History 112
History 112
Ch 23
The 20's
-advertising boom
-harding's caller for a "return to normalcy"(corrupt admin)
Technological Innovations- increase industrial output.
Efficiency- became the watchword in all areas of economic life
- buying on credit contributes to the depression in 29.
Scientific management and behavioral psychology
- integrated production and distribution
- diversified products
-expanded industrial research
-control of entire industries
Get a good understanding of credit and how it catches up when you buy more than you can afford.
- welfare capitalism- to undercut capitalism, businesses promoted an"open shop" in which non union workers received the same benefits as non union workers, union membership rapidly declined.
-orginally union workers wanted better working hours, safer working conditions and higher pay.
- auto production spurred production of many industries.
1925 Henry Ford's highland Park assembly line produced a car every 10 secs.
- ford enabled workers to be both producers and consumers of his model T.
Road building promoted a new businesses along highways, people were starting to move into the supers, which created a need for businesses in rural areas .
- cities are growing out and up, Otis developed the elevator.
The State, the Economy and Business
- pro-business Republican presidents Harding (1921-23), Coolidge ( 1923-29) and Hoover ( 1929-33).
- Teapot Dome Scandal- government is supposed to take the lowest bid but instead they gave someone a sweet deal instead of serving the people.
- Harding died in 1923 to pneumonia-- brought Calvin Coolidge to office.
- Hoover served as secretary under harding and Coolidge.
Associative State- idea that the public sector government and private sector should do business together in cooperative fashion.
After WW1 the US was the strongest economic power and the worlds most important creditor.
In the 1020's the US helped Germany refinance their reparations, dawes plan and young plan 1924-30.
Kellogg-brand pact ( 1928)- made war illegal.
Despite the boom in business, many farmers suffered from overproduction .
Other sick industries included
- coal mining- faced competition from oil and natural gas
- railroad- competition from ares and trucks
- New England Textiles- faced competition from the southern mills.
New Media shaped in the 1020's- movies, radio, and sound recording.
Moves started in New York then moved to California.
Radio - nations's first comprehensive mars entertainment medium.
Amos n Andy- first national radio hit show, advertising and sponsors supported programming , helped commercialize music.
1020's- newspaper tabloids emphasized crime, sex scandals etc.
The Hearst chain controlled 14% of the nations circulation- we get records during this time, made american music popular worldwide.
Negro National League ( organized in 1920) provided new opportunities.
College sports made stars of boxers, golfers and tennis players.
Harding’s call for a “return to normalcy”masked the profound changes that American experienced during and after World War I.
Technological innovations increase industrial output without expanding the labor force.
Efficiency became the watchword in all areas of economic life.
Driven by electricity and automated machinery, industry concentrated on producing consumer goods.
Common stock prices rose steeply during the 1920s.
Although only about 4 million Americans owned stocks during the period, “stock watching” became something of a national sport.
Managerial Revolution stressed “Scientific Management” and behavioral psychology-
-integrated production and distribution
-diversified products
-expanded industrial research
-control of entire industries
Consumer credit spurred consumption but masked inequities of wealth.
To improve worker morale and reduce the challenge of unions, corporations employed “welfare capitalism.”
To undercut unions, businesses promoted an “open shop” in which non-union workers received the same benefits as union workers.
Union membership rapidly declined.
Auto production spurred production of steel, rubber, glass, petroleum.
Overall, the position of workers remained precarious and insecure.
The Auto Age: The car symbolized the rise of the consumer economy.
1925: Henry Ford’s Highland Park assembly line produced a car every 10 seconds.
Ford enabled workers to be both producers and consumers of his Model T. ($300 - three month’s wages)
Road building promoted new businesses along highways and changed social habits.
The following grew as a result of booming car industry: rubber, steel oil, glass, paint, construction ( road/ bridges), housing ( as suburbs grew).
Finished automobiles roll off the moving assembly line at the Ford Motor Company, Highland Park, Michigan, ca. 1920.
During the 1920s, Henry Ford achieved the status of folk hero, as his name became synonymous with the techniques of mass production.
Ford cultivated a public image of himself as the heroic genius of the auto industry, greatly exaggerating his personal achievements.
The automobile enabled people to move into suburbs.
Cities also grew at a fast pace, horizontally and vertically as new buildings reshaped the skyline.
Houston grew from 75,000 to 300,000 residents between 1910 and 1930.
Ford was forced to pay more attention to advertising. This ad was directed at “Mrs. Consumer,”
Until 1924, Henry Ford had disdained national advertising for his cars. But as General Motors gained a competitive edge by making
yearly changes in style and technology, Ford was forced to pay more attention to advertising. This ad was directed at “Mrs. Consumer,”
combining appeals to female independence and motherly duties.
The State, the Economy, and Business:
Pro-business Republican presidents Harding (1921-23), Coolidge (1923-29) and Hoover (1929-33) dominated national
policy, forged government-business alliances and readily claimed credit for “New Era” prosperity.
