1. Transition to Modern America 1920 - 1928 Read Page 735

2. Post War America A short post war Contraction (recession) The nation then went into an almost decade long period of economic growth (expansion) New technology translated into more, cheaper products Demand for these new products (home appliances) created new jobs

3. continued…. Radio offered a new method of communication, and marketing Agri-technology made food cheaper, but the family farm less profitable, farmers began to ask for and receive subsidies

4. Result of the New Wealth Disposable income meant searching for entertainment Golden age of literature, and music Women understood, and could practice more types of birth control giving them more power This helped create the flapper empowerment fad

5. continued… Most of the speakeasy lifestyle was carried out by the wealthier, and upper middle classes Prohibition was mainly aimed at keeping alcohol out of the hands of the working middle class and poor

6. continued… Prohibition was expensive to enforce, and allowed mob / mafia groups to flourish

7. Writers of the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway t. s. elliot William Faulkner

8. Klan Resurgence KKK became active again because the war had empowered some blacks in America Klan was also used to combat immigration into America The film Birth of A Nation was produced to glorify Klan activities, and helped to spread stereotype about blacks and immigrants

9. Fundamentalist versus Moderate Christianity The Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee over the teaching of evolution William Jennings Bryan (anti-evolution) testified vs. Clarence Darrow Rural counterattack took on the speakeasy lifestyle of the Roaring 20s, and its excesses of drink, entertainment, and materialism

10. Politics of the 1920s Democrats were a strange coalition of Conservative Southerners, Pro Drink Catholics, and Immigrant Organized Labor Republicans were a few old progressives and business interests

11. continued… Southern Dems controlled the South Republicans controlled the federal government in Washington D.C. Republican Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover were pro free enterprise, anti-labor Coolidge strongly believed that government should stay out of business

12. Communism in America While in the Early 20 th century as much as 20% of Americans had communist leanings, the first red scare (in 1920s) began the demise of America’s Communist ideas