American Life in the Roaring Twenties Chapter 31 APUSH American Life in the Roaring Twenties

THE ROARING TWENTIES Return to normalcy US turned inward---isolationism Decade notable for obsessive interest in celebrities Sex becomes an all-consuming topic of interest in popular entertainment Eat, drink & be merry, for tomorrow we die Jazz Age first modern era in the U.S.

Red Scare Red Scare, 1919 to 1921, was a time of great upheaval…U.S. “scared out of their wits". "Reds” as they were called, "Anarchists” or "Outside Foreign-Born Radical Agitators” (Communists). Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer Anti-red hysteria came about after WWI and the Russian Revolution. 6,000 immigrants the government suspected of being Communists were arrested (Palmer Raids) and 600 were deported or expelled from the U.S. No due process was followed

Kept out immigrants from southeastern Europe. IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS The U.S. Government began to restrict certain “undesirable” immigrants from entering the U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924 Kept out immigrants from southeastern Europe.

IMMIGRATION QUOTAS The U.S. Government began to restrict certain “undesirable” immigrants from entering the U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, in which newcomers from Europe were restricted at any year to a quota, which was set at 3% of the people of their nationality who lived in the U.S. in 1910. Immigration Act of 1924, the quota down to 2% and the origins base was shifted to that of 1890, when few southeastern Europeans lived in America.

IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS

Cartoon from 1919: “Put them out and keep them out”

In this time period, anti-foreignism was high as well. Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants charged with murdering a guard and robbing a shoe factory in Braintree, Mass. The trial lasted 1920-1927. Convicted on circumstantial evidence, many believed they had been framed for the crime because of their anarchist and pro-union activities. In this time period, anti-foreignism was high as well. Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men, but they would be executed.

IKA Imperial Klans of America

1925: Membership of 5 million 1926: Marched on Washington. K K K Rise of the KKK was due to the ever changing of a traditional America. 1925: Membership of 5 million 1926: Marched on Washington. Attack on urban culture and defends Christian/Protestant and rural values Against immigrants from Southern Europe, European Jews, Catholics and American Blacks Sought to win U.S. by persuasion and gaining control in local/state government. Violence, internal corruption result in Klan’s virtual disappearance by 1930 but will reappear in the 1950s and 1960s.

PROHIBITION Goal: was to reduce crime and poverty and improve the quality of life by making it impossible for people to get their hands on alcohol. This "Noble Experiment" was a failure. Midnight, January 16th, 1920, US went dry. The 18th Amendment, known as the Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture, sale and possession of alcohol in America. Prohibition lasted for thirteen years. So was born the industry of bootlegging, speakeasies and Bathtub Gin.

Most support for prohibition came from religious rural white Protestants By 1917, more than half the states had passed laws restricting alcohol.

PROHIBITION People drank more than ever during Prohibition, and there were more deaths related to alcohol. No other law in America has been violated so flagrantly by so many "decent law-abiding" people. Overnight, many became criminals. Mobsters controlled liquor created a booming black market economy. Gangsters owned speakeasies and by 1925 there were over 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone.

Prohibition was doomed to failure because government did not have enough officers to enforce it. (Only 3,000 nationwide) People made their own alcohol illegally, or got their doctor to prescribe it as medicine. Prohibition allowed for huge smuggling operations. In 1925 government officials estimated that they stopped only 5% of all illegal alcohol entering the country.

PROHIBITION

PROHIBITION The "Noble" Experiement

The Golden Age of Gangsterism Chicago Al Capone (“Scarface”)- Public Enemy #1 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre- seven members of a rival gang were murdered after their weapons were taken away from them The Culture 500 mobsters murdered in the gang wars of Chicago in the 1920s By 1930, organized crime has an income of $12-$18 billion, more than 4 times the income of the federal government

EDUCATION AND POPULAR CULTURE During the 1920s, developments in education had a powerful impact on the nation. Enrollment in high schools quadrupled between 1914 and 1926. Public schools met the challenge of educating millions of immigrants

SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL 1925 The first major legal conflict between religion vs. science being taught in school was in 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee.

Famous trial lawyer who represented Scopes SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL John T. Scopes Respected high school biology teacher arrested in Dayton, Tennessee for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Clarence Darrow Famous trial lawyer who represented Scopes William J. Bryan Sec. of State for President Wilson, ran for president three times, turned evangelical leader. Represented the prosecution. Dayton, Tennessee Small town in the south became protective against the encroachment of modern times and secular teachings.

