The Roaring Twenties - LPS

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The Roaring Twenties

Marc Skulnick looks at a vibrant decade of peace, prosperity and social change

AFTER THE DARK times of the previous decade, the 1920s offered a welcome respite, a time to kick back and enjoy the prosperity and promise that was evident in nearly every facet of society.

Technological innovation and advancement meant that more "life-improving" products than ever before were available. The economy was booming, the standard of living was improving, jobs were plentiful and consumers were looking to buy: from cars and houses to fridges and radios. Industrialization and mass production made many goods -- previously considered a luxury -- affordable. And if they couldn't afford it, banks and businesses were more than willing to let people buy on credit. Not only were people spending, but the stock market had them investing as well, so much so, that throughout the decade, the Dow Jones climbed to record highs. A collapse, some of the more pessimistic experts warned, was all but inevitable.

This vibrancy was evident in the bold jazz music, and fancy night clubs that inspired everything from the controversial fashions of the flappers to the movie stars of the silver screen. The entertainment medium -- radio and movies -- came to the fore, as did sports and literature. The '20s were the decade of Valentino and Hemingway, of a mouse named Mickey and a baseball player called Babe.

The Roaring Twenties was the decade of the US's failed attempt at Prohibition, of speakeasies and bootleggers -- when it was illegal to drink but only if you got caught. Organized crime, borne out of the widespread lawlessness of Prohibition, saw the age of the gangster -- of Al Capone and Bugs Moran -- thrust itself into the mainstream of a nervous American public.

It was the decade that saw the rise of Lenin and Communism in Russia, the rise of fascism and Mussolini in Italy and the disturbing popularity of the Ku Klux Klan in America, which saw the secret society's membership hit an all-time high. It was a time of treaties, most notably the Washington Naval Treaty, which attempted to quell an arms race, in this period of uneasy peace, by limiting the size of the naval armaments.

Politically, the suffrage movement scored a long overdue victory at the beginning of the decade when women were given the right to vote (Canadian women had been allowed to vote federally since 1918). It soon became obvious that women weren't afraid to flex their new power, both politically and socially.

Unaware of the hardship and poverty that was to follow, the Roaring Twenties, allowed people to forget about the Great War and look to the future with a rare sense of optimism.

History Magazine October/November 2005 --11

1920 - The US Government's 18th Amendment prohibiting the making, selling, possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages goes into effect, ushering in fee

era of Prohibition.

Arthur Meighen is sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada, replacing Robert Borden.

Republican Warren Harding becomes president of the United

States of America.

Fourteen British officers are executed by the IRA, sparking a day

of violence and murder throughout Ireland.

United States passes the 19th Amendment, giving women the

right to vote.

:

. 1921 "^0:^

Canadians Frederick Banting and

Charles Best discover insulin.

The Russian navy mutinies to protest food shortages and the ongoing economic crisis. The Bolshevik government crushes the revolt, which leads to Lenin's

economic policy reforms.

Oklahoma race riots erupt, as many as 300 people are killed and 35 city blocks are destroyed.

Britain's post-war recession worsens, with unemployment at 18 percent (two million people).

? ? . ; ; ' " ' . ; . ' ',.: 1922 : . ' ? ' . . -: James Joyce's Ulysses is published.

Pope Benedict XV, who reigned as pope of the Roman Catholic Church since 1914, dies and is

replaced by Pope Pius XL

The German mark begins to devalue due to heavy WWI repa-

ration demands, ushering in a period of hyperinflation.

The Washington Treaty is signed by the US, Britain, Japan, France and Italy. The agreement limits the size of the naval armaments

of the nations involved.

Andrew Bonar Law becomes Prime Minister of Britain.

Vladimir Ilych Lenin proclaims the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR):

Mickey Mouse

"Mickey Mouse is the symbol of goodwill, surpassing all languages and cultures. When one sees Mickey Mouse, they see happiness." -- Former US President Jimmy Carter

Disney took full advantage. He quickly added sound to Mickey Mouse's previously ignored silent cartoons and began production on a fourth Mickey Mouse feature, The Barn Dance. Soon audiences

MICKEY MOUSE, the cheerfully animated rodenirsynonymous withDisney for over 75 years, made his silver screen debut on 18 November 1928 in Steamboat Willie.

