The 1920’s

CHAPTER 24

I. Prosperity

I. Consumer Society

II. People’s Capitalism

III. Rise of Advertising and Mass Marketing

IV. Marriage and Sexuality

V. Age of Celebrity

VI. Business Civilization

VII. Industrial Workers

VIII.Women and Work

IX. Women’s Movement

II. Politics of Business

I. Harding

II. Coolidge

III. Hoover

III. Farmers, Small Torn Protestants, Moral Traditionalists

I. Agricultural Depression

II. Cultural Dislocation

III. Prohibition

IV. Ku Klux Klan

V. Immigration Restrictions

VI. Fundamentalism and Scopes

IV. Ethnic and Racial Communities

I. Europeans

II. Blacks and Harlem Renaissance

III. Mexican Community

V. Lost Generation and Disillusioned Intellectuals

I. Prosperity

I. Consumer Society

1920’s – US wealthiestWar boom for industry – 1898 – 1920, 20 year cycleMass Production

Industrial Productionincreases

Due to new technologies

Cars –

II. People’s Capitalism

Development of creditLittle money after billsBy 1930 – 15% on credit

III. Rise of Advertising and Mass Marketing

New technology created new productsNew products need to be sold

Incomes in Middle Class go up – afforded women opportunity to remain at home.1) Soap ads2) Books3) Vacuums4) Cosmetics

IV. Marriage and Sexuality

Changing attitudes

-Husbands and wives encouraged to pursue sexual satisfaction / intimacy

-More time together

-Younger women – pursuit of pleasure. Young, middle class.

-Flappers

-Desire for independence

-Femininity v. political

V. Age of Celebrity

Mass Marketing + film + popular culture = marketing dream

Recognized impact on public

Combine marketing with popular activities – those who performed the activity became celebrities

Role of Media

VI. Business Civilization

Business of America is Business – Coolidge, 1924

The Man Nobody Knows, Bruce Barton, 1925.

VII. Industrial Workers

Many industrial workers benefited from nations prosperity-Rising wages (real wages increase 30-50%), steady income

-Yellow Dog Contracts

IX. Women’s Movement

Momentum lost after 19th Amendment, 1920.

High expectations, low returns

Done in by their own success

Which Voice and Who Speaks for Women

II. Politics of BusinessI. Harding

Return to Normalcy

Party bosses

Easily manipulated

Ohio

1923

Albert Fall, Secty Interior

Harry Dougherty, Atty Gen

Charles Forbes, Veterans Bureau

II. Coolidge

Best government is the government that governs least.

Business of government is business.

Supported less government

Supported lower taxes

Supported decreased government regulation of business

III. Hoover

Looked back on his time as Food Director and Commerce Secretary when he approached the presidency.

Government was a tool to persuade business to abandon wasteful ways

Community where government and business share information and technology – cooperative approach.

Associationalism

Cooperative work effort

-Managed to convince steel executives to cancel 12 hour workdays

-Supported labor’s right to organize and endorsed 1926 Railway Labor Act

-Worked to standardize size and shape of products to increase their usefulness and strengthen sales

-Encouraged farmers to join in support of Cooperative Marketing Act

III. Farmers, Small Town Protestants, Moral Traditionalists

I. Agricultural Depression

WWI – Demand highWar ends, demand drops.Markets flooded, income dropsTechnology – tractorFarmers displacedTariffsVeto

II. Cultural Dislocation1920 – slight majority lived in urban areasBackbone – no longer farmerUrban area – (modernists).

Distrust for urban ways

III. Prohibition

18th Amendment, 1920.Prohibited manufacture, sale of alcohol

Support from farmers, middle class urban, feminists, reformers107 Million Americans, 1500 agentsAl Capone

Italian, Jewish, Irish

IV. Ku Klux KlanFormed late 1860s. Died out after Reconstruction.New Klan begun in 1915 by William Simmons.Inspired by DW Griffith’s – Birth of a Nation

Significant female membership.Focus on Catholics and JewsRacial purityMarcus Garvey

V. Immigration Restrictions

KKK White ProtestantsLabor Unions

1924 Johnson-Reed Immigration Act: limited outcry limited entry of foreigners

1920-1921: 1,800,000 immigrantsOverwhelming the country

Exclusion to 1924 Act: British, German, Scandinavian

By 1927 – total numbers 150,000

Exclusion – Mexicans

VI. Fundamentalism and Scopes

Protestant fundamentalismBible is God’s word. Every event depicted was true exactly as depicted

Rise of fundamentalism 1870s- 1920s.

Fundamentalism opposed to science and liberal Protestantism

John ScopesTN, 1925

Clarence Darrow - DefenseWilliam Jennings Bryan – Prosecution

-Bryan as expert on Bible

-Test of 1st Amendment and removal of references to Darwin in texts.

IV. Ethnic and Racial Communities

I. Europeans

Concentrated in NE and Midwest / Urban areaslarge number semi/un skilledeconomic hardshipCultural and religious discrimination

Attempts to Americanize

Growing numbers = increased political clout

1928 – first Catholic nominated for president – Al Smith.?? What region supported him and why??

II. African-American and Harlem Renaissance

Migration continued – cities north jobsNew York, Chicago, Detroit

Segregation

White flight

Music / ArtsBlues / Ragtime / Jazz

Harlem Renaissance

1920 – 1930, unprecedented outburst of creative activity

Began as a series of literary discussions in the lower Manhattan (Greenwich Village) and upper Manhattan (Harlem) sections of New York City, this African-American cultural movement became known as "The New Negro Movement" and later as the Harlem Renaissance.

literary movement + and more than a social revolt against racism.

redefined African-American expression

One of the factors contributing to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance was the great migration of African-Americans to northern cities (such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.) between 1919 and 1926.

III. Mexican Community

Mexican and Blacks shared similar experiences / treatment

500,000 in 1920 – Agricultural and Construction work

Earned less than whites

Barred from certain jobs: machine operators or skilled jobs

Transient

Temporary jobs

Locked into hard labor for low wages

V. Lost Generation and Disillusioned IntellectualsPoets, authors, artists who left the United States for Europe or Caribbean.

-Belief was that average American was anti-intellectual, small minded, materialistic, puritanical.

-Mass consumption, consumerism, wealth

Critical of social, economic, and racial conditionsEffect WWI had on masses – distrustDisenchanted with America – fled. Sought alternatives.

Democracy had been eroded by power held by few. Power and wealth threatened democracy (harkens back to Progressive fears – private power overwhelming public authority)

Postwar period saw an increase in middle-class wealth and buying power, a significant growth in advertising, new use of leisure time, and an increase in installment buying.

Dawes Plan resulted in the reduction of Germany’s war debt.

KKK – many females, achieved some degree of political power in some states, their initial focus was on Catholics and Jews, emphasizing traditional morality.

Kellogg – Briand Pact: 15 nations outlaw war, settle disputes peacefully.