THE US IN THE 1920'S

#1 - 1986

• DBQ: The 1920's were a period of tension between new and changing attitudes on the one hand and traditional values and nostalgia on the other. What led to the tension between old and new AND in what ways was the tension manifested?

#2 - 1983

• "The economic policies of the federal government from 1921 to 1929 were responsible for the nation's depression of the 1930's." Assess the validity of this statement.

#3 - 1979 (partial)

• "During the Twentieth century, American 'progressives' or 'liberals' at some times advocated a strong presidency and expanded executive power, while 'conservatives' opposed the expansion of these powers. At other times the 'liberal' and 'conservative' positions were reversed."

Assess the validity of this statement with reference to the period 1900-1940.

#4 - 1990

• Although American writers of the 1920's and the 1930's criticized American society, the nature of their criticisms differed markedly in the two decades." Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to both decades.

#5 - 1996

• Analyze the ways in which the Great Depression altered the American social fabric in the 1930's.

#6 - 1981

• "The New Deal secured the support of labor and agriculture after 1932 as the Republican party had secured the support of industry and commerce since 1920, with special-interest programs giving financial aid, legal privileges, and other types of assistance."

Assess the validity of this statement, giving attention to both periods (1920-1932 and 1932-1940).

#7 - 1984

• DBQ - President FDR is commonly thought of as a liberal and President Hoover as a conservative. To what extent are these characterizations valid?

#8 - 1993

• Identify THREE of the following New Deal measures and analyze the ways in which each of the three attempted to fashion a more stable economy and a more equitable society.

Agricultural Adjustment Act

Securities and Exchange Commission

Wagner National Labor Relations Act

Social Security Act

A. Disillusionment with WWI

• 1. Progressivism had not solved all domestic problems and
  • World War I had not made the world safe for democracy
• 2. Reality and the problems that go with it returned to America with the end of WWI
• 3. After a painful "readjustment" period, the US would witness a transformation

B. Problems - The early years of the decade

• 1. Demobilization
• 2. Labor strife - Labor unrest (high prices, low wages)
• 3. Fear of revolution
• 4. Rising racial tension
• 5. wild fluctuations in the economy - depression - Boom followed by hard times

C. Dismantling the war machine - Demobilization - unplanned and abrupt

• 1. Demobilization - returning the country to peacetime conditions
• 2. Army - 4 million sent home ISOLATION
  • a. $60 + train ticket home
  • b. no job
• 3. Farm - prosperity declined
  • a. 1000s lost their farms
  • b. exports declined
  • c. depression started for farmers in 1919
• 4. Industries
  • a. temporary shutdown to convert from wartime to peace time
  • b. some factories closed permanently
  • c. unemployment - then prosperity create boom
• 5. Cost of Living
  • a. doubled 1914-1920 - inflation caused by increase in the money supply
  • b. demand was high for scarce goods
  • c. discontent
• 6. Depression resulted - 1920-21

D. Labor Strikes (Samuel Gompers - AFL)

• 1. Prices rose faster than wages
• 2. 1919 - 4+ million workers went on strike
  • 3600 strikes, involving $2b in damages

E. Boston Police Strike - Sept. 1919

• 1. Reason - police not allowed to form union - badly underpaid
• 2. Calvin Coolidge - Mass. governor - sent in state troops to protect the city
• 3. claimed that police had no right to strike because it endangered the public
• 4. Result
  • police were fired and blacklisted
  • Calvin Coolidge gained national recognition - elected VP

F. Steel Strike - 9/19

• 1. Reasons
  • a. 250,000 Indiana steel workers dissatisfied with work conditions
  • b. wanted to form a union
• 2. William Foster - secretary of AFL led the strike
  • a. Foster was a radical
  • b. Public feared revolution
• 3. Result - Jan. 1920 - strike collapsed
  • a. public supported companies
  • b. troops used to prevent picketing
• 4. Significance
  • a. workers viewed as anti-American
  • b. racial tensions increased - black strikebreakers
  • c. years before unions formed and gains were made

G. Coal Strike - Nov. 1919

• 1. Reason - wages controlled by wartime agreement
• 2. John L. Lewis - head of UMW
• 3. Mitchell Palmer - injunction against unions
• 4. Result - miners went back to work and some gains were granted
  • (14% raise instead of 60%, but didn't get a shorter work day)

