Harding to Hoover 1921 - 1932 Flashcards
The 1920s was the Jazz Age, a mix of the Lost Generation with those who perceived a bright new future of American prosperity. This deck describes the Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover Administrations, evolving American standards of morality, and the cultural influences of the 1920s.
What was the Emergency Quota Act of 1921?
Enacted under pressure from nativists, Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, which limited immigration to three percent of the number of persons from a given nation counted in the 1910 census.
Immigration of Catholics and Jews from Southern and Eastern Europe (deemed “undesirables” by nativists) was sharply curtailed.
Two topics were the focus of international talks at the Washington Conference in 1921. What were they?
The two main issues of contention were arms reduction and competition in Asia.
Representatives from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Portugal, the United States, and the Netherlands attended.
The Conference resulted in three treaties: the Five Power Treaty, the Four Power Treaty, and the Nine Power Treaty.
What is assembly line production?
Assembly line production was a method adopted by Henry Ford and other industrialists to streamline production.
Workers stood in a single spot and performed the same task repetitively. Assembly line production greatly increased the speed of production, and consequently lowered the cost of the goods produced.
Complete the sentence:
_____ _____ _____ was an American mechanical engineer who applied science to business practices.
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Henry Ford and others adopted Taylor’s suggestions in order to achieve improved efficiency on the factory floor.
In 1920, only 34.7% of households had electricity, but by 1930, 67.9% had electric access. How did the growth in access to electricity spur consumer demand?
Many of the new products coming off the assembly lines such as washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuums were powered by electricity. Access to electricity meant that consumers bought these products in large quantities.
In urban areas, increased access to electricity was even more dramatic; 84.8% of urban residences had access to electricity by 1930.
Increased access to electricity during the 1920s required sources of power and led to increased growth and development in what related area?
During the 1920s, oil development experienced an exponential increase. Although many homes continued to be heated with coal, electricity from oil powered the factories, and gasoline powered the increased number of automobiles.
Much of the oil came from the United States, which produced more oil than the rest of the world combined during the 1920s.
Define:
Installment plan
An installment plan is a system of credit, whereby a good is purchased for a fixed amount of payments spread over an extended period.
Many of the new products being manufactured in the 1920s were purchased on installment plans.
What segment of the American economy failed to prosper during the economic boom of the 1920s?
Farming
Farm prices and the value of agricultural goods had plummeted at the end of World War I, and continued to be depressed throughout the 1920s (and into the 1930s). Farmers had difficulties paying back their loans, and over 6,000 rural banks closed during the period.
Define:
Open shop
An open shop is a labor system in which jobs are not restricted solely to union members.
Define:
Closed shop
In a closed shop system, a factory owner agrees only to employ workers who belong to a union.
What happened to union membership in the 1920s?
Union membership declined. Most factory owners continued to have an open-shop policy. Further, many factories offered workers better wages, benefits, and working conditions than in previous eras, removing the impetus for workers to join unions in the first place.
Anti-union efforts were also favored by the courts, who issued injunctions in the event of strikes, which brought them to an end without negotiations.
How did Republicans view the idea of regulation and taxes on American businesses?
In the words of Calvin Coolidge, “the business of America is business.” Republicans adopted pro-business policies and preached limited government intervention in the economy. They wanted to cut taxes, especially for the wealthy, and especially for American businesses. Republicans during the 1920s wanted to remove as much regulation as legally possible.
What was the Teapot Dome Scandal?
Between 1922-1923, President Harding’s Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall accepted bribes to grant oil leases on federal lands at Teapot Dome, Wyoming.
Fall wasn’t the only Harding cabinet official to face corruption charges. Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty accepted payments not to prosecute suspected criminals, and Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans Bureau, misused $250 million in federal funds.
Who was Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette?
Robert La Follette was a Republican politician from Wisconsin, who served as the leader of the Progressive wing of the Republican party after Theodore Roosevelt’s death in 1919. La Follette ran for President in 1924 on the Progressive Party ticket, denouncing the influence of corporations in government. He garnered 17% of the national vote.
