1. The 1920’s
A Time of Change

2. Calvin Coolidge Vice President under Harding
President in 1923 after Harding dies
Reelected in 1924
Changes back to a Laissez-faire approach to economy
Return to Isolation

3. Political Scandal The Teapot Dome Scandal 1924
Secretary of Interior indicted for bribery
Gave leases to government oil to companies for money
Oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming

4. Recession Economy suffers
Caused by shift from wartime to peacetime economies
No longer producing for war
Production, farm income, exports decline
Unemployment increases (12% in 1921)

5. Recovery Coolidge Prosperity Gross National Product up 40% by 1923
Standard of living increases

6. Pro-Business Policies
Decreased corporate income taxes
Decreased national debt
Raised tariffs
Demanded repayment of war debts

7. Labor During war, strikes decrease Post-war strikes fail
Troops and court orders used to end strikes
Union membership decreases
Supreme Court rules against child labor laws

9. Farming Policies favor large commercial farms Small farms suffer
Production increased during war
After war they are producing too much
Prices drop

10. The Stock Market Investments increase Buying “on margin”
Small down payments in cash
Borrow the rest
People could pay off the loans as long as stocks did well

11. Mass Consumption New Technology Cultural Homogenization Automobiles
Mass production, assembly line
Lower prices
Cultural Homogenization
Everyone can buy the same products
Brand names

13. MORE THAN JUST A CAR Nations biggest manufacturing industry
Businesses to service cars and travel grow
garages, car dealerships, motels, campgrounds, gas stations, restaurants
3.7 million people employed directly or indirectly by industry in 1929
$2 billion to build roads
Growth of suburbs

16. New Values Emphasis on wealth, possessions, fun Leisure
Movies, sports, games
Flappers
Young women
Drank, smoked
More in movies than real life

18. Growth of Electricity New ways to shop Growth of electricity
Kansas City first shopping mall 1923
Growth of electricity
% people with electric lights
% people with electric lights
only 4% farms with electricity

19. Unified America
Until 1920’s America divided into regional economies and cultures
Growth of Mass Media creates a more connected America
Radio
Movies

20. Prohibition Illegal to buy, sell, or consume alcohol
18th Amendment in 1919
Hard to enforce
Bootlegging- illegally making and selling alcohol
Ended in 1933
Prohibition video

21. Red Scare Fear of spread of communism after Russian Revolution
Leads to race riots, bombings, police raids, and deportations

22. Scopes Trial Religion being challenged
Darwinism vs Protestant Religion
Evolution vs God
IMPORTANCE: This was the first time the bible was being questioned

23. Sacco and Vanzetti
Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti convicted of murder
Little evidence against them
Both anarchists
executed

24. Ku Klux Klan Reorganized due to anti-foreign attitudes
Targeted African Americans, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants

25. Immigration Immigration Act of 1924
Established quotas- limited number of allowed immigrants
Kept out immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe and Asia

26. Women’s Roles More women working 1920’s Women’s Bureau 19th Amendment
Part of Department of Labor
Improved working conditions
19th Amendment
Women get right to vote

27. Harlem Renaissance African American movement based out of Harlem, NYC
Called for action against bigotry
Pride in African American culture
Writers
W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes
Artists, musicians
jazz

29. Great Migration
Starting in World War One African Americans began moving from South to North
,000 African Americans in NYC
,000 African Americans in NYC

31. Jazz Age Combination of Ragtime and Blues = Jazz Began in New Orleans
Grew to dominate radio
500 Jazz Clubs in Harlem