1. The ROARING twenties

2. Factors contributing to prosperity
Rise of the automobile
Ownership grew from from 8 to 24 million
Required vast amounts of steel, glass, & rubber leading to jobs
Henry Ford
Automobile manufacturer
Introduced Model T in 1905
Introduced assembly line in 1914
So efficient he doubled wages & slashed prices
By 1929, one out of every nine workers was employed in an auto-related industry. Cars gave people greater mobility. Led to growth of suburbs.
Henry Ford: goal was to make a car everyone could afford.
Model T first car that middle-class Americans could afford. By 1924 Ford was producing 1.6 million cars a year at a price of less than $300 per car. By 1925, one car was rolling off Ford’s assembly line every 10 seconds
Assembly line made skilled workers obsolete

3. Henry ford & his model t

4. Rise of new industries New inventions that created new jobs
Trans-Atlantic telephone service
Vacuum cleaner
Refrigerator & toaster
Radio & motion pictures widespread

5. Rise of new industries Glenn Curtiss Early aviation pioneer
flew his “hydroaeroplane” that landed on a naval ship
His landing marked birth of U.S. naval aviation & convinced Secretary of the Navy to buy navy’s 1st aircraft
1919 – constructed 1st airplane to cross the Atlantic Ocean for the U.S. Navy

6. Age of mass consumption
Retailers developed buying on credit
Allowed people to buy more expensive items
Speculation Boom
Speculation: purchase of an item with the hope of selling it later at a higher price
Uneven Prosperity
Many Americans still faced poverty
Farmers, railroad workers, and textile workers faced problems
Buying on credit: pay a small down payment to take home an item, and then pay monthly payments with interest
Speculation: gains it stocks fueled speculation, as people bought stocks, stock prices went up even higher
Study in top on thousandth (.1%) of Americans had a combined income equal to that of the bottom 42%
Farmers: tractors. Railroads: cars. Textile workers: foreign competition.

7. attempts TO PRESERVE TRADITIONAL VALUES
Young people began to yearn for greater freedom. Led to modern vs. traditional values
Prohibition
Protestant reformers saw liquor as cause of poverty & crime
Women’s organizations joined the movement as well
Prohibition led to loss of jobs. People thought others were forcing moral convictions on others. Prohibition led to a growth of lawlessness and rise of organized crime which supplied illegal alcohol to willing consumers

8. Prohibition Frances Willard (1839-1896) Brother was an alcoholic
1879-elected President of National Women’s Temperance Union, also fought for suffrage
1882-organized Prohibition Party
Helped persuade enough states to pass 18th amendment – banning sale of alcoholic drinks

9. prohibition People refused to accept the ban
18th amendment repealed by the 21st, passed in
Even President Harding drank alcohol in the White House

10. The scopes “monkey trial” of 1925
In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher, was arrested for teaching his class the theory of evolution
Scopes “Monkey Trial”: State represented by William Jennings Bryan while Clarence Darrow defended Scopes
1st trial to be broadcast over national radio
Scopes convicted for teaching evolution, but $100 fine eventually set aside
Darrow cross-examined Bryan as an expert on the Bible, pointing to seeming contradictions in the Biblical text.
Tennessee 1st state to pass a law against teaching evolution

11. Restrictions on immigration
Nativists saw influx in immigration as a threat to the nation’s economic stability
Immigration Acts of 1921, 1924, 1929: basically designed to keep out immigrants from Southern & Eastern Europe
These laws established quotas for each separate nationality
Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany allowed greatest # of immigrants
Asian immigration was barred altogether
In 1910, Eastern and Southern Europeans made up 70 percent of all immigrants entering the US
During WWI, immigration reduced to a trickle due to conflicts in Europe

12. eugenics
Rise of eugenics: pseudo-scientific belief that the human race could be improved by breeding
Leading proponent of eugenics – Charles Davenport
Wanted to prevent the mentally ill from having children to reduce mental illness
Also wanted to reduce immigration
Thought “inferior races” from Eastern and Southern Europe

13. eugenics Led to: forced sterilizations segregation laws
marriage restrictions
Eugenics is closely tied with Social Darwinism
Believed that human races compete for survival just as animals
Some of the money used to finance this racist thinking came from such prestigious groups as the Carnegie Institution and Rockefeller Foundation.