How did Calvin Coolidge view the shared roles of government and business?
Coolidge shared Harding’s view that the main role of government was to help business prosper. He kept Harding’s Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, who continued to implement fairly conservative economic policies.
Viewing himself as fiscal steward of the nation, Coolidge vetoed any federal spending bill that he felt could not be afforded.
Complete the sentence:
The _____ _____ _____ of 1924 restricted immigration to 2% of the number of persons from a given nation counted in the 1890 census.
National Origins Act
Passed under nativist pressure, the National Origins Act further restricted immigration of “undesirable” Jews and Catholics. In addition, the National Origins Act completely barred any immigration by non-whites, a provision aimed at restricting immigration from China and Japan.
What was the Dawes Plan?
In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had agreed to pay reparations, but by the early 1920s was suffering from a severe recession in consequence of the Allies’ occupation of the Ruhr Valley, Germany’s industrial heartland. Under the Dawes Plan, the U.S. government lent money to Germany to pay reparations to Britain and France.
The Dawes Plan would tie most of Western Europe to the fate of the American economy, to significant effect during the Great Depression.
How did the role of women change during 1920s?
Women were still primarily homemakers during the 1920s, though new household goods such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners helped alleviate some household chores.
In urban areas, young, single women, commonly called Flappers, began challenging traditional ideas about marriage, family, work, and sexual mores.
Who was Margaret Sanger?
Birth control was illegal in most states, and Margaret Sanger was an advocate for ending restrictions on access to it.
Sanger was a eugenicist, who believed that access to birth control was essential to reduce reproduction by those considered unfit.
Who were the Flappers?
Flappers were young, mainly urban women who defied social and sexual norms by flaunting short dresses, bobbed hairdos, and makeup. Flappers also smoked and drank openly (despite Prohibition).
In 1919, alcohol became illegal through the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. What was the effect of Prohibition on drinking during the 1920s?
Alcohol use skyrocketed, and it was fashionable to drink in speakeasies or purchase alcohol from bootleggers who either brewed liquor themselves or imported it from Canada.
As bootlegging grew into a lucrative profession, it was taken over by gangsters, such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, who thrived in the illegal climate.
How did mass culture develop during the 1920s?
Fueled by the prevalence of the radio and the popularity of movies, Americans for the first time shared many common cultural experiences. Americans saw the same films and listened to the same radio shows.
Amos n’ Andy, a radio show that premiered in 1928, proved so popular that stores played it over their loudspeakers to induce customers to shop while listening instead of staying at home and listening.
What musical style came to symbolize the youth culture of the 1920s?
Jazz
Jazz came to symbolize the dominant free-flowing spirit of the period, so much so that the 1920s is often called “The Jazz Age.”
With roots in the Southern black experience, jazz became widespread through the use of radios and phonographs.
Who were Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, and Greta Garbo?
They were movie stars during the 1920s.
During the period, moviegoing became a national trend, backed with lavish theaters, celebrity actors and actresses, and gossip magazines.
What was the Lost Generation?
Coined by Gertrude Stein, the Lost Generation was a term used for that generation that came of age during World War I. After the War, many of the Lost Generation became disillusioned with life, and demonstrated a lack of cultural or emotional stability.
Writers such as Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway gave voice to cynicism felt by the Lost Generation after the War.
Define:
Fundamentalism
Beginning in the 1920s, Fundamentalism sought to stop the growing trend towards Modernism by advocating a return to Biblical precepts. Fundamentalists believed that religion should influence every aspect of their lives.
Fundamentalists spoke against evolution and what they viewed as the moral breakdown of society.
Complete the sentence:
Fundamentalist preacher _____ ______ used colorful language and a return to “fire and brimstone” preaching to advocate for a return to religious principles.
Billy Sunday
Sunday was a former baseball player who became an evangelical preacher. Sunday’s colloquial preaching and his powerful invective proved popular with audiences nationwide.
How did Modernists differ from Fundamentalists in the 1920s?
Modernists sought to break with traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization, and daily life, feeling that these traditions had become outdated in a fully industrialized society.
