Bell Ringer

1
Bell Ringer

• Give a list of the Progressive era reforms and
  explain which one was the most significant.
• If you dont know them, look them up! You MUST
  know this list of reforms!

2
The Twenties

• Chapter 22

3
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• Harding won the presidency in 1920 due to his
  call to return to normalcy
• The postwar economy underwent drastic changes
• Increase in efficiency of production
• Climb in real wages
• Decline in the average workers hourly week
• Boom in consumer goods industry
• This economic boom changed how Americans
  organized business, earned their living, and
  enjoyed their leisure time
• It also led to the worst economic depression
  America has ever seen

4
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• America underwent a second industrial revolution
• Electricity replaced steam as the main source of
  power (30 of factories in 1914 vs. 70 in 1929)
• The new machines could be operated by unskilled
  or semiskilled workers
• The average worker produced 3/4ths by 1929 than
  they had in 1919
• New consumer goods of the time included
• Radios, washers, telephones, automobiles
• Canning, chemicals, synthetics, plastics also
  became a part of everyday life

5
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• The construction industry also saw a boom
• Residential housing in the suburban areas became
  desirable due to the auto
• Credit expanded to allow for such development
• National mortgage debt jumped from 8B in 1919 to
  27B in 1929
• Corporations underwent change in the 1920s
• Prior to the 20s people like Rockefeller and
  Carnegie maintained both corporate control
  (ownership) and business leadership (management)
  of their businesses
• The new business model would be demonstrated by
  Alfred P. Sloan (GM) and Owen D. Young (Radio
  Corporation of America)

6
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• The new business model had salaried executives,
  plant managers, and engineers who made decisions
  but did not have a controlling interest in the
  company they worked for (didnt own 51 of the
  stock)
• They stressed scientific management and
  behavioral psychology to make the workplace more
  productive, stable, and profitable
• Companies such as Du Pont had specialized in
  things like gunpowder before 1920 but moved into
  consumer goods such as fabrics, paints, and dyes
• GE and Westinghouse moved into radios, washers,
  and refridgerators

7
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• By 1929 200 companies controlled half of the
  corporate wealth
• The top 100 companies controlled 50 of the
  revenues made per year
• Oligopolies were common
• Four companies packed 3/4ths of the countries
  meat
• National grocery chain stores, clothing shops,
  and pharmacies began squeezing out local business
• The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (the
  AP) had 15,000 stores across the country

8
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• To combat government favoritism toward labor
  unions, corporations created a system known as
  welfare capitalism
• Incentives offered under welfare capitalism
  included insurance policies, stock purchase
  programs, improved work conditions, and sports
  and recreation programs
• This system did not solve seasonal unemployment,
  low wages, long hours, and unhealthy factory
  conditions
• The corporations used the American Plan, which
  involved creating open shops
• Open shop meant that non-union employees received
  the same benefits as union members

9
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• In company union systems, corporations created
  company unions
• These unions were used as substitutes for
  collective bargaining, and were largely symbolic
  and created for appearances sake
• These strategies led to a sharp decline in union
  membership
• Other things that caused a decline in union power
  were the timid leadership of William Green over
  the AFL, the government moved back to a
  pro-business stance, and the Supreme Court was
  unsympathetic toward labor

10
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• The automobile changed the American way of life
  more than any other development or invention
• Henry Fords revolutionary new assembly system
  made it possible to produce a car every 10
  seconds by 1925 (it took 13 hours in 1913)
• Ford doubled the average industrial worker wage
  to 5/hr for an 8-hour day
• Note this was more pay for less hours
• He did this for two reasons he knew that his
  producers were consumers, and it reduced his high
  turnover rate
• By making the cars more affordable, millions more
  would drive the 300 Model T car that he produced

11
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• By 1927, Ford had produced 15,000,000 Model Ts
• By this time, General Motors had become a stiff
  competitor
• GM developed a new marketing strategy by dividing
  the company into separate divisions that each
  targeted a particular audience
• Cadillac Wealthy
• Chevrolet Working and middle class
• GM also developed market research and sale
  forecasting, which has since become a model for
  large American corporations

12
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• The auto industry helped steel, rubber, glass,
  and petroleum markets
• It stimulated spending for roads, and is credited
  for the boom in suburban communities
• It led to the development of showrooms, repair
  shops, gas stations, motels, billboard
  advertising, and roadside diners
• It is credited with the rapid development of
  California and Florida
• Autos changed the experience of American people
  by allowing them to travel to far-off places,
  visit other cities for shopping or to see family
• It changed the way young people dated

13
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• Cities grew a significant amount by 1930
• Cities promised business opportunities, good
  jobs, cultural opportunities, and personal
  freedom
• Most people moving into cities were black or
  immigrant
• Cities grew horizontally and vertically
• Skyscrapers began to appear, including the Empire
  State Building
• Completed 1931, tallest in the world at 102
  stories