H. Seattle General Strike

• 1. salaries
• 2. Mayor Ole Hanson - portrayed this as a communist revolution against capitalism
• 3. Result - 60,000 marines were sent in - the strike was crushed

I. Anti-Labor National Mood

• 1. Membership still grew
• 2. Economy began to improve by 1920
• 3. Strikebreaking techniques
  • a. injunctions
  • b. strikebreaking
  • c. Supreme Ct. rulings restricted Unions
• 4. Other factors
  • a. scare headlines
  • b. fear and hatred of immigrants
  • c. congressional investigations of communism
  • d. in Europe labor = communist/socialist
    • -Public questioned worker's loyalty
    • -Blamed foreign "agitators", associated unions with Bolshevism
    • -Helped foster an atmosphere of "Reactionism"
      • (responding to situations w/o understanding what is really happening)
    • -"irrational behavior" due to "fear"
    • -Causes
      • -Disillusionment
      • postwar problems
      • xenophobia (fear of things foreign)
    • -Effects - Intolerance, "Reactionary behavior"

J. The Red Scare - 1919 (Tension)

• 1. 1917 - Bolshevik Revolution
  • Lenin had overthrown Kerensky using labor unions
  • -US had troops in USSR fighting communism
• 2. Transfered "xenophobia" from Germans to communists
• 3. April 1919
  • -bomb in mailbox of GA Senator Thomas Hartwick, injured maid
  • -38 bombs mailed to prominent citizens by fanatics and anarchists (at NY post office)
  • -Sept. - bomb exploded on Wall Street - killed 38 and horse, $2m in damages
  • -Seen as a communist plot
• 4. 1919 - 2 communist political parties existed in US
• 5. "Red Press" propaganda from Europe aimed at US
  • working class called on to rise up against capitalists
  • 1919 - the Communist International vowed a worldwide revolution
  • would overthrow capitalism-would it happen here?
  • Were the postwar strikes the first blow of revoltuion?
• 6. 1919 - 2 communist political parties existed in US
• 7. Attorney General - Mitchell Palmer
  • a. launched a campaign against aliens and radicals
  • b. feared Bolshevik Revolution here
  • c. The Justice Dept. (headed by Att. Gen. Mitchell Palmer)
    • set up the General Intelligence Division (FBI) headed by J. Edgar Hoover
    • purpose - to "watch" communist groups
• 8. Palmer Raids - communist party members and others were arrested
  • a. 6000 arrested - many innocent - guilt by association
  • b. 249 deported from the 1st raid alone - climate of fear
  • c. Espionage Act used - 556 total deported
  • d. laws were passed to punish advocates of revolutionary change
• 9. Actual threat was small
  • a. Wobblies - International Workers of World
  • b. Socialist - Eugene V. Debs - in jail
    • 1. was not in favor of revolution - worked through the system
    • 2. received 900,000 votes for President in 1920
  • c. Party membership in US = 40,000
• 10. Palmer's predictions for revolution false
  • "Red Scare" subsided
  • still had "intolerance" for foreign ideas
• 11. Produced fear which grew on itself
  • a. Society was unsettled
  • b. reversal of immigration policy
  • c. condoned new KKK
  • d. supported racial tensions
  • e. Sacco and Vanzetti
• Was this constitutional? - led to formation of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)

K. Sacco and Vanzetti - 1920

• 1. accused of murder during a robbery - South Braintree, Mass.
• 2. Italian immigrants
• 3. vocally opposed the Palmer raids
• 4. Judge Webster Thayer - refused witnesses testimony
• 5. convicted and sentenced to death - questionable evidence
• 6. Sacco and Vanzetti clubs were created to protest
• 7. Executed in 1927 (more for beliefs than crime)
• 8. Was it like the Salem Witch Hunts?

