The Roaring 20’s In what ways did economic conditions and developments in the arts and entertainment help create the reputation of the 1920’s as the “Roaring Twenties?” Election of Warren G Harding and a “Return to Normalcy” Sec of State – Charles Evans Hughes Sec of Commerce – Hoover Sec of Treasury – Andrew Mellon Chief Justice – Taft Harding dies September 2, 1923 – VP Calvin Coolidge
Isolationism, Red Scare & KKK Red Scare & Labor Unrest – Palmer Raids (1919 Boston Police Strike & 1920 Great Steel Strike 350,000 workers) Sacco & Vanzetti – 1921 – 1927 (exonerated by M. Dukakis) KKK – Knights of the Invisible Empire Isolationism & Nativism Emergency Quota Act of 1921 Immigration Act of 1924 Attorney General Palmer associated labor unions with Communism – started the FBI and deported 294 “Communists” 8 bombs in 8 cities in one minute = bombed Palmer’s home (3-1920)
Nativism & Immigration Emergency Quota Act of 1921 – set limit @ 3% of immigration population from each country from 1910 census (10,000 Greeks X .03 = 300) Immigration Act of 1924 – set limit @ 2% of immigrant population from each country from 1890 census (2000 Greeks X .02 = 40) Japanese completed excluded *Purpose – to slow down flood of S&E Europeans (lifted in 1965)
Prohibition and the Law that wasn’t… 18th Amendment – 1919, (repealed 1935 by 21st – Wickersham Report proved law was unenforceable) Enforced by the Volstead Act Speakeasies Bootleggers Al Capone & racketeers
The Scopes Monkey Trial 1925 – ACLU asked Scopes to teach Evolution in TN (against the law), hoping he would be jailed. Wanted to test the constitutionality of the law. Prosecution – Wm. Jennings Bryan (won, but died 5 days later due to stroke) Defense – Clarence Darrow Found Guilty and fined $100.00 Religious Conflict – Fundamentalists Vs. Modernists
Buying on Credit! & Entertainment Bruce Barton – Greatest adman of all time….. Sex sells everything Sports Heroes Gertrude Ederle Jim Thorpe Jack Dempsey Babe Ruth Advertising becomes a $350 billion industry Bobby Jones
Henry Ford and his “Tin Lizzy” $260 = 1-2 months salary for average worker 1930 = 20 million cars – 1 per family (662,000 miles of highway) Negative Effects of cars – time spent at home decreased, people emigrated from less desirable states, deaths, crime, pollution 1 car every 93 minutes (12 weeks before) Ford made $25,000 a day ($312,000 for today)
Into the Wild blue yonder….. Wright Brother – Kitty Hawk – 12/17/1903 (12 seconds, 120 feet) Airmail – 1920 (1st transcontinental) Charles Lindbergh – 1927 (NY to Paris) Pan – Am Airlines
Marconi and the Radio 1920 KDKA – Pittsburgh, by 1930 800 Stations – NBC, CBS Amos N Andy Clara Bow – Hollywood’s “It” Girl!
The Nickelodeons The Great Train Robbery (1903) The Birth of A Nation (1915) Jazz Singer (1927) By 1929 – 80 million tickets a week
The Cultural Revolution Flappers Jazz Harlem Renaissance Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.
“The Lost Generation”
1920’s Prosperity & The Stock Market Buying on Margin Real Estate Speculation – 1925 National Debt = $23 billion by 1921 Businesses accept government regulation, gov’t is pro-business Tax Reform (Andrew Mellon) Reduced from 1921-26 Excise taxes, estate taxes, income taxes. Put burden on Middle Class!