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The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties. Prohibition Suffrage Consumerism of the 1920’s The Automobile Culture Youth Sets the Scene Fundamentalism The Scopes Trial. Prohibition. Prohibition. Prohibition – a ban of the sale of alcohol in the US Argued that ban would be good for society

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The Roaring Twenties

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  1. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition Suffrage Consumerism of the 1920’s The Automobile Culture Youth Sets the Scene Fundamentalism The Scopes Trial

  2. Prohibition

  3. Prohibition Prohibition – a ban of the sale of alcohol in the US Argued that ban would be good for society During WWI – linked alcohol with being un-patriotic - grain for troops, not alcohol - German brewers plotting to make American troops unfit By 1919, 26 states limited sale of alcohol and ¾ of people lived in “dry” areas Eighteenth Amendment 1919 - enforced by the Volstead Act Prohibition

  4. Suffrage Women had been trying to get the right to vote since 1848 Progressives wanted women to vote - help with reforms like child labor Carrie Chapman Catt - National Women Suffrage Assn. Alice Paul - Congressional Union - National Women’s party - picketed White House

  5. The Nineteenth Amendment President Wilson urged Congress to approve suffrage Ratification of national suffrage came on August 26, 1920 The right to vote still didn’t grant women full equality In many states women still couldn’t: - serve on juries - hold office - enter businesses - sign contracts without husband’s permission Suffrage

  6. Americans as Consumers • For the first time, Americans had • more than just enough money to • live on • Improved standard of living • Mass produced goods became more • available: • vacuum cleaners, toasters, irons, • washing machines, refrigerators • Increased leisure time: • listening to radio, phonographs, • talk on telephone, etc.

  7. Poverty in Midst of Plenty Low wages and unemployment combined to send many Americans into poverty New technology caused farmers to produce more than they could sell - farm prices declined Coal industry in decline, replaced by electricity in manufacturing Textile industry because of changes in fashion 1/3 of Americans lived below “minimum standards for a decent life”

  8. America Hits the Road By 1927, Americans owned 4 out of every 5 cars in the world Last of the Model – T’s cost less than $300, were affordable since average family made $2,000 a year boosted entire economy, especially steel, glass, rubber, gasoline End of WWI we had 7,000 miles of concrete roads, by 1927 there were over 50,000 miles 10,000 miles of new road per year

  9. The Driving Culture • The car changed culture in • many ways: • - dating habits of young people • - Sunday outings of families • - places people lived and • vacationed • the way people shopped • People began to travel to other • areas of the country • People were also saddled with • debt for the first time (buying • a car on credit)

  10. Buying on Time Cars weren't the only thing being bought on time By 1928: 85% of furniture 80% of phonographs 75% of washing machines 70% of refrigerators Credit: putting money down and paying in installments Mass Media: advertizing encouraged people to buy more and more

  11. Youth Sets the Scene Girls turned the modest image that was popular before WWI upside down Before WWI, women were arrested for smoking or using profanity in public Ten years later… flappers smoked, drank, went joyriding in cars Society seemed to encourage their behavior. Women’s movement and new laws gave women more economic and intellectual independence Flappers

  12. At the Movies In the 1920’s, the average American went to the movies once a week Inexpensive for high school and college students – 10Cents! Fans identified with movie stars – movie stars set the trends

  13. School Days Most Americans were prosperous enough to let kids stay in school By 1929, 51% of all high school aged youth were in school as opposed to less than 6%in 1890 Large high schools with gyms and libraries More and more began to attend college, 1 in 8 by 1930

  14. The Power of Religion Scopes Trial Fallout Fundamentalism: a movement that affirmed the literal truth of the Bible Movement thrived in the U.S., especially in the South and the Midwest Evangelists: fundamental preachers Evangelists began to use radio to reach people Billy Sunday

  15. Prohibition Fails Prohibition pitted fundamentalists against opponents who favored more tolerance small-town, rural America against urban America Bootleggers: people who illegally made, sold, or transported liquor People blatantly ignored the law, refused to take it seriously Led to rise in crime Al Capone became a multimillionaire as head of Chicago gang