L. Nativism

• Prejudice - "100% Americanism" stirred up during the war increased
• people wanted to destroy anything not pure American
•  
• 1. Red Scare
•  
• 2. KKK - 1915 - William Simmons - preacher revived the Klan
  • a. white supremacy
  • b. repression of blacks - 70+ lynchings in 1919
  • c. distrust Catholics and Jews
  • d. immigrant restrictions
•  
• 3. D.W. Griffith - film - Birth of a Nation - glorified old KKK
•  
• 4. KKK - 4.5 million members - 1924
• 10,000 - 1930 - indication that Nativism declined after 1924

M. Heightened Racial Tensions

• 1. War did not create equality as hoped
  • a. During WWI, 1.5m blacks moved to cities for jobs
  • b. Ghettos, low pay, last hire, first fire
  • c. Tension, prejudice in North and South
  • d. Expected better treatment for service in war
• 2. Opportunities did increase
  • a. civil service
  • b. steel/auto factories
  • c. high school/college education
•  
• 3. Red Summer - Summer 1919 - Riots occurred between 1917-1920
  • a. solved nothing - 100s killed / millions of dollars damage
  • b. blacks became more militant
    • 1) Many joined NAACP
    • 2) Many inspired by Marcus Garvey (Black Moses)
• 4. Marcus Garvey
  • a. believed that there was no hope for blacks in America
  • b. blacks and whites could not live together
  • c. stressed black pride - soul pride
  • d. proposed a return to Africa
  • e. popular in northern cities 500,000 followers - Harlem Renaissance
  • f. deported to Jamaica - movement collapsed without a leader
• 5. 1/2 million Mexican immigrants - migrant workers came during the 1920s creating a new problem

N. Immigration Restrictions - Xenophobia

• 1. 1917 - Wilson Literacy Test
•  
• 2. 1921 - Emergency Quota Act (3% of nationality living in US in 1910)
  • a. fear of foreigners created the emergency - act quickly then fix later
  • b. 800,000/year reduced to 300,000/year
• 3. 1924 - Johnson-Reed Act (2% of nationality living in US in 1890)
  • a. aimed at limiting immigrants from South and East Europe (Italians, Slavs, Russians)
  • b. eliminated immigration from Asia angering Japan
  • c. 300,000/year reduced to 164,000
•  
• 4. 1929 - National Origins Act - similar to above, but based on 1920
  • a. maximum 150,000/yr. from any one country
  • b. indicated an end to the fear after 1924

O. Prohibition began - 1/16/20

• 1. WWI - restricted use of grain
• 2. 18th Amendment - 1919 - outlawed manufacture, sell, and transportation - not consumption
• 3. Volstead Act - beer and wine included
• 4. Passed with widespread public support
• 5. Last gasp of Progressive movement - spurred by Nativism and Victorian Morality

A. Called the "Revolution in Manners and Morals"

• (the transformation of attitudes, values, and behaviors, as well as social institutions)
• By the mid-1920s the battle between the "old" and the "new" would shift
• the 20s was racked by clashes in moral standards.
• 1. One important change in the 1920s made it different from the immediate post war period
  • a return of PROSPERITY
  • the 20s would begin to "roar"!
  • It was the area of social change that made the 20s a memorable decade. (essay)
• 2. Disillusionment over the ideals of the Progressives which
  • had not eliminated all social ills
  • and Wilson's failure to achieve lasting peace
  • led people to lose their motivation to sacrifice.
• 3. The 1920s is the Jazz Era, the Roaring 20s
  • a period in which people sought wealth and fun
  • while ignoring as best as possible continuing social problems

B. What made such a "revolution" possible?

• 1. Disillusionment with WWI
• 2. Emphasis, almost an obsession, with youth
• 3. The changing role of women (wanted "emancipation")
• 4. Foreign Influences
  • -Karl Marx
  • -Albert Einstein
  • -Charles Darwin
  • -Sigmund Freud
• 5. Others mostly American influences
  • -Prohibition
  • -Jazz
  • -Tabloids
  • -Movies

C. Postwar Letdown in Morality - Escapism

• 1. Victorian Morality and Progressivism replaced by prosperity and enjoyment became focus of society
• 2. Side-effects - Generation Gap worsened; Escapism; and a search for Heroes

