1) Ernest Hemingway penned the phrase “The Lost Generation” to describe the time after WWI—discuss why the Roaring Twenties held such promise but can also be considered the Lost Decade in US history.
Modernism new modes of comm/tran, scientific theories, morality, culture
Jazz Age pseudonym given to the 20s; an age of excess; refers to music, open attitude ; center was in Harlem
Roaring 20s title given to the 20s reflecting on its change from WWI austerity
Consumerism the unleashing of the American buyer; new inventions; compounding of tech with $$$ (automobiles; electricity; chemicals; film; radio; aviation; printing)
Hollywood center of movie making; first movies very risqué; brought about censorship
NBC/RCA centers of new radio/movie business
Radio new age of mass production
Impact of radio national networks; advertizing; family gatherings; sports; politicians; music; brought events into the home; broke
down regionalism
Nativism a new wave in the face of greater immigration (800,000 in 1920-21 from S & E Europe)
Sacco & Vanzetti tried for murder; Italian immigrants; seen as part of anti-anarchist wave of 1920
Anarchists those who tried to overthrow the govt
Bolshevik Revolution commie revolution in Russia; seen as a threat to the US
Red Scare wave of anti-commie hysteria 1919-20; gave excuse to repress unions
Palmer raids Attorney General led raids on possible commies; jailed or drove out +6000 “commies”— only 556 were true commies;
response were mail bombings; 1919 in the “Soviet Ark” 249 alleged commies were deported
Emergency Immigration Act 1921 restricted European immigration to only 3% of 1910 census total (quota system-abolished in 1965)
Immigration Act 1924 further reduced it to 2% based on 1890 census; Japanese prohibited; Canada & Latin America
exempted—needed them for low paying jobs
“Stoop” Labor refers to the migrant farm labor
KKK revitalized in 1920s—branched out in its hatred; peaked at 4m; anti-Catholic, immigrant, black, Jewish, pacifist,
commie, feminist; pro Prot, “native” Am
Wm. Simmons founder of the new KKK
Horace Kallen believed the US should be a multi-cultural area where cultures should be valued
Randolph Bourne stressed US becoming a vanguard of world globalization
Scopes Monkey Trial sensational trial pitting Christian fundamentalism against modern thinking
Wm. Jennings Bryan trial lawyer representing anti-evolution; sought to “educate” the public
Clarence Darrow represented Scopes & ACLU; wanted a show also
Einstein theory of relativity—space, time, & mass were not absolutes but relative to location and motion of the observer
Planck quantum physics
Heisenberg human knowledge had limits
Ruth Benedict anthropologist who valued the culture of all groups; warned against ethnocentricism
Margaret Mead (same)
Prohibition/18th Amendment result of movement against immigration, urban problems, etc…; no sale, making, trans.
Volstead Act sought to enforce the 18th Amendment
Anti-Saloon League most effective anti-booze organization
Jubilee Convention 1913 ASL endorsed the idea of prohibition
Bootlegging illegal making, selling, trans of booze
Rumrunners People from Canada or Caribbean who brought alcohol to the uS
Speakeasies illegal bars
Al Capone Chicago gangster; aka Scarface; 1927 made $60m; brought down by tax evasion charges; sent to prison, served 11
years then released—had syphilis
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre 1929 Capone’s men killed 7 rival gang members; none convicted
Sinclair Lewis Main Street (1922); portrayed small town life as unbearable; Babbitt (1922) man turns toward
materialism
HL Mencken attacked the “booboisie” cultural landscape of a hypocritical America
F Scott Fitzgerald dubbed the period the Jazz Age; This Side of Paradise (1920); “petting parties”; The Great Gatsby (1925) on the illusions of the self-made man who destroys himself
Freud European psychologist with “modern” ideas on human behavior; sexual repression at the root of society’s problems
Flapper pseudonym given to loose girls; new feminism; take on the way boots flapped
The Jazz Singer first talking movie
Greenwich Village NY city area—cultural hub
Picasso modernist painter
TS Eliot The Waste Land; poem expressing post-war disillusionment; burned out society
Gertrude Stein Am. Writer, poet, & art collector in Paris
James Joyce Ulysses; Father of Modernist literature
Ernest Hemingway Farewell to Arms (1929); the “lost generation”
Southern Renaissance pseudonym referring to the beginning of Southern literature
