2. America at the
Start of the Decade
● Victorious in
World War I
● Treaty of
Versailles
defeated
● Period of
isolationism
● Republican
ascendancy Returning WWI soldiers parading in Minneapolis
3. The Election of 1920
● Republicans nominated
Ohio Sen. Warren G.
Harding
● “Return to Normalcy”
● Democrats ran Ohio Gov.
James M. Cox
● Coolidge as GOP VP
candidate
● FDR as Democratic VP
candidate
● Republican landslide
Warren G. Harding
4. Why did Harding Win?
Wilson’s idealism and Treaty
of Versailles led many
Americans to vote for the
Republican, Warren Harding…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JYy5
R_d8U
US turned inward and feared
anything that was European…
5. Pres. Warren G. Harding-1920
Gone were the days of Wilson and
Idealism, replaced by pragmatic
approach to government (marked
the beginning of a conservative
movement similar to post-War of
1812, Civil War)
Harding promised:
• Lower Taxes
• Higher Tariffs
• Restrictions on immigration
• Aid to farmers
“A return toNORMALCY”
6. FAILURE OF HARDING
Appointed some
very qualified people to
his administration,
nicknamed the Ohio Gang
because of ties to state.
Harding trust in these
experts led to widespread
corruption which tainted
his administration.
“OHIO GANG”
7. 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.
The 1920 Election
8. The Teapot Dome Scandal
Cause: In the early part of the 20th
century large oil
reserves were discovered in Elk Hills, California and
Teapot Dome, Wyoming.
9. In 1912 President William Taft
decided that the government owned
the land and its’ oil reserves should
be set aside for the use of the
United States Navy.
On June 4, 1920, Congress passed a bill that stated that the
Secretary of the Navy would have the power "to conserve,
develop, use and operate the same in his discretion, directly or
by contract, lease, or otherwise, and to use, store, exchange, or
sell the oil and gas products thereof, and those from all royalty
oil from lands in the naval reserves, for the benefit of the
United States."
10. In March of 1921, President Warren Harding appointed Albert
Fall as Secretary of the Interior.
Pres. Warren Harding Secretary of the
Interior Albert Fall
11. TEAPOT DOME
SCANDAL
Secretary of the Interior
Albert Fall
accepted a $100,000 bribe
from Sinclair for rights to
drill in Teapot Dome. Fall
was found guilty and
became the first cabinet
member to be convicted of a
crime.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cabinet-member-guilty-i
n-teapot-dome-scandal
There was no evidence to that
Harding was involved in any way.
Harry
Sinclair
(Mammoth
Oil Corp.)
15. The 1924 Election
Despite the corruption under Harding,
Coolidge was able to repair the image of
executive branch and benefited from
unprecedented material prosperity and
economic growth in 1920s America. Because
of this, Coolidge easily won the 1924 Election.
16. Pres. Calvin Coolidge
Conservative Presidency-
less government activity
• laissez faire
(“hands-off”) economic
policy
• lower taxes
• high tariffs
Effect? Between 1921 and
1929 the output of
industry nearly doubled
17. The new president,
Calvin Coolidge, fit the
pro-business spirit of
the 1920s very well
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=J7jEaqOqc
B4
His famous quote: “The
chief business of the
American people is business
. . .the man who builds a
factory builds a temple –
the man who works there
worships there”
President Calvin Coolidge
1924-1928
18. BUSINESS – FRIENDLY
GOVERNMENT
4min- beliefs on taxation and
govt-start at 2min mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwZnExRb8zU
President Calvin
Coolidge
Coolidge throwing out first pitch 1924
19. Americans on the Move
Urbanization still
accelerating.
❑ More Americans lived
in cities than in rural
areas (6 million
farmers)
❑ 1920:
❑ New York 5 million
❑ Chicago 3 million
❑ growth of
transportation
systems (subway,
trolleys)
20. Demographical Changes
African American migration
(13% shift from South to
North
➔ push: Jim Crow laws
pull: jobs in north
➔ struggled with low
wages (hatred of white
workers), de facto
segregation
22. Post-WWI: European refugees to America to escape religious,
political persecution or economic opportunity. Call from nativists,
unions, middle class to limit the influx of European immigrants
who could be seen as radicals or threats to democracy
23. Fear of Communism
Communist International
(Comintern)- Bolsheviks
believed that it was their
duty to export
communism to the rest
of the world
● 3rd
International Goal
(1919): promote
worldwide communism
24. Fear of Communism-
Red Scare
Fear of the “Red Scare” cause
widespread government attacks on
suspected radicals (especially foreign
born and union leaders) June 2, 1919
coordinated nationwide attack on
government officials by radicals led to
widespread support for government
response to the “Reds”
25. Fear of Communism- Palmer Raids
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
(who had been a target) began
process of investigating and targeting
suspected “agitators”
2min- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zywzzl9AiU
A. Mitchell Palmer’s Home bombed, 1920
Police arrest
“suspected
Reds” in
Chicago,
1920
26. •
6,000 immigrants the
government suspected
of being Communists
were arrested and 600
were deported or
expelled from the U.S.
