CHAPTER 25



CHAPTER 25

Transition to Modern America, 1919–1928

Focus Questions

25.1 What was new about the American economy in the 1920s?

25.2 How did life in the cities change after World War I?

25.3 How did conservatives oppose the changes of the decade?

25.4 How did the politics of the 1920s reflect changes in the economy and in

American society?

25.5 How did hostility toward African Americans and other nonwhite groups lead to violence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

Chapter Outline

Introduction: Wheels for the Millions

25.1 The Second Industrial Revolution

25.1.1 The Automobile Industry

25.1.2 Patterns of Economic Growth

25.1.3 Past and Present: Consumers All

25.2 City Life in the Roaring Twenties

25.2.1 Women and the Family

25.2.2 Popular Culture in the Jazz Age

25.3 The Conservative Counterattack

25.3.1 The Fear of Radicalism

25.3.2 Prohibition

25.3.3 The Ku Klux Klan

25.3.4 Immigration Restriction

25.3.5 The Fundamentalist Challenge

25.4 Republican Politics

25.4.1 Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover

25.4.2 A New Kind of Conservatism

25.4.3 The Election of 1928

25.5 Charting the Past: Racial Violence in the United States, 1880-1930

25.5.1 Racial Violence

25.5.2 Anti-Chinese Violence

25.5.3 Lynchings

25.5.4 The War against Native Americans

Conclusion: The Old and the New

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION: WHEELS FOR THE MILLIONS

THE NUMBER OF MODEL T CARS PRODUCED ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE AT HENRY FORD’S AUTO FACTORY IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE TREMENDOUS ABUNDANCE OF CONSUMER GOODS BEING CREATED FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AFTER WORLD WAR I. THE NEW EMPHASIS ON CONSUMPTION, HOWEVER, ERODED TRADITIONAL VALUES AND PROVOKED A CULTURAL WAR BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN VALUES.

25.1 The Second Industrial Revolution

WHAT WAS NEW ABOUT THE AMERICAN ECONOMY IN THE 1920S?

The second industrial revolution took place in the 1920s, when electricity replaced steam and the modern assembly line was introduced for the production of consumer goods. At this time, the United States developed the highest standard of living in the world.

25.1.1 The Automobile Industry: The automobile industry epitomized the changes taking place in the economy. The car was a luxury item purchased by anyone who could afford it. Once purchased, a car was not quickly replaced; therefore, auto makers relied on model changes and advertising to stimulate sales. The auto industry itself fostered the growth of other businesses, such as service stations, and encouraged the spread of the suburbs farther from the inner cities.

25.1.2 Patterns of Economic Growth: Other industries that flourished in the 1920s were electricity, light metals, and the chemical industry. To a large degree, the success of large business brought standardization and uniformity to America at the cost of regional flavor. As the radio and movie industries grew, even regional accents began to disappear. Chain stores began replacing small retail shops, and marketing became critical to controlling public taste and consumer spending. Although there was real prosperity in the United States in the 1920s, there were also disguised economic problems. Traditional industries declined, and farmers suffered from a decline in exports. Laborers saw their real wages rise modestly but not nearly as rapidly as the income of the middle class, who, with the upper class, benefited the most from the new Industrial Revolution.

25.1.3 Past and Present: Consumers All: Consumer spending began driving the economy in the 1920s, and by 2015 it accounted for more than 70 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. A positive aspect of consumer spending at this level is that the standard of living is high, but if consumers cut back on spending, the entire economy is impacted significantly. In 2015, as consumer spending rose, so did the advertising industry, which persuades Americans what to purchase.

25.2 City Life in the Roaring Twenties

HOW DID LIFE IN THE CITIES CHANGE AFTER WORLD WAR I?

Cities continued to grow dramatically, with more than half of the American population now in urban areas. New institutions and perspectives typified the changing cities.

25.2.1 Women and the Family: Although some women continued to crusade for more rights, some women deserted these causes in favor of exercising individual freedom. The “flapper” drank, smoked, cut her hair, and in other ways assaulted the traditional double standard. For the most part, however, women played the same role in society in the 1920s as they had in earlier years. Other family changes included smaller family sizes, more married women working outside the home, and young people exalting in adolescence rather than joining the workforce early.

