Transcript Slide 1

Chapter 20
Postwar Social
Change
(1920–1929)
Society in the 1920s
• How were women’s roles changing during
the 1920s?
• How were the nation’s cities and suburbs
affected by Americans on the move from
rural areas?
• Who were some American heroes of the
1920s? What made them popular with the
American public?
Women’s Changing Roles
The Flapper Image
• The flapper, a type of bold, fun-loving young
woman, came to symbolize a revolution in manners
and morals that took place in the 1920s.
• Flappers challenged conventions of dress, hairstyle,
and behavior.
• Many Americans disapproved of flappers’ free
manners as well as the departure from traditional
morals that they represented.
Women’s Changing Roles
Women Working and Voting
• Although many women held jobs in the 1920s,
businesses remained prejudiced against women
seeking professional positions.
• The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right
to vote in all elections beginning in 1920. At first,
many women did not exercise their right to vote. It
took time for women’s votes to make an impact.
Americans on the Move
Rural-Urban Split
• Although the economy in the cities expanded in the
1920s, many farmers found themselves
economically stressed. This resulted in a migration
from rural to urban areas.
• Rural and urban Americans were also split over
cultural issues. While many in the cities were
abandoning some traditional values, rural
populations generally wanted to preserve these
values.
Americans on the Move
Growth of the Suburbs
• While cities continued to grow, many Americans
moved from cities to suburbs.
• Improvements in transportation made travel
between the cities and suburbs increasingly easy.
• This shift in population was one example of
changing demographics, or statistics that describe a
group of people, during the 1920s.
Waves of Migration
• During the Great Migration, which lasted through
World War I, many African Americans had moved
from the rural South to take jobs in northern cities.
Industrial expansion during the 1920s also
encouraged African American migration to the
North. However, they often faced discrimination in
both the North and the South.
• After World War I, masses of refugees applied for
entry into the United States. Immigration from
China, Japan, and southern and eastern Europe
was limited; however, many immigrants from Mexico
and Canada filled low-paying jobs in the United
States.
Waves of Migration
• Certain areas became magnets for immigrants. A
barrio, or Spanish-speaking neighborhood,
developed in Los Angeles, California; New York
also attracted numerous Spanish-speaking
immigrants.
American Heroes
• Charles Lindbergh
• As the first to fly nonstop from New York to Paris,
aviator Charles Lindbergh was hailed as an
American hero and a champion of traditional
values.
• Amelia Earhart
• Amelia Earhart set records as the first woman to
fly solo across the Atlantic and the first person to
fly solo from Hawaii to California. She and her
navigator mysteriously disappeared while
attempting to fly around the world in 1937.
American Heroes
• Sports Heroes
• Champions in wrestling, football, baseball, and
swimming became American heroes. Perhaps
the most famous sports figure was baseball’s
George Herman “Babe” Ruth, whose record
number of home runs remained unbroken for 40
years.
Mass Media and the Jazz Age
• How did the mass media help create common
cultural experiences?
• Why are the 1920s called the Jazz Age, and how
did the jazz spirit affect the arts?
• How did the writers of the Lost Generation respond
to the popular culture?
• What subjects did the Harlem Renaissance writers
explore?
The Jazz Age
• Jazz, a style of music that grew out of the African
American music of the South, became highly
popular during the 1920s. Characterized by
improvisation and syncopation, jazz became so
strongly linked to the culture of the 1920s that the
decade came to be known as the Jazz Age.
• Harlem, a district in Manhattan, New York, became
a center of jazz music. Flappers and others heard
jazz in clubs and dance halls; the Charleston,
considered by some to be a wild and reckless
dance, embodied the Jazz Age.
• Jazz pioneers Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong
made important contributions to jazz music.
The Jazz Spirit
• Painting
• Like jazz musicians, painters in the 1920s took
the pulse of American life. Painters such as
Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent showed the
nation’s rougher side; Georgia O’Keeffe’s
paintings of natural objects suggested something
larger than themselves.
