1920's-1930's Notes

20's Entertainment:

*Bobbed hair, heavy make-up, shorts skirts, sheer silk stockings, cigarettes, alcohol, dancing, flappers, bobbed hair

*Middle class, single, young, steady economic jobs, jazz clubs, vaudeville shows, carefree/liberated 

*Fashion- Cloche hats, complex jewelry, sky high heels, no hips, rising hemline, floral prints, pastel colors, beads and feathers, "boyish look", Coco Chanel

*Dancing- new fox-trot introduced post-war, the Charleston became popular after a musical (runnin' Wild), Texas Tommy (African American, San Francisco-NYC), Wall street crash ended jazz era.

*Jazz- Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Big House Band

* Harlem Renaissance- Bessie Smith: Express of the blues, Columbia Records (1923), Swing Era, Tragic Death, Soulful & Powerful, Josephine Baker: Banana Dress, Chorus girl (19), Sex symbol (Nude), Marilyn Monroe, Exotic Dancing, Goofy/ Cross-eyed photos

*Sports- Baseball and Boxing: Babe Ruth: Most impressive career, Hard-drinking, Womanizer, 714 TOTAL home-runs, Jack Dempsey: Fast combos, blazing knockouts, pine gum, brine-soaked face

*Pro Football: College football popular, August 20, 1920 (APFA to NFL), Jim Thorpe (First President), 4 original teams (Akron pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, Dayton Triangles)

*Pro Basketball: ABL created 1925, NY Celtics, Affordability 

*Broadway: Biggest industry in NYC, Gamblers, Gangsters, Celebrities, Chorus girls, Typical hangout, Slang "tough broad" or "doll", Love affairs

*Newspaper: Damon Runyon

*Gangster: Owen Madden

*Hollywood- Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson 

Strike

*September 21, 1919 to January 8, 1920

*Ohioan Led

*Working Conditions (long hours, low wages, poor environment)

*Walkout of 350,000 workers

*Failure for workers

*Immigrants portrayed wrongly

*Norman Z. Foster (Led Violence and Deaths) 

Movements and Acts

*Temperance Movement (Social movement against consumption of alcohol, promotes abstinence, movements were mostly run by women)

*Violence Act (Written to enforce 

Gangsters

*Often Controlled (Liquor Sales, Gambling, Prostitution)

*Illegally Organized (Bootlegging, Speakeasies)

*Prohibition (Instead of reducing crime it created a black market) 

Al "Scarface" Capone

*During Prohibition Era (Leader of Chicago Mafia, Multi million dollar Chicago operation)

*Start of becoming a Gangster (Got expelled at 14 for hitting a female teacher, Met Jonny Torrio)

*Got arrested in 1931 (Income-tax evasion) 

Teapot Dome

*Secretary sent to prison

*Navy oil reserves sent to operators

*Oil companies drilled on federal land

*Hundreds of thousands of dollars 

Calvin Coolidge

*Vice President for Harding

*Wins 1924 Election

*"The business of America is business"

*No connection with scandals

Democratic Nominee

*William Gibbs (Rural)

*William wanted prohibition

*Alfred E. Smith (Urban)

Robert la Follette

*Against bribes

*Hated corrupt government

*Progressive movement

*Helped expose Teapot Dome

*Died in 1925

*His family carried out his legacy 

Calvin Coolidge's Accomplishments

*Kept US out of League of Nations

*Cut more taxes

*Kept government out of the way

Alfred Smith

*Democrats wanted Urban states

*Wanted to repeal prohibition

* America was anti-catholic

*Cost him southern states

Herbert Hoover

*Never ran for office before

*From Iowa

*In food administration

*Part of WWI relief efforts

*Republicans were on a roll

*They took credit for the 1920's prosperity

Hoover's Accomplishments

*Known for Stock Market Crash

*Blamed for Great Depression

* Did his best to stop it

*Started more public projects

*Lending institutions put in place 

Economy

*GDP 6,500-8,700 

*2016: GDP- 51,486

*Electricity impacted inventions 

*Automobile impacted lifestyle

*Mass production of automobiles and appliances

*Increased available jobs

*Buying on Credit

*"Buy now, Pay later" 

*Consumers could buy all new appliances

*Debt doubled between 20's and 30's

Stock Market Crash

*In 1929 production had declined 

*Unemployment has risen

*Stock prices didn't reflect this

Stock Market Crash Causes

*People had too much debt (Buying on credit)

*Businesses didn't have money

*Tariffs didn't allow enough money in 

The Trial

*Each day's proceeding was opened with prayer

After the Trial

*5 days after the trial, William Jennings Bryan died

*People all over started challenging the Butler Act

*The law was repealed in 1976

Model T and the Automobile

*October 1st 1908

*Cost was $850 ($18,000) 

*Cheapest ever sold was $260

Model A

*Started in 1927-31

*Riots

*Different styles

*1930-1932 truck

Route 66

*Chicago- Los Angeles 

*It's plan started in 1916

*Got revised in 1921

*The government got in and helped in 1925

*Started the Highway System

Trickle Down Theory

*Benefit the people

*Companies expand

Laissez-Faire

*Hands Off Business

Rugged Individualism

*Don't rely on government hand outs

Normalcy

*Isolation

Airplanes in the 1920's

*Mail carrying

Rural vs. Urban

*1920 Census- 51.2 people lived in cities of 2,500 or more 

*1922-1929- More than 2 million people moved from farms to the cities each year

*Rural areas tried to hold on to moral values and close social

Prohibition 

*At first saloons closed and drunkenness went down

Bootlegging

*Made or transported alcohol

Moonshine

*Alcohol made secretly in home made stills

*Several hundred people a year died from drinking moonshine during the 1920's 

Flapper Girls

*Women are equal to men

*Not all women in the 1920's were flappers

Stock Market Cause 1929

*Stock prices were grossly inflated, did not have real value-watered stock prices

*Over-speculation during the 1920's (Led to watered stock) 

*"Buy on Margin" (Led to people being in debt and watered stock prices)

*Over production of goods

*Uneven distribution of wealth

*Too much borrowing from banks

*The Federal Reserve increased interest rates

*Lack of government regulation

1930's

What caused the Great Depression?

*Largest economy

*The stock market crash

*Domino effect

Baseball

*Favorite sport but less fans

*Negro league > gained attention

*George Herman Ruth Jr. 

*Lou Gehrig

Basketball

*Rules changed so games would go faster

*American Basketball League fell during the depression

*39 years old in the 1930's

*National Basketball League formed in 1938

*women's basketball was popular

*Glenn Roberts

Boxing

*2nd most popular sport

*Heavy betting

*Joe Louis

*Henry Armstrong

*Weight Classes

Football

*October 22, 1939- Broadcasted on television for the first time

*The NFL decreased by 10 years

*The idea of drafting adopted from Bert Bell 

*The first draft took place in 1936

*Bill Hewitt

Wayne Millner

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