Best and worst of times in the 1920s by Syraiyah Armendariz
The best of times were.. (Social) *When the Scopes Trial occured. This trial is best known to American History because it represents the difference between science and theology, faith and reason, individual liberty and freedom. In 1925, a school teacher named John Scopes went to trial for violating the state law against the teaching of evolution. Scopes ended up winning the trial and opened the eys of the jury. The trial concluded that society should respect academic freedom and legislatures should not restrain the freedom of scientific ideas. *Fashion changed the perspective of women in society. Teens started to wear shorter skirts with pleats, gathers, or slits and women cut their hair to fit their fashionable hats. Women also wore low waisted dresses to dance. Jean Patou designed a two piece sweater and skirt outfit which women adored.
The worst of times were.. (Social) *When The Postwar Red Scarce occured. On May Day (May 1st, 1919), postal officials found 20 bombs that were from the suspicious capitalists. Those capitalists included, John D. Rockfeller, J.P Morgan J.r, and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. About a month later, 8 cities across the U.S were exploded by bombs. The fear of bombs triggered the Red Scarce as well as communism and labor unrest. *When the Postwar Labor Tensions occured. Food prices and clothing items douled the prices and workers were not getting paid enough to afford these items. Workers faced low wages, difficult working conditions, and long hours. About 350,000 workers nationwide went on strike to improve these conditions. Eventually, the workers completely defeated the union and conditions were improved.
The best of times were.. (Culture) *Radios had one of the biggest impacts out of all appliances to enter the nations homes. Radios made a profit of $60 million dollars in 1922 and dramatically rose to $426 million in 1929. The radio drew the nations attention by providing news, entertainment, and advertisements. Broadcasters also addressed racial discrimination and derogatory stereotypes. They played a lot of music as well. * Society became more modernized. Cars also brought a big impact to American Society. The first car was made by Henry Ford who also sponsored the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. By the 1920s, there were more than 27 million cars on the road.
The worst of times were.. (Culture) * Religion was one of the most challenging id 1920s. Before the Civil War, the protestant denominations believe that the findings of science confirmed the teaching of religion. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution changed the perspective of religion. During this time period, believer of Pentecostalism, fundamentalism, modernism, secularism, and scientific teachings all conflicted with the idea of religion which created anti-evolution laws. These laws forbid the teachings of evolution in school. *The Ku Klux Klan was best known as the "hate group." This group was created during the Reconstruction Era of the 1860s. They became a very large, controversial, nationwide organization in the 1920s. This group was known for discriminating against African Americans, Roman Catholics, Jews and foreigners. They dressed in a standard white costume and caused violent attacks on these groups. The clan was led by General Nathaniel Bedford Forrest and three million members nationwide stood beside him.
The best of times were... (Political) *Women gained the right to vote in 1920, therefore the 19th amendment was created. Reformers believed that female voters would clean up politics, improve society, and end discrimination. Men were displeased with the newly passed amendment and immediately took it to court which later passed the Equal Rights amendment which outlawed discrimination based on sex. *Al Smith, an Irish Catholic, ran for the presidential election in 1928. Under his presidency, he promised that New York granted women a 40 hour work week and the nation's first public housing program. He also established state parks and public hospitals. Smith did not end up winning but opened the eyes of immigrant voters in big cities and hoped to shift African American voters towards the Democrats.
The worst of times were... (Political) *Warren G. Harding was president during this time period and it was a complete disaster. He tried to elect men that could best benefit his cabinet and they were responsible for the accomplishments of Harding's brief administration, which included stimulating business growth, cutting taxes, and negotiating disarmament treaties. These later on later to major scandals within the government like the Teapot Dome Scandal. *The Teapot Dome was one of the biggest scandals the government faced. This scandal occurred because Harding secretly leased naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills California to private companies. He then resigned from office and the government canceled the leases.
The best of times were... (Economic) *Mass-production industries became successful due to technologies like electricity and the assembly line provided for profitable investment. Less than 1% of Americans owned stock so the return of stock market directly benefited only the wealthy. Being rich in the 1920s was a very big thing because not many Americans were rich at all. *Wages of urban workers were increased by 20% during the 1920s. This was because of the new technologies that were produced which cause massproduction. Technologies like cars, washing machines, and radios became the industries most valuable goods. By 1929, middle class workers were able to afford these goods.
The worst of times were..(economic) *America's farmers were not benefited during this time period. By the end of World War I, European production suddenly faced a huge glut of agricultural products, with no marker of buyers. Farm prices fell at a dramatic rate to where the price of wheat fell by almost half & the price of cotton fell by three-quarters. Farmers then had trouble affording their farming equipment like tractors and farms were foreclosed by banks because they couldn't make their payments. *Banks faced a Great Depression. They failed to secure sufficient funds in the case of bad debts meaning that when farmers went bankrupt, they didn't have sufficient reserves to meet credit demand. Banks also were at risk of running out of money and if that happened, they couldn't borrow from a central bank. When the Great Depression rose, people wanted to withdrawal money from the bank but the bank didn't have enough reserves to do this.
Sources -http://www.cliffsnotes.com/moresubjects/history/us-history-ii/america-in-thetwenties/politics-in-the-1920s -http://www.shmoop.com/1920s/economy.html -http://econ.economicshelp. org/2007/05/economics-of-1920s.html?m=1 -http://tirocchi.stg.brown. edu/514/story/fashion_twenties.html