1. THE 1920’S
“The parties were bigger...the pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser....” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. 1920’s POLITICS

3. THE ELECTION OF 1920 Republicans Democrats
Warren G. Harding
U.S. Senator from Ohio
Democrats
James Cox
Reformist Ohio governor
American’s tired of Europe and American intervention.
“A return to normalcy”
- Warren G. Harding’s political promise
Harding wins- first U.S. Senator to become President.

4. Harding’s “Front Porch Campaign
First campaign covered by the press.
Harding stays at home lets the people come to him.
600,000 travel to Marion, Ohio.
First campaign to use celebrities for photo opportunities.

5. The Harding Presidency
A study in success and controversy

6. All are confirmed by the Senate in less than 10 minutes.
THE HARDING CABINET
Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State
Former NY governor
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce
Former head of the Food Administration and the American Relief Administration
William Hays, Postmaster General
Republican Party Chairman
Leaves 1 year later for job with the Motion Picture Assoc.
James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor
Immigrant from Wales
Puddler in the steel mills
Wealthy banker
Active labor union member
President Harding
Vice-President Calvin Coolidge
Edwin Denby, Secretary of the Navy
Former Marine
3 term Congressman
Harry Daugherty, Attorney General
Former Harding campaign manager
Highly criticized by newspapers as being incompetant
Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture
Iowa State professor of agriculture
outspoken liberal farm magazine editor
Albert Fall, Secretary of the Interior
Former miner, oil driller and rancher
New Mexico Senator
Close associate and confidant to Harding
John Weeks, Secretary of War
Naval service
Former 4 term Congressman
Former 2 term Senator
The Cabinet
“The best and brightest men of the time.”
All are confirmed by the Senate in less than 10 minutes.
Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury
Second-richest man in America

7. President Harding
Woodrow Wilson has been away from his job for 17 months.
“The country is a mess.”
Wants the United States to be a world power by not participating in the League of Nations, but would assist others when necessary.
The United States must return back to its “normal” ways of “Reconstruction, Readjustment, and Restoration.”

8. Ohio Gang
Harding appoints corrupt Ohio friends to high political offices.
Harry M. Daugherty, Attorney General
Thomas Miller
Charles Forbes- Head of Veteran’s Bureau

9. Veteran’s Bureau Scandal
1923
Charles Forbes was selling government hospital supplies to private contractors.
Harding orders an investigation.
Forbes lies, claiming he is saving the govt. $650,000 in storage fees.
Forbes has an affair with his partner’s wife- partner turns him in to the govt.
Forbes goes to Europe, and then resigns.
Eventually convicted of pocketing $200 million and then leaving the country.

10. “Bootlegger” Scandal
Jesse Smith, a close associate of Attorney General Daugherty is caught selling govt. liquor to bootleggers out of a local Washington house.
Harding tries to run Smith out of town.
Smith found dead in his apartment. Suicide??
Daugherty disassociates self from scandal, and is never indicted.

11. Alien Property Scandal
Thomas Miller appointed head of the Office of Alien Property.
Illegally transfers ownership of a German-owned metal company to an American syndicate.
Miller receives $50,000, Jesse Smith- $224,000, and Daugherty- $50,000.
Miller is sentenced to 18 months in jail, Daugherty is never convicted- reputation is ruined.

12. Tea Pot Dome Scandal 1923 Albert Fall, Secretary of the Interior
Secretly leases government land in Elk Hills, CA and Teapot Dome, WY (near Casper) to oil companies.
In exchange, the companies would store refined oil for govt. use by the Navy.
Montana Senators Thomas Walsh and Burton K. Wheeler order investigation.

13. THE TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL
Oilmen, Edward Doheny and Harry Sinclair admit to lending Fall money.
Fall personally received $100,000 in money for his services.
Fall found guilty of bribery, eventually imprisoned for 1 year with a $100,000 fine.

14. DEATH OF HARDING
Suffered from severe high blood pressure and a heart condition.
Strain of scandals
Teapot Dome
Allegations of an illegitimate child.
“It’s not my enemies I have to worry about, it’s my g**damn friends.”
While on holiday in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, suffers a stroke.
Rumored that his wife poisoned him to avoid humiliation from the scandals.
Dies days later in San Francisco.

15. Harding Remembered “Let who has felt compute the strain
Of struggle with abuses strong,
The doubtful course, the helpless pain
Of seeing best intents go wrong.
We, who look on with critic eyes,
Exempt from action’s crucial test,
Human ourselves, at least are wise
In honoring one who did his best.”
- Secretary of State, Charles Evan Hughes at Harding’s memorial.

