Roaring 20’s

1. Roaring 20’s From Boom to Bust

2. Mass Media and Communications • How do you find out what’s going on in the world? ( News, fashion, music, etc..) • The 1920s was in many respects the first decade of our modern era. Even as cultural issues divided Americans from different regions or economic levels, technology was beginning to break down other barriers.

3. Mass Media and Communications • Radio: Broadcast jazz and Fireside Chats (along with phonograph, radio broke barriers) • Movies: Provided escape from Depression-era realities • Newspapers and magazines: Shaped cultural norms and sparked fads

4. Leisure Time • The growth of cities changed leisure patterns. • The average workweek changed from seven days 70 hours to five days 45 hours. • Salaries and wages also were on the rise. • Movies, radio, and phonographs allowed people to escape their problems and brought about a similar culture. • The radio and movies reached all parts of the world.

5. Early 20’s: Return to Normalcy • Belief that America needed to return to a “normal life” after the war • Normalcy=Pre-Progressivism: • Political Corruption • Anti-Immigration • Laissez-faire • Isolation • Fundamentalism (Religious)

6. Political Corruption • President Harding’s presidency is marked by scandal • Teapot Dome Scandal: Government officials gave government land to oil company. • Prohibition: Smuggling alcohol and speakeasies appear and government officials are bribed and corrupted. • The age of Al Capone – well known gangster

7. Al Capone

8. Anti-Immigration • Cause: Red Scare – Belief of the early 20’s that Communists would try to take over the U.S. • A. Mitchell Palmer – leader of Red Scare • Open immigration: Rise of new Ku Klux Klan • New Immigrants most affected by the Red Scare • Return of Nativism • KKK grows to over 5 million people

9. KKK in Washington 1925

10. Effects of Anti-Immigration • Court Case: Sacco & Vanzetti – two radical Italian immigrants were arrested, convicted, and executed for murder.

11. Effects of Anti-Immigration • Immigration controls: • Emergency Quota act (1921) & National Quota Act (1924) • Limit the number of Immigrants from “dangerous” countries.

12. Laissez-faire • Return the power of big business • Government crackdown on labor unions -labor unions seen as communist supporters

13. Global Policies • The United States hope to become isolationist again.

14. Small Towns v Big Cities • 1920 Census • >50% of all Americans lived in Cities • Farmers less Important

15. Fundamentalism • Religious movement of the era that hoped to restore the morality of America • Supporters: Rural areas

16. Scopes Monkey Trial • Evolution vs. The Bible • Science: City • Bible: Rural • Evolution is Darwin’s Theory that man evolved over time from monkeys • The Bible teaches creationism – God created man and all the world

17. Fundamentalism • Scopes Monkey Trial – a science teacher from Tennessee wanted to teach evolution but the school would not allow it and he sued • ACLU – American Civil Liberties Union backed the teacher • William Jennings Bryan represented the creationist • Clarence Darrow represented the evolutionist

18. Scopes Trial • Fundamentalists believed the Bible was literally true and without error. • They rejected Darwin’s theory of evolution • Evolution – human beings had developed from lower forms of life over the course of millions of year • The creationists won the trial, but because of the trial the Fundamentalists fell out of favor

19. Scopes Monkey Trial

20. Prohibition • The 18th amendment – banned the production and sale of alcohol • The Volstead Act – enforcing Prohibition became the responsibility of the U.S. Treasury Department • Granted federal and state governments the power to enforce Prohibition

22. Prohibition • Speakeasies – secret bars where you could buy alcohol • Crime was glamorized and became big business. Some gangsters had enough money to corrupt local politicians. (organized crime) • Al Capone – one of the most successful and violent gangsters of the time • Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Faced Nelson, John Dillinger all famous during this time period. • The Twenty-first Amendment ended Prohibition

23. Traditional Role of Women • Flappers: A young woman with short skirts and rouged cheeks who had her hair cropped close in a style known as a bob. • Women gained the right to vote with passage of the nineteenth amendment.

24. Cultural Innovations • Talking picture – The Jazz Singer – was produced and the golden age of Hollywood began. • Mass media – radio, movies, newspapers, and magazines aimed at a broad audience – did more than just entertain. • They helped to broaden people’s interests and fostered a sense of shared national experience

25. African American Culture • The Great Migration – hundreds of thousands of African Americans move from the rural South to industrial cities in the North • Harlem Renaissance – African Americans created an environment that stimulated artistic development, racial pride, and a sense of community. • Langston Hughes, writer, Louis Armstrong, trumpet player, Duke Ellington, bandleader.

26. Notables • Charles Lindbergh – first to fly across the Atlantic • Babe Ruth – may be the best known baseball player • Henry Ford – the assembly line, his most important invention, also developed the Model T ford. • Welfare capitalism – Companies allowed workers to buy stock, participate in profit sharing, and receive benefits such as medical care and pensions.

27. Notables • Open shop – a workplace where employees were not required to join a union. • In 1920 Westinghouse Company broadcast one of the first public broadcast in history • 1926 National Broadcasting Company (NBC) established a permanent network of stations to distribute daily programs. • 1928 Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) assembled a coast-to-coast network of stations