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