D. Rejection of Prohibition - Failure of the Temperance movement

• 1. expected to lower crime and poverty - it produced social conflict instead
  • dry v. wet
  • city v. country
  • south and west v. Northeast
  • Protestant v. Catholic
  • native v. immigrant
  • young v. old
• 2. Speakeasies - symbol of age - open contempt for law - breakdown of system
  • Most popular place to go to do all of those things that the older generation would
  • disapprove of
  • Everyone there was breaking the law so nobody would tell on you and you could let go
  • "Joe sent me" - fun and exciting - $25 admission and $25 bottle of "whiskey"
  • National sport became drinking - 50,000 speakeasies in NYC alone
• 3. Rumrunners became anti-heroes of sorts
  • a. Al Capone - bootleg liquor - Chicago
  • b. $60 million/year from alcohol alone in best year
  • c. St. Valentine's Day Massacre - 1929
  • d. nailed for tax evasion dead broke in Florida a decade later
  • e. 5000 killed each other, often in broad daylight
  • f. worst outbreak of crime in the world
• 6. Impossible to enforce
  • led to widespread violations
  • govt. only able to stop 5% - corruption rampant
• 7. Public attitudes eventually led to 21st Amendment - 1933

D. Gains for Women - Flapper Era - Charleston

• 1. Spinoff of escapism gave women greater liberties
• 1. Dress - skirts, bobbed hair, lipstick
• 2. Cigarettes, language
• 3. Speakeasies - drinking and dancing the Charleston
• 4. Modern Appliances - leisure time (volunteer work by wealthy)
• 5. Jobs - poor
• 6. Freud - open discussion of sex

E. Harlem Renaissance

• 1. black pride and the arts
• 2. jazz - spread from New Orleans up the Miss. River to Chicago and eventually to NYC
• 3. jazz and blues were the one area in which whites mixed with blacks
• 4. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington
• 5. Cotton Club, Savoy were popular during the speakeasy era

C. Improved technology and communication

• led to increased leisure time, how to spend it?

D. Mass Culture (homogenization)

• 3 technologies made possible the "mass culture" and the "homogenization"
• (standardization of behaviors) of the 20s
  • 1. The Automobile
    • -1895, Henry Ford 1903, mass production
    • -changes in America!
  • 2. The Radio
    • -1890s developed by Marconi or Tesla
    • -1920 - KDKA (Pittsburg)-election results
  • 3. The Movies
    • -Thomas Edison developed "moving picture"
    • -"The Jazz Singer" Al Jolson - first "talkie"

F. Automobile - most important force in creating the Age

• 1. Moving Assembly Line - 1920s - black autos only
• 2. Model T - introduced by Henry Ford in 1908 became affordable to the average man - $300
• 3. allowed people to go out of the neighborhood to do things which might not be acceptable
• to the older generation
• 4. less than 3 million before 1920; by 1930 most American families owned one

G. Electricity and Escapism

• 1. In the big city by the 1920s this meant a nightlife which had not existed before
• gave people places to go in their autos
• 2. 1920 - 1st yr. that 50%+ lived in cities in US - urbanization
•  
• 3. Radio - escapism (CBS/NBC-1924)
  • a. entertainment - their version of TV - pretend to be elsewhere
  • b. advertising - encouraged desire for consumer goods - new lifestyles
  • c. 5000 to 3 million in one year by 1925 - 50 million - 40% of homes
•  
• 4. Motion Pictures - 100 million tickets/week
  • a. Stars of the silent screen - 1902 - 1st movie
  • D. Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, C. Chaplin, Rudy Valentino, Greta Garbo, Clare Bo - It Girl
  • b. 1927 - The Jazz Singer - Al Jolson - 1st talkie
  • c. flouted new morality
•  
• 5. Phonograph - RCA - allowed participation in the new lifestyle in a more private setting
•  
• 6. Electricity also created a lot of new spinoff industries
  • a. These created jobs to pay for all of the escapism and fun - employment at an all time high
  • b. Chemical industry / Plastics / fiberglass / nylons / aluminum to name a few
  • c. refrigerators, sewing machines, phones, stoves
  • d. installment buying

H. Age of Hero Worship

• 1. spectator sports
  • a. escapism
  • b. Babe Ruth / Ty Cobb / Jack Dempsey (boxing)
  • c. Red Grange / Knute Rockne / Jim Thorpe
  • d. wild lifestyles and large salaries - life exciting
•  
• 2. barnstorming
  • a. death defying excitement - folk heroes
  • b. Charles Lindbergh - true American hero - Lucky Lindy - age 25
    • 1. Spirit of St. Louis - monoplane
    • 2. flew to Paris non-stop solo in 33 1/2 hrs. for $25,000 - 5/20/27
    • 3. night flight dangerous - no instruments
    • 4. ticker tape welcome home
•  
• 3. Bruce Barton - The Man Nobody Knows
  • a. Jesus Christ the ultimate salesman/businessman
  • b. showed American interest in pursuing a buck
•  
• 4. This represented another type of escapism

