The+1920s

1920s MODULE

Hit Songs From the Roaring 1920's http://youtu.be/HeOQjyuPCms

Top 20 Greatest Songs 1920-1929 http://youtu.be/07f0TPfNLnk


 * CONSERVATIVES BATTLE CHANGING TIMES**


 * Overview**

Dilemma for many: How does one anchor oneself in a world of rampant materialism and social change?

1. Many people felt threatened by change. 2. Some reacted defensively by looking for scapegoats. 3. An increase in nativism, 4. Fear of radicalism 5. Strengthened religious fundamentalism


 * "New" morality**

1. The 1920s saw an acceleration of the tempo of American life.

Major website: Roaring Twenties http://www.1920-30.com/

Roaring Twenties (Herbert Hoover Presidential Library exhibit) http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/Hooverstory/gallery03/index.html

"Flapper" look


 * Crime/Prohibition of Alcohol**

Temperance and Prohibition (Today in History, Library of Congress) http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct28.html

Prohibition: Photo Gallery (PBS, Ken Burns) []

Alcohol, Temperance, and Prohibition (Brown University) http://dl.lib.brown.edu/temperance/

Prohibition (Ohio State University) http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/Prohibition/prohibition-index.htm

Al Capone is Convicted of Income Tax Evasion http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/September-October-08/On-this-Day--Al-Capone-Is-Convicted-of-Income-Tax-Evasion.html


 * Ku Klux Klan**

1. Result of increase in nativism. 2. Revived (1915) to insure "native, white, Protestant supremacy." 3. Drew its membership from villages and small towns untouched by immigration, industrialization, and illiberal thought. 4. Unlike its predecessor: which was mostly against blacks, New Klan devoted to 100% Americanism 5. New Klan was anti–Catholic, anti–Semitic, anti–foreigner.

6. Peak publicity: 30,000 down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. Google Images: http://bit.ly/ywtk3T

The day 30,000 white supremacists in KKK robes marched in the nation's capital https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/08/17/the-day-30000-white- supremacists-in-kkk-robes-marched-in-the-nations-capital/?utm_term=.8cfd6f7932e6

8 Moments that changed America First one is KKK parade in DC British Pathe video database https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkWkimPhBr0&feature=youtu.be

7. Not just in the South. Klan controlled much of the state of Indiana. 8. Klan declined by 1930s. 9. Today's Klan is third wave.


 * Sacco and Vanzetti** (1921)

Google Images: Sacco and Vanzetti http://bit.ly/AgrjnH

1. Two Italian immigrants were accused of murder in a payroll robbery 2. Both were anarchists (want to destroy all government) 3. It is not clear they were really guilty, but both executed 4. Fear of radicalism: antiforeign, antianarchist sentiment

See also:

Finding Dulcinea: On This Day: Italian-Born Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti Executed http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/Aug/Italian-Born-Anarchists-Sacco-and-Vanzetti-Executed.html

Aug. 23, 1927 | Sacco and Vanzetti, Italian Anarchists, Are Executed in Boston http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/aug-23-1927-sacco-and-vanzetti-executed-in-boston/

Sunset Hall's Red Twilight (Los Angeles Times) []


 * Scopes trial** (1925)

Monkey Trial (July 1925) https://youtu.be/_1uL6o9mAiE

1. Held in Dayton, Tennessee

2. Scopes, a high school Biology teacher, had apparently taught evolution, a violation of Tennessee law.

Google Images: John Scopes http://bit.ly/zwYLIL

3. Clarence Darrow, noted trial lawyer and non-religious, defended Scopes. http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/d/clarence-darrow.html

Clarence Darrow obituary http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0418.html

Google Images: Clarence Darrow http://bit.ly/xHLeQT

4. William Jennings Bryan, an evangelical, argued against evolution.

Google Images: William Jennings Bryan http://bit.ly/xLipqf

5. Evolution undermines Biblical account of creation

6. The issues at stake:

Faith v. reason Science v. creationism Rural v. urban values.

May 25, 1925 | A Tennessee Teacher, John T. Scopes, Is Indicted for Evolution Lessons []

Tennessee Educator Scopes Indicted for Teaching Evolution http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/May-June-08/On-this-Day--Tennessee-Educator-Scopes-Indicted-for-Teaching-Evolution.html

The Scopes Trial (Divining America, National Humanities Center) http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/tscopes.htm


 * Sister Aimee Semple McPherson (**1920s)

The mysterious disappearance of a celebrity preacher http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30148022

Aimee Semple McPherson (Google Images) http://bit.ly/z42xuM

Aimee Semple McPherson http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/s/aimee-semple-mcpherson.html

From the America in the 1930s website: Aimee Semple McPherson http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/robertson/asm/front.html Aimee's Life http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/robertson/asm/background.html Aimee's Religion http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/robertson/asm/message.html Aimee as Actress http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/robertson/asm/actress.html Aimee and the Media http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/robertson/asm/media.html Aimee as Advertiser http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/robertson/asm/advertiser.html


