Nicknames for the 1920's
- The Roaring 20's
- Republican Era
- The Jazz Age
- The Lost Generation (1883-1900)
- Boom to Bust
- Decade of Normalcy
- Prosperity Decade
- Prohibition Era
- The Advertising Age
- Golden Age of sports
- Era of Permanent Prosperity
Red Scare (1919-1920)
Communist were coming in and trying to take over our government and turn the U.S. into a communist country
Communism
Practice vs Theory- Theory no gov't everyone is equal. Everyone does their job and gets the same pay. Perfect economy everyone is equal.
Gov't owns everything and there is no freedoms.
China, North Korea, Vietnam , Cuba , Laos
U.S.S.R.- Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. (1922-1991)
Vladimir Lenin- 1917-1924 Leader of the Russian Republic and the U.S.S.R.
Joseph Stalin took over.
The Palmer Raids
- Mitchell Palmer
- J. Edgar Hoover
- The raids were a series of raids conducted by the department of Justice to capture and arrest suspected radicals and deport them from the United States
- The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover
- Raids started after there were strikes that got national attention
- Race Riots in more than 20 cities
- Two sets of Mail Bombings in April and June 1919 - One bomb was mailed to Palmer's home
- More than 500 foreign citizens were deported during the raids
Sacco and Vanzetti
- In 1920, two men robbed and murdered a paymaster and his guard as they transferred $15,776 from the slater and Morrill Shoe factory
- Due to the anti-immigrant, anti-communist times of the Red Scare, two Italian immigrants and known anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were accused and arrested for the crime, despite little evidence against them
- Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted on circumstantial evidence of capital murder and sentenced to death
- Sacco and Vanzetti appealed their convictions but lost and were executed in 1927 by firing squad
Immigration
- Immigrants were not liked
- Immigrants took jobs and kept wages low
- The Immigration Act of 1924 (National Origins Act/ Asian Exclusion Act) greatly reduced immigration to US
- The law was aimed at restricting immigration of Southern Europeans, Eastern Europeans and Jews
- Severely restricted the immigration of Africans and prohibited the immigration of Arabs, East Asians, and Indians
- The purpose of the act was “to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity”
- W. A. S. P
- White Anglo Saxon Protestant
- President Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover (Republican)
- Harding participated in lots of scandals
Republican Philosophy - (1920’s)
Conservatism
- Low taxes, high tariffs (import tax), and less government
- Lower immigration
- Trickle-down theory- Helping businesses trickles down and increases job opportunities and wages
- Laissez-faire- Government will stay out of business
- Rugged individualism- You are in charge of your life and success
- A return to “Normalcy”- Go back to focusing on America
Automobiles (1920’s)
- Vacation
- Sports
- Dates
- Movies
Airplanes (1920’s)
- Transportation of small groups of people
- Military
- Entertainment
- Major feats
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 relationships
- Cities tolerated drinking, gambling, and casual dating
Prohibition
- 18th Amendment (1920-1933)
- The manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages was illegal
- Supporters believed alcohol brought about corruption, crime, wife and child abuse, and accidents
- Alcohol was allowed for medicinal and religious purposes
- The volstead Act created the Prohibition Bureau to enforce the law
- Prohibition failed for three reasons:
- People despised it. Saw it as government meddling in people’s lives
- The Prohibition Bureau was underfunded. Had 1,500 people to supervise the country
- Organized crime became commonplace
Bootlegging in the 1920's
People that made or transported alcohol
named because people carried liquor in the legs of boots
most imported alcohol came from Canada, Cuba, or the West Indies.
Biggest threat- Hijacking
Moonshine
Alcohol made secretly in home made stills
Several hundred people a year died from drinking moonshine during the 1920's
In 1929 it is estimated that 700 million gallons of beer were produced in American homes
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