GOAL 9

Flappers Young women who

embraced the new fasions and urban attitude of the day.

They rebelled against the mores of their parents by wearing shorter skirts, shorter hairstyles, smoking, drinking, dancing, and dating without “adult” chaperones

19th Amendment 1920 Finally granted

women suffrage (the right to vote) in federal elections

Suffrage had been sought by women since the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848!

Women in the Workforce

Thousands of women began to enter the workforce during the 1920s, primarily in low-wage, low-skill jobs such as secretarial work, and as sales clerks and telephone operators

Most of these workers were single women seeking financial independence from their restrictive parents

Farmers From 1930 – 36,

a terrible drought, coupled with decades of damage to the topsoil led to farmers losing everything and were forced to move.

The Great Migration

Between 1910 and 1930, about 2 million blacks left the South in an effort to escape racism and to find good jobs in Northern and Midwestern cities

This migration continued into the 1970s, but has since reversed – today, many blacks are leaving the North and moving south

Harlem Renaissance

African-American cultural movement centered around the Harlem neighborhood of NYC

Included new literary, artistic, and musical styles which would go on to heavily influence American culture of the mid and late 20th century

the Middle Class As corporations

began to expand and have specialized departments such as sales, marketing, accounting, engineering, and management, the number of people living at the middle-class level grew tremendously

Sports Many spectator sports

were extremely popular, including golf, tennis, boxing, and swimming

Baseball had become “America’s pass time”

Football began to gain prominence with the founding of the National Football League (NFL) in 1920

Hollywood Escapism people desperately

wanted to escape their troubles, even if only for a few hours

Movies offered a cheap form of escapism (most theaters were also heated and air-conditioned as well, allowing people to escape the chill or swelter of their apartments!)

Radio Serials Many people’s chief

form of entertainment was the radio, which featured episodic programming much like television does today, including such action characters as the Green Hornet and Lone Ranger, as well as numerous “soap operas” (dramatic programming aimed at women and usually sponsored by laundry soap companies)

Prohibition Era 1920 – 1933 With passage of the

18th Amendment, it became illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcoholic beverages in the US

Prohibition led to a dramatic increase in crime and decrease in tax revenue

Era ended with the passage of the 21st Amendment which repealed Prohibition

World War I

Nativism=____________________________________________________

Sacco and VanzettiWho are they?____________________________________What did they do?_________________________________What happened to them?_______________________Why is the case controversial?________________________

CommunismEmerged in what country?__________Leader=_________________________What does communism mean?1.______________________________2.______________________________3.______________________________Color symbol of communism?_______What American values do they dislike?______________________________________________________________

Rise of the KlanYear Klan revived?_________What helped to increase itssize?_________________Membership change between1922-24?_______________________________________New groups Klan focuses on?________________________State with highest membership?(Not in the South)

Isolationism=_____________________________________________________________

Schenck v. United StatesWhat did Schenck do?__________________________Law broken?_________________________________Why does Schenck feel his actions ok?_____________“Clear and Present danger”=_____________________

Palmer RaidsWho is Palmer?________________________________Who are the “subversives”, dangerous to the country?_____________________________________________What happens to the subversives? Suggestions?

Red Scare=_________________________________________________________Why does this happen?____________________________________________

Quota system=__________1924 law makes quotas Permanent______________Which areas were severely Limited?_____________________________________What groups are completely Excluded?______________

Pp472, 481-3, 485

Communism Emerged in what country?

Russia Leader= Vladimir Lenin What does communism mean? 1. gov’t own all land/property 2. single political party controls

gov’t 3. need of country over

indivduals Color symbol of communism?

red What American values do they

dislike? Capitalism, private ownership,

first amendment rights (freedom of

speech)

Nativism & Isolationism favoring native-

born Americans over

immigrants_

US want to avoid

involvement/alliances with foreign countries

Rise of the Ku Klux Klan Year Klan revived?

1915 What helped to

increase itssize? Fundraising/publicity

Membership change 1922-24?

