History 17C The American People, World War I to the Present
The Twenties
—United States fought in World War I
—Senate rejected Treaty of Versailles
1919—Companies took back concessions granted to workers during war, provoking wave of strikes throughout country
1919—Companies took back concessions granted to workers during war, provoking wave of strikes throughout country; strikes brutally put down
—Spike in anti-radical and anti-immigrant sentiment 1919
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer —“Palmer raids” resulted in thousands of arrests, hundreds of deportations
“The Red Summer of 1919” Returning black veterans, and African Americans generally, subjected to violence and repression
Warren Harding 1920 Presidential Election—Republican Warren Harding defeated Democrat James Cox James Cox
The Twenties
The Twenties were an era of conservative governance but revolutionary social and technological change
... an era in which little seemed to be at stake electorally but in which bitter conflicts raged over ethnic and cultural issues
“Old America” Rural White Protestant Pious Conservative
Urban Industrial Ethnically Diverse Experimental Hedonistic “New America”
Although the proponents of the “old America” won many of the individual battles, they were losing the broader war against the “new America” Theme:
Although the proponents of the “old America” won many of the individual battles, they were losing the broader war against the “new America” Theme:
Rapid technological change
The rise of car culture
Tabloid Journalism
Babe Ruth Celebrities of the 1920s
Clara Bow Celebrities of the 1920s
Charles Lindbergh Celebrities of the 1920s
Republican Presidents of the 1920s Warren G. Harding
Republican Presidents of the 1920s Calvin Coolidge
Republican Presidents of the 1920s Dorothy Parker
Republican Presidents of the 1920s Herbert Hoover
Business Giants J. P. Morgan Henry Ford John D. Rockefeller
Bruce Barton
Sharp decline in union membership in 1920s American Federation of Labor
John W. Davis, 1924 Al Smith, 1928 Democratic Party standard-bearers
18th Amendment to Constitution (1919) outlawed manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages Prohibition
18th Amendment to Constitution (1919) outlawed manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages Prohibition
Prohibition laws were widely disobeyed “Speakeasies”
Al Capone vs. Bugs Moran... and were believed to encourage organized crime
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, 1929
Relaxation of moral and behavioral strictures
“The Flapper”
Youth Fashions
Protestant Rural America
The state of Tennessee tried John Scopes for teaching the theory of evolution The Scopes “Monkey Trial,” 1925
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defended Scopes
Clarence Darrow vs. William Jennings Bryan The Scopes “Monkey Trial,” 1925
Established quotas for nationalities based on their percentage of U.S. population in 1890 Virtually excluded East Asian immigrants altogether Nativism and White Supremacy Immigration Act of 1924
Ku Klux Klan Parade in Washington, DC, 1926 The Ku Klux Klan enjoyed considerable popularity and political influence in early to mid-1920s
But murder conviction of Indiana Klan leader David C. Stephenson deeply discredited KKK in mid-to late 1920s
“Scientific Racism”
Marcus Garvey Founder, Universal Negro Improvement Association
W. E. B. Dubois Head of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Marcus Garvey Founder, Universal Negro Improvement Association
“Harlem Renaissance” Zora Neale Hurston Langston Hughes
Jazz Louis Armstrong Bessie Smith
Equal Rights Amendment (favored by National Woman’s Party) “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by a State on account of sex.”
1928 presidential election Herbert Hoover Al Smith
Triumph of the “New America” over the “Old”