American Life in the Roaring 20s

American Life in the Roaring 20s

Chapter 31

U.S. History Honors

Seeing Red

Seeing Red

• After WWI, American turned to a

policy of loose isolationism

Seeing Red

• After WWI, American turned to a policy of loose isolationism

• Red Scare

▫ 1919-1920

▫ U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer used a series of raids to round up and arrest about 6,000 suspect Communists

▫ December 1919: 249 alleged

radicals were deported

Seeing Red

• After WWI, American turned to a policy of loose isolationism

• Red Scare

▫ 1919-1920

▫ U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer used a series of raids to round up and arrest about 6,000 suspect Communists

▫ December 1919: 249 alleged radicals were deported

• Freedom of speech was limited during the Red Scare

▫ Some states made it illegal to

advocate the violent overthrow of

government

Seeing Red

• After WWI, American turned to a policy of loose isolationism

• Red Scare

▫ 1919-1920

▫ U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer used a series of raids to round up and arrest about 6,000 suspect Communists

▫ December 1919: 249 alleged radicals were deported

• Freedom of speech was limited during the Red Scare

▫ Some states made it illegal to advocate the violent overthrow of government

• During this time, anti-foreignism

was high

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

• Klu Klux Klan was anti-foreign,

anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti-

Jewish, anti-internationalist, anti-

revolutionist, anti-bootlegger,

anti-gambling, anti-adultery, and

anti-birth control.

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

• Klu Klux Klan was anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti- Jewish, anti-internationalist, anti- revolutionist, anti-bootlegger, anti-gambling, anti-adultery, and anti-birth control.

• More simply, it was pro-White

Anglo-Saxon Protestant and anti-

everything else.

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

• Klu Klux Klan was anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti- Jewish, anti-internationalist, anti- revolutionist, anti-bootlegger, anti-gambling, anti-adultery, and anti-birth control.

• More simply, it was pro-White Anglo-Saxon Protestant and anti- everything else.

• 1920s: KKK reached it’s peak

▫ Claimed 5 million members,

mostly from the South

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

• Klu Klux Klan was anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti- Jewish, anti-internationalist, anti- revolutionist, anti-bootlegger, anti-gambling, anti-adultery, and anti-birth control.

• More simply, it was pro-White Anglo-Saxon Protestant and anti- everything else.

• 1920s: KKK reached it’s peak

▫ Claimed 5 million members, mostly from the South

• They employed the tactics of fear,

lynchings, and intimidation.

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

• Klu Klux Klan was anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti- Jewish, anti-internationalist, anti- revolutionist, anti-bootlegger, anti-gambling, anti-adultery, and anti-birth control.

• More simply, it was pro-White Anglo-Saxon Protestant and anti- everything else.

• 1920s: KKK reached it’s peak

▫ Claimed 5 million members, mostly from the South

• They employed the tactics of fear, lynchings, and intimidation.

• It was stopped not by the

exposure of its horrible racism,

but by its money fraud.

Stemming the Foreign Flood

Stemming the Foreign Flood

• 1920-21: Some 800,000 European immigrants came to the U.S.

▫ Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921

 Newcomers from Europe were restricted each year to a quota

▫ Immigration Act of 1924

 Lowered the quota and replaced Emergency Quota Act

 Limited immigration

 Racial undertones

Stemming the Foreign Flood

• 1920-21: Some 800,000 European immigrants came to the U.S.

▫ Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921

 Newcomers from Europe were restricted each year to a quota

▫ Immigration Act of 1924

 Lowered the quota and replaced Emergency Quota Act

 Limited immigration

 Racial undertones

• By 1931, for the first time in

history, more people left American

than came here.