14
Cities grow up and out
New York City, 2006 Above Cityscape from 80th
floor of the Empire state building Right Skyline
pictures from Statue of Liberty and ferry
15
Quiz

• For the following question provide ONE of the
  body paragraphs you would use in writing this
  essay
• How did TWO of the following help shape American
  national culture in the 1920s?
• Advertising
• Entertainment
• Mass Production

16
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• The automobile allowed the suburbs to have lower
  residential density, as well as workplaces and
  shopping centers outside of the interior of the
  city
• Despite advancements in industrial workers lives
  and urban living, parts of the country lagged
  behind in prosperity
• One-third of American workers in the 1920s were
  employed in agriculture
• Due to record high prices of crops during World
  War I and a massive surplus left over from the
  war, prices began to drop in 1920
• Prices also declined on property, wiping out
  billions in capital investment

17
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• Due to expanded debt coupled with lower prices
  for crops, farmers were in need of bailout (which
  was unsuccessful)
• Wheat was one of the few exceptions to this trend
• While a handful of agricultural products were at
  least breaking even, the income gap between
  farmers and non-farmers increased (223 870)

18
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• The main relief act, passed by Congress but
  vetoed by President Coolidge (McNary-Haugen Bill)
  proposed that the government purchase the
  farmers surplus and then sell it on world
  markets or when domestic prices rose
• Farmers would not see any government relief until
  the New Deal programs of the 1930s

19
PostWar Prosperity and its Price

• Coal, railroad, and textile industries lost
  significance as oil, cars, and cost-cutting
  measures rose in prominence
• Areas such as Appalachia became significantly
  poorer than more urban areas of the country

20
The new mass culture

• The rise of mass media (communication to a large
  audience) led to a standard of habit, dress,
  language, and social behavior
• The Roaring 20s was so named because of the
  explosion of image and sound machinery
• While most people had limited access to this
  up-and-coming way of life, those who did found
  the new definition of the good life
• Initially, Americans saw movies in nickelodeons
  at a rate of about 7,000,000 daily admissions
• As the movie industry shifted to Hollywood, large
  studios such as Paramount, Fox, MGM, and Warner
  Brothers dominated the business

21
The new mass culture

• These studios were founded by European immigrants
  who came to America and started in menial jobs
• With the invention of talkies (the first being
  The Jazz Singer in 1927), Hollywood came to rely
  heavily on Wall Street for funding
• Just like today, Hollywood emphasized liberal
  social themes and used celebrity fanaticism to
  teach people, particularly the youth, how to
  live their lives
• As Hollywood became more permissive in its
  themes, people began to push for censorship
• Studio moguls brought in Will Hayes to develop
  their own form of censorship to avoid
  governmental involvement

22
The new mass culture

• Radio was launched by Harry P. Davis
• The first thing aired on public radio was the
  1920 election results
• After that KDKA offered regular nightly
  broadcasts heard by a few hundred people
• By 1923 600K radios had been sold and programs
  included music, talks by college professors,
  church services, as well as news and weather
• Radio provided a link to a larger national
  community
• Soon, advertisers began footing the bill for
  radio broadcasting
• Amos n Andy was the nations first hit show

23
The new mass culture

• A new form of journalism emerged called tabloids
• Know for scandalous, racy headlines about public
  figures
• Most often bought by poor, uneducated people
• Was criticized for being in bad taste and vulgar
• Advertising emerged as a profession
• Many techniques were used to persuade consumers
  to buy certain products

24
A Classic Icon in Advertising
25
The new mass culture

• Sports grew increasingly popular in the 1920s
• Athletes were ideally rich, famous, glamorous,
  and a rebel (Babe Ruth and A-Rod have similar
  traits)
• Ruth is the most well known name in baseball,
  Americas national pastime
• When a reporter commented on Ruths 80,000
  salary being more than Pres. Hoovers Ruth
  replied Well, I had a better year than he did.
• College football also saw a growth in popularity
• Focus on Ivy league teams decreased while schools
  like Notre Dame gained in importance

26
National Pastimes
27
The new mass culture

• Celebrities became the model of achievement in
  the new age
• The new morality of more liberal behaviors
  began to emerge in common culture
• The flapper is one of the most iconic images of
  new morality, but were flappers new?
• Nothey were just new to the middle-class white
  people
• Black ghettos, bohemian enclaves, and
  working-class dance halls had seen these rebels
  long before they became mainstream
• The new morality promoted sex as a positive,
  health impulse, that if repressed would result in
  psychological issues

28
The flapper image

• Flappers were known for
• Sexual experimentation
• Jazz dancers
• Heavy makeup
• Cigarette smoking
• Bobbed hair
• Short/revealing skirts

29
The State, the economy, and business

• The 1920s ushered in a era of confident
  Republicans controlling the White House
• Warren Harding
• Calvin Coolidge
• Herbert Hoover
• The Republicans boosted the government-business
  partnership as the reason for economic prosperity
• Harding did little active campaigning during his
  election due to fear of being discovered
• He was somewhat shallow and intellectually weak

