA first
broadcast was the
•220 stations eighteen months after KDKA
Harding-Cox
took the plunge.
Presidential election
•$50 to $150 for firstreturns
radios on
November 2, 1920.
 •Radio sets, parts
and accessories
brought in $60
million in 1922…
[$741M]
• $136 million in
1923 [$1.7B]
•$852 million in
1929 [$10.5B]
•Radio reached into
every third home in
its first decade.

•Listening audience was 50,000,000 by 1925

 Expansion of Consumer Society
 Purchasing power increases for many (cost of
living is stable, while earnings increase)
 By 1929, 2/3 of all homes have electricity

 Automobiles are the vanguard of expanding

materialism, even some workers purchase
one
 Cars alter US life with emerging network of
government-sponsored roads and highways
Harding (1921–1923) & Coolidge
(1923–1929)
 Republican presidents (1921–1933) symbolize
goodwill toward business
 Spoils system and scandals (Teapot Dome)
undermine Harding’s administration
 Anti-union Coolidge lowers taxes, begins US
highway system, vetoes farm assistance
 In 1924 election, both major candidates are pro-
business; Progressives fail to revive reform
The 1920 Election
The 1920 Election

 Wilson’s idealism and Treaty

of Versailles led many
Americans to vote
Republican Warren Harding
 Many in the US turned
inward and feared foreign
influences.
 The 1920 Election

The Ohio Gang: President Warren Harding (front row, third

from right), Vice-President Calvin Coolidge (front row,
second from right), and members of the cabinet.
 Har ding and Coo lid ge

 Republican
 presidents appeal
Secretary of the Interior, Albert B.
toFall
traditional American
leased naval reserve values
oil land in
Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills,
 Harding dies in office after 2
California, to oilmen Harry F. Sinclair
years.
and Edward L. Doheny
 Scandals breaka after
Fall had received bribe ofhis
$100,000
death
from Doheny and about three times
that amount from Sinclair.
 Teapot Dome Scandal
Fall found guilty of taking a bribe.
 CalvinCoolidge becomes
President after Harding’s
death in 1923.
 Republican Policies
Return to "normalcy"
 tariffs
raised
 corporate, income taxes cut
 spending cuts

Government-business cooperation
 “The business of government, is business”
Return to “isolation”
The 1924 Election
Calvin Coolidge served as
President from 1923 to 1929.
“Silent Cal”.
Republican president
 REPUBLICAN ECONOMY SUPPORTED LAISSEZ FAIRE AND
BIG BUSINESS……….

Lower Taxes
+
Less Federal
Spending
+
Higher
Tariffs
= $ Strong
National
Economy

Fordney-McCumber Tariff---1923
Hawley-Smoot Tariff ---1930
raised the tariff to an unbelievable 60%!!!
• Secretary of the Interior, Albert B.
Fall leased naval reserve oil land in
Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk
Hills, California, to oilmen Harry F.
Sincl ai r and Edwa rd L. Doheny
•Fall had received a bribe of
$100,000 from Doheny and about
three times that amount from
Sinclair.
•Fall found guilty of taking a bribe.
•Sinclair and Doheny were
acquitted of charges.
Reform; Indian Affairs; Women
& Politics
 State and local reforms (workers’ compensation,
old-age pensions, aid to poor, and housing codes)
 Indians suffer neglect by US Gov’t (ignores
groups that try to help Indians regain land)
 Female groups devise tactics (publicity) to lobby
for help to working women (LWV)
 Pursuit of different goals fragments women
(LWV v. feminist National Women’s Party)
Employment for Women
 Number in workforces continues to increase
 10.8 million working women (1930)

 Segregated in jobs (clerical); receive low pay

 Most female workers are single, but 3.1 million

wives work (1930) to help with consumption
 Many African, Japanese, and Mexican American
wives work as domestics or rural laborers to help
their families survive
The New Woman
 “Flappers” remake image of femininity with
stress on personal freedom and sexuality
 Few actually become flappers, but dress styles
change and some assert independence
 New habits spark move to reassert traditions
Mexicans & Puerto Ricans;
Growth of Suburbs
 Most Mexicans work as agrarian laborers in
southwest, but many move to cities
 Puerto Ricans migrate to northern cities
(especially NYC) and form barrios
 Prosperity and cars fuel suburban expansion

 Middle and upper classes flee urban problems and

resist annexation by cities
 Cities and suburbs are centers of consumer culture
New Rhythms of Everyday Life
 Apportion time into work, family, and leisure
 Proportion changes as time at work drops for
many and people have fewer children
 Appliances ease some household tasks, but also
make wives into household managers
 Improved nutrition and sanitation increase life
expectancy (60 years by 1930 from 54 years in
1920) for most, but not all people
Older Americans & Retirement;
Social Values
 More people living past age 60 and forced
retirements increase poverty among elderly
 Europeans create pensions in early 1900s, but US
leaders reject these as socialistic
 Many states in 1920s adopt pensions and
retirement homes to reduce elderly poverty
 New values emerge with consumption and peer
groups: self-expression via clothing, etc.
Age of Play

 Commercial entertainment expands

 Middle class participates in fads (mahjong,
crossword puzzles, dance crazes, etc.)
 Spectator recreations (movies, sports) boom

 Motion pictures emerge as a leading US industry,

especially with sound and color (late 1920s)
 To appeal to a mass audience, movies make
escapist spectacles, dramas, and comedies
Sports Heroes; Movie Stars;
Prohibition
 Professional baseball blossoms; media glorifies its
suspense and unpredictability
 Ruth symbolizes heroes of 1920s: unique
individuals in a mass industrial society
 Compare/contrast Valentino and Lindbergh

 After 1925, prohibition breaks down as more

people break law; criminal groups (Capone)
supply public demand for alcohol
 Cultural Currents
 Writers and artists critique era’s materialism
and conformity; express disillusionment
 Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, etc.

 African Americans celebrate black culture and

explore identity in Harlem Renaissance
 Rooted in black culture, jazz becomes popular;
gives African American musicians
(Armstrong) a place in consumer culture
The Election of 1928 & the End of
the New Era
 Hoover (Republican) wins, but Smith increases
Democratic strength among urban ethnics
 Hoover campaigns on continued prosperity

 As president (1929–33), Hoover continues his

past efforts to promote business growth
 Stock prices drop with panic selling (Oct. 1929)

 Crash helps unleash devastating depression

Declining Demand
 Several interrelated factors cause depression
 Sales in growth industries (autos, electric
appliances, housing) stagnate in late 1920s
 Underconsumption: neither farmers nor workers
earn enough to preserve demand
 Widening income gap contributes to problem:
income of rich skyrockets, but only modest gains
for middle/lower classes
Corporate Debt; Speculation on
Stock Market
 Businesses took out large loans to pursue
expansion; when sales drop, defaults occur
 Corporations, individuals, and banks engage in
risky purchase of stocks “on margin”
 When stock prices decline, many brokers, banks,
investors, and businesses face ruin
 Growing US stock investments (late 1920s)
hamper US-European economic links
International Economy; Federal
Policies
 In WWI, US banks loaned billions to Europe, but
high tariffs prevent Europeans from selling in US
to pay back loans
 Allies/Germany depend on continued US loans
until late 1920s; then begin to default
 Global trade in goods/money collapses

 US Government does not regulate wild stock

market; prefers US-business cooperation