I. The Great Bull Market

• 1. millions of small investors - viewed as a game
• 2. social interaction brought much of the middle class to play
• 3. millions of poor and rural people unaffected
• 4. Excitement and Escapism - the possibility of wealth without work
• work ethic dropped - allowing more time for fun

J. Scopes Trial - 1925 - rise in fundamentalism

• 1. John T. Scopes - teacher Dayton, Tenn. - tried in Hillsboro - national attention
• 2. Clarence Darrow defended Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution
• 3. W.J. Bryan defended literal belief in the bible - winner in court
• loser in public opinion - died 6 days later - dignity shattered
• 4. overturned on appeal
• 5. Represented the battle between Fundamentalist conservatives and the new generation

K. Writers and Society in Conflict

• 1. stressed new American values
• 2. Sinclair Lewis - materialism and the hypocrisy of the middle class
• 3. Theodore Dreiser - small-town psychology of the 1920s
• 4. Ernest Hemingway - disillusionment
• 5. F. Scott Fitzgerald - happiness at parties - meaninglessness of life led to death
• 6. described the new generation as - The Lost Generation

E. The increase in leisure time led to more changes

• 1. Higher enrollments in schools and colleges
• 2. More people could go to movies or sporting events
  • (Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Bill Tilden, Bobby Jones, Jack Dempsey)
• 3. Hero worship (created by mass-produced journalism)
  • 1. Sports stars (Babe Ruth, Red Grange, etc.)
  • 2. Movie stars (Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow)
  • 3. Greatest hero-average American-Charles Lindbergh
• 4. "Ballyhoo" (fads and fashions)
• 5. Read "tabloids" or new magazines like Time, Life, Readers' Digest
  • or the works of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, T.S. Eliot
  • who wrote about the changing values of the 20s
  • an America that was materially wealthy but spiritually poor, a "Lost Generation"
• The 1930's will be a decade of opposite extremes from the prosperous, roaring 20s.
• The Depression that was sparked by the Stock Market crash would last the entire decade of the 1930s!

• 1. Government policies of the 1920s reflect the changing social values of the time period
• 2. The public was interested in fun and not serious issues such as government
• 3. They wanted a government which did little other than promote economic activities which supported that fun
• 4. All the 20's presidents were Republican, pro-business, and conservative

A. Election of 1920 - end of Progressivism

• 1. Dem - James Cox (Ohio) and Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • a. Pro-Treaty
  • b. Progressive
  • c. 9m, 127
• 2. Rep - Warren G. Harding (Ohio) and Calvin Coolidge
  • a. "Front porch campaign"
  • b. Harding's best trait was that he "looked like a President"
  • c. Not overly intelligent - Ohio Central College
  • d. Slogan - "Return to Normalcy"
  • e. Promised to let the US run itself without government interference
  • f. 16m, 404
• 3. Warren G. Harding (R) - landslide victory
  • bland but decent man - too trusting - weak and ineffective
• 4. 1st election in which women could vote
• 5. election results broadcast on radio for 1st time - KDKA - Pittsburgh - 11/2/20
• 6. government rule favoring big business till 1933
• 7. Return to Normalcy
  • a. low taxes
  • b. high tariffs
  • c. immigration restrictions
  • d. aid to farmers

