The Roaring Twenties: The Roaring Twenties: (The Presidencies of (The Presidencies of

Harding, Coolidge and Harding, Coolidge and Hoover) Hoover)

NOTESNOTES

Essential Question:Essential Question:How has American history How has American history been impacted by differing been impacted by differing

views?views?

World War I changed the United States, both at home and

abroad.

The American economy experienced a remarkable

period of growth as a result of Europe’s Great War, resulting

in an economic boom that continued even afterwards.

American industry supplied the war. After Wilson asked

Congress to help “make the world safe for democracy,” the entire American economy was mobilized to support the war

effort.

The government managed war production with the War

Industries Board, which told factories what to make.  

Goods were rationed at home, meaning the public went without in order to send

important supplies to the war. 

When the men went off to fight, women and African-

Americans—moving north as part of the Great Migration—took over the jobs vacated in factories, keeping production

moving. 

The country went from a debtor nation—one who owes money—to a creditor nation—

one that is owed money. 

Despite becoming a world player because of the war,

afterwards the country returned to a policy of

isolationism. 

During the war, a major Constitutional issue was raised. Congress passed the Espionage (1917) and Sedition (1918) Acts. Both measure made it illegal to criticize the government during the war, just like the Alien and Sedition

Acts from the War of 1812.  

The laws were challenged in the 1919 Supreme Court case of Schenck v. the United States. Schenck was a socialist

who published pamphlets urging people to fight against the draft. Schenck was arrested and charged with violating the

Espionage Act.  

His defense was that the Act was unconstitutional because

it violated his First Amendment right to free

speech. 

In it’s ruling, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the

Espionage Act did not violate the Constitution because free speech

did not extend to acts of insubordination.

The ruling established the precedent of the “clear and

present danger” test. This means that government can limit one’s

free speech if it can be established that it is a threat to national

security. 

The Roaring Twenties was an interesting

time of conservative values and change.

 

This is most evident in the advent of Prohibition and the reaction to

it. In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution made the manufacture or sale of

alcohol illegal in the entire United States.

American alcohol consumption had become a huge problem for society, for a number of

reasons.  

People drank more and in this era, the popular types of alcohol were had higher

alcohol content.

Domestic violence was a huge problem and laws did not

adequately protect women and children.

The Temperance Movement originally began to limit the

consumption of alcohol, transformed into the “tee-totaling” movement, because it demanded

total—with a capital T—abstinence from drinking.

State and local governments began to ban alcohol

throughout the country. And in 1919, it went nationwide.

But the effects of Prohibition proved disastrous. The new law was unpopular and many people violated it. In fact, it caused the

growth of organized crime as mobsters—such as Al Capone—

dominated the illegal distribution of alcohol through the era.

By 1933, it was clear that Prohibition was a failure. The Twenty-first Amendment was

ratified, lifting the ban on alcohol.

The role of women, transformed by their entrance into the working world—

although temporary for most—during the war and by the Nineteenth Amendment,

was changing. This change is often symbolized by “flappers”—the young

women of the era know for their short, bob hairstyles, short skirts and “immoral” behavior—dancing, drinking and smoking

in public.

Life for African-Americans also saw change during the 1920’s.  

The Great Migration brought many African-Americans to northern cities to work in

factories.

African-American culture had a golden age, with the birth of Jazz

music and the Harlem Renaissance—the art movement celebrating

black culture and demanding equality. Poet Langston Hughes’

work typified the era.

““My People”My People”

The night is beautiful, The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people.So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful, The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my peopleSo the eyes of my people

Beautiful, also, is the sun. Beautiful, also, is the sun. Beautiful, also, are the souls of Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.my people.

In the era after World War I, racial tensions were at a high.

Nativist groups—people that hate foreigners—wanted to halt immigration, fueled by

the Red Scare—fear that communists sought to

overthrow the government.

Fear of communism was rampant after the Russian

Revolution. Communists open preached for the overthrow of

capitalism.

A famous trial of two Italian immigrants accused of a crime

that they did not commit illustrates these Nativist

attitudes. Sacco and Vanzetti were accused of murder and were convicted and executed

with no true evidence.  

With the migration of African-Americans north, hate crimes became common in northern

states. The Ku Klux Klan had a resurgence during the 1920s,

particularly in the mid-west. The Klan’s hatred was exclusive to

black; they also hated Jews, Catholics and immigrants.

And another example of the cultural conflict of the time

came in the Scopes “Monkey Trial.”

In 1925, a biology teacher in Tennessee was recruited to

challenge a state law prohibiting the teaching of Charles Darwin’s

theory of evolution in public schools. The theory was seen as a challenge to the Biblical story of

Creation.

The trial received national attention. Ultimately, John Scopes lost his case, being forced to pay a small fine. But

the case is for more significant to show the conflict within America as it tried to deal with the rapid changes

as it moved into the modern era.

After the war, three Republican Presidents

occupied the White House, Warren G.

Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.

In general, the country was experience an economic boom—a

period of rapid growth—while government tried to stay out of the

way as much as possible, regulating business little. Their

policies were favorable to American business as part of a kind

of backlash from Progressivism.

