Part I: The Roaring Twenties

American Landscape in the 1920s  America worn out From WWI From Progressives telling them how to live  Isolationist Wanted to be left alone The reason why the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations were voted down Kellogg-Briand Pact ○ 15 countries agreed to not use war as foreign policy tool

1920 Election  Harding v. Cox Both very similar men with similar stances  Harding elected president Republican from Ohio ○ Chosen because Ohio has a lot of electoral votes Represented “normalcy” and looked like a President ○ Hadn’t been part of Progressive movement Won with highest popular vote since Civil War  Coolidge elected Vice President Wasn’t original choice ○ Senator from Oregon shouted “we want Coolidge” ○ Started a chant

Age of Gangsters  Al Capone and others controlled cities all across the USA Government employees on gang payroll  Gang wars broke out between rival gangs St. Valentine’s Day Massacre ○ One gang lined up opposing gang members in an auto garage and machined gunned them down ○ No convictions for the murders

Prohibition  18 th Amendment Prohibited sale of alcoholic beverages  Bootleggers Smuggled alcohol  Speakeasy Secret bar

Immorality Spreads  Sunday less and less a day of rest  Money above all Keeping up with the Jones  Margaret Sanger pushed contraception as a way to eliminate the poor from having kids  Belief in pragmatism in schooling as highest value  KKK revived to persecute blacks, immigrants, Catholics, and Jews Finally exposed by the Baltimore Sun and New York World America very wary of foreigners following WWI

Entertainment  Radio and Movies  Professional Sports on the rise First wave of hero athletes: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bobby Jones  Charles Lindbergh flies NY to Paris solo First to do so Spirit of St. Louis

Scandals Under Harding  Teapot Dome Oil Scandal Albert Fall (Sec. of Interior) convinced Harding to give control of Navy’s oil fields to the Dept. of the Interior Fall then leased it to private companies for profit  Attorney Gen. Daugherty protected bootleggers, sold pardons and public offices  Harding not directly at fault Trusted wrong people Did try to fix the problems, just failed at that too

Election of 1924  Harding died of a stroke in 1923  Coolidge replaced him as President Did his best to end the scandals  Election of 1924 Coolidge easily nominated as Republican candidate Democrats struggled to finally nominate John W. Davis as their candidate ○ Chaotic convention broadcast via radio for first time ○ Killed chances of a democrat winning Coolidge easily elected President

Inflation  Banks have more money > Lower interest rates > more people borrow money  People bought more things on this credit than they can afford  Business wanted to take advantage of people buying things, so they over- expanded, taking on huge loans in the process  People thought that the Federal Reserve System meant that banks couldn’t run out of money

The Collapse Begins  US Gov. began to realize it couldn’t keep inflating economy forever  Started to deflate responsibly  Election of 1928 approached Led the gov. to resume inflationary policies ○ Happy people leads to happy voters  People were buying more than ever Henry Ford sold his Model Ts Herbert Hoover’s 1928 election campaign: “A chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage”