The Roaring 20’s
An era of prosperity,
Republican power,
Republican Power
 President
Harding
 Elected 1920
 Legacy of
corruption like the
“Teapot Dome”
bribery scandal and
reduced taxes on
businesses
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Died in office, 1923
By the 1920s, the U.S. had become the leading
industrial power in the world. This boom was due to
several factors:
A. a wealth of natural resources
B. government support for business
C. a growing urban population for cheap
labor and markets for new products.
16th Amendment passes in 1913: begins
Individual and Corporate Income Taxes
Today we pay our taxes to the Federal and
State governments no later than April 15th
Taxes are reduced under Presidents Harding and
Coolidge
World War I left much of the American
public divided. The end of the war hurt
the economy. Returning soldiers took
jobs away from many women and
minorities, or faced unemployment
themselves. Many Americans wanted to
reduce the number of immigrants
arriving in the US.
The 1921 Quota Act and the 1924 Immigration
Act reflected US nativism. They greatly
reduced the numbers of new Americans as
people became suspicious of foreigners and
wanted to pull away from world affairs.
President Coolidge
“The business of America is business. The man who
builds a factory builds a temple. The man who works
in it worships there.”
 1923-29
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The political genius of President Coolidge,
Walter Lippmann pointed out in 1926, was
his talent for effectively doing nothing:
"This active inactivity suits the mood and
certain of the needs of the country
admirably. It suits all the business interests
which want to be let alone....
Presidents Harding and Coolidge reduce the Progressives’
regulations of businesses. America switches from war
goods to consumer goods and advertising to sell products.
Instalment Buying: Get it now and pay later
Credit: pay a small amount each month until an item is
paid for
Interest: financial charge for borrowing $
Demand for US goods greatly increases but so does
American debt.
“If we want anything, all we have to do is go and buy it
on credit. So that leaves us without any economic problems
whatever, except some day to have to pay for it. But we are
certainly not thinking about it this early” Comedian Will
Rogers, 1928
1920s Soaring Stock Market
Companies sell stocks to gain the money they
need to expand their business. Investors buy
the stocks and hope the value of them will
increase
 The 1920s were a Bull Market where stock
prices rose rapidly. Often the price rose not
because the company was improving but
simply because investors expected the price to
rise. Investors became rich overnight, buying
stocks and selling them for more not long
afterwards. As long as prices continued to rise
all was well.
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The 1920s is a period of great change in American Society modern America is born at this time, with many people enjoying
a much higher standard of living.
For first time the census (population count every 10 years)
reflected an urban society – over 50% of the US population lived
in cities.
1920's Great Changes
for Women...
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1920 - 19th Amendment
gave them the federal vote
The League of Women
Voters worked to educate
women on voting and to
ensure women could serve
on juries
During WWI many women
worked in factories
After the war, many women
kept working outside the
home
More women went to college
and wanted to join the
professions
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Women didn't want to sacrifice their
wartime gains in income and life
outside of the home - amounted to a
social revolt
the FLAPPER became the name for
"new woman” who wore skirts that
only went to the knee, smoke
cigarettes and drank alcohol in
public, drove cars fast, and cut their
hair short
With income from working, women
bought appliances like vacuum
cleaners, refrigerators, and radios
Some women had to work and also
run their homes. It was hard for
them to combine these roles. While
many women worked, most
remained homemakers.
Consumer Economy
Age of Prosperity
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Employment and wages/salaries
are strong in the 1920s as the
economy expands
Henry Ford introduces the
assembly line to factories – reduces
costs and increases supply so the
price goes down and more
Americans can afford a car
Assembly lines and mass
production spread throughout the
US economy
In 1919 there are 7 million cars in
the US but by 1929 there are 23
million on the road; creating an
estimated 4 million new jobs
Age of Prosperity
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The car transforms the US economy
Competition increases as General Motors manufactures cars and
Ford does not have a monopoly
New jobs are needed to keep up with the demand for refining oil
into gasoline, gas stations, building roads, restaurants, and
shopping centers.
People move from the crowded cities to the suburbs further
away from work because they can drive there
Culture of the Roaring 20’s
<<< Radio: GE, Westinghouse,&
RCA form NBC
Silent Movies
>>>>
Charlie
Chaplin
“Talkies”
The Jazz Singer
Starring Al Jolson
Mary Pickford
“America’s Sweetheart”
The 20’s is The Jazz Age
The Flappers
make up
cigarettes
short skirts
Writers
Musicians
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ernest Hemingway
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
The Jazz Age
Jazz began in New Orleans, based
on West African rhythms, Black
spirituals and work songs, and
European harmonies. Greats
included Louis Armstrong and
Duke Ellington. Eventually, rock
and roll plus hip hop will develop
from it.
