1. The Business of America CHAPTER 12- SECTION 3

2. Calvin Coolidge  Born in 1872  Republican lawyer from Vermont  1918- Governor of Massachusetts  Boston Police Strike  Elected to Vice Presidency in 1920  Harding died in August 1923

3. Coolidge as President  Favored policies that would keep taxes down  Gave businesses more available credit to expand  Goal was to keep government interference to a minimum and allow private enterprise to flourish  Laissez-faire  Placed high tariffs on American imports  Determined to preserve old moral and economic habits

4. Coolidge as President  Silent Cal  Forced the resignation of Attorney General Daugherty and other cabinet members  1924- he was elected as President  Son died shortly after  1928- decided not seek re-election

6. Henry Ford  Born in 1863 outside of Detroit, Michigan  Grew up on a farm  As a teenager, gained the reputation of watch repairmen  1893- built a gas engine and an automobile  Reserved for the rich  Custom made cars  1899- joined the Detroit Automobile Company  Wanted to adopt assembly line technology

7. Ford Motor Company  1903- set up the Ford Motor Company  “motor car for the great multitude”  Believed assembly line would make car production more efficient  Moving assembly line  Interchangeable parts  Improved machinery  Increased pay and decreased hours of employees

9. The Model T  1908- simple sturdy car  Offered no factory options  No color options  Divided production into 84 steps  Workers were trained to do a specific step  Had time down to a science  Workers were paid $5 an hour

10. The Model A  1927- the last Model T Ford was created  15,000,000 had been sold  December 2- the Model A was released  Came in multiple colors  More luxurious  Sold until 1932  Over 4,000,000  Sold for $495

13. Impact of Ford  Did not invent the car  Did not invent the assembly line  He did make the car affordable for most middle-class families  Even some working class families  Model T revolutionized transportation  “Fordism-” mass production of inexpensive good paired with high wages

15. Criticism of Ford  1915- went on a trip to Europe  Supposed to promote peace, widely criticized  Unsuccessfully ran for Senate  Opposed labor unions  Criticism of Jews during World War II  Nazi sympathizer  Called a “traitor to his class”

16. Impact of the Automobile  Reduction of income taxes meant people had more money  Automobile changed American lifestyle  Construction of paved roads  Suitable for driving in all weather  Route 66  Main Street of America  Established in November 1926

18. Impact of the Automobile  Changing homes  Driveway and garage  Construction (gas stations, repair shops, garages, motels, camps)  Holland Tunnel, 1927  NYC  New Jersey

19. Social Impact of the Automobile  Gave young people new freedoms  Dating culture  Liberated rural families  Rise of suburbia  Increased vacation opportunities  Allowed women to become more independent  People could live further away from jobs  Urban sprawl

20. Economic Impact  Automobile industry drew people to cities Detroit, Dearborn, Flint, and Pontiac  Michigan  Oil industry- drew people to oil producing states like California and Texas  Car became status symbol  “I’ll go without food before I’ll see us give up the car”

21.  Auto industry = symbolized success of free enterprise system  Only country where people with little money own a car  1 car for every 5 people

22.  Will Rogers to Henry Ford “It will take a hundred years to tell whether you helped us or hurt us, but you certainly didn’t leave us where you found us.”  How did the automobile industry improve American life? What harm may have been caused by the automobile?

23. Young Airplane Industry  The airplane industry began as a mail carrying service for the US Post Office  Henry Ford  trimotor airplane in 1926  Transatlantic flights by Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart  Helped to promote cargo and commercial airlines  1927- Pan American Airways created the first transatlantic passenger flights

24.  When commercial airline flights begin, all flight attendants were female and white