According to popular legend, Walt Disney came up with Mickey Mouse as he was returning, via train, from a business meeting in New York to his home in Los Angeles, California. Disney had just lost the rights to his most recent creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and the crestfallen 26-yearold cartoon artist was determined to come up with a replacement character to work on back at his small studio.

By the end of the journey, Disney had come up with a red velvet clad mouse he christened Mortimer Mouse. However, Disney's wife, Lillian, hated the name Mortimer and recommended Mickey instead. The name stuck and it wasn't long before Disney's newest creation starred in Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho. The only problem was,*Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer, the first feature film to have synchronized sound, has just been released and nobody wanted silent cartoons anymore. Not only could Disney not find a studio willing to finance his ani-

mated shorts, but audiences didn't seem all that impressed with his mouse to begin with. Disney and his team of animators went back to the drawing board.

In late November 1928, Disney -- who had invested everything he had into a mischievous dancing mouse -- screened Steamboat Willie, complete with sound, for a group of film exhibitors. Three weeks later, Mickey Mouse was running at the Colony Theater and taking New York cinema-goers by storm. Although sound was still a relatively new development in feature films, most theaters in the US had installed sound systems and

STEAMBOAT WILUE '*-- 11.1^ -.. f - - . ? -??--."-. ..: - . - - - ? ' .

Mickey Mouse made his silver screen debut in Steamboat Willie.

across the US couldn't get enough of Mickey and over the next year, 12 more Mickey Mouse cartoons would be released.

Steamboat Willie also heralded the introduction of Minnie Mouse, Mickey's eventual girlfriend. An interesting bit of trivia is that Mickey -- voiced by Disney himself until 1946 -- did not speak until The Karnival Kid in 1929, although purists can note that Mickey Mouse does whistle in Steamboat Willie. Even back then, it didn't take long for the Disney merchandising juggernaut to swing into action and the first Mickey Mouse merchandise -- a children's school book -- hit the shelves by the end of the decade. The first Mickey Mouse Club started around that time also.

Mickey Mouse would go on to become the world's most famous cartoon character, starring in more than 120 animated features and helping to spawn a multi-billion dollar animation and theme park empire. Talk about the mouse that roared!

12 -- History Magazine October/November 2005

Prohibition

Ivantage. He WHEN THE18th Amendment to the nd t~ Mickey US Constitution went into effect y i id silent on 16 January 1920, it became illen p Auction on gal to manufacture, sell or trans-

ed offenses. In Chicago alone, the first six months of Prohibition saw over 600 liquor violation charges. In short, the legal system was col-

hard-earned wages on alcohol. Even the seemingly lawful use of alcohol for medicinal purposes was being abused; in 1928 alone, it

.ouse feature, port alcohol of any kind, any-

lapsing under the weight of the

is suspected that doctors pre-

on audiences where in the United States of America. America was officially

apparent lawlessness and blatant disregard for Prohibition. Orga-

scribed over one million gallons and earned as much as $40 million

dry and the era of National Prohi- nized crime was rampant in New US by illegally prescribing medici-

bition-would soon usher in a

York and Chicage-and in-the-first - nal-alcohol'to thirsty patients. For -

vibrant but deadly subculture of

three years, more than 30 prohibi- a law that was aimed at reducing

organized crime, speakeasies

crime and other illegal behav-

and bootleggers.

ior, it was proving to do any-

However, the seeds of

thing but.

prohibition were sown

In the late 1920s, an

decades earlier during the

increasing number of Ameri-

aggressive temperance (anti-

cans, politicians included,

drinking) movements of the

began to find the idea of

mid 19th century. In an effort

repealing Prohibition attrac-

to reduce the widespread

tive. Not only was it expen-

public drunkenness that was

sive to enforce, but the federal

becoming problematic, a num-

and state governments no

ber of states had passed tem-

longer had the tax from the

perance laws. Temperance

sale of alcohol. This meant as

1groups, promoting strict abstinence from booze, blamed

much as half a billion dollars annually was no longer avail-

alcohol for the widespread degradation of society, for the

An FBI agent inspects a cache of illegal booze seized in a raid during Prohibition.

