Roaring Twenties Flashcards
What could the US economy go into?
Boom, Recession, Depression
Foreclosure
banks taking your homes
What is recession?
Economic Slump
What did voter discontent lead voters to elect?
Republican
Who did Warren G. Harding choose?
able men who followed pro-business policies.
Who became the secretary of commerce and what did he/she do?
Herbert Hoover,
worked to help American business expand overseas
Who is Albert Fall and what did he do?
Secretary of Interior
he secretly leased two oil executives government land in California and Teapot Dome, Wyoming
What was the result of Fall’s issues?
Fall became the first Cabinet official ever sent to prison
What is with the “Ohio Gang”?
old friends of Harding who filled other Cabinet posts.
Who is Charles Forbes and what did he do?
Head of Veterans Bureau
convicted of stealing millions from the bureau
What do many people believe caused Harding’s death? How did he actually die?
Due to all of the stress
Harding died in 1923 of a heart attack
What did Coolidge believe that the prosperity of all Americans depended on?
success of American business
Coolidge Prosperity?
factories switched to making consumer goods, the quantity of goods made by industry almost doubled, and incomes rose.
What type of consumer products did Americans begin to buy?
Electric refrigerators, radios, phonographs, vacuum cleaners
Installment Buying?
buying on credit. Buy now, pay later
What gave the stock market a boost?
the economic boom
Stock?
Share of ownership in a corporation
Bull Market?
period of increased stock trading and rising prices
Margin Buying?
An investor bought a stock for as little as a 10% down payment. The buyer held the stock until the price rose, and then sold it as a profit.
What did auto industry do?
played a central role in the business boom of the 1920’s
What sparked auto boom and what happened with it?
Lower prices sparked auto boom
by 1924 the cost of a Model T had dropped from $850-$290
Why did car prices fall?
factories became more efficient
What did General Motors do?
sold cars in a variety of models and colors
By 1929, how many people owed their jobs to the automobile?
4 million Americans
What jobs were associated with the automobile?
steel mills, tires, paint, glass, some drilled for oil in the Southwest
What did states and towns do?
pave roads and built highways
What sprang up across the country?
Gas stations, garages, car dealers, motels, and restaurants
Prohibition?
ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquid anywhere in the U.S.
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)?
worked to ban alcohol
18th Amendment?
ban on alcohol
Bootleggers?
person who smuggled liquor into the U.S.
Speakeasies?
illegal bars
What did many people do at home?
Make their own alcohol
To enforce the ban the government sent out who and what are they?
“g-men”
federal agents
What did Reduced Drinking do?
It never stopped it
What amendment did the enforce and what did it it?
States ratified to the 21st Amendment which repealed the 18th Amendment
What did Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution claim?
that all life had evolved, or developed, from simpler forms over a long period of time.
What did some churches claim that Darwin’s theory denied?
the teaching of the bible
What happened to John Scopes?
he was a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee and was arrested for teaching evolution to his classes.
What was the outcome of the Scopes Trial?
he was convicted and fined. The law against teaching evolution remains on books, although they are rarely enforced.
What were Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti arrested for in 1920?
robbery and murder
What did the two men admit and deny?
they admitted that they became anarchists and insisted they did not commit a crime.
Anarchists?
people who opposed al organized government
What was the result of their trial?
both were convicted and sentenced to death
Renaissance?
rebirth
What was the Harlem Renaissance about?
Rebirth of African American Culture
What type of African Americans settled in Harlem?
large numbers of musicians, artists, and writers
What did black writers do?
Celebrated their African American heritages and protested prejudice and racism.
