1920’s and American Culture

CHAPTER 11

“Normalcy”

• Warren G. Harding, elected President, 1920– Leave the “war mindset” behind– Go back to isolationism– Rest of world

• Take care of your • own problems

Harding Presidency

• Retreat from world affairs

• Rejection of progressive movement reform

• Swinging back to “laissez-faire” economics– Passed 25% tariff on imports; “buy American”– Named Andrew Mellon (wealthy banker) to

Sect. of Treasury• Advanced business “interest” by cutting taxes• Cut federal spending from 18 billion to 3 billion• Left surplus; treasury $$$ grew

Harding, 3

• Harding “fence sitter”

• Trusted others to make important decisions (close friends, poker buddies)– Called the “Ohio Gang”

• Mostly greedy, small-time “get rich quick” people• Led Harding down dark roads

– Charles Forbes, Veterans Bureau ($70,000 floor cleaner)» 24 X regular price to cheat American out of $$$» “kickbacks” rampant

Harding, 4

• Teapot Dome Scandal• Albert Fall, Sect. of Interior, 1921

– Transferred oil rights from navy to Interior Dept.

• Leased oil rights to oilmen for “loans” – BRIBES• Senate investigated, 1924 revealed to public• Fall sentence to 1 year• Harding never knew details, just that his “friends

were up to no good”.• Harding-heart attack August 2, dies

Cultural Changes

• “upgrades”– “gadgets” built to save time; families bought

new appliances for homes– Refrigerators– Sewing machines– Washing machines

• Leisure time– Birth of “night life”; time now available to

spend “relaxing”

Culture, 2

• Media– Magazines (reading-pastime)

• Sold ads/subscriptions for home delivery

– Radio• First source of mass communication• First time families heard news in “living room”• Gave politicians direct access to voters

– Movies (Talkies)• Fashions/lifestyle changed culture• Movie stars (cars, clothing, star-power)

“lost generation”

• America in high prosperity

• Large group of people did not believe all Americans had access to prosperity– “lost generation”

• Criticized society due to American greed and immorality

• F. Scott Fitzgerald• Ernest Hemingway

Culture, 3

• Sports– Spectator sport grew in 1920’s– New hero (Babe Ruth-record 714 homeruns

over 40 year career)

• Music– Jazz

• Came out of Louisiana/Mississippi• Jazz artists moved north, inspired musical

movement; added to “night life”• Louis Armstrong, most known musician

Culture 4

• Charles Lindbergh

• May 1927– The Spirit of St. Louis– Long Island, New York to

Paris, France

First solo and non-stop

33 hours (awake entire trip)

Instant celebrity, won $25,000

Culture, 5

• Suburbs– More white Americans making $$$– Did not have to live in cities– “morning commute” now to work from outside

town (Henry Ford’s Model T-$550.00)– Whites moved out of cities, blacks moved in– New forms transportation developed

• Electric trolley cars• City buses

Black Americans

• Great Migration– 1.5 million went north in search of better lives

& jobs – Segregation in the south– High hopes of racial equality in north; but only

unskilled jobs available– Ghettos; high rents; low wages– Only 20% had tubs-50% had toilets

Black Americans (2)

• Harlem Renaissance– Cultural change; wanted to show blacks – new working class”– Upward mobility in society– Focused on literature, painting, culture and music as

means of advancement

• National Alliance for the Association of Colored People– Wanted integration of blacks into “American” ideal

way of life

Southern Ways - Blacks

• Segregation (separation based on race)– De Jure (segregation based on law)

• “separate but equal”• Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896

• De Facto– Segregation by practice and society

• High % of blacks moved north, but had to rely on whites to tell them where to live and work

• Disenfranchised (kept from voting) by black codes

Calvin Coolidge

• 1923, Pres. when Harding died• “Silent Cal” (quiet and honest)• Political “sharpies” out to make money were not

his people.• “the business of America is business”

– Kept Sect. Mellon• Reduced national debt• Lower taxes/incentives for businesses• Economy soared for 6 years (stock market grew, prosperity

felt, and urban Americans succeeded. )

Coolidge Family

• Calvin Coolidge– 1923-1929– Republican– Charles Dawes, Vice-

Pres

– Mrs. Coolidge• + their pet raccoon

Problems for Coolidge

• Farm issues– Low farm prices/losing farms

• Labor unions– Demanded higher wages

• Discrimination against blacks– Jim Crow laws/no anti-lynch laws

• Mexican Americans– Low wages/sent back to Mexico

Coolidge Foreign Policy

• Washington Naval Disarmament Conference

• To prevent another war– World leaders agreed to limit construction of

large warships and dealt with issues Japan had with “allied” nations.

Coolidge Foreign Policy 2

• Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928

• 15 nations dedicated to outlawing war as a tool of foreign policy

• 62 nations signed

• Problem: no means of enforcement– Gave Americans false sense of security

War Debts

• Germany owed European nations approx. 132 billion “gold marks” (Versailles Treaty)

• England & France owed US – Coolidge wanted $$$

• 1924 Dawes Plan (US bankers loaned $$$ to Germany to repay Europe)- England/France paid back to US

• Scheme caused US bad rep to world (for insisting on getting paid back)

Germany’s $$$ Plan

• Young Plan (1930)– For 3 generations, you’ll have to slave away!– $26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of

58 ½ years.

