1. The 1920s

2. “The 20s had not one, but countless faces, some of them ugly and hateful” Bill Moyers
Popular Image Other Side
Roaring 20s Conflict
Jazz Age Controversy
Prosperity Contrast
Conformity Reaction
There was the popular / romantic side but also another less glamorous side

3. “Roaring 20s” 1. Movies 2. Mass Media / Communication 3. Music
4. Fashion / Flappers
5. Sports
6. Harlem Renaissance
7. Automobiles
8. Consumerism / Advertising / Credit

4. Lesser Known Side 1. Cultural Conflict 2. Racial Conflict
3. Religious Conflict
4. Gangsterism
5. Economic Conflict (labor, farmer)
6. Women’s Rights
7. Political Conflict

5. 1. Movies Black and white and silent at first
Sound added in 1927: Al Jolson’s the Jazz Singer, the first talking movie; advent of sound brought a whole new dimension….no color in the 20s
Inexpensive escapism, entertainment: Nickelodeons

6. Huge interest in lives of movie stars – became national celebrities / sex symbols, role models
Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo (Swedish), Lillian Gish…people copied their dress, habits….etc
Attendance increased from 40m to 80m annually from

7. Contributed to development of a national culture, standardization of values, customs etc.. the entire nation seeing the same movies, same influences, values, fashion…
“The form of media most credited with changing how Americans saw themselves” (Moyers)
Also served as a source of Advertising .contributed to Consumer Spending (advertising indirectly in the movie, and directly before, and during intermission)
Newsreels provided information on world and national events; motion pictures revolutionized news coverage

8. Advent of the Movies: Charlie Chaplin in one of his greatest feature-length comedies, ”The Kid”

9. Douglas Fairbanks playing the role of a Spanish Don

10. Mary Pickford knitting for war orphans while on a movie set

11. Lillian Gish posing for a publicity shot

12. Rudolph Valentino

13. Valentino in Son of the Sheik
Rudolph Valentino, the leading male movie star of the 1920s, starred in such costume epics as The Sheik and Son of the Sheik. This poster advertises Son of the Sheik, which appeared after Valentino's death in 1926, at the age of 31, from complications following the removal of his appendix.

14. 2. Mass Media / Communication
Newspapers
National chains of syndicated newspapers, replaced local, regional newspapers: same news / views presented nationwide: standardized national culture
Increase in number of newspapers, (esp. tabloids); circulation increased by 42% from

15. More magazines: Time, Readers Digest
Newspapers contributed to and benefited from increase in Literacy
Another source of Advertising……. Led to increase in consumer spending

16. General Electric refrigerator advertisement circa 1920

17. Radio
First commercial Radio Station: KDKA in Pittsburg: Jan. 1920
NBC: first national radio network: 1927
By 1929, 12m families owned radios
Provided news, and entertainment (music, soap operas…)
Like movies, newspapers, radio contributed to standardization of culture / development of national culture

18. Also another source of Advertising…. Led to increased consumer spending

19. 3. Music
Two new kinds of music: upbeat, frenetic, Jazz: and soulful, sad Blues
Both with roots in African American culture in the South
Blues emerged from AA work songs and chants of slaves: spread from South to North: popularized by Bessie Smith (Empress of the Blues) and Ma Rainey in clubs of Northern cities…and on the Radio

20. Jazz began in New Orleans: also brought North by AA migrants
Joseph “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington: among the most famous Jazz Musicians of the 20s
Also popularized in the clubs (Cotton Club in Harlem, one of the most famous) and on the Radio: associated with “speakeasies” during prohibition
Energetic, upbeat, Charleston Dance was associated with Jazz:

21. Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong, born in 1900, first began to play the trumpet in New Orleans but emerged as a leading innovator in jazz after 1924, when he joined Fletcher Henderson's orchestra in New York. Some of his recordings from the 1920s are among the most original and imaginative contributions to jazz.

