US History

Recession From WWI When the war ended, more than 2 million soldiers came home looking for jobs. Factories stopped turning out war materials.

Warren G. Harding Elected in 1920 and brings in all his old friends into office (“Ohio Gang”) A series of scandals took place including, Teapot Dome.

Teapot Dome Scandal The most serious scandal during the Harding administration. It involved Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall. Two oil executives had bribed Fall. In return, he secretly leased them gov’t land in California and at Teapot Dome, Wyoming.

Coolidge Prosperity Harding dies, Calvin Coolidge takes office. Coolidge wants to repair the damage caused by the scandals and forces officials to resign. Industry begins to boom and new products become available (electric refrigerators, radios, phonographs, etc.)

Business Allowing installment buying or buying on credit. Soaring stock market, corporations sold stocks to investors.

Vocabulary Bull Market: Ordinary people became rich overnight and this drew others to buy stocks. Such a period of increased stock trading and rising stock prices in know as a “bull market”. On Margin: Many people bought stocks “on margin” which meant that an investor bought a stock with just a 10% down payment.

Foreign Affairs In the Soviet Union, Lenin was creating a communist state. Americans don’t like this, but we still give them $20 million in aid when a famine hits Russia in An arms race in Europe had helped caused WWI. Now people are favoring disarmament.

Red Scare Nativism and racism increased in the Twenties as a result of Eastern European immigration. Palmer Raids Sacco and Vanzetti Case Quota Laws restrict immigration. Return of the Ku Klux Klan

Prohibition 18 th Amendment: Outlawed the manufacture and distribution of alcohol (Volstead Act) Illegal bars, speakeasies, opened in nearly every city and town. Rise of organized crime and Gangsters.

Fundamentalism Fundamentalists believed the Bible was literally true. They rejected the idea that human beings derived their moral behavior from society and nature, not God. Fundamentalists contest Darwin's theory of evolution Scopes Monkey Trial

New Rights for Women The 19th amendment was ratified in 1920 giving women the right to vote. Women began to work. More women attended college. Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League in In the 1940’s it became Planned Parenthood.

Impact of the Automobile Car prices fell because factories became more efficient with the assembly line. (Thank you Henry Ford) More roads were paved and new highways were built. Gas stations, tourist camps, and restaurants sprang up everywhere. By 1929, 4 million Americans owed their jobs to the auto industry.

Creating a Mass Culture Radio Movies-In the 20’s millions of Americans went to the movies weekly. New music: Jazz; Louis Armstrong Writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Fashion and Fads Flagpole sitting Dance Marathons Flappers: Young women who rebelled against traditional ways of thinking and acting. They wore their hair cut short and short dresses.

Harlem Renaissance In the 20’s, large numbers of African American musicians, artists, and writers settled in Harlem (NYC) for a rebirth of African American culture. Langston Hughes: best known poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

Heroes of the 20’s Athletes: Baseball and Babe Ruth Aviator: Charles Lindbergh--the first person to fly across the Atlantic alone (1927)