The New Era 1920s

Life cover, July 1, 1926 Life cover, July 1, 1926 "One Hundred and Forty-three Years of LIBERTY and Seven Years of PROHIBITION." (Private Collection) Life cover, July 1, 1926 On the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Life magazine presented this cover, which parodied the famous painting, the Spirit of '76. The Spirit of ‘26 depicts an uninhibited flapper, a jazz saxophonist and drummer, and banners with the snappy sayings of the day. The caption reads: "One Hundred and Forty-three Years of LIBERTY and Seven Years of PROHIBITION." (Private Collection) Pageant 13e Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

GUIDING QUESTIONS What aspects of life created the reputation of the “Roaring 20s”? In what ways and to what degree were the 1920s a period of tension between new and changing attitudes on the one hand and traditional values on the other. (Consider Race relations, immigration/ nativism, role of women, consumerism) 1986 DBQ

GUIDING QUESTION In what ways did economic conditions and development in the arts and entertainment help create the reputation of the 1920s as the Roaring Twenties? (1999)

BUSINESS BOOM

BUSINESS PROSPERITY productivity: up 50% unemployment: 4-9-12%? ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: productivity: up 50% unemployment: 4-9-12%? real income: up 25% standard of living: indoor plumbing central heating electricity (2/3 by 1930) Gross National Product, 1920-1930 Unemployment, 1920-1930 Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.; http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap; GNP & Unemployment: Brinkley 10e CAUSES OF BUSINESS PROSPERITY: Increased productivity (scientific management, machinery) Increased use of oil and electricity Favorable government policy (tax breaks, antitrust)

Automobiles & Industrial Expansion Henry Ford ‘fordism’ 1913: car=2 yrs wages 1929: 3 mos. wages 1913: 14 hours to build a new car 1928: New Ford off assembly line every 10 seconds Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928 (From the Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village) Ford: Brinkley 11e Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928: Pictured here is the assembly line for Model-A Fords, at Ford's main assembly plant in 1928. Assembly line workers quickly perform the same task on car after car as the chassis moves past them at the rate of six feet per minute. Ford pioneered the assembly line as a way to reduce both cost and dependence on skilled workers. He paid the highest wages in Detroit but required complete obedience from his workers, even to the point of prohibiting whistling while at work. (From the Collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village) Pageant 13e "1913 - Trying out the new assembly line“; Detroit, Michigan, 1913 “Trying out the new assembly line“ Detroit, 1913 Henry Ford (1835-1947)

Auto Manufacturing Roark, American Promise 3e from http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/mapcentral

PROBLEMS FOR WORKERS Income Distribution, 1929 1% 40% of all U.S. families lived on >$1,500 per year – in poverty range 5% 29% 65% Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970

PROBLEMS FOR FARMERS Mechanization Farm income down 66% Wessels Living History Farm, York, Neb.; http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe20s/machines_08.htm; Brinkley 11e TILLING ONE ACRE OF LAND 1900: 90 mins. using 5 horses 1929: 30 mins. using a 27-hp tractor 2000: 5 mins. using a 154-hp tractor PRODUCING 100 BUSHELS OF WHEAT ON 5 ACRES 1890s: 40-50 labor hours 1930: 15-20 labor hours

SOCIETY, CULTURE & VALUES

Farm vs. Nonfarm Population, 1880-1980 1920 CENSUS: First time majority of U.S. population in urban areas (towns 2500 or greater) 1920: More workers in factories than on farms 1930: Still 44% live in rural areas Jones, Created Equal

Nash

CONSUMERISM (electric) appliances automobiles advertising (image vs. utility) buying on credit chain stores Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.; http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap/; Brinkley 11e IR General Electric ad; Electric appliances became commonplace in the 1920s and advanced the consumer economy. Note here the obvious link between a daughter and her mother, whose domestic tasks appear to be made easier and more appealing by an electric range, a vacuum cleaner, and an iron. (Picture Research Consultants & Archives) Pageant 13e Consumer Debt, 1920–1931 General Electric ad (Picture Research Consultants & Archives)

CONSUMERISM: Impact of the Automobile Increase in sales: 1913 - 1.2 million registered; 1929 - 26.5 million registered (=almost one per family) Passenger Car Sales, 1920-1929 Replaced the railroad as the key promoter of economic growth (steel, glass, rubber, gasoline, highways) Daily life: commuting, shopping, traveling, “courting” Passenger Car Sales, 1920-1929 – Pathways Guide to essentials Nantasket Beach – Pageant 13e Filling Station, Maryland in 1921

Impact of the Automobile: Trains and Automobiles, 1900-1980 Jones, Created Equal Jones, Created Equal

