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PROHIBITIONSUFFRAGE
CONSUMERISM OF THE 1920 ’STHE AUTOMOBILE CULTURE
YOUTH SETS THE SCENEFUNDAMENTALISMTHE SCOPES TRIAL
The Roaring Twenties
Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition – a ban of the sale of alcohol in the US
Argued that ban would be good for society
During WWI – linked alcohol with beingun-patriotic
- grain for troops, not alcohol- German brewers plotting to make American
troops unfit
By 1919, 26 states limited sale of alcohol and ¾ of people lived in “dry” areas
Eighteenth Amendment 1919- enforced by the Volstead
Act
Prohibition
Suffrage
Women had been trying to get the right tovote since 1848
Progressives wanted women to vote- help with reforms like child
labor
Carrie Chapman Catt- National Women Suffrage
Assn.
Alice Paul- Congressional Union - National Women’s party- picketed White House
The Nineteenth Amendment
President Wilson urged Congress toapprove suffrage
Ratification of national suffrage cameon August 26, 1920
The right to vote still didn’t grant womenfull equality
In many states women still couldn’t:- serve on juries- hold office- enter businesses- sign contracts without husband’s permission
Suffrage
Americans as ConsumersFor the first time, Americans hadmore than just enough money tolive on
Improved standard of living
Mass produced goods became moreavailable:• vacuum cleaners, toasters,
irons, washing machines, refrigerators
Increased leisure time:• listening to radio,
phonographs, talk on telephone, etc.
Poverty in Midst of PlentyLow wages and unemployment combined to send many Americansinto poverty
New technology caused farmers to produce more than they could sell
- farm prices declined
Coal industry in decline, replacedby electricity in manufacturing
Textile industry because of changesin fashion
1/3 of Americans lived below “minimumstandards for a decent life”
America Hits the RoadBy 1927, Americans owned 4 out ofevery 5 cars in the world
Last of the Model – T’s cost less than$300, were affordable since averagefamily made $2,000 a year
boosted entire economy, especiallysteel, glass, rubber, gasoline
End of WWI we had 7,000 miles ofconcrete roads, by 1927 there were over50,000 miles
10,000 miles of new road per year
The Driving CultureThe car changed culture inmany ways: - dating habits of young people - Sunday outings of families - places people lived and vacationed- the way people shopped
People began to travel to other areas of the country
People were also saddled with debt for the first time (buying a car on credit)
Buying on TimeCars weren't the only thing being bought on time
By 1928:85% of furniture80% of phonographs75% of washing machines70% of refrigerators
Credit: putting money downand paying in installments
Mass Media: advertizingencouraged people to buy more and more
Youth Sets the Scene
Flappers
Girls turned the modest image thatwas popular before WWI upside down
Before WWI, women were arrested forsmoking or using profanity in public
Ten years later… flappers smoked, drank, went joyriding in cars
Society seemed to encourage theirbehavior.
Women’s movement and new laws gave women more economic andintellectual independence
At the MoviesIn the 1920’s, the average American wentto the movies once a week
Inexpensive for high school and college students – 10Cents!
Fans identified with movie stars – movie stars set the trends
School DaysMost Americans were prosperousenough to let kids stay in school
By 1929, 51% of all high schoolaged youth were in school asopposed to less than 6%in 1890
Large high schools with gyms andlibraries
More and more began to attendcollege, 1 in 8 by 1930
The Power of ReligionScopes Trial Fallout
Fundamentalism: a movementthat affirmed the literal truth of the Bible
Movement thrived in the U.S.,especially in the South and theMidwest
Evangelists: fundamental preachers
Evangelists began to use radio toreach people
Billy Sunday
Prohibition FailsProhibition pitted fundamentalistsagainst opponents who favored moretolerance
small-town, rural America against urbanAmerica
Bootleggers: people who illegally made,sold, or transported liquor
People blatantly ignored the law, refused to take it seriously
Led to rise in crime
Al Capone became a multimillionaire ashead of Chicago gang
ELECTION OF 1928CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
STOCK MARKET CRASHHOOVER’S RESPONSE
BONUS ARMYELECTION OF 1932
FDR
The Great DepressionPart 1
Young Hoover supporter in 1928
HOOVER WINS 1928 ELECTION
Republican Herbert Hoover ran against Democrat Alfred E. Smith in the 1928 election
Hoover emphasized years of prosperity under Republican administrations
Hoover won an overwhelming victory
“The United States is nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.”
