1. Unit 8 – Chapter 8 – The Jazz Age and The Roaring 20s
Prohibition Era
“Why don’t they pass a Constitutional amendment prohibiting anyone from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on the Earth.”
Will Rogers

2. Cell Phone Simulation Questions
1) For those of you who have cell phones, etc...what were your initial reactions? Tell me what you really thought.
2) Do you think people would’ve still brought cell phones to school? Why or why not?
3) Do you think this would be an effective way to try and eliminate cell phones from school? Why or why not?
4) How could this simulation possibly tie to prohibition? (the outlawing of alcohol.)

3. What were the Reasons for Prohibition?
1) Religious groups viewed drinking as sinful 2) Reformers believed the government should protect the public health. 3) Belief that alcohol led to crime, abuse and accidents. 4) Resentment of small towns of growing urban power and of urban culture.

4. What did the 18th Amendment do?
1) Banned the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages. 2) Took effect January of ) Federal Prohibition Bureau created to enforce law - Only 1500 agents to police the entire country. This agency was set up by the VOLSTEAD ACT.

5. What was the response to Prohibition?
1) Speakeasies
- Underground drinking
Hidden nightclubs and saloons.
Known as speakeasies because once inside one spoke quietly
to avoid detection.
Needed some type of password to enter.
Law enforcement often looked the other way due to bribes and allowed these illegal establishments to flourish.
- Who attended speakeasies and became criminals?
Middle and upper class men and women.

6. What was the response to Prohibition?
2) Bootleggers - Smugglers who sold alcohol - Became more of a sport than a crime (NASCAR)

7. What was the response to Prohibition?
3) Organized Crime - In major cities underworld gangs realized the opportunity prohibition allowed for. - These gangs/individuals made and sold liquor and pocketed huge sums of money. - Al Capone of Chicago is the most infamous

8. Why did Prohibition Fail?
1) By the mid 1920s only 19% of Americans support Prohibition. 2) Many Americans considered the increase in crime and lawlessness worse than the problems prohibition had set out to correct. 3) 1933 the 21st Amendment repeals the 18th Amendment and ends the era of Prohibition.

9. Discussion Questions
“Difficult Decisions in History” 1) Pros and cons of each. Which do you agree with? 2) If you were a legislator and were asked to vote for the 18th Amendment, what would you have said? Explain. 3) What issues might the experiment of prohibition relate to today? Should the Government attempt to prohibit immoral behavior? (Examples/Reasons)

10. American Prosperity in the 20’s

11. The Harding Administration
1920 Election - Warren G. Harding runs as the Republican nominee. He promises A RETURN TO NORMALCY. Returning America to what is was like prior to World War I. - James M. Cox runs as the Democratic nominee. His running mate was FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT.

12. Scandals in the Harding Administration
Scandals 1) THE OHIO GANG - Harding appoints political allies and old poker playing friends to posts in his cabinet and other positions. “The air (would be) heavy with tobacco smoke, trays with bottles containing every imaginable brand of whiskey…cards and poker chips at hand – a general atmosphere of waistcoat unbuttoned, feet on desk, and spittoons alongside.” 2) Veteran’s Bureau - Charles Forbes sold scarce medical supplies from veteran’s hospitals and kept the money for himself, costing the taxpayers $250 million.

13. Scandals in the Harding Administration
3) TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL
- Harding’s secretary of the interior, Albert Fall leased oil-rich public lands at Teapot dome, Wyoming and Elk Rapids, California to two private oil companies.
- Fall received bribes totaling more than
$300,000, several ranches and prize livestock.
Harding dies August 2, 1923 and
Calvin Coolidge takes over the Presidency.

14. “Coolidge keeps things cool”
- Coolidge returns respect to the Presidency after the Harding administration.

15. Causes of 1920s Prosperity
A. Government’s Role 1) Limit interference of government in business 2) Taxes were cut for Americans - Before Coolidge administration most taxpayers paid 4%, while wealthy Americans paid 73%. - Coolidge’s administration cut the rate most Americans paid to 0.5% and wealthy Americans to 25%. - This allows average Americans to have more disposable income. 3) Government imposes higher taxes on foreign companies to favor and help out American industries.