Harding and Coolidge Warren G. Harding surrounded himself with his Ohio cronies and ran an administration riddled with scandal.
Harding’s death (pneumonia) in 1923 brought Calvin Coolidge to office.
Coolidge continued the business-government partnership of Harding’s term, reducing federal spending, cutting taxes, and blocking
congressional initiatives. Coolidge won reelection easily in 1924 over Democrat John Davis and Progressive Robert La Follette.
Herbert Hoover and the “Associative State”:
Hoover was the influential figure during the period, serving as secretary of commerce under Harding and Coolidge.
Gained notoriety as the head of the Food Administration during WWI.
A popular and wide-admired president after his election in 1928, he did nothing to change course.
The “Associative State” was the idea thatthe public sphere should cooperate with the private sphere in the business realm.
War Debts, Reparations, and Keeping the Peace:
After WWI, U.S. strongest economic power and world’s most important creditor.
Officials insisted that former allies pay back the money they had borrowed during the war.
In the 1920s, the U.S. helped Germany refinance their reparations debt and reduced their payments.
The International System under the Dawes Plan and Young Plan 1924-30:
2.6 billion in war debts payments- US- 2.5 billion in loans- Germany- 2 billion in reparations payments- allies.
War Debts, Reparations, and Keeping the Peace -
U.S. joined in the idealistic Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) renouncing war.
The 1928 treaty which outlawed war as an instrument of national policy.
Weakened agriculture and Ailing industries- Despite the boom in business, many farmers suffered from overproduction and global competition. Agricultural profits steadily declined and the gap between farm and non-farm income widened. Coolidge vetoed efforts to aid farmers weighed down by debts incurred during wartime expansion. Farming as an industry was in decline.
Other sick industries included: coal mining - which faced competition from oil and natural gas. Railroads - which faced competition
from cars and trucks. New England textiles - which faced competition from low-wage southern producers.
The New Mass Culture: New media shaped the 1920s. Movies, radio and sound recording all increased Americans’ access to entertainment.
The early movie industry was centered around New York City, but moved to Hollywood and expanded rapidly.
Movie ticket sales soared: studios and moguls dominated the industry. Attacked by conservative groups for sexual permissiveness,
Hollywood studios came up with a plan of self-censorship by hiring Will Hayes as a morals czar.
The Movie Audience and Hollywood: Mass Culture Creates a New National Community 1920s: Movies most popular form of the
new mass culture. Huge, national audiences in grand, majestic theaters. Hollywood(land), California A frontier boomtown, dominated by the
movie stars who lived opulent lives. Hollywood symbolized Americans’ dreams of freedom, material success, and the chance to remake one’s very identity. Movies (Rudolph Valentino, The son of the Shreik, Gloria Swanson, her husband trademark, Douglas Fairbanks as the gaucho.
Radio Broadcasting:
Radio - nation’s first comprehensive mass entertainment medium. Large companies formed national networks that aired a variety of programs to homes across the country.
“Amos ‘n’ Andy” was the first national radio hit show. Advertising and sponsors supported programming.
Radio - nation’s first comprehensive mass entertainment medium. Radio also helped to commercialize previously isolated forms of music and build a mass following for sports.
1920s: newspaper tabloids emphasized crime, sex scandals, gossip columns, sports.
Walter Winchell’s slangy gossip column. Advertisers appealed directly to working class and immigrant readers.
1920s: newspaper tabloids emphasized crime, sex scandals, gossip columns, and sports.
The Hearst chain controlled 14 percent of the nation’s circulation.
Advertising became a thriving industry that promoted consumerism. They celebrated consumption as a positive good.
The Phonograph and the Recording Industry:
By 1914, durable pre-recorded discs became widely available and popular.
Fueled in part by dance crazes, the recording industry transformed American mass and regional popular culture.
Records made American music popular worldwide.
Spectator sports reached unprecedented popularity as athletes took on a celebrity status.
Babe Ruth’s home run hitting and appetite for publicity helped restore baseball’s tarnished image as it recovered from
the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Attendance soared, prompting newspapers and radio stations to broaden their coverage.
The Negro National League (organized in 1920) provided new opportunities. Radio and newspaper coverage also
spurred interest in college sports and made stars of boxers, golfers and tennis.
For some people the new morality of the Twenties was symbolized by the “flapper” who danced to jazz, smoked cigarettes, drank
bootleg liquor, and were sexually active. Surveys of sexual behavior showed that an increased number of women had
sexual relations prior to marriage. Margaret Sanger campaigned to make birth control more widely available.
A shadowy but increasingly open homosexual subculture developed in some big cities.
A woman in a man’s shirt and necktie wears a pair of Paul Jones knickers in this 1922 advertisement.
Her boyish, almost androgynous look reflects one way that notions of the “new woman” intersected with the worlds of fashion
and advertising.
