10. The Roaring Twenties

Economic Prosperity and New Cultural Values

Red Scare

• American citizens was frightened by the triumph of Communism in Russia.

• Attorney General Palmer arrested thousands of suspects and deported them.

• Communism will remain a threat until the end of the Cold War in the late 1990s.

• Nativism and racism were also on the rise.

Racism Grows

• Nativism grows as feelings surface against immigrants and minorities

• Restrictions on immigration established quota system for the first time.

• Eugenics attempted to promote what were considered to be superior genetic characteristics.

Pro-Business Policies of Three Republican Presidents

• Warren Harding sought a "return to normalcy.” His administration was full of corruption leading to the Teapot Dome Scandal. (Died in office)

• Calvin Coolidge believed the “business of America is business.”

• Herbert Hoover saw “rugged individualism” as the motivation to become a great nation.

• All felt that government interference should be minimal in the economy.

Factors for Prosperity of the 1920s

• Rise of the automobile• Cars allowed greater mobility to people• Model T priced at under $300 per car.

• Other New Industries• Electricity and electrical appliances• Radio, motion pictures, vacuum cleaners

• More efficient production and distribution techniques• Assembly line• Standardized parts

• Mass consumerism and buying on credit

Clash of Cultural Values (Old and New)• 18th Amendment banned the sale of

Alcoholic beverages.• Scopes “Monkey Trial”

• A teacher broke the law and taught the Theory of Evolution.

• Defended by Clarence Darrow• Prosecuted by William Jennings

Bryan

Women in the 1920s

• Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote.

• Women saw greater freedom• Less restrictive clothing• Entered work force in greater numbers• Began gaining college educations.

Prohibition

• 18th Amendment banned alcoholic drinks.• Social experiment was a failure.• 21st Amendment ended prohibition.• Only amendment to the U.S. Constitution that

has been repealed.

Population Shifts

• Great Migration. Millions of African-Americans began moving from the rural South to cities in the North and Midwest.

• Rise of Racism• Rebirth of the KKK• Immigration Acts of 1921, 1924, 1929

Harlem Renaissance

• Harlem became the cultural center of the African-American community

• Artists and innovators• Langston Hughes. Poet and novelist.• Alaine Locke. Black historian• Marcus Garvey attempted to organize

the Back to Africa Movement; believed in black owned businesses.

Lost Generation

• Literature and art of the white community focused on the “Lost Generation”

• Writers• F. Scott Fitzgerald depicted the lifestyles of the

young and materialistic rich in the 1920s; Wrote The Great Gatsby

• Sinclair Lewis ridiculed American hypocrisy• Rejected the desire for material wealth• Fads: flagpole sitting, marathon dancing

Key Individuals

• William Jennings Bryan. Helped prosecute John Scopes at the “Monkey Trial”

• Clarence Darrow. Represented Scopes at the “Monkey Trial” on evolution in 1925

• Charles Lindbergh. First person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean; became an international hero.

• F. Scott Fitzgerald. His works, like The Great Gatsby, captured the spirit of the Jazz Age.

• Henry Ford. Early Auto manufacturer who pioneered new production techniques

More . . .

• Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Convicted and executed of a robbery in part because of the hysteria against foreigners.

• Glenn Curtis. Aviation pioneer who developed airplanes that landed on water.

• Frances Willard. Active in the Temperance and Woman’s Rights Movement.