Unlike Fundamentalists, Modernists sought to minimize the role of religion in everyday life, and emphasized science, including teaching evolution.
What was the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)?
In the Scopes Monkey Trial, John Scopes was on trial for teaching evolution, which was illegal under Tennessee law. The trial pitted legendary lawyer Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan, who represented the prosecution.
The trial quickly gained nationwide attention as a battle between modernists and fundamentalists.
Scopes lost the trial and was fined $100, but his conviction was overturned on a technicality.
Define:
Nativism
Nativism is the policy of protecting the interests of “natives,” or the established inhabitants of a country against outsiders or immigrants. Nativists feared that new immigrants would compete for jobs.
The Ku Klux Klan returned to prominence in the 1920s. How did the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s differ from the post-Civil War Klan?
Fueled by nativist and fundamentalist sentiments, the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s developed a significant following in the Midwest. Rather than being directed solely at blacks, the Klan also espoused nativist ideology against Catholics and Jews.
For the first time, women also played a large role in the Klan, and Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) auxiliaries existed in every state.
Who were Sacco and Vanzetti?
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and Anarchists who were arrested, tried and convicted for the murder of a payroll clerk in 1927. Many believed that Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent and the case generated public protest.
Even today, many historians contend that the men’s conviction resulted from anti-immigrant sentiment rather than an impartial jury verdict.
Complete the sentence:
The __________ ___________ was a New York City-based artistic and intellectual movement that expressed pride in African American culture.
The Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance artists and intellectuals expressed both African American pride and the pain of racism in their artistic, literary, and musical works.
The Harlem Renaissance included prominent artists like musicians Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, writers such as James Weldon Johnson, and poets such as Langston Hughes.
Who was Marcus Garvey?
Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican immigrant who became one of the most influential African American leaders. He created the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in the 1920s to further black pride and to promote black separatism and a return to Africa.
Garvey founded a shipping line known as the Black Star Line, to transport goods and settlers back to Africa.
Define:
New Negro
Popularized during the Harlem Renaissance, the term “New Negro” implied a refusal to submit to racial segregation and an advocacy of black dignity and equality. The term arose out of the self-confidence and pride of blacks gained during the Great Migration and service during World War I.
Complete the sentence:
The signatories of the _____-_____ Pact of 1928 pledged not to use military force as an aggressive means.
Kellogg-Briand
The signatories of the Pact, including the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and dozens of other nations, pledged not to use war to resolve disputes with other nations, and pledged collective action to intervene against aggressor nations.
After President Coolidge declined to run, the Republicans nominated Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover for President in 1928. What did Hoover and the Republicans promise Americans?
The Republican campaign centered upon continued prosperity and economic growth, promising a “chicken in every pot, and an automobile in every garage.”
Many Republicans also took advantage of growing nativist sentiment to castigate Alfred E. Smith, Hoover’s opponent and an Irish Roman Catholic.
In 1928, the Democratic Party nominated Alfred E. Smith for President. What was notable about Smith’s candidacy?
Smith, nicknamed The Happy Warrior by Franklin Roosevelt, was an Irish Roman Catholic, the first Catholic to run for the Presidency on a major party ticket. He was also a wet, committed to ending Prohibition.
Smith lost the 1928 campaign, in part because of anti-Catholic sentiment.
What was the automobile’s impact on American society during the 1920s?
By 1929, half of all American families had automobiles, and its impact was widespread. Suburbanization rose, as people took advantage of increased mobility to move to more bucolic areas.
As they became more reliable, automobiles became an integral part of the vacation experience, as Americans took their first “road trips.” Even romance changed, as dates in cars replaced courting in the family living room.
What is buying on margin, and how did it affect the stock market in the late 1920s?
When an investor buys on margin, the investor puts up a portion of the price for a stock and a broker advances the rest of the money. The wide availability of margin credit fueled an environment of stock market speculation, and stock prices skyrocketed throughout 1928 and 1929.