22. 4. Fashion, Dress
Post-Victorian fashionable young ladies were called “Flappers” (slides)
Rebelled against culture, fashion, appearance of their parents / older generation: against Victorian culture
Short bobbed hair, clothing had “lower neckline and raised hemline,” exposed their knees, smoked and drank in public, used makeup, birth control (Margaret Sanger), danced the Charleston, drove cars, partook in fads (marathon dancing etc…)

23. Flappers

24. More Flappers

25. Flapper

26. Flappers

27. Margaret Sanger leaving court of Special Sessions after arraignment
Margaret Sanger is seen here in 1916, leaving court after being charged with distributing birth control information illegally. During the Progressive Era, women worked to remove legal barriers to obtaining information on preventing conception.

28. 5. Sports
Huge increase in Professional and Recreational / Amateur sports; and in interest, attendance, fans
Tennis, golf, swimming, baseball, football, boxing, horse racing
Babe Ruth, best know baseball player – home-run legend
Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney fought twice for the world heavyweight boxing championship (Tunney won both, the second one famous for the “long count” – 15 seconds)

29. 105,000 people paid $2.6m (record box-office receipt at this time) to watch their re-match in Soldier Field, Chicago in 1926: 50m also listened on the Radio
Red Grange: most famous football player: the “Galloping Ghost”; another famous footballer was Newt Rockney
Gertrude Ederle: famous swimmer: first woman to swim the English Channel, breaking the men’s record
Helen Wills; tennis: Bobby Jones, Golf
Charles Lindbergh (“Lucky Lindy”) first solo flight across the Atlantic, West to East, NY to Paris, 1927: Spirit of St. Louis – a triumph of spirit / old value of rugged individualism and modern science and technology

30. Amelia Earhart: first woman to fly solo across Atlantic: disappeared in 1937
Popularized by media reports, by advertising

31. Sports Mania: NY Yankee star Babe Ruth hits first home run of the 1924 season

32. Tunney versus Dempsey fight

33. Red Grange the “Galloping Ghost”

34. Gertrude Ederle stopping for nourishment on English Channel swim

35. Lindbergh
In a celebrity-obsessed decade, Lindbergh rocketed to instant fame after his 1927 solo transatlantic flight.

36. 6. Harlem Renaissance
Literary and artistic (writing, music, art) movement encouraged among AA’s in Northern cities: started in Harlem’s cafes, restaurants, clubs
Inspired by urgings of Alaine Locke, an African American professor of literature at Howard University
Inspired by speeches and writings of WEB Du Bois and Marcus Garvey (slide)
Leading poets, writers of the Harlem Renaissance were Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston

37. Marcus Garvey presiding over meeting of his back-to-Africa followers

38. Drew inspiration from their roots and heritage: Langston Hughes expressed the spirit of the HR when he declared – “I am a Negro, and beautiful.”
Marcus Garvey formed the Negro Improvement Association, centered in Harlem – focus on Pride, Economic Independence – and the African Orthodox Church (with a black Christ and Mary) – and later the Back to Africa Movement…(Black Star line of ships…..sank_

39. Survey Graphic cover, March, 1925
This was the cover of a special issue of Survey Graphic published in March of A popular magazine of the period, Survey Graphic devoted the entire issue to Harlem and the emergence of a new consciousness among its African-American residents.

40. 7. Automobiles
More than anything, the automobile defined the culture of America in the 20s
Production perfected by Ford: Perfected Assembly line (1910) using ideas of Taylor (scientific management) and Whitney (interchangeable parts)
Reduced assembly time from 14 hours to 93 minutes: turned out 1 car every 10 seconds
Reduced cost of Model T (all black) from $600 (1912) to $260 (1927)

41. By 1930 there were 30m cars in the US (a quarter of all the world’s cars)
Huge impact on culture: suburban living, vacations to far off places, shopping at malls
Also contributed to standardization of culture / national culture (like movies, media, radio..) through shared experiences from travel

42. Ford ad
Henry Ford constantly worked to reduce car prices on his cars. He also promoted installment buying, promising in this ad that "with even the most modest income, [every family] can now afford a car of their own." This ad also encouraged impulse buying: "You live but once and the years roll by quickly. Why wait for tomorrow for things that you rightfully should enjoy today?"

43. Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928
Pictured here is the assembly line for Model-A Fords, at Ford's main assembly plant in Assembly line workers quickly perform the same task on car after car as the chassis moves past them at the rate of six feet per minute. Ford pioneered the assembly line as a way to reduce both cost and dependence on skilled workers. He paid the highest wages in Detroit but required complete obedience from his workers, even to the point of prohibiting whistling while at work.

44. New Forms of Transportation

45. Family touring in 1920 auto

46. July 4 at Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, early 1920s
Hundreds of identical Fords jam Nantasket Beach near Boston on a Fourth of July in the early 1920s.

47. 8. Consumerism Huge consumer spending in the 20s
Encouraged by extensive advertising in newspapers, magazines, radio, movies, billboards
Facilitated by easy Credit and Installment Plans
75% of cars, 85% of furniture, 70% of washing machines were bought on credit

48. In the 20s people watched sports, listened to the radio, went to the movies, drove cars, went shopping….. because middle and working class people had:
more free time due to the reduction of the work day and work week
more free time due to new domestic labor saving devices such as the vacuum cleaner, dish washer, electric irons, electric toaster.
more money due to salary increases and wartime savings (as well as easy access to credit)

49. - “Psychology of liberation” – survived WWI, so now should enjoy life to the fullest

50. Billboard advertising candy

51. General Electric ad
General Electric ad
Electric appliances became commonplace in the 1920s and advanced the consumer economy. Note here the obvious link between a daughter and her mother, whose domestic tasks appear to be made easier and more appealing by an electric range, a vacuum cleaner, and an iron.

52. Listerine ad
Listerine ad
Advertising promised that those who used Listerine to eliminate halitosis would gain friends and even romance.

53. Radio ad
Radio ad
Between 1922 and 1930, the number of families owning radios swelled from 60,000 to almost 14 million. Manufacturers such as RCA produced a variety of sizes and shapes and took out full-page advertisements in popular publications to inform the public about the latest development in design and technology.

54. But the 20s was also a decade of Conflict, Controversy, Contrast, and Reaction

55. 1. Cultural Conflict
Older generation, religious leaders attacked growing materialism, hedonism, philistinism of younger generation (drink, clothes, cars, smoking..)…generation gap
Writers esp. were critical: Hemingway, Scott-Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), mocked the new culture and moved to Paris to escape from it
Gertrude Stein called these exiles the “lost generation”

56. John Dos Passos, Sinclair Lewis (Babbit and Main Street), and H. L
John Dos Passos, Sinclair Lewis (Babbit and Main Street), and H.L. Mencken also ridiculed the new culture (but didn’t move overseas), as did Ezra Pound, Eugene O’ Neill, T.S. Eliot

57. 2. Racial Unrest Huge migration of African American’s to the North
Faced as much prejudice there as in the South: got only menial jobs and lived in poverty in inner cities (de facto segregation / discrimination)
KKK became active again (David Stephenson, new leader) (slide), again targeting African Americans
Lynching occurred in Nth too, not just South
Segregation also continued in the armed forces

58. Race Riots occurred in many northern cities in 20s caused by conflict and tension….Chicago, NY
Racism was also directed by Nativists against New Immigration: KKK, Kearneyites, anti-Immigration laws: 1921, 1924 (see previous Unit / Topic on Immigration )

59. Ku Klux Klan pamphlet: "America for Americans"
This image is from a Ku Klux Klan pamphlet published in the mid-1920s, when the Klan claimed as many as five million members nationwide. The Klan portrayed itself as defending traditional, white, Protestant America against Jews, Catholics, and African Americans.

60. Ku Klux Klan parade in Washington, D.C., September 13, 1926
In a brazen display of power, the Ku Klux Klan organized a march in the nation's capital in By this time, the Klan was already in decline.

61. Ku Klux Klan marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D. C

62. Poster: Birth of a Nation
D. W. Griffith's epic film glorified the racist Ku Klux Klan.

63. Lynching protest parade, Washington, D.C., 1922
African Americans intensified their efforts to put an end to lynching. This protest parade was held in Washington, D.C., in The NAACP's efforts to secure a federal antilynching law, however, were repeatedly defeated by southerners in Congress.

