Chapter 23 - The Twenties
Postwar Prosperity & Its Price
The Second Industrial Revolution
Prosperity in the 1920s with increased technology creation & greater output without expanding the work force
Most machinery could be operated by unskilled workers
Lower pay ( more profit
Manufacturing of electrical machines becomes the nations fastest growing industry
Increased production leads to a housing boom
Mortgage debt rises from $8 billion to $27 billion in 10 yrs
The Modern Corporation
John D. Rockefeller (oil) & Andrew Carnegie (steel) provides a model for success in business
Both had ownership & control (management) of their companies
The new wave in business saw the owners separate from the managers
General Motors & Radio Corporation of America
New elite class of businessmen
Most successful businesses in the 1920s controlled:
Integration of production & distribution of their product
Product diversification
Expansion of industrial research
By 1929: the 200 largest companies owned ½ of the nations corporate wealth
Created an economic oligopoly
A few large producers controlled the economy
Welfare Capitalism
Corporate leaders troubled by the increase in power to the trade unions
National War Labour Board gains support during WWI
The management of large companies created company employee benefits to outweigh the benefits of belonging to a union
Insurance policies & stock benefits
Personnel depts to oversee employee health & satisfaction
“The America Plan” by corporations to eradicate trade unions
Company Unions to have symbolic representation of the employees in management meetings
American Federation of Labour unwilling to go out of their way to organize the manufacturing workers
Supreme Court also unsympathetic towards unions
The Auto Age
By 1929 the auto industry was the largest in the USA
4.8 million new cars per yr
Henry Ford pioneered the assembly line which increased production
1914: Ford starts a new wage scale: $5 for an 8 hr day
Double the going rate in industrial labour
Realized that workers were consumers as well
More car sales
General Motors begins to challenge Ford
Cadillac for high end, Chevrolet for low end
Auto industry provides a large market for steel, rubber, glass & petroleum products
Cities & Suburbs
1920 census: first where more than ½ of the population lived in urban areas
Job opportunity, cultural richness & personal freedom
1.5 million African Americans move to Northern cities
Most cities begin to have large downtown cores (skyscrapers)
Exceptions: Agriculture, Ailing Industries
1920s: ¼ of Americans employed in the agriculture industry
No huge prosperity as 1914-1919
Land values drop & prices drop
Stiff competition from Europe, Canada & Australia
Wheat farmers on the Great Plains thrive due to methods of industrial capitalism
Fruits benefit from improved transportation & chain supermarkets
McNary-Haugen bills: complicated measures to prop-up & stabilize farm prices
Govt purchases farm surpluses & stores them until they are needed
Coal mines also drop in prosperity
New techniques, strikes & lower demand shrinks the coal labour force by ¼
Railroads & textiles also experience a significant drop
The New Mass Culture
Movie-Made America
Early movie industry brings flocks of people (mainly NYC) to the Nickleodeons
Most of the production companies started by immigrants who owned movie theatres first
Each now controlled production, distribution & owned many theatres
WB produces “The Jazz Singer”
The first feature film with sound
Star system & cult of celebrity at the heart of the movie industry
Sexual themes & youthful athleticism in most movies
Many elegant “movie palaces” to attract higher class viewers
Radio Broadcasting
Westinghouse takes an amateur garage-made radio broadcast & makes it into a nightly event called KDKA radio
Dominant radio corporation agree that the advertising pays for the programming
AT&T provides its telephone wires to link radio stations
“The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show” was the first radio national hit
“Blackface” minstrel entertainment
Radio overcomes sectional boundaries between prople
New Forms of Journalism
Tabloids become increasingly popular
The New York Daily News emphasizes sex, scandal & sports
Half-fold page makes it easy to read on buses & subways
Gossip column becomes a reader favourite
Advertising Modernity
Large advertising agencies use psychology in their ads
Focus on the needs & desires of the consumer instead of the quality of the product
Listerine turned from a general antiseptic to a cure for halitosis (bad breath) through advertising
The Phonograph & the Recording Industry
Success of records changes the popular music & dance
Fox trot, tango & grizzly bear done to ragtime & latin songs
Radio begins to take away sales from the record industry at the end of the 1920s
Sports & Celebrity
Sports begin to take on a commercial aspect
Athletes: rich famous & rebellious attract many fans
Major League Baseball was the nations biggest sport
“Babe” Ruth was the ultimate celebrity athlete
Actively sought after for endorsements
“Black sox” gambling scandal hurts the MLB’s credibility
Negro Leagues started along with many other semi-pro leagues
All-black teams usually win games against all-white pros
College football also gains popularity as radio broadcasts their games frequently
A New Morality?