Herbert Hoover, 1928
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
BEGINS
Photos by photographer Dorothea Lange
SECTION 1: THE NATION’S SICK ECONOMY
Agriculture Railroads Textiles Steel Mining Lumber Automobiles Housing Consumer goods
As the 1920s advanced, serious problems threatened the economy whileImportant industries struggled, including:
CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
U.S. demand low, despite factories producing more
Farm sector crisis
Easy creditUnequal
distribution of income
FARMERS STRUGGLE No industry suffered as
much as agriculture
During World War I European demand for American crops soared
After the war demand plummeted
Farmers increased production sending prices further downward
Photo by Dorothea Lange
CONSUMER SPENDING DOWNBy the late 1920s,
American consumers were buying less
Rising prices, stagnant wages and overbuying on credit were to blame
Most people did not have the money to buy the flood of goods factories produced
Telephones, radios, refrigerators, washing machines piled up in warehouses
GAP BETWEEN RICH &POORThe gap between
rich and poor widened
The wealthiest 1% saw their income rise 75% in the 1920’s
The rest of the population saw an increase of only 9%
More than 70% of American families earned less than $2500 per yearPhoto by Dorothea Lange
Everyone Can Be Rich!
“If a man saves $15 a week, and invests in good common stocks, and allows the dividends and rights to accumulate, at the end of twenty years he will have at least $80,000 and an income of around $400 a month. He will be rich.”
-John J. Raskob, Democratic National Committee Chairman, 1929
The stock market became an attractive gamble!
dramatic difference between the return on a savings account and what could be made in the stock market!
THE STOCK MARKET By 1929, many
Americans were invested in the Stock Market
The Stock Market had become the most visible symbol of a prosperous American economy
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the barometer of the Stock Market’s worth
The Dow is a measure based on the price of 30 largest firms
STOCK PRICES RISE THROUGH THE 1920s
Through most of the 1920s, stock prices rose steadily
The Dow reached a high in 1929 of 381 points (300 points higher than 1924)
By 1929, 4 million Americans owned stocks
New York Stock Exchange
SEEDS OF TROUBLEBy the late 1920s,
problems with the economy emerged
Speculation: Too many Americans were engaged in speculation – buying stocks & bonds hoping for a quick profit
Margin: Americans were buying “on margin” – paying a small percentage of a stock’s price as a down payment and borrowing the restThe Stock Market’s bubble
was about to break
Buying on Margin investor with $500 option 1: buy 5 shares of stock in a company costing $100 a piece
or…option 2: use the same $500 to buy 100 shares at 5% down
now he holds $10,000 worth of stock
All is good as long as the stock prices rose…brokers were happy (they got 20% interest on loans)…stockholders happy
If prices went down… brokers asked investors for more cash…if they didn’t have it brokers sold the stock
THE 1929 CRASH
In September the Stock Market had some unusual up & down movements
On October 24, the market took a plunge . . .the worst was yet to come
On October 29, now known as Black Tuesday, the bottom fell out
16.4 million shares were sold that day – prices plummeted
People who had bought on margin (credit) were stuck with huge debts
By mid-November, investors had lost about
$30 billion
THE GREAT DEPRESSIONThe Stock Market
crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression
The Great Depression is generally defined as the period from 1929 – 1940 in which the economy plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed
The crash alone did not cause the Great Depression, but it hastened its arrival
Alabama family, 1938 Photo by Walter Evans
FINANCIAL COLLAPSEAfter the crash, many
Americans panicked and withdrew their money from banks
Banks had invested in the Stock Market and lost money
In 1929- 600 banks fail