No due process was
followed
More-
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2007/december/pal
mer_122807
Attorney General
Mitchell Palmer
27. Sacco and Vanzetti Case
2 shoe-factory workers were
murdered and robbed of
company payroll
● Nicola Sacco, a shoemaker,
and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a
fish peddler
● Italian immigrants arrested
on flimsy evidence
● Anarchists and immigrants
28. Sacco and Vanzetti
HAVE A CHAIR! from The Daily
Worker
IS THIS THE
EMBLEM? from The
Daily Worker
Found guilty, sentenced to death, executed
(worldwide appeal to stop execution)
3min-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3SuTTcj2u8
Effect? anti-immigrant sentiments led Congress
to change immigration laws
29. Immigration Backlash
1. Emergency Quota Act - 1921
● 3% of total number people in ethnic group per year
● Based on 1910 census
2. National Origins Act - 1924
● 2% of each nationality living here in 1890
● 1929 limit total immigrants to 150,000/yr with
nationality allotment based on 1920 census
30. Number of Immigrants
and Countries of Origin,
1891-1920 and
1921-1940
Percentage of Population Foreign Born, 1850-1990
31. Other Demographics
Employers turned to Mexican and Canadian
immigrants to work.
As a result: barrios created(Spanish speaking
neighborhoods)
32. Ku Klux Klan
Colonel William J Simmons
● Revived organization in 1915
● 1922: enrollment 4 million
“The New Klan”- Widened attacks to include
Catholics, Jews, immigrants and others.
● By night, whipped, beat and even killed.
● By 1927 Klan activity diminished once again.
33. Growth of the KKK
● Birth of a Nation - D.W. Griffith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSaC-l7B35w
● “new” Ku Klux Klan
● “American-ism”
(Picture Research Consultants & Archives)
Ku Klux Klan initiation, 1923. The Klan opposed all who were
not “true Americans”. (c) 2000 IRC
34. Ku Klux Klan
Colonel William J Simmons
● Revived organization in 1915
● 1922: enrollment 4 million
“The New Klan”- Widened attacks to include
Catholics, Jews, immigrants and others.
● By night, whipped, beat and even killed.
● By 1927 Klan activity diminished once again.
35. Growth of the KKK
● Birth of a Nation - D.W. Griffith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSaC-l7B35w
● “new” Ku Klux Klan
● “American-ism”
(Picture Research Consultants & Archives)
Ku Klux Klan initiation, 1923. The Klan opposed all who were
not “true Americans”. (c) 2000 IRC
36. Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan parade in
Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 1926
39. Consumerism
Unprecedented wealth in 1920s
postwar world gave citizens more
disposable income (not needed for
expenses). That coupled with
beginning of the 40 hour
workweek, innovation of house
appliances gave people the time
and money to spend on
entertainment and luxury goods.
40. Consumerism
Need to own (thanks to
advertising) these goods led to
growing personal debt as people
began buying on credit. Because
of the prosperity, banks and credit
companies began to overextend
themselves in making sure
Americans could afford the many
goods and services in 1920s.
Materialism- excessive concern
with material possessions defined
the decade “Roaring 20s”
Consumer Debt,
1920–1931
41. Henry Ford
Using assembly line production,
able to make car faster and more
affordable
2min- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z3xJJxOx6E
Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928
(From the Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village)
“Trying out the new assembly line“ Detroit, 1913
Henry Ford (1835-1947)
effect?
1913: 14 hours to build a new car=2 years
wages
1928: 93 minutes (84 separate jobs)=3 mon
wages
42. Automobile
● Replaced the railroad as
the key promoter of
economic growth (steel,
glass, rubber, gasoline, highways)
● Daily life: commuting,
shopping, traveling, “courting”
Increase in sales:
1913 - 1.2 million registered;
1929 - 26.5 million registered
(=almost one per family)
Passenger Car
Sales, 1920-1929
Filling Station, Maryland in 1921
43. Impact of the Automobile:
Trains and Automobiles, 1900-1980
Jones, Created
Equal
46. THE TWENTIES WOMAN
After the tumult of World War
I, Americans had the time and
money to spend on luxury and
entertainment.
