Boom and Crash Flashcards

1
Q

USA emerged from WW1

A

Wealthiest country on earth
1922-1929 = Production of industrial goods rose by 50%
Unemployment = Never higher than 3.7%

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2
Q

1920 Ford + Mass Production

A

1920 = Ford producing 1,250,000 cars per year
1920 = Ford producing 1 car every 60 seconds
Price of Model T in 1914 before mass production = $950
Price of Model T in 1925 after mass production = $250

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3
Q

Growth of business schools - 1920’s

A

1928 = 89 specialist business schools educating 67,000 students

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4
Q

Advertising - 1920’s

A

Companies - psychologists to design campaign + target specific groups - ‘Lucky Strike’ labelled ‘Torches of Freedom’
1929 = Companies spending $3 billion annually on advertising

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5
Q

Electrical Goods - 1920’s

A

1912-1939 - Number of electrical goods sold per year rose from 1.4 million to 160 million

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6
Q

Mass Production of Automobile - 1920’s

A

1920-1929 = Number of cars rose from 7.5 million to 27 million
Road Building at rate of 10,000 miles per year by 1929

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7
Q

President Calvin Coolidge

A

1923-1928

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8
Q

Andrew Mellon

A

Treasury Secretary 1921-1932

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9
Q

Andrew Mellon’s Tax Cuts

A

Government reduced taxes in 1924, 1926, 1928

Mellon gave out $3.5 billuon of tax reductions to big coorporations

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10
Q

Child Labour

A

Textile mills of the south - children worked for 56 hour weeks

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11
Q

1922 Fordney-McCumber Tariff

A

High tariffs

Protectionism

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12
Q

Hire-Purchase

A

1929 = $7 billion worth of goods brought on credit

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13
Q

Reasons for declining demand in agriculture

A

Prohibition reduced demand for grain used in manufacture of alcohols
Growth of synthetic fibres reduced demand for textile crops e.g. cotton
Introduction of more machinery + modern methods meant more could be produced on less acreage
1920’s = 13 million acres taken out of production, but overall production increased by 9%
High Tariffs = no foreign market

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14
Q

Result of declining demand in agriculture

A

Overproduction

66% of farms operated at a loss

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15
Q

1923 Agricultural Credits Act

A

Government policy was to lend money, placing small farmers in debt

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16
Q

Black Americans in 1920’s

A

85% of black americans lived in the south
1930 - Black farmers made up 14% of small farmers while accounting for less than 10% of population
Black americans who moved to industrial cities in the north faced discrimination in housing and unemployment
Ghettoes - Harlem in New York - black american population grew from 50,000 in 1914 to 165,000 by 1930
KKK

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17
Q

Unequal distributionn of the economic boom

A

Prosperity concentrated in Industrial North and West of USA
1929 - per capita incomes of north = $921
per capita income of west = $881
per capita income of south-east = $365
1929 survey found that 60% of families had incomes less than 2,000
Unemployment unstable - sociologists found that 72% of families surveyed in 1924 Muncie, Indiana had been unemployed at some stage

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18
Q

1920’s Immigration

A

1921 Emergency Immigration Law

1924 Johnson-Reed Act

19
Q

1921 Emergency Immigration Law

A

Ceiling of immigration from any European country, limiting it to 3% of nationals living in the USA in 1911
Clearly favoured western European countries e.g. Britain, while discriminating New Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe

20
Q

1924 Johnson-Reed Act

A

Banned immigration from Japan

21
Q

Red Scare

A

Fears of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, concerning the threat of a Communist revolution in the USA
1919 - 4 million workers on strike
Series of assassination attempts on public figures - Palmer
Threats of violent revolutions blamed on ‘new immigrants’ from southern and eastern Europe
‘Palmer Raids’ = 6000 arrested , no evidence against them
December 1919 = USS Buford. nicknamed ‘Soviet Ark’ used to deport to Russia 249 ‘undesirable’ aliens accused of left wing views

22
Q

1920’s Extent of Communist Support

A

Commentators greatly exaggerated extent of Communist support - some placing membership as high as 600,000
Many confused industrial action with political radicalsm of Communists
Cynics = Palmer promoting idea of Red Scare to support attempt to run for President
Palmer warned of huge Communist demonstration to take place on 20th May 1920 = Failed to materialise

23
Q

Saccho and Vanzetti

A

Accused in 1920 of armed robbery
Professed to be anarchists, little evidence against them
Massive campaign to have them acquited, executed in 1927`

24
Q

KKK

A

1921 = 100,000 followers
Edgar Clark + Elizabeth Tyler = Leaders of the Klan + Fundraisers
Exploited membership = Charging recruits $10 to join, Double the amount for robes + selling printing material at a vast profit
1924 Hiram Wesley Evans - Leader
Klan could control politicians + police
1924 = Helped elect governors in Maine, Ohio, Colarado and Lousiana
Klan had little influence in big cities
Klan maintained national profile = 13 September 1926 over 50,000 marched through Washington DC
Stimulated the migration of black Americans north to industrial cities
Collapse of KKK - corruption -
Revelations of financial corruption by Klan leaders in Pennsylvania
Klan - scandal - charismatic leader David Stevenson of Indiana accused of 2nd degree murder following suicide of lady he was alleged to have raped
1924 = 4 million members
1929 = 20,000 members

25
Q

Women - Politics - 1920’s

A

Limited political opportunities
19th Amendment of 1920 gave right to vote for women
1928 = Only 2/435 delegates in House of Representatives were female
1928 = NO female senators

