Warren G. Harding

1. The 1920s Warren G. Harding A return to normalcy

2. The 1920s Time of economic growth After Recession of 1921-1922 Manufacturing rose 60% in 1920s Per Capita income grew by 34% Cause: European industry debilitated Rise in technology

3. The 1920s Businesses tended to concentrate in large corporations U. S. Steel General Motors Textile industries Throughout industry: strong concern for over-production The dream was to stabilize the economy

4. The 1920s More than 2/3 of Americans lived no better than “minimum comfort level” Half of that 2/3 below level of “subsistence and poverty”

5. The 1920s Henry Ford Shorter work week Raised wages Paid vacations U. S. Steel Tried to improve safety and sanitation Workers became eligible for pensions on retirement

6. The 1920s Welfare capitalism Paternalistic techniques adopted by some employers to avoid disruptive labor unrest and forestall the growth of independent trade unions. Brought many workers important economic benefits—but did not help them gain any real control over their fates

7. The 1920s Wage & work situation 1920s Workers: increases proportionately far below increases in production and profits Unskilled workers: 2%--1920-1926 Average annual income of workers $1,500; $1,800 considered necessary to maintain a decent standard of living American workers relatively impoverished and powerless

8. The 1920s Wage & work situation 1920s Large portion of work force: out of work for at least some period during the decade Technology made many jobs obsolete William Green (AFL) opposed strikes

9. The 1920s Wage & work situation 1920s Pink Collar Jobs Low-paying service occupations: secretaries, sales clerks, telephone operators

10. The 1920s A. Philip Randolph Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters 1925 Vigorous union Led to increased wages, shorter working days, other benefits

11. The 1920s Japanese immigrants Issei: born in Japan and emigrated to U. S. Nisei: children of Japanese immigrants, born in USA Anti-Filipino riots in CA in 1925 1934—legislation that eliminated immigration from Philippines

12. The 1920s Mexican immigrants 1920s: 500,000 Most lived in cities of CA, TX, AZ and NM Barrios: few services

13. The 1920s Farmers Increased production Did not stimulate consumer demand Result Overproduction Decline in food prices Severe in drop in farmer income Average farmer made 25% of average non-farmer >3 million people left farming

14. The Roaring Twenties The Media Sensational stories helped newspaper circulation continue to rise. Tabloids published by people like William Randolph Hearst

15. The Roaring Twenties The Media Mass circulation magazines also flourished

16. The Roaring Twenties The Media Radio emerged as the most powerful means of mass communication in the 1920s For the first time, Americans heard news as it happened News, sports, and music; but also drama, comedy and variety

17. The Roaring Twenties Leisure 1929—Americans spent $4.5 billion for entertainment. Age of fads and new leisure pastimes such as crossword puzzles and playing the Chinese game of mahjong Also a time of flagpole sitting, ultra- races and dance marathons

18. The Roaring Twenties By 1925, filmmaking—nation’s fourth largest industry. More than 20,000 movie houses within the U. S. Hollywood, CA became the movie capital of the U. S. because of good climate and varied terrain

19. The Roaring Twenties Some great stars of silent films: Theda Bara (the vamp) and Charlie Chaplin Others were Tom Mix, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow & Rudolph Valentino

20. The Roaring Twenties 1927: the first major film with sound: The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson

21. The Roaring Twenties 1928: the first sound movie starring a cartoon character: Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie featuring Mickey Mouse.

22. The Roaring Twenties The 1920s: a time of great literature F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby Eugene O’Neill: The Hairy Ape Forced people to look hard at social issues like isolationism and problems with wealthy America

23. The Roaring Twenties Other great authors: Sinclair Lewis (Main Street & Babbitt) , poet T. S. Eliot, and author Earnest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises & A Farewell to Arms)

24. The Roaring Twenties Great artists included Georgia O’Keeffe— oil paintings that captured the grandeur of New York. Later in life, she painted Southwest landscapes

25. The Roaring Twenties Great composers were highlighted by George Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue and Concerto In F. Another great composer: Aaron Copeland: Music for the Theater

26. The Roaring Twenties Leisure Most popular sport was baseball. Most successful professional team: New York Yankees: George Herman “Babe” Ruth and Lou Gehrig Overcame 1919 “Black Sox” scandal

