Michael Chiu

AP US History
Period 2
2/12/10
Outline of Chapter 24: “The New Era
- Warren G. Harding once called the 1920s the age of “normalcy” – the “Roaring Twenties”
was actually the decade with significant social, economic, and political change
-Some people call the 1920s the “New Era”- America was becoming a modern nation
-The New Era’s enthusiastic modernization caused deep divisions within the nation
The New Economy
Technology and Economic Growth
-America’s manufacturing output in the 1920s rose by more than 60 percent during the
decade – mild recession in 1923, but after it subsided, the economy grew even faster
-The economic boom was the result of the debilitation of European industry because of
World War I, leaving the U.S. for a time the truly healthy industrial power in the world
-Also important in the long run was technology, which made great industrial expansion
possible – automobile industry became one the most important industries in the nation
-Radio began to emerge as popular technology – the theory of modulation, pioneered by
Reginald Fessenden, made it possible to transmit speech and music
-In both England and America, scientists were working to created machines that could
perform more complicated tasks – the first analog computer was created in the early 1930s
by researchers at MIT led by Vannevar Bush – starting point for dramatic progress
-Austrian Gregor Mendel began conducting genetic research
Economic Organization
-General Motors was the largest automobile manufacturer by 1920 – also fifth largest
American corporation – classic example of when certain areas where industry consolidated
and new forms of corporate organization emerged to advance the trend – GM’s founder,
William Durant, never replaced the informal management style he began – Alfred P. Sloan
created a modern administrative system
-Some industries tried to stabilize themselves through cooperation – important vehicle was
the trade association – national organization created by various members of an industry to
encourage coordination in production and marketing techniques
-Trade associations worked well in mass-production industries that had already succeeded in
limiting competition through consolidation but didn’t in more decentralized industries
Labor in the New Era
-“Welfare capitalism” was the practice of employers of adopting paternalistic techniques to
avoid disruptive labor unrest and forestall growth of independent trade unions
-Henry Ford shortened the workweek, raised wages, and instituted paid vacations
-Still, the lives of laborers were relatively unchanged
-Many laborers regarded an effective, independent union movement as their best hope
-The American Federation of Labor continued to make no provision for the unskilled work
force who had few organizations of their won – its president William Green was committed
to peaceful cooperation with employers and frowned on strikes
Women and Minorities in the Work Force
-Women were concentrated in “pink-collar” jobs – low-paying service occupations
-The same applied to blacks
-The AFL leaders did not want women and minorities to become union members – the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, led by A. Philip Randolph was an exception – union
led by an African American and representing an all-black work force – Randolph won some
significant gains for his members
The “American Plan”
-The strength of the corporations was the main reason for the absence of effective labor
organization
-Corporate leaders worked hard to spread the idea that unionism was rebellious – that a
crucial element of democratic capitalism was the protection of the open shop (shop where no
worker could be required to join a union)–euphemistically called “the American Plan”
-When these tactics proved insufficient to counter union power, government assistance from
the Courts often made the difference – decreased union membership
Agricultural Technology and the Plight of the Farmer
- American agriculture also embraced new technologies in the 1920s
-Number of tractors on American farms quadrupled – powered by internal combustion
engines rather than by steam engines – helped produce more crops with fewer workers
-New technologies increased productivity, but demand for agricultural goods was not rising
as fast as production – resulted in substantial surpluses, decline in food prices, and drop in
farmers’ income – farmers demanded relief in the form of government price supports – one
scheme was the idea of “parity” – complicated formula for setting adequate price for farm
goods and ensuring that farmers would earn back at least their production costs no matter
how the national or world agricultural market might fluctuate
-Legislative expression of the demand for parity was the McNary-Haugen Bill – was
approved twice, but was vetoed by President Coolidge both times
The New Culture
Consumerism
-By 1920, Americans could afford a considerable measure of additional goods – America
was a society where people could buy items not only because of need but for pleasure
-Above all, Americans bought automobiles – by end of the decade, more than 30 million
-Rural Americans found the automobile a means of escaping the isolation of farm life-could
visit friends – city dwellers found it an escape from congestion of urban life
Advertising
-Publicists sought to identify products as personally fulfilling
-One of the most successful books of the 1920s was The Man Nobody Knows, written by
advertising executive Bruce Barton – portrayed Jesus Christ as a “super salesman” p. 648
