America in the 1920s Flashcards
1
Q
What is Isolationism?
A
-When a country isolates itself from the affairs of other countries by declaring not to enter into alliances or commitments.
2
Q
What is the Monroe Doctorine 1923?
A
-America should stay out of Europe’s affairs, and vice versa.
3
Q
How many soldiers died in WW1 for America?
A
-100,000.
4
Q
What is a boom?
A
-When a countries economy increases rapidly in a short amount of time, which benefits the country and the employment in full.
5
Q
Describe industry.
A
- Sales of consumer good doubled e.g. cars went from 9 million - 26 million.
- Roads doubled in count in the 1920s.
- The roads gave an increase tot the truck industry. It went from 1 million to 3.5 million.
6
Q
Describe Transport.
A
- Cars made it possible to live in the suburbs e.g. Queens doubled in size.
- A passenger airline was built, by 1930 new airlines flew 162,000 flights a year.
7
Q
Describe homelife.
A
- Silk stockings are no longer for the rich, in 1919 only 12,000 had been sold and in 1930 300 million were sold.
- In 1918 only a few homes had electricity, by 1929 almost all urban homes had it.
- Mail order catalogue was introduced in 1927.
8
Q
Describe Cities.
A
-Skyscrapers were being built in New York, more buildings were built during the boom than any other part of history.
9
Q
How much time did it take to build a car?
What was the price drop from 1908 - 1925?
A
- 13 hours to 1 hour 33 minutes.
- In 1908 it was $850.
- In 1925 it was $290.
10
Q
What was the Volstead Act or 18th Amendment in January 1920?
A
-The manufacture, sale or transport of intoxicating liquors within the United States for beverage purposes is herby prohibited.
11
Q
What is prohibition?
A
-The ban of alcohol.
12
Q
What is temperance?
A
-To restrain from drinking alcohol.
13
Q
Describe prohibition.
A
- In rural states there was a temperance movement, by 1916 21 states were ‘dry’.
- Many christians fell alcohol ruined families.
14
Q
What are prohibition agents?
A
-Agents whose sole job was to track those who were breaking prohibition laws.
15
Q
Why did prohibition fail?
A
-Officers were pid off not to snitch, with bribes of up to $1000.
-Gangs made $2 billion on the selling of illegal alcohol.
There were 130 gangland murders in 1926 and 1927.
-There were speakeasies during prohibition than there were saloons before.
16
Q
What are speakeasies?
A
-Illegal bars in the 1920s.
17
Q
What are bootleggers?
A
-The people who transported the alcohol from the suppliers to the speakeasies.
18
Q
What are stills?
A
-Illegal distilleries where people made there own alcohol..
19
Q
What is moonshine?
A
-Illegal homemade whiskey.
20
Q
Who were Isidore Einstein and Moe Smith?
A
-They were prohibition agents who made a total of 4392 arrests.
21
Q
What were the causes of the boom?
A
- Industrial Strength
- World War One
- State of Mind
- Republican Policies
- Hire Purchase
22
Q
Describe Industrial Strength.
A
- It had a growing population of 123 million by 1923.
- They were the world leading industrial nation.
- They had many raw materials such as oil, coal, iron and gas.
23
Q
Describe World War One.
A
- America joined the war in 1917 so hd 3 years savings.
- America loaned money to Germany so they got interest.
24
Q
Describe Republican Policies.
A
- From 1922-1932 republicans were in power.
- !922 the Fordney-McCumber Act: Set up saying that it will cost lots to import food from Europe.
25
Describe State of Mind.
- People wanted the best living situation.
- In early days people believed in 'Saving money for a rainy day' but in the 1920s it was spend your money because you have it.
26
Describe Hire Purchase.
- It allowed more people to buy consumer goods, it was scheme where consumers could buy a product but pay for it in instalments.
- 8 out of 10 radios were brought on hire purchase.
- 6 out of 10 cars were brought on hire purchase.
27
Why were the 20s roaring?
- The film industry was booming.
- Sport was nearly as popular as business.
- The average wage rose by 11%.
- More skyscrapers were built.
- Jazz music became really popular.
- In 1921 there was only one licensed radio station, but by the end of 1922 there were 508.
- By the end of 1929 NBC made $150 million a year.
- The first 'Talkie' Was made in 1927.
28
Why weren't the 20s roaring?
- Older people didn't like Jazz.
- Big industries took over.
- There were worried that they were becoming sex-obsessed by films - 36 states threatened to introduce censorship.
29
Who was Clara Bow?
-She was the 'It' girl.
30
What was a flapper?
- The were granted the vote in all states.
- There were 10 million women in jobs by 1929, 24% more than in 1920.
- In 1914 the were 100,000 divorces, by 1929 this had doubled.