  16. The Great DepressionPart 1 Election of 1928 Causes of The Great Depression Stock Market Crash Hoover’s Response Bonus Army Election of 1932 FDR

  17. Young Hoover supporter in 1928

  18. HOOVER WINS 1928 ELECTION • Republican Herbert Hoover ran against Democrat Alfred E. Smith in the 1928 election • Hoover emphasized years of prosperity under Republican administrations • Hoover won an overwhelming victory

  19. “The United States is nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.” Herbert Hoover, 1928

  20. THE GREAT DEPRESSION BEGINS Photos by photographer Dorothea Lange

  21. SECTION 1: THE NATION’S SICK ECONOMY As the 1920s advanced, serious problems threatened the economy while Important industries struggled, including: • Agriculture • Railroads • Textiles • Steel • Mining • Lumber • Automobiles • Housing • Consumer goods

  22. CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION • U.S. demand low, despite factories producing more • Farm sector crisis • Easy credit • Unequal distribution of income

  23. FARMERS STRUGGLE • No industry suffered as much as agriculture • During World War I European demand for American crops soared • After the war demand plummeted • Farmers increased production sending prices further downward Photo by Dorothea Lange

  24. CONSUMER SPENDING DOWN • By the late 1920s, American consumers were buying less • Rising prices, stagnant wages and overbuying on credit were to blame • Most people did not have the money to buy the flood of goods factories produced • Telephones, radios, refrigerators, washing machines piled up in warehouses

  25. GAP BETWEEN RICH &POOR • The gap between rich and poor widened • The wealthiest 1% saw their income rise 75% in the 1920’s • The rest of the population saw an increase of only 9% • More than 70% of American families earned less than $2500 per year Photo by Dorothea Lange

  26. Everyone Can Be Rich! • “If a man saves $15 a week, and invests in good common • stocks, and allows the dividends and rights to accumulate, • at the end of twenty years he will have at least $80,000 and • an income of around $400 a month. He will be rich.” • -John J. Raskob, Democratic National • Committee Chairman, 1929 • The stock market became an attractive gamble! • dramatic difference between the return on a savings • account and what could be made in the stock market!

  27. THE STOCK MARKET • By 1929, many Americans were invested in the Stock Market • The Stock Market had become the most visible symbol of a prosperous American economy • The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the barometer of the Stock Market’s worth • The Dow is a measure based on the price of 30 largest firms

  28. STOCK PRICES RISE THROUGH THE 1920s • Through most of the 1920s, stock prices rose steadily • The Dow reached a high in 1929 of 381 points (300 points higher than 1924) • By 1929, 4 million Americans owned stocks New York Stock Exchange

  29. SEEDS OF TROUBLE • By the late 1920s,problems with the economy emerged • Speculation:Too many Americans were engaged in speculation – buying stocks & bonds hoping for a quick profit • Margin:Americans were buying “on margin” – paying a small percentage of a stock’s price as a downpayment and borrowing the rest The Stock Market’s bubble was about to break

  30. Buying on Margin investor with $500 option 1: buy 5 shares of stock in a company costing $100 a piece or… option 2: use the same $500 to buy 100 shares at 5% down now he holds $10,000 worth of stock All is good as long as the stock prices rose…brokers were happy (they got 20% interest on loans)…stockholders happy If prices went down… brokers asked investors for more cash…if they didn’thave it brokers sold the stock

  31. THE 1929 CRASH • In September the Stock Market had some unusual up & down movements • On October 24, the market took a plunge . . .the worst was yet to come • On October 29, now known as Black Tuesday, the bottom fell out • 16.4 million shares were sold that day – prices plummeted • People who had bought on margin (credit) were stuck with huge debts

  32. By mid-November, investors had lost about $30 billion

  33. THE GREAT DEPRESSION • The Stock Market crash signaledthe beginning of the Great Depression • The Great Depression is generally defined as the period from 1929 – 1940 in which the economy plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed • The crash alone did not cause the Great Depression, but it hastened its arrival Alabama family, 1938 Photo by Walter Evans

