Transcript 1920s
The Roaring 1920s AKA time after World War I to 1930 End of World War I • • • • • • • Dates of World War I? Whose assassination “started” the war? What countries were involved? What treaty ends the war to end all wars? What countries make up this treaty? What country was told to pay reparations? What country has to decrease their military? • Like Edward Cullen, many soldiers caught inFLUenza in 1918 – it was an epidemic that swept across the world – 50 to 100 million died. Over 500 million were infected with inFLUenza. The inFLUenza epidemic lasted until 1920. The Red Scare Communism Started in the Soviet Union –previously known as Russia Lenin was a big push for Communism Communism is the principal that everyone should share equally in a society’s wealth. A system that has no economic classes and no private property. 1% of 1% were actually Communist Communism Fear = Palmer Raids Palmer was looking for: • Anarchists – radical people who sought the destruction of the government. • Deported about 6000 suspected Communists. America’s Capitalism • Companies encouraged workers to reject union and accept lower wages. • Companies gave fringe benefits to employees. Criminal Syndicalism Laws • Passed by many states during the Red Scare of 19191920, these outrageous laws outlawed the mere advocacy of violence to secure social change. Stump speakers for the International Workers of the World, or IWW, were special targets. • These were enacted because of the Russian Revolution. • Can invade peoples homes and jobs with out a search warrant and jail them for weeks without seeing a lawyer. Sacco and Vanzetti Klu Klux Klan What the KKK is Against Foreigners Jewish Catholics Evolution Immigration restrictions Short skirts “demon rum” Blacks Unions Pacifists Communists Internationalist Revolutionists Adultery Gambling Bootlegging Birth Control What the KKK is for • Keeping blacks “in THEIR place” • White – Anglo-Saxon • Protestant • “Native” Americans Ku Klux Klan • Organized in Georgia by William Simmons – not Forrest Gump's grandfather • At its peak claimed over 5,000,000 members • Price to join KKK $10 a piece • It virtually collapses in the late 1920s because of being publicly exposed as corrupt and a money racket Tulsa Race Riot 1921 Immigrants • 800,000 NEW immigrants – what’s different about these immigrants? Xenophobia • Emergency Quota Act 1921 – 3% quota (1910 pop) • Immigration Act 1924 – 2% quota and no Japanese and discriminated against southern and eastern Europeans (1890 pop) • National Origins Act 1924 – reduce immigration to the US from European countries to 150,000 • By 1931 more people left America than came here. • Quota system does not apply to Western Hemisphere. Canada allowed 1 million and Mexico half a million. Xenophobia continued • This “fear” caused many aliens, citizens of other countries living in the US, to be deported against their will to another country. • This “fear” also lead to nativism, distrust of foreigners. • Many immigrants lived in neighborhoods with their own churches, newspapers, and theaters – so they could keep their culture alive. Agriculture in the 1920s • During World War I, the federal government had subsidized and paid absurdly high prices for wheat and other grains in an effort to support the war. example $2 for a bushel of wheat by 1920 down to 67 cents • The federal government had encouraged farmers to buy more land, modernize their methods, and produce more food. Agriculture in the 1920s • In Europe farm production revives after the war. • Advancement like pesticides and fertilizers increased yield per acre • Because of this prices fall in the United States and farmers lose money – supply & demand • This leads to the farm crises in the 1920s because competition grew when European farmers returned to their fields. • Farmers were eventually paid NOT to produce Prohibition = 18th Amendment Volstead Act 1919 Enforcement of prohibition THE OG Gang Activity By 1930, gangs in Chicago were making an ANNUAL profit between $12-18 BILLION Education IMPORTANT • Successful industries • People making more money (income) • Fewer families relying on children’s work • 4 million kids attended high school – home economics classes offered. • John Dewey is the “father of progressive education” Scopes Monkey Trail Trial of the Century Business Installment Buying • Paying for an item over time in small payments – consumer credit. • A dollar down a dollar “forever” • Electrical appliances made life easier for women – washing machines, vacuums, refrigerators Sports National Negro League Leisure Activities Independence, Employment, Urbanization, and Status Symbol Thanks Ford and Talyor Assembly Line A production system in which the item being built moves along a conveyor belt to various work stations and each member of the team helps construct the item. Producing a finished automobile about every 10 seconds. Impact of the Cars • More jobs 6 million – building highways, paving roads, gas stations, motels, shopping centers • Smaller lawns, houses with garages and driveways • Suburbs • Holland tunnel 1927 • Deaths – 1,000,000 by 1950 Tin-Can Tourists Mini-Vacations Chain Stores Parade to pitch toy market Historic Flight Dear Sir! Have 50.000$ redy 25.000$ in 20$ bills 15.000$ in 10$ bills and 10.000$ in 5$ bills After 2–4 days we will inform you were to deliver the mony. We warn you for making anyding public or for notify the Police The child is in gut care. Indication for all letters are Singnature and three holes. Entertainment Radios • November 1920 KDKA first radio station Announced Harding presidential victory • Automobile lured Americans away from home the radio brought them back – soap operas, comedies, news • Everyone could hear the same thing at the same time – united America together. • By 1929 40% of all Americans own a working radio The Great Train Robbery The Jazz Singer Steamboat Willie Flapper Decade Women bobbed their hair, Shortened their skirts, Wore make-up, pink collar jobs, Smoked, and Drank Casual dating occurred - Sigmund Freud Birth control movement – Margaret Sanger First Miss America pageant 1921 DANCES IN THE 1920S African American influence Great Migration Harlem Renaissance United Negro Improvement Association – Marcus Garvey Self-confidence and selfreliance Sponsored black-owned businesses Promoted resettlement of American blacks in Africa Was convicted of mail fraud and deported by the US goverment End Discrimination & Mistreatment Literature • Bruce Barton The Man Nobody Knows • F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby • Ernest Hemingway Farewell to Arms, Sun also Rises • William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury • T.S. Eliot – poet • Eugene O’Neill – playwright 19th Amendment Republican Presidents President Harding • “a return to normalcy” slogan • First president election where women could vote • Federal budget balanced • Drank bootleg liqueur during prohibition • Dies August 2, 1923 from a coronary thrombosis due to pneumonia President Hoover • Quaker • Supported prohibition • Stock market crashes during his presidency causing – Average income for American’s down 50% by 1932 and unemployment reached 25% – 9000 banks fail Politics The Teapot Dome scandal concerned Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall’s willingness to accept bribes to allow oil companies to drill on federally owned land in California and Wyoming. Politics • Kellogg-Briand Pact agreed to reject war as a way of solving international disputes. Politics • Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921 allotted $1,000,000 a year to educate expectant mothers on proper self-health issues and child care. Not everything is coming up roses in the 1920s There were critics about the 1920s. H.L. Mencken was a major cultural critic he complained about -democracy -the South -patriotism -Puritanism Economy in the 1920s • Americans had more leisure time • Americans had a shorter work week • More women working 22% of work force average age of a woman working was 25 • Americans invested in the Stock Market • Americans were buying everything from washing machines to cars • National debt reduced 1/3 – Andrew Mellon. He placed the heaviest tax burden on the middleincome groups. Bull Market • Top 1% of Americans had combined income equal to the bottom 40% • Buying Stocks on Margin (borrowing to invest) • Comes to a screeching halt in October 1929 with the collapse of the stock market • $26 - 40 million was lost • 4 million people out of work in 1930 Empire State Building