APUSH Lecture Ch. 22

1. “THE NEW ERA”
Chapter 22

2. THE IMPACT OF WWI
• The 1920's are a decade that opposed war and the appeasement of
Hitler in the 1930's can be traced to the casualty figures and the
horror of WW I. Nearly an entire generation of men disappeared
during that war - “The Lost Generation”
• The Civil War and later WWI had efficient hospitals near the
battles and hundreds returned with amputated limbs and
debilitating injuries for the first time in history. Those people
were continuing reminders of the horrors of war.
• The end of World War I brought a cumulative disillusionment as
Americans wondered if the sacrifice of the conflict was worth the
fragile and questionable peace.
a. Worker rights were suspended to speed labor production
b.Loss of Life: 20 million due to battle; 50 million due to Spanish
Influenza
c. Political Upheaval: Germany, Russia, Middle East

3. THE IMPACT OF WWI
• Census of 1920 revealed that more Americans lived in urban
centers than in rural settings
a. 51% of the population lived in centers of 2500 or more
b. Urban centers began to dominate American culture.
c. The prosperity of this era illustrated the new urban dominance
with the rise of skyscrapers, new housing and over 600,000 miles
of road construction.
d. The "progress of the age," automobile, radio, movies, and
numerous new electrical appliances, centered in the metropolis
and reached rural areas much later
• Frederick Jackson Turner had predicted that with the closing of the
frontier, the US would become more urbanized and change its
values, previously rooted in a large frontier setting.
• A resurgence of US business undermined reforms won by the
previous generation
• A rush toward rampant materialism replaced the idealism and
social consciousness of the progressive era

4. THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS “A RETURN TO NORMALCY”
Harding's Early Actions - Harding knew
that he lacked the great leadership qualities
of a TR, and he was not a known
intellectual like former President Wilson,
but he desired popularity.
a. He pardoned many still in jail for
violating the Sedition Act including Eugene
Debs
b. He pressured businesses like US Steel to
move to an eight-hour shift (although also
due to efficiency advances)
c. Expanded loans to struggling farmers
d. Highway Act of 1921, Harding put $162
million dollars into the economy. Harding
believed the ‘motor car’ was symbolic of
continued American progress.

5. THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS “A RETURN TO NORMALCY”
e. Revenue Act, 1921 - Harding under the guidance of
Andrew Mellon, dramatically cut taxes to wealthy
Americans (73% to 25%) and later corporations
from 65% to 50%
Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon served all
three Republicans in the 1920s
(1) His tax policies favored the wealthy classes,
believing investments would benefit the entire
economy.
(2) Mellon favored high tariffs to support American
industry
• Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922
(a) protected infant industries like toys, rayon,
chinaware, chemicals
(b) raised the average tariff to 38.5%
(c) put heavy duties on many agricultural products.

7. THE OHIO GANG:
“I CAN TAKE CARE OF MY ENEMIES BUT MY GOD DAMN FRIENDS...”
• Harding Scandals - Booze
a. Attorney General William Daugherty ("Darty") did not
vigorously pursue investigations of his buddies as scandals
began to surface involving many of them.
(1) Sold pharmacy prescriptions to bootleggers to acquire
government controlled alcohol and kept the proceeds
(2) He was forced to resign from office at the request of
Coolidge in 1924 but was acquitted of any wrongdoing in
1927.
• b. Although having only a minor position in the government,
Jessie Smith , Daugherty's best friend and a good friend of
Harding, became an influence peddler, selling political
offices and procuring government favors.
(1) As the bag man he delivered money to corrupt judges for
favorable disposition of cases
(2) When exposed in 1923, Smith committed suicide.

