THE ROARIN TWENTIES AND GREAT DEPRESSION STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

THE ROARIN TWENTIES AND GREAT DEPRESSION STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS

THE ROARIN TWENTIES

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION The Russian Revolution, which occurred in 1917, was led by the Bolsheviks, who were led by Vladimir Lenin Revolutionaries seized power, eliminated the royal family, and created a new government based on the social and economic system of communism Communists revolutionaries began to call for a worldwide revolution

THE RED SCARE AND THE PALMER RAIDS The Russian Revolution and call for international revolution caused many Americans to fear that communism would spread worldwide this led to a wave of fear that became known as the Red Scare Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer took action against the Red Scare by appointing J. Edgar Hoover to head a new anti-radical division of the Justice Department (FBI) to engage in a series of raids to hunt down suspected Communists, socialists, and anarchists (people who oppose government) The series of raids turned up no evidence of any revolutionary attempts or threats of weaponry

PREJUDICE AND INTOLERANCE The Red Scare led to increased prejudice and cultural/ethnic intolerance Americans began to suspect and turn on immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists who evaded the draft during World War I they were accused of robbing and murdering a factory paymaster and his guard in Massachusetts, and stealing the $15,000 payroll They provided alibis, there was circumstantial evidence, and the judge even made prejudicial comments during the trial they were found guilty and sentenced to death Despite worldwide protests, the two were executed in the electric chair on August 23, 1927 During the 1920s, fueling off of the prejudices of the era, the Ku Klux Klan revived with massive new enrollment, leading to some violence, and political influence

LABOR UNIONS AND STRIKES In 1919, Boston police officers went on strike after a group of representatives seeking pay increases was fired by the police commissioner the strike was ended after Governor Calvin Coolidge called in the National Guard and the strikers chose to end it The strikers were fired by the commissioner and new officers were hired with the same benefits the strikers were asking for Also in 1919, U.S. Steel workers walked off the job after the company refused to meet with them the strike was eventually put down after strike leaders were compared to Communists and attempts to work out differences were deadlocked Yet another labor union strike occurred in 1919 throughout the country when coalminers went on strike the leader of the UMW, John L. Lewis, led the fight which finally was broken and ended in 1920 Labor union strikes failed primarily as a result of immigration, disorganization, agrarian independence, and the exclusion of African- Americans

NORMALCY AND ISOLATIONISM In a desire to return to normalcy after the horrors of war, Americans elected Warren G. Harding to the presidency in 1920 Harding will devote his administration to the goal of returning to normalcy and strengthening the American economy Weary of war, the United States entered into the Kellogg-Briand Pact which renounced war as an instrument of national policy Harding tried to return to an isolationist foreign policy designed to keep the American economy strong the Fordney-McCumber Tariff raised the tax on imports to an extremely high 60% in an effort to protect American businesses The Tariff will be detrimental to European countries who will then turn to the crippled Germans for financial help in the end, the United States would loan Germany money, who would then in turn pay off Britain and France, who would pay off the United States

IMMIGRATION Nativist attitudes had been growing in the United States since the massive wave of immigration in the 1880s these sentiments were fueled by the anarchists and socialists who Americans viewed as radicals and revolutionaries By 1921, Congress decided the time had come to limit immigration into the United States the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 placed limits on the number of immigrants that could enter the United States from each country European immigration was cut down sharply as a result of the quota, but immigration from Canada and Mexico still continued in large numbers

HARDING AND SCANDAL Warren G. Harding had a cabinet that consisted of both qualified individuals like Charles Evans Hughes and Andrew Mellon, and a bunch of rowdy poker buddies that became known as the Ohio Gang included in the Ohio Gang was Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall who would later be associated with the Teapot Dome Scandal Harding s administration was associated with a variety of scandals Harding faced the same dilemma Grant faced years before, with friends using their positions to increase their own wealth through kickbacks and graft The most notable of the scandals was the Teapot Dome Scandal in which Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall transferred oil rich lands from the Navy s control to the Department of the Interior s control the change seemed to make sense, but Fall then leased the lands to oil companies providing himself with $325,000 in bonds and cash, as well as ranches and prize livestock Harding died on August 2, 1923 leaving Calvin Coolidge as the new President of the United States Coolidge hoped to restore America s faith in government and was elected president in 1924

AMERICAN BUSINESS Throughout the 1920s, the United States underwent an era of extreme prosperity, with Americans owning 40% of the world s wealth The popularity of the automobile also soared during the era auto sales increased leading to widespread changes Paved roads/tunnels/interchanges New home designs Gas stations Public garages Traffic signals Commercial establishments Urban sprawls allowing cities to expand Increased mobility Freedom Changes in youth culture During this era, the airplane industry also began to grow beginning with mail transport, and leading to commercial transport Ford developed a tri-motor plane, and Lockheed developed a single engine plane