26
Q

Women - Employment - 1920’s

A

Small numbers of women found success in film industry + fashion
Plentiful employment as typists or clerical work in offices
Rare for women to move up to managerial positions
1930 = omly 150 women doctors + less than 100 female accountants in USA
Vast majority of women in low paid employment - e.g. shop work, clerical, domestic service
Received less pay

27
Q

Women’s Issues - 1920’s

A

Increasingly concerned with issues of birth control + healthcare
American Birth Control League - government and conservative voices unsympathetic
1921 Sheppard-Towner Act = Gave states federal aid to develop healthacre for pregnant women
Simply reinforced role of women as child bearers and detracted from the need for birth control

28
Q

Flappers - 1920’s

A

Hedonistic lifestyle
Many shocked by women attending public places unchaperoned, dancing, smoking and flaunting Prohibition
Liberated social behaviour did not provide more career opportunities or equal treatment

29
Q

Traditional Views of Women - 1920s

A

Women remained traditional in views
1929 Muncie survey, 898% of girls would like a job but would leave the job after marriage
Education for girls = remained focused on domestic skills

30
Q

Prohibition

A

1918 = 18th Amendment banned the sale, transportation and manufacture of alcohol in order to end consumption of alcoholkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

31
Q

Reasons for Prohibition

A

Women’s Groups argued that alcohol consumption was a means by which men oppressed women e.g. Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Big business owners claimed drunkenness caused danger + inefficieny in workplace
Religious groups believed that alcohol was a cause of immoral behaviour

32
Q

Why prohibition failed

A

Impossible to police the 18,700 miles of US coastline = easy to smuggle in alcohol
Bootleggers
Treasury Agents charged with enforcement of Prohibition were poorly resourced + paid
Less than 5% of illegal alcohol intercepted
Profits from illegal alcohol was $2 billion a year

33
Q

Prohibition - Crime

A

Huge rise in growth of organised crime + gangsterism
Mobsters controlled territory by force + established monopolies of alcohol in areas
Disputes led to gang wars
Chicago - notorious - crime
Al Capone = leading gangsters in Chicago
He inisisted he did not force anyone to drink alcohol + was only meeting demand
Dealt with competitors ruthlessly
1929 St Valentine’s Day Massacre = members of rival gang killed
Al Capone’s 700 strong gang responsible for 300 murders in Chicago alone
Capone jailed in 1932 = his gang had done $70 milluon worth of business

34
Q

Success of Prohibition

A

More successful in rural and small town areas = wide support
Many areas remained ‘dry’
Credited for;
Fall in number of road deaths as a result of drunken driving
Fall in numbers of convictions for convictions for drunken behaviour
Improvements of safety in workplace

35
Q

Failure of Prohibition

A

Criminalised millions of people
Some saw it as attack on working class consumption of alcohol
Mainly working class saloons that were shut down
Organised crime

36
Q

End of Prohibition

A

1929 Wickersham Committee to investigate the effectiveness of Prohibition, acknowledged it couldn’t be enforced, despite taking 66% of law enforcement budget
President Roosevelt abolished Prohibition in 1933
20th Amendment made it responsibility of states to decide prohibition

37
Q

Jazz Age 1920’s

A

Jazz - defining music of US cities in 1920’s
Rooted in black American musical traditions
Jazz mainstream
Louis Armstrong provided rhythms for new dance crazes - Charleston + Black Bottom

38
Q

Harlem Renaissance

A

1920’s Harlem = predominantly black neighbourhood
Overcrowding, poor living conditions + crime
Night Clubs = Cotton Club
Artists = Louis Armstrong + Duke Ellington
White Clientele
Centre of black intellectuals;
Jessie Fauset = writer, editor and campaigner for black empowerment
Alain Locke + Langston Hughes = Challenged racial stereotypes through poetry
Zora Neale Hurston = novelist + anthropologist
James Weldon Johnson = black american poet first promoted Harlem Renaissance in 1925 essay ‘The Making of Harlem’
Essay published success stories = ‘Pigfoot Mary’ made a fortune selling fast food on street corners
Other black americans = ‘White tourism’ = animals in a zoo

39
Q

New Negro

A

New Negro Movement associated with Harlem Renaissance
Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Society = separatism + migration to Africa
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) opposed by separatism

40
Q

American Literature 1920’s

A

Ernes Hemingway + F Scott Fitzgerald at height of influence
Disillusioned with US society, believing it to be more materialistic and too focused on economic growth
The Sun Also Rises + The Great Gatsby

41
Q

Radio - 1920’s

A

1922 = 500 local stations
1926 = 1st national network set up = NBC
1927 = 50 million people listened to boxing match between heeavyweights Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey
1923-1929 = Radio sales grew from $60 million to $842 million
Amos n Andy = audience rising to 40 million

42
Q

Cinema - 1920’s

A

Charlie Chaplin + Mary Pickford
Hollywood = 4th largest industry - in terms of capitalist investment + employed mroe people than either Ford ir General Motors
In any one day, more than 10 million people watching films at 20,000 cinemas
Moral Corruption over Hollywood = Scandals among stars such as accusations of severe sexual misconduct against the comic actor Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arkbuckle in 1926
Will Hays - censoring - to ensure film content remained ‘clean’ and ‘wholesome’

43
Q

Sport - 1920’s

A

Age of mass spectator sport
Boxer Jack Dempsey made $10 million over the course of his career
Baseball Bath Ruth = $800,000 just from playing
Baseball was particularly popular due to emergence of talented players - Babe Ruth + Lou Gehrig
Baseball was severly segregated
1920 Negro National Baseball League = High point of the season, East-West All-star game attracted crowds of over 30,000
Black American Leagues = among most profitable black-American owned businesses