8. • c. Veterans Bureau -- Charles R. Forbes and assistant Charles F. Cramer siphoned
off millions of dollars in hospital construction, allowing overcharges for buildings and
supplies (graft)
(1) When exposed, Charles Cramer committed suicide on 15 March 1923.
(2) Forbes was sentenced to 2 years for bribery, fraud, and conspiracy and fined
$10,000
• d. Teapot Dome Scandal
(1) Secretary of Interior Albert F. Fall in 1921 arranged to transfer naval oil reserves
from the Department of the Navy to his department including reserves at Teapot Dome
WY and Elk Hills CA.
(a) Apr 1922 - These reserves were then secretly leased to Harry Sinclair's Mammouth
Oil Co.
(b) Fall received at least $400,000 in "loans," cash and negotiable securities.
(2) Sen John B. Hendricks asked Fall to explain the highly questionable transaction.
(3) Fall was indicted for bribery and conspiracy and was sentenced to one year in
prison, and a $100,000 fine, the first cabinet member to go to prison (AG John
Mitchell, Watergate, second)
• Harding's Death August 2, 1923 - Increasingly he worried about how his reputation
was being damaged by the revelations of the scandals. His health suffered and he fell ill
in Seattle, WA and later was diagnosed with pneumonia while visiting San Francisco.

9. THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS
• Coolidge Presidency - Era of Wonderful Nonsense
1. Coolidge, a Man
- His idea of a good time was a long nap in the afternoon.
- He was shy, favored the traditional values of hard work, industry,
thrift and morality.
2. Coolidge Administration -- Domestic Policy
a. Dec 1923 - Addressing the US Congress, Coolidge supported
Mellon's tax policies, adherence to the world court, prohibition,
non-cancellation of the Allied war debt and no veterans' bonus,
although Congress on March 18, 1924 passed over his veto, the
World War Adjusted Compensation (Soldiers Bonus) Act
b. Coolidge forced out of office all Harding appointees tainted with
scandal
c. Worshiped Laissez-Faire government and materialism: “If the
Federal Government should go out of existence the common run of
people would not detect the difference...”
d. Wages more than doubled from 1913 to 1924 and energy and
production levels were at all time highs.

10. • Welfare Capitalism - An American Plan of Business
(1) If workers are taken care of, no unions or strikes would be needed.
(a) Increased employee benefits included one-week paid vacations (two-weeks for seniority),
basketball courts and baseball diamonds near factories where workers could play for an hour, a
nurse or doctor available at the factory to treat injuries or illnesses, and company cafeterias
offering good food at reasonable prices
(b) Union membership declined in the 1920s -- AFL had 5 million members in 1920, but only
3.4 by 1929.
• (2) Only one major flaw -- Unions could not compete with industrial prosperity, and wages
were not raised significantly after the early 1920s.
(a) Workers had more time off but less money to spend
(b) Prices increased faster than wages so that workers could not buy many of the products they
manufactured themselves.
(c) Attempts were made to sell US products overseas, but trade barriers on foreign imports
entering the US, prevented capital from going overseas so US goods could not be bought.
• (3) Creation of buying on credit or ‘buying on the margin’ develops out of lack of wage
increase. Credit buying would of course put many Americans dangerously in debt.

11. THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS
• Kellogg-Briand Pact or Kellogg Pact - Aug 1928
(1) Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister
Aristide Briand agreed to outlaw war for one year, except for defensive
purposes.
(2) Signatories agreed to no armed aggression before a 1-year cooling
off period
(3) Eventually 62 nations signed.
(4) Unfortunately the agreement contained no provisions for dealing
with nations that violated the agreement and went to war, relying instead
on the moral force of world opinion, rendering it useless and toothless.
(5) Kellogg received the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Election of 1928
a. Coolidge Withdrawal
(1) It was assumed that Coolidge would seek a second term since he had
served less than two years of Harding's term and one term of his own,
and the two term issue would not be seriously raised.
(2) August 1927 - while on vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota,
Coolidge issued a statement - "I do not choose to run for President in
1928."

