Chapter 24 Review

What is Warren G. Harding known for? He was President during the Teapot Dome Scandal. He was not sure he was up to the job of president and invited his friends (The Ohio Gang) to help him. They were corrupt and took bribes. He died before his term was up and was replaced by “silent” Calvin Coolidge.

What was the role of the United States in world politics after the Great War (World War I)? The U.S. was the leading economic and political power after the war. It wanted peace but was unwilling to keep the peace themselves. It instead opted for a policy of isolationism and tried to avoid getting involved in world affairs.

What do you know about the Soviet Union? The Soviet Union was formed from the previous country of Russia. It was a communist country. Communism is when all the wealth and property is owned by the state. The United States feared communism and this fear would lead to the Cold War, but that is a story for another day. The revolution was led by V.I. Lenin. The fear of communism led to the Red Scare where anarchists (people against organized government) and communists (Reds) were discriminated against in the United States.

What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact? It outlawed war but made no means of keeping the peace.

What was economic life like during WWI? (late 1910’s) Life was great. Factories were making large profits producing war materials. Factories expanded. Women replaced men in the factories. People moved to cities. Farmers filled in for the lack of farm goods being produced in Europe. They borrowed money to expand so as to get even greater profits.

What was economic life in the early 1920’s? ( ) Soldiers came back and took the place of women in the factories. There was no demand for war materials so factories struggled. Farmers no longer had to supply Europe with goods. Prices for crops went down and farmers struggled to pay off their debts.

What was economic life like for most of the 1920’s? (After 1922) Factories shifted to producing consumer goods such as cars, radios, electric refrigerators, etc. People wanted these goods and bought them using installment buying. They paid for some of the goods and put the rest on credit. People bought amazing amounts of goods this way. This spurred on economic growth.

Describe Henry Ford’s automobile business. Henry Ford used the automated assembly line to create the Model T. The automated assembly line allowed Ford to build a car in 93 minutes. The price of Model T’s dropped from $850 to $290 dollars. The cars were black and boring but the average person could afford one. The ripple effect of the car industry was that 4 million people worked in jobs related to the industry. Roads were paved, restaurants and gas stations sprouted up and hotels dotted the landscape. Cars allowed people to live in the suburbs and work in the city.

What was happening to the stock market in the 1920’s? It was going up like crazy. People saw prices rising and did whatever they could to take advantage of the bull market (prices going up). They bought stocks on margin which was when a person paid a certain percentage of the stock and then borrowed the money to buy the rest. If the price of the stock went up people were able to get rich. This is what was happening. People put all their savings into the stock market. If the price of the stock went down, the people who bought on margin would be in serious trouble.

What were flappers? Flappers were women who wore their hair bobbed short, wore short dresses, smoked and drank. Traditional people, especially in rural areas looked upon these people as trouble. They helped women to gain a better role in society.

What was prohibition? Prohibition was due to the 18 th Amendment. This made the making and buying of alcohol illegal. People broke this law like crazy. Bootleggers made or smuggled alcohol in from other countries. Speakeasies, or illegal bars, sprang up everywhere. Organized crime developed to control the illegal trade in alcohol. Government officials and police officers were bribed so that they wouldn’t raid speakeasies. The “noble experiment” was a failure and prohibition was repealed with the 21 st Amendment.

What did the 19 th Amendment do? It allowed women to vote.

What was going on with movies in the 1920’s? George Eastman and Thomas Edison made the first moving picture cameras. The most popular actor was Rudolph Valentino who starred in The Sheik. The first “talkie” or movie with a soundtrack was made in It was called The Jazz Singer. Seeing movies was a popular form of entertainment and helped to spread a similar culture throughout the United States.

What role did radios play in the 1920’s? They were sort of like televisions today. People sat around them and listened to their favorite shows. Radios helped to spread culture throughout the United States.

What is a fad? A fad is an activity that is very popular for a short period of time. Flagpole sitting and dance marathons were fads in the 1920’s.

What is Jazz? Jazz was an extremely popular style of music in the 1920’s and is still listened to today. It combined African rhythms and European harmonies. Cities such as Chicago and New Orleans as well as Harlem in New York City were the centers of jazz. Duke Ellington was probably the most famous person associated with jazz. The Charleston was a dance associated with jazz.

What did Ernest Hemingway write? He wrote A Farewell to Arms about a man’s disgust with World War I.

What did Sinclair Lewis write? He wrote Babbitt and Main Street. These took the view of urban or city people looking at small town America. It portrayed the traditional life there as boring and dull.

What did F. Scott Fitzgerald write? He wrote The Great Gatsby. He was a hero of college students and flappers. He wrote about people who partied all the time but who could not find happiness.

What was the Harlem Renaissance? Harlem, in New York City, was a center of African American culture and pride. Jazz was huge here. Langston Hughes wrote poems denouncing violence toward African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance was a rebirth in African culture.

Who were the popular heroes of the 1920’s? When it came to sports Babe Ruth ruled. He hit 60 home runs in a season at a time when several teams did not have that many home runs for the whole team. His lifestyle embodied the Roaring Twenties. He enjoyed all the entertainment opportunities. Even more popular than Babe Ruth was Charles Lindbergh. He flew solo from New York City to Paris in The Spirit of St. Louis.

What was the Sacco and Vanzetti trial? Sacco and Vanzetti were immigrants and anarchists. They were brought to trial for murder and robbery. They were convicted and killed although it was more likely that they were killed for being anarchists and immigrants than for committing the crimes. The judge trying the case was openly biased against them.

What was the Quota Act of 1921? This limited immigration to the United States. Immigration was open to a certain number of people determined by the number of people from that country already living in the United States. This favored immigrants from Northern Europe and basically shut many immigrants out of the United States.

What was the Scopes Trial? John Scopes was a science teacher in Chicago. He taught Darwin’s theory of evolution. This was against the law. He was convicted. This trial attracted the best legal minds (Williams Jennings Bryant was the prosecuting attorney and Clarence Darrow was the defense attorney) and also the attention of the country.

What was the Ku Klux Klan? The KKK was started after the Civil War to terrorize African Americans. Hatred toward immigrants led the group to gain strength in the 1920’s. Now Catholics, Jews and immigrants as well as African Americans were targeted. They used hangings and other means to terrorize. The KKK was able to gain political influence in many states.

Who was Marcus Garvey? African Americans were moving North to find jobs and were facing a lot of discrimination. He formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association to help promote African American pride and unity.