27. The Roaring Twenties Leisure Negro Leagues: excellent quality baseball beginning 1920 Josh Gibson hit 89 home runs in a single season

28. The Roaring Twenties Leisure Most famous Negro Leagues player: LeRoy “Satchel” Paige. Negro leagues declined after Jackie Robinson broke into Major League baseball in 1947

29. The Roaring Twenties Leisure Boxing: biggest star: Jack Dempsey Lost twice to Gene Tunney in epic bouts (1926 & 1927)

30. The Roaring Twenties College football: Among the great players: Red Grange, the Galloping Ghost, of Illinois and George Gipp of Notre Dame. Coach Knute Rockne of Notre Dame 105 wins; 5 undefeated seasons

31. The Roaring Twenties Professional football just beginning, led by George Hallas of the Chicago Bears. Best athlete of the first 50 years of the 20th century helped get pro football moving: Jim Thorpe

32. The Roaring Twenties Tennis and golf emerged. Bill Tilden Helen Wills Bobby Jones

33. The Roaring Twenties Gertrude Ederle— first woman to swim English Channel Greatest race horse: Man o’ War

34. The Roaring Twenties Heroes Most popular: Charles A. Lindbergh May 20-22, 1927— First non-stop solo flight across Atlantic 33 hours, 29 minutes; New York to Paris

35. The Roaring Twenties Heroes Lindbergh stood for honesty and bravery—traits Americans seemed to have lost in an era of excess, crime and sensationalism. Amelia Earhart became a female hero, following Lindbergh as an aviator

36. The Roaring Twenties Flappers No longer necessary to maintain a rigid Victorian female respectability. Smoking, drinking, dancing, seductive clothes and makeup; liberated lifestyle

37. The Roaring Twenties Women’s Rights National Women’s Party: Alice Paul— campaigned for equal rights amendment By 1929: clear that women voters changed electoral outcomes hardly at all; the female vote distributed itself almost precisely the same as the male vote. Result: politicians felt LESS concern about opposing demands of female reformers

38. The Roaring Twenties Education 1914—about 1 million Americans in high school 1926—4 million Job market demanded higher educational standards 1920s high schools: college prep. plus vocational training & home economics.

39. The Roaring Twenties Education Also, high schools faced the demands of teaching English to immigrants As schools offered more, taxes to support the schools also increased Mid-1920s, the annual cost of U. S. education: $2.7 billion

40. The Roaring Twenties Harlem Renaissance Duke Ellington Cotton Club

41. The Roaring Twenties Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes Claude McKay Radical politics in writings A Raisin’ in the Sun

42. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition

43. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition January 1920: Eighteenth Amendment Prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages Reformers: liquor = cause of corruption. Women’s Christian Temperance Union Most support in South & West

44. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition Doomed from start Most Americans tired of sacrifice To many immigrants—nothing wrong with drinking—natural part of socializing Many resented government meddling U. S. government: too few enforcers

45. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition Drinkers went underground Home made liquor (bathtub gin) Bootleggers Speakeasies Clever hiding places A time of illegal cleverness

46. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition Emergence of large-scale organized crime Chicago: Al Capone Bootlegging empire netted over $60 million a year Eliminated competition: 522 gang killings 1920s

47. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition Capone, Frank Nitty and others pursued by Elliot Ness and the Untouchables Never totally defeated the gangsters Ness finally got Capone on income tax evasion Served time on Alcatraz

48. The Roaring Twenties Prohibition Ended 1933 with passage of 21st Amendment Prohibition was a major example of Protestant Fundamentalism that swept primarily the rural U. S. Literal, non-symbolic interpretation of the Bible

49. Normalcy in the 1920s Immigration Americans returned to nativist (anti-immigrant) feelings after World War I. Associated immigrants with anarchist movement, revolution and Communism After World War I, need for unskilled labor decreased.

50. Normalcy in the 1920s Immigration Emergency Quota Act of 1921: set up a quota system—a maximum number of people who could enter the U. S. from each foreign country. 3% of the number of a country’s nationals living in U. S. in 1910. Discriminated against East Europeans—Jews and Catholics; completely excluded Japanese