❑ Many women were
independent and achieving
greater freedoms.
❑ ie. right to vote, more
employment, freedom of the
auto
Chicago
1926
47. THE FLAPPER
A Flapper was an emancipated
young woman who embraced the
new fashions and urban attitudes.
➢ challenged traditional role of
women outside the home (anti-
“cult of domesticity”)
➢ fought gender expectations
(short bobbed hair, short skirts),
social customs (drink and smoke)
in company of men, sexual
expectations
➢ 5min- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0Jo2xxOe8
48. Characteristics of
the “Flapper”:
• Short hair (ear bob)
• Legs showing with
shorter skirts
• Single women
entertained male friends
at home without a
chaperone
• Smoking
• Dancing
• “Party girls”
• Rebellious
• Fun-loving
• Modern
• Liberated
49.
50.
51. NEW ROLES FOR WOMEN
❑Many women entered the workplace as nurses,
teachers, librarians, & secretaries.
❑Earned less than men and were prevented from
obtaining certain jobs (“glass ceiling”)
Early 20th
Century teachers
52. THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY
American birthrates
declined for several
decades before the
1920s. Trend continues in
1920s with development
of birth control.
Margaret Sanger
❑ Birth control activist
❑ Founder of American
Birth Control League
❑ ie. Planned Parenthood
Margaret Sanger and other
founders of the American Birth
Control League - 1921
53. "When motherhood becomes the
fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident,
its children will become the
foundation of a new race.“
- Margaret Sanger
54. The Darker Side of Sanger
The birth control movement was largely influenced by the
Eugenics Movement which became popularized during this
time. Sought to eliminate those people who were considered
“undesirable stock” which included mentally handicap,
immigrants (who were having larger families) and rebellious
African Americans.
On blacks, immigrants and indigents:
"...human weeds,' 'reckless breeders,' 'spawning... human beings who never
should have been born." Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization, referring to
immigrants and poor people
On the extermination of blacks:
"We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,"
she said, "if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."
55. MODERN FAMILY
EMERGES
❑ Marriage was based on
romantic love.
❑ Women managed the
household and finances.
❑ Children were not
considered laborers/ wage
earners anymore.
❑ Seen as developing
children who needed
nurturing and education
56. PROHIBITION
What amendment Made it illegal to make, distribute, sell,
transport or consume liquor?
Volstead Act made it a federal crime to transport across
state lines (meaning federal agents could procecute)
57. SUPPORT FOR
PROHIBITION
❑ Reformers had long
believed alcohol led
to crime, child & wife
abuse, and accidents
❑ Supporters were
largely from the rural
south and west
❑ 3min-
http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties
/videos#america-goes-dry-with-prohibition
❑
59. SPEAKEASIES AND
BOOTLEGGERS
Many Americans (especially
immigrants and eastern
city-dwellers) did not believe
drinking was a sin and began
to flaunt the law
❑ drinkers went underground
to hidden saloons known as
speakeasies
❑ People also bought liquor
from bootleggers who
smuggled it in from Canada,
Cuba and the West Indies
❑ All of these activities became
closely affiliated with …
Speakeasies
60. ORGANIZED CRIME
Prohibition contributed to the
growth of organized crime in
every major city
❑ Al Capone –
❑ Chicago, Illinois
❑ famous bootlegger
❑ “Scarface”
❑ 60 million yr (bootleg alone)
Capone took control of the
Chicago liquor business by
killing off his competition
❑ Talent for avoiding jail
❑ 1931 sent to prison for
tax-evasion.
Al Capone was finally convicted
on tax evasion charges in 1931
61. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
Valentines Day – February
14, 1929
● Rival between Al Capone
and Bugs Moran
● Capone – South Side Italian
gang
● Moran – North Side Irish
gang
Bloody murder of 7 of
Moran’s men.
● Capone’s men dressed as
cops
62. Racketeering
Illegal business scheme to make profit.
● Gangsters bribed police or gov’t officials.
● Forced local businesses a fee for “protection”.
● No fee - gunned down or businesses blown to bits
63. GOVERNMENT FAILS TO
CONTROL LIQUOR
Prohibition failed:
❑ Why? Government did not
budget enough money to
enforce the law
Although there were some
success by men like Elliot Ness
and the Untouchables (group
of Chicago Officers who tried
to take down Capone), The
task of enforcing Prohibition
fell to 1,500 poorly paid
federal agents --- clearly an
impossible task!
