CHAPTER 26: UNDERSTANDING

POSTWAR TENSIONS

What effects did postwar tensions have on America’s

founding ideals?

Economic Tensions Demobilization causes massive

unemployment During WWI, industrial production doubled,

agricultural production tripled And when the war ended?

Inflation after the War Spending spree (after much saving) Inflation

A rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy

When the price level rises, currency buys fewer goods and services

Unemployment + Inflation = Recession

Labor Tensions Businesses return to prewar labor practices

No more cooperation or the mediation of disputes by the War Labor Board

Corporations fought unions and the gains they had made

AFL (American Federation of Labor) Group of unions represented skilled laborers “bread and butter” issues (better wages/better

conditions) The more radical Wobblies (I.W.W.)

wanted more 3600 strikes across the U.S. in 1919

Labor Tensions

In Seattle 35, 000 shipyard workers were

joined by 100,000 more in a general strike

In Boston The police force walked off the

job with the support and sympathy of the citizens, at first

Anarchy resulted Calvin Coolidge as Governor of

Massachusetts “There is no right to strike against the public

safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.”

Unions Lose Public Support and Membership

Americans viewed unions as a threat Strike related violence could lead to

anarchy The strikes didn’t achieve lasting effects “Politics” of union membership

Unskilled workers often were left out Immigrants were not welcomed African-Americans were excluded

The Supreme Court rejected child labor laws and minimum wage laws

Bomb Scares Fuel Fear of Radicals

Senators, mayors, business leaders and even a Supreme Court justice either received bomb packages or were going to

Radicalism = extreme change in the social or economic structures Could be Communists, Socialists or Anarchists

(who are opposed to all systems of government) Communism called for the public

ownership of all means of production leading to a classless society The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia

accomplished this The Red Scare

The Red Scare Leads to Raids on Subversives

Attorney General Mitchell Palmer and his assistant J. Edgar Hoover raid homes, businesses and meeting places often without cause (known as “Palmer Raids”)

Civil Liberties were trampled

Increasing Social Tension Nativism

“they” could never be 100% American “they” are overcrowding our cities and taking our jobs

Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 Set quotas to limit immigration

The Ku Klux Klan Anti-Jewish, anti-black, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic Their membership reached 3-4 million in the 1920’s

In 1920 the ACLU was founded to defend those whose rights were being violated (not always popular)

Enduring Racial and Religious Tension

Race riots exploded as a result of the Great Migration Black veterans couldn’t find jobs (white veterans had

their jobs taken by blacks) Back to Africa Movement

Marcus Garvey Raised the question of a

separate society versus anintegrated one

Anti-Semitism Prejudice against Jews The Anti-Defamation League

(ADL) is founded to combatdiscrimination against Jews

The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti

A Case Study for Understanding Post-World War One America

ECONOMIC TENSIONS: LABOR

TENSIONS: POLITICAL

TENSIONS: SOCIAL

TENSIONS:

CHAPTER 27: THE POLITICS OF

NORMALCY

Did the Republican Era of the 1920’s bring peace and prosperity to all Americans?

CHAPTER 28: POPULAR CULTURE IN THE

ROARING TWENTIESWhat social trends and

innovations shaped popular culture during the 1920’s?

Pop. Culture Trends of the

1920’s

A new consumer culture New appliances,

electricity in homes

Advertising builds demand

Installment buying allows credit

Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s

Americans take to the road and air Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St.

Louis become heroes Barnstorming air shows with wing

walkers gain popularity Amelia Earhart flies solo across the

Atlantic Henry Ford mass produces affordable

automobiles The isolation of farm life ends Suburbs can grow Roadside advertising becomes big business

Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s

The importance of mass media Newspapers and magazines keep

Americans informed Radio pioneers like David Sarnoff

provide entertainment (NBC) Music, comedies, dramas all on the radio

People flock to movie houses The Jazz Singer was the first full length

“talkie” “Radio told the masses what to do,

movies showed them how to do it.” Fashions, hair styles, behaviors

Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s

Women move toward greater equality League of Women Voters to educate

women on the issues and support political activity

Equal Rights Amendment championed by Alice Paul is proposed but never ratified

Women enter professions, seek greater opportunities and rebel against traditional roles, clothing, behavior and customs