Thomas Wolfe Look Homeward; SR writer
Wm Faulkner The Sound & the Fury; SR writer
Babe Ruth baseball player; set home run record 714; primarily played with Yankees
Jack Dempsey 1919-26 world heavyweight champion; first boxer to get 1 m
Charles Lindbergh flew across Atlantic in 33 hours; $25,000 prize; later a Nazi sympathizer
Amelia Earhart tried to fly around the world
Henry Ford perfected automobile manufacturing; Model T; by 1929 one auto for every 5 Americans
Lincoln Highway started around 1910; linked the continent; over 3000 miles
Impact of automobile employment; supporting industries; RR decline; change diets; paved roads; tourism; women less dependent; leisure hours; less isolation; rise of suburbs
1920 Election returned to laissez faire Republicanism of the Gilded Age
Isolationism US turned inward
Five Power Naval Treaty limited the number of ships (U.S., Britain, Japan, France, and Italy)
Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928 signed by 62 nations; outlawed war—provided a false sense of security
Merchant Marine Act of 1920 allowed US merchant ships used in WWI to be sold or decommissioned
Warren Harding opposed LoN; wanted low taxes, high tariffs, immigration restrictions, & aid to farmers; tended to be more Progressive
Normalcy name given to Harding’s tenure as president—return to conservative values
Charles Evan Hughes Sec of State
Andrew Mellon Sec of Treasurer; 3rd richest man in US behind Rockefeller & Ford
Herbert Hoover Sec of Ag
Wm Taft appointed Chief Justice
Ohio Gang Harding’s group of Ohioan cronies; brought scandal
Bureau of the Budget 1921; assist the president in preparing a budget to prevent excessive spending
General Accounting Office created to audit govt spending
Fordney-McCumber Tariff increased the tariff; overtime resulted in other nations doing the same
Teapot Dome Scandal naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hill, California; Sec of Interior found guilty of bribery &
sentenced to one year in jail (first cabinet member ever sent to jail)
Calvin Coolidge tended to be a laissez faire president deferring to Congress; took over after Harding died
Election of 1924 Coolidge won with Democrats in disarray
Federal Communications Commission est 1927 to regulate growing communication industry
Kelly Act of 1925 Federal govt began to subsidize aircraft industry through airmail contracts
Air Commerce Act of 1926 federal funds to aviation projects, such as airports
Veteran’s Bureau created in 1921 to assist returning soldiers
American Legion created in 1919 by Teddy Roosevelt Jr.
Agriculture weakest sector of the economy; mechanization & efficiency hurt small farmers
Federal Farm Board 1929; created to stabilize process
Yellow Dog Contracts contracts that forced workers to stay out of unions
William Green leader of United Mine workers; less of a firebrand than Samuel Gompers
Railway Labor Act of 1926 established a mediation board to settle railroad worker disputes
Gastonia Strike of 1929 prolonged strike in textile mills that turned violent
Election of 1928 Hoover vs. Smith—Democrats offered very little different from Rep; Hoover won; wanted to stabilize agriculture & continue Prohibition
Hawley Smoot Tariff of 1930 highest tariff in US history
Speculation refers to the buying of stock hoping it would go up
Bull/Bear Market stock marker rise and fall
Buy on the Margin to buy stock paying only a small amount and getting loaned the rest
Black Thursday initial plunge of the market after reaching a peak of 381 points
Oct 29, 1929 “Black Tuesday” most devastating single day up to that time; within a few days the market lost almost half its value
Hoovervilles temporary slums of poor/unemployed; by 1932 12 million unemployed; GDP dropped almost 50%
Reconstruction Finance Corp offered money to banks, insurance companies, etc…
Glass-Steagall Act 1932 released $750 m in gold & offered more money
Emergency Relief Act 1932 gave money to the states for relief
Muscle Shoals Bill public works project in TN area for electricity
Hoover Dam 1930-36; hydroelectric dam
Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act outlawed anti-union contracts (1932)
Bonus Marchers farmers & veterans who marched on Washington to get payment of veteran’s money; 20,000 converged;
troops brought in to disperse
2) The US emerged from the 1930s drastically changed from what it was in 1930—discuss the challenges the US faced, the attempts to meet
those challenges, & how FDR helped to define the overall character of the decade.
