History America

Question 1

How did the USA benefit from WW one? [4]

Answer 1

• The European economies were exhausted, and the USA was able to take over as the worlds largest trading industrial nation.
• European countries traded a lot during the war, US farmers increased exports by 300% and other productivity meant lots of employment in the USA.
• The loans to Britain and France had huge interest, with a total of nearly $8 000 million.
• The USA was undamaged and had lots of factories, whereas other countries didn’t.

Question 2

What were the political effects of WW one on the USA? [2]

Answer 2

• Wilson’s fourteen point plan and hopes for American participation in the LON was rejected.
• Americans wanted nothing to do with Europe and feared the dangerous ideas as well as believing that they would be pulled into a future war if they made alliances.

Question 3

What were some Government policies that helped the boom? [2]

Answer 3

• Laissez Faire let businesses run their own affairs, rather than passing laws to control working hours or prices, so business could achieve it’s full potential.
• Tariffs included 1921 Emergency Tariff Act on agricultural products. The 1922 Fordney and McCumber tariff Act raised tariffs and extended them to industrial goods.

Question 4

What were the main causes for the boom? [4]

Answer 4

• Abundant raw resources: didn’t need to import and allowed industries to grow rapidly. This provided even more jobs. Many farmers with efficient and productive farms.
• State of mind: People believed they had the right to prosperity. They wanted to live for the moment and didn’t want to save.
• WW1
• Gov policies

Question 5

What are your three facts about the boom?

Answer 5

• There were 35 000 millionaires by 1928.
• By 1929 70% of americans had electricity.
• 100 million cinema tickets were sold each week by 1930.

Question 6

What were the effects of mass production? [3]

Answer 6

• Cheaper products and more employment… people have more money…boosts industry.
• Related industries grow such as roads, parts, raw materials.
• Easier to travel … more spending and travelling salesmen, stimulated the building boom with motels, roadside diners.

Question 7

What were some of the key elements of the roaring twenties? [5]

Answer 7

• Wealth: people had more money and spent more.
• Novelty: new consumer goods (electrical), and mass production and jazz and science.
• Leisure: people had more free time and spare money… more people have recreation in sport, music…
• Mobility: more people could travel and live away from work. Urbanisation and the growth of suburbs.
• Changing values: women more independent, and science becomes better.

Question 8

What was the importance of the radio in the roaring 20s?

Answer 8

• It was a new form of entertainment.
• Commercials could be played.
• It connected people and spread new ideas like jazz music. By 1930 60% of Americans owned radios.

Question 9

What was the impact of the cinema in the roaring 20s?

Answer 9

• Movie industry grows … First blockbuster ‘The Birth Of A Nation’, over 100 million cinema tickets sold per week.

Question 10

What was the importance of sports in the roaring 20s?

Answer 10

• Has been called ‘the golden age of sports’
• Many new stadiums were built.
• Could be broadcast on the radio and there were heroes and sports stars such as Babe Ruth.
• As a result people were more enthusiastic about sports - it was popular, and attracted lots of people.

Question 11

Who didn’t benefit from the boom and why?

Answer 11

• Workers in traditional industries such as coal and textiles. Very low wages lead to strikes.
• Farmers had very efficient production but a small market. Europe no longer needed agricultural goods - prices fell. Farmers could not pay off mortgage from WW1
• The unemployed - growth of industry does not necessarily mean more jobs, with mechanised production. The same numbers of people were being employed in1929 as 1920.

Question 12

Why was the monkey Trial important and what was it?

Answer 12

• It was when John Scopes in Tennessee broke the Butler act by teaching about evolution in school.
• It was the first trial on radio … captured the attention of the nation and the world.

Question 13

What changes took place in the 1920s with immigration?

Answer 13

• Before WW one there was an ‘Open Doors’ policy that created a ‘Melting pot’ of nationalities.
• 1921 Emergency Quota Act restricted immigration to 3% of the 1910 census.
• Annual immigration reduced from about 1M to 150 000 by 1929.

Question 14

Why was there a red scare?

Answer 14

• Timing was shortly after WW one (feeling of patriotism) and Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
• Many Americans had a fear of communists, socialists, and anarchists.
• Events such as the Seattle shipyard strike of 1919 and anarchist bombings created panic. Media hype spread the impression that communists were responsible.

Question 15

What were the palmer raids?

Answer 15

• Began after a politician Palmer blamed a bomb in his house on communists.
• Police raids on homes of suspected ‘Reds’, over 6000 arrested. Most of these people were innocent.

Question 16

What was the importance of the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti?

Answer 16

• The trial was reported in newspapers all over the world.
• They were Italian immigrants and anarchists, and were accused of robbery and murder.
• 107 people said they were somewhere else.

Question 17

What were some of the attitudes of Americans after WW1? [2]

Answer 17

• They wanted nothing to do with Europe and feared the ideas like communism and anarchism.
• Wanted a policy of isolationism, and that further alliances would lead to further wars.

Question 18

What social problems were there right at the end of the war?

Answer 18

• Industries, after high levels of war production, laid off workers.
• Prices doubled 1914 to 1919, but wages had not.
• Result: a wave of violent strikes through 1919.