Margaret Sanger opens the country’s first family planning clinic

Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s The “Jazz Age”

Distinctly American form of music African rhythms, European harmonies, African-

American folk music Improvisation not necessarily a written score Harlem in NYC doubled in population with the

Great Migration The most famous club of all was the Cotton Club

Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s (writers and artists)

Harlem Renaissance “revival” or “rebirth” The Great Migration

congregated black populations in large, northern cities war opportunities limits in immigration poor conditions in

the south and oppression by whites

None larger than in Harlem, New York

Mother to Son by Langston HughesWell, son, I’ll tell you:Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.It’s had tacks in it, and splinters,And boards torn up,And places with no carpet on the floor -

Bare.But all the timeI’se been a-climbin’ on,And reachin’ landin’s,And turnin’ corners,And sometimes goin’ in the darkWhere there ain’t been no light.So boy, don’t you turn back.Don’t you set down on the steps‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.Don’t you fall now-For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’,And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s (writers and artists)

Jazz Age Authors F. Scott Fitzgerald

Moral emptiness, lost promises from World War I The Lost Generation

Critical of American life

Many headed to Paris e.e. cummings used

no capital letters Artists like Georgia

O’Keeffe found inspiration in nature

Pop. Culture Trends of the 1920’s

(sports heroes)

CHAPTER 29: THE CLASS BETWEEN TRADITIONALISM

AND MODERNISM

How did social, economic and religious tensions divide

Americans during the Roaring Twenties?

TRADITIONALISTS MODERNISTS Respect for long held

social, cultural and religious values

Those provide stability and order

A desire for the “simple life”

Embrace of new ideas, styles and social trends

Traditional values were chains that restricted individual freedoms and the pursuit of happiness

Urban Attractions and Rural Problems

Life in the City Wages and

per capita income rose

Standards of living improved

Movies, museums, concerts, clubs

Life in the Country New ideas and

behaviors were cause for suspicion

Crop prices fell after the war and farmers could not pay loans

The Republican administrations did not want to interfere with the markets and help

Urban Modernists vs. Rural Traditionalists

Small town values were mocked by modernists while the traditionalists fought to preserve and defend all that was good in American life

Cities = immoral, materialistic, money-grubbing Fundamentalism in the country = the idea that

religious texts and beliefs should be taken literally and treated as the ultimate authority on behavior

Billy Sunday gained popularity as the most prominent fundamentalist preacher of the day

Rural areas were losing population to the cities

The Young vs. The OldYOUTH PERSPECTIVE ADULT PERSPECTIVE High School and

college enrollment was growing

Fads and trends develop

Flappers w/ their new clothing styles and behaviors

Mass media andcars provide “escapes”

The young were reckless and immoral

The Hays Office issues moral codes for movie behavior

Legislate more conservative behavior

Wets vs. DrysDRY PERSPECTIVE WET PERSPECTIVE Support the 18th

amendment (Volstead Act) for a happier and healthier society

Prohibition would help control “foreign” influences

Government couldn’t (or shouldn’t) legislate morality

Too difficult to enforce

Speakeasies allowed drinking in secret clubs

Bootleggers got rich

Creationism vs. EvolutionEVOLUTION CREATIONISM Charles Darwin The Bible is the word

of God

Creationism vs. EvolutionEVOLUTION CREATIONISM Natural Selection Survival of the

Fittest “Social Darwinism”

The fittest or most powerful should rule the less powerful

Science can explain how the physical world works

Taken literally, “God created the Universe.”

Fear of eugenics The human species

could be improved by forbidding people with undesirable characteristics from reproducing

The Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925)

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution holds that inherited characteristics of a population change over generations, which sometimes results in the rise of a new species. According to Darwin, the human species may have

evolved from an ape-like species that lived long ago. Fundamentalists think this theory is against the biblical

account of how God created humans and that teaching evolution undermines religious faith.

Laws were passed preventing evolution being taught in schools

One group in Tennessee persuaded a young science teacher named John Scopes to violate the law, get arrested, and go to trial.

The Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925)

Scopes was represented by Clarence Darrow, and William Jennings Bryan, three-time candidate for president, represented the prosecution.

John Scopes was obviously guilty, but the trial was about larger issues.

Scopes was convicted and fined $100

The Tennessee law remained in place until the 1960s.