1. Unit 6:
The Roaring 20s

2. DEMOBILIZING AFTER WW1 Transition from wartime to peacetime
Government was ill prepared for conversion
Hundreds of factories closed
Crop prices fell
Unemployment skyrockets
Soldiers?
Americans went on a spending spree with the money they saved during the war.
Inflation and the value of the dollar shrank.
Leads to a recession
100,000 businesses went bankrupt.
Crime increased

3. Social Issues of the 1920’s
Immigration- Return to Nativism- favoring native-born interests over immigrants
100,000’s of immigrants entering the US per year
Worry that immigrants were taking jobs from US citizens
Thought that restricting immigration would ease urban crowding and reduce ethnic conflict
Emergency Immigration Act capped number of people allowed to enter the US at 375,000. (Later cut to 164,000) with Immigration Act of 1924

4. POSTWAR ISSUES UNIONS VS. BUSINESS National War Labor Board
After the war Corporations reduced wages and paid less attention to employee safety.
American Federation of Labor – group of unions representing skilled workers.
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) – saw socialism as the solution to workers’ problems.
Goal was to put the working class in control of the machinery of production and distribution without regard to the capitalist masters.

5. PEOPLE FEAR LABOR UNIONS
Middle – class Americans began to view unionism as a threat to their way of life.
Results:
1) Overall union membership declined in the 1920s
2) Failure of many strikes to achieve workers’ goals.
3) Exclusive politics of many unions refused or limited membership to unskilled employees, women, African Americans, and most immigrants.

6. Social Issues of the 1920’s Red Scare- Fear of communism after WWI
Radical groups supporting anarchy or communism after the war stirred up suspicion and alarm
Palmer Raids on homes and businesses of people believed to want to overthrow the government
Civil liberties and basic rights were stomped on
Thousands arrested

7. Social Issues of the 1920’s
Prohibition (18th Amend.)- banning of alcohol because alcoholism caused crime, violence, and families being torn apart
Led to rise of illegal behavior
“Bootlegging”- making and selling illegal alcohol
“Speakeasies”- secret drinking clubs
Corruption, bribery, and crime doom prohibition.
Overturned by the 21st amendment in 1933

8. Social Issues of the 1920’s
Eugenics- the human race can be improved by forbidding people with undesirable characteristics to reproduce
Seen as a threat to the poor and weak

9. Social Issues of the 1920’s Scopes Trial- 1925, Bryan vs. Darrow.
Scopes found guilty of teaching evolution and violating state law
1 year later, Tennessee Supreme Court overturns the conviction
William Jennings Bryan- well known politician and fundamentalist- taking the Bible’s teachings literally
Sought to ban the teaching of evolution in schools
Feared teaching evolution would lead to a belief in Social Darwinism
Clarence Darrow- defended John Scopes’ right to teach evolution in Tennessee (Anti-evolution law in place)

10. Social Issues of the 1920’s
Margaret Sanger devoted her life to legalizing birth control and making it universally available for women

11. Social Issues of the 1920’s
Flappers- young women who cut & dyed their hair and wore more promiscuous dress
Wore makeup, beads, bracelets, cigarette holders
Went to Jazz clubs and danced all night
Dating not just to find a marriage partner, now its to have fun away from parents
Young people thought older people who sent men to die at war didn’t deserve respect

12. Social Issues of the 1920’s Race Relations
Revival of the KKK which claimed to defend American ideals and values against other races
Millions of members in the US
KKK supported lawmakers won control of state legislatures in OR, OK, IN, and Texas
African Americans faced violence and race riots; dozens killed
Asians couldn’t get married to whites and couldn’t become citizens in some states
Jews couldn’t rent apartments or get into colleges
Catholics faced religions prejudice