12. “My candle burns at both ends;
it will not last the night;
but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends
it gives a lovely light!” - 1920 Edna St. Millay

13. JAZZ AGE
• Post WWI: Great Migration and European
Immigration.
• Harlem Renaissance - The Cotton Club, Apollo
Theater, Harlem Opera House
• Performers: “Duke” Ellington; Bessie Smith; Cab
Calloway; Louis Armstrong, Paul Robeson, Al
Jolson and George Gershwin, Bill “Bojangles”
Robinson, The Nicholas Brothers, Irving Berlin,
• Writers: Langston Hughes; Zora Neale Hurston,
Claude McKay, Carl Sandberg,
• Intellectuals: A. Phillip Randolph, W.E.B. Du
Bois, Marcus Garvey,
• Provides to the public a positive and influential form
of black centered culture

15. • Dance - the Charleston and later the
‘Jitterbug’ with the growth of swing.
• Dance marathons are popularized

16. FLAPPER
• Advertising begins to use the allure of
sexuality as a selling point.
• Flappers - younger, often white middle
class women.
• Short “bobbed” hair
• Flat hats - cloche hats
• Dark/heavier makeup
• Shorter skirts
• Flappers were symbolic of a newly
empowered youth culture in women

19. •Although the law until 1933, the “noble
experiment” failed in many ways.
•It did not cure the social evils of alcoholism
Numerous violations of the law occurred at all
levels of society.
a.The US legal system was corrupted
b.The cops, judges and detectives often looked
the other way.
c.1/12 of the FBI's Prohibition Bureau were
dismissed for corruption.
d.General public disrespected the law --
300,000 violations of the Volstead Act alone
•Organized crime emerged as a national force
(largely financed by boot-legging liquor)
Prohibition - 18th Amendment - Jan 1919

20. Organized Crime
• Capone in the mid-1920s made over 60 million
a year smuggling alcohol.
- Avg. American = $1300
- Babe Ruth = $100,000
- Capone = $60,000,000 ($700,000,000)
• He eliminated his competition by killing people
off and creating a monopoly.
- 522 killings were attached to Capone and
his gang.
• By the mid-1920s less than 20% of Americans
supported Prohibition

21. Speakeasies and Bootleggers
• During prohibition
people who
wanted to drink
had to go to secret
nightclubs and
bars known as
Speakeasies.
• The clubs received
the name because
people would talk
“easily” to avoid
detection inside.

23. Speakeasies and Bootleggers
• Generally, speakeasies were crowded with
middle and upper class men and women.
• Made it difficult to enforce as the police
did not wish to lock up the wealthy
lawmakers.
• After a while, people became bolder with
the law even going so far as to make
alcohol at home.
• Alcohol was allowed for medicinal
purposes as well as religious service and so
requests for these skyrocketed.

25. CONSUMERISM
• Marketing Changes
Companies overproduced consumer goods. Installment
buying increased to encourage buying and to decrease the
surplus of goods.
(1) Installment buying previously was limited to large
purchases (land or homes).
(2) By the end of the 1920s, it will be the acceptable way
to buy all kinds of goods.
• Birth of the Modern Advertising Industry - Advertising
sophistication created demands for products previously not
heard of, like cigarettes, bathroom fixtures, central heating.
• Custom Cars in the Automobile Industry
(1) In 1920, Ford offered one standard, affordable model,
Model T, in one color.
(2) Chevrolet recognized the demand for personalized
automobiles in multiple colors (Identity)

26. 1920s Ads

27. 1920s Ads

28. 1920s Ads

29. POP CULTURE
• Miss America Pageant, 1921
• Louise Brooks made the
“bob” an iconic 20s style and
Mary Pickford was the most
famous actress of the early
film era.
• Slang became popularized:
"girls or women": a broad, a
bunny, a canary (well, one who
could sing), a charity girl (one
who was sexually
promiscuous), a dame, a doll,
cat's meow, cat's whiskers
Mary Pickford Gabriel “Coco” Chanel
Louise Brooks

30. Magician Harry
Houdini made
famous the tricks
“Metamorphosis,
” Water
Coffin(Chinese
water torture)
and many others

32. POP CULTURE
• Herman “Babe” Ruth was
the highest paid athlete in
the world
• Jack Dempsey -
Heavyweight Champion and
sports icon in 1920s
• Red Grange - “The
Galloping Ghost” was a
football star for the Chicago
Bears
• Bobby Jones - Golfer; first
star of the sport; described
as having “a swing only
God could match”
Babe Ruth
Jack Dempsey
Red
Grange
Bobby
Jones

