Fourth Party System [1890s–1932] VII Flashcards
Review - Timeline: Americans and the Great War, 1914-1919
1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo; World War I begins in Europe. 1915: German U-boat sinks RMS Lusitania. 1916: Pancho Villa’s forces attack Columbus, New Mexico. 1917: Germany sends the secret Zimmermann telegram; Woodrow Wilson delivers ‘Peace Without Victory’ speech; U.S. declares war on Germany. 1918: U.S. soldiers engage Germans in the Argonne Forest; Wilson issues his ‘Fourteen Points’. 1919: ‘Treaty of Versailles’ officially ends World War I.
Timeline: The Jazz Age - Redefining the Nation, 1919-1929
1920: Warren G. Harding elected president with landslide popular vote. 1923: Teapot Dome scandal rocks Harding presidency. 1924: Henry Ford sells Model Ts for $300; Congress enacts ‘National Origins Act’, establishing quotas for immigration. 1925: John Scopes found guilty of teaching evolution in Tennessee. 1927: Charles Lindbergh flies solo across Atlantic Ocean; Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed in Massachusetts. 1928: Herbert Hoover elected president.
Describe the changes in American culture during the 1920s thanks to the economic boom after WWI.
The 1920s is commonly referred to as the ‘Roaring Twenties’ due to the profound change that happened. With World War I behind them, Americans enjoyed a return to normalcy. More people were moving to the city than ever before. Technological advances, like the automobile, radio, and moving pictures, made life more leisurely. The American economy was booming, ordinary Americans were doing well, and people had money to spend on the things they enjoyed. Indulgence, sophistication, and, above all, modernism, were prominent themes of the decade. Even though Prohibition was in effect, many people continued to drink heavily.
Recognize the changes politically and socially after passage of the 19th Amendment.
Women in the 1920s made significant gains. In 1920, the 19th Amendment was passed, giving women the right to vote. Increasingly, it became acceptable for women to smoke, drink, and take on the activities men had traditionally been involved in. Women who engaged in these types of activities were called “flappers”. They often wore short hair, gaudy jewelry, and slinky clothing.
Identify the urbanization of the country in 1800 compared to 1920.
In the year 1800, an estimated 5% of the American population lived in urban areas. By the year 1920, that figure jumped to 50%. It is commonly suggested that more people lived in urban areas than in rural areas throughout the 1920s. More white-collar jobs relying on cognitive labor became available, as the amount of blue-collar jobs that relied on manual labor decreased.
Prosperity and the Production of Popular Entertainment
For many middle-class Americans, the 1920s was a decade of unprecedented prosperity. Rising earnings generated more disposable income for the consumption of entertainment, leisure, and consumer goods. This new wealth coincided with and fueled technological innovations, resulting in the booming popularity of entertainments like movies, sports, and radio programs. Henry Ford’s advances in assembly-line efficiency created a truly affordable automobile, making car ownership a possibility for many Americans. Advertising became as big an industry as the manufactured goods that advertisers represented, and many families relied on new forms of credit to increase their consumption levels and strove for a new American standard of living.
Transformation and Backlash
The old and the new came into sharp conflict in the 1920s. In many cases, this divide was geographic as well as philosophical; city dwellers tended to embrace the cultural changes of the era, whereas those who lived in rural towns clung to traditional norms. The Sacco and Vanzetti trial in Massachusetts, as well as the Scopes trial in Tennessee, revealed many Americans’ fears and suspicions about immigrants, radical politics, and the ways in which new scientific theories might challenge traditional Christian beliefs. Some reacted more zealously than others, leading to the inception of nativist and fundamentalist philosophies, and the rise of terror groups such as the Second Ku Klux Klan.