1931, President Hoover declared a debt moratorium. (temporarily halted German debt payments).

Ku Klux Klan

• Kyklos (circle) + clan

• Greek name; picked by 6– Well-education Confederates– Pulaski, Tennessee– December 24, 1985– Nathan Bedford Forrest

• First “Grand Wizard”

Klan development

• 3 Klans

• 1865-1870’s– 550,000 members

• 1915-1944– 3-6 million members, started “cross burnings”

• Since 1946– Grew after WWII; opposed Civil Rights,

became to be labeled “hate group”

KKK

• Secret, oath-bound organization

• Used violence to control any group different

• Changed social conditions where they lived

• Restore “white supremacy” was goal

• Used extremism, nationalism, and anti-immigration wrapped in terrorism

KKK Methods

• Dressed in white robes, masks and cone-shaped hats

• Wanted to appear “ghostly”: dead Confederate soldiers

• Burned houses, attacked & killed blacks, left bodies, “ride-by” shootings

• Also attacked whites who helped blacks– Miss Allen, white teacher from Illinois

Birth of a Nation

• Movie to glorify KKK

Birth of a Nation

• 1915 silent film• Glorified KKK; cost $110,000 to produce and

grossed over $10 million• Portrayed blacks males sexually aggressive

toward white women• Made KKK out be heroes; first movie shown in

the White House. • President Wilson watched; said it was “like

writing history with lightening…all so terribly true”.

Tulsa Race Riot 1921

• May 20, 1921

• Dick Rowland– Black, 19 year old male

• Shoe-shine boy + package delivery boy

• Sarah Page– White, 17 year old female

• Elevator operator

• Drexel Building

Race Riot 2

• Accident in elevator; she cried, he ran to mom’s house in Greenwood

• He’s arrested, taken to jail for rape

• 200 whites showed up for “justice”, 2,000 blacks also showed up; fight happens

• 36 square blocks of Greenwood burned

• Rowland escaped to freedom, never returned

Race Riot 3

• Results:

• + 100 blacks killed; mass graves

• $$ million’s damage to Tulsa region

• 1997 law required mass graves dug up, bodies identified

• 1997 reparations offered ($20,000 to 5 survivors) + over 300 scholarships to descendants

Late 1920’s

• 1922-1928 Gross National Product: up by 30%

• By 1929, 1/5 owned a car• Unemployment 3%• Manufacturing grew + 4 million workers

– Auto– Glass– Steel– oil

1920’s, 2

• Election of 1928• Herbert Hoover, Rep.

– Hoover won; followed Coolidge belief in laissez-faire economics

• Al Smith (Dem)• Stock Market

– Place where stocks are sold; sold in shares– $$ invested in company; when company

makes $$, so do investors

Reasons for Depression (6)

• 1. Uneven distribution of wealth– Top 1% earned 60% of all $$$– Other 99% earned 8% of $$$– By 1929, + 70% of Americans fell below

poverty line + personal savings fell– Free food only given to people whose body

weight was 10% below normal level

Reasons, 2

• 2. Large companies owned most America– Kept stock prices artificially high, making $$

• 3. Agriculture suffered due to overproduction (created lower farm prices)– Farmers large debts owed

• 4. Banks had little or no federal regulations– Presidential policies “laissez-faire” problem

Reasons, 3

• 5. European countries slowed orders for American goods– Began defaulting on loan payments due to US

• 6. limited regulations on American companies– “laissez-faire” problem– Companies did not have to pay higher wages

to workers.– More people using credit to pay daily needs.

Stock Market Crash

• October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday)– First sign of trouble, Oct. 24, 1929

» Investors began selling stocks» Large amount of stock “dumped” on market» Stock values and prices plunged» Over $30 billion lost that week» Bankers tried to stop “bleeding” but did not work» Stock prices continued to slide» People lost millions $$$ in stock value» Rash of suicides in tall hotels (room for sleeping or

Jumping?)

Crash, 2

• + 16 million stocks dumped, sold off• All companies associated with stock

market affected• Dropped in value by $16 million; almost ½

of total market value early 1929– People stopped buying stocks or anything not

essential to live; created hardship on producers; began laying workers off

– 1929-1930 over 3 million people lost their job

Crash,3 The Effects

• Stock crash ruined lives; lost entire fortunes

• Banks began to have cash shortage; people demanded $$$ from accounts

• Banks had to call in loans made to people, businesses, farmers; they defaulted (did not pay)

• Banks had to close; total bank failure

Effects, pt 2 (6)

• 1. attitudes toward women changed– Men should be “breadwinner”; women had no

right to take a job from a man– “women’s work”

• 2. divorce rate declined/too expensive– Birth rates fell

• 3. size of extended families grew– Boarders taken in; grandparents moved in

Effects, pt 3

• 4. children quit school– No clothing or food; large # left home so

young could eat; led to # % juvenile delinquency; homeless

• 5. minorities suffered– Pushed out of jobs; driven from US; deported

• 6. growth of Hoovervilles– Shacks, “shanties” where evicted people

moved to

Depression Facts

• 1930 Depression broke out

• Hoover blamed– Hoovervilles (shanty towns)– Hoover flags (empty pockets)– Hoover blankets (newspapers)– Hoover Hogs (jackrabbits used as food)– Hoover wagons (cars pulled by mules)