• Literature
• Novelist Sinclair Lewis attacked American society
with savage irony; playwright Eugene O’Neill
proved that American plays could hold their own
against those from Europe.
The Jazz Spirit
• The Lost Generation
• Gertrude Stein remarked to Ernest Hemingway
that he and other American writers were all a
“Lost Generation,” a group of people
disconnected from their country and its values.
Soon, this term was taken up by the flappers as
well.
The Harlem Renaissance
• In addition to being a center of jazz, Harlem
emerged as an overall cultural center for African
Americans. A literary awakening took place in
Harlem in the 1920s that was known as the Harlem
Renaissance.
• Expressing the joys and challenges of being African
American, writers such as James Weldon Johnson,
Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes enriched
African American culture as well as American
culture as a whole.
Cultural Conflicts
• What were the effects of Prohibition on society?
• What issues of religion were at the core of the
Scopes trial?
• How did racial tensions change after World War I?
Prohibition
• The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
which took effect on January 16, 1920, made the
manufacture, sale, and transport of liquor, beer, and
wine illegal.
• As a result, many Americans turned to bootleggers,
or suppliers of illegal alcohol. Bars that operated
illegally, known as speakeasies, were either
disguised as legitimate businesses or hidden in
some way, often behind heavy gates.
Prohibition
• Prohibition sharpened the contrast between rural
and urban areas, since urban areas were more
likely to ignore the law. Additionally, it increased the
number of liquor-serving establishments in some
major cities to far above pre-Prohibition levels.
Organized Crime
• The tremendous profit resulting from the sale of
illegal liquor, as well as the complex organization
involved, helped lead to the development of
organized crime.
• Successful bootlegging organizations often moved
into other illegal activities as well, including
gambling, prostitution, and racketeering. As rival
groups fought for control in some American cities,
gang wars and murders became commonplace.
Organized Crime
• One of the most notorious criminals of this time was
Al Capone, nicknamed “Scarface,” a gangster who
rose to the top of Chicago’s organized crime
network. Capone proved talented at avoiding jail but
was finally imprisoned in 1931.
Issues of Religion
Fundamentalism
• As science, technology, modern social issues, and
new Biblical scholarship challenged traditional
religious beliefs, a religious movement called
fundamentalism gained popularity.
• Fundamentalism supported traditional Christian
ideas and argued for a literal interpretation of the
Bible.
• Billy Sunday and other famous fundamentalist
preachers drew large audiences.
Issues of Religion
Evolution and the Scopes Trail
• Fundamentalists worked to pass laws against
teaching the theory of evolution in public schools. A
science teacher named John T. Scopes agreed to
challenge such a law in Tennessee. His arrest led
to what was called the Scopes trial.
• The Scopes trial became the first trial to be
broadcast over American radio.
• The case became a public debate between
fundamentalists and modernists.
Racial Tensions
Violence Against African Americans
• Mob violence between white and black Americans
erupted in about 25 cities during the summer of
1919.
• The worst of these race riots occurred in Chicago,
where the African American population had doubled
since 1910. A white man threw a rock at a black
teenager swimming in Lake Michigan, and the boy
drowned. The incident touched off riots that lasted
several days, destroyed many homes, killed several
people and wounded many more.
Racial Tensions
Revival of the Klan
• Although it had been largely eliminated during
Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan regained power
during the 1920s and greatly increased its
membership outside the South.
• The Klan’s focus shifted to include terrorizing not
just African Americans but also Catholics, Jews,
immigrants, and others.
• After the arrest of a major Klan leader in 1925, Klan
membership diminished once again.
Fighting Discrimination
• During the 1920s, the NAACP fought for antilynching laws and worked to promote the voting
rights of African Americans. These efforts, however,
met with limited success.
• A movement led by Marcus Garvey, an immigrant
from Jamaica, became popular with many African
Americans. Garvey, who created the Universal
Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), sought to
build up African Americans’ self-respect and
economic power, encouraging them to buy shares in
his Negro Factories Corporation.