FDR Pres. during Depression; elected in 1933; favored providing jobs over giving money; fireside chats
+30; “Brain Trust”; 3 R’s incl Relief, Recovery, & Reform
Fascism ultra-nationalism; was rising in Germany, Italy, & Japan
Communism had solidified under Stalin in Russia
New Deal name given to FDR’s approach to the Depression (Progressivism on steroids)
Norman Thomas socialist candidate
20th Amendment pres would take office earlier (Jan 20th rather than March 4th)
Economy Act granted the pres ability to slash pay & reorganize agencies to reduce spending
Beer Wine Revenue Act permitted sale of beverages with 3.2% alcohol or less
21st Amendment overturned prohibition in 1933
100 Days March 9th – 16th June; Alphabet agencies; Congress mainly Democrats
Civil Works Admin put people on govt payroll for 4 months (over 4 m)
CCC Civilian Conservation Corps; planted over 200 m trees
Gold abandoned the gold standard in 1933
Federal Emergency Relief Act headed by Henry Hopkins; expanded aid to unemployed
Agri. Adjustment Act gave pres power to expand money supply; sought to pay farmers to reduce supply
Henry Wallace Sec of Ag
John Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath; told the story of displaced farmers (okies) heading west
Dust Bowl/black blizzards
Dry farming techniques
Soil Conservation Act provided payments for conserving soil
Emergency Farm Mortgage Act provided for refinancing farm loans
TVA Act provided Federal funds for hydroelectricity in TN (2 in KY); inexpensive electricity
Banking Act established FDIC
Farm Credit Act reorganized Federal farm subsidies
Works Progress Admin also headed by Hopkins; replaced FERA; provided public works projects
Federal Writer’s Project under the WPA; provided jobs to writers
Nat. Youth Admin provided part-time employment to the youth
Public Works Admin $3.3 billion for buildings, infrastructure
National Recovery Admin sought to set industrial wages & prices; provide jobs, workplace standards
Mexican Americans
Native Americans
Indian reorganization Act ended the Dawes Act by restoring land to Natives
African Americans
Scottsboro Case 9 AA youths convicted of raping 2 white women (1931)
Norris v Alabama S Ct ruled not allowing AA on juries denied due process
Richard Wright Native Son (1940); told the story of a black man moved to actions beyond his control
2nd New Deal
Wagner Act helped workers form unions & investigated actions of anti-unionism
John Lewis head of the United Mines Workers; rebuilt the union
Walter Reuther led auto workers on strike
Social Security Act of 1935 pension to those over 65
Revenue Act raised tax rates on annual income over $50,000; was attacked by wealthy
John Maynard Keynes economist whose ideas included priming the pump with govt spending (deficit spending)
Eleanor took an activist approach to helping AA, women; distant relationship to FDR
Frances Perkins first woman cabinet member; Sec of Labor
Pearl Buck female novelist; The Good Earth (1931)
American Liberty League opposed ND based on ind & property rights
Huey Long the Kingfish; gov of LA; Share the Wealth program—confiscate wealth & redistribute assassinated in 1935
Francis Townsend wanted govt pensions for the elderly
Father Coughlin called for the coinage of silver & made anti-Semitic attacks on bankers
Election of 1936 FDR vs. Landon
Court Packing Plan FDR saw a threat to his plans by the S Ct; sought to increase justices by 6 plan backfired in the short term; in the
long term FDR replaced justices & the courts became more friendly to the ND
Late 1930s by 1936 unemployment down 10% to 15%; increased the debt—resulted in recession
Pros:
Roosevelt did something
pushed the idea that govt was tied to the welfare of the people
total economic collapse was avoided
resulted in a more equitable distribution of wealth
preserved democracy
citizens had the ability the regain self-confidence & self-respect
Cons:
Resulted in waste & employed those not suited for particular jobs
Did things without studying options first
Created a bureaucracy
Raised the federal debt
Increased the power of the federal govt over state govts
Increased reliance of Am on welfare
Too much govt interference in business
Did not cure the Depression
3) The US emerged from WWI in no mood to be part of the world order— discuss the efforts to maintain isolation, how those efforts failed,
and the reluctant entrance into WWII.
From isolationism to involvement post-WWI isolationism w/ US not in LoN
Debt repayment controversy two POV on debt (Europe vs US); tangled web of money transferring b/t European countries & the US; issue of tariffs
Johnson Debt Default Act (1934) no private loans to a country who had defaulted
Disarmament
Increasing tensions w/ Japan
Five Power Treaty (1922) limited naval size (2 spheres—US, Brit, Japan)
Four Power Treaty countries would respect other’s territories
Nine Power Treaty agreement to maintain Open Door to China
treaties provided false hope & not enforceable
1928 K-Briand Pact treaty that outlawed war
Sen Gerald Nye conducted hearings from 1934-37 that blamed WWI on bankers & the arms industry
Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937 limited the ability to aid Allies in the face of war
WWII: The Sequel
Who’s Who: Axis Powers—Germany, Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Thailand
Allied Powers—Britain, France, US, USSR, Canada, Australia, India
Causes:
Long-Range Causes:
--Failure of the League of Nations
--part of Wilson’s 14 points to peace; US did not join; opens a vacuum
--Failure of inter-war isolationism and pacifism
--Naval size was limited in 1921
--1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact officially outlawed war to solve conflicts
--Impact of world-wide Great Depression
--Rise of ultra-nationalism (Fascism) in Italy, Germany, and Japan
Fascism--generally people who wanted to restore the greatness of a previous time period by means