64. 3. Religious Conflict
Traditionalism / Fundamentalism (Bible, Old Values, Conservative) v Modernism
Aimee Semple McPherson (LA) and Billy Sunday – famous Fundamentalist preachers
Traditionalists shocked by new morality represented by Flappers, Speakeasies, Charleston
Traditionalists esp. rejected Darwinism / Evolution: led to a huge Creationism v Evolution debate

65. Scopes Trial / Monkey Trial in Tennessee, 1925: a Science teacher, John Scopes, was prosecuted for violation of Butler Act prohibiting the teaching of Evolution (slide)
Defended by Clarence Darrow of the ACLU v Wm Jennings Bryan for the prosecution
Huge media coverage; broadcast live nationally: showdown between Traditionalism / Fundamentalism and Modernism

66. Clarence Darrow at the Scopes Evolution trial
Clarence Darrow's (at left) passionate devotion to freedom of thought, led him to the courtroom pictured here, in defense of John Thomas Scopes, a teacher accused of teaching the theory of evolution.

67. Scopes found guilty and fined $100 dollars (token punishment only): but ACLU claimed victory because Bryan admitted that bible could not always be interpreted literally (world not make in 6 days)

68. 4. Crime, Gangsterism
Prohibition Amendment, 18th, was unpopular: high demand for bootleg alcohol
Smuggled, secretly / illegally manufactured (bootleg), distributed, sold in Speakeasies (underground bars): too few and many corrupt agents: huge border impossible to protect
Lucrative business attracted gangs, gangsters: organized crime: Al Capone, Chicago; “Scarface”: killed his rivals (eventually prosecuted for tax evasion)
Emergence in the US of a general casual attitude to the law

69. Federal agents inspecting illegal distillery

70. Federal agent inspecting Chicago “drinking Decoctions”

71. Federal agent destroying illegal barrel of moonshine

72. Woman showing “Repeal 18th” tire cover

73. Prohibition: A woman concealing a flask of liquor in her boot during prohibition.

74. 5. Economic Conflict, Decline
Many strikes in late 1910s and early 1920s
Boston Police (Gov. Coolidge said they had no right to jeopardize public safety), steelworkers of mid West, coalminers – some strikes turned violent…clashes between strikers and police
Usually smeared with Bolshevism / Communism by employers, authorities, media, govt. to discredit them
Construction and automobile industries prospered in 20s but others declined

75. 1920s 1.1C
Car bombing on streets of New York

76. Coal miners, textile workers, farmers all saw decline in salaries, standard of living: poverty: lived in tenements of inner cities: jobs were hard and tedious
Prosperity of 20s is not shared by everyone; one third of population lived below the poverty level (household income of less than $1,500 a year)

77. 6. Women’s Rights Gained right to vote with 19th Amendment
But no real role in politics, still could not run for office (slide)
And still faced discrimination in the job market: had mostly only access to “pink collar jobs” – secretaries, switch board operators, sales assistants
Impossible to reach supervisory or managerial positions, (glass ceiling)

78. National Women’s Party Headquarters in 1920
1920s 3.3C

79. 7. Political Conflict / Division
Red Scare of
Paranoia about spread of Communism from Russia: Lenin’s Comintern promoted international socialism
Concern about frequency of strikes….Socialism?
But there were only 2 small Communist parties in the US with a combined membership of 70,000 and a Socialist Party with only 30,000 members
Trouble on May-day 1919: mail bombs were intercepted: caused Govt. fear

80. In June, bombs exploded in 8 different cities, including the house of Attorney General, Palmer (slide)
Palmer overacted: created FBI, directed by J. Edgar Hoover to gather information on Communists in the US: many people were arrested on vague charges of espionage, sedition..
Vigilante groups were encouraged to watch out for Communists / Communist activity
30 states passed Sedition Laws

81. Dec. 1919: Palmer Raids: deportation of 249 workers to Russia on the “Soviet Ark” (SS Buford): no charges, no wrongdoing; 4,000 more arrests in 1920
1921: Sacco and Vanzetti: Italian immigrants, arrested and put on trial for murder: circumstantial evidence only: found guilty: executed 1927 (slide)….victims of Red Scare paranoia / hysteria…..convenient scapegoats
Prejudiced judge (Webster Thayer) and jury
Condemned by ACLU: huge protests
Pardoned by Mass Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1977