100,000 to 4 million New groups Klan

focuses on?anyone not white/protestant

State with highest number of members? Indiana

Immigration Restrictions Quota system=

numerical limits 1924 law makes quotas permanent National

Origins Act Which areas were

severely limited? Southern & eastern Europe

What groups are completely excluded? Japanese (& Chinese by Chinese Excl Act)

The Red Scare = fear of

communism and other

politically radical ideas

Why does this happen?

Russia wanted to expand

communism– US fear it would come here

Sacco and Vanzetti Case Who are they? Italian

immigrants What did they do?

Robbed & killed 2 men at shoe factory

What happened to them? Sentenced to death

Why is the case controversial? Many think they were only arrested because they were immigrants

Schenck v. United States What did Schenck do? Sent

letters telling men to not report for duty

Law broken? Espionage & Sedition Acts

Why does Schenck feel his actions ok?

1st Amendment (freedom of speech)

“Clear and Present danger” = gov’t can silence free speech if for the safety of the nation (liken to yelling fire in a theater)

The Palmer Raids Who is Palmer? A. Mitchell

Palmer=Attorney General of US

Who are the “subversives” and why were they seen as dangerous to the country? People who they thought were planning to overthrow the gov’t– as a threat to US/democracy

What happens to the subversives? Thousands are arrested and many deported

Farmers in Crisis Technological

advances such as pesticides and tractors led to both higher crop yields and increased debt for farmers

Increased crop yields led to a drop in crop prices

Government efforts to help farmers were repeatedly vetoed by Pres. Coolidge, who believed in laissez-faire

ECONOMIC BOOM & BUST

Warren G. Harding 1865 – 1923 29th President (1921-3) Elected on a campaign of a

“Return to Normalcy” – a return to isolationism, less social reform, and increased economic growth

Harding was an honest man, but put too much trust in his friends and political allies, giving them positions in his cabinet

Died in office from a massive heart attack, possibly brought on by the stress of scandals

The Ohio Gang Harding’s corrupt

friends from back home came to be called the “Ohio Gang”

They abused their positions by accepting bribes, illegally selling government property

Harding was deeply embarrassed by the actions of his friends

Most notorious member was Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall

Teapot Dome Scandal

Sec. Fall had secretly leased federal lands to private oil companies in return for $300,000 in bribes

When the scandal broke, Fall became the first cabinet member to go to prison and Harding’s reputation was ruined

Calvin Coolidge 1872 – 1933 30th President (1923-9) Became President upon

Harding’s death Known as “Silent Cal”

for his terse, serious manner

“The business of the American people is business”: Coolidge supported businesses and a laissez-faire economy

Andrew Mellon & the Mellon Program

1855 – 1937 Sec. of Treasury to 3

Presidents His program included

applying business principles to managing the federal budget

Believed that economic growth required balancing the budget, reducing the federal deficit, and cutting taxes

Economic Boom Rise in the standard of

living during the 1920s led to increased sales of consumer goods which in turn created more jobs

Mechanization of factories led to greater efficiency and a drop in prices for manufactured goods, further encouraging consumerism

Consumer Credit For the first time,

individuals began to regularly borrow money and go into debt to purchase consumer goods (cars, appliances, radios, etc.) because credit became easy to come by and carried no social stigma

Consumers began to use “installment plans” to buy expensive items

Welfare Capitalism

Companies began allowing workers to buy shares of stock, participate in profit sharing, and receive benefits such as medical care and pensions

This led to increased spending among the working class and less reliance on unions, since they no longer seemed necessary

Election of 1928 Coolidge decided to

not run for re-election, instead supporting his Sec. of Commerce Herbert Hoover as the Republican nominee

Democrats ran NY Gov. Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic to run for President

Hoover won in a landslide

Herbert Hoover 1874 – 1964 31st President (1929-

33) Took office at a time

of unparalleled prosperity and optimism, but by the end of his presidency, the US was at the bottom of its deepest economic depression in history

Stock Speculation

A long period of growth in the stock market convinced millions of Americans to take a risk and invest in stocks

Investors began “buying on margin” – borrowing the money to buy stocks, believing those stocks would grow in value and allow them to easily repay the loans; but, if prices dropped, they panicked and sold quickly to avoid taking large losses

