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The Roaring Twenties: America's Return to Normalcy and Economic Boom

Explore the impact of laissez-faire politics, Republican leadership, prosperity, and scandals in the 1920s United States. Learn about the rise of big business, technological advancements, consumerism, and the automobile industry during this vibrant era.

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The Roaring Twenties: America's Return to Normalcy and Economic Boom

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Review of Previous Unit

  2. Roaring Twenties United States HistoryLaissez-faire Politics

  3. American Politics and Business • A Return to Normalcy • Republican Leadership • Big Business • Ford and the Automobile • Leisure and Entertainment • Hoover’s Election

  4. A Return to Normalcy • Harding promised a return to “Normalcy” • longing for a by-gone era • Nation free of labor problems and racial strife • Less filled with foreigners • Less influenced by imported radical ideologies • More attuned to the rhythms of small-town life • More devout in Fundamentalist Christianity • Less government interference

  5. Republican Leadership • 3 Republicans elected in the 1920s • each promised prosperity • Harding • Coolidge • Hoover

  6. Warren G. Harding • Generally conservative policies • taxes, tariffs, immigration restriction, labor rights, and business regulation • Administration marred by Scandal • Teapot Dome • unknown until after his death in 1923

  7. Scandal • Teapot Dome • oil reserve scandal that began during the administration of President Harding. • In 1922, Harding’s secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, leased government oil fields at Teapot Dome, Wyoming to wealth friends in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. • The investigation led to criminal prosecutions. Fall was indicted for conspiracy and for accepting bribes. Convicted of the latter charge, he was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100,000.

  8. Calvin Coolidge • Succeeded to the presidency in 1923 • elected in his own right in 1924 • Worked to make good from the scandals of Harding • Policies involved lowering federal taxes and maintaining high tariffs

  9. Big Business • Business regained folk hero status • relations between business and government had never been closer • Calvin Coolidge • “Wealth is the chief end of man” • “The man who builds a factory, builds a temple. The man who works there, worships there” • Herbert Hoover • “less government in business and more business in government"

  10. Main Sources of the Boom • Effect of WW I on technology • Scientific Management • Rapid increase in worker productivity • psychology on consumption • relationship between federal government and big business

  11. Effect of WW I on Technology • The war effort accelerated technological advances • Shortage of labor meant industry had to be more efficient

  12. Scientific Management and Worker Productivity • Scientific Management • mathematical formula for labor, streamlining of tasks, and increase in production • implemented on a grand scale, with millions put into industrial research • Worker productivity • increased by scientific management

  13. The Business Boom • Overall, the economy experienced growth and expansion in the 1920s • Three factors of production were important • Machines • Factories • The Process of Standardized Mass Production

  14. Self-perpetuating cycle • standardized mass production led to • better machinery in factories, which led to • higher production and higher wages, which led to • more demand for consumer goods • which led back to more standardized mass production

  15. Consumerism • Buying on Credit • The Installment Plan: • encouraged Americans to build up debt in order to buy consumer goods.

  16. Psychology of Consumerism • Americans were displaying a desire to get rich, and to do so with little effort • Examples of “Conspicuous Consumption” • Radio • Motion pictures • Electric Appliances • The Automobile

  17. Radio • Radio • By 1922, 3 million American households had radios • by 1929, purchases of receivers had increased by 2,500%, giving the industry annual sales of $850 million.

  18. The Movies • Movies • one of the ten largest industries • 40 million tickets sold weekly in 1922, 100 million by 1929

  19. Electric Appliances • New appliances made household work easier for women • vacuum cleaners, toasters, washing machines, refrigerators • Women became America’s greatest consumers

  20. Automobile Industry • Psychology of consumption was most evident in the growth of the automobile industry • production rose from 2 million in 1920s to 5.5 million in 1929 • By the late 1920s, there was one automobile for every five Americans • Explaining the rise in popularity of cars • Cost • Credit

  21. Ford and the Automobile • Henry Ford was most responsible for promoting the automobile in the 1920s • “Americans can have any kind of car they want, and any color they want, as long as it's a Ford, and as long as it's black.”

  22. The Model T

  23. Impact of the Auto on American Life • Economic Impact • promoted growth of other industries • petroleum, rubber, steel • national system of highways was created • federal funds became available for roads • created new service facilities • service stations • “Motels”

  24. Impact of the Auto on American Life • Social Effects of the Automobile: • Created a more mobile society • "Sunday drive” • Cars broke down the distinctions between urban and rural America • Broke down the stability of family life

  25. Ways Government supported Business • High tariff policies. • highest-ever schedule of tariffs for foreign-made goods. • Andrew Mellon was Secretary of the Treasury 1921-1932 • repealed the excess profits tax and reduced the rates for corporate and personal income taxes. • provided business leaders with a list of tax loopholes, drawn up, at Mellon’s request, by the IRS

  26. Ways Government supported Business • Cutbacks in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) • The FTC had been created to regulate big business and to look into unfair trade practices, but did less and less of this in the 1920s. • Herbert Hoover • encouraged price-fixing • believed that the government was responsible for helping businesses profit.

  27. American Heroes • American Heroes • Baseball • Babe Ruth • Boxing • Jack Dempsey • Golf • Bobby Jones • Flight • Charles Lindbergh • Amelia Earhart

  28. Hoover’s Election • Elected in 1928 • served as secretary of commerce under Harding and Coolidge • prosperity helped get him elected • the Stock Market Crash occurs in 1929 • the Great Depression occurs only a few months after he takes office

  29. Coming Attractions Preview of Next Unit

  30. Coming Soon: • Economic Crisis and the New Deal • Cause and Effect of the Stock Market Crash • Hoover’s Failing Policies • The Depression Years • Roosevelt: A New Voice • The New Deal

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