Chapter 32: American Life in the "Roaring Twenties" ( )

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1 Chapter 32: American Life in the "Roaring Twenties" ( ) Major Themes New technologies, mass-marketing, new forms of entertainment fostered rapid cultural change along with the early development of a consumer lifestyle. Changes in moral values and uncertainty about the future produced anxiety as well as intellectual critiques of American culture Major Questions What were some of the cultural developments that were conservative in nature? Which developments were liberal in nature? What were the economic and social consequences of the emerging mass-consumption economy In what ways were the 1920s a reaction against the progressive era? Outline Seeing Red Fear of communism rose in America after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 The "Red Scare" of caused by hatred of left-wingers whose American ideals were suspect Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer rounded up 6,000 suspects and earned the name, "Fighting Quaker" Red Scare was good for conservative business people because they could denounce labor unions as Communist and evil while their plans were American and right "Judicial Lynching" Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were both accused of the murders of a paymaster and his guard in 1921 The jury and the judge were all prejudiced against them because they were both Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft dodgers Case dragged on 6 years and then they were electrocuted and became martyrs for the Communist cause Probably would have only of been given a jail term if the environment wasn't as prejudiced Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK With the introduction of even stronger xenophobic feelings than ever before in American history, the KKK rose again as a strongly nativist group This radically minded right wing group advocated racism on all front and a return to the ideals of a protestant society The Klan became very large, including as many as 5 million members Quickly fell apart in the late 1920's as more moral people recognized the atrocities of the Klan's methods Stemming the Foreign Flood In ,000 immigrants came to America This caused a nativist stir in America calling to stem the flow of immigrants This was done by The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 This let only 3% of immigrants per nationality in the US get in This act was replaced in 1924 with the Immigration Act of 1924 This limited the immigrants allowed to 2% and used an earlier census than the Quota Act This act was worse for southern and western Europeans This act limited all Japanese immigration First time in American history that America was filling up and needed a stopper

2 The Prohibition Experiment Alcohol was made illegal in 1919 by the 18th Amendment This law was very popular in the south and west There was very strong opposition to the law in eastern cities Opponents of the law thought that if they violated it enough it would change Prohibition may have gone better if there were more officials Really the law had no teeth... many people drank and there were thousands of saloon replacements called speakeasies This was not a complete failure... less alcohol was consumed and bank savings went up The Golden Age of Gangsterism With the prohibition of alcohol came the illegal and immensely profitable business of smuggling or "bootlegging" This was typically done by gangs who practiced widespread organized crime throughout the 1920's Despite the widespread criminal activity and gang wars, few convictions were made Chicago was the center of most gang activity Gangsters also partook in other illegal ventures: prostitution, narcotics, gambling Monkey Business in Tennessee Education continued to improve - more states required young people to stay in school until 16 or 18 Amount of 17 year olds who graduated school almost doubled in the 1920s to more than 1/4 Professor John Dewey created progressive learning or "learning by doing" Advances in health care increased the life expectancy from 50 years in 1901 to 59 in 1921 Progressive learning and science both subjected to criticism from Fundamentalists Said that teaching Darwinism was destroying faith in God and the Bible and the moral breakdown of youth in the jazz age-attempts were made to stop the teaching of evolution, especially in the Bible Belt South "Monkey Trial" held at Dayton, Tennessee in John T. Scopes found guilty and fined $100 Against him was former presidential candidate Bryan who died of stroke 5 days later Hollow victory for Fundamentalists, looked sort of silly Bible ended up still being the main source of America's spiritual life The Mass Consumption Society Prosperity came to the US in the 1920s There was rapid expansion of capital investments and ingenious machines were made Henry Ford invented the assembly line which sparked the huge automobile business A new arm of American commerce was made-advertising Sports also became big business Several games entrance fees made a million dollars+ The idea of paying on credit also came about now

