US HISTORY UNIT 7



PART 1 THE 1920s

The Roaring 20’s - Perceived as a period of prosperity and fun

Consumerism

* Advertising

* Easy Credit

* Installment Plans

MOST OF THE ECONOMIC EXPANSION WAS DUE TO ONE NEW PRODUCT.

The Automobile

Henry Ford

* Innovations

* Model T

* Workers as Consumers

* $5 day pay

* Assembly Line

Postwar Adjustments

* Economic Slowdown

* RECESSIONS IN 1921, 22, & 23

* Factories lost govt. contracts

* Returning Veterans faced Unemployment

* Farmers suffered after the Post War demand fell

* (MECHANIZATION)

Isolationism & Nativism 

* Quota Act (1921)

* Immigration was limited with the (3% of pop. already here)

* Limited E. European & Asian groups

* Feared Communists

Red Scares

* Fear of Communism

* OFTEN THESE FEARS STEMMED FROM IMMIGRANTS.

Unions

John L Lewis

Led the UMW (mine workers)

Palmer Raids

* Attorney General

* Thousands arrested & deported.

* Most were immigrants

* Lasted 6 months

Sacco & Vanzetti

* Two Italian immigrants (anarchists) were convicted for robbery and murder.

KKK

* Reemerged in 1915

* Had its highest membership in the 20s.

* Its Popularity reached into new areas (outside the South)

1920’s Women

Flappers

* 1.    Symbol of the Jazz Age

* 2.    A young, independent woman who was assertive and promiscuous.

* 3.    Short dresses, “bobbed” hair.

* 19th Amendment gave women more perceived freedom.

Prohibition & Organized Crime

Prohibition (1920-1933)

* ALCOHOL WAS ILLEGAL.

* ORIGINS

* Volstead Act

* 18th Amendment

* Progressives

* Billy Sunday

* Baseball player turned preacher

* Argued for Prohibition

Carrie A. Nation

* SPEAKEASIES

* (illegal bars)

* Hear Jazz

* Drink Booze

* Probably a password to get in.

* The Police might be “on the take”

* Organized Crime controlled the product

* Bootlegging

* Al Capone

21st Amendment repealed the 18th

The Arts

* Silent & Talkies (Movies)

* 1st – “The Jazz Singer” Talky

* Stars

* Charlie Chaplin

* Rudolph Valentino

* PEOPLE ALSO SAW NEWSREELS

Radio

Lost Generation

- Wrote about the emptiness of their lives

* GERTRUDE STEIN – coined term

* Writers

* SINCLAIR LEWIS

* F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

* ERNEST HEMMINGWAY

Harlem Renaissance

* African American cultural flourishing.

* Literature, music, & Intellectuals

* LANGSTON HUGHES

* POET

* COUNTEE CULLEN

* ZORA NEALE HURSTON

Jazz Age

Great Jazz Performers

* BESSIE SMITH

* LOUIS ARMSTRONG

* DUKE ELLINGTON

Minority Issues

Marcus Garvey

~Back to Africa Movement

~Black is Beautiful

~Black Pride

United Negro Improvement Assoc. (UNIA)

1924 Native American Suffrage Act

* Citizenship & Voting Rights

Sports

Babe Ruth

Aviation

Charles Lindbergh

* 1927 – Flew nonstop across the Atlantic. (solo)

* (NY to Paris)

* Spirit of St. Louis - Plane

Science & Religion

CAN MODERN SCIENCE AND RELIGION COEXIST?

Scopes “Monkey” Trial

* John T. Scopes Taught Evolution in TN school.

* Defended by Clarence Darrow (ACLU)

* The ACLU had professed that they would gladly defend any teacher who broke the TN law.

* “Free Thinkers”

* People who believe in Science

Fundamentalists

* William Jennings Bryan & Aimee Semple McPherson

* Believe every word of Bible is true. (No symbolism)

* Suffered embarrassment due to the trial.

PART 2 - Politics in the 20’s

Warren G. Harding (1921-23)

* “Return to Normalcy”

* Corruption

* Teapot Dome Scandal

* Albert Fall used power for personal gain.

* Washington Naval Conference – Harding attended this disarmament conference. (reduce weapons)

Calvin Coolidge (23-28) - SILENT CAL

* Dawes Plan

* Kellogg – Briand Pact

* Outlaws War

* “THE BUSINESS OF THE US IS BUSINESS.”

ELECTION OF 1928

* HERBERT HOOVER (REP) – WON

* 4 more years of prosperity

PART 3 - The Great Depression

The worst economic slump in US history.

(SPREAD TO THE ENTIRE WORLD)

* RECESSIONS ARE NORMAL (CYCLICAL)

* THE SEVERITY AND LENGTH OF THE DEPRESSION SET IT APART.

Causes of the Depression

* 1. Uneven wealth distribution

* 2. LACK OF DIVERSIFICATION IN INDUSTRY (CONSTRUCTION/ AUTO)

* 3. MARGIN STOCK BUYING (10% DOWN)

* LED TO A FALSE BOOM IN THE MARKET

* 4. Speculation – risky investments.

* 5. HAWLEY SMOOT TARIFF

* Unintentionally hurt trade

* 6. REPARATIONS SYSTEM

* GERMANY COULD NOT PAY

* EUROPE COULD NOT REPAY THEIR LOANS TO US BANKS.