“Black Tuesday” In late October, 1929

stock prices began to slip, triggering a mass sell-off as investors panicked

On Tuesday, Oct. 29 the bottom fell out – the market lost $15 billion in a single day

The market continued to plunge for the next 3 years and didn’t recover until after WWII – a period known as the “Great Depression”

Banking Collapse Banks had made numerous

loans to stock speculators and had also invested heavily themselves in the stock market

When the market collapsed, banks lost big and had to stop lending

With credit restricted, the economy went into a recession

Many banks could not absorb their losses and closed; people who had deposited their money in these banks lost everything – this caused further panic and people began to withdraw their money from banks

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Tariff Act of 1930 Government passed

the 2nd highest tariff in US history in an attempt to protect US industry, but the tariff badly hurt the sale of US goods overseas as foreign nations raised their tariffs against the US

This worsened the US economic situation

Rugged Individualism or Direct Relief?

US had long believed in “rugged individualism” – the idea that it was up to the individual to take care of himself

As the economy collapsed and unemployment soared, people began to support the idea of “direct relief” – the government should act to help those who could no longer help themselves

HERBERT HOOVER

Dorothea Lange 1895 – 1965 Photojournalist Lange's photographs

humanized the tragic consequences of the Great Depression and profoundly influenced the development of documentary photography

Lange’s Photos

John Steinbeck 1902 – 1968 Author of The Grapes

of Wrath, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the tragedies which befell his fictional family of Oklahoma farmers during the Dust Bowl

Also wrote Of Mice and Men, a story about the tragic relationship between two poor migrant farmers

Hoover’s Public Response After “Black

Tuesday,” Hoover worked hard to assure Americans that the economy would recover quickly

Hoover stepped up a propaganda campaign aimed at boosting consumer confidence

Hoover’s Private Response Hoover, however,

knew that the economy was extremely unstable

He held multiple meetings with business leaders trying to win pledges that factories would remain open, but to no avail

National Credit Corporation Hoover tried to ease

the nation’s credit crisis with the creation of the NCC

The NCC held a pool of private money that it could lend to banks so that banks could continue to offer loans; the NCC, however, never had enough cash to meet the demand and so was a failure

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

When the NCC failed, Hoover resorted to government lending

The RFC was created to make direct loans to banks & railroads

Even the RFC could not meet the demands for loans, and the economy continued to fail

Emergency Relief & Construction Act

In desperation, the government approved $1.5 billion in spending on public works projects and an additional $300 million to provide “direct relief” – money provided directly to families in need

Hunger Marches Crowds of the

unemployed and hungry began to hold large-scale demonstrations across the US

The largest was organized by the American Communist Party in Washington DC; protesters chanting “Feed the hungry, tax the rich” were blocked from marching by the police

Farmers Revolt Meanwhile,

desperate farmers began to destroy their crops and produce in an effort to increase prices

Some even resorted to burning their crops for heat in their home

Anger continued to grow as more and more farmers had their land foreclosed on by banks

Breadlines & Soup Kitchens

As unemployment approached 30%, many people began to rely heavily on soup kitchens and breadlines run by churches, charitable organizations, & some city governments in order to survive

Hoovervilles In large cities, as

people could no longer afford to pay rent, they were forced into homelessness

Many began to live in homemade shacks that they built in any open space available – whole villages of such shacks began to appear, mockingly referred to as “Hoovervilles”

Hobos Hundreds of thousands

of homeless, jobless men began to live a nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place usually by illegally hiding on freight trains

Often lived in temporary Hoovervilles called “hobo jungles” along the railroad tracks

The Bonus Army In 1924, Congress

had promised to pay every WWI veteran a $1000 bonus in 1945

May 1932 – over 15,000 vets arrived in DC to lobby Congress to move the bonuses up – Congress voted against the idea

Hoover Responds to the Bonus Army

After the vote, much of the Bonus Army remained in Washington, living in Hoovervilles and vacant buildings

Pres. Hoover ordered them dispersed; after the DC police failed, Hoover sent in US Army, who used tear gas and bayonets to clear the Bonus Army out