A New Generation
Different groups reacted to the upheavals of the 1920s in different ways. Some people, especially young urbanites, embraced the new amusements and social venues of the decade. Women found new opportunities for professional and political advancement, as well as new models of sexual liberation; however, the women’s rights movement began to wane with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. For black artists of the Harlem Renaissance, the decade was marked less by leisure and consumption than by creativity and purpose. African American leaders like Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois responded to the retrenched racism of the time with different campaigns for civil rights and black empowerment. Others, like the writers of the Lost Generation, reveled in exposing the hypocrisies and shallowness of mainstream middle-class culture. Meanwhile, the passage of prohibition served to increase the illegal production of alcohol and led to a rise in organized crime.
Republican Ascendancy: Politics in the 1920s
After World War I, Americans were ready for “a return to normalcy,” and Republican Warren Harding offered them just that. Under the guidance of his big-business backers, Harding’s policies supported businesses at home and isolation from foreign affairs. His administration was wracked by scandals, and after he died in 1923, Calvin Coolidge continued his policy legacy in much the same vein. Herbert Hoover, elected as Coolidge’s heir apparent, planned for more of the same until the stock market crash ended a decade of Republican ascendancy.
The Great Migration
The Great Migration was the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West from about 1916 to 1970. Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that arose during the First World War. During the Great Migration, African Americans began to build a new place for themselves in public life, actively confronting racial prejudice as well as economic, political, and social challenges to create a black urban culture that would exert enormous influence in the decades to come.
Detail the Jazz Era and Harlem Renaissance.
A new style of music called jazz became popular during this time. New styles of art also appeared. Art Deco featured simple, bold designs, while in Harlem, New York, African-American intellectuals expressed pride in their race through an artistic and literary movement that came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance. Urban culture in the 1920s was provocative, modern, trendy, and indulgent. As dynamic an era as the 1920s was, we have to understand that many of these themes were primarily associated with the city. For many rural Americans, the decade was much simpler.
Warren G. Harding (R)
The 29th U.S. president, Warren Harding (1865-1923) served in office from 1921 to 1923 before dying of an apparent heart attack. Harding’s presidency was overshadowed by the criminal activities of some of his cabinet members and other government officials, although he himself was not involved in any wrongdoing. An Ohio native and Republican, Harding was a successful newspaper publisher who served in the Ohio legislature and the U.S. Senate. In 1920, he won the general election in a landslide, promising a “return to normalcy” after the hardships of World War I (1914-1918). As president, he favored pro-business policies and limited immigration. Harding died suddenly in San Francisco in 1923, and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933). After Harding’s death, the Teapot Dome Scandal and other instances of corruption came to light, damaging his reputation.
Explain why America returned to the mentality of the Gilded Age after the Progressive Era.
By the time of the 1920 election, most of the progressive reform initiatives had been realized. The 18th Amendment had been passed, outlawing alcohol, and the 19th Amendment, passed early that year, gave the vote to all citizens. World War I and the anxiety created in its aftermath by flu epidemics and leftist radical violence left Americans focused on everything but further progressive reforms. In one simple campaign slogan, Warren Harding promised a “return to normalcy”. Harding really caught the mood of the times with this mantra as Americans, desperate to feel normal again after the turmoil of the previous years, turned away from activism. In the 1920 election Harding and Coolidge beat James Cox and F.D. Roosevelt 404 to 127.
Describe Harding’s early years
Warren G. Harding stands out as a president who saw his role as more ceremonial than political. In the end, this hurt his career and left him with a tarnished reputation. In 1884, along with a few friends, he purchased and helped turn around the Marion Star, a newspaper that was on its way to bankruptcy. His wife, Florence Harding, was a sharp businesswoman, and she helped manage the business aspects of the Marion Star and encouraged him to become involved in politics.
Describe Harding’s political rise.
Warren Harding started his political career in the United States Senate in 1914 and served two terms. His popularity from his neutrality and lack of strong stances led to his nomination for president at the 1920 Republican National Convention. His campaign slogan was “A Return to Normalcy”. He vowed to get the country back to where it was before its involvement in World War I and Woodrow Wilson’s presidency full of progressive reforms. They obtained 60% of the popular vote and 404 electoral votes (compared to just 127 for the Democrats), winning 37 states. This was the largest landslide in election history so far and was also a notable election due to the fact that it was the first presidential election that allowed women to vote after the 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920.