Define:
Bank run
Banks don’t keep all customer deposits on hand; rather they lend out the funds to individuals or companies. A bank run takes place when many customers withdraw their money simultaneously, out of fear the bank may become insolvent, and was a common feature of the early 1930s.
As money is withdrawn the likelihood of default increases, thus triggering further withdrawals. When the Bank runs out of money it closes down.
Complete the sentence:
On _____ _____, October 24, 1929, investors sold 13 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange, and the market lost some 11% in value.
“Black Thursday”
Several leading bankers stabilized the market on Friday, October 25, but the sell-off resumed on Monday, October 28, when the market collapsed 13%, a day known as “Black Monday.”
The final “Black” day of the 1929 Stock Market Crash was “Black Tuesday,” when the market lost an additional 12% in value. What hastened the market’s collapse?
During the pre-crash boom, many speculators had purchased stocks on margin. As the stock market began to fall, brokers were forced to sell off the stocks purchased for their customers on margin. This created a snowball effect; as stocks continued to fall, more speculators were sold out.
In 1930, Congress raised the tariff to record highs by passing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. What effect did this have on the economy?
Already slowed by the 1929 Stock Market Crash, the increased tariff led to retaliation by foreign countries, which raised their own tariffs. As a consequence, U.S. exports dropped by 66%, devastating the U.S. economy.
What was the Reconstruction Finance Corporation?
Established in 1932, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was one of Herbert Hoover’s attempts to aid the ailing U.S. economy. The agency gave $2 billion in aid to state and local governments, railroad companies, banks, and other businesses. The Corporation was a model for several of the New Deal agencies.
What was the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (1932)?
Signed into law during the Hoover Administration, the Federal Home Loan Bank Act sought to lower the cost of home ownership by providing funds to federal savings and loans to be used to fund home mortgages.
The Act’s purpose was to reduce home foreclosures during the early years of the Great Depression. While foreclosures were reduced, it had little effect on the economy as a whole.
In 1932, Herbert Hoover attempted to revive the U.S. economy by signing the Emergency Relief and Construction Act. What did this act provide?
The Emergency Relief Act was the first ever federal relief act, which released funds for public works projects (such as highways and building projects) throughout the country.
The Emergency Relief Act was expanded by President Roosevelt as part of his New Deal line of programs.
In 1931, at the suggestion of President Hoover, 15 countries agreed to the Hoover Moratorium, which suspended the Dawes Plan and all war debt payments, including reparations. What was the Moratorium’s effect?
The Moratorium prompted a number of bank defaults in Europe and the United States, as customers withdrew their funds. Designed to stave off a depression in Europe, the Moratorium had only a negligible effect on the world economy.
What was the Federal Farm Board?
Founded shortly before the 1929 Stock Market Crash, the Farm Board was greatly expanded in response to the drop in crop prices in 1930 and 1931. The Federal Farm Board attempted to drive up prices by holding cotton and grain in storage, reducing the supply.
Unfortunately the Board’s efforts were too modest to have much of an effect on the economy.
What was the Bonus Army?
In 1932, thousands of unemployed World War I veterans marched on Washington and demanded immediate payment of bonus certificates that had been awarded to them in acknowledgment of their service, but which weren’t cashable until 1945.
The Bonus Army, as it came to be called, arrived en masse at the U.S. Capitol, demanding that Congress enact the Bonus Bill, providing them with their bonuses.
How did President Hoover respond to the arrival of the Bonus Army in Washington, D.C. in 1932?
After the Bonus Army attacked police following the failure of Congress to pass the Bonus Bill, Hoover ordered out the U.S. Army. Douglas MacArthur used troops, tanks, and tear gas to drive the veterans from Washington.
In 1932, the Democratic Party nominated New York’s Governor, Franklin Roosevelt, to run against President Hoover. What were the central components of Roosevelt’s campaign?
Roosevelt sharply critiqued Hoover’s deficit spending, contending that government extravagance had led to the worsening Depression. Roosevelt promised to streamline the government, cut government expenditures by 25%, and balance the budget.
In addition, Roosevelt supported repealing Prohibition, hoping that grain purchases by brewers and distillers would raise crop prices.
