The Roaring Twenties The Return to Normalcy In 1920, Warren G. Harding, the Republican candidate for President, ran with the slogan, A return to normalcy. The slogan was his way of saying that America wanted to put the horrors of the war behind them and get back to normal, whatever normal was. To Harding, normalcy meant three things: isolationism, nativism, and laissez-faire. Isolationism Isolationism actually involves more than just avoiding alliances that could drag America into another war; it also meant protecting American industries from foreign competitors. After the war, Republicans lowered the income taxes on corporations and individuals and raised the tariff. These actions helped the America economy, and businesses were booming in the 1920s. Nativism Nativism is the desire to keep America for Americans, not for foreigners. It is anti-immigration. Until World War I, the flow of immigrants from Europe had steadily increased. Only the immigration of Asians had been strictly controlled. But after the war, a new wave of anti-immigration feelings, fueled by the Red Scare, swept across America. Congress passed a series of laws to limit European immigration. Emergency Quota Act 1921 This law limited immigration to 3% of each native group s population in the United States in 1910. The measure was temporary, but it did severely limit immigration of southern and eastern European immigrants, which was the idea. The total yearly limit for European immigration was set at slightly less than 358,000. National Origins Act 1924 This law reduced the total number of European immigrants allowed into the United States to 164,000 a year and made the restrictions permanent. And only 2% of each nationality s population in the U.S. in 1890 would be allowed. The Act also provided for another reduction to 154,000 per year sometime in the future. Laissez faire Republicans had traditionally taken a hands-off approach to businesses. The idea of laissez faire was that government should help businesses rather than regulate them. To help businesses, the government lowered taxes and raised the tariff. It also favored businesses by controlling the unions, loaning money to foreign governments, and easing enforcement of government restrictions on corporations. New Technologies The creative genius of the Industrial Age continued to flourish during the Roaring Twenties. Improvements in manufacturing processes made consumer goods more available and less expensive. And with a booming economy, Americans had money to spend. Three of these new technologies had a tremendous impact on the United States in the 1920s. They were the automobile, the radio, and electrical appliances. Automobiles Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but he did have a huge impact on the automobile industry. By the 1920s, he had perfected the idea of the assembly line. In Ford s assembly line, the line moved an unfinished car past workers, and they put on each part as the car went by. His factories were able to produce an automobile every 98 minutes.
Ford also used the idea of mass production, making a lot of cars, to make them more affordable for average Americans. By 1921, there were more than 10 million automobiles on the road. The automobile industry had a tremendous impact on the economy. How the Auto Changed Our Lives Economic Impact of the Automobile Industry Paid above average wages, putting more money in the economy Promoted growth of other industries such as steel, rubber, and petroleum Made a national highway system necessary Created the need for service industries such as filling stations, garages, motels, and others Home Appliances The ideas of the assembly line and mass production made it easier for other industries to grow as well. When electric appliances were introduced, the demand was great. Once they could be mass produced, the demand was even greater since ordinary people could then afford them Of course, electrical appliances depended on having electricity in the home. Homes in cities saw the introduction of electricity long before home in the country. The most immediate use of electricity was lighting, but lighting was soon followed by numerous appliances to make the housewife s job easier and safer. The most popular items were electric stoves, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and the electric iron. Refrigerators were also available in the 1920s, but they were very expensive. Science and Technology Airplanes By the Roaring Twenties, airplanes had made a great deal of progress over the 1903 version of Orville and Wilbur Wright. Used as a weapon in World War I, airplanes were slow to catch on in peacetime. It was not until the government took an interest in using airplanes to carry the U.S. mail that commercial aviation made much progress. Slowly the idea of carrying freight with airplanes developed into a business that could make money. Next came passenger flights. Those carried people from one place to another. But passenger flights didn t become profitable until the 1930s. Charles Lindbergh In 1927, interest in airplanes really took off, so to speak. A young pilot by the name of Charles Lindbergh flew his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, across the Atlantic to Paris, France, all by himself. His flight was the first solo transatlantic flight. Lindbergh s flight captured the imagination of the world. He became an instant celebrity, and the aviation industry took a giant leap forward.
