Monday- Shared forum posts for our class. Mr. Bruns continued presenting his ppt and then we started watching more videos on 1920's.
Tuesday- Mr. Bruns continued presenting. We started watching more videos.
Wednesday- Watched more vidoes and then Mr. Bruns went over the topics with his ppt.
Thursday- Bruns presented more from his ppt. Then we watched more videos.
Friday- Finished 1920's videos and talked about the last topic.
1920’s Topics:
1.-Prohibition and gangsters
- Prohibition "The Noble Experiment"
- 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
- Supporters came mostly from rural South and West (areas with a lot of Protestants)
- Anti-Saloon League and Women's Christian Temperance Union led the attack on alcohol
- Alcohol was allowed for medicinal and religious purposes
- Prescriptions and sacramental wine order skyrocketed
- At first saloons closed and drunkenness went down
- The Volstead Act created the prohibition Bureau to enforce the law
- Prohibition failed for three reasons:
- 1. People despised it. Saw it as government meddling in people's lives
- 2. The Prohibition Bureau was underfunded. Had 1,500 people to supervise the country
- 3. Organized crime became commonplace
- Prohibition Bureau- Arrested people, dumped out kegs
- Bootlegging in the 1920's
- Illegally making or distributing alcohol
- Bootleggers
- People that made or transported alcohol
- Named because people carried liquor in the legs of boots
- Most imported alcohol came in from Canada, Cuba or the West Indies
- Biggest threat to the bootlegger
- Hijackers
- Other gangs
- Moonshine
- Alcohol made secretly in home made stills
- Several hundred people a year died from drinking moonshine during the 1920s
- In 1929 it is estimated that 700 million gallons of beer were produced in American homes
- Speakeasies
- To obtain alcohol illegally, people went underground to secret bars called speakeasies (People spoke easily or quietly about it)
- Speakeasies could be anywhere
- To be admitted a card or password had to be given
- Organized Crime
- Came about as a result of Prohibition
- Every major city had it's gang
- Al Capone's bootlegging business in Chicago made over $60 million a year
- Due to gang violence, only 19% of Americans supported Prohibition by 1925
- Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment
- Al Capone
- Originally from New York but moved to Chicago after getting into trouble
- Taken down by tax evasion
3.-Politics-elections, Normalcy and isolationism, President’s backgrounds and accomplishments, scandals, Republican philosophy
- President Harding
- Broke 18th Amendment
- had affairs in White House
- Office ended because he died
- President Coolidge
- Very Honest
- Harding's vice President
- Had a 'do nothing' philosophy
- Believer in doing little as possible
- President Hoover
- Iowa native
- went down as bad president
- was good at first
- the era of "Permanent Property"
- WWI food administration
- Republican Philosophy
- Trickle-down theory
- Government is going to lower taxes on the wealthy
- Rich are the ones who have control of the businesses
- Expand businesses and give more people jobs
- Laissez-faire
- Government keeps hands off of the businesses
- Most companies today come from the Standard Oil Company
- Businesses are what drive our country
- Big successful business will pass down to a smaller business
- Rugged individualism
- Up to you to get money
- Government isn't going to hand you a check
- Earn your money
- Don't depend on anyone else
- Normalcy
- U.S. is going to focus on ourselves
- Wanted to return to the time before WWI rather than after WWI
- Trickle-down theory
4.-Entertainment, sports, music, radio, movies and fads
- Famous Actresses
- Greta Garbo
- Clara Bow
- Mary Pickford
- Famous Actors
- Charlie Chaplin
- Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer
- White actors would paint themselves black and then dance and preform
- The Marx Brothers
- Comedians
- Lost everything in the stock market
- Harry Houdini
- Magician
- Sports
- Babe Ruth (Baseball)
- Gene Tunny and Jack Dempsey (Boxing)
- Bobby Jones (Golf)
- Bill Tilden (Tennis)
- Red Grange (Football)
- Music
- Books
- F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)
5.-Economy-Booming economy and stock market, buying on credit, high tariffs
- The "Roaring" Economy
- Gross Domestic Product- total amount of goods or services produced in a country in a year
- Buying on Credit
- "Buy now, pay later"
- Stocks market was booming
- Buying on margin
- High Tariff Policy
- What is a tariff?