able. More importantly, antiProhibition groups, such as

poverty and crime that seemed to ade his silver settle around the saloons and tav?amb^t Willie. erns. One of the most powerful

tion enforcement officers were murdered. Gangsters simply bribed government officials, who

the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) -- which happened to be made up of

n' enough and influential temperance groups conveniently ignored any illegal

the nation's wealthy and elite --

the next year, was the Woman's Christian Tem- activity. Of course, not all officials started to spring up and pressure

>use cartoons perance Union (WCTU), which

were corrupt and people like Elliot their friends in high places about

was founded in 1874. It was

Ness, Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith the inconvenience of not being

also heralded groups such as the WCTU and the became popular for their dogged able to drink. Of course, every-

Minnie Mouse, Anti-Saloon League, led by the prlfriend. An likes of Frances Elizabeth Willard

determination to uphold the law, however futile it seemed.

body was drinking; they were simply doing it illegally and

via is that

and Carry Nation and working

Since Prohibition in Canada

behind closed doors. Prohibition

f Disney him- with the small but powerful Prohi- was left up to the individual

tried to eliminate the supply with-

i notspeak :d in 1929,

bition Party, that successfully lob- provinces, rum runners did brisk

bied the US government for a

business smuggling legally pro-

out reducing the demand and by the end of the decade, it became

i note that

National Prohibition law.

duced booze into the US. This led obvious it wasn't working. Crime

whistle in

The 18th Amendment was

to violence and crime at many of rates were nearly double that of

;n back then, it passed in conjunction with the

the US-Canada border crossings. pre-Prohibition.

the Disney

Volstead Act, an act which legally

In 1921 -- the first full year of

In 1932, Presidential candidate

ernaut to

defined an alcoholic beverage and Prohibition -- there were 34,175

Franklin D. Roosevelt wisely .

id the first

gave authorities the power to

individual arrests and over 30,000 advocated a repeal of the coun-

handise -- a investigate and prosecute those

illegal distilleries and stills were

try's costly Prohibition laws. The

ok -- hit the who proved to be in violation of if the decade, the anti-liquor laws. use Club start- Prohibition, despite the best

seized. By 1928, over 75,000 arrests were being made and more than 280,000 illegal stills had been shut

country was in the throes of the Depression and not only did Prohibition deprive people the oppor-

also.

efforts of the police, proved

down. Authorities estimated there tunity to (legally) drown their sor-

vould go on to impossible to enforce. Bootleggers were between 200,000 and half a

rows in a drink, but it also

most famous (makers and distributors of illegal million speakeasies operating ille- deprived people of desperately

airing in more booze) and speakeasies (an estab- gally across the country. The

needed jobs. Prohibition was

matures and lishment that sold illegal alcoholic saloons and taverns had closed

repealed in 1933 with the adoption

nulti-billion beverages) openly defied the 1 th park country's anti-alcohol laws and

(just like the Anti-Saloon League had wanted), but were now

of the 21st Amendment and one of the most disastrous eras of law

ie .ise that courtrooms across the US were

replaced by the speakeasy and

enforcement in US history came to

snowed under with alcohol-relat- people were still spending their

an end.

History Magazine October/November 2005 --13

(1922 continued) Benito Mussolini becomes Prime

Minister of Italy. ;

1923 Hyperinflation is rampant in Ger-

many. In an effort to rescue the economy, the Reichsbank introduces a new German mark, called the rentenmark, which is worth a

trillion existing marks.

King Tut's tomb, discovered the previous year by George Carnarvon and Howard Carter, is opened.

Ku Klux Klan claims membership of one million people across

America and targets anyone who is not white and Protestant.

UK Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law is diagnosed with throat cancer, resigns and is replaced by Stanley Baldwin.

US President Harding dies in office and is replaced by vice-

president Calvin Coofidge.

, . 1924

'

Lenin dies; Joseph Stalin becomes

; his successor.

James Ramsay MacDoriald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of Britain. He is defeated later that same year by the very

man he replaced, Baldwin.

Republican Coolidge is elected as president of the US.

The US stock market hits a fiveyear high with 2.33 million shares traded on the New York exchange

inoneday.

Nellie T. Ross becomes the first: female governor in the US!

Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years for his part in the failed

"Beer Hall Putsch" of the previous year. During his time in

prison, he composes Mein Karnpf.