-The advertising industry benefited tremendously through new communication methods such
as newspapers and mass-circulation magazines – the Saturday Evening Post appealed to rural
families – The Readers Digest founded in 1921 by DeWitt and Lila Wallace made knowledge
available to people who would otherwise have no access to it
-Time magazine was founded by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden – news
The Movies and Broadcasting
-The addition of sound in motion pictures began with The Jazz Singer in 1927
-A scandal involving comedian Fatty Arbuckle produced political pressure to “clean up”
Hollywood – film industry produced “standards” for films – studio owners created the
Motion Picture Association – hired Will Hays to head it – had power to ban films p. 648
-The most important communications tool was the radio – first commercial radio station in
America was KDKA in Pittsburgh – began broadcasting in 1920 – first national radio
network was the National Broadcasting Company – formed in 1927
-Radio programming was more diverse and at times more controversial than film
Modernist Religion
-Theological modernists taught followers to accept a faith that would help individuals to live
more fulfilling lives
-Most influential spokesman for liberal Protestantism in the 1920s was Harry Emerson
Fosdick – claimed that the basis of Christian religion was a fully developed personality
-Wrote Abundant Religion in 1926
-However, most Americans remained faithful to more traditional religious messages
Professional Women
-In the 1920s, professional opportunities for women remained limited by assumptions about
what were suitable female occupations
-Most women were confined to traditional “feminine” fields – ex. Fashion, nursing
Changing Ideas of Motherhood
-“Companiate marriages” were marriages in which the middle-class wife shared more with
her husband’s social life – less willing to allow children to interfere with the development of
the marital relationship
-Progress in birth control was cause and result of this change
-American birth-control pioneer was Margaret Sanger – in 1920s, she tried to persuade
middle-class women of the benefits of birth-control - birth-control remained illegal in many
states
The “Flapper”: Image and Reality
-In the 1920s, a more secular view of womanhood emerged – these views became basis of
the “flapper” – the modern woman whose liberated lifestyle found expression in dress,
hairstyle, speech and behavior
-Despite the image of liberation, most women remained highly dependent on men
Pressing for Women’s Rights
-The National Woman’s Party under the leadership of Alice Paul pressed on with campaign
for Equal Rights Amendment – found little support
-Women won a significant triumph in 1921 – secured passage in Congress of the Sheppard-
Towner Act – provided federal funds to states to establish prenatal and child healthcare
programs – produced controversy – Alice Paul opposed it – complained that it classified all
women as mothers – Margaret Sanger opposed it – would discourage birth control
-The American Medical Association opposed it – believed that it would introduce untrained
outsiders into the health-care field
-Congress terminated the program in 1929
Education and Youth
-Growing importance of education contributed to emergence of separate youth culture – idea
of adolescence as a distinct period was new to the 20th century
-Resulted in society’s recognition that a more extended time was necessary before a young
person was ready to move into the workplace
The Decline of the “Self-Made Man”
-It was becoming more difficult to believe that success was possible without an education
-Many men looked for means to obtain the independence and control that once defined
“masculinity”
-Thomas Edison, inventor of the electric light bulb, Henry Ford, creator of the assembly line,
and Charles Lindbergh, the first aviator to make a solo flight across the Atlantic
-Admirers believed that these men were genuinely self-made men
The Disenchanted
-Gertrude Stein referred to young Americans emerging from World War I as a “Lost
Generation” – experienced disenchantment with modern America
-a the heart of the Lost Generation’s critique of modern society was a sense of personal
alienation- America didn’t provide individuals opportunities for personal fulfillment
-This disenchantment was mainly a result of World War I – the growing emphasis on
materialism and consumerism suggested that nothing had been gained
-Ernest Hemingway expressed contempt of the war in A Farewell to Arms
-Other than the war, many intellectuals were disturbed by character of American society
-Resulted in a wide range of intellectuals criticizing modern society- known as debunkers
-Among them was H. L. Mencken – ridiculed religion, politics, the arts, even democracy
-Intellectuals of the 1920s rejected “success ethic” they believed was in American life
-Ex. F. Scott Fitzgerald ridiculed American obsession with material success
-Some intellectuals advocated for reform for society – Charles and Mary Beard, two
historians, stressed economic factors in tracing development of modern society and
emphasized clash of economic interests as central to American history
The Harlem Renaissance
-In the 1920s, Harlem became of the nation’s largest and most influential African-American
communities – new generation of intellectuals created African-American culture called the
“Harlem Renaissance”
-Black artists tried to demonstrate the richness of their own racial heritage – one of the
leaders of the Harlem Renaissance was Alain Locke, who assembled collection of black
writings as The New Negro
