Coping with Change1920-1929

In many ways modern America began in the “Roaring Twenties”

It was a time of rapid economic growth, technological advances, and changing social and cultural values

With millions of cars coming off Detroit’s assembly lines, Americans took to the roads

They were entertained by movies and radio programs

They bought an array of new consumer products

All of these new developments in society stimulated great artistic creativity, but also contributed to social tensions, fears, and culture wars

1.) Why was the economy so prosperous in the 1920’s and how were different social groups affected by the economic boom?

2.) What were the dominant political values of the 1920’s, and how did Republican presidents of the period represent them?

3.) What was the new popular culture of the decade, and which Americans did it barely touch?

4.) What developments in the period contributed to both the social tensions and the artistic flowering?

STRIKES!

Post war demand for consumer

goodsJob

marketconstricts

Soldiers returning home

Salaries stagnant↑ demand causes

inflation

Lay-offs

Seattle General Strike; Boston Police Strike

Overall, Wages Not all workers shared the pay

increases:▪ Southern workers▪ African-Americans▪ Mexican-Americans▪ Recent immigrants▪ Female workers

Unions impacted by Russian Revolution

Anarchist threat Coolidge fires the

Boston police Reaction to radical

immigrants A. Mitchell Palmer &

Palmer Raids J. Edgar Hoover

Assembly Line: 40% increase productivity! History Channel video--assembly line

= Bigger Profits

Corporate Merges

Corporations joined together in trade associations Fixed prices Divide markets

Chain Stores A.P. Grocery Displaced small, independently owned retail stores

Big business successfully boosted sales and profits Introduced credit Relied heavily on advertising

women working outside the home = 24% earned less than men Corporations:

Secretaries Typists Filing clerks

Teaching and nursing

Stand Pat Politics in a Decade of Change 1920 election

▪ Republicans Warren G. Harding

▪ Democrats James Cox▪ Harding easily won

Harding admin. -riddled w/ corruption▪ He put friends in high

positions which they abused

Fall 1923, Harding had heart attack;died

Calvin Coolidge assumed the presidency

In the Coolidge administration corruption lessened

The probusiness attitudes continued

High tariffs protected domestic manufacturers from foreign competition

“trickle down” theory Supported by Sec. of Treasury

Andrew Mellon Congress lowered federal

taxes for the wealthy

Supreme Court declared the federal child labor law unconstitutional

Under Chief Justice William Howard Taft Appointed by Harding

Coolidge promoted govt. assistance to business; h/e opposed federal aid to all other groups He refused to extend relief to 1927 flood

victims Twice vetoed the McNary-Haugen bill

▪ Which proposed to have Washington buy up surplus farm commodities at good prices

The U.S.A. followed an independent internationalism

International naval arms conference, 1921

The 1920’s Republican administrations also insisted that the WWI allies repay a portion of their war debts to the U.S.

Then they made it difficult for them to do so Curtailed their sales of goods in the U.S.

with high protective tariffs

Progressive reform sentiment did not completely disappear in the 1920’s

A coalition of labor and farm groups in 1924 revived the Progressive Party Nominated Robert LaFollette for president

Democrats nominated John W. Davis The party was split between urban and

rural wings Republicans nominated Coolidge Coolidge easily won

Ratification of the 19th amendment had less impact on politics in the 1920’s than many women’s rights advocates predicted

The women’s movement splintered: Some feminists backed an equal rights

amendment Other feared it would undermine laws

protecting female workers

Improved technology Many consumer goods

(appliances; radios…) Charles Lindberg crosses

Atlantic non-stop (1927)

Cars Model T $290 in 1920 “auto-touring” growth of suburbs History Channel video--

car

Greater Mobility (easier to move around) People moved from the suburbs and

commuted to work in the cities Created jobs in transportation industry

▪ Road construction▪ Oil▪ Steel▪ Cars▪ Gas stations

Airplane-transports mail and eventually people Charles Lindbergh

Increasingly urban & consumer-oriented culture

New set of values reflecting prosperity & complexity

Increasing diversity of U.S.

Electric refrigerators

Washing machines

Wristwatches

Cigarettes

Cosmetics

Mass-produced fashions

Cars

Advertising industry

Identifying products w/a particular lifestyle

Newspapers

Mass-circulation magazines Ladies’ Home Journal;

Time; Reader’s Digest

NBC

Newspapers Magazines Radio Movies

more literate Americans = increased newspaper circulation SIG – shaped

cultural norms and sparked fads

mass-circulation to reach wide audiences Focused on weekly

news and culture – ex: Reader’s Digest, Time

The radio was the most powerful communications medium of the 1920s Broadcast news, sports,

music (Jazz), children’s programs

SIG – created a more national culture – different audiences around the country hearing the same programs

Movies offered viewers a way to escape their lives through romance and comedy SIG – helped promote a

national culture

 Development of movies—Silent movies! Felix the Cat The Big Parade Mickey Mouse

Babe Ruth - a professional ball player that hit 60 homeruns in one season.