Americans bought radios and
went to the movies. Popular fads
grabbed the nation’s attention,
like flag-pole sitting (21 days was
the record) and then disappeared
. The Charleston dance became
another fad.
Celebrities
Babe Ruth &Ty Cobb
Charles Lindbergh
The Spirit of St. Louis
Jack Dempsey
America was becoming more prosperous.
Business and industry required a more
educated work force. These two factors
caused a huge increase in the number of
students going to high school. The nation’s
schools were successful in teaching large
numbers of Americans and immigrants to
read. As a result of increased literacy, more
people read newspapers than before.
Charles A. Lindbergh thrilled the nation by
becoming the first person to fly solo across the
Atlantic Ocean. Lindbergh took off from New
York City in his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis.
On May 20-21, 1927 he flew for 33 hours and
landed outside of Paris, France. On his return
to the United States, Lindbergh became the
idol of America. In an age of sensationalism
and excess, Lindbergh stood for the honesty
and bravery the nation seemed to have lost.
Charles Lindbergh
The “Roaring Twenties”
"Old" Culture
"New" Culture
Emphasized Production
Emphasized Consumption
Character
Personality
Scarcity
Abundunce
Religion
Science
Idealized the Past
Looked to the Future
Local Culture
Mass Culture
Substance
Image
The above graph indicates in a general sense what historians mean
when they refer to the "old" and the "new" cultures of the 1920s.
This list is not meant to be definitive. Source: Culture as History: The
Transformation of American Society in the Twentieth Century (New
York: Pantheon Books, 1984).
The Ku Klux Klan: Great increase
In power across the US, not just the South
Anti-black
Anti-immigrant
Anti-Semitic
Anti-Catholic
Anti-women’s suffrage
Anti-bootleggers
Scopes “Monkey”
Evolution vs. Creationism
Famous Lawyers
Trial
Science vs. Religion
Dayton, Tennessee
John Scopes
High School Biology teacher
During the 1920s, the nation saw the
rise of Christian fundamentalism.
This religious movement was based
on the belief that everything written
in the Bible was literally true.
Fundamentalists were concerned with
the growing trust in science that most
Americans had. These beliefs led
fundamentalists to reject Charles
Darwin’s theory of evolution (natural
selection)
Fundamentalists did not want evolution taught in schools. In 1925,
Tennessee passed a law making it a crime to teach it. John Scopes,
a young biology teacher challenged the law and taught it. He was
arrested, and his case went to trial. The ACLU hired Clarence
Darrow, the most famous trial lawyer in the nation, to defend
Scopes. William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor. Scopes was
guilty because he broke the law. But the trial was really about
evolution and about religion in schools. Reporters came from all
over the world to cover the Scopes trial (Monkey Trial). The
highlight of the trial was when Bryan took the stand. Darrow
questioned Bryan until Bryan said that while the earth was made
in six days, they were “not six days of 24 hours.” Bryan was
admitting that the Bible could be interpreted in different ways.
Even so, Scopes was found guilty. His conviction was later
overturned by the Tennessee State Supreme Court. But the ban on
teaching evolution remained a law in Tennessee.
Prohibition Volstead Act
18th Amendment
Gangsters
Al Capone
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PROHIBITION - on the
manufacture and sale of alcohol
Ratified in 1919 as the 18th
AMENDMENT
In WWI, temperance (antialcohol) became a patriotic
cause. Drunkenness caused
lower work productivity &
inefficiency.
Prohibition was a difficult law
to enforce. Organized crime
made millions while millions of
law-abiding Americans turned
to bootleggers for their booze.
Al Capone virtually controlled
Chicago in this period capitalism at its zenith…
Prohibition finally ended in
1933 with the 21st Amendment
The 21st forced organized crime
to pursue other interests…
Farming Problemss
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an agricultural depression in
early 1920's contributed to this
urban migration
U.S. farmers lost agricultural
markets in postwar Europe
at same time efficiency
increased so more food
produced (more food = lower
prices) and fewer labourers
were needed
so farming was no longer as
prosperous, and bankers called
in their loans (farms were
repossessed)
so American farmers enter the
Depression in advance of the
rest of society
Black Americans in
this period continued
to live in poverty
 sharecropping kept
them in de facto
slavery
 white landowners
went bankrupt &
forced blacks off their
land
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African-Americans moved north to take advantage of booming
wartime industry (= Great Migration) - Black ghettoes began
to form like Harlem in New York City
A distinct Black culture flourished but most neighborhoods
and schools were not integrated in the North.
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Marcus Garvey (Jamaican born
immigrant) established the
Universal Negro Improvement
Association
believed in Black pride
advocated racial segregation b/c of
Black superiority
Garvey believed Blacks should
return to Africa
he purchased a ship to start the
Black Star line
attracted many investments: gov't
charged him with with fraud
he was found guilty and eventually
deported to Jamaica, but his
organization continued to exist