Fighting Discrimination
• Garvey also encouraged his followers to return to
Africa and create a self-governing nation there.
Although corruption and mismanagement resulted in
the collapse of the UNIA, Garvey’s ideas of racial
pride and independence would affect future “black
pride” movements.
Chapter 21
Politics and Prosperity
(1920–1929)
A Republican Decade
• What events fueled the Red Scare of the early
1920s?
• What conflicts led to the major labor strikes of
1919?
• How did Republican leadership during the Harding
and Coolidge presidencies shape the 1920s?
• What issues influenced the presidential election of
1928?
The Red Scare
• Issues of concern in the presidential election of
1920:
• Emerging from the shadow of World War I
• Putting the economy back on track
• Republican Warren G. Harding called for a return to
“normalcy.”
• Many Americans hoped that Harding’s “normalcy”
would protect them from the spread of Russia’s
communism, an ideology openly hostile to
capitalism and First Amendment freedoms.
The Red Scare
• Some Americans were concerned that the
European immigrants entering the United States
were Communists or other radicals.
• Events at home and abroad brought about a Red
Scare, an intense fear of communism and other
radical ideas.
Red Scare Events
• Schenck v. U.S.
• Charles Schenck mailed letters urging men to
avoid military service. Schenck was convicted of
breaking the Espionage Act. In his appeals,
Schenck said he was exercising his freedom of
speech. The Supreme Court said that the
government is justified in silencing free speech
when there is a “clear and present danger.”
Red Scare Events
• Gitlow v. New York
• Socialist Bernard Gitlow published calls for the
violent overthrow of the government. He was
convicted of criminal anarchy. The Supreme
Court upheld his conviction, stating that he had
urged people to engage in violent revolution.
• The Palmer Raids
• Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer ordered the
arrest of thousands of suspected “subversives”
(people trying to overthrow the government)
without evidence. Many were innocent, yet more
than 500 were deported.
Red Scare Events
• Sacco and Vanzetti
• Two anarchists were accused of a robbery and
murder. Many people believed that they were
singled out because they were both radicals and
immigrants. After a trial that many believed was
unfair, the jury found them guilty and sentenced
them to death.
Labor Strikes
The Harding Presidency
• Foreign Policy
• Harding and many Americans wanted a policy of
isolationism, avoiding political or economic
alliances with foreign countries. Harding called for
international disarmament, a program in which
nations voluntarily give up their weapons. He
promoted the expansion of trade and acted to
protect business at home.
The Harding Presidency
• Domestic Issues
• As Americans became more isolationist during
the Red Scare, they also became more nativist.
Nativism is a movement favoring native-born
Americans over immigrants.
• In 1921, Congress passed a law restricting
immigration. The law included a quota, or a
numerical limit imposed on immigrants.
The Harding Presidency
• The Teapot Dome Scandal
• In 1923, corruption scandals rocked Harding’s
administration. The worst was the Teapot Dome
Scandal. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior
secretly gave drilling rights on government land to
two private oil companies in return for illegal
payments. There was no evidence that Harding
was involved in the scandals. He died while still
in office.
The Coolidge Presidency
• Coolidge assumed the presidency after Harding
died.
• He summed up a major theme of the Republican
decade: “The chief business of the American people
is business.”
• Coolidge supported a laissez-faire approach to
business. His economic policies helped fuel the
economic boom of the 1920s.
The Coolidge Presidency
• Coolidge wanted peace and stability without getting
the United States too deeply involved in other
nations.
• Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg worked with the
French foreign minister to create the Kellogg-Briand
Pact. Under this pact more than 60 nations agreed
not to threaten each other with war. Unfortunately,
there were no provisions for enforcement, and many
of the countries that had signed the pact would be at
war with each other by 1941.
A Business Boom
• What role do businesses and consumers play in a
consumer economy?
• How were Henry Ford and the automobile important
to the 1920s?
• In what ways did industrial growth affect the
economy of the 1920s?
• Why did the economic boom bypass some people
and benefit others?
