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1920s Politics Harding & Coolidge Presidencies
SECTION 1: AMERICAN POSTWAR ISSUES • The American public was exhausted from World War I • Public debate over the League of Nations had divided America • An economic downturn meant many faced unemployment • A wave of nativism swept the nation
ISOLATIONISM • Many Americans adopted a belief in isolationism • Isolationism meant pulling away from involvement in world affairs
THE HARDING PRESIDENCY • Warren G. Harding’s modest successes include the Kellogg-Briand Pact which renounced war as a means of national policy (signed by 15 nations, but difficult to enforce), and the Dawes Plan which solved the problem of post-war debt by providing loans to Germany to pay France/Britain who then paid the U.S. Harding 1920-1924
SECTION 1: THE BUSINESS OF AMERICA • The new president, Calvin Coolidge, fit the spirit of the 1920s very well • His famous quote: “The chief business of the American people is business . . .the man who builds a factory builds a temple – the man who works there worships there” President Calvin Coolidge 1924-1928
AMERICAN BUSINESS FLOURISHES • Both Coolidge and his Republican successor Herbert Hoover, favored governmental policies that kept taxes down and business profits up • Tariffs were high which helped American manufacturers • Government interference in business was minimal • Wages were increasing
Republican Policies • Return to "normalcy" • tariffs raised • corporate, income taxes cut • spending cuts • Government-business cooperation • “The business of government, is business” • Return to “isolation”
TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL • The worst case of corruption was the Teapot Dome Scandal • The government set aside oil-rich public land in Teapot, WY • Secretary of Interior Albert Fall secretly leased the land to two oil companies • Fall received $400,000 from the oil companies and a felony conviction from the courts
Administration in Turmoil • Scandals become public few days later Harding dies [heart attack] • VP Calvin Coolidge becomes Pres • “I have no troubles with my enemies, its my friends that are giving me sleepless nights”
The 1924 Election • Calvin Coolidge served as President from 1923 to 1929. • “Silent Cal”. • Republican president
REPUBLICAN FISCAL PROGRAM REPUBLICAN ECONOMY SUPPORTED LAISSEZ FAIRE AND BIG BUSINESS………. $ = + + Lower Taxes Less Federal Higher Strong Spending Tariffs National Economy Fordney-McCumber Tariff---1923Hawley-Smoot Tariff ---1930 raised the tariff to an unbelievable 60%!!!
THE ROARING TWENTIES • Decade notable for obsessive interest in celebrities • Sex becomes an all-consuming topic of interest in popular entertainment • Eat, drink & be merry, for tomorrow we die • Return to normalcy • US turned inward---isolationism • Jazz Age • first modern era in the U.S.
1920s: TOUGH TIMES FOR UNIONS • The 1920s hurt the labor movement • Union membership dropped from 5 million to 3.5 million • Why? African Americans were excluded from membership and immigrants were willing to work in poor conditions Ford Foundry workers in 1926; only 1% of black workers were in Unions at the time
THE IMPACT OF THE AUTO • The auto was the backbone of the American economy from 1920 through the 1970s • It also profoundly alteredthe American landscape and society The Ford Model T was the first car in America. It came only in black and sold for $290. Over 15 million were sold by 1927.
IMPACT OF THE AUTO Among the many changes were: • Paved roads, traffic lights • Motels, billboards • Home design • Gas stations, repair shops • Shopping centers • Freedom for rural families • Independence for women and young people • Cities like Detroit, Flint, Akron grew • By 1920 80% of world’s vehicles in U.S.
AIRLINE TRANSPORT BECOMES COMMON • The airline industry began as a mail carrying service and quickly “took off” • By 1927, Pan American Airways was making the transatlantic passenger flights When commercial flights began, all flight attendants were female and white
The Automobile Industry • Auto makers stimulate sales through model changes, advertising • Auto industry fostered the growth of other businesses • Autos encourage movement and more individual freedom.
SOVIET UNION COMMUNISM Lenin • Russia was transformed into the Soviet Union in 1917, a Communist state • Vladimir Lenin led the Bolsheviks and overthrew the Czarist regime • He was a follower of the Marxist doctrine of social equality • A Communist party was formed in America, too
SACCO & VANZETTI • The Red Scare fed nativism in America • Italian anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti were a shoemaker and a fish peddler • Convicted of robbery and murder despite flimsy evidence, their execution was symbolic of discrimination against radical beliefs during the Red Scare
THE KLAN RISES AGAIN • As the Red Scare and anti-immigrant attitudes reached a peak, the KKK was more popular than ever • By 1924, the Klan had 4.5 million members
CONGRESS LIMITS IMMIGRATION • Congress, in response to nativist pressure, decided to limit immigration from southern and eastern Europe • The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and National Origins Act set up a quota system to control and restrict immigration America changed its formally permissive immigration policy
PROHIBITION • Goal:was to reduce crime and poverty and improve the quality of lifeby making it impossible for people to get their hands on alcohol. • This "Noble Experiment" was a failure. • Midnight, January 16th, 1920, US went dry. • The 18th Amendment, known as the Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture, sale and possession of alcohol in America. Prohibition lasted for thirteen years. • So was born the industry of bootlegging, speakeasies and Bathtub Gin.
PROHIBITION • People drank more than ever during Prohibition, and there were more deaths related to alcohol. • No other law in America has been violated so flagrantly by so many "decent law-abiding" people. • Overnight, many became criminals. • Mobsterscontrolled liquor created a booming black market economy. • Gangsters owned speakeasies and by 1925 there were over 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone.
PROHIBITION The "Noble" Experiement
SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL 1925 The first conflict between religion vs. science being taught in school was in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee.
SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL John T. Scopes Respected high school biology teacher arrested in Dayton, Tennessee for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Clarence Darrow Famous trial lawyer who represented Scopes William J. Bryan Sec. of State for President Wilson, ran for president three times, turned evangelical leader. Represented the prosecution. Dayton, Tennessee Small town in the south became protective against the encroachment of modern times and secular teachings.
SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL The right to teach and protect Biblical teachings in schools. The acceptance of science and that all species have evolved from lower forms of beings over billions of years. The trial is conducted in a carnival-like atmosphere. The people of Dayton are seen as ‘backward’ by the country.
RADIO • Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA was a world pioneer of commercial radio broadcasting. • Transmitted 100 watts on a wavelength of 360 meters. • KDKA first broadcast was the Harding-Cox Presidential election returns on November 2, 1920. • 220 stations eighteen months after KDKA took the plunge. • $50 to $150 for first radios • 3,000,000 homes had them by 1922.
RADIO • Radio sets, parts and accessories brought in $60 million in 1922… • $136 million in 1923 • $852 million in 1929 • Radio reached into every third home in its first decade. • Listening audience was 50,000,000 by 1925
Questions • Compare and contrast the 1920s with the Gilded Age. Discuss the differences and similarities in terms of race, immigration, labor and the behaviors of the wealthy. • Discuss the reasons why Prohibition was enacted under the Volstead Act and evaluate its success. • How did music and popular entertainment change in the 1920s? What role did technology play in enabling change? • Compare and contrast the republican administrations of Harding/Coolidge (1920-28) and McKinley/Roosevelt (1900-1908)