16. Causes of 1920s Prosperity
B. Business Innovation and Technology 1) Mass production creates a wide range of goods sold at low prices. EX) The assembly line and the automobile. Before the A.L. it took 12 hours to make a single car. In 1913 it took 93 minutes and by 1925 a car was rolling off the assembly line every 10 minutes. This dropped the price of cars from $850 in 1908 to $295 in ) Workers earn higher wages - Employees at Ford Motor Company earn $5/day and also see their workday reduced.

17. Causes of 1920s Prosperity
3) New technology leads to new industries being born and stimulating economic growth - Airplane - Automobile - Radio

18. Nativism Resurges

19. Why Does Nativism Resurface in the 1920s?
A. World War I (The fear of Communism) 1. The fear of Germans and Communists after World War I led many Americans to view all immigrant groups as negative. (Eastern Europeans) 2. Effects of the Russian Revolution in the U.S. (The Red Scare) - 70,000 Americans join the Communist Party and fear overtakes the American public and government. 3. The Palmer Raids: Government agents hunt down suspected Communists. The Government jailed suspects for weeks without a lawyer, searched locations without a warrant and deported hundreds of foreign-born individuals. B. Large number of immigrants entering the country 1. People are worried what type of impact this many immigrants will have on the United States.

20. Why Does Nativism Resurface in the 1920s?
C. Recession 1. Many Americans are out of work and struggling financially, so they view these immigrants as a threat to take jobs they desperately need.

21. What Does Nativism Look Like in the 1920s?
A. The Sacco-Vanzetti Case
On April 15, 1920 two men robbed and murdered two employees of a Massachusetts’ shoe factory.
2. 3 weeks later Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for the crime.
* Both were Italian immigrants and anarchists.
Anarchists: _______________________________________
3. Both men gave alibis and evidence was questionable at best. However, a jury of their peers found them guilty and they were sentenced to death.
“In all my life I have never stole, never killed, never
spilled blood…we were tried during a time…when
there was hysteria of resentment and hate against the
people of our principles, against the foreigner…I am
suffering because I am radical and indeed I am
radical; I have suffered because I am Italian and
indeed I am Italian…If you could execute two times,
and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live
again to do what I have done already.”
- Bartolomeo Vanzetti

22. A Lesson Learned?

23. The Face of Nativism and Ignorance during the 1920s

24. How did the Klan Adapt?
1. Klan’s Reason for Foundations in the 1860s - Born and flourished in the South. Its goal was to use threats and violence to intimidate newly freed African Americans 2. The Klan’s targets in the 1920s - Catholics - Jews - Immigrants - Other groups said to be “Un-American” 3. The Klan Grows - Using professional promoters Klan membership grew exponentially. By 1924 membership had reached 4 million and had spread far beyond the South into Northern cities.

25. 1920s Culture
Pop Culture Emerges

26. Women in the 20s - What are Flappers?
1) Flappers A. Women who embraced new fashion, urban attitudes and culture. - Image of rebellious youth. B. Many looked to gain more equal status in society with men. C. Drank and smoked in public: actions that would have ruined their reputations a few years before.

27. Women of the 20s
D. A Double Standard Emerges - More sexual freedom for men than women - Smoking and drinking by women viewed by many as unacceptable. - What are some double standards that our present in our society?

28. What was the Harlem Renaissance?
Harlem Renaissance – The increase and explosion of African-American artistic creativity in the 20’s. (In the Harlem community of New York.) Writers: Many explaining what is was like to be black in white America. Music: The biggest impact was through jazz. - Louis Armstrong - Duke Ellington

29. Movies In the 20s
A. Hollywood established itself as the movie capital of America. B = 20,000 movie houses C. Charlie Chaplin (“Modern Times”) D. Steamboat Willie