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Politics & Society of the Roaring Twenties

The Era Between World War I & The Great Depression

Ban on the buying and selling of alcohol Main goals of Prohibition:

Eliminate drunkenness and the resulting abuse of family members and others

Get rid of saloons, where prostitution, gambling, and other forms of vice thrived

Prevent absenteeism and on-the-job accidents stemming from drunkenness

The government was trying to protect the American citizens

Was not met with much support Volstead Act (1919): provided a system for enforcing the

18th Amendment, but was still not supported or taken seriously

Prohibition

Bootlegger: supplier of illegal alcohol Made it at home or smuggled it into the

country Speakeasies: bars that operated illegally;

very popular in the city areas Organized crime: supplying illegal liquor

helped lead to the development of organized crime

Successful bootlegging organizations moved into other illegal activities

Gambling, prostitution, racketeering

Prohibition Society

Evolution & The Scopes Trial

Theory of evolution was not widely accepted – it was believed to contradict the history of creation as stated in the Bible

John T. Scopes Schoolteacher in Tennessee Challenged the law against

the teaching of evolution in 1925

arrested

William Jennings Bryan v. Clarence Darrow

Took place in Dayton, Tennessee

First trial ever broadcast over American radio

Scopes Trial cont.

The judge ruled that the jury should determine only whether Scopes had taught evolution

Scopes did not win the trial; he was fined $100

Bryan was considered a martyr, Darrow a defender

Woodrow Wilson: 1913-1921 Warren G. Harding: 1921-1923 Calvin Coolidge: 1923-1929

Cut taxes Very visible Did not address worsening economic

plight Herbert Hoover: 1929-1933

Politics

Many different presidencies Problems of the country were ignored Focus on moving on from World War I –

not enough attention was paid to what needed to be fixed

Age of prosperity – people went into debt, too risky with their monies and livelihoods

No one thought anything bad would happen again

How did this lead into the Great Depression?