Celebrities become the new societal elite
Models for achievement in the new age
Media turns them into world giants
The “Flapper” women becomes a popular ideal of the 20s
A fun, sexually charged women that rarely existed
Increased sexual openness in the 1920s
US troops take part in sex education classes
New psychologists (Freud etc.) stress the importance of sex in the human experience
Advertisers use sexual appeal to sell products
The State, the Economy, and Business
Harding & Coolidge
Warren Harding could talk the talk of a president but not walk the walk
“The Ohio Gang” were his chief advisors & administrators
Lots of corruption in his presidency
His Attorney General had taken bribes from Prohibition violators
Teapot Dome scandal
Interior Secretary Allan Fall taken money to lease away navy oil reserves to private oil developers
Became the first cabinet minister to go to jail
Andrew Mellon (Oil tycoon) was his chief economic advisor
Stressed conservative views on the economy
Run it like a corporation
Cut taxes & trim the budget
Dies in office in August 1923
Calvin Coolidge takes over & puts complete trust (& awe) into the hands of wealthy businessmen like Andrew Mellon
Gets re-elected in 1924 due to the prosperity he brought in contrast to Harding
Showed most interest in cutting federal spending & lowering taxes
Herbert Hoover & the “Associative State”
Secretary of Commerce for Harding & Coolidge
Became president in 1929
Believed that enlightened business would act in the public interest
Govt encourages voluntary co-operation among corporations, consumers & workers
Central occupation of the Dept. of Commerce
Encouraged the creation of national trade associations
All of his ideals provided a perfect climate for the increase of corporate wealth
War Debts, Reparations, Keeping the Peace
WWI turns the US from the worlds greatest debtor to the greatest creditor
NYC replaces London as the centre of the economic world
War Debts & Reparations became the most divisive international issue in the 1920s
France & Britain think the US is just a loan shark in disguise
US Foreign Dept Commission agrees to a settlement of $11.5 billion over 62 yrs
Germans feel the $33 billion reparations is too high
Dawes Plan to reduce Germany’s debt & reconstruct the country
Calls for military downscaling & 5 Power Treaty is signed
Scaling down of navies & respect for China’s territory
Italians & Japanese complain & treaty is scrapped
US joined the League of Nations sponsored World Court
Pact of Paris to renounce WWI
Commerce & Foreign Policy
Secretary of State Charles Hughes pushed for increased American economic activity abroad
Focused on friendly nations & expanding their markets
Used their post-war power to do what they wanted
American products flood the world markets & take them over
Maximum freedom for private enterprise boosts the profits of US overseas investors
Especially in Latin America (staple foods grown)
Resistance to Modernity
Prohibition
January 1920: 18th Amendment prohibits alcohol
Volstead Act (1919) creates the Federal Prohibition Bureau
Public demand for alcohol leads to widespread lawbreaking
Bootlegging becomes a large business
Many “speakeasies” for drinking & music
Increase in organized crime due to prohibition
Mobsters like Al Capone become celebrities
Make successful inroads to big businesses, govts & unions
Immigration Restriction
Anti-immigration sentiment grows after WWI
“New Immigrants” were mostly Catholic & Jewish
More exotic & foreign to Americans thus less accepted
Darwinian ideals turned around to state that genetic inferiority was the reason for crime etc.
Theory of Evolution shot down repeatedly by fundamentalists
Darwin writes “The Origin of Species”
John T. Scopes teaches evolution in Tennessee to deliberately challenge the courts
Fundamentalism vs. Modernity
Promises Postponed
Feminism in Transition
Womens activists split into two categories
Emphasize female-male differences
Emphasize female-male similarities
1920: League of Women Voters established
Represented the historical mainstream of the suffrage movt
Smaller & more militant group: National Women’s Party
Downplayed suffrage & argued that women were subordinate to men
Opposed protective legislation saying that it was degrading
Wanted the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) & got it in 1923
Still not happy with the bill because they didn’t think it did enough
A few women made great leaps in real estate, banking & journalism
1921: Sheppard-Towner Act
Established the first federally funded health-care program
Helps rural communities immensely
Mexican Immigration
Economic boom brings many Mexican Immigrants
Huge agricultural expansion in the Southwest brings job opportunities
Wave of immigration appeared more permanent than previous waves
Kids go to US schools & wives work alongside their husbands in the fields
Racism confines most Mexicans to barrios
Poor housing, few luxuries & inadequate health-care
“Cheap Mexican labour” blamed for local unemployment
“Mutualistas” (mutual aid societies) became the centre of Mexican-American society
The “New Negro”
Harlem is the centre black society after WWI
Real estate speculators want to make it an all-black neighbourhood
Most Harlemites hold low-wage jobs
Overcrowded apartments & unsanitary conditions
Harlem Renaissance
New spirit of black intellectuals embody an optimistic faith
Enocourage African Americans to embrace & celebrate their culture
Political side to the New Negro was beginning to grow
New movts alongside established ones like the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
Universal Negro Improvement Assoc.
Black Star Line
Black owned & operated fleet of ships to link people of African decent from around the world
Failed due to lack of capital
Harlem becomes a popular site for “slumming” whites
Nightclubs with bootleg liquor, floor shows & live jazz
Intellectuals & Alienation
Many Intellectuals of the “Lost” WWI generation write about their experiences
Wrote about what they wanted to happen with American society
Hemmingway & F. Scott Fitzgerald
Many sharp attacks on American small-town values
Sinclair Lewis: Babbitt & Main Street
Some critical of the industrial progress & new mass culture
“The Fugitives” write “I’ll Take My Stand”
The Election of 1928
National Referendum on the Republican new era
Revealed how important the ethnic & cultural differences in American politics were
Al Smith (East New Yorker) vs. Herbert Hoover
Smith was of immigrant background & had the support of many easterners
Promised the repeal of prohibition
Tried to outdo Hoover in his praise for business
Hoover was a successful and forward looking westerner
All Hoover had to do to win was take credit for the current prosperity
Hoover even takes 5 states from the Democratic South
Shows the changes waiting to happen
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