The right to teach and protect Biblical teachings in schools. SCOPES MONKEY TRIAL The right to teach and protect Biblical teachings in schools. The acceptance of science and that all species have evolved from lower forms of beings over billions of years. The trial is conducted in a carnival-like atmosphere. The people of Dayton are seen as ‘backward’ by the country.

Outcome of the Scopes Trial Scopes found guilty and fined $100- the fine was later revoked by the Tennessee Supreme Court on a technicality in the procedure of the trial The Butler Act would not be formally repealed until 1967 WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS?

The Second Industrial Revolution U.S. develops the highest standard of living in the world The twenties and the second revolution electricity replaces steam Henry Ford’s modern assembly line introduced Rise of the airline industry Modern appliances and conveniences begin to change American society

The Automobile Industry Auto makers stimulate sales through model changes, advertising Auto industry fostered the growth of other businesses Autos encourage movement and more individual freedom.

“Pink Collar” Jobs Gave women a taste of the work world. Low paying service occupations. Made less money than men did doing the same jobs. Examples of jobs: Secretaries Teachers Telephone operators Nurses

THE FLAPPER These women challenged traditional American values. Characteristics of a Flapper: Short, bobbed hair Short hems on their skirts Listened to Jazz music Wore makeup Drank hard liquor Smoked cigarettes Treated sex in a more casual manner Were opposed to the conventional social and sexual norms

MODERN FAMILY EMERGES Marriage was based on romantic love. Women managed the household and finances. Children were not considered laborers/ wage earners anymore. Seen as developing children who needed nurturing and education

Mass Media Increases in Mass media during the 1920s Print and broadcast methods of communication. Examples: Newspapers Magazines Radio Movies Newspapers: 27 million to 39 million Increase of 42% Motion Pictures: 40 million to 80 million Increase of 100% Radios: 60,000 to 10.2 million Increase of 16,983%

RADIO Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA was a world pioneer of commercial radio broadcasting. Transmitted 100 watts on a wavelength of 360 meters. KDKA first broadcast was the Harding-Cox Presidential election returns on November 2, 1920. 220 stations eighteen months after KDKA started. $50 to $150 for first radios 3,000,000 homes had them by 1922.

RADIO Radio sets, parts and accessories brought in $60 million in 1922… $136 million in 1923 $852 million in 1929 Radio reached into every third home in its first decade. Listening audience was 50,000,000 by 1925

ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS Even before sound, movies offered a means of escape through romance and comedy First sound movies: Jazz Singer (1927) First animated with sound: Steamboat Willie (1928) By 1930 millions of Americans went to the movies each week. Walt Disney's animated Steamboat Willie marked the debut of Mickey Mouse. It was a seven minute long black and white cartoon.

AMERICAN HEROES OF THE 20s In 1929, Americans spent $4.5 billion on entertainment. (includes sports) People crowded into baseball games to see their heroes. Babe Ruth was a larger than life American hero who played for Yankees He hit 60 homers in 1927.

WRITERS OF THE 1920s Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the phrase “Jazz Age” to describe the 1920s Fitzgerald wrote Paradise Lost and The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby reflected the emptiness of New York elite society

It wasn’t call the “Jazz Age” for nothin’. Jazz moved up from New Orleans to Northern cities during the Great Migration. Early pioneers: W. C. Handy- “St. Louis Blues”, King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington would steal the show.

“If I had to choose between Harlem and heaven, oh-ho-ho, Harlem would win every time.” Harlem Renaissance: Cultural renaissance of African American art, literature, music, and pride. The “New Negro”- proud, a full citizen, and EQUAL to whites! Song of the Towers- Aaron Douglas

Contributors to African American Culture in the 1920s Authors Langston Hughes- poems with tempos that echoed jazz and blues. “Strange” Claude McKay- Cane one of first full-length publications of Harlem Renaissance Zora Neale Hurston- portrayed lives of poor, Southern blacks. “The greatest cultural wealth of the continent.” The poet laureate of Harlem

African American political leaders Marcus Garvey Created the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Promoted resettlement of Africa Keep black dollars in black communities