Social Issues The 19 th Amendment was proposed in 1919 and ratified in 1920. This amendment granted women s suffrage. All the hard work of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and other suffragettes finally paid off. After gaining the right to vote, the Women s Movement could put their energies into other causes. These other issues became central themes of women s rights in the Roaring Twenties. Issues such as birth control and sexuality were spoken of in more than just whispers. At the time, this kind of talk made society more uncomfortable than women wanting to vote. Margaret Sanger From her early training as a nurse, Margaret Sanger saw first hand the pain and danger of childbirth, especially for the poor. She became a pioneer in the birth control movement. Sanger was often in trouble with the law because in the 1920s, it was illegal to give out information on birth control. Despite the problems, Sanger continued. As attitudes slowly changes. She was able to open a birth control clinic. The organization she started eventually became Planned Parenthood. Why was it illegal to give out birth control information in the 1920s? According to the law of the day, information about birth control was considered to be obscene, and a person could be arrested for giving out obscene materials. When Sanger opened her first clinic to teach women about birth control, she was arrested and spent time in jail. But attitudes eventually changed, and she was able to open a legal clinic in 1923. Her birth control clinic was the first in the nation. Flappers Flappers were young women of the 1920s who were tired of the traditions of their parents. They wanted freedom. The horror of the war had encouraged them to live for the moment and enjoy life. Fashions changed to suit their new desire to be free. Dresses took on a straight look and got shorter-much shorter! Hair also got shorter and more boyish in appearance. These young women also began to wear makeup. Before, only prostitutes and movie stars wore makeup. Fashion and hairstyles weren t the only changes. Flappers also smoked, drank, danced to the emotional sounds of jazz, and openly talked about sex. She was the ultimate party girl. Flapper was as much an attitude as it was a way to dress. Who was Zelda Fitzgerald, and what did she have to do with flappers? Zelda Fitzgerald was an Alabama native married to the famous writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda was the very image of a flapper. As the wife of a famous writer, she adored the party scene and dressed the part. She was also a writer, but not as famous as her husband. It has been said that Zelda was the inspiration for some of the characters in Scott s novels and that he borrowed from her diary for some of his own writings. Child Labor Opponents of child labor thought the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 passed by Congress and signed by Woodrow Wilson would help bring about an end to the abuses of working children. But two years later, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional. Again in 1918, another law was passed that regulated child labor. But again the Supreme Court struck down the law in 1922. Congress then passed a constitutional amendment to regulate child labor. But in the pro-business climate of the 1920s, there was not enough states willing to ratify the amendment. It also failed.
It was not until 1938 when adults were desperate for jobs that child labor began to seriously decline. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill that Congress passed that same year, and the Supreme Court let this bill stand. This law was called the Fair Labor Standards Act. Science v. Religion In response to the moral decline of the decade, there was a renewed interest in religion and the Bible in the 1920s. Science was also gaining followers during the same period. Religion taught that God created man; science taught that man evolved from lower animals. Eventually, science and religion collided over the creation versus evolution debate. Through the efforts of religious leaders, the state of Tennessee passed a law making it illegal to teach evolution in the public schools. A young biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, deliberately broke the law and was arrested in 1925. His name was John Scopes, and his trial became a national sensation. It was called the Scopes Trial, or by some the Monkey Trial. Two of the most famous lawyers of their day squared off against one another. Clarence Darrow defended Scopes and science. William Jennings Bryan prosecuted the young biology teacher and defended religion. When the dust finally cleared, Scopes was found guilty and fine $100. But little else was settled. Science and religion are still arguing over which came first, the man or the monkey. Prohibition In 1918, the 18 th Amendment was passed that prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transporting of alcoholic beverages. To enforce the provisions of the amendment, Congress passed the National Prohibition Act of 1919, sometimes called the Volstead Act. Both the idea of alcohol being illegal and this period of time were called Prohibition. Not everyone was happy about it, but Prohibition remained the law until 1933 when the 21 st Amendment repealed it. Even though it was illegal, alcohol didn t disappear. People just had to know where to look. Speakeasies A person who wanted an alcoholic drink in the Roaring Twenties could go to a speakeasy. These were places where you could buy and drink alcohol. Often speakeasies would have music and dancing. They were the forerunner of the modern club scene. Since the sale of alcohol was illegal, a person wanting a drink had to whisper or speak easy. Now you know how these places got their names. Organized Crime Organized Crime were groups of people who made money doing illegal things. Members of organized crime were called gangsters. Prohibition caused organized crime to flourish. Since people were determined to drink alcohol, the illegal market of it was a popular criminal enterprise. The practice of illegally obtaining and distributing alcohol was called bootlegging. Al Capone Al Capone was the leader of a bootlegging enterprise in the city of Chicago. Before long, Capone controlled most of the activities in the Windy City. Often these big city criminals would kill their rivals to control more of the business. The police had a hard time catching Al Capone, but he was finally arrested and sent to prison where he eventually died.