31
How had women's lives changed?
- They would wear short skirts, have shot hair and had the flat chested "Garconne" look.
- They wore mens clothes.
- They smoked, drank and wore makeup.
- Played Tennis.
- Danced wildly in jazz clubs.
- Were openly lesbian or sexually active.
32
Why did the lives stay the same?
- Flappers scandalised America.
- The Anti-Flirt Association tried to persuade young americans to act decently.
- Women were still payed less.
33
Who didn't Benefit from the boom?
- Textile workers, because of new industrial methods.
- Poor white people, because they couldn't get jobs.
- New immigrants, because they couldn't get jobs.
- Coal miners, because their wages were too low.
34
Why did farmers struggle?
-The war was over and there were fewer outs to feed and too much crop - Over production
-They had competition from Canadian wheat farmers.
-Farmers were becoming unemployed.
-Cities didn't want unskilled farmers.
-The land was over worked.
Banks were repossessing farms.
35
What was the consequence for farmers?
-They lost lots of money and house, they also lost their land and made too many crops which they couldn't sell.
36
What were the differences between urban and rural America?
- Rural didn't want to teach evolution in school, but Urban areas did.
- Rural areas made it illegal in 6 states.
- Rural areas were very traditional and religious.
- A Teacher, John Scopes, deliberately broke the law in order to go on trail and fight the fundamentalists.
37
What were the Jim Crow laws?
-They were intended to restrict social contact between whites another groups to limit the freedom and opportunity of black america.
38
Describe the Klu Klux Klan (KKK).
- Origins: White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs).
- Beliefs: White Supremacy, Anti-semitism, racism,
anti-catholicism, anti-immigration, homophobic.
- Actions: ross burning, beating, lynching and mutilation.
- Population: 4.5 million by 1924, peeked at 6 million, with people like police, judges and politicians involved.
39
Describe the film 'Birth of a Nation'.
- White Actors played black people using face paint / Black face.
- Woodrow Wilson said it was true - he was intolerant of black people.
- Showed the KKK actions i.e lynching.
40
What are the problems for African Americans?
- KKK.
- Portrayed negatively in films and media.
- life expectancy was a lot lower.
- Lived in poverty.
41
improvements for African Americans?
- There were associations set up to help them:
- National Association of Advancement of coloured people. (NAACP)
- Universal Negro Improvement Association.(UNIA)
- They moved tot he north for better jobs,
- Marcus Garvey set up the UNIA and helped them set up shops and businesses.
42
Describe Native Americans.
- They were the original settlers.
| - They almost disappeared when the USA expanded, From 1.5 million to 250,000 in 1920.
43
How many new immigrants were in America in the 1920s?
-25 million.
44
What is a Red Scare?
- A feeling where some americans were afraid immigrants would bring over communist ideas.
- In 191 400,000 americans went on strike.
45
What is the Emergency Quota Act 1921?
-New immigrants were limited to 3% of the total of the same nationality of immigrants already in America in 1910, max was 357,000.
46
What is the Reed-Johnson Act 1924?
-New immigrants were limited to 2% of the total of the same nationality already in America in 1890, max 154,000.
47
What is a Melting Pot?
Lots of different races and religions in one country.
48
What is tolerance?
-To accept the existence of others.
49
What is communism?
-When the government owns everything and everyone is equal.
50
How much money money went to richest 5% and how much to the poorest 42%?
- Richest 5% got 32%.
| - Poorest 42% got 10%.
51
What are dust bowl farms?
-A farm destroyed by a series of dust storms,overproduction and poor conservation.
52
What was a Hooverville?
-Shanty towns built on wasteland, built by the poor during the depression.
53
What were the causes of the Wall Street Crash?
- Banks
- Speculation
- Unequal Distribution of Wealth
- Republican Policies
- Over Production
54
Describe Unemployment.
- Wages fell by 60% between 1928 and 1933.
| - In 1933, there were 14 million unemployed.
55
Describe Industries.
- Older Industries such as textiles and coal had been declining for years.
- The building industry had been declining since 1926.
56
Describe Republican Policies.
- High tariffs were placed on export which meant people buy goods within the country.
- They did not interfere with banks or businesses (Laissez Faire).
57
How were sales going in 1929/30?
- 1929: 26 million cars sold.
- 1929: 10 million radios sold.
- 1930: 20 millions telephones sold.
- For every fridge sold in 1921 there were 167 sold in 1929.
58
Describe banks.
- In 1929 they lent out $9 billion for speculating.
| - Hire purchase meant that poor people could buy goods without having the money.
59
Describe Speculators.
- Many speculators brought shares 'on the margin' which meant that they put down 10% of the needed cash and borrowed the rest from the bank.
- By 1929 there were 20 million speculators and a population of 120 million.