Election of 1932 Republicans nominated

Hoover, while Democrats ran NY Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Hoover continued his mantra that recovery was just around the corner, while Roosevelt pledged himself to a “new deal” for the American people

Roosevelt won easily

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

1882 – 1945 32nd President (1933-45) President throughout most

of the Great Depression and WWII

Roosevelt had been paralyzed from the waist down from polio since 1921, making him our only physically disabled president, however, he carefully controlled his public appearances so that the public wasn’t constantly reminded of his disability

JAZZ AGE CULTURE

Speakeasies Establishments

which continued to sell alcohol illegally, despite the ban

Often required a password or some other identifying mark to gain admission

Many were operated by organized crime syndicates

Bootlegging The illegal manufacture

and transport of alcohol Some bootleggers

made “bathtub gin” a homemade brew that could be deadly if not mixed correctly

Others were “moonshiners” who made corn liquor in stills hidden in the countryside

Al “Scarface” Capone

1899 – 1947 America’s most notorious

gangster, he ran his crime syndicate out of Chicago until being convicted of tax evasion in 1931; he eventually died in prison of heart failure complicated by syphilis

Ran alcohol, prostitution, and gambling operations

Ordered the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929 which eliminated several of his rivals

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

1920s Hollywood

Silent Films Motion pictures initially

did not have sound, so audiences had to be able to understand plots through entirely visual means; this forced actors to use highly exaggerated motions

Many early films were comedies because “slapstick” provided effective visuals

Most successful actor of the 1920s was comedic star Charlie Chaplin

Metropolis (1927) Silent film made in

Germany which many consider to be the first significant “science fiction” film ever made

Silent movies, since they used no spoken language, could be effectively played anywhere in the world

The Jazz Singer (1927)

First “talkie” or film which had a synchronized soundtrack for dialogue

This film’s success spelled the end of the silent picture era

“Red” Grange 1903 – 1991 “The Galloping

Ghost” The first American

football star, Grange played for the University of Illinois and then for the NFL’s Chicago Bears as a star running back

Jack Dempsey 1895 – 1983 World

Heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926

First boxer to draw more than $1 million in ticket revenues for a fight

“Babe” Ruth 1895 – 1948 Played for 21 years

(1914 – 35), mostly for the NY Yankees

Hit 714 home runs (still 3rd most ever)

Lived a celebrity lifestyle – drank heavily, smoked, and womanized – a trend he started that lives on today with many professional athletes

The Lost Generation

Term used to describe the generation which reached adulthood during the 1920s

These young people were “lost” in that they felt trapped by the corrupt, greedy society in which they lived and their own experiences in WWI

F. Scott Fitzgerald

1896 – 1940 Author of The Great

Gatsby (1925) Wrote numerous short-

stories (including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and screenplays in addition to his 4 novels

Died from a heart attack induced by alcoholism

Ernest Hemingway 1899 – 1961 Author of novels such

as The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and For Whom the Bell Tolls

Rugged adventurer who liked bullfighting, hunting, mountain climbing, and other dangerous hobbies

Committed suicide due to depression and alcoholism

T.S. Eliot 1888 – 1965 American author,

playwright, and poet Famous works

include the play Murder in the Cathedral, and poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and The Waste Land

Eugene O’Neill 1888 – 1953 American playwright His plays were among

the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society, engaging in depraved behavior, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair

Charles Sheeler 1883 – 1965 American artist Modernist Supported himself by

working as a commercial photographer who specialized in architecture; much of this experience is reflected in his painting

Works by Sheeler

John Marin 1870 – 1953 Modernist

artist best known for his watercolors and abstract landscape paintings

Work by Marin

Edward Hopper 1882 – 1967 Realist painter Many of his paintings

are dark and feature scenes of urban life

Focused on using light and shadow and on placement of his figures within his paintings to strike the proper mood

Nighthawks by Hopper

Claude McKay 1889 – 1948 Writer and poet who wrote

novels Home to Harlem, Banjo, and Banana Bottom

One of the first authors of the Renaissance, McKay represented a new African-American voice, one which rejected the ideals of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey, in favor of taking pride in his culture and pursuing full civil rights and racial solidarity

Langston Hughes 1902 – 1967

American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and magazine columnist

