The Roaring Twenties

Chapter 23

Election of 1920

With the death of Roosevelt, the conservative Republicans were clearly in control and nominated Warren G. Harding

Harding’s lack of a stance on any issue and his promise of “normalcy” and limited government won him the election of 1920 over Cox

Harding’s Appointments and Policies

Harding, who lacked executive leadership skills, realized his faults and surrounded himself with a brain trust including:

1) Charles Evans Hughes – Secretary of State

2) Herbert Hoover – Secretary of Commerce

3) Andrew Mellon – Secretary of Treasury

4) William Howard Taft – Chief Justice

Harding also surprised people by pardoning Eugene V. Debs, and made no surprise when passing the Fordney-McCumber Tariff (raise) and reduced the income tax on the wealthy

Warren G. Harding and Corruption

Albert Fall – Goes to Prison

Harding’s administration was full of corruption:

1) Albert Fall (Secretary of the Interior) and the Teapot Dome Scandal (bribes for oil)

2) Harry Daugherty – agreed not to prosecute suspects for bribes

The Coolidge Administration“Silent Cal” took a pro-business stance to his Presidency, using “trickle-down” economics and lower taxes on wealthy as well as high tariffs and the allowance of corporate mergers

“The business of America is business”

Election of 1924“Keep cool with Coolidge” slogan and prosperity made victory easy for Coolidge, even with a revitalized Progressive party under La Follette

John W. Davis was a conservative Democrat, and unsuccessfully tried to use the Teapot Dome Scandal

Coolidge’s Limited Government

Aside from business, Coolidge supported little else and did the following:

1) Refused to give bonuses to World War I veterans

2) Vetoed the McNary-Haugen Bill (aid to farmers)

3) Refused to send federal aid to flood victims

Foreign Policy

The US used independent internationalism during the 1920s:

1) Washington Naval Conference – reducing ships, respecting territory, creating trade opportunities among the powerful nations

2) Kellogg-Briand Pact – renounced use of aggressive force but did not specify actions against countries that did use it

3) Keeping of troops in areas of interest (Nicaragua, Haiti, and oil drilling lands in the Middle East)

4) Keeping tariffs high to help businesses, but making it hard to pay war debts – this leads to the Dawes Plan (cycling payments through Germany, Britain, and the US to ease the financial burden)

Washington Naval Arms Conference

Tonnage limitations

Country Capital ships Aircraft carriers

British Empire525,000 tons

(533,000 tonnes)135,000 tons

(137,000 tonnes)

United States525,000 tons

(533,000 tonnes)135,000 tons

(137,000 tonnes)

Japan315,000 tons

(320,000 tonnes)81,000 tons

(82,000 tonnes)

France175,000 tons

(178,000 tonnes)60,000 tons

(61,000 tonnes)

Italy175,000 tons

(178,000 tonnes)60,000 tons

(61,000 tonnes)

Demobilization After WWI

Demobilization caused a sharp recession in 1921, but then the rest of the 20s experienced an economic boom

Booming ConsumerismNew consumer goods were one reason that prosperity occurred in the 1920s, with electric appliances and automobiles the main goods

The Automobile Industry – Henry Ford and the Model T

Other Reasons for Prosperity

1) Investments in Foreign Countries (loans to Europe and collection of war debts, high tariffs)

2) Pro-Business Government Policies (corporate tax cuts, lack of trustbusting, higher incomes for workers)

Unemployment in the 1920s

Tax Breaks – “Trickle-Down”

Who is left out of the prosperity?