Question 19

What changes were made to the motor industry? [3]

Answer 19

• Production time went from 12 hours to 1.5
• It became the USAs biggest industry. The model T Ford was produced every 10 seconds.
• The method with the assembly line meant faster mass production, higher profit, and more employment.

Question 20

What was the impact of Jazz and dance on America? [2]

Answer 20

• Very profitable industry, Paul Whiteman was making 1 million.
• Signified a new era/ generation, with new cultural aspects.

Question 21

What suggested that the position of women changed a lot, and what suggested otherwise? [3] and [3].

Answer 21

• During the war, women took jobs previously closed to them. 8 million women now working.
• In 1920 they got to vote.
• Labour saving devices gave more leisure time and opportunity to work.
• Traditional attitudes did not change, particularly in rural areas.
• Attempts to secure minimum wages and get equal rights were blocked.
• Women could not have high profession jobs, only 5% of medical places go to women.

Question 22

What were some ways in which the 1920s was a time of change for black Americans?

Answer 22

• Black culture and black pride flourished in cities. This made whites more aware of the ‘black experience’.
• Black theatre with comedians, singers and dancers was successful in shows and clubs.
• Black political movements gained momentum, and some blacks would boycott large stores.

Question 23

What were the two black activists, and what did they do?

Answer 23

W.E.B Du Bois:
- set up NAACP and Niagara movement working for integration and rights.

Marcus Garvey

• Set up UNIA
• Wanted to end racism, but did not believe in integration… Back to Africa campaign.

Question 24

What were two prohibition movements, and why was there support?

Answer 24

Anti-Saloon League, and Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

• Temperance movements were usually linked to strong religious beliefs, and the belief that alcohol was damaging to family life and values.
• Support from politicians because it would earn them votes.
• Support from business owners as it would make workers more reliable.

Question 25

What and when was prohibition?

Answer 25

January 1920 it was banned to sell, buy, or transport alcohol (note no drinking!)

Question 26

Why, economically, did prohibition fail?

Answer 26

• Its a huge business opportunity, with high demand and high profits. 7th largest industry in the USA.
• “Prohibition is a business, all I do is supply public demand” Al Capone.
• The Great Depression, by legalizing alcohol the gov’ would: more jobs, more farmers (tax these two), and save money from enforcement.
• End corruption, and a popular move.

Question 27

How did prohibition create corruption?

Answer 27

• Even when arrests were made it was difficult to get convictions… police and judges on payroll. 1 year in Chicago there were 130 gang murders and not one conviction.
• Gangsters make connections to the powerful and the respected.
• Agents had fear of being beaten or murdered if they didn’t turn the blind eye. Gangsters paid off local gov’, police, judges, agents.
• Two Gun Hart was dismissed as a PA as he was too successful!

Question 28

What were some problems of enforcing prohibition?

Answer 28

• Agents were poorly paid and responsible for 200 000 square miles.
• ineffective as there was little support from police.
• PA raids destroy millions of gallons of alcohol, 1000s of arrests made.

Question 29

How did prohibition lead to a rise in organized crime?

Answer 29

• Huge fortunes to be made , Al Capone made 60 M from speakeasies alone. This lead to a development of wider criminal networks.
• Violent competition between gangs, eg. St Valentines day Massacre 1929, where Capone gang members disguised as policemen murdered members of a rival gang.

Question 30

What is some evidence that Capone was the worst gangster, and some evidence he was not? [2] and [2].

Answer 30

• He helped the poor and set up soup kitchens.
• He argued that he was only supplying public demand.
• He controlled the Mayor, “Big Bill” Thompson, and fixed local elections.
• He had nearly 200 of his rivals killed.

Question 31

What was the attitude towards immigration in the 1920s?

Answer 31

• Many immigrants were coming in from Eastern and Southern Europe. They were illiterate and unskilled cheap labour. American workers see as a threat.
• WASPs believed that communists, anarchists, Asians, Jews, and Catholics were entering the USA and undermining the way of life.

Question 32

Why was the Sacco Vanzetti trial controversial?

Answer 32

• Their trial was not very fair, and the judge was racist and against their beliefs. The judge also tried to influence the jury.
• It is likely that the word ‘anarchist’ rather than any criminal act sent them to the electric chair. The trial illustrated the prejudices and divisions in American society.

Question 33

What were some ways in which the position of blacks remained the same?

Answer 33

Many states passed Jim Crow laws, which discriminated, separated schools, and prevented black and white marriage.
Some Jim Crow laws prevented blacks from voting through underhand means such as a literacy test.
The KKK grew and had political influence. Numbers of lynching grew.

Question 34

How did new innovations and technology as well as sales techniques create the boom?

Answer 34

• Technology: new materials like Bakelite, and industries were created and modernised. Electricity was developed to be cheaper and more widely available. This pushed things like toasters and radios forwards. Also mass production by Henry Ford meant cheaper products and more jobs.
• Sales techniques: strong visual imagery, along with radio and cinema. Advertising became an industry. Credit schemes encouraged people to spend.