3 Putting America on Rubber Tires The invention of the automobile was the most influential of the 1920s w/ it's assembly-line methods and massproduction techniques Europeans actually invented the car but Americans adapted it Henry Ford and Ransom E. Olds [Oldsmobile] were the main developers of the auto industry 1910: 60+ existing car companies annually produced a total of 181,000 units They were slow and unreliable, stalling frequently Detroit was the motorcar capital of America Frederick W. Taylor, inventor/engineer, introduced many useful efficiency techniques Henry Ford contributed most to America's automobile-ization Model T was cheap, ugly, rugged, reasonable reliable, rough, and clattering Behavior of the car was so eccentric that it was made fun of a lot Henry was an ill-educated millionaire & his empire was based on his associate's organizational talent Devoted himself to the gospel of standardization Sold a total of 20 million Model T's by 1930 By 1929, 26 million motor vehicles were registered in the US; averaging 1 for every 4.9 Americans [more cars in US then in the whole world at that point] The Advent of the Gasoline Age This industry depended on steel but displaced steel from its kingpin role 6 Million were employed by 1930 Others were created by supporting roles Rubber, Glass, Fabrics, and highway construction all contributed to jobs America's standard of living also increased The petroleum industry boomed with development of oil derricks throughout the nation The railroad industry took a significant hit due to the widespread use of cars, busses, and trucks There were many positive effects Speedy marketing of perishable foods Farms could get their goods to the market faster, cheaper, and fresher The need for roads caused America to build the finest network of hard surfaced roads in the world The new cars also allowed for more leisure time Less attractive states lost population at an alarming rate By the late 1920s Americans owned more cars than bathtubs Busses consolidated school districts The need for speed made citizens statistics By 1951, 1 million had died on the road Crime was aided by cars because it allowed for a quick get away The automobile contributed to a notably improved air quality, despite its later notoriety as a polluter Humans Develop Wings Gasoline allowed people to fly The Wright brothers stayed airborne for 12 seconds in their plane on December 17, 1903 Planes were used for various purposes during the Great War ( ) The first transcontinental airmail route was established from NY to San Francisco in 1920 Charles Lindbergh flew his plane from NY to Paris in a courageous 33 hour 39 minute flight This gave birth to an giant new industry The accident rate was high, though only slightly higher than that of the railroads By the 1930's travel on airways was significantly safer than on a highway Took many of the passengers of railroads greatly hurting the RR industry Ariel bombs made some consider the planes as a curse Made travel much quicker, it "shriveled the world"

4 The Radio Revolution Guglielmo Marconi invented wireless telegraphy in the 1890s and his creation was used for long-range communication in WWI Next the voice-carrying radio came along, baffling many Other miracles were the transatlantic wireless phonographs, radiotelegraphy and television Radios at first only reached local areas but by the late 1920s technological improvements made long-distance broadcasting possible National commercials took over local programming commercials made radio a vehicle for American free enterprise Radios drew families back to the home and helped knit together communities and neighborhoods and THE NATION once more The radio was a large contribution educationally and culturally Sports were stimulated Politicians had to adjust to the millions as opposed to thousands World events effected people more personally Music of various artists and symphony orchestras were more widely listened to and known The radio helped people who couldn't go experience these kind of events Hollywood's Filmland Fantasies Many inventors made the movie (including Edison) 1890s: Started out in the "naughty peep-show penny arcades" 1903: The Great Train Robbery airs First story sequence (not quite a movie) played in 5cent theaters called "nickelodeons" The Birth of a Nation by D.W.Griffith (1915) was about the old KKK Hollywood was sunny and such, so was the movie capital Used "anti-kaiser" movies during WWI to sell bonds and boost morale 1927: "Talkies" came to be The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson had sound Theaters were set up to play movies with music and voices Color movies were being made Movies were the new entertainment of the era Movie stars made more than the President People knew movie star names better than political ones Sort of like today Had profound effect of assimilation on immigrants Helped them learn the culture/language and fit in Led to working-class bridge of language barrier Helped them get reforms (strikes more effective because can talk to one another now) The Dynamic Decade Census of 1920 showed that most lived in urban areas Women were finding (crappy) jobs in cities These jobs had low wages Often not good (retail clerks, office typing...) These jobs were deemed "women's work" Margaret Sanger: Attempted (and succeeded) a Birth-Control Movement