* 7. Mechanization

* Led to unemployment.

* 8. Overproduction (supply more than demand)

* 9. SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES

* BANK RUNS

* SAVING NOT SPENDING

* 10. BLACK TUESDAY

* THE STOCK MARKET CRASH - OCTOBER 29, 1929

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DEPRESSION

* BANK CLOSINGS

* 9,000 CLOSED

* PEOPLE LOST $2.5 BILLION IN SAVINGS.

* UNEMPLOYMENT

* 3.2% IN 1929

* 25% AT PEAK - 1933

* STARVATION

* Soup Kitchens & Breadlines.

* HOMELESSNESS

* FORECLOSURES

Hoovervilles

* Shacks the homeless lived in.

* Name mocked the President.

Dorthea Lange – photographer of the misery of the Depression

Migrant Mother, 1936

“THE DUST BOWL”

* FARMERS SUFFERED SEVERELY

* A DROUGHT TURNED MIDWESTERN FARMLAND INTO DESERT.

* 10 YEARS

* CAUSED PARTIALLY BY OVER PLOWING THE LAND.

* FARMERS WHO ESCAPED THE BOWL WERE CALLED OKIES.

Hoover’s & the Depression

* Hoover did little to end the depression. (laissez-faire)

* “Prosperity is just around the corner.”

* Business Cycle will naturally recover

* “Rugged Individualism”

* Fix your own problems

The Bonus Army

* Unemployed WWI veterans who went to DC.

* $1,000

* They requested early payment of a bonus promised to be paid in 1945.

* Hoover sent in the Army to destroy the Hoovervilles.

The Election of 1932

* Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

* Promised Americans a “New Deal.”

* Democrat is victorious

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” inaugural

FDR WOULD BE ELECTED 4 TIMES IN TOTAL. (MORE THAN ANY OTHER PRESIDENT.)

PART 4 - The New Deal

FDR’s program to combat the Depression.

* FDR USED THE RADIO TO SPEAK TO AMERICANS.

* “FIRESIDE CHATS”

Brain Trust

* FDR relied on a brilliant group of advisors.

* He appointed the first female cabinet member, Frances Perkins.

Deficit Spending

* The New Deal relied on this principle

* The government should go in debt to stimulate the economy.

* Ideas from John Maynard Keynes

Direct Relief

* Giving assistance directly to the people.

The Hundred Days

* Special session of Congress where huge amounts of legislation was passed.

3 Rs of the New Deal

* Relief – help now

* Recovery – restart growth

* Reform – permanent fixes to problems

New Deal Legislation

Emergency Banking Relief Act

* Created a “Bank Holiday”

* Sound banks were reopened ten days later

* Created the FDIC now insured bank deposits.

* Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

* These measures helped to end bank runs.

The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)

* Set up to regulate the stock markets

Public Works Projects - (Provide jobs while building good things)

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

* Employed 2.75 million people

* TOOK MEN FROM CITIES INTO RURAL AREAS.

* PLANTED TREES

* Built dams and practiced soil conservation.

* Built the Blue Ridge Parkway

Works Project Administration (WPA)

Employed 8.5 million people from 1935-41.

* Built Hoover Dam, Lincoln Tunnel, streets, schools, hospitals, parks, airports, and playgrounds.

* Employed actors, writers, musicians, and dancers

National Industrial Recovery Act - (NIRA)

* Established the NRA – National Recovery Administration to promote business cooperation.

* Public Works Administration (PWA)

* Job program

* Spent $3 billion on public works.

Agricultural Legislation

HOPED TO HALT THE DECLINE IN FARM PRICES.

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

* Farmers were paid to reduce production (subsidies)

* Farms prices then increased.

* This act was declared unconstitutional and later modified.

* PRACTICED SOIL CONSERVATION

* $ WENT TO LANDOWNERS NOT FARMERS.

FDR SAID THE SOUTH WAS THE NATION’S NUMBER ONE ECONOMIC PROBLEM.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

* Built 20 dams

* Stopped flooding and soil erosion.

* Generated electricity.

* “Yardstick to determine cost of electrifying America.”

National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act )

* Established that workers had the right to unionize.

* Established the National Labor Relations Board.

* Said “closed shops” were okay

* Legitimized collective bargaining.

Fair Labor Standards Act

* Established Minimum Wage

Social Security Act

* Pension for the elderly.

* Employers & Employees pay into the system.

* Because it was a long range solution, most call this the most important New Deal Program.

* Unemployment insurance

* (TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE)

* Money

* Disabled

* Children with deceased parents.

Opposition to FDR

* Huey Long

* “Share Our Wealth”

* Socialist

* Wanted to be Dictator

* Father Charles Coughlin

* Radio priest

Court Packing

* Many of the New Deal laws were declared Unconstitutional.

* FDR unsuccessfully attempted to add new justices that would favor his policies.

Impact of the New Deal

* 1. GOVERNMENT DIRECTION OF THE ECONOMY.

* 2. The modern welfare state was created.

* IT’S THE GOVT’S JOB TO TAKE CARE OF POOR.

* 3.  Democrats became the party of the poor.

* 4.  Modernized the South 

* 5. Black Americans (Northerners who could vote) switched to the Democratic Party.

WWII ENDED THE DEPRESSION

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