 * THE AGE OF PLAY**


 * Overview**

1. People had more leisure time 2. Spectator sports and movies became big business


 * Sports heroes**

1. Sports provided the unpredictability and drama that people craved.

2. Sport hero example: Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth obituary http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0206.html

Baseball: Babe" Ruth—60 home runs in 1927

Babe Ruth Makes Major League Debut http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/July-August-08/On-this-Day--Babe-Ruth-Makes-Major-League-Debut.html


 * Movies**

1. In 1922, 40 million viewers per week; in 1930, 100 million per week. 2. Previously, movies had been silent—with subtitles. 3. Movie star examples:

Charlie Chaplin obituary http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0416.html

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks marry http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fairbanks-and-pickford-marry

Pickford and Fairbanks mobbed by crowds ( 6/21/1920) []


 * CHARLES A. LINDBERGH**

Charles Lindbergh http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/l/charles-lindbergh.html

1. First solo transatlantic flight: New York to Paris (1927)

Charles Lindbergh Lands in Paris http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0521.html#article

2. Combination of radio and talking movies (used for newsreels) gave him a world–wide attention that would previously have been impossible.


 * BUSINESS DID WELL IN THE 1920S**

1. Presidents.

All three were Republicans: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.

President Warren G. Harding obituary http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1102.html

President Calvin Coolidge obituary http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0704.html

Calvin Coolidge Passes | Today in History | 5 Jan 1933 http://youtu.be/huAmXAQDBvk

President Coolidge Delivers First Presidential Address Broadcast on Radio []

Alfred Smith obituary http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1230.html

President Herbert Hoover obituary http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0810.html

Herbert Hoover Miller Center (University of Virginia) http://millercenter.org/president/hoover

All three were pro–business ("The business of America is business").

2. Supreme Court.

Protected business and private property as it had in the Gilded Age. Sheltered business from government regulation Hindered organized labor from striking.

3. Congress. Responsive to corporate lobbying.

4. Welfare capitalism.

Corporations countered the appeal of unions by offering pensions, profit–sharing, picnics, and company-sponsored sports teams.

5. Consumerism

[We will see a replay of this consumerism when we look later at the 1950s.]

Consumer society.

Number of consumers increased by advertising (increased sophistication plus increased expenditures), credit, and higher wages

6. Automobile

Ford Model T

a. The car altered American life as much as the railroad had 75 years earlier. b. Car registrations went from 8 to 23 million in the 1920s. c. Car prices more affordable: mass production and competition d. Automobile industry fostered growth of other industries


 * Items to make cars: steel, glass, rubber, textiles.
 * Roads: "good roads" movement.
 * Motels and diners
 * Oil drilling
 * Gas stations.


 * STOCK MARKET CRASH** (1929)

Black Tuesday, Stock Market Crash Ushers in Great Depression http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/September-October-08/On-this-Day---Black-Tuesday--Stock-Market-Crash-Ushers-in-Great-Depression.html

Video: The Crash of 1929 & The Great Depression (PBS) 1 of 6 http://youtu.be/ccNilnpvbJg

(A) Business context

1. Increasing flow of consumer goods: autos, radios, and household appliances

2. Installment credit increased sales

3. Optimism in the air Unlimited prosperity would never end "Blue skies keep smiling on me"

Irving Kaufman - Blue Skies (1927) http://youtu.be/V7cPcEa4e8I

4. But the consumer–goods revolution contained seeds of its own collapse.


 * Factories produced more than country could consume.
 * Workers had insufficient purchasing power.
 * Farmers were particularly suffering.

5. Mild recession in 1927


 * Business should have heeded warning
 * Should have raised wages
 * Should have lowered prices.
 * Government should have tightened installment buying.

(B) Investment issues

1. Stocks could be bought on margin:

$100 down could buy stock worth $1,000.

2. Stocks rose more on speculation than on underlying company value.

3. Corporations focused on profits, dividends, and expansion

4. Not enough money went to the workers—who were also consumers.

5. Stock market crash in October 1929 burst the bubble.

29 October 1929 Stock Prices Collapse http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1029.html#article

(C) After the Stock Market crash

1. Beginning of the depression.

2. Between 1929 and 1932, industrial production declined by almost 45% Decline of production led to plant closings and unemployment.

3. Unemployment rose quickly:


 * 1930—5 million (15% unemployment)
 * 1931—9 million (25%)
 * 1932—12 million (40%)

4. Bank failures rose steadily.

5. Protectionism

Smoot–Hawley tariff raised U.S. import duties to an all–time high.

Protectionism: The Battle of Smoot-Hawley (Economist) http://www.economist.com/node/12798595

Ben Stein's take on Smoot-Hawley http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/business/10every.html

Difficult for other countries to sell their products in U.S. Difficult for them to earn dollars to buy American products. Other countries raised their tariffs in retaliation.

6. Depression became world–wide.