What was the St. Valentine s Day massacre, and what did it have to do with gangsters? On February 14, 1929, members of the Capone gang shot and killed six member of a rival gang and one innocent bystander who happened to be there. Two of the shooters were dressed as policemen. Capone had planned the whole thing, but he was on vacation in Florida at the time the murders took place. How did law enforcement finally catch Al Capone? The government was told where to find Capone s financial records. After much careful study, it was decided that Capone had not paid income tax on his illegal profits. He was arrested on income tax evasion. Instead of going to prison for his horrible crimes, Al Capone went to jail because he did not pay his taxes. Go figure. Arts and Humanities: American Writers In the 1920s, a group of writers known as the Lost Generation described the hopelessness of the era brought on by WWI. Two of the most representative writers of the time were F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Both became dissatisfied with the American way of life and spent a great deal of time in Europe. It goes without saying that their novels were filled with despair and unhappiness. F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby is one of Fitzgerald s most famous novels. The theme of the book is the empty lives of the wealthy of the 1920s. This idea of emptiness and misery is a thread that ran throughout his novels and found expression in his own unhappy life. Ernest Hemingway Hemingway had been a part of WWI. Some of his novels, A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, all deal with the tragedy of war. He was perhaps the most talented writer of his generation, but Hemingway s life was filled with despair and ended tragically when he committed suicide. Harlem Renaissance To understand the Harlem Renaissance, you must first understand Harlem. During the 1920s, many African Americans left the South to find better opportunities in the cities. Harlem was a section of New York City filled with African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance was an outpouring of African American creativity by black artists, writers, and musicians centered in the Harlem neighborhood. Just one of many, Langston Hughes was a famous black poet and writer. Jazz Age Rooted in the rhythm of African work songs and folk music, jazz is a lively, passionate kind of music that was first played in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was then carried north to Chicago in the early 1900s. Many black jazz musicians, singers, and composers became famous during the 1920s. These included Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Bessie Smith. Because jazz was so much a part of the spirit of the Roaring Twenties, the decade is sometimes called the Jazz Age.