Automobiles & Consumerism Dodge advertisement photo, 1933 Ford ad- Henry Ford constantly worked to reduce car prices on his cars. He also promoted installment buying, promising in this ad that "with even the most modest income, [every family] can now afford a car of their own." This ad also encouraged impulse buying: "You live but once and the years roll by quickly. Why wait for tomorrow for things that you rightfully should enjoy today?" (Library of Congress) [Pageant 13e] DODGE PHOTO: Nickolas Muray. Dodge, 1933.; PBS American Photography < Ford ad: “Every family -- with even the most modest income, can now afford a car of their own." “Every family should have their own car. . .You live but once and the years roll by quickly. Why wait for tomorrow for things that you rightfully should enjoy today?" (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

CONSUMERISM & Automobiles Ford Motor Company showroom 1925 Brinkley 11e IR; Ford showroom - wadsworth Chevrolet Advertisement 1925 CONSUMERISM & Automobiles

July 4, Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, early 1920s Wadsworth.com

MASS CULTURE: Radio New mass medium Networks: NBC (1924), CBS (1927) 1920: First commercial radio station By 1930: over 800 stations & 10 million radios Networks: NBC (1924), CBS (1927) Farm family listening to their radio - By George W. Ackerman, probably Ingham County, Michigan, August 15, 1930 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Extension Service (33-SC-14524c) Map: Spread of Radio - Henretta, America’s History 4e from http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/mapcentral The Spread of Radio, to 1939

ROLE OF WOMEN: the “New Woman” “pink collar” jobs Wadsworth; Table: Nash; Women in Workforce Graph: Martin, America and its Peoples Women’s fashions, 1920 Women in the Workforce, 1900-1940

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS

Religion “modernists” “fundamentalism” Scopes Trial American Journey Online

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Prohibition “wets and dries” Al Capone Wadsworth http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/image_bank_US/images/24_41.jpg Anti-Saloon League at Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 1921 (Library of Congress) brinkley Government agents breaking up an illegal bar during Prohibition Alphonse “Scarface” Capone

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Xenophobia and Racial Unrest National Origin Act of 1924: limited number of immigrants entering the US Number of Immigrants and Countries of Origin, 1891-1920 and 1921-1940 Jones, Created Equal (both) Percentage of Population Foreign Born, 1850-1990

Immigration, 1921-1960 Brinkley 11e

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: Xenophobia and Racial Unrest Birth of a Nation - D.W. Griffith “new” Ku Klux Klan Leo Frank Poster: Birth of a Nation - D. W. Griffith's epic film glorified the racist Ku Klux Klan. President Woodrow Wilson called it "history written with lightning." (Picture Research Consultants & Archives) [Pageant 13e] Klan Initiation – IRC – Brinkley 11e Ku Klux Klan initiation, 1923. The Klan opposed all who were not “true Americans”. (c) 2000 IRC (Picture Research Consultants & Archives)

African American Population, 1920 Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.; http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap/

Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan pamphlet: "America for Americans" - Pageant 13e Poster for the Milwaukee KKK inviting citizens to a summer 1924 rally - http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/photos/html/sindex.html Copyright 1997 State Historical Society of Wisconsin (mid-1920s) (Private Collection)

Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan parade in Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 1926 Klan Parade (leaders) - Pageant 13e; Klan Parade (wide view) - http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/image_bank_US/1920_1930.html Ku Klux Klan parade in Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 1926

BUSINESS – FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT

BUSINESS – FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT Calvin Coolidge “The business of America is business” Coolidge, Coolidge first pitch – both wadsworth President Calvin Coolidge Coolidge throwing out first pitch 1924

BUSINESS – FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT Herbert Hoover Al Smith 1928 Election - Brinkley 10e; Hoover – Wadsworth.com Herbert Hoover Election of 1928

Hoover, Ford, Edison, and Firestone Feb 11, 1929 Description: President Herbert Hoover, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone at Edison's 82nd birthday. Ft. Myers, Florida, February 11, 1929. Keywords: industry Credit: Herbert Hoover Library http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail341.html

The Great Crash Stock Market Prices, 1921–1932 New York Times, Friday, October 25, 1929 Stock Market Prices - Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.; http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap/ Stock Market crash--curb scene October 24, 1929 - As the stock market tumbled on October 24, 1929, a crowd of concerned investors gathered outside the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, unprepared for an unprecedented economic decline that would send the country into a tailspin for the next decade. (Corbis-Bettmann) [Pageant 13e [History Companion] New york Times - Brinkley 11e IR Stock Market Prices, 1921–1932 Stock Market crash: October 24, 1929 (Corbis-Bettmann)

SOURCES http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/image_bank_US/1920_1930.html Brinkley, American History: A Survey Kennedy, American Pageant 13e (History Companion) Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.; http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_faragher_outofmany_ap/ Jones, et al., Created Equal Nash America: Pathways to the Present