1. “It was the Best of times and the Worst of times”
The Roaring Twenties
“It was the Best of times and the Worst of times”

2. After World War I…
American economy declines as wartime production ends
Returning troops face difficult transition to civilian society
Many women and minority groups face unemployment as men return to workforce
Returning African American troops continued to face discrimination and segregation
Death and destruction of war leads to feelings of isolationism among many Americans.

3. Early 1920s Economic decline
Economic Recovery: “Roaring 20’s”

4. Warren G. Harding
“Return to Normalcy”: Americans wanted to return to a more traditional foreign policy of isolationism and remove themselves from the pressures of world politics.
Greed and Scandal: Before too long, President Harding was involved in scandal and corruption. Harding was known for the Teapot Dome Scandal, when his secretary of interior was accused of taking bribes from oil executives.
President Harding died in office in 1923.

5. Calvin Coolidge
Became president in Known for his Pro-Business approach to the economy and commitment to economic interests.
Economic recession: production, farm income, and exports fell. Unemployment rose to 11.7%. Inflation increased.
“The Business of America is Business”: After Coolidge took office, the economy began to recover. Big business began to grow again. Small farmers, labor, African Americans, and Native Americans continued to suffer and did not benefit from “Coolidge prosperity”.

6. Pro-America, Anti-Everything Else
The new KKK: anti-foreign, Catholic, black, Jewish, pacifist, communist, internationalist, revolutionist.
Quotas on Immigration:
Emergency Quota Act of 1921: Only 3% of a nations American population in 1910 may be admitted
Immigration Act of 1924:Amends EQA to 2% of 1890 populations
A. Mitchell Palmer: leader of the movement against the “Red Scare” and arrested about 6,000 suspected Communists in the “Palmer Raids”.

7. Prohibition & Crime
Volstead Act: Enacted in 1919,18th Amendment. Prohibition was popular in the Midwest and the South but was opposed by large eastern cities and many ethnic communities.
Organized Crime: Bootlegging becomes big business. Chicago, home of numerous gang wars Al “Scarface” Capone controlled the illegal liquor trade. By 1930, underground crime had a $12-$18 billion dollar per year economy.
Saloons replaced by speakeasies and encouraged consumption of harder alcohol because easier to transport.

8. Trials during the 1920s Sacco and Vanzetti
Two Italian anarchist immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolommeo Vanzetti convicted of murder and robbery
Many people questioned the evidence. They were convicted on origin and beliefs more than the crime
Despite mass demonstrations the men were executed in 1927
Eventually cleared by MA governor in 1977 (50 years later)
Scopes “Monkey” Trial
John Scopes a biology teacher taught about evolution, which violated the state’s rules forbidding the teaching of evolution
The school district wanted fundamentalist Christianity beliefs taught.
Scopes was convicted and fined $100.00

9. Modernism
Education More states require students to stay in school. The number of 17 year olds completing high school doubled in the 1920s.
Science: Better nutrition and healthcare increased life expectancy from 50 to 59
Economy: New industries, technologies emerge. New and innovative advertising uses persuasion and other ploys to turn “wants into needs”.
Easy Credit: Encouraged “possess today and pay tomorrow” mentality/message.
New Technologies: refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, cars, radios, all available on credit.

10. FLAPPERS & Jazz
Women’s Rights: Birth control movement, women find work in cities during World War I in war-industries. Achieved vote in 1920.
Flappers: A symbol of independence and freedom from traditional values. They broke the sexual values and advertising capitalizes on sexual allure to sell products           
Jazz: a energetic and improvised music that captured the spirit of the 1920s. It was mainly embraced by youth.

11. Technology
The Automobile: Emerged when Henry Ford began production of Model T. By 1929, there was 1 car for every 5 Americans.
Airplanes: Orville and Wilbur Wright – Kitty Hawk, N.C. and by WWI countries were using them.
Radio: Guglielmo Marconi – invented the “wireless” in the 1890s and will be used in World War II for long range communication.
Film: Invention of Thomas Edison and in 1890s film was being used as a novelty in penny-arcades. The first real “movie” minutes long.

12. Shifting Cultural Values
Harlem Renaissance: group of African American writers in Harlem NYC
Worked against hatred and bigotry
Famous figures: W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes,
Renewed during the Civil Rights Movement
Jazz Age
Edward E. “Duke” Ellington: towering figures of Jazz
Bessie Smith: “empress of the blues” one of the most popular Jazz singers
Danced to Charleston
Movies: The Jazz singer was the first movie with sound, started to idolize famous people such as Charlie Chaplin
Games: crossword, puzzles, and board games and sports such as baseball with Babe Ruth
Literature: The writers in the 1920s protested the efforts of technology and mass consumption

13. Economic Boom
Buying-on-margin: purchasing stocks with a small down-payment; expecting that profits will cover the loan
Buying on credit or Installment Payments: Paying a certain amount of money each month
National Debt: Increased from $1,188,235,400 (1914) to $23,976,250,608 (1921) as a result of WWI