B. Harding's Appointments

• 1. He did not feel qualified - chose some qualified advisors
  • a. Harding didn't understand important issues; after elected:
  • b. "I can't hope to be the best President this country's ever had, but if I can, I'd like to be the best loved"
  • c. Basic belief: "Less gov't in business, more business in government"
• 2. Charles E. Hughes - Sec. of State
• 3. Herbert Hoover - Sec. of Commerce
  • a. voluntary reduction of waste
  • b. did not regulate - advised only - believed in self-regulationc. encouraged cooperation
• 4. Andrew Mellon - Secretary of Treasury
  • a. Economic Policy - a "Republican Formula" for economic growth
    • 1) Formulated by Sec. of Treasury, Andrew Mellon, who was opposed to wartime management of gov't, favored a "laissez-faire" approach
    • 2) Emphasis on "balancing the budget", reducing the national debt by cutting spending and making gov't more efficient, also to reduce taxes and raise tariffs
    • 3) Employed "supply side" economics, or "trickle down"
    • 4) Efficiency in gov't
      • a. favored the rich
      • b. stopped aid to poor
      • c. balanced budget
      • d. stopped taxes yet reduced national debt
        • 1. Fordney-McCumber Tariff - 1922 - raised tariffs compared to Underwood Tariff
      • 2. Budget Bureau - paid off 1/3 of war debt
    • 5) With gov't support, big business stepped up its opposition to unions
    • 6) Impact - the Rep. formula of lower taxes, higher tariffs, and lower spending ended the postwar depression, began a "boom" that would continue throughout the 20's
• 5. Ohio Gang - some less qualified
  • a. "Harding Scandals"
    • (for what his administration is best remembered - attributed to the "Ohio Gang")
      • a. corruption - led by Daugherty - Atty Gen - resigned - 1924
    • 1. Veteran's Bureau - Charles Forbes (pocketed millions) - 2 yrs. in prison
    • 2. Alien Property - Thomas Miller (pocketed millions) - prison
  • b. Harding unaware until the end
    • 1. Harding on vacation when scandals went public
      • -Aug 2, 1923, he suffered a stroke, died in Seattle
      • -Some mystery over how he died
    • 2. Calvin Coolidge served the rest of his term

C. Teapot Dome Scandal - 1922

• 1. Elk Hills, Cal./ Teapot Dome, Wyoming - Oil lands
  • a. oil reserves for the navy
  • b. Albert Fall - secretary of interior - received $500,000
  • c. leased to private speculators (Sinclair/Doheny)
  • d. 1st cabinet official ever convicted in 1929 - 1 yr. prison - bribery
• 2. Harding died Aug., 1923 before the scandal broke publicly
  • exposure coincided with the loss of trust in the system and the rise of escapism

D. Recession - 1921-1922

followed by prosperity which coincided with escapism

• 1. 1921 - $641/yr. average income
• 2. 1929 - $847/yr.
• 3. little inflation / unemployment < 4%
• 4. top 1/3 earned income $2000+/yr.
• 5. US wealth = all of Europe combined
  • e. Prosperity - except for non-union workers and farmers

E. Coolidge (1923-1929) - Silent Cal

• 1. 1924 Election
  • 1. Dem - John W. Davis (a conservative) and Charles Bryan (8.5m, 136)
  • 2. Rep - Calvin Coolidge and Charles Dawes (16m, 382)
  • 3. Progressive - Robert LaFollette (5m, 13)
• 2. The Coolidge Administration
  • a. Known as "Silent Cal"
    • prone to take long naps, do symbolic things
    • let others run things; he had very little contact with Congress
    • (a "hands off" President)
  • "A man who builds a factory, builds a temple, the man who works there, worships there"
  • "the business of America is business"
• 3. "Coolidge Prosperity"
  • 1) National System - combining of politics, business, and labor to keep the nation "booming"
  • 2) A "consumer society" emerged, aided by easy credit, installment buying, and advertising
  • 3) Effects - led to a "boom"
  • 4) Flaws ("gilded" prosperity)
  • d. Coolidge chose not to run for reelection in 1928
  • 1. New England honesty - eliminated the Ohio Gang - Keep cool with Coolidge
  • 2. Business and prosperity stressed
  • 3. "Business of America is Business"
  • Laissez-faire attitude was perfect for an era of escapism when there was little interest in politics
• 4. Taxes - Tariffs - Secretary of Treasury - Andrew Mellon
  • a. Tax Reduction - 1926
    • 1. continued to favor rich
      • a. cut top tax bracket from 46% to 26%
      • b. cut inheritance tax in half
    • 2. lower taxes for rich while raising excise/auto taxes that everyone paid
  • b. Trickle Down Theory
    • 1. if poor are given tax break they spend it all on necessities - short term impact
    • 2. if rich are given tax break they invest it creating new jobs for the poor - long term impact
• 5. Laissez-faire
  • a. anti-trust laws ignored
  • b. Progressivism continued to be weak
  • c. regulatory machinery run by business = no regulation
  • d. LaFollette led Progressive minority - ignored
• 6. Problems
  • a. Labor Unions weak
  • b. Farmers broke - sought government purchases and price supports to create parity
  • c. Coolidge vetoed these ideas twice
  • d. 3 million farmers went out of business
• 7. H.L.Mencken - social critic
  • a. criticized society
  • b. offered no solutions

