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UNITED STATES DURING THE 1920’S
HOW AMERICA SAW HERSELF
Saw themselves as morally superior to Europeans
Fought revolution for freedom from European tyranny
“We have it in our power to begin the world all over again.” – Thomas Paine, 1776
Manifest Destiny
Mindset that US had a god-given right to entire continent
Took control of Oregon Territory, Alaska, Cuba, Texas, and New Mexico
Rugged Individualism and “Democratic Spirit”
Result of struggle to ‘tame’ western frontier
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ATTITUDE ENTERING THE 20’S
Increasingly isolationist
“America’s present need…is not submergence in internationality but sustainment in
triumphant nationality.” – President Warren Harding, 24 May 1920
Closing of “Open Door” of immigration
Strict policies regulating undesirables
1917 - Literacy test introduced
Barred entry to Asians
1920 – immigration limited to 357,000; reduced further in 1924
By 1929,only 150,000 allowed in
Preference for North-Western European immigrants
Odd seeing as country contained mixture of ethnicities, cultures, religions
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“The immigration policy of the Unites States should…insure that the number of
foreigners in the country…shall not exceed that which can be assimilated with
reasonable rapidity, and to favor immigrants whose standards are similar to ours.
The selective tests…should be improved by requiring higher physical standards, a
more complete exclusion of mental defectives and criminals…
The existing policy…for the practical exclusion of Asian is sound, and should be
maintained.”
- from election speech for Republican Party, 1920
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“…bolshevism, red anarchy, black-handers [extortionists], and kidnappers, challenging
the authority and the integrity of our flag…Thousands come over here who never
take the oath to support our Constitution and to become citizens of the United States.
They pay allegiance to some other country while they live upon the substance of our
own. They fill places that belong to the loyal wage-earning citizens of America…They
are of no service whatsoever to our people. They constitute a menace and a danger
to us everyday…”
- Senator Heflin of Alabama, 1921
KU KLUX KLAN [KKK]
White supremacists
Blacks, Jews, Catholics, socialists, and non-English speaking immigrants did not
belong
Anyone supporting these people also targeted
Led by Wesley Evans (The Imperial Wizard), a Texas dentist
b/w 1920 and 1925, 5 million Americans joined
Engaged in beatings, cross burnings, tar-and-feathering, lynching
WOMEN AND INCREASED FREEDOM
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WOMEN AND INCREASED FREEDOM
Most familiar symbol of 1920s is the “flapper”
Young woman with bobbed hair, and short skirts (hem just below knee)
Drank, smoked, danced provocative new dances and said ‘unladylike’ things; and in
public (all of you should utter a shocked gasp…now)
Clothing provided more freedom of movement (convenient for activity)
Stopped wearing long dresses, and corsets
Clothing trimmed down and lightened (less demand for cotton, synthetic rayon used
more)
19th Amendment, 1920 gave women right to vote
Number of working women increased by 25 per cent (mostly single) :
White collar - telephone operator, teachers, social workers, nurses, and librarians
Corporate jobs - Typists, filing clerks, stenographer
Blue collar (working class) - textile mills
Creative occupations - writing, dancing, acting, singing
Department stores - securing apparel and supply, by traveling to London or Paris
Work seen as precursor to marriage
More pressure to get married than before
“I pay our women well so they can dress attractively and get married.” – Henry Ford
Married women didn’t have as much freedom
Though divorce was becoming more common
Majority of women still homemakers
DRYING OUT
Women’s Christian Temperance Union fought against the greatest evil
Alcohol and alcoholism
Seen as cause of myriad of societal ills
Joined with Anti-Saloon League
Pressured gov’t for laws banning alcohol
Law passed banning use of grain for brewing and distilling
Led to more pressure; then an Amendment to Constitution in 1919
“…the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the
importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States…for
beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” – 18th Amendment to Constitution
Liquor defined as: having ½ of 1% alcohol by volume
Amendment came into effect Jan. 1920
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John F. Kramer appointed 1st Prohibition Commissioner
1500 prohibition agents also appointed, number almost doubled by 1930
Job: find and destroy illegal liquor stocks, and arrest those manufacturing, selling
and operating underground bars
“This law will be obeyed in all cities…and villages and where not obeyed it will be
enforced…The law says that liquor to be used as a beverage must not be
manufactured. We shall see that it is not manufactured. Nor sold, nor given away, nor
hauled in anything on the surface of the earth or under the earth or in the air.” - John
F. Kramer
1928, Republican candidate for President, Herbert Hoover, declared prohibition was,
“a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in
purpose.”