Pioneered new form of poetry known as “jazz poetry”

Much of his work focuses on the theme “black is beautiful” and takes pride in the diversity of African-American culture

The Cotton Club 1920 – 1940 Famous Harlem

nightclub which featured jazz and blues music

Catered to a mostly white audience, so marked the first significant exposure for many whites to black musical styles

The Apollo Theater

Harlem theater which originally opened in 1914, but didn’t become a predominantly black venue until 1934

Fell into decline in the 1960s and even became just a simple movie theater before being revived in 1983; today it has protected federal landmark status

Louis Armstrong 1901 – 1971 Nicknamed “Satchmo” Jazz trumpeter and

singer Popularized “scat” or

singing using disjointed syllables instead of words

Rose to fame quickly during the 1920s and was equally popular with both black and white audiences

Duke Ellington 1899 – 1974 Orchestra leader,

pianist, and song writer

Elevated jazz from an urban musical form to a nearly classical level with his “big band” style

Led his orchestra for over 50 years

Billie Holiday 1915 – 1959 Crossed jazz over to

standard “pop” (popular music)

Also a song writer, helping write such hits as “God Bless the Child” and “Lady Sings the Blues”

Unfortunately, she became a lifelong drug addict and died from liver failure after years of legal troubles

Josephine Baker 1906 – 1975 Dancer, singer, and actress Baker was the first African

American to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer

Extremely popular in Europe, her exotic stage show featured her scantily clad or even nude

In later years she became heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement

Charlie Poole 1892 – 1931 North Carolina

musician who, along with his band the North Carolina Ramblers, became the first major national country music recording act

When not recording, he earned money as a textile mill worker and as a moonshiner

Died of an alcohol induced illness at just 39

THE 1930S

Marx Brothers Popular comedic act

of the period, they starred in such films as Animal Crackers (1930), and Duck Soup (1933)

Made feature films from 1921 to 1957

13 of their films were included in the top 100 comedies ever made

Walt Disney 1901 – 1966 Created Mickey

Mouse who first achieved success in the cartoon short Steamboat Willie (1927)

Disney would go on to grow an animation, film, and theme park empire

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The Wizard of Oz

Gone With the Wind

Dracula & Frankenstein

Grant Wood 1891 – 1942 Artist best known for

his Regionalist style paintings of the American Midwest, especially the painting American Gothic (1930) which won him a $300 prize

Many believed the painting was meant to be satirical, but Wood insisted that he intended it to represent the steadfast spirit of farmers

American Gothic Parodies

Thomas Hart Benton 1889 – 1975 Muralist His fluid, almost

sculpted paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States

Also part of the Regionalist style, many of his works focus on the Midwest or NY City, the two places he spent his entire life in

John Steinbeck 1902 – 1968 Author of The Grapes

of Wrath, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the tragedies which befell his fictional family of Oklahoma farmers during the Dust Bowl

Also wrote Of Mice and Men, a story about the tragic relationship between two poor migrant farmers

William Faulkner 1897 – 1962 Nobel Prize winning

novelist and short-story writer

Nearly all of his works are set in the South

His unique style often included using stream of consciousness and focused on a wide range of characters

CHANGING MINORITY ROLES&

RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM

Eugenics Pseudo-science that

taught that the “unfit” or inferior should not be allowed to have children, since they would pass on their undesirable genetic traits

This belief was used to support racism, nativism, and to discriminate against the mentally ill and mentally handicapped

Return of the Klan

The Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915, this time with the purpose of protecting American “purity” from not only blacks, but also immigrants

This new Klan started an organized membership drive, leading to as many as 15 million members joining in the 1920s

The NAACP Began to flex its

political power during the 1920s by pushing for anti-lynching laws

In 1930, organized a successful campaign to keep racist judge John J. Parker from being appointed to the Supreme Court

Marcus Garvey 1887 – 1940 Endorsed “Negro Nationalism”

or taking deep pride in black culture

Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), whose purpose was to promote black pride and unity, as well as education for blacks

Also supported his “Back to Africa” movement, a call for blacks to leave America (and its white government) and return to Africa, the only place they could find true justice and freedom