5 Flappers Alice Paul: Started National Women's Party (1923) Wanted an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution/Succeeded 70 yrs. later Churches were changing OLD: Fundamentalists, Hellfire and Brimstone, Don't Sin or You Will Burn Forever NEW: God is your friend and the world is a "chummy" place Some made "wholesome" movies for the young'uns Some had advertisement Women were more free Flappers had short hair and short dresses More makeup One-piece Bathing suits Jazz was the tunes of the era Moved up from New Orleans during WWI with the migrating Blacks W.C.Handy wrote "St. Louis Blues" and it became a classic "Jelly Roll" Morton, Joseph "Joe" King Oliver, Paul Whiteman were all famous Racial pride developed in the North HARLEM: one of the largest black communities anywhere Langston Hughes wrote The Weary Blues (1926) Marcus Garvey was a political leader Founded United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Hoped to help blacks return to Africa He sponsored all-black businesses to put "black money in black pockets" Eventually deported (1927) UNIA helped new-comers to the north establish racial pride, even after the deportation

6 Cultural Liberation The writer's of the previous era were dying out Henry James died 1916 Henry Adams died 1918 William Dean Howells died in 1920 Some managed to carry through Edith Wharton and Willa Cather were still popular New writers became well-known Most came from culturally different backgrounds Gave American literature "...a new vitality, imaginativeness, and artistic quality." H.L. Mencken was "Bad Boy of Baltimore" Wrote in American Mercury about marriage, patriotism, democracy, prohibition, Rotarians, middle-class America, the South, and Puritans Criticized heavily "Puritanism was the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might be happy." The war affected many new writers F. Scott Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise (1920), was called a bible for the young. The Great Gatsby (1925) Theodore Dreiser An American Tragedy (1925) had a similar theme to Gatsby Ernest Hemingway Fought in Italy in 1917 The Sun Also Rises (1926) told of the expatriates in Europe A Farewell to Arms (1929) told all about the war experience Some writers turned to small-town life Sherwood Anderson Winesburg, Ohio (1919) told about a wide array of characters Sinclair Lewis Main Street (1920) was about a woman's war against provincialism William Faulkner Soldier's Pay (1926) was about the war The Sound and the Fury (1929) and As I Lay Dying (1930) were both about the South in the past Ezra Pound Had a "Make It New" doctrine/strongly influenced T.S. Eliot T.S. Eliot "The Waste Land" (1922) was very influential Robert Frost Wrote about New England e.e.cummings Used new diction and typesets to get interesting effects Plays were changed, too Eugene O'Neill Had more than a dozen productions Won the Nobel Prize in 1936 Artists (painters) rose up in Greenwich Village Harlem had some outstanding black artists Writers Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston Jazz Artists Louis Armstrong, Eubie Blake Architecture changed Frank Lloyd Wright supported making the building "grow from their sites" Empire State Building was a great achievement at 102 stories tall Louie Armstrong

7 Wall Street's Big Bull Market Signs pointed to a crash of the economic joyride in the 1920s, several hundred banks failed annually "Something-for-nothing" craze Real estate speculation Stock exchange Speculations ran wild, boom-or-bust trading pushed market up great peaks Stock market=gambling den Practically everyone was buying stocks "on margin" (Credit with a small down payment) Rags-to-riches Americans Few responded to warnings that the prosperity couldn't last forever Little was done by Wash. DC to slow down $-mad speculators 1914, national debt=$1,188,235,400 $23,976,250,608 in 1921 Conservative principles of $ management pointed to surplus funds to reduce financial burden 1921, Republican Congress made a businesslike move toward economic sanity by creating Bureau of the Budget Bureau's director assist president in preparing estimates of receipts & expenditures for submission to Congress as the annual budget This new reform was set to prevent haphazardly extravagant appropriations The taxes inherited from the war were especially distasteful to Secretary of the Treasury Mellon as well as to his fellow millionaires. Their theory was that such high levies forced the rich to invest in tax-exempt.rather than in the factories that provided prosperous payrolls. They also argued that high taxes not only discouraged business but, in so doing, also brought a smaller net return to the Treasury than moderate taxes. Mellon helped engineer a series of tax reductions from 1921 to 1926 Congress followed his lead by repealing the excess-profits tax, abolishing the gift tax, and reducing excise taxes, the surtax, the income tax, and estate taxes. In 1921 a wealthy person with and income of $1 million had paid $663,000 in income taxes, in 1926 the same person paid about $200,000. Secretary Mellon's spare-the-rich policies shifted much of the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle-income groups. Mellon reduced the national debt by $10 billion but many believe he should have reduced the debt even more.