By 1933 – 11,000 of the 25,000 banks nationwide had collapsed
Bank run 1929, Los Angeles
HOOVER STRUGGLES WITH THE DEPRESSION
After the stock market crash, President Hoover tried to reassure Americans
He said, “Any lack of confidence in the economic future . . . is foolish”
He recommended business as usual
Herbert Hoover
Hoover’s Response
Hoover believed in voluntary action asked businesses to pledge not to cut wages or production of goods
wanted city and state governments to fund building projects to provide new jobs to stimulate the economy
HOOVER’S PHILOSOPHYHoover was not quick to
react to the depressionHe believed in “rugged
individualism” – the idea that people succeed through their own efforts
People should take care of themselves, not depend on governmental hand-outs
He said people should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”
Hoover believed it was the individual’s job to take care of themselves, not the government’s
GNP DROPS, UNEMPLOYMENT SOARS
Between 1928-1932, the U.S. Gross National Product (GNP) – the total output of a nation’s goods & services – fell nearly 50% from $104 billion to $59 billion
90,000 businesses went bankrupt
Unemployment leaped from 3% in 1929 to 25% in 1932
TARIFFS The U.S. was not the only
country gripped by the Great Depression
Much of Europe suffered throughout the 1920s
In 1930, Congress passed the toughest tariff in U.S. history called the Hawley- Smoot Tariff
It was meant to protect U.S. industry yet had the opposite effect
Other countries enacted their own tariffs and soon world trade fell 40%
HARDSHIPS DURING DEPRESSION The Great Depression
brought hardship, homelessness, and hunger to millions
Across the country, people lost their jobs, and their homes
Some built makeshifts shacks out of scrap material
Before long whole shantytowns (sometimes called Hoovervilles in mock reference to the president) sprung up
Too Little Too Late
Hoover still felt that voluntary actionand local programs were the bestway to deal with the Depression
Hoover reluctantly approved in 1932:Reconstruction Finance Corp. (RFC)
- $2 billion in loans to faltering banks, insurance companies, railroads to spur economy
Emergency Relief Act - $300 million in loans to state governments for unemployment relief
SOUP KITCHENS
One of the common features of urban areas during the era were soup kitchens and bread lines
Soup kitchens and bread lines offered free or low-cost food for people
Unemployed men wait in line for food – this particular soup
kitchen was sponsored by Al Capone
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Famous Depression Era song
During presidential campaign of1932 Republicans tried todiscourage radio stations fromplaying the song
Yip Harburg“Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?”
BONUS ARMY
A 1932 incident further damaged Hoover’s image
That spring about 15,000 World War I vets arrived in Washington to support a proposed bill
The Patman Bill would have authorized Congress to pay a bonus to WWI vets immediately
The bonus was scheduled to be paid in 1945 --- The Army vets wanted it NOW
BONUS ARMY TURNED DOWN
Hoover called the Bonus marchers, “Communists and criminals”
On June 17, 1932 the Senate voted down the Putnam Bill
Thousands of Bonus Army soldiers protest – Spring 1932
BONUS MARCHERS CLASH WITH SOLDIERS
Hoover told the Bonus marchers to go home– most did
2,000 refused to leave
Hoover sent a force of 1,000 soldiers under the command of General Douglas MacArthur and his aide Dwight Eisenhower
AMERICANS SHOCKED AT TREATMENT OF WWI VETS
MacArthur’s 12th infantry gassed more than 1,000 marchers, including an 11-month old baby, who died
Two vets were shot and scores injured Americans were outraged and once again, Hoover’s
image suffered
Election of 1932
Routing of the Bonus Army wasthe last nail in Hoover’s politicalcoffin
When Hoover tried to campaignhe was often booed
On his way to vote on ElectionDay people threw stink bombs at his car
Franklin Delano Roosevelt wonthe election in a landslide
Election of 1932