The Roaring 20s Chapters 31 & 32

The Roaring 20s: Postwar Trends Nationalistic Fervor “Guns to Butter” – Economic transition/inflation/unemployment Labor unrest/strikes “Red Scare” – fear of Communism Conservative “Old Guard” resurgence Increased standard of living for many “Boom to Bust”

Major Themes of the 1920s Labor Unrest Literature & Art Racial Unrest Lost Generation Harlem Renaissance Social Conflicts Art Deco, etc. Prosperity & Consumerism The Politics of “Normalcy” The Jazz Age Return to Isolationism

Labor Unrest Postwar recession & inflation = “Guns to Butter” IWW, socialism, and the Red Scare Several strikes, incl. Boston Police & Seattle General strike Organized Communist groups Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and the “Palmer Raids” Anti-radical division of the Justice Dept. led by J. Edgar Hoover Evolved into the FBI “Palmer Raids” -> S. S. Buford (“Soviet Ark”) 249 deported May Day Scare Sacco & Vanzetti Trial (1921) & execution (1927) Farmer’s Frustration over twice vetoed McNary-Haugen Bill

Racial Unrest Resurgence of Xenophobia Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan Immigration restrictions Emergency Quota Act of 1921 (3% of those here in 1910) Immigration Act of 1924 (reduced to 2% of those here in 1890) Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan Anti-foreign, ant-Catholic, anti-black, anti-Jewish, anti-pacifist, anti- Communist, anti-internationalist, anti-evolutionist, anti-bootlegger, anti- gambling, anti-adultery, and anti-birth control. Millions joined, especially in the “Bible Belt” and Midwest. United Negro Improvement Association – Marcus Garvey “Back to Africa” movement, Black Star Lines . . .

Social Conflicts Prohibition: 18th Amendment enforced by Volstead Act Bootlegging, “speakeasies” & Gangsterism “Scarface” Al Capone (Chicago) and others Fundamentalists vs. Evolutionists Scopes “Monkey Trial” Clarence Darrow vs. Wm. Jennings Bryan Birth Control (Margaret Sanger) She actually advocated it to curb immigrant population growth

Prosperity & Consumerism Rapid expansion of economy (war & lower taxes) Growing middle class – love of consumer goods Automobile, appliances, etc. (Airplanes, Charles Lindbergh) Sports = big business (Babe Ruth = first “superstar”) Boom of Advertising (Ex. Bruce Barton) Radio (1st station – KDKA Pittsburgh) Automobile (Esp. Ford’s Model “T”) – (rubber, gasoline/oil, etc.) Changed society ->urban sprawl, “Badge of freedom & equality” for many including women and youth

The Jazz Age The “Flaming Youth” - Motion Pictures/Hollywood “Flappers,” Modernists, Freudians, etc. Motion Pictures/Hollywood The Great Train Robbery, 1903 (nickelodeons) Birth of a Nation, 1915 The Jazz Singer, 1927 (1st “talkie”) Jazz Music King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, many more . . . New Pastimes: games, contests, “dating,” joyrides, . . . New dances like the “Charleston”

Literature & Art The “Lost Generation” (Those who came of age during the Great War) F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, . . . ) Ernest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, . . . ) Sinclair Lewis (Main Street, Babbitt, . . . ) William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury, As I lay Dying, . . . ) Others include; H. L. Mencken, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, . . . Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Apollo Theater . . . Architecture Frank Lloyd Wright epitomized the new, unique style such as Empire State

Politics of “Normalcy” Return of “Old Guard” Republicans President Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) promised “less government in business, and more business in government.” Appointed 4 of 9 Supreme Ct. Justices who axed many progressive programs Sec. of Treasury Andrew Melon “Supply-side economics” lowered taxes /spending The “Ohio Gang” and scandals – Tea Pot Dome, Forbes – Veterans Bureau, others Died of heart attack “Silent” Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) The very popular “puritan” president “The business of America is business.” Twice vetoed the McNary-Haugen Bill the would have allowed the government to buy excessive farm product to avoid devastatingly low prices

Isolationism Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922 significantly raised rates Washington Naval Disarmament Conference 1921-1922 Four-Powers Treaty (U. S., G. B., France, Japan) Five-Powers Treaty (added Italy) Nine-Powers Treaty (To protect China) Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928 (“Outlawed” war – signed by 62 nations) Exceptions to isolation Interventions in Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, Mexico The Dawes Plan of 1924 (U. S. Banks loaned Germany money to pay Britain and France so they could pay war debts to U. S. Govt.