:?? . .'? 1925..;. ? ? . ;. Tennessee bans the teaching of evolution. School teacher John

Scopes is later arrested for teaching the theory of evolution and

found guilty

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Grea t Gatsby is published.

Part one of Hitler's Mein Kampf ? is published.

The Jazz Age

IF THE WAR years were about cut- monized, became hugely popular.

ting back, the 1920s were about

Not only did the music anger the

cutting loose; they didn't call it the establishment, it led to controver-

Roaring Twenties for nothing. Also sial dance moves like the

known as the Jazz Age, the 1920s Charleston and the One Step,

signified a time of prosperity, tech- which took the younger generatioj

nological innovation and social

by storm and further threatened ;

change; it was a time to be young, the morals of society.

a decadeoLunbridled optimism

America's,vibrant music and i

The most noticeable change in nightclub scene influenced the stylja,

North America after the GreatWar and fashion that reflected a

was the widespread

woman's increasing

prosperity; there

power in society. ;

was an improved

Women not only

standard of living

had the vote, but :

and after scrimping

they could drink,

and saving through

smoke, dance and

the lean years of

carouse with the

WWI, people were

best of them. These

looking to spend.

brash females, with'

The industry of

their bobbed hair,

mass production

short dresses and

that had manufac-

heavy make-up

tured the necessi-

became known as

ties of war had now

flappers, due in paA

expanded to produce the necessities

Flappers of the ,,Roari.ng T_went,i,es.

tt.,hoeti.hr earwmasJyafilnapwpheid,chi:

of life and then some. This meant when they danced.

that former luxuries -- which had

It was during the '20s that the

existed prior to this period -- such age of the "movie star" was born.

as telephones, refrigerators, radios Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer was the

and cars were now affordable.

first "talkie" and stars like RudolpJ

Coupled with more spending

Valentino and Clara Bow were

power (the result of a booming

earning a fortune starring in featuri

economy), advertisers had no

films. Movies like The Mad Whirl,

problems attracting customers to a The Plastic Age and Walking Back

range of life improving products. helped to define an era. By the end

Radio came to prominence dur- of titie decade, over 100 million peo

ing the '20s and by 1923 there were pie a week went to the movies.

over 500 radio stations broadcast-

The '20s also saw an unprece-

ing everything from news and

dented period of literary excellenc

sports to music and comedy shows. that introduced both coveted and

In fact, by the end of the decade,

controversial works by the likes oi

over 10 million homes in the US

Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott

would boast at least one radio.

Fitzgerald and William Faulkner.

Radio's success was helped by Fitzgerald and Hemingway were

the overwhelming popularity of

part of a group of writers known

jazz music. Musicians such as

as the "Lost Generation", eschew-

Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and ing America's rampant materialise

Sidney Bechet ushered in a new

for Paris and living there for much

era of musical expression. Jazz

of the '20s and '30s. Fitzgerald's

music seemed to sum up the mood The Great Gatsby is said to be a clas

of the decade: it was bold, modern, sic depiction of the Jazz Age.

stylish and exuberant. Nightclubs

Not everything about the

-- where patrons could dance,

Roaring Twenties was positive.

smoke and drink illegal hooch

There was Prohibition, the rise of

from hip flasks -- dedicated to this the Ku Klux Klan, and of course,

new type of music sprang up

the Stock Market Crash of 1929,

across America. Scatting, in which which would usher in the Great

nonsensical words are sung or har- Depression of the '30s.

14 -- History Magazine October/November 2005

The Washington Naval Treaty

hugely popular.; IN THE YEARS following WWI, it nusic anger the became obvious that one way of

France covered each respective nation's naval bases in the Pacific,

around the main Five-Power Treaty, working to figure out ways

ad ntrover- avoiding another war was to limit with the countries involved basi-

to have the fastest, lightest and

lik .e

the size of each nation's arma-

cally agreeing to continue to run

deadliest ship under the treaty. For

e One Step, ments.

existing naval bases but making it most of the navies, this involved

unger generatior This, however, appeared to fly illegal to build new fortifications in retrofitting existing ships.

her threatened in the face of the naval arms race specified areas around' the Pacific.

