1920’s- Politics and Business
• Objective Questions
• 1) Explain why President Harding was an ineffective
President by two examples of Presidential
mismanagement.
• 2) Explain the importance of the Model T and how the
automobile changed American lives and landscapes by
providing 3 examples.
• 3) Evaluate if new consumer products available to
Americans in the 1920’s are going to improve or hurt
American lives by providing two examples of how their
lives will change and the effect that change will have on
individual Americans.
President Harding and a “Return to Normalcy”
Government- President wanted little Gov. involvement in society
and business (return to Laissez-Faire)
President Harding- not smart, good natured, POOR judge
of character (ranked one of the least effective Presidents ever)
*Wanted America to “Return to Normalcy” (simple, worriless
lives)
-Kellog-Briand Pact- international agreement that
outlawed war
*What is the problem with such a well intentioned law?
Isolationist- pulled America out of international affairs
Evaluate if America should forget it’s international
responsibilites after WWI?
• -Scandals- members of Harding’s cabinet used their offices to get
wealthy (and caught in many scandals)
– Tea Pot Dome Scandal- Sec of Interior Albert Fall turned US Naval
oil reserves over to 2 oil companies
• *Fall received $325,000 in cash and several cattle ranches in
return (Fall was caught and spent a year in jail)
Business- 1920’s one of America’s most prosperous decades
(Americans make $ and buy new stuff)
• What was the new problem that companies had to solve in the Twenties now that
people had more money and more products to choose from? (think about the
increase in the production of goods?
– Overproduction (too many products, too many companies)
• How did business solve this new problem to convince people to buy their product?
– Advertising- convincing people that happiness can only be achieved in buying
the newest product (pointing out new problems they never knew existed)
Automobile- 1920’s cars became common
• Installment plans- loans to pay off car over months/years
– Impact- Automobile industry becomes US largest business and
customer (steel, windows, rubber, glass)
• *How were cities changed and what new jobs were created when cars became
more popular in the 1920’s?
• Urban Sprawl- cities spread out in all directions, homes built with
garages
• What city 20th Century city is a good example of a city that spreads out in all
directions as a result of the popularity of cars?
• New Business’ and jobs- auto workers, salesmen, gas stations,
motels, road construction, (bank robbers?), car racing
Henry Ford
and the Assembly Line
• created the Model T (first affordable car- $250)
• Assembly line- specific tasks for each worker (speeds up
production and lower costs)
• In 1914-400k Model Ts were built, in 1930 20 million
• How did the automobile change the lives of ordinary Americans for
the better?
– Fresh foods (fruit), paved streets, transportation (live outside city, away from
work), road trips (travel), women (mobility), school buses (higher
attendance),
• What were the negative impacts of the automobile?
– Death (more people died on roads by 1951 than all wars combined), sex (young
people have a private place away from parents), crime (get away)
Airplane- new form a travel that gains popularity and acceptance in 20’s
– Wright Brothers (1903) invented the Airplane
• Charles Lindbergh accomplished 1st solo flight across the Atlantic ocean (33
hours)
• Lindbergh’s accomplishment change the world by
– Created a new industry (Airplane- LA center, WHY?), hurt RR
– Legitimized a new form of transportation that flight is safe and air travel is
possible
• Electricity- reaches suburbs and new
conveniences for people (irons, refrigerators,
ovens, toasters, radio)
– How are these new inventions going to change
peoples lives for the better? What will people
have more of because of these new inventions?
Celebrities- new tech. (radio, movies, mags.) produced stars that
all Americans recognized
• Sports- 20’s known as the “Golden Age of Sports” (sports reporters
could report exploits of superstars to NATIONAL AUDIENCES)
– Baseball- most popular sport
– Babe Ruth- most popular baseball player ever (714 Hrs)
– NY Yankees- Best team of 20’s
– Negro Leagues- Blacks not allowed to play in the major leagues
• Josh Gibson (900+ Hrs) Who is the best ever? Ruth or Gibson?
Explain
• College Football- 2nd most popular sport (Notre Dame- most popular
team in US (after Yankees)
• Jack Dempsey- Heavyweight Champion (made boxing popular)
• Johnny Weismuller- Olympic swimming Champion (became Tarzan)
• Gertrude Ederly- 1st women to swim English Channel
– Analyze why athletes are so popular and chose two athletes from the previous
two slides and explain how they inspired people
Radio and Movies- most popular forms of entertainment
• Radio- invented in 1902 (1920- KDKA first
station)
– NBC (1926), CBS (1927)
– Programs- radio dramas and comedies
• Radio is called the most visual of all
mediums, WHY?
• Movies- B+W, silent, Hollywood center of film
production (WHY?)
– The Great Train Robbery (1903) 1st movie
(nickelodeon)
– Birth of a Nation (1915) 1st blockbuster
(glorified the KKK)
• Analyze how “Birth of a Nation” influenced the
growth of the KKK in the 1920’s
– The Jazz Singer (1927)- 1st talking picture
– Steamboat Willie (1927) 1st talking cartoon
(Mickey Mouse)
• How would national forms of entertainment
change the American culture? How do
celebrities influence us?
• African American Culture- as Af/AM. move north they bring customs from the
south and create large communities within cities that glorifies Af/Am.’s as a unique
culture within the US
• Jazz-uniquely African/American music f. the South, most popular music of the
1920’s
• Marcus Garvey promoted Black Pride and a movement back to Africa
– Why would going back to Africa be a sensible solution to race problems in the US during the 1920’s
• Harlem Renaissance- revival in black literature and art where Af/Am. made
themselves known as a talented group within the US but different from white
America
– Langston Hughes, Zora Neale, Claude McKay- most famous authors
(New Negro- idea Af/Am. equal to whites)
» What type of a movement for all minorities are African/Americans
are the forefront of?
• Women in the 1920’s
• 19th Amendment- women earn the right to vote in 1919
• Margret Sanger- Advocated women using birth control
• What does using birth control imply about new freedom’s women have? Why are some so
angered by birth control?
•
“Flapper”- Party girl (young women who want to have fun for themselves, short hair, loose
fitting and revealing clothing)
–
–
What is that man in the picture on the upper right measuring? Analyze why he feels the need to do that?
Why is a “Flapper” an important step forward for women?
•
Literature- criticized shallowness of America Consumer culture (conformity) and
conservative small town America (boring, prejudice)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald (Great Gatsby) wrote about
– Having fun in life (party on!!!)
– New vs. Old Money- even if you bring yourself up from nothing, the “Old Money” rich
will still look down on you (there is no real upward mobility)
– People are driven by shallow materialism
• Identify a show today (reality TV) that glorifies “shallow materialism” and critique it as
Fitzgerald would?
•
Earnest Hemmingway (Farwell to Arms, Old Man and the Sea)
– React against patriotic propaganda and told of horror of war
– Simple style of writing Americans could understand