The New Era

Chapter 24

I. The New Economy

• Economic Growth– Huge economic boom in early 1920s

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– Causes» » » » » »

Economic Organization

– Consolidation: U.S. Steel and “Little Steel”

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Labor in the New Era

– Strong economy, but uneven distribution of wealth• • •

– Positive Changes for Labor• • • •

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Labor in the New Era Continued

– Limited / Negative Changes for Labor• unions feeble•

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– Union movement looked at as best hope, but weak•

Women and Minorities in the Work Force

– increased number of women working “pink collar” jobs

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– African Americans•

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Women and Minorities in the Work Force Continued

– Asians in the West and Southwest•

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• – Hispanics in the West and Southwest

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The “American Plan”

– Strength of corporations was the principal reason for the absence of effective labor organization

– Corporate leaders worked hard to label unionism with radicalism

– Protection of the “open shop” became “American Plan”… principal behind harsh campaign of union busting

– Government Assistance goes to corporate leaders•

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The Plight of the Farmer– number of tractors on American farms quadrupled in the

1920s… lead to 35 million new acres of cultivation– increased production did not increase demand… result was

overproduction• • •

– 3 million people left agriculture in the course of the decade… many that remained forced into tenancy

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Consumerism– society in which people could buy things not just out

of need, but out of pleasure– new products: electric refrigerators, washing

machines, electric irons, vacuum cleaners, wristwatches, cigarettes, cosmetics and automobiles

– how the automobile changed American life• • •

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• suburbs • social lives for younger, affluent people

II. The New Culture

Advertising

– advertising grows in response to success of WWI propaganda

– no longer just about sharing information… now about persuasion

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*Fake Smile**Fake Smile*

The Movies and Broadcasting

• Films– 40 million had seen films in 1922 / 100 million by 1930– First feature length “talkie” The Jazz Singer– 1921: Motion Picture Association to set up “standards” on

films•

– Rudolph Valentino– Radio

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• KDKA first commercial radio station in America• • • •

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Modernist Religion

– movement to abandon some literal interpretation of the Bible for a belief system that would help individuals live more fulfilling lives in the present world

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Professional Women

– substantial group of women now combined marriage and careers: 25% of all women workers married

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Changing Ideas of Motherhood– 1920s = redefinition of motherhood– “behaviorist” psychology began to challenge the

idea that women had an instinctive capacity for motherhood

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– women become less likely to allow children to intervene with development of marital relationship

– focus of sex shifts from procreation to romantic expression

– birth control = both a cause and an effect of this new way of thinking

– Margaret Sanger = advocate of birth control• • •

– Many birth control devices banned in many states… abortion illegal nearly everywhere

Margaret SangerMargaret Sanger

The “Flapper”: Image and

Reality– some women believed that the in the “New Era” it was no longer necessary to

maintain a rigid, Victorian female “respectability”… general release from repression and inhibition

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– attend lively parties– flapper = term used to describe “New Era” woman whose liberated lifestyle found

new expression• • • •

– huge impact on lower-middle class and working class single women who were flocking to new industrial jobs in the service sector

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Pressing for Women’s Rights

– realization that the “new woman” was a myth lead many women to continue to press for reform

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– 1921 Sheppard-Towner Act: provided federal funds to states to establish prenatal and child healthcare programs… 1929 program terminated due to opposition on many fronts

– 1929 discovered that female vote had done little change to electoral votes… women divided the same way as men… thus male politicians felt little concern about the consequences of opposing the demands of female reformers

Education and Youth

– more people going to school than ever before•

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– emergence of separate youth culture: concept of adolescence

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The Decline of the “Self-Made Man”– increase in the beliefs of

education and adolescence lead to the gradual disappearance of this theory

– crisis of self-identification and dependence among many American males

– Different outlets for masculinity• • •

– Creation of three heroes… all of which represented the triumphs of modern technology, but did not have formal education

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The Disenchanted

– generation of artists and intellectuals who found new society disturbing

– rather than change society, they tried to isolate themselves

– “Lost Generation”•

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The Disenchanted Continued

– Ernest Hemmingway, Farwell to Arms

– “debunkers” writers who wrote savage critiques of nearly every aspect of society

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– many went to live in isolated places and engaged in hedonistic lifestyles

– end result was one of the greatest decades of American Literature

The Harlem Renaissance

– once an affluent white suburb in northern Manhattan… by the end of WWI: one of the largest and most influential African American communities

– “Harlem Renaissance” term used to describe a new generation of black artists and intellectuals who created a flourishing African American culture

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– Brought African American products to the attention of larger society

– Some blacks combined there art with radical politics

The Southern Agrarians

– centered around Vanderbilt University– questioned modern industry– “Renegades” not originally connected to the South,

but eventually targeted the South because it was underdeveloped… became Agrarians

– I’ll Take My Stand… Agrarian manifesto• •

– “backwards” South as model for a nation drunk with visions of limitless growth and modernization

Prohibition– when passed, huge symbol of progressivism– within a year “noble experiment” not working

well–

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III. A Conflict of Cultures

Prohibition Continued– trade once operated by

legitimate businessmen now operated by organized crime

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– rural, Protestant Americans continue to defend Prohibition

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– “wets” v. “drys”– 1933 repealed during

Great Depression

Nativism and the Klan

– again, old stock trying to discipline new stock

– post war ideology: immigration associated with radicalism

– Spreading Growth–

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Nativism and the Klan Continued

• KKK– – – – – –

• Systematic Terrorism– – – – – –

Nativism and the Klan Continued Again

– The Klan didn’t just fear “racial impurities” they feared any challenge to “traditional values”

– Provided poor whites with a sense of community and seeming authority

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– Downfall of Klan 1925–

Religious Fundamentalism

• American Protestantism divided into two camps

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• i. strongly opposed Darwin• ii. literal interpretation of the Bible

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Religious Fundamentalism Continued

– American Civil Liberties Union: founded in 1920 by citizens who were alarmed with the repressive legal and social climate of the war and it’s aftermath (Jane Addams, Norman Thomas and Helen Keller)

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– Trial pitted two famous lawyers against each other– – – – – –

The Democrats’ Ordeal

– suffered in response to fractions between urban and rural factions

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– 1928: Alfred E. Smith secures party nomination and secures total division in Democratic party (the next and last Catholic to receive a major party nomination would be JFK)

– Herbert Hoover took office widely believed to be one of the most capable and well equipped to take office….

Harding and Coolidge – two men who characterized the nature of 1920s politics: passive– Warren G. Harding

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– Calvin Coolidge• •

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IV. Republican Government

Warren G. Harding• undistinguished

• easily controlled

• lacked the strength to abandon interests that made him president

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Calvin Coolidge • main advisers were from the advertising industry

• built a reputation as a simple man defending country virtues… but was thoroughly urban man of modern sensibilities

• conviction that gov’t should interfere as little as possible

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Government and Business

– despite ineptness of presidents, much gov’t was working effectively to adapt public policy to the widely accepted goal of helping business and industry operate with maximum efficiency and productivity

– Business continued to work with gov’t… but in altered form which was contrary to progressive ideals

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Government and Business Continued– Remaining progressive

reformers lacked the power to overthrow presidential vetoes

– Some progressives were encouraged with the election of Herbert Hoover… widely regarded as the most progressive member of the Harding and Coolidge administrations… but he would have little opportunity to prove himself