History 1920s America

Question 1

What caused the 1920s economic boom?

Answer 1

Rugged individualism
Consumerism
Government policy
Lack of competition (other powers recovering from WW2)
Stock market boom
Immigration (ample labour and industry)

Question 2

What caused the stock market boom?

Answer 2

Confidence in shares
Individuals investing, not just companies
Speculation

Question 3

What were the government policies at the time?

Answer 3

Laissez-faire attitude
Autarky (tariffs on imported goods)
Capitalism (less govt. involvement)

Question 4

Who were the US presidents from WW1 until the crash?

Answer 4

Woodrow Wilson - 1913 (WW1 involvement)
Warren G Harding - 1921 (individualism & business)
Calvin Coolidge - 1923 (business & tax cuts)
Herbert Hoover - 1929 (stock market & individualism)

Question 5

What was the Red Scare?

Answer 5

The fear of communism (and consequently immigrants) that led to 60,000 people being criminalised, despite only 556 having any factual basis.

Question 6

In what year was the referendum to pass the Prohibition as law?

Answer 6

1917

Question 7

What were some negative effects of the Prohibition?

Answer 7

• Lack of respect for the law
• Increased organised crime
• Less (legal) industry: less tax paid
• Corruption in government

Question 8

What were the three main arguments for temperance?

Answer 8

Alcohol is the root of all domestic issues and wreaks havoc on the nuclear family, as well as causing crime
Beer was German and vodka Russian - seen as unpatriotic to use exports of enemies
Religious ideology (Christianity)

Question 9

How did the sales of cars, radios, fridges and phones change 1920-1929?

Answer 9

Cars: 9m sales per year - 26m
Radios: 60000 - 10m
Fridges: x167
Phones: 10m-20m

Question 10

How did the invention of the assembly line affect society?

Answer 10

Mass production: strong economy from industry
Less manual workers needed and more skilled workers required
Consumerism: cheaper goods and easily replaceable
Very large companies: change in job style (higher level/management)

Question 11

What were the Fordney-McCumber tariffs, and what was their purpose?

Answer 11

Taxes on imported goods
Attempted to make USA industrial and economic powerhouse that didn’t rely on other countries or trade
Corporation and income tax lowered as already received from tariffs (employ and invest more)

Question 12

How did the amount of shareholders increase from 1920 to 1929?

Answer 12

4 million to 20 million

Question 13

What is the backstory of jazz, and how did it affect society?

Answer 13

As African-Americans migrated north, traditional African music travelled with them and evolved into jazz. Duke Ellington was a pioneer of the genre. It changed mindsets with its relaxed, lively and free style and created new types of dance (e.g. Charleston or onestep) with less societal conventions which in turn changed fashion.

Question 14

Did the poor receive help from the government?

Answer 14

Not at all. The Republican govt. prioritised capitalism and believed in individualism, so the poor had to rely on high-interest loans or goodwill.

Question 15

What was the unemployment rate?

Answer 15

5%

Question 16

What were the two main groups advocating temperance?

Answer 16

The Women’s Christian Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League

Question 17

How did the number of alcohol-related deaths change through the 1920s?

Answer 17

34000 - 67000

Question 18

How much tax revenue was lost from banning alcohol?

Answer 18

$11 billion

Question 19

How many enforcement officers of the prohibition were there in 1920?

Answer 19

1500 - nowhere near enough
Low pay so easily bribed

Question 20

Who were Sacco and Vanzetti?

Answer 20

Italian immigrants who were executed for armed robbery and murder despite extremely little evidence against them (biased jury as they were anarchists).

Question 21

By what factor did membership of the KKK grow in the 1920s?

Answer 21

x50

Question 22

What were the Jim Crow laws?

Answer 22

Laws enforcing segregation in schools, public places, neighbourhoods and work between black and white people

Question 23

What was the Tulsa Massacre?

Answer 23

When hundreds/thousands of black residents of Tulsa were killed as white people stormed the part of town that was predominantly black. People called for the lynching of a Black man (Dick Rollins) accused of sexual assault and everything became chaos. Planes even dropped bombs and 35 blocks were flattened.

Question 24

How did the population of Native Americans decrease?

Answer 24

From 1.5 million to 200,000

Question 25

How many shares were traded on the day of the Wall Street Crash?

Answer 25

16.4m

Question 26

What dates was the Wall Street Crash?

Answer 26

24th to the 29th October 1929

Question 27

What were the causes of the Wall Street Crash?

Answer 27

• Overproduction and underconsumption of goods
• Hoover’s election promise to increase tariffs (people bought shares) but then was rejected by Senate (all sold)
• Loss of confidence
• Laissez-faire: insufficient regulation and economical safeguards
• House prices fell
• Speculation relied on market trust - when that fell pulled out and whole system crashed