- More shares were being sold back due to lack of confidence in 1929.
- Speculators were constantly moving their money.
60
What is speculation?
-borrowing money from the bank and putting it into the stock marketing selling them quickly for a price.
61
Describe over production.
- New technologies caused factories o produce even more products.
- The farming industry was over producing.
62
Describe Unequal Distribution of Wealth.
- 1/3 of all income went to the top 5% of the country,
| - 42% of Americans lived below the 'Poverty Line'.
63
What happened to the banks between 1929 and 1933?
- 1929: 659 Banks closed.
- 1930: 1,352 banks went bankrupt.
- The bak of New York had 400,000 depositors.
- 1931: 2.294 banks were under.
- 1933: 5,000 banks were bankrupt.
64
How much did the percentage of working women go up by in 1929?
-25%.
65
Describe the War Bonus Marchers.
- June 1932 service men asked for their bonuses early.
- They peacefully campaigned but hoover refused to meet with them.
- General Douglas MacArthur was appointed the job of seeing them.
- He convinced himself that they were communists.
- He burnt down camps and tear gassed them.
- Hoover said 'Thank God hat America still knew how to deal with a mob.'
- It was NOT good for Hoover.
66
Describe the 1932 election.
- Mainly between Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- Almost a quarter (1/4) of the workforce were unemployed.
- Republicans had been in power since 1920.
- Roosevelt had an 'active government' which meant he had advice outside governments.
- Roosevelt made train journey of 16000km; 16 major speeches were made.
- He won by 7 million.
67
What 3 things did Hoover tell people?
- He told everyone 'prosperity was just around the corner.'
- He told everyone to be optimistic.
- He lowered taxes hoping people would buy more goods.
68
What is a tariff?
-When a government charges extra money to import goods into their country. This will make people spend their money within the country.
69
What was the income of farmer in 1919 and 1928?
- 1919: $22 billion
| - 1928: $13 billion
70
What's a dividend?
-A yearly profit pay out.
71
What are investors?
-People who have a share in a company.
72
What are these people called?
-Share holders.
73
What was Hoovers famous, yet false quote?
-"Prosperity is just around the corner"
74
Why did Hoover lose?
- He was a 'do nothing' president.
- He believed in rugged individualism (no American should rely on the government.)
- He believed in Laissez-faire.
- Didn't accept there was a problem until 1932.
- He blocked the Garner Wagner bill in 1932, which would have provided $2.1 billion to create new jobs.
75
Describe the first new deal.
- Roosevelt was given the hundred days which gave him emergency powers root he 9th March 1933.
- He promised to:
- Get America back to work.
- Provide relief for the sick, old and unemployed.
- Protect their savings and property.
- Get industry and agriculture back on their feet.
- Restore Americas confidence and get out the the depression.
76
What was the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)?
-They stopped over production and helped to modernise farms.
77
What was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)?
-Met the urgent needs of the poor and spent $500 million on soup kitchens,blankets, employment and nursery schools.
78
What was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)?
-Young Unemployed men would sign on for 6 months work, around 2.5 million men were helped.
79
What was the Public Work Administration (PWA)?
-Helped the unemployed by building airports, schools etc. millions earned small wages and he construction helps to provide lots of jobs once America recovered.
80
What is the National Recovery Administration (NRA)?
-Business men joined a role of honour and promised to give good wages and cut production.
81
What is the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)?
-21 dams were built in Tennessee across 7 states, the dams made it possible to irrigate dried land and stop flooding, this produced electricity and jobs.
82
Why was the new deal successful?
- Restored confidence.
- Farmers were 50% better off with AAA by 1936.
- PWA created 600,000 jobs.
- TVA helped jobs and Tennessee.
83
Why was the new deal unsuccessful?
- TVA created unfair competition.
- Roosevelt was acting like a dictator.
- Modernised farms but farmers were out of work.
- Roosevelt spent $16 million of rich peoples money.
- It didn't help everyone, i.e. Women, African Americans and the very poor.
84
The second New deal: 1935.
| What was the Wagner Act?
-Made it illegal to fire someone for being in a union.
85
What was the Social Security Act?
- Provided state pensions for the elderly and widows, help for he sick and disabled.
- Unemployed people would receive a small benefit to help them out.
86
What was The Works Progress Administration?
- Aimed to create jobs.
| - Created jobs for office workers, employed actors, artists and photographers.
87
What was the Re-settlement Administration (RA)?
-Moved over 500,000 families to better homes and land.
88
What was the Farms Security Administration?
- Replaced the RA in 1937.
- Gave loans to small farmers who couldn't buy land.
- Provided decent living conditions for migrants.
89
Why was this good?
-It broadened out the New Deal so it helped more people.