16. CALVIN COOLIDGE Harding’s Vice-President
Is sworn in by his JP father while at home in Vermont.
“Silent Cal”
Restores public confidence in the government.
Treats the presidency “like a business.”

17. The Progressive Party Election of 1924 Robert M. LaFollette
Presidential candidate
Governor of Wisconsin.
Burton K. Wheeler
Vice-Presidential candidate.
Senator from Montana.

18. Election of 1924 Republican Democrat Progressive Party Coolidge Wins
Calvin Coolidge
Democrat
John W. Davis
Congressman from West Virginia
Attacks Harding Administration scandals.
Progressive Party
Robert M. LaFollete
Backed by rural farmers w/ promises of govt. assistance.
Gets 5 million votes- the most ever for any 3rd Party.
Dies days after the election.
Coolidge Wins

19. Election of 1924

20. FOREIGN AFFAIRS Soviet Union- Communist Russia under Lenin
U.S. refuses to recognize as a nation.
Gives $20 million in aid to feed 10 million Russians.

21. FOREIGN AFFAIRS Kellogg-Briand Pact- 1928
Written by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg.
Pact between the U.S. and 61 other nations that outlawed war.
No way to enforce without America in the League of Nations.
First attempt at disarmament- reducing a nation’s armed forces and weapons.

22. Life During the 1920’s

23. PROHIBITION
“Prohibition is an awful flop. We like it. It can't stop what it's meant to stop. We like it. It's left a trail of graft and slime, It's filled our land with vice and crime, It can't prohibit worth a dime, Nevertheless we're for it.” -
Franklin Pierce Adams,
New York World

24. 18th Amendment
Made it illegal to make, sell, or transport any drink that contained more than .5 % alcohol in the U.S.
Implemented under the Volstead Act of 1919.
Sponsored by Rep. Andrew Volstead of Minnesota.
Repealed in 1933 with the 21st Amendment

25. PROHIBITION Bootleggers- smuggled liquor
$40 million/year business
Consumption of 150 million quarts of liquor/year.
Alcohol consumption goes down among the lower class, but rises among the middle and upper classes.
Speakeasy- illegal bar
To get in, you had to “speak easy” to convince the doorman you were not an agent.

26. ORGANIZED CRIME Direct result of Prohibition Al Capone
Lead organized crime in Chicago.
Made over $100 million a year in illegal gambling, prostitution, and alcohol.
Corrupted politics, newspapers, etc.
Eventually jailed for tax evasion in 1931.

27. WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE 19th Amendment- gave women the right to vote.
Originally proposed in 1918 with Woodrow Wilson’s support.
Fails by two votes in the Senate.
Approved in June, 1919.
Tennessee the last to ratify in August, 1920.

28. RURAL V. SUBURBS WW I creates new jobs for the cities.
People move from the country to the cities in search of new jobs.
Creates a boom in the housing industry
Businesses consolidate
Chain stores (Safeway, A&P) replace small, local stores.

29. THE AUTOMOBILE Henry Ford Founder of the Ford Motor Company in 1903.
Worked with automobiles for racing.
Admitted anti-Semite.
Introduced the first moving assembly line to automobile production in 1913.

30. The Ford Assembly Line Reduces time needed to produce an item.
Chassis assembly went from 12 ½ hours to 2 hrs. and 40 min.
Raised pay to $5/hr. and cut shifts from 9 hrs. to 8 hrs.
By 1914 it took 93 minutes to assemble a car.

31. THE AUTOMOBILE Model T 1908-1927 Sold for $850 Sold only in Black.
15 million manufactured
Model A
Straight 4 cylinder engine
Variety of colors
4 million manufactured.

32. THE AUTOMOBILE
1927- General Motors passes Ford as the top auto producer.
Variety of colors, better engine.
The automobile industry helps to expand road construction, gas stations, hotels, restaurants.
Increases American mobility.

33. IMMIGRATION
Millions of Europeans flee post-WWI Europe in hopes of a better life.
Many move west and settle on cheap land sold by the government.

34. IMMIGRATION
Quota System- allows only a certain number of people to immigrate from each country.
Mexicans excluded because they were needed for the Southwest farms.
Demanded by American labor unions whose members were losing work to immigrants.

35. THE RED SCARE
Government takes action against socialist radicals in America
Thousands accused and arrested.
All foreigners are under suspicion.

36. SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL OLD TRADITIONS v. NEW THINKING
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
All people evolved from a simpler form of life.
John Scopes- biology teacher from Tennessee violates law by teaching evolution.
Clarence Darrow (defense) vs. William Jennings Bryan (prosecution).
Scopes found guilty

37. KKK
Reemerges in the South
Attacks both Blacks and Jews.

38. 1920’s Culture

39. MOVIES Hollywood becomes movie capital.
Silent Films the main attraction.
Usually about minutes long.

40. The Talkie Talkie- a movie with a soundtrack The Jazz Singer
The first “talkie.”
Features Al Jolson
White man painted black because he could sing jazz.

41. EARLY MOVIE STARS Joan Crawford Charlie Chaplin Rudolph Valentino
Lon Chaney
Greta Garbo
Douglas Fairbanks

42. Early Movie Stars (cont.)
Helen Kane aka Betty Boop
Chief Tahachee
Will Rogers
Buster Keaton
Marlene Dietrich
Mae West

43. MOVIES Academy Awards First given in 1929.
Only “sound” pictures were honored.
Wings the official first recipient of “Best Picture.”

44. Walt Disney Begins animation business in 1922.
1923- creates the Alice comedies.
Mix of live action with animation.
1927- Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
1928- Loses rights to Oswald to Universal Studios.
Creates Mortimer (later Mickey) Mouse.
First sound movie: Steamboat Willie (1928).

45. Steamboat Willie

46. Radio Dr. Frank Conrad- Engineer for Westinghouse.
Builds a transmitter to get accurate time signals.
Expands his invention in his garage and creates radio station 8XK.
Transmits music which is picked up by war-time radio receivers.
Westinghouse begins to sell radio receivers to the general public.
Conrad moves to the Westinhouse Building in Pittsburgh and is assigned call letters KDKA randomly by the federal government.

47. Radio Leo Rosenberg, announcer William Thomas, transmitter
John Frazier, telephone line operator
R.S. Mclelland, standby
1920- First commercial radio broadcast
KDKA Pittsburgh
Broadcasted the Presidential Election results of 1920.

48. RADIO August 5, 1921- First sports play-by-play broadcast.
KDKA Pittsburgh
Harold Arlin- first full time radio announcer.
Baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies.

49. Radio Shows Amos and Andy Ma Perkins White men “playing” black men.
Most popular radio show of the 1920’s.

50. A Rebirth of Black Culture
Harlem Renaissance
A Rebirth of Black Culture

51. Roots of the Harlem Renaissance
Carl Van Vechten
White Iowan interested in black culture.
Writes Nigger Heaven (1926)
Exposé of Harlem life.
Offended some members of the black community.
Its coverage of Harlem helped draw thousands of sophisticated white New Yorkers to Harlem's exotic and exciting nightlife.
Stimulated a national market for African-American literature and music.

52. Louis Armstrong Jazz musician Trumpet player
Could take a simple melody and show listeners many sides of it.

53. OTHER JAZZ GREATS
Duke Ellington
Jelly Roll Morton

54. Robert Johnson Blues guitarist
“the greatest blues singer of all time.”
High pitched voice and his use of the bass strings to create a steady, rolling rhythm and made him famous.

55. Claude McKay Jamaican columnist, humorist, and writer.
Harlem Shadows (1922)
First work by a black writer to be published by a mainstream, national publisher.

56. New York Renaissance Basketball Team
Founded by Robert Douglas in 1923.
Blacks not allowed to play professional sports.
All-black team created to play white teams.
The “Rens” ended their team history with a record of 2,318 wins and 381 losses.
Considered to be the best team to ever play the game.

57. 1920’s Sports

58. College Football Knute Rockne
Played for and later coached Notre Dame to many national championships.
Stressed the forward pass as an offensive weapon.

59. Professional Football
Red Grange
“The Galloping Ghost”
1924- Scored 4 touchdowns in 12 minutes for a total of 262 yards.
Signed with the Chicago Bears for a salary of $100,000.
Typical salary was $100/game.

60. Baseball Babe Ruth- played for the New York Yankees. Home-run Hitter
1927- Hits 60 home runs in one season.
Eventually broken in 1961.

61. Baseball Lou Gehrig “The Iron Horse”
1st baseman for the New York Yankees.
“The Iron Horse”
Played in 2,130 consecutive games between 1925 and 1939.
Record broken in 1995.
Forced to retire when he became disabled with a fatal neuromuscular disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

62. 1927 Yankees Nicknamed “Murderer’s Row.” The 1927 season
A winning record of 110 win to 44 losses.the next year
Won the American League pennant by 19 games
Swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1927 World Series.