Who was W.C. Handy, and what did he have to do with jazz? Handy was an Alabama musician who migrated to Chicago in the 1920s. He has been called the Father of the Blues because he helped to get the whole low-pitched, mournful style of the blues started. Mass Entertainment Radio In its early days, radio was used for communication over long distances. In the 1920s, the radio became a form of mass entertainment. Starting with KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, radio stations began to broadcast news, variety shows, and music to eager audiences across the nation. The programming was paid by advertisers who paid for commercials or ads. By 1929, more than 10 million households owned radios. With such a wide appeal, radio helped to create a popular culture with common speech, behavior, and universal heroes. Movies Shortly after the invention of the motion picture camera, movies became a part of the entertainment boom. Hollywood soon became another name for the movie industry. By the 1920s, more than 700 films a year were being released. Movies, like radio, also contributed to the standardization of culture by adding fashion. Everyone wanted to talk, dress, and at like their heroes, the movie stars. Sports People of the 1920s flocked to see their favorite sports team play the game. One of their favorites was baseball. And even though baseball was a team sport, the fans focused on exceptional players and made them heroes. Boxing was another favorite sport, and its champions became national idols such as Jack Dempsey. The Economy The booming economy was one of the things that made the Roaring Twenties roar. People were ready to buy things because they had more disposable income. That s money they can spend. New ways of buying, such as the installment plan, made it easier to buy everything, including stocks. Unfortunately, not everyone enjoyed the prosperity of the 1920s. Many farmers, African Americans, and immigrants suffered during this time. Consumer Spending After WWI, factories that were geared up to turnout war materials quickly made the consumer switch to consumer goods. Wartime shortages quickly disappeared. Improvements in manufacturing also made consumer goods more affordable for average families. Many people who worked in the war industries had good paying jobs. This time of plenty, plenty of stuff and plenty of income, gave people a sense of freedom. People wanted to buy things. You can see why the Roaring Twenties also became a decade of consumer spending. Installment Buying Installment buying was a way to buy expensive things (such as cars) and pay for them over time. Rather than pay all at once, the consumer could pay a portion each month until the total was repaid. You may recognize this type of spending as buying on credit. Even houses could be bought on the installment plan. Making monthly payments on a house is called a mortgage.
Farmers Not everyone enjoyed the economic boom of the 20s. During the war, farmers in the U.S. were feeding most of Europe as well as Americans. Prices for farm products soared. When the war ended, several things happened that changed their prosperity. Farmers, both black and white, experienced a downturn in the economy long before the rest of the nation did. Falling farm prices helped to create poverty, not prosperity, for many farmers in the 1920s. Economy of Farmers During the 1920s Alabama The demand for farm products dropped. Farmers were heavily in debt. They had purchased more land or expensive equipment during the war to keep up with wartime production. Other countries of the world began to compete with American farmers. Alabama farmer were particularly hard hit in the 1920s. Not only were farm prices falling, but the cotton crop was being eaten by a Central American pest called the boll weevil. Damages to cotton crops caused by the little pest caused Alabama farmers to begin growing different crops. The industrial areas of Alabama prospered along with the rest of the country, but 78% of the population was directly affected by falling farm incomes. Why is there a statue celebrating the boll weevil in Enterprise, Alabama? The coming of the boll weevil to the Black Belt (the cotton growing region of Alabama) in 1915 was eventually seen as a good thing. Sure, the pesky little critter destroyed cotton plants and reduced the amount of cotton produced, but the bug also caused Alabama farmers to consider growing other kinds of crops. Diversification, growing multiple types of crops, had long been suggested to Alabama farmers, but it took and act of nature to finally make it happen. In 1919, the citizens of Enterprise honored the boll weevil for forcing them to plant other crops and for encouraging industry in the area. The Stock Market The general prosperity and rising stock prices during the 1920s encouraged many to invest in the stock market. That s where stocks are bought and sold. As stock prices continued to increase, many people bought stocks on credit, as they did with refrigerators and cars. As long as the stock is worth more than its purchase price, it is a good investment. But when stock prices fall, trouble follows, especially if the stock was purchased on credit. In 1929, the red-hot stock market took a sudden turn in the wrong direction. The booming stock market, like the rest of the booming economy of the Roaring Twenties, eventually came crashing down.