  34. FINANCIAL COLLAPSE • After the crash, many Americans panicked and withdrew their money from banks • Banks had invested in the Stock Market and lost money • In 1929- 600 banks fail • By 1933 – 11,000 of the 25,000 banks nationwide had collapsed Bank run 1929, Los Angeles

  35. HOOVER STRUGGLES WITH THE DEPRESSION • After the stock market crash, President Hoover tried to reassure Americans • He said, “Any lack of confidence in the economic future . . . is foolish” • He recommended business as usual Herbert Hoover

  36. Hoover’s Response • Hoover believed in voluntary action • asked businesses to pledge not to • cut wages or production of goods • wanted city and state governments • to fund building projects to provide • new jobs to stimulate the economy

  37. HOOVER’S PHILOSOPHY • Hoover was not quick to react to the depression • He believed in “rugged individualism” – the idea that people succeed through their own efforts • People should take care of themselves, not depend on governmental hand-outs • He said people should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” Hoover believed it was the individual’s job to take care of themselves, not the government’s

  38. GNP DROPS, UNEMPLOYMENT SOARS • Between 1928-1932, the U.S. Gross National Product (GNP) – the total output of a nation’s goods & services – fell nearly 50% from $104 billion to $59 billion • 90,000 businesses went bankrupt • Unemployment leaped from 3% in 1929 to 25% in 1932

  39. TARIFFS • The U.S. was not the only country gripped by the Great Depression • Much of Europe suffered throughout the 1920s • In 1930, Congress passed the toughest tariff in U.S. history called the Hawley- Smoot Tariff • It was meant to protect U.S. industry yet had the opposite effect • Other countries enacted their own tariffs and soon world trade fell 40%

  40. HARDSHIPS DURING DEPRESSION • The Great Depression brought hardship, homelessness, and hunger to millions • Across the country, people lost their jobs, and their homes • Some built makeshifts shacks out of scrap material • Before long whole shantytowns (sometimes called Hoovervilles in mock reference to the president) sprung up

  41. Too Little Too Late • Hoover still felt that voluntary action • and local programs were the best • way to deal with the Depression • Hoover reluctantly approved in 1932: • Reconstruction Finance Corp. (RFC) • $2 billion in loans to faltering • banks, insurance companies, • railroads to spur economy Emergency Relief Act - $300 million in loans to state governments for unemployment relief

  42. SOUP KITCHENS • One of the common features of urban areas during the era were soup kitchens and bread lines • Soup kitchens and bread lines offered free or low-cost food for people Unemployed men wait in line for food – this particular soup kitchen was sponsored by Al Capone

  43. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Famous Depression Era song During presidential campaign of 1932 Republicans tried to discourage radio stations from playing the song Yip Harburg “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”

  44. BONUS ARMY • A 1932 incident further damaged Hoover’s image • That spring about 15,000 World War I vets arrived in Washington to support a proposed bill • The Patman Bill would have authorized Congress to pay a bonus to WWI vets immediately • The bonus was scheduled to be paid in 1945 --- The Army vets wanted it NOW

  45. BONUS ARMY TURNED DOWN • Hoover called the Bonus marchers, “Communists and criminals” • On June 17, 1932 the Senate voted down the Putnam Bill Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers protest – Spring 1932

  46. BONUS MARCHERS CLASH WITH SOLDIERS • Hoover told the Bonus marchers to go home– most did • 2,000 refused to leave • Hoover sent a force of 1,000 soldiers under the command of General Douglas MacArthur and his aide Dwight Eisenhower

  47. AMERICANS SHOCKED AT TREATMENT OF WWI VETS • MacArthur’s 12th infantry gassed more than 1,000 marchers, including an 11-month old baby, who died • Two vets were shot and scores injured • Americans were outraged and once again, Hoover’s image suffered

  48. Election of 1932 Routing of the Bonus Army was the last nail in Hoover’s political coffin When Hoover tried to campaign he was often booed On his way to vote on Election Day people threw stink bombs at his car Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the election in a landslide

  49. Election of 1932

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