Roaring 20s Flashcards
A. Philip Randolph
-African-American leader who wanted to end discrimination in the work place. He led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a vigorous union representing a virtually all black workforce
Adkins vs. Children’s Hospital
-the Supreme Court ruled that a minimum wage law for women violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because it abridged a citizen’s right to freely contract labor.
Al Capone
-gangster who terrorized Chicago during Prohibition until arrested for tax evasion
Babe Ruth
-most popular baseball player of the 1920s
Barnum and Bailey
-an American showman remembered for hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Black Tuesday
-Oct 29, 1929 selling frenzy on Wall street and stock prices plunged
Bonus Army
-a group of almost 20,000 WWI veterans who were hard-hit victims of the depression, who wanted what the government owed them for their services and “saving” democracy. They marched to Washington and set up public camps and erected shacks on vacant lots. They tried to intimidate Congress into paying them, but Hoover had them removed by the army, which shed a negative light on Hoover.
Boston Police Strike
-Strike by poorly paid Boston policemen in the fall of 1919. Policemen abandoned their beats and chaos ensued; after two days, Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge called in the National Guard to restore order. Public sympathy lay with Coolidge, demonstrating popular hostility toward labor militancy in the wake of the war
“Business of America is business…and business is good”
-a statement made by president Calvin Coolidge which showed his overconfidence in the American economy before the Depression
Andrew Mellon
-the Secretary of the Treasury during the Harding Administration. He felt it was best to invest in tax-exempt securities rather than in factories that provided prosperous payrolls. He believed in trickle down economics. (Hamiltonian economics)
Bolshevik Revolution
-the second stage of the Russian Revolution in November 1917 when Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik Party seized power and established a communist state
Calvin Coolidge
-the 30th President of the US (1923-1929). A Republican lawyer from Vermont. Succeeded into presidency after the sudden death of Warren G. Harding. He restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of his predecessor’s administration, and left office with considerable popularity
Charles Lindbergh
-US aviator who in 1927 made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean (1902-1974)
Dawes Plan
-an arrangement negotiated in 1924 to reschedule German reparations payments
F. Scott Fitzgerald / The Great Gatsby
-a novel depicting the picturesque idea of the self made American man and entrepreneur who rose from obscurity
Flappers
-liberated women of the 1920s
Frederick Taylor
-The original “efficiency expert” who, in the book The Principles of Scientific Management from 1911, preached the gospel of efficient management of production time and costs, the proper routing and scheduling of work, standardization of tools and equipment, and the like.
Great Migration
-black people moved north with opportunities created by WWI
Harlem Renaissance
-outburst of creative activity among African-Americans in all fields of art in the 1920s
Hawley Smoot Tariff
-1930 treaty raised tariffs on many imported goods
Henry Ford
-american businessman, founder of Ford Motor Company, father of modern assembly lines, and inventor credited with 161 patents
Herbert Hoover
-president from 1929 to 1932 He was a republican who ran on a campaign of prohibition and prosperity. The early years of his presidency brought about a great deal of prosperity for the US. Many people blamed him for the stock market crash.
Hoovervilles
-shanty towns that the unemployed built in the cities during the early years of the Depression; the name given to them shows that the people blamed Hoover directly for the Depression
Kellogg-Briand Pact
-all nations that signed would no longer use war as offensive means. Americans didn’t want there to be war anymore. They thought quarreling nations would take a pledge to foreswear war as an instrument of national policy, swords could be beaten into plowshares. Frank B. Kellogg (Secretary of State). Defensive wars still permitted. The pact was a diplomatic derelict, useless in a showdown. Reflected American mindset in 20s. False sense of security
Immigration Act 1924
-limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the US through a national origins quota
Installment Plans
-plans that allowed people to buy things in pre-approved installments (like for cars and stuff)
Ku Klux Klan Revival (1920s)
-the KKK returned to national prominence in the 1920s to direct its hatred against African Americans, Catholics and Jews
Langston Hughes
-a leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance who described the rich culture of african American life using rhythms influenced by jazz music
Lost Generation
-a group of writers who were disillusioned with 1920s American society
Marcus Garvey
-a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements
Margaret Sanger
-founder of the birth control movement in the US and an international leader in the field
McNary-Haugen Bill
-farm proposal of the 1920s, passed by Congress but vetoed by president Coolidge, that provided for the federal government to buy farm surpluses and sell them abroad
Office of Veterans Affairs Scandal
-director of Veteran Affairs, Charles Forbes, entered into corrupt arrangements with a number of contractors, he stole money from the bureau particularly with those involved in the operation of hospitals, and sold government property at a fraction of its value.
Quota System
-an arrangement placing a limit on the number of immigrants from each country
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
-a government lending agency established under the Hoover administration in order to assist insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads, and local governments. It was a precursor to later agencies that grew out of the New Deal and symbolized a recognition by the Republicans that some federal action was required to address the Great Depression
Red Scare
-nationwide fear of communists after the Bolshevik revolution
Return to Normalcy
-a campaign slogan used by Warren G Harding
Sacco & Vanzetti
-Two Italian born immigrants, became unwillingly martyrs in the struggle of equal justice for all. When they were executed in 1927, Americans mourned and believed that they were really victims of the frenzied fear of radicals and aliens
Scopes Trial
-Formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was an American legal case in July 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 ($1395 in 2017), but the verdict was overturned on a technicality
Speculation
-the practice of making high-risk investments in hopes of getting a huge return
Teapot Dome Scandal
-Secretary of the Interior (Albert Fall) leased government land in California and at Teapot Dome, Wyoming to 2 oil executives- Fall became the first Cabinet official to be sent to prison
The Jazz Singer
-first film with sound, known as a “talkie”; changed motion picture industry; starred Al Jolson. Motion Picture Association
Volstead Act
-said that “no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act.” It did not specifically prohibit the purchase or use of intoxicating liquors, (WW), implemented the 18th Amendment. It established illegal alcohol at above .5%, but then comes the speakeasies, The act that was passed to define what “Hard Liquor” was and set up the law enforcement apparatus to police prohibition