25.2.2 Popular Culture in the Jazz Age: Cities became the scene of more crime, especially related to Prohibition, as powerful bootleggers were involved in shootouts. Spectator sports were hugely popular, including both professional and college games. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and others captured an international audience. African Americans were especially prominent in music and poetry, and Harlem became an exciting, stimulating cultural capital. Thrill seekers and pleasure seekers abounded. Young men and women openly discussed sex, which became a popular topic of interest in movies, tabloids, and popular music.

25.3 The Conservative Counterattack

HOW DID CONSERVATIVES OPPOSE THE CHANGES OF THE DECADE?

Rural Americans resented urban culture, which they identified with Communism, crime, and sexual immorality. The Progressives attempted to force reform on the American people, complicating the period of cultural transition.

25.3.1 The Fear of Radicalism: In 1919, alarmed by strikes and bombings, the government resorted to rounding up foreign-born radicals and the forcibly deporting suspected anarchists and Communists. The Red Scare quickly subsided, but bigotry and fear of foreign influence played a part in the arrest, conviction, and execution of two Italian aliens, Sacco and Vanzetti in, 1927.

25.3.2 Prohibition: Congress adopted the Eighteenth Amendment in 1917, and in 1920 the production, sale, or transport of alcoholic beverages became illegal. Prohibition actually did cut down the consumption of alcohol in the general population, but the law was bitterly resented in urban areas and easily evaded by the middle and upper classes. Bootlegging became a big business. By 1933, the Prohibition experiment had failed, and the law was repealed.

25.3.3 The Ku Klux Klan: Revived in the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan expressed hatred of blacks, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. The Klan used violence on occasion but sought to win America by persuasion, and members even went into politics. It offered a sanctuary of traditional values for those frightened by the modern world. By the mid-1920s, the Klan counted nearly 5 million members, but its violence and internal corruption led to its decline and virtual disappearance by the end of the decade.

25.3.4 Immigration Restriction: Nativist forces had scored their first success in restricting immigration in 1917, but complete victory came in 1924, when Congress severely restricted all immigration and gave preferential quotas to northern Europeans. Exempt from the quota, the number of Mexican immigrants increased, filling the need for unskilled labor.

25.3.5 The Fundamentalist Challenge: The 1920s witnessed a rise of fundamentalist Christianity to challenge the new urban culture. Fundamentalism was dealt a blow in the Scopes trial of 1925, but rural Americans took their religion with them when they migrated to the cities.

25.4 Republican Politics

HOW DID THE POLITICS OF THE 1920S REFLECT CHANGES IN THE ECONOMY AND IN AMERICAN SOCIETY?

The 1920s was dominated by the Republican Party, which controlled the White House and both houses of Congress for a majority of the decade.

25.4.1 Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: The three Republican presidents of the 1920s enjoyed wide popularity because they appealed to traditional American values. The scandals connected with Harding became news only after his death in 1923; Coolidge represented America in his austerity and rectitude, while Hoover represented the self-made man.

25.4.2 A New Kind of Conservatism: In the election of 1920 Harding attempted to return the nation to “normalcy.” This meant a return to traditional Republican policies. His successors raised tariffs and cut corporate and income taxes. All citizens paid less in taxes, but the wealthy saw the greatest tax cuts. Congress voted to help farmers, who suffered from low prices, but President Coolidge refused to go along because he preferred that the government not interfere in the economy. More and more, Republican policies resulted in close cooperation between government and business and in expansion of the government bureaucracy.

25.4.3 The Election of 1928: The Democrats nominated Al Smith, governor of New York and a Roman Catholic, to run against Herbert Hoover, a Protestant old-stock American. Religion was the decisive issue in the campaign, and Hoover won easily, but Smith carried the nation’s twelve largest cities, a portent of the emerging Democratic majority.

25.5 Charting the Past: Racial Violence in the United States, 1880–1930

How did hostility toward African Americans and other nonwhite groups lead to violence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

African Americans, Chinese immigrants, and other ethnic groups faced danger in the decades following Reconstruction.

25.5.1 Racial Violence: Race riots broke out in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1906 and Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921, exemplifying the violence African Americans faced.

