A B OOMING E CONOMY Chapter 16, Section 1

T HE A UTOMOBILE D RIVES P ROSPERITY Henry Ford did not develop the idea of mass production, he simply made it work on a much larger scale. Ford used scientific management techniques to improve efficiency in time, effort and expenses. He utilized the assembly line method to mass produce his first major automobile– the Model T. This method cut down on costs, so he could reduce the price to where the average person (including his workers) could by the Model T. He was also able to raise his workers wages using these new techniques.

T HE A UTOMOBILE D RIVES P ROSPERITY The automobile led to other changes in society as well, from the economy to residential patterns: Industries that manufactured supplies for the automobile boomed; Road construction increased– U.S. Highway System of 1926; Development of service stations, diners and motels; Other forms of transportation decline; New sense of freedom and prosperity; Movement to homes outside of the city.

A B USTLING E CONOMY A consumer revolution happens whenever there is a flood of new, affordable goods on the market. New methods of advertising attracted consumers; Emergence of installment buying– make a small down payment and pay the rest off in monthly increments; Surge in the stock market led people to want to purchase stock, but they had to purchase it on credit– known as buying on the margin; This was only a successful option when the market was good, though.

C ITIES, S UBURBS AND C OUNTRY The general consensus of movement during the 1920s was to the cities– farmers, African Americans and even Mexican Americans to southwest cities. There was a group that was leaving the city instead and moving to the suburb– urban, middle class workers. This was aided by the development of the automobile. Not every person was feeling the benefits of the 1920s. Farm wages and industrial workers wages were still far below everyone elses.

T HE B USINESS OF G OVERNMENT Chapter 16, Section 2

T HE H ARDING A DMINISTRATION When Harding took office, he promised a return to normalcy. This included a return to policies that benefitted big business. After appointing Andrew Mellon as Secretary of the Treasury, Hardings administration cut spending. However, not all of Hardings appointments as president were as successful. He trusted much of the decision making to his close friends, known as the Ohio Gang. The worst of this gang was Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall.

T HE H ARDING A DMINISTRATION Fall had the ability to transfer oil reserves between different departments. He transferred reserves from the Navy Department to the Interior Department, which he then loaned to rich businessmen. The oil was on reserve for a time of emergency. Although Fall concocted the scheme, Harding signed the order to allow it to happen. It became known as the Teapot Dome Scandal, named after one of the locations of oil reserves.

C OOLIDGE P ROSPERITY When Warren Harding died, his vice-president Calvin Coolidge took over. Coolidge looked to continue the policies of his predecessor, including: Trimming the federal budget; Lowering taxes for incentives to big business; The chief business of the American people is business. However, Coolidge did not act on the troubles that plagued the country, such as low wages and labor unrest.

A MERICA S R OLE IN THE W ORLD In reaction to WWI, the U.S. took precautions during the 1920s to avoid another world conflict. They used their increased role in world trade to make the following happen: Washington Naval Conference to reduce arms race and size of navies of world powers; Kellogg-Briand Pact outlaw war… as an instrument of national policy.

A MERICA S R OLE IN THE W ORLD The U.S. wanted Britain and France to repay their war debts to them. But, Britain and France first needed Germany to pay the reparations agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles. An agreement in 1924 known as the Dawes Plan arranged for the U.S. to loan Germany money, which could then be paid back to Britain and France. However, when the U.S. economy collapsed, other countries did not look as favorably upon the U.S.

S OCIAL AND C ULTURAL T ENSIONS Chapter 16, Section 3

T RADITIONALISM AND M ODERNISM C LASH The 1920s were the first decade in which more people lived in urban rather than rural areas. There was a growing division in society between urban and rural citizens, and that was evident in the emerging two schools of thought: modernism and fundamentalism. Modernism emphasized science and secular values; Fundamentalism focused on the basic truths within religion, and that everything in the Bible was the literal truth.

T RADITIONALISM AND M ODERNISM C LASH At the center of this clash was the debate over the teaching of evolution in schools. Biology teacher John Scopes violated Tennessee law by teaching the theory of evolution to his class. When the case went to trial, Scopes was defended by renowned attorney Clarence Darrow. As an expert witness on the Bible, the prosecution called William Jennings Bryan. The trial was broadcast over the radio, connecting thousands of Americans to the trial.

R ESTRICTING I MMIGRATION Nativists disliked the growing immigrant population in the United States. This dislike increased with the Red Scare. New legislation was passed that established a quota system for various countries This meant that only a certain amount of people could come to the U.S. in a given year from that country. The quota system specifically targeted Asians, and used 1890 numbers, benefitting western and northern Europeans.

T HE N EW K U K LUX K LAN The dislike for immigrants was not central to northern cities, though. In the south during the 1920s, there was a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan that began at Stone Mountain, Georgia. The new KKK not only targeted Blacks, but Jews, Catholics and immigrants as well.

PR OHIBITION AND C RIME The temperance movement in the U.S. had been around for years, but found a surge during the Progressive Era, when alcohol was blamed for the many societal problems. In 1919, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment which banned the manufacture, sale and transport of alcohol. The Volstead Act was the law that enforced it. Rural citizens especially supported these two. However, prohibition also generated more bootlegging (illegal sale) and organized crime.

A N EW M ASS C ULTURE Chapter 16, Section 4

N EW T RENDS IN POPULAR CULTURE With the consumer revolution of the 1920s, American wages grew 30%, but the standard of living remained the same. This provided more disposable income. Americans used this disposable income for leisure activities such as spectator sports, movies, and radios/phonographs. The first movie with sound was The Jazz Singer in Both movies and radio helped create a shared culture because of its mass distribution.

A N A GE OF H EROES The popularity of spectator sports grew in the 1920s– baseball, football and boxing. No other sports star was as iconic as Babe Ruth. Mass media also helped capture the major events of the time period, such as Charles Lindbergh s solo flight across the Atlantic in his plane, The Spirit of Saint Louis.

W OMEN ASSUME NEW R OLES Womens roles changed socially, politically and economically during the 1920s. Socially, women had more freedom. The symbol of social change for women was the flapper – a young woman who wore short dresses and had short hair. Politically, women gained the right to vote in With its passage, women became more politically active. Economically, women returned to housework, but benefitted from the emerging modern conveniences.

M ODERNISM IN A RT AND L ITERATURE Art and literature changed after the war to reflect new ideas and thoughts of the American people. Art reflected the uncertainty of what direction to go after the war, conflicting with traditional artistic themes. Similarly, postwar writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and T.S. Eliot reflected a growing disconnect in traditional ideas. They wanted their writings to reflect new ideas and influences.

T HE H ARLEM R ENAISSANCE Chapter 16, Section 5

A N EW B LACK C ONSCIOUSNESS The prominent African American leader of the 1920s was Marcus Garvey. Unlike Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, Garvey wanted the races to be separate. Garvey promoted black nationalism and organized a Back to Africa movement. However, when Garvey was deported back to Jamaica on mail fraud, the movement died.

T HE J AZZ A GE Jazz, a musical style that blended African and European forms of music, emerged from New Orleans in the 1920s. Major musicians included Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington and George Gershwin. It was not limited to a specific race. Jazz moved North during the Great Migration as African Americans looked for industrial jobs.

T HE H ARLEM R ENAISSANCE The Harlem Renaissance was an expression of African American culture in the United States by poets, novelists and writers. Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Zora Neale Hurston to name a few. Major themes from the Harlem Renaissance included the diversity of African American life and the desire for freedom of expression for both men and women.