Jack Dempsey - a boxer defeated by Gene Tunney.

Gene Tunney - the boxer that defeated former champion Jack Dempsey.

Johnny Weissmuller - an American Olympic swimmer that won 5 gold medals and was an actor.

Bobby Jones - was the greatest amateur golfer of modern times.

Big Bill Tilden - first American to win men's singles at Wimbledon, England.

Red Grange - was a halfback at the University of Illinois from 1923 to 1925.

The mass production and sales of cars and electric appliances took a heavy toll on the environment and natural resources

Generating enough electricity to power the new appliances consumed millions of tons of coal

The biggest users of oil and gasoline were the millions of automobiles

The nation wasted and needlessly depleted fossil fuels

Pollution of the atmosphere all came from the cars, power plants, steel mills, and other industries

Cars also made it easier for people to visit wilderness areas Tourists’ demands for good roads, hotels, and other

amenities in pristine areas soon threatened to ruin them A few groups protested Americans on the whole were indifferent to the

environmental threat

1920: ↑ 50% Americans live in “cities”

Rural Americans felt threatened Conservative backlash Fundamentalism Rejection of evolution Scopes Trial (1925)

Fundamentalism – def. – belief in the literal interpretation of the bible Led to conflict with

some scientific ideas Rejected the idea that

man had evolved from apes = Darwin’s theory of evolution

The Scopes Trial (1925) – Teacher John T. Scopes violated TN law that banned teaching of evolution in school Featured fight between

defense lawyer Clarence Darrow and prosecution witness William Jennings Bryan

SIG - Highlighted the conflict between science and fundamentalism

Inherit the Wind

Literature: F. Scott

Fitzgerald-novelist who wrote about the jazz age ▪ The Great Gatsby

John Steinbeck-novelist who portrayed the strength of poor migrant workers in the 30s ▪ The Grapes of

Wrath

Art: Georgia

O’Keefe-artist known for urban scenes and later paintings of

the southwest and flowers

Music: Aaron Copland

and George Gershwin- wrote uniquely American music.

Architecture American cities in the 1920’s were filled with

skyscrapersPainters

American artists painted the American scene Urban and rural Past and present

▪ Thomas Hart Benton▪ Edward Hopper▪ Joseph Stella▪ Georgia O’Keeffe

Musicians New classical composers appeared

▪ Aaron Copland The unique contribution of America to

the musical world was jazz▪ George Gershwin▪ Jelly Roll Morton▪ Louis Armstrong▪ Duke Ellington

African American artists, writers, and musicians based in Harlem revealing the freshness and variety of African American culture.

The popularity of these artists spread to the rest of society.

Literature: Langston Hughes-poet who combined the experiences of African and American cultural roots.

Art: Jacob Lawrence-painter who chronicled the Great Migration North through art.

Music: Duke Ellington and Lewis Armstrong-Jazz composers; Bessie Smith-Blues singer

It Don’t Mean a Thing

Josephine Baker

I, Too, Sing America by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed--

I, too, am America

–Langston Hughes (Poet)

William H. JohnsonStreet Life -- Harlem

Nightlife by Archibald Motley

1921 Quota Targeted S & E.

Europeans Based on national origin

in 1910 1924 Quota

Based on national origin in 1890

Total immigrants reduced to 150,000 in 1929

Sacco & Vanzetti Murder trial & execution

reflected anti-immigrant feeling

Anarchist Italian immigrants convicted of murder (1927)

Executed despite weak evidence

Cleared of charges in 1977 Vanzetti (on left)

Sacco (on right)

"This man [Vanzetti], although he may not actually have committed the crime attributed to him, is nevertheless morally culpable [guilty], because he is an enemy of our existing institutions. . . . The defendant's ideals are cognate [associated] with crime."

—Judge Thayer

The Second KKK ↑ lynching Now anti-Catholic

& anti-Jewish too Destroyed by

factionalism

Move to northern cities:

ghettosdisappointment

militancyMarcus Garvey

“Back to Africa” movement

Black Nationalism UNIA Influence on Malcolm X

The “Noble Experiment” 18th Amendment WWI Lever Act ↓ public drunkenness Included beer & wine Hypocrisy undermined

morality

History Channel video--prohibition raid

The Election of 1928 Democrats Alfred Smith Republicans Herbert Hoover Hoover easily won

Hoover encouraged voluntary cooperation among corporate leaders: Raise wages Plan production and

marketing Standardize products

Hoover self-regulation by business

After the Great Depression set in, he clung to voluntarism and was reluctant to use govt. power

In the 1920’s Americans tried to adjust to the mass production, mass culture, and urban society that had emerged

The decade’s political leadership was for the most part conservative and backward looking

Those who found this new world unfamiliar and threatening often reacted with repression and hate Supporters of prohibition, fundamentalists,

KKK

Others embraced the new life-styles made possible by radios, cars, movies, and electric appliances

The social ferment also produced an outpouring of creative energy Harlem Renaissance Jazz American literature