Federal agents pour wine
down a sewer
64. SUPPORT FADES,
PROHIBITION REPEALED
❑ By the mid-1920s, only
19% of Americans
supported Prohibition
❑ Many felt Prohibition
caused more problems
than it solved
❑ crime, corruption of
police, government
inefficiency
❑ The 21st
Amendment
finally repealed
Prohibition in 1933
65. SCOPES TRIAL
In March 1925,
Tennessee passed the
nation’s first law that
made it a crime to
teach evolution
❑ The ACLU promised
to defend any
teacher willing to
challenge the law –
John Scopes did
Scopes was a biology teacher who
dared to teach his students that man
derived from lower species
66. SCOPES TRIAL
❑ Trial opened on July 10,1925 and became a national sensation
❑ In an unusual move, Darrow called Bryan to the stand as an
expert on the bible – key question: Should the bible be interpreted
literally?
❑ Under intense questioning, Darrow got Bryan to admit that the
bible can be interpreted in different ways
❑ Nonetheless, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100
❑ 3min summary- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlKRkz7NM5o
Bryan
Darrow
67. William Ashley “Billy” Sunday
Preacher led religious
revival called
Evangelical Christianity
which emphasize a
return to traditional
values and rejection of
secularism.
Sunday was popular in
the Mid-West and
among the
middle-upper class Courtesy of billysunday.org
68. EDUCATION AND
POPULAR CULTURE
❑ John Dewey, progressive
educator, argued that
teachers needed to
provide lifelong education
practices.
❑ Enrollment in high schools
quadrupled between 1914
and 1926.
❑ Public schools met the
challenge of educating
millions of immigrants
69. Mass Media
Print and broadcast methods of
communication included increase in
newspaper, magazines, radio, and movies.
Newspapers:
27 million to 39 million
Increase of 42%
Motion Pictures:
40 million to 80 million
Increase of 100%
Radios:
60,000 to 10.2 million
Increase of 16,983%
70. EXPANDING NEWS
COVERAGE
By the end of the 1920s…
❑ 10 American magazines
-- including Reader’s
Digest, Saturday Evening
Post,Time – boasted
circulations of over 2
million a year.
❑ Tabloids created
71. RADIO COMES OF
AGE
Although print media was
popular, radio was the most
powerful communications
medium to emerge in the
1920s.
❑ News was delivered faster
and to a larger audience.
❑ Americans could hear the
voice of the president or
listen to the World Series
live.
❑ Advertising- 1min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcUdEEOTHrY
72. MASS CULTURE:
Radio
● New mass medium
● 1920: First
commercial radio
station
● By 1930: over 800
stations & 10 million
radios
● Networks: NBC (1924),
CBS (1927)
The Spread
of Radio, to
1939
73. Movies
First sound movies:
Jazz Singer (1927)
2min-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djd1Xfw
DAQs
The Kid (1921)-
Charlie Chaplin “The
Tramp”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeW-9k
USfjc
Metropolis (1927)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSExdX0
tds4
By 1930 millions of
Americans went to the
movies each week
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=XZGHR7J1lUQ
74. 1920s DANCING
Heavily influenced by jazz
● Charleston (Dance
Craze)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR78tfjJVew
● Swing (white jazz)
● Dance Marathons
75. THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
❑ Great Migration saw
hundreds of
thousands of African
Americans move
north to big cities
❑ 1920:
❑ 5 million of the
nation’s 12 million
blacks (over 40%)
lived in cities
❑ 3min-
http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twentie
s/videos#the-harlem-renaissance
❑
Migration of the Negro by
Jacob Lawrence
76. HARLEM, NEW YORK
❑ Harlem, NY became
the largest black
urban community
❑ Harlem suffered
from overcrowding,
unemployment and
poverty
❑ Home to literary and
artistic revival
known as the Harlem
Renaissance
77. LANGSTON
HUGHES
❑ Missouri-born Langston
Hughes was the
movement’s best known
poet
❑ Many of his poems
described the difficult
lives of working-class
blacks
❑ “Thank you Ma’am”
❑ Some of his poems were
put to music, especially
jazz and blues
78. A Dream
Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
79. MARCUS GARVEY - UNIA
❑ Marcus Garvey believed
that African Americans
should build a separate
society (Africa)
❑ In 1914, Garvey founded
the Universal Negro
Improvement Association
❑ Garvey claimed a million
members by the mid-1920s
❑ Powerful legacy of black
pride, economic independence
and Pan-Africanism
Garvey represented a more
radical approach
82. LINDBERGH’S
FLIGHT
Charles Lindbergh
❑ Nickname: “Lucky Lindy”
❑ May 27, 1927: first nonstop
solo trans-Atlantic flight.