63. Boxing Jack Dempsey World’s Heavyweight Champion from 1919-1926.
Nicknamed “The Manassa Mauler.”
1923- defends the title in Shelby, MT.
Financial disaster for the town.

64. Tennis Bill Tilden For 7 years, he never lost a major tennis match.
Possessed what was called at the time a "cannonball" service.
Jailed for homosexual activity with young boys.

65. Golf Bobby Jones Won 13 major championships in 13 years.
Exemplified the principles of sportsmanship and fair play.
Founder of the Augusta, Georgia Masters Tournament.

66. Sports Modern Olympic Games 1st games held in 1896.
1920 games in Antwerp, Belgium
1st Olympic Flag w/ rings
1st Oath of Athletes
1st Winter Olympics held in France

67. 1920’s Literature

68. F. Scott Fitzgerald Spokesman of the 1920’s.
Wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth, despair, and age.
His heroes—handsome, confident, and doomed.
His heroines are typically beautiful, intricate, and alluring.
The Great Gatsby
Wrote about the excesses of 1920’s.

69. Ernest Hemingway Novelist, short story writer, and journalist.
Noted for his “journalistic style” of writing.
A Farewell to Arms
Wrote about WW I

70. Sinclair Lewis
Known for giving strong characterization to modern working women and for his concern with race.
Main Street
Satirized the life of small mid-western living.

71. 1920’s Fads and Thrill Seekers

72. “THE FLAPPER”
Young women who declared their independence from traditional roles
Used makeup.
Drank and smoked in public.

73. FASHION Fads- style of fashion that becomes popular for a short time.
Flamboyant style with bobbed hair, long pearl necklaces, and knee-length skirts.
Considered slutty.

74. Harry Houdini Born in Hungary, but claimed to be from Wisconsin.
Started out as a magician.
1920’s escape artist.
Concealed lock picks by regurgitation.
Dislocated shoulders.
Died in 1926 from a “sucker punch” to the abdomen.

75. Houdini’s Great Escapes

76. Charles Lindbergh
1927- Flies The Spirit of St. Louis from New York to Paris non-stop.
Took 33.5 hours.
Received a $25,000 prize.

77. The Charleston A “kiss off” to the traditional ballroom dancing.
Described as watching a bunch of drunken chickens.
Arms waving, knees buckled, toes pointed inward.

78. Black Tuesday
October 29, 1929

79. ELECTION OF 1928 Republican Democrat
Herbert Hoover
Democrat
Al Smith
Devout Roman Catholic- Americans fear that the Pope would gain too much power in America.
Herbert Hoover wins in a landslide
Promises more “good times.”
Self-made millionaire
Supports big-business
Smith does not even win his home state of New York.

80. 1920’s ECONOMY Installment buying- buying on credit
“buy now, pay later”
Stocks- shares of ownership of a company sold to investors
Allowed the “average” person to become a millionaire.
People borrow money from the bank to invest in the stock market.

81. 1920’s ECONOMY Stock Market More people invested in than ever before.
Stock prices rose so fast that people needed more money to buy and sell.
Bull market- “raging” stock prices
Bear market- “sleeping” stock prices

82. Timeline (1929) September 3- Stock market reaches a high of 381.17.
Thursday, October 24- Market begins to crash when a record 13 million shares are traded.
To offset the trading, wealthy banker invest heavily in “blue chip” stock (U.S. Steel)
Prices of stocks rose faster than the values of the companies.
Monday, October 28- News of the 1st crash is reported. Stock market loses another 13%.

83. Stock Market Crash of 1929
October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday)- stocks lose $10-$15 billion in one day.
Ushers in The Great Depression.

84. The Great Depression

85. Massive Unemployment
Industry had invested too heavily in the Stock Market.
Only 11% of total profits went back to the worker.
Consumers have no money, which forces factories to close.
million Americans are unemployed.
million Americans are unemployed.
Banks forced to close their doors because of no money.

86. Soup Lines and Makeshift Homes
Families forced from their homes.
Live in “makeshift” homes on the city limits.
Many made from scrap lumber.
Unemployed wage earners forced to stand in line for free food.

87. Migrant Workers
Many unemployed workers “pack up” and head westward in search of jobs.
Willing to work for any amount of money.

88. The Dust Bowl Farmer’s hit the worst by the Depression.
Prices fall each year.
Dust Bowl- huge drought in the mid-western farm belt.

89. Hoover’s Response President Hoover blamed for the Depression.
He lays blame on post-WW I Europe.
Calls for voluntary efforts to help the poor.
Refuses to allow any government aid.
“A Chicken in Every Pot and a Car in Every Garage.”
Hoover’s campaign slogan