The ROARING twenties

Factors contributing to prosperity Rise of the automobile Ownership grew from from 8 to 24 million Required vast amounts of steel, glass, & rubber leading to jobs Henry Ford Automobile manufacturer Introduced Model T in 1905 Introduced assembly line in 1914 So efficient he doubled wages & slashed prices By 1929, one out of every nine workers was employed in an auto-related industry. Cars gave people greater mobility. Led to growth of suburbs. Henry Ford: goal was to make a car everyone could afford. Model T first car that middle-class Americans could afford. By 1924 Ford was producing 1.6 million cars a year at a price of less than $300 per car. By 1925, one car was rolling off Ford’s assembly line every 10 seconds Assembly line made skilled workers obsolete

Henry ford & his model t

Rise of new industries New inventions that created new jobs Trans-Atlantic telephone service Vacuum cleaner Refrigerator & toaster Radio & motion pictures widespread

Rise of new industries Glenn Curtiss Early aviation pioneer 1911 - flew his “hydroaeroplane” that landed on a naval ship His landing marked birth of U.S. naval aviation & convinced Secretary of the Navy to buy navy’s 1st aircraft 1919 – constructed 1st airplane to cross the Atlantic Ocean for the U.S. Navy

Age of mass consumption Retailers developed buying on credit Allowed people to buy more expensive items Speculation Boom Speculation: purchase of an item with the hope of selling it later at a higher price Uneven Prosperity Many Americans still faced poverty Farmers, railroad workers, and textile workers faced problems Buying on credit: pay a small down payment to take home an item, and then pay monthly payments with interest Speculation: gains it stocks fueled speculation, as people bought stocks, stock prices went up even higher Study in 1929- top on thousandth (.1%) of Americans had a combined income equal to that of the bottom 42% Farmers: tractors. Railroads: cars. Textile workers: foreign competition.

attempts TO PRESERVE TRADITIONAL VALUES Young people began to yearn for greater freedom. Led to modern vs. traditional values Prohibition Protestant reformers saw liquor as cause of poverty & crime Women’s organizations joined the movement as well Prohibition led to loss of jobs. People thought others were forcing moral convictions on others. Prohibition led to a growth of lawlessness and rise of organized crime which supplied illegal alcohol to willing consumers

Prohibition Frances Willard (1839-1896) Brother was an alcoholic 1879-elected President of National Women’s Temperance Union, also fought for suffrage 1882-organized Prohibition Party Helped persuade enough states to pass 18th amendment – banning sale of alcoholic drinks

prohibition People refused to accept the ban 18th amendment repealed by the 21st, passed in 1933. Even President Harding drank alcohol in the White House

The scopes “monkey trial” of 1925 In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher, was arrested for teaching his class the theory of evolution Scopes “Monkey Trial”: State represented by William Jennings Bryan while Clarence Darrow defended Scopes 1st trial to be broadcast over national radio Scopes convicted for teaching evolution, but $100 fine eventually set aside Darrow cross-examined Bryan as an expert on the Bible, pointing to seeming contradictions in the Biblical text. Tennessee 1st state to pass a law against teaching evolution

Restrictions on immigration Nativists saw influx in immigration as a threat to the nation’s economic stability Immigration Acts of 1921, 1924, 1929: basically designed to keep out immigrants from Southern & Eastern Europe These laws established quotas for each separate nationality Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany allowed greatest # of immigrants Asian immigration was barred altogether In 1910, Eastern and Southern Europeans made up 70 percent of all immigrants entering the US During WWI, immigration reduced to a trickle due to conflicts in Europe

eugenics Rise of eugenics: pseudo-scientific belief that the human race could be improved by breeding Leading proponent of eugenics – Charles Davenport Wanted to prevent the mentally ill from having children to reduce mental illness Also wanted to reduce immigration Thought “inferior races” from Eastern and Southern Europe

eugenics Led to: forced sterilizations segregation laws marriage restrictions Eugenics is closely tied with Social Darwinism Believed that human races compete for survival just as animals Some of the money used to finance this racist thinking came from such prestigious groups as the Carnegie Institution and Rockefeller Foundation.