What s wrong with buying stocks on credit? Buying stocks on margin (with credit) is a very risky way to invest. As long as the economy is good and stock prices keep going up, a small investment can turn into a lot of money. But when stock prices go down, stock brokers (the people who sell the stocks) get nervous and want the loan paid off immediately. If an investor doesn t have enough money to pay off the loan, the stock has to be sold for whatever it is worth at the time. If that still isn t enough, the investor actually loses money. Poverty In 1928, presidential candidate Herbert Hoover proclaimed the following: We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but, given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation Poverty Hebert Hoover Republican National Convention, 1928 Unfortunately, Mr. Hoover did not see the disparity of income under his very nose. Disparity of income is having a large difference in the amounts of money different people make. Some people were making a great deal of money, but others were making very little. As you have already seen, prosperity did not come to everyone in the Roaring Twenties. Farmers and farm workers particularly in the South were well acquainted with poverty. The economy was so bad in parts of Alabama that when the Great Depression hit, Alabama farmers hardly noticed. African Americans and immigrant factory workers also felt the sting of poverty. Racism made jobs hard to find and having no skills made the wages low. For some, the economy was booming. For others, it was a bust. From the time Hoover made his statement, not even one year passed before nearly everyone lost everything. Racism and Racial Tensions Remember that immediately after WWI and leading into the Roaring Twenties, Americans feared that radical immigrants would lead a communist take-over. In fact, there was a general feeling of mistrust and fear against all immigrant at the time. African Americans were also being persecuted as never before, and old hate groups reared their ugly head once again. The 1920s was a time of great civil unrest as old values and old ways came into conflict with new ones/ Rebirth of the KKK The Ku Klux Klan began during the Reconstruction Era and they used fear and intimidation to oppress. African Americans after the Civil War. Later in the century, the Klan began to disappear. It was not until 1915 that the Klan was reborn and began to have a greater impact on the black community. The new Klan picked up where the old one left off. Instead of having a hatred for just blacks, they added new groups to their hate list: foreigners, Catholics, and Jews. People who were not WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) were no friend to the Klan.
Along with the continued activities aimed at scaring African Americans, the Klan also fought against immigration. They even rallied political support against Alfred E. Smith, a Catholic presidential candidate in 1928. The new Klan remained strong in the South, and it gained members in the West and Midwest until about 1924. Then it began to decline once more. Post War Intolerance Sacco and Vanzetti You ve already seen that after WWI there was a rise in anti-immigration feelings among Americans. One of the more glaring examples of nativism and Red Hysteria was the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. They were accused of robbing a payroll office and killing two people. The fact that Sacco and Vanzetti were immigrants and anarchists weighed heavily against them at their trial. Both were found guilty and sentenced to death. Many people considered the trial to be unfair, but in 1927, the pair were executed. Were Sacco and Vanzetti guilty of murder? At the time many thought that Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty of little more than being foreigners and anarchists. Modern investigations of the case have led some to believe that Sacco was probably guilty and that Vanzetti was probably innocent. Lynching The early 20 th century was not a good time to be an African American, especially in the South. As if segregation and taking away the rights of blacks were not enough, terror tactics continued to be used. One of these tactics was lynching. Lynching is the public murder of an accused person by a mob. It was a favorite tactic of the white supremacists. Most lynchings were done by white mobs who would murder an accused African American usually by hanging. From the turn of the century through WWI, many blacks and some whites were murdered by mobs. Most, but not all, of the lynchings were in the South. After 1922, the practice began to decline. Race Riots To further heighten racial tensions at the turn of the century, a series of mob attacks, called riots, took place against African American communities. These were called race riots. Rather than attacking an individual, a mob of whites would attack an entire black community. They would kill or wound people and destroy property. Race riots happened in every section of the country, but they were particularly popular in the South. Sometimes the riots were an angry response to white unemployment. Returning white soldiers had to compete with African American for jobs after the war. Employers would often hire blacks because few unions allowed African Americans to join. Other times, blacks were hired to replace striking workers. Whatever the reasons, there was a lot of racial tension after the war. The summer of 1919 is sometimes called the Red Summer because there were some 26 race riots in such cities as Chicago and Washington D.C. In 1921, a race riot started in Tulsa, Oklahoma because a group of blacks armed themselves and tried to stop a lynching. In the riots, hundreds of people died or were injured, and millions of dollars of damage was done to property. The greatest damage done to property was by arson, which is deliberately setting things on fire. Eventually the riots stopped but they have occasionally flared up again over various issues.
Ghettos After the war, African Americans continued to flock to the cities by the thousands. In the 1920s, the migrating blacks concentrated in the areas of the cities that became known as the ghettos. Many of the African Americans in the ghettos were unskilled and poorly paid. Living conditions got progressively worse. Disease and crime rates soared. The one redeeming quality of the ghetto was that it was a place where blacks could be themselves and enjoy their African heritage culture.