Failed to win widespread support, especially after being sent to prison and then deported for mail fraud

Emergency Quota Act

1921 Restricted immigration to

3% per year of the total number of people within that ethnic group living in the US in 1910 (for example, if 100 Koreans were living in the US, then only 3 more Koreans per year would be allowed into the country)

Designed to limit immigration from Southern & Eastern Europe (since these groups had only begun immigrating recently, they had small numbers); these were the areas where communism and anarchism were the strongest

National Origins Act of 1924

Placed permanent restrictions on immigration

Lowered quota to 2% per year and changed base year from 1910 to 1890

In 1929, immigration was capped at 150,000 total people per year

Hispanic Immigration Emergency Quota Act

and National Origins Act led to a major drop in available labor in the US

Hispanics took advantage of the fact that they were excluded from the quotas set by both acts, and over 600,000 moved to the US to fill the labor gap

Margaret Sanger 1879 – 1966 Nurse Believed that large

families led to poverty and to fewer opportunities for women

Began to promote use of birth control, especially amongst the poor and minorities

Opened her own chain of birth control clinics, mostly in poor ghettos

American Birth Control League Founded by Sanger in

1921 Promoted education

about, and access to, harmless means of birth control

Also promoted sterilization of the mentally insane and mentally retarded (eugenics)

Merged with other birth control advocacy groups in 1942 form Planned Parenthood

The New Morality

Marriage began to be redefined among the younger generation – they began to believe that a successful marriage required romance, friendship, and sexual compatibility rather than just a sense of duty to one’s family

Young people also began to focus on having fun, something that became more available to them with the increased mobility offered by automobiles

Religious Fundamentalism

The relaxed morality and growing materialism of the US during the 1920s led many people, especially the older and more rural population, to embrace a new wave of religious fundamentalism

Fundamentalists placed much of the blame on immigration, alcohol, science, and new technologies for America’s slide into immorality

Billy Sunday 1862 – 1935 Former Major League

baseball player who left sports to become a wildly popular revivalist minister, preaching to over 1 million people during his career

One of the driving forces behind Prohibition, he also opposed unrestricted immigration and the teaching of evolution in schools

Aimee Semple McPherson

1890 – 1944 Revivalist minister who

sometimes engaged in faith healing and speaking in tongues, she operated her own 5000 seat church in LA and broadcast her sermons over the radio

Lifelong opponent of the teaching of evolution

Complicated personal life included several marriages, a faked kidnapping publicity stunt, and death by accidental overdose of sedatives

Tennessee’s Butler Act

Passed in 1925 The state of Tennessee

banned all schools, including universities, from teaching human evolution and required the teaching of creationism

Punishment for breaking the law was a fine of $100 - $500 per offense

ACLU The American Civil

Liberties Union had been founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.“

In 1925, the ACLU sought out a teacher who would be willing to intentionally violate the Butler Act in order to test the constitutionality of the Act

John Scopes 1900 – 1970 Tennessee high school

teacher who agreed to be the ACLU’s test case

Used the state-approved biology textbook (which contained a chapter on evolution) to teach the subject, thereby breaking the law and triggering the Scopes Monkey Trial

Encouraged his own students to testify against him!

Scopes Monkey Trial Tried in July 1925 Case drew high-profile

coverage from all over the world as science faced off against religious fundamentalism

Defense would argue both that evolution was not necessarily in conflict with creationism and that the law was unconstitutional on the grounds that it was designed to benefit the beliefs of a specific religious group

William Jennings Bryan

1860 – 1925 3-time candidate for

president and former Secretary of State

Served as a special prosecutor for the state during the Scopes trial and even testified as an “expert witness” (his testimony was largely damaging to his own case and was struck from the record)

Died 5 days after the trial ended

Clarence Darrow 1857 – 1938 Celebrity criminal

lawyer, fresh off a nationally covered murder case in Chicago where he had saved the lives of his teenage clients

Brought in as a “hired gun” by the ACLU both for his skill as a lawyer and for the publicity his reputation would bring

The Decision Scopes was found guilty

by a jury and fined $100 by the judge

On appeal, his conviction was overturned on a technicality, but the constitutionality of the Butler Act was upheld (it was repealed in 1967 and laws like it were declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in 1968)

“THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR, IS FEAR ITSELF”

– FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, 1933

The New Deal 1933 – 1938 FDR was willing to

experiment – it was better to try something and have it fail, than to sit and do nothing at all

Focus on relief, recovery, and reform

Deficit Spending Roosevelt’s plans

would require the government to spend more than it took in in taxes, creating a national deficit

Roosevelt assured Congress that the deficit was an emergency measure which would be temporary (it wasn’t)

John Maynard Keynes

1883 – 1946 British economist

who argued that the best way to end an economic recession was through government spending programs which create a national debt

The First Hundred Days

Between March 9 & June 16, 1933 (FDR’s first 100 days in office) he got Congress to pass 15 major acts which launched his New Deal reforms

Emergency Banking Relief Act

Upon assuming office, FDR declared a federal banking holiday and closed all banks and called Congress into a special session

Both houses of Congress passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act in a single afternoon

The act called for all banks to be assessed for credit-worthiness by the US government and banks found to be stable enough were issued special federal licenses to operate

Fireside Chats Roosevelt then went on the

radio and assured Americans that it was safe to put their money back in these newly licensed banks

Americans believed him and stopped withdrawing their money from the banking system and began resuming deposits

Throughout his presidency, FDR would keep America informed of his intentions and progress through these radio-broadcast “fireside chats”

Securities Act 1933 Required all

securities sold in the US to be registered with the US government

Required companies which sold stocks and bonds to provide complete and truthful information to investors

Glass-Steagall Act 1933 Separated commercial

banking (everyday banks that accept deposits, make mortgage loans, etc.) from investment banking by banning commercial banks from risking customers deposits with investments in the stock market

Established the FDIC

Securities and Exchange Commission

Created in 1934 Government agency

which enforces the Securities Act

Responsible for supervising companies in US which deal in securities (stocks, bonds, and other financial investments)

Federal Deposit Insurance Company

1933 Designed to boost

Americans’ confidence in banks

Government program which insures bank deposits up to $250,000 per person per bank

Also supervises all banks in the US to ensure that they are stable and manages the assets of any banks which fail

Civilian Conservation Corps

1933 - 1942 Government agency which

offered work to unemployed men between 17 and 25 in the forestry service

Workers planted trees, fought forest fires, and built drinking water reservoirs

Workers lived in special camps and earned $30 per month

Over 3 million men worked for the CCC over its 9 years

Federal Emergency Relief Administration

1933 Created by the Federal

Emergency Relief Act Provided work for over 20

million by giving over $3 billion to state and local governments so they could create jobs for unskilled labor

Many of these jobs were in manufacturing consumer goods for the needy – canning fruits & vegetables, making mattresses and bedding, distributing surplus food to the hungry

Replaced by the WPA in 1935

Civil Works Administration 1933 – 34 Part of FERA Provided short-term

work to 4 million Built sewers and

other sanitation systems, roads, airports, and over 40,000 schools

Spent over $1 billion in just over 5 months

Works Progress Administration

1935 – 1943 Largest New Deal

organization, at one time it was the largest single employer in the US

Spent over $11 billion Government program

designed to provide jobs to unskilled laborers

Constructed many government buildings

Also hired artists, writers, and others who were paid to expand US cultural arts

National Recovery Administration

1933 - 1935 Created by the National

Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)

Mission was to stabilize prices for manufactured goods and prevent any more businesses from failing

Helped create codes of fair competition and reductions in competition

Struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in case of Schechter v. US in 1935

Public Works Administration

1933 - 1939 Created by the NIRA Government agency

which created jobs for skilled workers through large-scale public works projects, such as the construction of dams, bridges, and highways

Spent over $6 billion

Tennessee Valley Authority

1933 - Today Built dams in the

South to create jobs, bring electric power, and provide flood control to some of the poorest and most rural parts of the nation (Appalachian Mountains)

National Labor Relations Board 1935 - Today Created by the

National Labor Relations Act (also called the Wagner Act)

Designed to monitor unfair management practices, monitor labor unions, and act as an arbitrator between management and unions