33. POP CULTURE
• First ‘talkie’ movie The Jazz
Singer in 1927 debuted
• Charles Lindbergh, was the
first solo pilot to fly across
the Atlantic (from NY to
Paris) A 33.5 hour trip, he
was an instant global
celebrity
• The Great Gatsby
symbolized the shallowness
of consumerism was also one
of the most popular books of
the 1920s
Charlie Chaplin
Charles Lindbergh “Lucky Lindy”

34. A “Gatsby” Girl

35. President Calvin Coolidge Working Out
Good Housekeeping:
Showing how wives could
exercise while cleaning the
house

36. • Scopes Monkey Trial - Dayton Tennessee July
1925
(1) Tennessee's Butler Law made it illegal to
teach evolution in public schools.
(2) The ACLU sought a teacher, and found John
Scopes willing to defy the law.
(3) Clarence Darrow , an agnostic, was hired by
the ACLU to defend Scopes.
(4) Brought in to boost the prosecution was
William Jennings Bryan , Fundamentalist
Christian.
Scopes' $100 fine was overturned on a
technicality, the ACLU could not take this case
to the Supreme Court
John Scopes was also forced to leave Tennessee
to continue teaching

37. •While the impact
of the ruling
proved minimal,
the trial ultimately
came to symbolize
the growing
conflict between
rural traditionalism
and urban
modernism

38. • Af. Americans had two key leaders at the end of WWI, Booker T.
Washington, who favored accommodation-ism and W.E.B.Du Bois
(NAACP), who favored confrontational-ism.
• A third option emerged in Jamaican-born Marcus Garvey, who in
1914 founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association
(UNIA)
• In 1920 the UNIA's national convention in Harlem attracted broad
support from American Blacks with a message of Black
Nationalism.
• With Harlem booming, Garvey emphasized separatism, and
established the Black Star Line (ships) to transport members in a
“Back to Africa” campaign. He dreamed of a globally united
Africa, known as the Pan-African Movement
• He is one of the founders of Rastafarianism, along with Haile
Selassie
Rise of Black Nationalism

39. There is a direct connection from Marcus
Garvey to later black nationalist leaders
including Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela
and Malcolm X

40. •Nov 1915 - History teacher(yikes!)
Colonel William J. Simmons
revived the KKK in a secret meeting
near Stone Mountain GA
•Still primarily a regional group,
Hiram Evans (TX) promoted it into
a nation-wide organization
•It became politically potent from
1922-25 in several Southern and
Midwestern states, reporting almost
6 million members at its peak.
•By this time, the Klan saw itself
more as a defender of traditionalism,
rather than just an anti-Black group
Revival of the Ku Klux Klan - a
rural, fundamentalist, political
movement

41. Sacco-Vanzetti Case
(1) Apr 1920 - A Massachusetts shoe factory was
robbed by five men, during which a guard and
officer were killed
(2) After eyewitnesses reported that the robbers
appeared to be Italians, Nicola Sacco and
Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both anarchists and
Italians, were arrested.
(3) Although both men had fairly good alibis,
Sacco possessed a gun that ballistics showed
was used in the robbery.
(4) July 1921 - Both men, before the "unbiased"
Judge Thayer who reportedly referred to them as
"degos" and "sons of bitches," were found guilty
largely on circumstantial evidence and sentenced
to death by electrocution.
(5) The case polarized the nation, causing many
high-standing American leaders to deplore this
"trial by atmosphere."
Anti-Immigration Climbs

42. In the 1920s, many immigrants, especially from
Eastern and Southern Europe, were feared as
radicals.
Immigration Legislation
(1) 1890 - 1917 - almost 18 million immigrants
arrived in the US
(2) Emergency Quota Act May 1921 - first
quota law permitted only 3% of a nationality to
enter based on the number in the US according
to the 1910 Census, limiting the total number of
immigrants to 375,000 per year
(3) Immigration Act of 1924 - Because this still
favored too many Southeastern Europeans, it
was modified to cut the quotas to 2% and based
the ethnic breakdown on the 1890 Census
(before sizable numbers of Southeastern
Europeans arrived).
Rising Fear of Immigrants and Radicalism