PROHIBITION
Illegal liquor trade and “bootlegging” (illegal manufacture, sale, and transport of
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Illegal liquor trade and “bootlegging” (illegal manufacture, sale, and transport of
liquor) expanded and flourished as a result
Involved men but also a large amount women (often without male involvement)
Most women (agre range of 16-84 years old) manufactured and sold from home
Very lucrative
‘speakeasies’ (illegal bars) sprang up across country
1928, NY had 30,000 speakeasies, over double the amount of pre-prohibition bars
Authorities conducted raids regularly
Or course those in charge of enforcement were also frequenting the establishments
and partaking in illegal alcohol
Bootlegging punishments ranged:
90 days in penitentiary to 1 year and a day in a penitentiary plus $500 fine for
repeat offenders
Speakeasy punishments ranged:
Fines for patrons were approx. $10; proprietors were fines approx. $100
People also made their own liquor in stills
Gangsters (Dutch Schultz, Frank Costello, Al Capone) made supplying liquor their
business
Capone made $60-100 million a year from sale of beer alone
Often violent
Prolific use of machine guns (‘typewriters’)
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, 1929
Capone eliminated O’Banion gang
REPUBLICANS IN POWER
“The business of America is business.” – Herbert Hoover
European countries continued buying American goods
increase in business and profits – economic boom
Presidents Harding (1921-23), Coolidge (1923-29), and Hoover (1929-33)
encouraged ‘boom’ by putting import duties on foreign goods
Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)
Encouraged buying of American goods
Made foreign goods more expensive
Taxes cut
Gave ability to buy more goods
Hands off policy toward industry (laissez-faire capitalism)
Few restrictions on companies
MASS PRODUCTION AND AUTOMOBILES
Assembly line led to products being less expensive
Automobile production grew spectacularly
1925, Henry Ford’s factories produced 1 car every 10 seconds
Devoured 20% of America’s steel, 80% of her rubber, and 75% of her glass
Cars sold at low prices with generous credit (Ford Model T cost $260 in 1924)
1929, 1 car for every 5 Americans
Oil became a major industry as result (coal declined)
Other industries grew around the car
Road building, roadside diners, motels, service stations
Use of railroads declined
Increase in urbanization (growth of cities)
Also contributes to growth of suburbs
Higher and middle classes began living outside urban centres
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Higher and middle classes began living outside urban centres
Views of auto. varied
Promised freedom and ability to see country
Others saw it as “a house of prostitution on wheels”
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CONSUMER CULTURE
Mass-production led to plethora of consumer goods
Consumers increasingly felt constant need to have latest goods
Fridges, radios, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, dishwashers, hair dryers, popup toasters
Packaged food stuffs like: Coca-Cola, Welch’s Grape Juice, Wrigley's Chewing Gum,
Cream of Wheat, Quaker Oats products
This culture led to growth of advertising industry
Workers depended on ad-men to persuade consumers to buy more goods
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ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment industry saw massive increase as well
Film industry
1929 was the year ‘talkies’ debuted
Cinema receipts totaled $720 million
1930 – weekly attendance at cinemas was 20 million
Some films included
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Phantom of the Opera (1925),The Jazz Singer
(1927), The Cocoanuts (1929)
Radio
Most common form of entertainment
Mass medium for advertising products
Jazz music
Gained in popularity among the young
Loved the dances jazz inspired and freedom it made them feel
RESULTS OF THE ‘BOOM’
Workers discouraged from interfering in industry
Membership in unions shrank from 5 million in 1920 to 3 million in 1932
Striking for shorter hours and better condition seen as ‘communistic’ or ‘unAmerican’
Americans bought a stake in industry by investing savings in company stocks and
shares
Boom in industry led to increased value in stocks
Tempted people to invest more, hoping to get rich
stock market appeared as shortcut to happiness
ECONOMIC TERMS/DEFINITIONS
Revenue:
money brought in by gov’t
Expenditures:
money spent by gov’t
Balanced Budget:
when revenue and expenditures are equal
Before Great Depression most gov’ts balanced their budgets
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Before Great Depression most gov’ts balanced their budgets
Currency:
actual money used by country (based on amount of gold or silver the country
possessed)
Now based on productivity, size of national debt, interest rates, and value
compared to other currencies
Supply and Demand:
availability of particular product (supply) vs. how badly people want product
(demand)
High supply = low prices, high demand = high prices
Low supply = high prices, low demand = low prices
THE ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN
1927 signs appeared that economy was slowing
Fewer homes built, motor-car sale declined
Wages only rose 8% from 1923-1929 (profits had risen by 72%)
Not enough to buy all consumer goods, even on the never-never
America was one of the first ‘never-never’ lands
Buying goods, but paying for it in regular small amounts over period of time
CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Overproduction
In agriculture more food produced than needed
Priced fell steadily; 30% from 1925-1929
Farmers found it increasingly hard to sell produce
In industry; to many goods produced for home market
Goods piled up, factories produced less, workers laid off, unemployment meant
people bought less, so factories produced less, and more people laid off
No unemployment benefits existed
Buying on credit (the never-never)
spending money they didn’t have to purchase consumer goods
Buying on Margin
Practice of buying stocks with a 10% down payment, rest covered by loans
Loans provided by brokers, who bought/sold shares for customers
Brokers also borrowed money from banks and companies
CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Speculation
Buy stocks at low price, sell at higher one
Buyer of stocks hoped value would rise
then sell stock for huge profit, repay the loan and pocket rest
Profit used to buy more shares “on the margin”
Stock Market
Buying on margin and speculation led to money being tied up in stocks
Less money available for foreign loans
Economic Nationalism and Tariffs
other countries introduced tariffs to protect industries and products (retaliation for
Fordney-McCumber Tariff)
Led to trade restrictions
International Debt
Foreign nations who borrowed from US depended on selling product on US market
to raise currency to repay loans
Protective tariffs reduced their ability to pay
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Protective tariffs reduced their ability to pay
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