30
The State, the economy, and business

• Upon taking office, Harding surrounded himself
  with the Ohio gang (his friends)
• By 1923, he caught wind of scandals produced by
  his cronies
• He commented, This is a hell of a job! I have
  no trouble with my enemiesBut my damned
  friendstheyre the ones that keep me walking the
  floor nights.
• Scandal one Attorney General Harry Daugherty
  took bribes
• Scandal two Teapot Dome scandalInterior Sec.
  Albert Fall pocketed money in exchange for
  secretly leasing oil reserves to two private
  investors
• He was the first cabinet member to be imprisoned

31
The State, the economy, and business

• Harding administration wasnt all bad
• Andrew Mellon, who served as Sec. of the Treasury
  under all three Republicans lead America through
  its prosperous period
• Mellons economic plan included tax cuts for the
  wealthy, corporations, and on inheritance
• He also sought to cut spending
• Under his plan, Americas economy grew
  significantly
• Harding died in office (heart attack, 1923)
• Silent Cal Coolidge was different from Harding
• He wanted as little government as possible, he
  only spent 4 hours per day at the office
• Believed people like Mellon were best suited to
  be making the money decisions
• The business of America, is business.

32
The State, the economy, and business

• After Coolidges second term, Herbert Hoover got
  a crack at the White House
• His ideology is summed up in
• Reactionaries and radicals would assume that all
  reform and human advance must come through
  government. They have forgotten that progress
  must come from the steady lift of the individual
  and that the measure of national idealism and
  progress is the quality of idealism in the
  individual.
• Hoover sought to create an associative state
  between the government and businesses

33
The State, the economy, and business

• The Bureau of Standards developed standardized
  engineering and consumer goods
• The Commerce Dept. spoke about the significance
  of cooperation between government and business
• The Antitrust Division of the Justice Dept.
  relaxed their responsibilities due to the
  partnership
• By the end of the 1920s much of the wealth was
  consolidated/owned by only a few companies

34
The State, the economy, and business

• America emerged from WWI as the strongest
  economic power in the world
• By 1929 America had an 8B (yes, billion) surplus
• Clinton had a public deficit of
  5,727,776,738,304.64
• The current public deficit is 6,434,552,796,939.8
  7 (an additional 4T in intergovernmental debt
  also exists now)
• Debts undertaken by Britain and France from the
  US during WWI would not be reclaimed
• The US brokered a deal to cut the amount of debt
  they owed
• The Europeans viewed Americans as loan sharks and
  insistence on repaying at least some of the money
  fueled anti-American campaigns

35
The State, the economy, and business

• Germany felt the reparations under the Treaty of
  Versailles was too much and unfair
• Hoover and Charles Dawes created a plan (the
  Dawes Plan) to stretch out Germanys payments,
  reduced the overall debt, and finance the debt
  through American banks
• This in turn helped Britain and France better pay
  back their debts to the US
• Military restraint was negotiated in the
  Five-Power Treaty
• US, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, and China
  agreed to reduce navies and build less ships,
  etc.
• Italy and Japan bailed leading to the demise of
  the treaty

36
The State, the economy, and business

• Despite not joining the League of Nations, the US
  played a role in world affairs
• In 1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed
  denouncing war
• Many peace loving groups celebrated its passing
• Critics claimed it had no power, and therefore
  was essentially meaningless
• The pact proved meaningless within weeks
• The US Congress approved 250 M for new
  battleships

37
The State, the economy, and business

• Sec. of State Charles Hughes sought to establish
  a Pax Americana meaning have a relationship of
  respect with other nations based on economic, not
  military or political power
• Capitalism would have to play an outstanding role
  in this
• Economic threats against European and Asian
  governments kept them in line with US
  capitalistic prosperity
• In Latin America, military presence was required
  to maintain a level of democracy that would
  encourage fair trade with the US
• This intervention is why our relations with Latin
  American countries is still rocky today

38
Resistance to Modernity

• Prohibition
• 18th Amendment took effect on Jan. 1, 1920
• It was a noble experiment
• The Volstead Act of 1919 was passed to establish
  a federal Prohibition Bureau to enforce it
• Illegal stills and breweries, smuggling, and
  speakeasies were common (bribes to overlook
  were often accepted)
• Organized crime grew due to the profitableness of
  illegal alcohol
• Al Capone saw himself as a businessman
• The 21st Amendment passed in 1933

39
Quiz

• Was the governmental assistance to farmers
  effective at stabilizing the agricultural
  industry?
• How did the auto industry change American lives?
• What was welfare capitalism?
• What were some of the inventions of the Second
  Industrial Revolution?
• Did urban populations increase or decrease during
  the 1920s?

40
Quiz

1. What characteristics were flappers known for?
2. What new form of journalism was introduced in the
   1920s?
3. Who were the three Republicans of the 1920s?
4. What did bootlegging lead to during prohibition?
5. What was the Scopes Trial?