-The Harlem Renaissance brought products to attention of larger society – had impact on
blacks and whites
The Conflict of Cultures
Prohibition
-Prohibition of sale and prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s was supported by most of the
middle-class – however, it produced conspicuous violations that made the law a source of
controversy
-Before long, it almost as easy to acquire illegal alcohol as it had been to acquire legal
alcohol
-In Chicago, Al Capone built a criminal empire based largely on illegal alcohol – guarded it
with as many as 1,000 gunmen – caused death of more than 250 people in the city
Nativism and the Klan
-Like prohibition, a cub on foreign immigration was supported by middle-class progressives
-In 1921, Congress passed an emergency immigration act – established quota system where
annual immigration to the U.S. could not exceed 3% of the number of people of that
nationality who had been in the U.S. in 1910 – decreased immigration from 800,000 to
300,000 – however, nativists pushed for a harsher law
-The National Origins Act of 1924 banned immigration from east Asia entirely
-The nativism of the 1920s helped instigate the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan – had died in
1870s, but in 1915, another group of white southerners met and established a modern version
-Leo Frank page 68
-The new Klan was largely concerned with intimidating blacks – according to leader William
J. Simmons, they were becoming insubordinate
-What the Klan feared was anyone who posed a challenge to “traditional values” – the Klan
persecuted not only immigrants and blacks but also white Protestants they considered of
irreligion, sexual promiscuity, or drunkenness
-The organization declined in 1925 due to a series of internal power struggles and scandals –
most damaging scandal was of head of the Indiana Klan, David Stephenson, who raped a
young secretary, kidnapped her, and watched her die after she swallowed poison
Religious Fundamentalism
-The “fundamentalists” were those who fought to maintain the centrality of religion in
American life – outraged at abandonment of traditional beliefs in the face of scientific
discoveries
-In 1925 in Tennessee, Congress passed a measure making it illegal for any public school
teacher “to teach any theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man as taught in
the Bible.” – attracted of attention of American Civil Liberties Union
-The ACLU offered free counsel to any Tennessee educator willing to defy the law and
become the defendant in a test case – John T. Scopes agreed to have himself arrested
-When the ACLU sent famous attorney Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes, William Jennings
Bryan announced that he would assist the prosecution
-Although Scopes was found guilty because he broke the law, Darrow won an important
victory for modernists
The Democrats’ Ordeal
-The Democrats suffered during the 1920s because of tensions between its urban and rural
factions
-In 1928, Alfred E. Smith secured the Democrat’s nomination for president – he was unable
to unite his divided party – largely because of anti-Catholic sentiment in the South
-He did not carry the entire South and carried no other states except MA and Rhode Island
-Smith’s opponent was Herbert Hoover – seemed to personify the modern, prosperous,
middle-class society of the New Era
Republican Government
Harding and Coolidge
-Harding seemed baffled by his own responsibilities – had many weaknesses
-He lacked the strength to abandon the party hacks that helped create his party success – such
as Harry Daugherty, boss principle responsible for his meteoric political ascent – appointed
attorney general – another was Albert B. Fall, made secretary of the interior
-Unknown to the public, Daugherty and others were engaged in fraud and corruption
-Most spectacular scandal involved rich naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming – at
the urging of Fall, Harding transferred control of reserves from Navy Department to Interior
Department – Fall secretly leased them too two wealthy businessmen and received half a
million dollars in loans – was ultimately convicted of bribery – Harding died in 1923 – h.a.
-Calvin Coolidge was dour, silent, even puritanical, utterly different from Harding – honest –
however, both took an essentially passive approach to their presidency - served 1 term
Government and Business
-The widely accepted goal of the time for the government was helping business and industry
operate with maximum efficiency and productivity
-Secretary of The Treasury Andrew Mellon, a wealthy steel tycoon, worked for substantial
reductions in taxes on corporate profits – largely from his efforts, Congress cut them by half
-Mellon also worked with President Coolidge after 1924 on a series of measures that would
reduce the modest federal budget
-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover considered himself a notable progressive – encouraged
voluntary cooperation in the private sector as the best avenue to stability – blieved that public
institutions had a duty to play an active role in creating new cooperative order
-Hoover became champion of the concept of business “associationalism” – a concept that
envisioned the creation of national organizations of businessmen in particular industries –
Hoover believed that through these trade associations, private businessmen could stabilize
their industries and promote efficiency in production and marketing
-Hoover defeated Al Smith, the Democratic candidate in the Election of 1928 for President