Although the treaty appeared

sty.

that was brewing between the vic-

The Five-Power Treaty which to be effective, critics argued that it

rant music and torious, allied nations, not to men- included Italy, essentiaEyJimited-- kcked-sufneient-enforeement ------

fluenced the style tion the mounting tensions sur-

the total capital ship tonnage of

authority to ensure the nations

:flected a

rounding the strategically impor- each of the signatory nations. A

stuck to its regulations. It could

man's increasing tant Pacific. The goal of the Inter- ratio which took into account the also be argued that the treaty had

/ver in society, national Washington Naval Con- balance of military power at the

the biggest adverse affect on the

men not only ference, which was held between time was established between the US, who, along with Britain, had

1 the vote, but November 1921 and February

nations. For every five US and UK the largest area to defend but had

y could drink, 1922 in Washington, DC, was to

battleships, Japan was allowed

its shipbuilding program halted by

oke, dance and establish an agreed upon set of

three ships and France and Italy

the agreement. For most of the

ause with the regulations among the naval

were allowed 1.75 ships. While

nations that had signed the Wash-

t of them. These forces of the nations involved.

allowing certain exceptions for

ington Naval Treaty, battleships

sh females, with The resulting Washington

ships in current use, a ship build- had become so valuable that by the

ir bobbed hair, Naval Treaty was signed on 6Feb- ing moratorium was declared for a start of WWII, they were seldom

>rt dresses and ruary 1922by representatives from period of 10 years.

used for fear they would be sunk.

.vy make-up the US, Britain, Japan, France and

Finally, the Nine-Power Treaty

A further agreement -- called

ame known as Italy. The agreement actually incor- saw the Big Four, plus Italy, Bel- the London Treaty -- would fol-

>pers, due in parl porated three separate treaties: the gium, the Netherlands, Portugal

low in 1930. Japan, unhappy with

he way in which Four-Power Treaty, the Five-Power and China formally agree to

the treaty from the start, would be

ir arms flapped Treaty and the Nine-Power Treaty. respect Chinese territorial integri- the first nation to terminate its

The Four-Power Treaty, signed ty and independence.

involvement in 1936, effectively

?he '20s that the by the US, Britain,Japan'and

The nations attempted to get

ending the treaty.

star" -as born. : S' was the :arb -jlo, non-stop

Russia's defeat in WWI left the killed tens of thousands of Russ-

Communist vision. Not even

}cean. "Lucky country with nothing and the

ian peasants. Faced with growing widespread famine in 1932, which

3W known,

Russian people were ready to sup- peasant opposition, Lenin began a saw Stalin continue to export

dia darling, port another uprising. The triumph retreat from war communism

grain even though it was needed

irope as the of the Bolsheviks in the Russian

known as the New Economic Poli- to feed the Russian people, could

merriments,

Revolution of 1917, also called the cy (NEP) in 1921.

get him to alter his hardline '

to a hero's

October Revolution, gave them the

As part of the NEP, workers

stance. It is estimated that five

nerica, where leadership in socialist action, and

were permitted to sell any surplus million Russians perished, with

ith both the they created the Communist party production for profit in the open

millions more murdered in

il of Honor and in 1918. Not everyone, however,

market. However, the state contin- "purges" ordered by the Russian

lying Cross by supported Lenin and the fractured ued to be responsible for trans-

dictator.

ivernment.

support gave rise to the Russian

portation, banking, public utilities

Stalin would go on to terrorize

? Lindy" with Civil War in 1918.

and heavy industry. Around the

his own people until his death in

ialize the glob-

The civil war, between the Bol- same time as the implementation

1953. Proponents of Communism

In fact, even sheviks (also called "Reds") and

of the NEP, the Union of Soviet

-- choosing to overlook Stalin's

; still use the the liberals, conservatives and

Socialist Republics (USSR) was

murderous and inhumane meth-

utes that Lind- moderate socialists (also called the established as a federation on 30

ods -- point to the fact that from

in P ars fol- "Whites") who opposed Lenin

December 1922..

1929 to 1941, Russian industry

ra, xdantic resulted in widespread suffering

Lenin's program was highly

grew rapidly as proof that

for millions of Russians. The

successful and the economy, devas- Communism can work.

History Magazine October/November 2005 --17

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