40% of workers still had incomes that were under the poverty line

Farmers were in debt due to falling prices and foreclosures went up

Pay During the 1920s – Industrial Workers and Farmers

Labor Unions in the 1920s

Labor Unions suffered during the 1920s due to positive working conditions, open shops, injunctions, and welfare capitalism (businesses provide welfare benefits to workers)

The Assembly Line and Productivity

New models of managing, producing, and selling included:

1) Assembly Lines – increases production, corporate mergers, chain stores

2) Installment Buying (buy now, pay later) and Advertising

Women and Labor

Women made up 24% of the labor force during the 1920s (less than during World War I) but earned less than men and did not make it into upper management (the women’s movement declines after they receive the vote)

Labor Unions, as previously mentioned, suffer during this time period from a lack of members and government support of big business

Growth of Cities in the 20s

For the first time in history, most Americans in the 1920s lived in cities due to the high factory worker wage and low farmer wage

Automobile ImpactIn the cities the automobile led to:

1) The creation of supermarkets and bakeries where people buy appliances

2) Problems such as traffic, parking, accidents (deaths), and a large increase in pollution and consuming of resources

3) Reduced parental supervision of youth

4) Easy transportation to suburbs and vacation spots

Petroleum Production

Electricity Production

Entertainment and Culture

Felix the Cat

Mickey on Steamboat Willie

Charlie Chaplin

Mass produced entertainment and a homogenous culture led to interest in:

1) Magazines (Reader’s Digest)

2) Radio and Movies (NBC and CBS, Hollywood)

3) The celebration of celebrities in society

Celebrities of the 1920s

Charles Lindbergh

The popularity of radio made people larger than life, especially in sports (Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Gertrude Eberle, Jim Thorpe, Bobby Jones) and with Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic (Spirit of St. Louis)

Values in the 1920s

Values during the 1920s included:

1) Sexual Promiscuity – Freud, Women’s Dress (flapper and “bobbing” hair, dances (Charleston)

2) Education – value of education increases, more school laws and higher graduation rates

Alienated Writers in the 20s

Ernest Hemingway F. Scott Fitzgerald Gertrude Stein

The writers of the 1920s were called the “Lost Generation” due to their disillusionment with war and society (wrote negatively about American society during the 1920s), the stories were published by Mencken’s American Mercury magazine

Architects, Painters, Musicians

Georgia O’Keefe Aaron Copeland

“Jazz Age” artists painted American scenery (Benton, Hopper, Stella, O”Keefe)

Musicians were a combination of classical (Copeland) and Harlem Renaissance (Ellington, Armstrong, Smith)

The Harlem Renaissance

Langston Hughes Ella Fitzgerald

The Harlem Renaissance (in Harlem, NY) had talented writers (Cullen, Hughes, Johnson, McKay), actors (Robeson), and musicians

Immigration QuotasImmigrants in the 1920s

were hit by a new wave of nativism (KKK) leading to:

1) Job discrimination

2) National Origins Act (puts quotas on countries, limits “undesirables”) - Does not stop immigration from Mexico, but completely stops Japan and China

Sacco-Vanzetti Case

The Sacco-Vanzetti case illustrated the nativism in the 1920s when the two Italian anarchists were put to death after being tried for robbery and murder without clear evidence

Ku Klux Klan

KKK – March on Washington

The KKK was also responsible for the intimidation of African-Americans during the 1920s until fraud, corruption, and murder charges led to their decline

African-American Responses

In reaction to the KKK:

1) Du Bois continued fighting the intimidation and discrimination with the NAACP

2) Marcus Garvey created the UNIA which preached black pride and a return to Africa (separatism)

Fundamentalism v. Modernism

Fundamentalists:

-believe that Bible is literal

-Believe in creationism

-Used radio revivalists (Sunday, McPherson) to preach against evolution

Modernists:

-believe that the Bible is flawed

-Believe in evolution

-Look for ways to challenge fundamentalists

The Scopes TrialScopes was tried for teaching evolution (breaking a Tennessee law) leading to the debate between William Jennings Bryan (fundamentalist) and Clarence Darrow (modernist)

- Scopes is found guilty but Darrow wins debate against Bryan

Prohibition and Crime

The Coast Guard Patrol and Al Capone

Prohibition (18th Amendment) was backed by the Volsted Act but defied by people of all classes and even led to organized crime (Al Capone) as well as speakeasies and bootlegging

Prohibition Conflict

Destruction of Alcohol v. Speakeasies and Bootlegging

Despite obvious problems with prohibition during the 1920s:

1) The Republicans supported it (morality, nativism)

2) Democrats were divided on it (immigrants)