New, modern electrical conveniences also developed including Radio Phonograph Washing machine Vacuum cleaner Sewing machine Electric irons Refrigerators Cooking ranges With new goods flooding the market, the growth of advertising emerged the focus was no longer on simply explaining the product, but rather appealing to buyers and drawing them into the product Chain stores began to surface throughout the country such as Woolworth s selling groceries, drugs, shoes, and clothes Consumers also began purchasing goods using installment plans allowing consumers to take goods home and pay for them later many economists worried that the purchasing of goods on installment plans would foster a superficial prosperity

AMERICAN LIFE CHANGES Throughout the 1920s, Americans were flooding to the cities chasing a new, exciting lifestyle and economic prosperity the culture in major cities was very different than in the small rural communities in moral and social terms A result of the progressive movement of the early 1900s was prohibition the Eighteenth Amendment which became effective in January 1920 outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol The era prohibition led to drinkers going underground and obtaining their liquor illegally in hidden clubs known as speakeasies (once inside, you spoke easily to avoid detection) the mixture of customers inside consisted of fashionable middle class and upper middle class men and women

ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE MOB With alcohol now illegal, many began to make their own liquor from cheap stills bought at hardware stores, and even received prescriptions and bought sacramental wine Bootleggers began to provide the American public with a new service smugglers would bring liquor in from Canada, Cuba, and the West Indies Americans were in open defiance of the law, and nobody seemed to care politicians, police officers, and judges were all bribed to stay clear of their activities Prohibition led to the development of organized crime which made crime a business underworld gangs began smuggling in alcohol and maintaining widespread distribution The most noted gangster was Alfonse Capone whose empire in Chicago netted over $60 million a year Capone was viewed by many as a hero, but by others, a menace It would be Treasury Agent Eliot Ness (at least in pop culture)who in the end would bring Capone down on tax evasion this was the only crime, authorities could get on Capone By the mid-1920s, only 19% of Americans agreed with prohibition, eventually lead to the end of prohibition in 1933 with passage of the 21 st Amendment

SCIENCE vs. RELIGION During the 1920s, America was involved in yet another conflict secular and fundamentalist groups were clashing over the relationship between religion and science American Fundamentalism was a Protestant movement with a literal interpretation of the Bible this literal interpretation was evident in the manner in which Fundamentalists viewed creation (six days, no changes) One of the principal figures during this era was Billy Sunday, a former baseball player turned preacher whose animated speaking style wowed crowds and fired them up In 1925, Tennessee passed the nation s first law that made it a crime to teach evolution the ACLU (founded in 1920) promised to defend any teacher who would challenge the law A biology teacher in Dayton, TN agreed to the challenge John Scopes taught evolution and was promptly arrested The ACLU hired Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes William Jennings Bryan served as special prosecutor In the end, Bryan admitted that the Bible could be interpreted different ways, going against Fundamentalism, but the law stayed on the books and Scopes was fined for the offense The primary outcome of the trial was the prominence the ACLU received and maintained

THE TWENTIES WOMAN In the 1920s, a new kind of woman developed the flapper was an emancipated young woman with the following characteristics: Short, jet black, bobbed hair Rouge and lipstick Jewelry Skin-toned silk stockings Short dresses and felt hats Smoked and drank in public Danced provocatively Sexual independence and promiscuity Casual dating Despite the change in behavior of women, there still existed a double standard that granted men freedoms women did not have

POP CULTURE IN THE TWENTIES Americans began to look for new heroes after World War I and found them in various ways Babe Ruth, slugger for the New York Yankees hit a record 60 home runs in 1927 becoming a national hero Charles Lindbergh also proved to be a national hero after making the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic in his famous plane, The Spirit of St. Louis The arts also provided many new faces including the following George Gershwin composer of Rhapsody in Blue Georgia O Keefe artist famous for southwest works Walt Disney Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie Sinclair Lewis first American to win Nobel for Lit F. Scott Fitzgerald author of The Great Gatsby Ernest Hemingway author of A Farewell to Arms

AFRICAN-AMERICANS GROW RESTLESS Between 1910 and 1920 African- Americans began moving to northern cities in large numbers searching for jobs and better treatment the northern cities did not welcome the newcomers and as tensions grew, urban race riots began to break out Another idea to transplant African- Americans in the 1920s came from Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) suggesting that African- Americans return to Africa, overthrow the white oppressors there and establish an independent African nation

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE During the 1920s, a new burst of creativity came about in the New York neighborhood of Harlem in which African-American culture was celebrated via a literary and artistic movement One of the most prominent literary figures of the era was Langston Hughes, who wrote poems describing the everyday lives of working-class African-Americans Another key figure was Claude McKay whose militant verses urged African-Americans to counter prejudice and discrimination African-Americans also played a major role in the popular music of the era Jazz music was born in the early 1900s in New Orleans with a blending of ragtime and vocal blues The most notable trumpet player of the era was Louis Armstrong who was able to improvise while playing the trumpet Duke Ellington was another prominent figure he played the piano in the Cotton Club drawing in large numbers of white and black patrons Cab Calloway, along with Louis Armstrong, popularized a new style of jazz known as scat which was jazz singing using sounds rather than words One of the greatest female blues singers of the era was Bessie Smith, who became the highest paid black artist in the world in 1927