Intolerance and the 1932 election

The Key Question:

How far was the US a

free and equal society

in the 1920’s?

- How widespread was racial

intolerance in US society?

- What were the ‘Roaring

Twenties’?

- Why was prohibition

introduced, and then later

repealed?

- How far did the roles of

women change during the

1920s?

Changing attitudes in the 1920s; race

relations and discrimination against African

Americans; the Ku Klux Klan; the ‘Roaring

Twenties’; film and other media; the Red

Scare; the case of Sacco and Vanzetti;

prohibition and reasons for its repeal in

1934; gangsterism and corruption; change

and continuity in the roles of women.

Tolerance: Women – greater freedom

• The rise of the ‘flapper’.

• No longer needed chaperones.

• Could drink, smoke and kiss in public.

• Divorces doubled between 1914 and 1929.

• 19th Amendment (voting) August 1920.

• However:

• More in the cities than in the country eg. Anti Flirt League

• Few women elected into politics by 1929 (Eleanor Roosevelt was the exception rather than the rule)

Intolerance: Racism

• Johnson-Reid Act (1924) – banned Asian immigration, quota of 150,000 per year all immigration.

• The Klu Klux Klan – increasingly popular after the screening of the film: Birth of a Nation in 1915

• Lynchings, beatings etc of Black African Americans

• Mainly in areas of WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestants), the Bible Belt/Deep South

• 4.5 million members at their peak in 1924

• Governors of Oklahoma and Oregon were both members of the Klan

Intolerance: The Red Scare

Causes:

• The Russian Revolution 1917 – Americans feared Communism spreading to America (NOT the Domino Theory)

• Fear of immigration from Eastern Europe.

• Increasing hysteria whipped up by the press etc eg. J Edgar Hoover having files on 60,000 suspects with 10,000 being deported (only 556 had any basis in fact!)

Evidence that this was a ‘reality’

• 1919 – 400,000 workers going on strike

• Police going on strike in Boston

• Bombs (36) being sent to prominent Americans including the Attorney General.

Intolerance: Scope and Sacco and Vanzetti

Scopes

• Tennessee (Bible belt) had banned the teaching of evolution.

• Scopes taught it anyway – he was put on trial.

• Found guilty and fined $100.

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Put on trial for murder despite having a strong alibi.

• Judge referred to them as “those anarchist bastards” and described Vanzetti as an “enemy of existing institutions”

• Sentenced to death

• Executed in 1927 despite massive protests.

Intolerance: Prohibition - Causes

• 18th Amendment (Volstead Act) proposed in 1917 and became law in 1920.

• By 1916 21 states had already banned saloons.

• Anti Saloon League and Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

• Dries claimed that 3000 infants were smothered each year by drunk parents.

Intolerance: Prohibition - successes

• Levels of alcohol consumption fell by 30% in the 1920s

• Enforcement could be effective eg. Izzy and Moe (prohibition agents) found alcohol in New Orleans within 35 seconds.

• In 1929 66, 878 arrests were made.

Intolerance: Prohibition - failures

• The majority of Americans just weren’t willing to obey the law leading to a black market eg. William Mckoy made 70 million smuggling in illegal alcohol..

• Maryland never even introduced prohibition.

• By 1925 there were more speakeasies in cities than there had been saloons in 1919.

• Corruption – “Put your hands on the table, both of them. Every son of a bitch wearing a diamond is fired”, George Remus etc

• Gang violence – Gangs made over $2 billion from the sale of illegal alcohol, Al Capone made $60 million per year just from his speakeasies.

• This caused increased gang violence eg. St Valentine’s Day Massacre (7 members of Bugsy Moran's gang dead – 1929).

• 1926 and 1927 saw 130 gangland murders in Chicago, but not one arrest.

The Wall Street Crash

What were the

causes and

consequences of

the Wall Street

Crash?

- What impact did the

Crash have on the

economy?

- What were the social

consequences of the

Crash?

- Why did Roosevelt win

the election of 1932?

The Wall Street Crash and its financial

effects; the economic and social

effects for Americans in urban areas

and in the countryside; the reaction

of President Hoover to the Crash and

the Depression; the Bonus Marchers

and ‘Hoovervilles’; the Presidential

election of 1932; Hoover’s and

Roosevelt’s programmes; reasons

why Roosevelt won; the contrast

between Roosevelt’s and Hoover’s

views of the role of government.

The Wall Street Crash: Causes

• The stock market was becoming a ‘sure fire’ way to make money eg. Union Carbide shares increased by $268 in 7 months (1929)

• Increased share ownership – more people were buying shares without understanding the Stock Market (1920 4 million share owners, by 1929 this was 20 million)

• Increased speculation – buying and selling shares quickly for a short term profit, this created instability in the companies (600,000 speculators).

• Buying on the Margin – people putting 10% of the price of the shares down and borrowing the rest from the bank.

• Banks lent $9 billion for speculating in 1929 alone.

The Wall Street Crash: Impacts

• Unemployment: By 1933 14 million workers were unemployed, Toledo 80%.

• Banks: They went bust, 1929 659 went bankrupt

• Industry and farming: Production dropped by 40% and wages by 60% betewen 1928 and 1933. Farm income had dropped to $5 billion per year.

• Bonus Marchers: WWI veterans marched to aske for their war bonus to be paid early. General MacArthur burnt their camp down.

• Human cost: Hoovervilles and malnutrition 45 people died in New York in 1932.

The 1932 Election

Hoover:

• ‘Prosperity is just around the corner’, believed in Rugged Individualism and the policies that had worked in the 1920s eg. Blocked the Garner-Wagner relief bill that would have provided $2.1 billion to create jobs.

• He did cut taxes and introduce tariffs, but these did not stimulate the economy.

• Standing by MacArthur over the Bonus Marchers lost him support.

Roosevelt:

• Campaigned to do something, travelled 20,800 km and gave 16 major speeches (plus 60 from the back of the train). Promised a ‘New Deal’, but carefully didn’t give any details!