Transition to Modern America 1920 - 1928

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Transition to Modern America1920 - 1928
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The Economy

• Was booming
• Beginning to show signs of impending doom
• The rest of the world was already in a depression

3
The New Consumer Culture

• Automobiles
• Radio
• Movies

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Other Consumer Products of 1920s

• Electricity washing machines, vacuum cleaners,
  refrigerators and ranges.

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Mass Media

• Radios and Motion Pictures

Rudolph Valentino
KDKA in Pittsburgh was first station
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Advertising
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Economy Was Showing Signs of Weakening

• Farmers were the worst off
• Organized labor unable to make gains
• Corporations are financially stressed.
• Middle and upper-class Americans enjoyed the
  decade

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Cities Were Growing
Woolworth Bldg., NYC
Empire State Bldg., NYC
Chicago Tribune Bldg.
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Women in the Jazz Age

• Women returned home after World War I
• Those who did work, low pay
• 19th Amendment had less impact than expected
• National Womans Party (Alice Paul) worked for
  full equality
• Growing assertiveness with the image of the
  flapper

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The Flappers
Clara Bow Our Dancing Daughters
Louise Brooks Movie Star
Clara Bow
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Women, Music and the Jazz Age
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Literature of Alienation Lost Generation

• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Ernest Hemingway
• Sinclair Lewis
• Ezra Pound
• T.S. Eliot
• Eugene ONeill

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Harlem Renaissance

• Countee Cullen
• Langston Hughes
• James Weldon Johnson
• Claude McKay

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Well, son, I'll tell youLife for me ain't been
no crystal stair.It's had tacks in it,And
splinters,And boards torn up,And places with no
carpet on the floorBare.But all the time I'se
been a-climbin' on,And reachin' landin's,And
turnin' corners,And sometimes goin' in the
darkWhere there ain't been no light.So, boy,
don't you turn back.Don't you set down on the
steps.'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.Don't
you fall nowFor I'se still goin', honey,I'se
still climbin',And life for me ain't been no
crystal stair. Langston Hughes
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Dreams Jacob Lawrence
Lonely Heart in the Modern City Edward Hopper
Sunday Edward Hopper
The Jazz Singers Archibald Motley
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Religion of the 1920s

• Fundamentalism
• Revivalists
• Impact of radio

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Red Scare

• Fear of Communism
• Quota Laws
• Nativism
• Sacco and Vanzetti

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Peak of KKK Power

• Most hateful period in American history
• Numbers grew rapidly
• Decreased just as rapidly by the end of the 1920s.

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Prohibition v. Bootleggers

• 18th Amendment
• Volstead Act
• Repeal (21st )

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Rise of Organized Crime
Al Capone
Elliot Ness
St Valentines Day Massacre
Alcatraz
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Fundamentalism v. Modernists

• Scopes Trial

William Jennings Bryan
Clarence Darrow
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A New Era in Politics

• Republicans return to power with the election of
  Warren G. Harding in 1920

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Warren G. Harding and
Harvey Firestone Camping Trip
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Campaign Slogan

• Return to Normalcy
• Return to society as it was before the war.
• Appointments given to the Ohio Gang
• His friends led to his downfall
• Many are involved in scandals

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Mysterious Death
August, 1923
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Teapot Dome Scandal

• Secretary of the Interior, Albert B. Fall
• Allowed private interests to lease lands
  containing U.S. Navy oil reserves at Teapot Dome,
  Wyoming
• Received bribes of up to 300,000
• Convicted and sent to prison.

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The Coolidge Administration

• Took over presidency after Hardings death
• Distanced himself from the previous
  administration
• Focused on the Business Creed
• Easily won again in 1924

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The Republican Business Creed

• Whats good for business is good for the nation.

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The New President

• Encouraged increased productivity
• Focused on the new energy technologies

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Democrats Were Split

• One faction Democrats in the rural South and
  West
• Second faction Immigrants and factory workers in
  the North

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Election of 1928
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Herbert C. Hoover

• Religion played a part (Al Smith was Catholic)
• Showed a change of demographics with power in the
  Northeast
• Followed the Republican policies of Coolidge

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Prosperity of the 20s Was Fragile

• Wealth unevenly distributed
• Americans were living on credit
• Over speculation on the stock market
• Agricultural prices extremely low
• Over-production of goods

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The Bottom is about to Fall Out
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What was the most distinctive feature of the new
consumer economy?

1. The lack of consumer goods
2. The Sears mail-order catalogue
3. The consumers lack of purchasing power
4. The new shopping malls
5. The emphasis on marketing.

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Which of the following is NOT true of the economy
of the 1920s?

1. Unequal distribution of wealth
2. Not enough consumer goods
3. Low farm prices
4. Stock market speculation
5. Overproduction of goods

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In what city was there a flourishing of black
culture in the 1920s?

1. Los Angeles, California
2. Harlem, New York
3. Des Moines, Iowa
4. Charleston, South Carolina
5. Seattle, Washington

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Which of the following BEST describes the KKK in
the 1920s?

1. Known for their racial tolerance and
   understanding
2. Fell apart because of a decrease in membership
3. Was at the peak of its power and influence
4. Focused exclusively on blacks
5. Tried to incite a war with Mexico

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What was John Scopes charged with?

1. Adultery
2. Teaching evolution in Tennessee
3. Speaking out against the government
4. Failure to perform his duties
5. Selling alcohol

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The impact of the 19th Amendment on women was

1. That it thrust women into the political arena
2. That it dramatically increased the number of
   women in government.
3. That it took women out of the home
4. Less than women had hoped
5. That it united women politically