Social Security Administration

1935 - Today Provides retirement

income for all workers once they reach age 65; also provides payments to needy children and people with permanent disabilities

Also included the first form of unemployment insurance

All of this is paid for through a payroll tax which every worker in America pays

Fair Labor Standards Act

1938 Raised minimum

wage to $.40/hour Set maximum

number of work hours at 44 hours/week

Required payment of overtime wages

Banned child labor for those under 16 years of age

Agricultural Adjustment Administration

1933 Provided government

loans to farmers Paid farmers to not

grow crops in order to reduce supply and push up crop prices

Program saved American farmers from ruin, but angered consumers because it increased the price of food

Home Owners’ Loan Corporation 1933 – 1935 Created to save

homeowners from eviction

US government bought mortgages from banks and then restructured them with lower interest rates and longer terms

About 10% of home owners in the US had mortgages with the HOLC

Still, thousands could not make even the adjusted payments and the HOLC foreclosed on many homes

Farm Credit Administration Farmers’ version

of the HOLC Helped farmers

refinance the mortgages on their farms

Saved thousands of family farms

National Housing Act

1937 Created the US

Housing Authority (USHA)

Subsidized loans to builders who were willing to tear down old tenements and build large tracts of low-cost housing to help the poor

First public housing (“projects”) effort in the US

Farm Security Administration

The programs of the AAA had helped farmers who owned the land they worked, but had hurt tenant farmers

1937: The FSA was created to loan money to tenant farmers so that they could buy their own farms

Loaned over $1 billion

American Liberty League

Created in 1934 Conservative

opposition to FDR’s programs

Combined business leaders with anti-New Deal politicians

Organized opposition to the New Deal, especially Social Security and the AAA

Huey Long 1893 – 1935 Very popular Democratic

Senator from Louisiana Head of a powerful (and

corrupt) political machine

Ran a “Share Our Wealth” campaign which called for taxes on the rich to pay for programs to help the poor

Assassinated in 1935

Father Charles Coughlin

1891 – 1979 Catholic priest who used

his weekly radio show to call on FDR to do more to help the poor, such as raising taxes on the wealthy and nationalization of the banking industry

During WWII, he was arrested for violation of the Espionage Act for his continued criticisms of FDR and the Catholic Church ordered him to end his radio program

Dr. Francis Townsend

1867 – 1960 Proposed in his Townsend

Plan that the government provide all citizens over 60 with a $200/month pension with the requirements that they must retire (creating jobs for young people) and must spend the entire $200 each month (which would boost the economy)

Townsend Plan gained widespread support among the elderly and increased political activism among seniors

The Supreme Court Starting in 1935, the

Supreme Court began attacking Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, striking down several as unconstitutional

These attacks worried Roosevelt, prompting him to take action to swing the Court in his favor

FDR’s Court Packing Scheme

FDR proposed a bill to Congress which would allow the President to appoint extra Justices to the Supreme Court anytime a Justice had served 10 years or had passed the age of 70

This would have allowed FDR to appoint 6 new justices almost immediately, ones who would have supported his New Deal programs

Congress refused to expand the Court, but the Supreme Court sensed the danger and did not attack any more New Deal programs

US as a “Broker State”

Federal government assumed the new role of balancing and mediating the competing economic interests of businesses, farmers, workers, and consumers

US as a “Welfare State”

FDR’s New Deal programs also began to shift spending priorities in the budget

As Americans became used to the idea of government assistance for the needy, more and more of the federal budget was spent on public welfare programs

CAUSES Overspeculation during the 1920s Overproduction of goods Buying on Margin Uneven distribution of wealth Too much borrowing from banks Stock prices grossly inflated; did not

have real value Installment plans/easy credit

The Great Crash

aka Black TuesdayTuesday, 10/29/1929

Effects Investors and businesses lose millions Banks fail—600 in 1929 to 11,000/25,000 in

1933 Businesses cut production, lay off

thousands Unemployment rises 3% in 1929 to 25% in

1933 Economic contraction in the United States

spreads to Europe America lost $30 Billion Land Exhausted from overproduction (Dust

Bowl)