Recall Harding’s few accomplishments as president.
He signed the first child welfare program and dealt with striking mining and railroad workers in the 1921 Blair Mountain Miner War and Great Railroad Strike of 1922. He also cut the unemployment rate in half with higher tariffs and lower taxes. He attempted to decrease violence towards African Americans by advocating an anti-lynching bill. He also established some important bureaus - the Veterans Bureau for veteran’s medical and job needs and the Bureau of the Budget. One major foreign policy accomplishment of Harding’s was the signing of a new peace treaty with Germany and Austria after World War I.
Identify the scandals which followed Harding to his early and mysterious death.
He gave some friends and political supporters powerful jobs in his administration, and many of them abused their power in unlawful ways. The best example of this is the ‘Teapot Dome Scandal’. Oil-rich lands in Wyoming were leased to companies in return for personal loans to members of his administration. In 1923, rumors of this corruption began to surface.
Describe other scandals of Harding’s administration.
Harding is remembered for scandal more than any of his policies. Three years after being elected, Harding learned that an official in the Veterans Bureau was stealing medical and hospital supplies and selling them for profit. The official fled to Europe and resigned. Harding’s General Counsel committed suicide, and a close friend of the Attorney General shot himself. The Attorney General himself was accused of mishandling German assets that were seized during World War I.
Summarize the “Teapot Dome” scandal.
The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming, and two locations in California, to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. The leases were the subject of a seminal investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison; no one was convicted of paying the bribes. Before the Watergate scandal, Teapot Dome was regarded as the “greatest and most sensational scandal in the history of American politics”.
Describe Hardings mysterious death.
On August 2, 1923, Harding had what was thought to be a huge heart attack and died. Some people believe that it was not actually a heart attack that killed him but that he was poisoned by his wife to prevent him from the corruption charges that were likely to come against him. She did not allow an autopsy on the body, which supported these theories.
Tell why, economically, the era was called ‘The Roaring Twenties’.
Not only was American culture “roaring” in terms of style and social trends, but the economy was “roaring” as well. Within a few short years, an economic shift took place as the economy transitioned from wartime production to peacetime production. New technologies like the automobile, household appliances, and other mass-produced products led to a vibrant consumer culture, stimulating economic growth. Furthermore, under the administration of three consecutive Republican presidents, the government adopted fiscally conservative policies that fueled private business.
Describe consumerism and how it defined the 1920s.
Advertising came into its own throughout the 1920s. Through mediums like radio and print advertisements, consumer culture was more visible than ever before. Installment buying, or buying on credit, allowed Americans to purchase expensive items like automobiles and refrigerators. The Sears, Roebuck & Co. mail-order catalog revolutionized how people purchased.
Calvin Coolidge (R)
Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), the 30th U.S. president, led the nation through most of the Roaring Twenties, a decade of dynamic social and cultural change, materialism and excess. He took office on August 3, 1923, following the sudden death of President Warren G. Harding (1865-1923), whose administration was riddled with scandal. Nicknamed “Silent Cal” for his quiet, steadfast and frugal nature, Coolidge, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, cleaned up the rampant corruption of the Harding administration and provided a model of stability and respectability for the American people in an era of fast-paced modernization. He was a pro-business conservative who favored tax cuts and limited government spending. Yet some of his laissez-faire policies also contributed to the economic problems that erupted into the Great Depression.
Explain how Harding’s and Coolidge’s policies were counter to the Progressive Era.
Harding quickly established a pro-business tone and called for a ‘new era of prosperity for America.’ Tax cuts were made to bring the nation out of the brief, but impacting, post-war slump and a more lenient attitude towards government oversight of corporations was adopted. Regulatory agencies created during the Progressive Era remained but were rendered ineffective.