F. Election of 1928

• 1. Dem - Al Smith (Catholic, anti-prohibition, NY accent) and Joseph Robinson (15m, 87)
  • Democrats divided - Alfred E. Smith - several issues hurt him
  • a. radio - voice has impact - city slicker v. intellectual leader
  • b. from NY city - NE - unpopular in south
  • c. prohibition repeal
  • d. Smith was Catholic
• 2. Rep - Herbert Hoover (Stanford, engineer, self-made millionaire) and Charles Curtis (21m, 444)
• 3. Herbert Hoover - Rugged Individualism
  • a. classic Republican - chicken in every pot and two cars in the garage
  • b. 1st and last elected office held by Hoover
  • c. announced that we would eliminate poverty during his lifetime
  • d. The economy was at its height when Hoover became President
    • 1. Seven months later, the "bubble burst"
    • 2. Oct, 1929 the Stock Market Crash
    • 3. Began a decade that would be called the Great Depression
• 4. Depression - 6 months later - stock market crash - became Hoover legacy

II. Manifestations

A. Examples of Reactionism

• 3. Nativism (100% Americanism)
  • a. An effect of "xenophobia"; manifested in two forms, the revival of the KKK and a demand for immigration restriction
  • b. Revival of KKK
    • 1) William Simmons (1915) - "America is not a 'melting pot', it is a garbage can"
    • 2) New leaders - maintenance of "white supremacy" and "traditional values"
    • 3) 1924, 4.5m members!
    • 4) New Klan - not just anti-black; anti-Jew, -communist, -birth control (Margaret Sanger), - adultery (David Stephenson, the Grand Wizard), you name it!
    • 5) More violent; burned crosses, kidnapped, flogged, lynched!
    • 6) By end of 20's, less than 30,000 mem.
  • c. Others, turned off by KKK, wanted to keep America, American!
  • Immigration restriction
    • 1) Before WWI, 1m yearly; by 1921, same
    • 2) Efforts before 20's to limit immigration
    • 3) Madison Grant's Passing of the Great Race (1916) renewed interest
    • 4) Immigration laws
    • -1921 - Emergency Quota Act
    • -1924 - Johnson-Reed Act
    • -1924 - National Origins Act
  • 5) During the 30's, more emigrated than immigrated
• 4. Fundamentalism
  • a. Fundamentalists (based on a series of pamphlets published in 1910), led by WJ Bryan, believed that industrialization and progressivism changed America for the worst; wanted it changed back!
  • b. Began movement to fight change
    • 1) Rejected urban values; "city slickers"
    • many scientific theories-Darwinism
      • -Wm. J. Bryan $100 fine for professing to have evolved from an ape
    • 2) Laws passed banning teaching of evolution
    • 3) Showdown in Dayton, Tenn (1925)
      • -ACLU offered to defend someone who broke the law
      • -John Scopes, 24 yr old biology teacher
      • -Bryan prosecuted
      • -Clarence Darrow represented Scopes as defense attny.
      • -Scopes fined $100
      • -Bryan died days after trial
    • 4) With the loss of its most famous spokesman, the fundamentalist movement subsided
• 5. Prohibition ("wets" vs. "drys") - a moral issue
  • a. During the war, the Lever Act banned booze, beer associated with Germans
  • b. 18th Amendment changed the Constitution
  • c. Volstead Act passed to enforce the ban
  • d. Impossible to enforce the law
    • 1) Too many borders
    • 2) Too few agents
    • 3) Homemade booze
    • 4) "Speakeasies", "bootlegging", gangsters
      • (Al Capone made bootlegging a $20m business in Chicago)
    • 5) More people drank than before (glamorous now)
  • e. In 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed the18th Amendment

B. By the mid-1920's, reactionary behavior subsided; the 20's would "roar"!

C. Before examining "social change" in the 20's, lets look at the politics and economics of the 1920's.

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