The Prohibition Experiment

The Prohibition Experiment

• The 18

Amendment (and later, the Volstead Act) prohibited the sale of alcohol

▫ Never effectively enforced because so many people violated it

▫ Most people thought, though, that Prohibition was going to stay

 Especially popular in the

Midwest and the South

The Prohibition Experiment

• The 18

Amendment (and later, the Volstead Act) prohibited the sale of alcohol

▫ Never effectively enforced because so many people violated it

▫ Most people thought, though, that Prohibition was going to stay

 Especially popular in the Midwest and the South

• Prohibition was particularly supported by women and the Women’s Christian

Temperance Union

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

• Prohibition led to the rise of gangs

▫ Competed to distribute liquor

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

• Prohibition led to the rise of gangs

▫ Competed to distribute liquor

• In the gang wars of Chicago in the 1920, about 500 people were murdered

▫ Captured criminals were rare, and convictions even rarer

 Corruption and lies

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

• Prohibition led to the rise of gangs

▫ Competed to distribute liquor

• In the gang wars of Chicago in the 1920, about 500 people were murdered

▫ Captured criminals were rare, and convictions even rarer

 Corruption and lies

• “Scarface” Al Capone

▫ Most infamous gangster

▫ Responsible for St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

▫ Finally caught for tax evasion

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

• Gangs moved into other

activities as well: prostitution, gambling, and narcotics

▫ By 1930, their annual profit

was $12-18 billion

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

• Gangs moved into other

activities as well: prostitution, gambling, and narcotics

▫ By 1930, their annual profit was $12-18 billion

• 1932: Gangsters kidnapped the baby son of Charles Lindbergh

▫ Shocked the nation

▫ Led Congress to the so-called Lindbergh Law

 Allowed the death penalty to

certain cases of interstate

Monkey Business in Tennessee

Monkey Business in Tennessee

• Better nutrition and health care increased the average life

expectancy

Monkey Business in Tennessee

• Better nutrition and health care increased the average life

expectancy

• Education made strides behind the progressive ideas of John Dewey

▫ Professor at Columbia University

▫ Believed that “education for

life” should be the primary

goal of school

Monkey Business in Tennessee

Monkey Business in Tennessee

• Issues in Education

▫ Evolutionists battled against creationists

 “Monkey Trial”

 John T. Scopes, a HS

teacher in TN, was charged with teaching evolution

 William Jennings Bryan was against him

 Trial proved to be inconclusive, but

illustrated a rift between

the new and the old.

The Mass-Consumption Economy

The Mass-Consumption Economy

• Despite the recession of

1920-21, prosperity took off in the “Roaring 20s.”

▫ Helped by tax policies of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (favored rapid

expansion of capital

investment)

The Mass-Consumption Economy

• Despite the recession of

1920-21, prosperity took off in the “Roaring 20s.”

▫ Helped by tax policies of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (favored rapid

expansion of capital investment)

• Henry Ford perfected assembly-line production

▫ Rouge River Plant was producing a car every ten seconds

▫ Automobile provided more

The Mass-Consumption Economy

The Mass-Consumption Economy

• A new medium arose as well:

advertising, which used

persuasion, ploy, seduction, and sex appeal to sell

merchandise

The Mass-Consumption Economy

• A new medium arose as well:

advertising, which used

persuasion, ploy, seduction, and sex appeal to sell

merchandise

• People followed new buying techniques:

▫ Installment plan

▫ Credit

 Both could plunge the

consumer into debt

The Mass-Consumption Economy

• A new medium arose as well:

advertising, which used

persuasion, ploy, seduction, and sex appeal to sell

merchandise

• People followed new buying techniques:

▫ Installment plan

▫ Credit

 Both could plunge the consumer into debt

• Sports were buoyed by people

like home-run hero Babe Ruth

Putting America on Rubber Tires

Putting America on Rubber Tires

• Americans adapted, rather than

invented, the gasoline engine

Putting America on Rubber Tires

• Americans adapted, rather than invented, the gasoline engine

• People like Henry Ford and

Ransom E. Olds (famous for

Oldsmobile) developed the

infant auto industry

Putting America on Rubber Tires

• Americans adapted, rather than invented, the gasoline engine

• People like Henry Ford and Ransom E. Olds (famous for Oldsmobile) developed the infant auto industry

• Early cars stalled and weren’t too reliable, but eventually, cars like the Ford Model T became cheap and easy to own.

▫ By 1929, 26 million motor

vehicles were registered in the

U.S.