- Tax on imported goods
- What did progressives want to lower tariffs in the early 1900's?
- Why did the Republicans raise tariffs in the 1920's?
- What is a tariff?
- The Era of "Permanent Prosperity"
- "As long as everyone has faith, everything will be fine"
8.-Lots of strikes-Boston Police, US Steel, United Mine Workers
- Boston Police
- US Steel
- United Mine Workers
- All Wanted
- Better wages
- Better pay
- Better labor
- Some gains but not as much as they would like
9.-The Model T and the impact of the automobile
- Model T was made for the average people
- First Highway
- Chicago to L.A.
- Route 66 "The Mother Road"
- Positives:
- Easier transportation
- Allowed people to live in suburbs and drive to work
- Hurt towns because people would leave and not come back
- Vacation started
- Brought about more jobs
- Negatives:
- Accidents
- Pollution
- Drunk driving
10.-Electricity in the homes and new appliances
- Prior to electricity kerosene lamps, candles and other sources lit peoples homes
- Thomas Eddison invented the lightbulb
- Internet went live in 1995 (was around before that)
- Changed how people live
- People could work overnight
12.-Scopes-Monkey Trial
- Science vs Religion
- There was a struggle between the modern scientific people and the Christian fundamentalists
- Fundamentalists believed everything could be explained by the bible
- The disagreed with the theory of evolution especially
- In 1925, Tennessee passed the first law making it illegal to teach evolution in school
- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it would defend any teacher willing to break the law
- John Scopes, biology teachers from Dayton, accepted
- Scopes taught evolution and was arrested
- Clarence Darrow (best lawyer in country) was hired by the ACLU to defend Scopes
- William Jennings Bryan was the special Prosecutor
- Scopes did not deny teaching evolution
- Darrow called Bryan to the stand and asked him questions about the Bible
- Darrow made Bryan look foolish
- In the end, Scopes was found guilty and fine $100
13.-Stock Market Crash-causes
- Stock- buying part of a company, hoping it does well and you make money
- New York Stock Exchange
- Dow Jones 30- 30 of the largest companies in the U.S.
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Johnson and Johnson
- Causes of Stock Market Crash-1929
- Stock prices were grossly inflated, did not have real value-water stock prices
- Stock price over-valued
- Over-speculation during the 1920's
- Stock prices were grossly inflated, did not have real value-water stock prices
- Led to watered stock
- "Buying on margin"
- Led to people being in debt and watered stock prices
- Overproduction of goods and under-consumption by consumers
- Companies kept spending money to make these products and not enough people were buying the products
- People not buying things because they were in debt form buying on credit
- Uneven distribution of wealth
- Most of Americans did not have a lot of money
- People realized they need to start saving money so they stop buying products
- Too much borrowing from banks
- Banks were handing out money left and right
- Without checking on their backgrounds before giving out money banks realized that people were not paying them back
- Federal Reserve increases interest rates
- "Bankers bank"
- When banks got low on money banks could borrow money from the federal reserve so they don't close down
- Very low interest rates
- Had to raise interest rates to make the country real- so people would stop borrowing money
- Knew that when they raised interest rates people would quit buying and there would be a crash
- Raised the rates and there was a crash in the stock market
- Lack of government regulation
- Government had no rules/regulations
- Banks used to take people's money and invest in the stock market
- Stock markets would crash and the people's money was gone
- Rich people would pool their interest together and buy cheap stock-prices rose- rich people would pay people to write about it and then sell the stock and get the money
1930’s Topics:
1.-Causes of the Great Depression
2.-Impact the Great Depression had on people and our country
3.-President Hoover’s attempt(or lack thereof) to help solve Great Depression
4.-1932/1936 Presidential elections
5.-Bonus Army
6.-Entertainment, sports, music, radio, movies and fads
7.-Franklin Roosevelt’s background and accomplishments-Focus on New Deal
8.-The Three R’s
9.-The difference between the First New Deal and Second New Deal
10.-Fireside chats
11.-The Hundred Days
12.-Deficit spending and “priming the pump”
13.-FDR vs the US Supreme Court-Court Packing issue
14.-Critics and failings of the New Deal-Long, Caughlin, Townshend
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