Friday, March 7, 2008

Chapter 25 The Roaring Twenties (1919-1920)


Chapter 25: The Roaring Twenties, 1919-1920
Section 1: The Business of America
Main Idea: The government supported business and kept a hands-off policy in other matters.During the 1920 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Warren G. Harding promised Americans a “return to normalcy.” This appealed to many voters, and he was elected president. Harding focused on economic matters. He asked Congress to lower taxes and balance the budget, and he also called for less government regulation of business. Harding appointed some of his old friends to the cabinet. A few used their positions in government to make money illegally. The worst scandal involved Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. Fall took bribes from oil executives to drill on oil-rich government land at Teapot Dome, Wyoming. This was called the Teapot Dome Scandal. When President Harding suffered a blood clot in the brain and died in 1923, Vice- President Calvin Coolidge became president. He was elected in his own right in 1924. Coolidge believed in the economic theory of laissez faire, which stated that business, if left alone, would prosper and benefit the nation. Under his administration, businesses flourished and the nation’s wealth grew. The average annual income per person rose from $522 to $716. However, Coolidge refused to help the nation’s farmers, who were suffering from low crop prices. Both Harding and Coolidge were isolationists—people who believe that the United States should stay out of other nations’ affairs. Coolidge’s major peace effort was the Kellogg2 Briand Pact of 1928. Fifteen nations agreed not to make war against one another except in self-defense. In 1896, Henry Ford had built his first successful automobile. By the 1920s, Ford had built a car that most people could afford. It was known as the Model T and cost $335. To speed up production and lower costs and prices, Ford used an assembly line. Each worker in the line performed the same task over and over again. The automobile and other advances in technology improved life. Many consumers used credit and paid for their purchases through installment buying. They repaid the amount borrowed in small monthly payments. The 1920s also marked the beginning of the air age. Former World War I pilots worked as crop-dusters, stunt fliers, flight instructors, and air mail pilots. Transatlantic flights by Charles A. Lindbergh in 1927 and Amelia Earhart in 1928 and 1932 helped promote the idea of commercial transportation. Pan American Airways became the nation’s first passenger airlines in 1927.
Section 2: Changes in Society
Main Idea: Changes in society in the 1920s brought new attitudes and lifestyles but also caused divisions and conflict. During the 1920s, the under-25 generation wanted fun and freedom. They tried new fashions, attitudes, and ways of behavior. As a result, the 1920s became known as the Roaring Twenties. Women had more personal freedom. They drove cars, played sports, and went to college. The symbol of the 1920s woman was the flapper, a creation of a magazine illustrator. Flappers wore short hair, short dresses, and make-up. They held unconventional ideas and always were eager to try something new. A growing number of women took jobs in business offices, retail stores, factories, and the professions. Men and women came to view marriage as more of a partnership. Women were able to vote for the first time in the 1920 elections. But political gains for women were slow. In 1928, only 145 women held seats in state legislatures. The 18th Amendment, called Prohibition, went into effect in 1920. Prohibition was a ban on the manufacture and sale of alcohol. However, people who wanted alcohol found many ways to get it. “Bootlegging”—the smuggling and selling of liquor illegally—led to the growth of organized crime. The most ruthless crime boss of the era was Al Capone in Chicago. By the late 1920s, most Americans saw that Prohibition was a failure. In 1933, the nation repealed the 18th Amendment with the 21st Amendment. Prohibition ended, but organized crime remained. Many African Americans had moved to the North during World War I to work in war related jobs. Their migration increased racial tensions in many northern cities. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) tried to protect the rights of African Americans. The group urged them to protest racial violence. It also pushed Congress to pass anti-discrimination legislation, but Congress refused to do so. Marcus Garvey was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). He urged African Americans to return to Africa and form a separate nation. During the 1920s, a religious movement called fundamentalism gained strength. Fundamentalists believed in a literal, or word-for-word, interpretation of the Bible. They opposed the teaching of evolution—the scientific theory that living things developed over millions of years. Another reaction to the changes in American life was the rebirth of the K u K lux K lan, a group that promoted racism and the superiority of the white race. By 1924, the Klan claimed as many as 5 million members. It used violence against African Americans and others. The Klan’s power began to diminish by the end of the decade.
Section 3: The Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance
Main Idea: Popular culture was influenced by the mass media, sports, and the contributions of African Americans. New types of mass media began to take hold in the 1920s. Mass media are communications that reach a large audience. The number of households with radios jumped from about 60,000 in 1922 to about 10 million in 1929. Listening to the same radio programs brought the nation closer together. One of the most influential forms of mass media during the 1920s was motion pictures. Movies gave people an escape from their everyday lives. Movies also spread American popular culture, in such forms as songs, dances, fashions, and slang expressions. Sporting events of all types became very popular during the 1920s. Baseball fans went to major league ballparks in record numbers. One of the most idolized sports figures was Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees. He was then baseball’s top home-run hitter. New York City became the unofficial capital of black America in the 1920s. New York’s uptown district, Harlem, was the site of a burst of African-American cultural activity called the Harlem Renaissance. It was called a “renaissance” because it symbolized a rebirth of hope for African Americans. Many African-American writers, musicians, singers, painters, and scholars went to Harlem. There they exchanged ideas and developed their talent. A widely popular African-American contribution to the nation’s culture during the 1920s was jazz—a lively style of music developed in New Orleans. The Roaring Twenties also became known as the Jazz Age. World War I caused some artists and writers to lose faith in humankind. These men and women also felt alienated from the materialistic values of the 1920s. They were known as the Lost Generation. Many of the Lost Generation moved to Paris, France, where they found freedom and tolerance. They became American expatriates—citizens of one country who go to live in another. Among the more famous were the novelists Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s most famous work was The Great Gatsby, which shows the dark side of the Roaring Twenties.