A Consumer Economy
• The 1920s saw the development of a consumer
economy, one that depends on a large amount of
spending by consumers.
• Until the 1920s, middle-class Americans generally
paid cash for everything. Manufacturers developed
installment plans and clever advertising to
encourage consumers to buy on credit.
• Many new electric appliances created a surge in
demand for electricity. Between 1913 and 1927, the
number of electric power customers quadrupled.
A Consumer Economy
• By the 1920s, marketers developed a new approach
to advertising. Advertisers used psychology to
appeal to consumers’ emotions and insecurities to
sell products.
• As consumption rose so did productivity. A
measure of productivity is the Gross National
Product (GNP). The GNP is the total value of goods
and services a country produces annually.
• Productivity rose to meet consumer demand, but it
also rose because the nation developed new
resources, new management methods, and new
technologies.
Ford and the Automobile
• In 1896, Henry Ford perfected his first version of a
lightweight gas-powered car. He called it the
“quadricycle.” The improved version was the Model T.
• Ford wanted to produce a large number of cars and
sell them at prices ordinary people could afford.
• To sell less expensive cars, he adapted the assembly
line for his factories. An assembly line is a process in
which each worker does one specialized task in the
construction of a final product.
Ford and the Automobile
• Ford’s success came partly from vertical
consolidation—controlling the businesses that make
up the phases of production.
• Ford was a complex businessman. His pay rate was
very generous, but he used violence to fight unions.
Industrial Growth and Bypassed by the Boom
Industrial Growth
• Automobile making became the nation’s largest
industry.
• Thousands of new businesses arose to serve
automobile travel.
• Other non-automobile-related industries grew as
well.
• Limited government regulation (laissez-faire
policies) helped the value of businesses to soar.
• Rapid business expansion opened up opportunities
for small companies.
Industrial Growth and Bypassed by the Boom
Bypassed by the Boom
• Some Americans struggled to survive during the
1920s.
• Many unskilled laborers remained poor, and their
wages and working conditions did not improve with
the boom.
• Agricultural industries had expanded to meet wartime
needs but later failed to uncover new markets.
• Railroads suffered from shrinking demand,
mismanagement, competition from trucking firms, and
labor unions that fought against layoffs and wage
cuts.
The Economy in the Late 1920s
• Why did the economy of the late 1920s appear
healthy to most Americans?
• What danger signs were present in the economy of
the late 1920s?
Economy Appears Healthy
• Herbert Hoover won the 1928 election, benefiting
from the years of prosperity under previous
Republican presidents.
• Americans had unusually high confidence in the
economy in the 1920s. People made risky
investments based on the popular notion that
everyone ought to be rich.
• Many employers believed that they could prevent
strikes and keep their productivity high with benefits
that would meet and exceed the demands of
workers. This approach to labor relations is called
welfare capitalism.
Economy Appears Healthy
• Under welfare capitalism employers raised wages,
provided paid vacations, health plans, recreation
programs, and English classes for recent
immigrants. They even set up “company unions” to
hear the concerns of their workers.
• As a result of welfare capitalism, organized labor
lost members during the 1920s.
Economic Danger Signs
• Uneven Prosperity
• The rich got richer
• Huge corporations rather than small business
dominated industry.
• Personal Debt
• The rapid increase of stock prices encouraged:
• Speculation, the practice of making high-risk
investments in hopes of getting a huge return,
and
• Buying on margin, the practice of allowing
investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction
of its price and borrow the rest at high interest
rates.
Economic Danger Signs
• Too Many Goods, Too Little Demand
• Rising productivity had brought prosperity, but it
also created a surplus of goods. Manufacturers
had more product than consumers could buy.
• Trouble for Farmers and Workers
• Farmers unable to pay their debts defaulted on
bank loans, which caused rural banks to fail.
Coolidge vetoed a farm relief bill.
• While companies grew wealthy, many factory
workers remained poor, especially in distressed
industries.
Personal Debt and Income Distribution
in the 1920s