❑ Spirit of St. Louis
❑ NYC - Paris
❑ 33 ½ hours later – (no auto pilot)
❑ $25,000 prize
http://www.biography.com/people/charles-lindbergh-9382609/v
ideos/charles-lindbergh-pioneering-pilot-20613699776
❑ 2yr old Son Charley kidnapped
in 1932
❑ $50,000 ransom
❑ murdered
84. AMERICAN HEROES OF THE
20s
❑ In 1929, Americans spent $4.5
billion on entertainment.
(includes sports)
❑ People crowded into baseball
games to see their heroes
❑ Babe Ruth was a larger than
life American hero who played
for Yankees
❑ He hit 60 homers in 1927.
❑ 3min
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=bXLzWVdtLns
❑
85. Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated at the beginning of the
20th century, within the African-American communities of the
Southern United States. Its roots lie in the fusion by
African-Americans of certain European harmony and form
elements, with their existing African-based music (i.e. spirituals).
Use of deep blue notes, off-beat improvisation, country riffs,
blues singing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhiSgi_9Yvo
86. MUSIC OF THE 1920s
Famed composer George
Gershwin merged
traditional elements with
American Jazz.
❑ Someone to Watch Over
Me
❑ Embraceable You
❑ I Got Rhythm
❑ Raphsody in Blue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xB
Sz6Dc
Gershwin
87. MUSIC OF THE 1920s
Famed composer George
Gershwin merged
traditional elements with
American Jazz.
❑ Someone to Watch Over
Me
❑ Embraceable You
❑ I Got Rhythm
❑ Raphsody in Blue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U40xB
Sz6Dc
Gershwin
88. EDWARD KENNEDY “DUKE”
ELLINGTON
❑ In the late 1920s,
Duke Ellington, a jazz
pianist and composer,
led his ten-piece
orchestra at the
famous Cotton Club.
❑ Band: “The
Washingtonians”
❑ Ellington won renown
as one of America’s
greatest composers.
89. LOUIS
ARMSTRONG
❑ Jazz was born in the early
20th
century
❑ In 1922, a young trumpet
player named Louis
Armstrong joined the Creole
Jazz Band.
❑ Armstrong is considered the
most important and
influential musician in the
history of jazz
❑ 3min bio-
http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=sIILBeUrYLk
❑
90. BESSIE
SMITH
❑ Bessie Smith, blues
singer, was perhaps the
most outstanding
vocalist of the decade
❑ She achieved enormous
popularity and by 1927
she became the highest-
paid black artist in the
world
❑ 3min- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT4z847-hyc
91. BILLIE HOLIDAY
One of the most recognizable
voices of the 20s and 30s.
● Embraceable You
● God Bless the Child
● Strange Fruit
● Summertime
● http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=vAITYPTTh3I
92. Walt Disney
● Walt Disney only
attended one year of
high school.
● He was the voice of
Mickey Mouse for two
decades.
● As a kid he loved
drawing and painting.
● He won 32 Academy
Awards.
● 3min bio-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hXsLTcgmLQ
●
93. ART OF THE 1920s
Georgia O’ Keeffe
captured the grandeur
of New York using
intensely colored
canvases
Radiator Building,
Night, New York , 1927
Georgia O'Keeffe
94. WRITERS OF
THE 1920s
❑ Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald
coined the phrase “Jazz Age”
to describe the 1920s
❑ Fitzgerald wrote Paradise Lost
and The Great Gatsby
❑ The Great Gatsby reflected the
emptiness of New York elite
society and materialism of
1920s
❑ http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=iPDTSYR853U
95. WRITERS OF
THE 1920s
❑ Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald
coined the phrase “Jazz Age”
to describe the 1920s
❑ Fitzgerald wrote Paradise Lost
and The Great Gatsby
❑ The Great Gatsby reflected the
emptiness of New York elite
society and materialism of
1920s
❑ http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=iPDTSYR853U
96. WRITERS OF THE
1920
Ernest Hemingway, became one of
the best-known authors of the era
❑ Wounded in World War I
❑ In his novels, The Sun Also Rises
and A Farewell to Arms, he
criticized the glorification of war
❑ part of the “Lost Generation”
(Gertrude Stein)- Group of
people disconnected from their
country and its values.
❑ His simple, straightforward
style of writing set the literary
standard
Hemingway - 1929