They supported high tariffs, which benefited American business as foreign goods hit the

market at higher prices.

Anti-big business laws passed during the Progressive Era—

such as the Sherman and Clayton Anti-trust Acts—were

not enforced, allowing big business to make huge profits

again.

Taxation was shifted to the middle and working classes as tax breaks were offered to the

wealthy and large corporations.

Warren Harding’s administration was

trumpeted as a “Return to Normalcy.”

This “normalcy” was not just about getting back to normal after World War I,

but also because of the unrest—protest movement,

strikes, etc.—of the Progressive Movement.

Harding’s term was tarnished by the infamous Teapot Dome Scandal, one of the largest examples of

political corruption in American history.

Harding’s Secretary of the Interior—Albert B. Fall—was given a hefty

bribe (equivalent to $6 Million today) by oil companies in

exchange for a lease to drill for oil in places that the government had set aside for the U. S. Navy to have

exclusive rights to.

When the deal was uncovered, the Supreme Court returned the oil fields to the Navy and the Secretary was fined and

imprisoned—the first member of the President’s cabinet to go

to jail.

Harding has not been shown to have any involvement in the

scandal, but it cast a black eye on his administration

nonetheless. He died of a heart attack three years into

his term in office.

Calvin Coolidge continued Harding’s pro-business policies, famously quoted as saying “the

business of America is business.” After finishing Harding’s term, he was elected in 1924 and did not

seek re-election in 1928 despite his popularity.

With Coolidge stepping aside, Herbert Hoover won the

Presidency in 1928. Unfortunately for Hoover, the prosperity of the 1920’s gave

way to disaster during his time in office.

Hoover made a name for himself as by leading

successful programs to feed war-torn Belgium

and to feed the troops in Europe.

Hoover believed that American success came from a spirit of “rugged

individualism,” believing that if people wanted to work hard that anything

was possible.

In October 1929, the Stock Market crashed, with values dropping $30 Billion within

a few days. This was caused by several factors.

In the 1920s, more people invested more money into the stock market than ever

before. Prices rose considerably, making investing even more

attractive.

Many of these new investors were also buying

on credit (called margin loans). When the market

crashed and the banks wanted their money paid,

people couldn’t pay it.

The 20’s also were an era of overproduction; too many goods were being made.

Because of supply and demand, prices went down

and companies were struggling to keep afloat.

International trade suffered in the period after World War I.

Countries set protective tariffs to protect their countries goods as

they tried to rebuild their economies after the war.

American businesses couldn’t sell their extra goods overseas as they

hoped.

Despite the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the banking

system of the United States still had some problems. In particular, the 1920’s prosperity was fueled by credit (buy now, pay later).

When the economy tanked, people could not pay their bills.

Also, segments of the American population were struggling even

before the Crash. Half of Americans—including African-

Americans, farmers, and Native-Americans—lived below the

poverty line even during this era of economic growth.

The Stock Market Crash caused a financial panic. As banks called in loans, their

bad investments caused many banks to go out of

business.

When a bank went under, all of its customers lost the

money they deposited in it. People began rushing to

their banks to withdraw all their money before their

bank went out of business.

The system couldn’t handle everyone taking their

money out at once, actually causing more banks to go

under.

This panic, more so than the Stock Market Crash, brought on the

Great Depression.

Hoover believed that government could not solve

the Great Depression. He thought that it would

eventually fix itself, if everyone just worked harder. So he did

nothing to help.

Millions were unemployed and struggling to make ends meet and Hoover’s government was

unwilling to help them.

He believed that American businesses would

voluntarily help people and that the government didn’t need to, an idea he called

“volunteerism.”

Hoover’s image suffered when World War I

veterans tried to protest to get their military

pensions early because of the Depression.

A large group of these veterans the press called the Bonus Army went to Washington,

setting up “Hoovervilles”—a makeshift town of cardboard

shacks—and took over federal building demanding they get

paid early.

Hoover ordered General Douglass MacArthur to

clear out the veterans by force. MacArthur went a step further and had the

troops torch the Hoovervilles.

It was a public relations nightmare for Hoover

because it seemed to be further proof that the

President didn’t care about the people.

At the same time as this crisis, on the Great Plains,

farmers were dealing with a natural disaster of

unprecedented proportions.

Over the years, the rich farm lands of the mid-west had been over-farmed. The land struggled to even grow

grass, let alone crops.

A series of droughts dried up the land and weird natural phenomenon

created huge dust storms, caring dust clouds hundreds of miles away. The region was called the Dust Bowl.

Mid-west farmers were struggling to pay their bills

even before this catastrophe. Unable to farm, they couldn’t pay their bills and their farms started to be foreclosed on by

the banks.

Hoover changed his mind and did try to

help at the end of his Presidency, but it was

too little too late.

He created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to provide emergency, government loans to banks and business to get

them get the economy running again.

It wasn’t enough to make a difference. When Hoover ran for re-election, people wanted

a change. They voted for Democrat Franklin D.

Roosevelt instead.