1. The Roaring 20s
Unit Overview

2. Organizing Principle
The “Roaring Twenties” were an oddity in a sense as they were ushered in on Warren G. Harding’s campaign slogan, “a return to normalcy.” On one hand, this decade is largely marked by isolationism and a McKinley style conservatism in the political realm. On the other hand, this period of introversion displays a radical cultural shift in the American identity that challenged rural American traditions. In this sense, the decade of the 1920s was largely a departure from normalcy.

3. The Red Scare Origins—“nativism” and isolationism Instances
Exporting the Bolshevik revolution
Immigration
American Communist Party (tiny)
Instances
The Palmer Raids
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
Believed
6,000 people arrested—bombs galore
Buford-Red Ark
Labor crushed
“commie!”
Sacco and Vanzetti
Italian anarchists
Palmer was also known as the “Fighting Quaker”

4. Ku Klux Klan Second manifestation Demographics Tactics Downfall
Discrimination against: foreigners, Catholics, blacks, Jews, pacifists, communists, bootleggers, evolutionists, gambling, adultery, et cetera…
Demographics
WASPs—fundamentalists
Midwest and Bible Belt
Tactics
Burning crosses and violence
Downfall
Corruption
Violence

6. Stemming the Foreign Flood
: 800,000 immigrants arrived
Lazarus taken literally
Emergency Quota Act (1921)
3% of 1910 census from national origins
Immigration Act (1924)
2% of 1890 census
Discriminates against southern and eastern Europe
U.S. repeals Gentlemen’s Agreement
No restrictions on Western Hemisphere
Canada, Mexico, and Latin America

7. Quota System

8. Labor Unrest Labor during WWI Strike! Strike! Strike!
Strikes were illegal
Strike! Strike! Strike!
1919—over 3,000 strikes
Labor movement painted red
Boston Police Strike
Crushed by MA governor
Calvin Coolidge
Steel Mill Strike
Crushed with violence
Coal Miner’s Strike
John L. Lewis—success!
27% pay increase
Labor loses appeal in the 20s

9. The Ascent of Harding Harding’s character Cabinet
Plus—friendly, statesmen looking
Minus—mediocre in ideas, couldn’t say no
Cabinet
The “Ohio Gang”
Harding’s poker playing cronies
Best and Worst Minds

10. Splendid Isolation Geneva Health Convention Middle East
“unofficial observers”
Middle East
“black gold”—exploited by American companies
Washington Naval Conference ( )
Wealthy don’t want to finance navy
Naval disarmament—10 year “holiday”
5:5:3
Proceed with caution
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
Outlaws war as a policy*

11. Economics of the 20s Andrew Mellon: Treasury Secretary
Tax policies encourage capital investment
Increased productivity
Machines and energy
Markets
Advertisements
Need/Want confusion?
Buying on credit
Installment plan
Superficial prosperity

12. Tariffs Republicans favor big business Results
Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)
Raises tax to 38.5%
Tariff Commission empowers president
32 upward changes
Results
European war debts
Britain and France cannot repay debts
Dawes Plan—loans to Germany
Retaliatory tariffs
Exacerbated the international economic crisis

13. Harding Harangued Scandals Harding’s death prevents full investigation
Charles R. Forbes—Veteran’s Bureau
Steals $200,000,000 from hospital construction funds
2 years in jail
Teapot Dome Scandal
Albert B. Fall—SOI—transfers oil rich lands to the Interior Dept.
Fall illegally leases land for bribes ($400,000)
Illegal sale of pardons and liquor permits
Harding’s death prevents full investigation

15. “After all, the chief business of the American people is business.”
“Silent Cal”
Conservative New Englander
Famed for breaking up a Boston Police Strike
Supports big business
Supports Mellon’s tax cuts
Mid-Twenties boom
5 ½ years of prosperity
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business.”