82. 1920s 1.1D
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer

83. Cartoon of Uncle Sam throwing out alien “Reds”
1920s 1.1E

84. Vanzetti (left) and Sacco are seen listening to their death sentence in Massachusetts courtroom in 1926
1920s 1.1F

85. Presidential Elections of 1920s
Harding defeated Democrat Cox in 1920 (“solemn referendum” about Treaty of Versailles) (slide)
Promised “return to normalcy” – end strikes, communism, internationalism…restore isolationism
Aware of his limitations he app. bright (millionaires) Cabinet Secretaries: Hughes (State), Hoover (Commerce), Mellon (Treasury) (slide)
Surrounded by friends in Ohio Gang (like Jackson’s Kitchen Cabinet)

86. President Warren G. Harding and his pet dog at the White House
1920s 2.1A

87. President Harding with his cabinet
Front row: Charles Even Hughes, John W. Weeks, Will Hayes, Albert B. Fall and Herbert Hoover
Back row: Andrew Mellon, Harry M. Daugherty, Edwin Denby, Henry C. Wallace and James J. Davis
1920s 2.1B

88. Several Scandals under his Admin (like Grantism)
Charles Forbes: head of Veterans Bureau, found selling medical supplies for profit
Harry Daugherty: AG: gave pardons and liquor permits for profit; forced to resign but not convicted – jury twice failed to agree
Albert Fall: Sec. of Interior: Teapot Dome (and Elk Hills) Scandal: leased govt. land to oil explorers (Sinclair and Doheny – both acquitted) for personal gain / bribe (land, cattle, loans, totaling about $400,000): fired, fined $100,000, imprisoned (first Cabinet Sec to go to jail.) (slide)
So much for “normalcy”

89. Albert B. Fall (far left) former Secretary of the Interior.
1920s 2.1C

90. 1920s 2.2B

91. 1920s 2.2D
Caption: “The First Good Laugh They’ve Had in Years”

92. Harding died of a heart attack in 1923
Coolidge took over and then won 1924 election: honest, dour, didn’t like being President, took a back seat to Cabinet, delegated, “silent Cal” , investigated corruption in the party and ousted those responsible (slides)
Conservative, anti-Progressive, like Harding: Laissez Faire govt. policies: Pro-business; “the business of America is business”
Allowed monopolies, trusts to form or reform: continued trend of war years; further erosion of Progressive regulation or trust busting

93. Vice President Coolidge being sworn in as President
1920s 2.1D

94. President Coolidge with presidential transition team.
1920s 2.1E

95. President Calvin Coolidge with family at White House.
1920s 2.1F

96. Coolidge, Mellon, and Hoover.
1920s 2.1G

97. “Poor Picking”
1920s 2.2E

98. “Doing it Right”
1920s 2.2H

99. 1920s 2.2F

100. Appointed conservative businessmen to ICC, FTC – who did nothing to interfere with big business
Appointed conservatives to Supreme Court – also did not enforce anti-trust legislation
Presidential Election of 1928: Hoover v Smith (slides)
Smith, the “happy warrior”: Irish American Catholic, favored immigration, end of prohibition, regulation or nationalization of utilities, public health plan, workers compensation…. Progressivism: represented urban America (slide)
Hoover: conservative businessman, Laissez Faire, creationism / fundamentalist, rural America, nativist, anti-Progressive

101. Herbert Hoover speaking in New York City
1920s 2.1I

102. Caption of 1928 cartoon reads: “Puritan civilization, which has built a sturdy, orderly nation is threatened by Smith”
1920s 2.2C

103. Alfred E. Smith ( center) the Democratic challenger in the election of 1928
1920s 2.1J

104. Hoover won, but Smith carried the 12 largest cities in US…showed urban v rural cultural and political divide

105. Cartoon showing government in the 1920’s as a bewildered Little Old Lady in the Shoe
1920s 1.1J