25.5.2 Anti-Chinese Violence: Chinese Americans were attacked by those who resented the economic competition. A riot against Chinese Americans broke out in Rock Springs, Wyoming, in 1885.

25.5.3 Lynchings: With the end of Reconstruction, African Americans were left on their own to face lynch mobs, especially in the South. In 1892, one of the worst years for this type of violence, 161 blacks and 69 whites were lynched. Lynchings often drew a crowd of spectators, such as the lynching of Sam Hose in Coweta, Georgia, as more than 2,000 whites looked on. Other ethnic groups also faced lynching.

25.5.4 The War against Native Americans: The state and federal governments were responsible for many Native American deaths in the latter part of the nineteenth century. In the Wounded Knee Massacre, 150 to 300 Native American men, women, and children were killed by U.S. Army troops.

Conclusion: The Old and the New

AMERICANS WERE STRUGGLING TO ENTER THE MODERN AGE DURING THE 1920S, BUT THERE WAS A CONFLICT BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL VALUES. THE AMERICAN ECONOMY, HOWEVER, WAS SURPRISINGLY FRAGILE, DESPITE THE APPEARANCE OF PROSPERITY.

Key Terms

25.2

o Harlem Renaissance: An African American cultural, literary, and artistic movement centered in Harlem, in New York City, in the 1920s. Harlem, the largest black community in the world outside of Africa, was considered the cultural capital of African Americans.

25.3

o Red Scare: A wave of anti-Communist, antiforeign, and antilabor hysteria that swept over America in 1919. It resulted in the deportation of many alien residents and violated the civil liberties of many of its victims.

o Prohibition: The ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States. The Eighteenth Amendment, adopted in 1919, established prohibition. It was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933.

o nativism: Hostility to things foreign.

o National Origins Quota Act: This 1924 law established a quota system that restricted immigration from Asia and southern and eastern Europe and reduced the annual total of immigrants.

o Scopes Trial: Also called the “Monkey Trial,” the 1924 Scopes trial was a contest between modern liberalism and religious fundamentalism. John T. Scopes was prosecuted for teaching Darwinian evolution in defiance of Tennessee state law. He was found guilty and fined $100. Scopes’ conviction was later set aside on a technicality.

25.4

o Teapot Dome scandal: A 1924 scandal in which Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for leasing government-owned oil lands in Wyoming (Teapot Dome) and California (Elks Hill) to private businessmen.

Shared Writing and Journal Prompts

25.1 The Second Industrial Revolution

WHAT WAS NEW ABOUT THE AMERICAN ECONOMY IN THE 1920S?

The American economy in the 1920s underwent a second industrial revolution. Powered by electricity and featuring the mass production of automobiles and other consumer goods, the second industrial revolution lifted the American standard of living to new heights.

Past and Present: Consumers All

How does consumerism affect the American economy?

Consumerism began driving the American economy in the 1920s and by 2015 represented almost three-fourths of the gross domestic product. With a high level of consumer spending, when consumer spending drops, it ripples throughout the entire economy, such as in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Shared Writing

Do Americans consume too much?

Answers will vary, but here is one possible response: A high level of consumer spending represents a high standard of living and is therefore a positive thing. When people spend more on consumer goods, they not only gain the benefit of the product purchased, they also are stimulating the economy by keeping workers who are connected to making, marketing, and selling that product employed.

25.2 City Life in the Roaring Twenties

HOW DID LIFE IN THE CITIES CHANGE AFTER WORLD WAR I?

During the 1920s, the focus of American life shifted to the cities, which for the first time contained most of the American population. Women found new opportunities to express themselves, and sports, music, literature, and the arts flourished as never before.

25.3 The Conservative Counterattack

HOW DID CONSERVATIVES OPPOSE THE CHANGES OF THE DECADE?

The changes of the 1920s alarmed many conservatives, who tried to resist them. The police and the courts cracked down on radicals; Prohibition outlawed liquor; the Ku Klux Klan attacked immigrants and minorities; Congress restricted immigration; and fundamentalist Christians decried the changing code of morality and the teaching of evolution in the schools.