Modernity and Traditionalism:
The cultural changes of the Twenties provoked backlash from: Prohibition immigration restrictions Ku Klux Klan religious Fundamentalism,
all reminders that the era’s culture was not embraced enthusiastically by everyone.
Prohibition:
Enacted in 1919, the Volstead Act (January 17, 1920) enforced the 18th Amendment (October 28, 1919) ban on alcohol.
Many looked to prohibition as a way to restore public morality, but public demand foralcohol remained strong.
As a result, illegal bootlegging and speakeasies proliferated. Bootlegging provided a great boost to organized
crime, which became a permanent feature of American life and made a celebrity of mobster Al (Scarface) Capone.
Movement to restrict immigration of southern and eastern Europeans accelerated in the 1920s.
American beliefs in racial inferiority, fueled by wartime patriotism, the Red Scare, and nativist sentiment. Legislation passed that
set quotas on annual immigration.
Emergency Quota Act of 1921: Act restricting newcomers from Europe in any given year to 3% of their nationality who had
been living in the United States in 1910.
Immigration Act of 1924: Cut quotas for foreigners from 3% to 2%. Varying countries were only allowed to send a
certain number of its citizens to America each year.
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 set up a quota system allowing only a certain number of people from each country in the US.
National Origins Act of 1924: Primary purpose was to restrict the flow of newcomers from Southern and Eastern Europe:
Established immigrant quotas that discriminated against Southern and Eastern Europeans. Primary reason for the decrease of Europeans immigrating to the US in 1920's.
The Ku Klux Klan: Inspired by The Birth of a Nation, the Klan was reborn after 1915. The Ku Klux Klan was the most effective
nativist organization. Hiram W. Evans transformed the Klan into a mass movement by using modern promotional techniques.of Europeans immigrating to the US in 1920's.
The Klan attacked not only blacks but Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. The Klan claimed over 3 million members and was a powerful force in Democratic Party politics in the South and in severa Western and Midwestern states.
In 1925, the Klan began to fade, in part due to a scandal that discredited Indiana leader David Stephenson.
In 1925 Stephenson was tried and convicted in a notorious abduction, rape, partial cannibalization, and murder of a young white woman, a state education official.
Religious fundamentalism: Fundamentalists rejected the tenets of modern science, particularly evolution.
Five states banned its teaching evolution in public schools.
The Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee law prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man's origin. Repealed in 1967.
Religious fundamentalism:
William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow squared off in a celebrated trial in Dayton, Tennessee over teaching evolution.
Despite modernist victory in the “Scopes - Monkey Trial,” fundamentalism appeal to millions of Americans.
This trial would demonstrate that even the foundations of religion was being tested during this cultural period of change.
John Scopes, a Tennessee teacher, taught his students about the Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in violation of state law.
Promises Postponed:
Twenties prosperity was unevenly distributed. Women, Mexican Americans and African Americans all struggled to claim their share
of the benefits of modern culture.
Feminism in Transition:
Once suffrage was gained, women’s rights advocates faced a dilemma: should they press for protective legislation or push for
legal and civil equality? The National American Woman Suffrage Association: Reorganized itself as the League of Women Voters.
Promoted women’s involvement in politics and laws protecting women and children. Alice Paul’s National Woman’s Party,
opposed protective legislation and pushed for the Equal Rights Amendment. Women continued to enter white-collar
professions, though men still dominated the high-paid occupations.
Mexican Immigration: Mexicans not affected by the immigration limits. Job opportunities in agribusiness attracted
Mexican immigrants and substantial, though segregated Mexican barrios grew up in several urban centers.
Mexican Immigration to the United States in the 1920s:
Many Mexican migrants avoided official border-crossing stations so they would not have to pay visa fees. Thus,
these official figures probably underestimated the true size of the decade’s Mexican migration. Asthe economy contracted
with the onset of the Great Depression, immigration from Mexico dropped off sharply.
The “New Negro”
The “New Negro” and the “Harlem Renaissance”. Migration to northern urban communities Harlem Major African-American cultural center, artists explored aspects of black life in new ways.
Marcus Garvey:
Black pride, black-owned businesses, unity among all people of African descent. Leader of the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association), urged blacks to return to Africa because blacks would never be treated justly in countries ruled by whites.
Gertrude Stein- 1920s - a “lost generation,” alienated from mainstream American culture.
Ernest Hemingway- Drew on their WWI experiences and expressed cynicism about society’s goals and purposes.
F. Scott Fitzgerald- Questioned materialism.
H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis mocked the values of small town America.
A group of southern writers known as the Fugitives attacked industrialism.
The presidential election of 1928 was a race between urban, Catholic, Al Smith versus small-town, Protestant, Herbert
Hoover. Smith’s Catholicism was widely attacked by Nativists and Klansmen. Both sides promised to support business,
though Hoover could claim to have been the architect of the 1920s prosperity. Although Al Smith managed to carry
the nation’s twelve largest cities, Herbert Hoover’s victory in 1928 was one of the largest popular and electoral landslides in the
nation’s history.