TRANSITION TO MODERN AMERICA 1920s THE JAZZ AGE

The Second Industrial Revolution U.S. develops the highest standard of living in the world The twenties and the second revolution –electricity replaces steam –modern assembly introduced

The Automobile Industry Auto makers stimulate sales through model changes, advertising Auto industry fosters other businesses Autos encourage suburban sprawl

Patterns of Economic Growth Structural change –professional managers replace individual entrepreneurs –corporations become the dominant business form Big business weakens regionalism, brings uniformity to America

Glenwood Stove Ad

Economic Weaknesses Railroads poorly managed Coal displaced by petroleum Farmers face decline in exports, prices Growing disparity between income of laborers, middle-class managers Middle class speculates with idle money

City Life in the Jazz Age Rapid increase in urban population Skyscrapers symbolize the new mass culture Communities of home, church, and school are absent in the cities

Women and the Family Ongoing crusade for equal rights “Flappers” seek individual freedom Most women remain in domestic sphere Discovery of adolescence –teenaged children no longer need to work –indulge their craving for excitement

The Roaring Twenties Decade notable for obsessive interest in celebrities Sex becomes an all-consuming topic of interest in popular entertainment

The Flowering of the Arts Alienation from 20s’ mass culture "Exiled" American writers put U.S. in forefront of world literature –T.S. Eliot –Ernest Hemingway –F. Scott Fitzgerald Harlem Renaissance--African Americans prominent in music, poetry

The Rural Counterattack Rural Americans identify urban culture with Communism, crime, immorality Progressives attempt to force reform on the American people –upsurge of bigotry –an era of repression

The Fear of Radicalism “Red Scare” –illegal roundups of innocent people –forcible deportation of aliens –terrorism against “radicals,” immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti executed

Prohibition th Amendment ratified Volstead Act prohibits production, sale, or transport of alcoholic beverages Consumption of alcohol reduced Prohibition resented in urban areas Bootlegging becomes big business th amendment repealed

The Ku Klux Klan Klan membership hits 5 million Attack on urban culture, inhabitants Defense of traditional rural values Klan seeks to win U.S. by persuasion Violence, internal corruption result in Klan’s virtual disappearance by 1930

Immigration Restriction Congress restricts all immigration Preferential quotas to northern Europeans Mexican immigrants exempt from quota

The Fundamentalist Challenge Fundamentalism: stress on traditional Protestant orthodoxy, biblical literalism Scopes Trial discredits fundamentalism among intellectuals “Modernists” gain mainline churches Fundamentalists strengthen grassroots appeal in new churches

Politics of the 1920s Republican party apparently dominant Urban wing of the Democratic party emerging as the most powerful force

Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover Republican presidents appeal to traditional American values Harding scandals break after his death Coolidge represents America in his austerity and rectitude Hoover represents the self-made man

Republican Policies Return to "normalcy" –tariffs raised –corporate, income taxes cut –spending cut Coolidge blocks Congressional aid to farmers as unwarranted interference Government-business cooperation Expansion of federal bureaucracy

The Divided Democrats Urban-rural split weakens Democrats Major shift in political loyalties Democrats gain more Congressional seats than Republicans after 1922

The Election of 1928 Democrat Al Smith carries urban vote –governor of New York –Roman Catholic Republican Herbert Hoover wins race –Midwesterner –Protestant Religion the campaign’s decisive issue

The Old and the New Old historical view: the Depression ended the spirit of the twenties New historical view: the twenties laid the foundations of modern America