Trends in the 1920s

POLITICS Scandal and return to “Laissez Faire”

Poor President Harding  President Harding:  Decent man but surrounded by bad people (Grant – 50 years ago)  Ohio Gang  Harding’s buddies from back home  Teapot Dome Scandal  Navy oil reserves secretly sold by Harding’s Appointees to private companies  Harding goes on tour of Alaska  Dies of Heart Attack Soon after

Teapot Dome Scandal Harding: “ I have no trouble w/ my enemies… But my damned Friends… They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor at nights!”

President Coolidge “The business of America is business.”  Assumes Power after death of Harding  Firm Believer in Laissez Faire  McNary Haugen Bill  Passed by Congress to assist farmers  Vetoed twice  Bonus Act  Proposed to help families of WWI vets  Vetoed  Revenue Acts  Reduced Income Taxes

ISOLATIONISM

“Normalcy” and Isolationism  Warren G. Harding: runs for president – motto becomes “return America to simpler days”  Harding pursuing an isolationist policy

Washington Naval Conference (1921)  21 Major powers invited to prevent a naval arms race  Countries agreed to scale back their navy and scrap large warships  Charles Evan Hughes (Sec. of State) – No more warships built for 10 years

Kellogg-Briand Pact (1929)  renounces war as an instrument of national policy  15 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and war as tools of foreign policy.  Problems  lack of enforcement and gave Americans a false sense of security.

Reparations  United States demanding Great Britain/France pay debts ($10 billion to U.S).  G.B./France demand Germany (bankrupt) pay reparations  France sends troops into Germany’s Ruhr Valley – U.S. steps in to prevent war  U.S. banks loan Germany $2.5 billion to pay reparations to G.B. & France  Called the Dawes Plan (Charles Dawes – banker)  G.B. & France takes money from Germany and pays back the U.S.  U.S. being repaid with its own money  U.S. didn’t pay fair share of costs of WWI – G.B. & France angry

European Debts to the US

Hyper-Inflation in Germany: 1923

Dawes Plan (1924)

NATIVISM

The Russian Revolution and Communism  Bolshevik Revolution in Russia  Seen as Anti Capitalism in the U.S.  70,000 radical in U.S. join Communist Party  Result: Red Scare

The Russian Revolution and Communism (continued)  A. Mitchell Palmer-  U.S. Attorney General  Anti Communist  Known for “Palmer Raids”  J. Edgar Hoover  First head of FBI  Hunts down suspected Communists/Anarchists

The Russian Revolution and Communism (continued)

The Red Scare Fuels Nativism  Nicola Sacco & Bartolommeo Vanzetti  both were Italian, anarchists & evaded WWI draft  Charged with murdering a paymaster & stealing $15,000  Evidence circumstantial  found guilty & executed

The Red Scare Fuels Nativism (continued)  1961: ballistic tests show Sacco pistol was murder weapon  No proof Sacco pulled the trigger  1977: Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis declared not a fair trial

The Ku Klux Klan  Rise of nativism & communism  Rebirth of the Klan  By 1924 – 4.5 million members  Now nationwide organization  Supported prohibition – opposed unions  Hated Roman Catholics, Jews, foreigners  Believed in 100% Americanism

The Ku Klux Klan

Limiting Immigration  Emergency Quota Act (1921):  Established max number of immigrants from any one country  Primarily focused on S. and E Europe  Increase in Western Hemisphere immigrants  1920s: 1 million Canadians – 500,000 Mexicans enter US  National Origins Act (1924) set limit at 2% for each country

Emergency Quota Act

LABOR UNREST

Unions and Labor Unrest  During War -Strikes not allowed  After War - 3,000 strikes in 1919 alone  wages not keeping up with prices  Growing numbers of Unskilled Laborers  Often Left out of Labor Unions  African Americans excluded from most unions  Push for Open Shops  1920 – union membership was 5 million  1929 – union membership was 3.5 million

Coal Miners Strike (1919)  United Mine Workers elected John Lewis their new President.  He organized a nationwide strike and was able to get a 27% wage increase, but could not win shorter hours.

WEALTH

The Impact of Automobiles  Let Americans take vacations to new areas  Construction of paved roads such as the famous Route 66 gave rise to homes with garages, gas stations, motels, and repair shops popping up everywhere

Impact of Automobiles (continued)  Allowed workers to live miles from their jobs  creating urban sprawl  By late 1920s – 80% of all registered vehicles in the world were in the US

1927: First underwater tunnel- Holland Tunnel

1929: Woodbridge Cloverleaf in NJ– first cloverleaf intersection

The Airplane Industry  Cause of growth: carried mail for U.S. government  1927: Charles Lindberg – first solo flight across Atlantic Ocean (“Spirit of St. Louis”)  1927: Pan American Airways made first transatlantic passenger flights

Electrical Conveniences  Development of alternating current allowed electricity to be distributed over longer distances  Electrical items such as the refrigerators and toasters made life of the housewife easier

Rise of Modern Advertising  Companies hired psychologists to study how to appeal to people’s desires  Advertising will gradually become one of the most profitable industries in America  Leads to Increasing Consumerism

Consumer Economy

Superficial Prosperity