25.4 Republican Politics

HOW DID THE POLITICS OF THE 1920S REFLECT CHANGES IN THE ECONOMY AND IN AMERICAN SOCIETY?

The 1920s were a decade of Republican politics. Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover favored business and the wealthy. In the election of 1928, voters had a clear choice between Hoover, the traditional candidate, and Al Smith, the candidate of the cities and change. Hoover won in a landslide.

25.5 Charting the Past: Racial Violence in the United States, 1880–1930

How did hostility toward African Americans and other nonwhite groups lead to violence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

The decades following Reconstruction represented a time of danger for many nonwhite groups. Lynching, riots, and massacres occurred against African Americans, Chinese Americans, Native Americans, and other ethnic groups due to racism and hostility over economic competition.

Class Activities

1. 1920S MAGAZINE: STUDENT GROUPS OF FIVE TO SIX STUDENTS WILL PLAN AND PRODUCE A MAGAZINE DETAILING LIFE AND CULTURE OF THE 1920S. EACH STUDENT WILL CHOOSE A TOPIC, CONDUCT RESEARCH, AND WRITE ONE ARTICLE ON THAT TOPIC. GENERAL TOPICS MIGHT INCLUDE ARTS AND CULTURE, SPORTS, SOCIAL ISSUES, ECONOMIC ISSUES, OR POLITICS. FOR EACH TOPIC SELECTED, STUDENTS SHOULD SELECT A SUB-TOPIC THAT IS NARROWER IN FOCUS, SUCH AS IMMIGRATION, WHICH COULD BE ADDRESSED FOR THE POLITICS OR SOCIAL SECTIONS OF THE MAGAZINE. THE TEXTBOOK PROVIDES A VARIETY OF RELEVANT TOPICS. TO ACCOMPANY THE ARTICLE, EACH STUDENT MUST CREATE ONE FEATURE FOR THE MAGAZINE, SUCH AS A PUZZLE, ADVERTISEMENT, CARTOON, LETTER TO THE EDITOR, OR QUIZ. HAVE STUDENTS SHARE THEIR MAGAZINES WITH OTHER GROUPS.

2. LITERATURE ANALYSIS: PROVIDE EXCERPTS FROM SEVERAL PIECES OF LITERATURE OF THE 1920S, INCLUDING PIECES FROM WRITERS OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND OF THE LOST GENERATION, SUCH AS ERNEST HEMINGWAY AND F. SCOTT FITZGERALD AFTER READING THE EXCERPTS, STUDENTS WILL WRITE A ONE- TO TWO-PAGE PAPER ANALYZING WHAT THE ASSIGNED EXCERPT REVEALS ABOUT 1920S SOCIETY AND CULTURE. PAIR STUDENTS UP, ONE WITH AN EXCERPT FROM THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND ONE WITH AN EXCERPT FROM THE LOST GENERATION, AND HAVE THEM SHARE THEIR FINDINGS AND DISCUSS HOW THE WRITERS WERE SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT IN THEIR VIEWS OF THE 1920S. STUDENTS SHOULD ALSO DISCUSS WHAT MIGHT ACCOUNT FOR ANY DIFFERENCES IN THE AUTHORS’ POINTS OF VIEW.

3. RACE RIOTS: HAVE STUDENTS READ THE TWO EXCERPTS BY IDA B. WELLS IN CHARTING THE PAST: RACIAL VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1880–1930, WHICH APPEARS ONLY IN REVEL. DISCUSS WITH THE CLASS SOME OF THE RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES WELLS USES TO INFLUENCE THE EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS OF HER AUDIENCE. NEXT, AFTER ASSIGNING EACH STUDENT ONE OF THE RACE RIOTS FOUND ON THE MAP IN THE SAME MODULE, HAVE STUDENTS RESEARCH MORE INFORMATION IN ORDER TO WRITE A PARAGRAPH IN A STYLE THAT IS SIMILAR TO WELLS’. AFTERWARD, HAVE VOLUNTEERS SHARE THEIR PARAGRAPHS WITH THE WHOLE CLASS, WITH THE CLASS EVALUATING WHETHER EACH STUDENT WAS SUCCESSFUL IN INFLUENCING THE AUDIENCE’S FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT THE SPECIFIC EVENT.

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