The Roaring 20’s

Prohibition, Bootleggers, Flappers, Monkeys, and Baseball…and then the party ends…

“Silent Cal” Becomes President

• “The business of America is Business”– Coolidge believed in little

government intervention in the economy

• Said very little

Silent Cal Gives the People what They Want – laissez-faire!

In history in times when we have a period of loss of faith in our

government it is often followed by a rebellious reaction.

Era of Trust Titans & Robber Barons Progressive Era

Era of Scandals & Fears Roaring Twenties

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

• Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs From Thistles

Victorian Fashion of 19th Century

Notice the ankles

showing!!!

Women:• Short permed hair• Swingy, flowy skirts & dresses• Flashy, gaudy jewelryMen:• Sleek hair• Smart, stylish tuxedoes

• “Boxing Match Witnessed by 19,650!”• “Grown Men Spending Their Time

Knocking a Little White Ball Along the Ground Scoffed At”

• “Harvard Beats Yale!”• “World Series Pitcher Sold to Yanks to

Finance Play”

Sports Headlines

Sports Become immensely popular, especially

because of the mass production of radios

Jack Dempsey

Babe Ruth

Bobby Jones

Red Grange

1919 World Series

• Eddie Ciccote, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Chick Gandil, et al

• Sharp shift in betting odds• White Sox became underdogs against

Reds

Throwing the game away

1921 confessions branded these men forever as the “Black Sox”

Radio and the Movies• First radio station = KDKA

(Pittsburgh)—1920 • NBC = first radio network

(1926)• Average annual movie

attendance = 90 million• The advent of “talkies”

(1927)• Disney pioneers in the

arena of animation and sound (1928)

Charlie Chaplin

Skyscrapers• The race to build higher• The Chrysler Building

(1929-1930)• The Empire State

Building (1931)• Skyscrapers offered new

opportunities for women professionally– Secretaries, Receptionists

Fitzgerald v. Hemingway • Fictitious works

on characters based on himself

• Had one great love; Zelda

• Died believing himself a failure

• Greatest accomplishment: The Great Gatsby

• Work was largely autobiographical, but under the guise of “fiction”

• Preferred Europe over his native country

• Married several times, took many lovers

Media Influences Society

• Newspapers – people had an alarming amount of faith in the newspapers

• Every morning Babbit would read the daily newspaper to know what kind of attitude he should have to fit in with society

“Well, there’s a smiling face, a fireplace,

a cozy room; a little nest that’s nestled where the roses bloom.

Just Molly and me, and baby makes three...

We’re happy in my blue heaven”

• What do you think the song is about?

Bedrooms: 2Full Bath(s): 1Sq. Ft.: 1120Stories: 1

Falling Waters – Frank Lloyd Wright

Describe who was most likely to live in each one of these houses from the 1920s.

Bungalow Style Architectually Designed

Transportation1. Charles Lindbergh (May 20, 1927)- Lindbergh became a national hero when he became the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in his airplane The Spirit of St. Louis.

Prohibition (January 16, 1920)- This

amendment (the 18th) to the constitution prohibited the sale, manufacture and transportation of liquor. In 1933, the 21st amendment repealed (canceled out) the Prohibition of alcohol.

Prohibition was a failure because people refused to comply with the new law. People would go to Speakeasies (places where liquor was illegally sold) to buy alcohol. In addition, Prohibition helped create the Mafia and made Al Capone a hero. Capone was finally convicted of tax evasion and sent to Alcatraz.

Evolutionism vs. Creationisma. Scopes Trial (Monkey Trial)- IN 1925, John T. Scopes (a high school biology teacher) was put on trial for teaching evolution. Scopes hired Clarence Darrow (like Johnny Cochran) to defend him. The debate was supposed to be over a teacher’s right to choose what to teach, but turned into what scientific theory was right: Evolutionism or Creationism.

Timeline of Events

1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 192418th Amendment: bans manufacture, sale and transport of intoxicating liquors

Black Sox ScandalChicago White Sox are paid by gamblers to lose the World Series

Babe Ruth: sold to Yankees from Red SoxProhibition goes in effectNational Football League is foundedKDKA in PittsburghFirst successful on air radio stationWarren Harding elected as president

Black Sox consequencePlayers banned from baseballRadio-baseballFirst baseball broadcastSacco-Vanzetti: Italian immigrants convicted of a holdup murder in an unjust trial

Louis ArmstrongJoins King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band

Rudolph Valentino/ Charlie ChaplinSilent movies become popular

Yankee Stadium opens

President Harding dies; succeeded by Calvin Coolidge

Ku Klux KlanPeaks at 3 million membersTeapot Dome ScandalCongress investigatesImmigration: restricted by CongressWealthy Rule:Leopolds murder Bobby Franks Coolidge becomes president

TimeLine of Events1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930Scopes Monkey TrialJohn T. Scopes is tried for teaching evolution

Dion O’Banion; infamous Chicago mobster is murdered

National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is formed

Gertrude Ederle swims the English Channel

Rudolph Valentino dies

Charles Lindberg flies from New York to ParisSacco/ Vanzetti executedBabe Ruth hits his 60th home runColumbia Broadcasting System(CBS) is formedCotton Club opens in Harlem

Herbert Hoover defeats Al Smith for presidency

Franklin Roosevelt is elected governor of NY

St. Valentine’s Day MassacreFive of Al Capone’s rivals are killed

Stock Market crashes (October 29)

Unemployment reaches 4 to 5 million

Great Depression begins