Best and worst of times
in the 1920s
by Syraiyah Armendariz
The best of times were.. (Social)
*When the Scopes Trial occured. This trial is best known to American History
because it represents the difference between science and theology, faith and
reason, individual liberty and freedom. In 1925, a school teacher named John
Scopes went to trial for violating the state law against the teaching of
evolution. Scopes ended up winning the trial and opened the eys of the jury.
The trial concluded that society should respect academic freedom and
legislatures should not restrain the freedom of scientific ideas.
*Fashion changed the perspective of women in society. Teens started to wear
shorter skirts with pleats, gathers, or slits and women cut their hair to fit
their fashionable hats. Women also wore low waisted dresses to dance. Jean
Patou designed a two piece sweater and skirt outfit which women adored.
The worst of times were.. (Social)
*When The Postwar Red Scarce occured. On May Day (May 1st, 1919), postal
officials found 20 bombs that were from the suspicious capitalists. Those
capitalists included, John D. Rockfeller, J.P Morgan J.r, and Justice Oliver
Wendell Holmes. About a month later, 8 cities across the U.S were exploded
by bombs. The fear of bombs triggered the Red Scarce as well as communism
and labor unrest.
*When the Postwar Labor Tensions occured. Food prices and clothing items
douled the prices and workers were not getting paid enough to afford these
items. Workers faced low wages, difficult working conditions, and long hours.
About 350,000 workers nationwide went on strike to improve these
conditions. Eventually, the workers completely defeated the union and
conditions were improved.
The best of times were.. (Culture)
*Radios had one of the biggest impacts out of all appliances to enter the
nations homes. Radios made a profit of $60 million dollars in 1922 and
dramatically rose to $426 million in 1929. The radio drew the nations
attention by providing news, entertainment, and advertisements.
Broadcasters also addressed racial discrimination and derogatory stereotypes.
They played a lot of music as well.
* Society became more modernized. Cars also brought a big impact to
American Society. The first car was made by Henry Ford who also sponsored
the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. By the
1920s, there were more than 27 million cars on the road.
The worst of times were.. (Culture)
* Religion was one of the most challenging id 1920s. Before the Civil War, the
protestant denominations believe that the findings of science confirmed the
teaching of religion. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution changed the perspective
of religion. During this time period, believer of Pentecostalism, fundamentalism,
modernism, secularism, and scientific teachings all conflicted with the idea of
religion which created anti-evolution laws. These laws forbid the teachings of
evolution in school.
*The Ku Klux Klan was best known as the "hate group." This group was created
during the Reconstruction Era of the 1860s. They became a very large,
controversial, nationwide organization in the 1920s. This group was known for
discriminating against African Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews and foreigners.
They dressed in a standard white costume and caused violent attacks on these
groups. The clan was led by General Nathaniel Bedford Forrest and three million
members nationwide stood beside him.
The best of times were... (Political)
*Women gained the right to vote in 1920, therefore the 19th amendment was
created. Reformers believed that female voters would clean up politics,
improve society, and end discrimination. Men were displeased with the newly
passed amendment and immediately took it to court which later passed the
Equal Rights amendment which outlawed discrimination based on sex.
*Al Smith, an Irish Catholic, ran for the presidential election in 1928. Under
his presidency, he promised that New York granted women a 40 hour work
week and the nation's first public housing program. He also established state
parks and public hospitals. Smith did not end up winning but opened the eyes
of immigrant voters in big cities and hoped to shift African American voters
towards the Democrats.
The worst of times were... (Political)
*Warren G. Harding was president during this time period and it was a
complete disaster. He tried to elect men that could best benefit his cabinet
and they were responsible for the accomplishments of Harding's brief
administration, which included stimulating business growth, cutting taxes,
and negotiating disarmament treaties. These later on later to major scandals
within the government like the Teapot Dome Scandal.
*The Teapot Dome was one of the biggest scandals the government faced.
This scandal occurred because Harding secretly leased naval oil reserves at
Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills California to private companies. He then
resigned from office and the government canceled the leases.
The best of times were... (Economic)
*Mass-production industries became successful due to technologies like
electricity and the assembly line provided for profitable investment. Less
than 1% of Americans owned stock so the return of stock market directly
benefited only the wealthy. Being rich in the 1920s was a very big thing
because not many Americans were rich at all.
*Wages of urban workers were increased by 20% during the 1920s. This was
because of the new technologies that were produced which cause massproduction. Technologies like cars, washing machines, and radios became the
industries most valuable goods. By 1929, middle class workers were able to
afford these goods.
The worst of times were..(Economic)
*America's farmers were not benefited during this time period. By the end of
World War I, European production suddenly faced a huge glut of agricultural
products, with no marker of buyers. Farm prices fell at a dramatic rate to
where the price of wheat fell by almost half & the price of cotton fell by
three-quarters. Farmers then had trouble affording their farming equipment
like tractors and farms were foreclosed by banks because they couldn't make
their payments.
*Banks faced a Great Depression. They failed to secure sufficient funds in the
case of bad debts meaning that when farmers went bankrupt, they didn't
have sufficient reserves to meet credit demand. Banks also were at risk of
running out of money and if that happened, they couldn't borrow from a
central bank. When the Great Depression rose, people wanted to withdrawal
money from the bank but the bank didn't have enough reserves to do this.
Sources
-http://www.cliffsnotes.com/moresubjects/history/us-history-ii/america-in-thetwenties/politics-in-the-1920s
-http://www.shmoop.com/1920s/economy.html
-http://econ.economicshelp.
org/2007/05/economics-of-1920s.html?m=1
-http://tirocchi.stg.brown.
edu/514/story/fashion_twenties.html