The New Era: 1920s Flashcards
Idea of society that glorified ethnic diversity
Toleration of difference was part of American ideal
Coined by Horace Kallen
“Cultural Pluralism”
Overturned law banning the use and teaching of the German language
“The protection of the Constitution extends to all, to those who speak other languages as wellas to those born with English on the tongue.”
Meyer v. Nebraska
Movie attendence reached 80 million in 1929
Radio and phonograph purchases
Spread of celebrity culture
Growth of Leisure Activities
Term used to describe the period and image of the liberated, urbanized 1920s, with a flapper as the dominant symbol of that era
Many rural, fundamentalist Americans deeply resented the changes in American culture that occurred in the “Roaring Twenties”
Jazz Age
Characterized by Andre Siegfriend’s observation that:
debt and interest in consumer goods replaced thrift and self-denial
work became a path to consumption
“New Culture”
Famous article that detailed ongoing repression including…
…lynching in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida
…beating of Columbia undergraduate who had defending free speech
…arrest of union leader in New Jersey and the arrest of 400 IWW workers
…refusal to allow socialist to speak
“Sweet Land of Liberty” article in the The Nation
General uniformity of tastes and commonality of cultural experiences
Occured in America for the first time in the 1920s
People saw the same movies, read the same magazines, heard the same things on the radio
National Culture
1922 conference in which the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Italy agreed…
…to build no more warships for 10 years
…to not attack each other’s possessions in the Pacific
Reflected the WWI sentiment to avoid military conflicts
Washington Naval Arms Conference
Industry that…
….spread images of the American way of life
….achieved unprecedented influence in the 1930s
….became a way for Americans to escape their daily troubles
Hollywood and the Film Industry
American sociologist and photographer
Used camera as a tool for social reform
Photographs were instrumental in changing child labor laws in the United States
Lewis Hine
Position in the Election of 1924 included…
greater taxation of wealth, conservation of natural resources, public ownership of railroads, farm relief, end of child labor
Raised only $250,000 in political contributions despite endorsements
Received 1/6 of the vote but only carried his native Wisconsin
Robert La Follette
Progressive candidate in Election of 1924
Hearings in Congress in 1912-1914 showed manipulation in the stock market
Pujo Hearings
Name for a workplace free of government regulation and unions
Open Shop
Barred works it deemed inappropriate from entering the country including
Ulysses by James Joyce
works by French satirist Rabelais
Customs Service
Motivations for this group included…
…decline in traditional values
…increased visibility of Catholicism and Judaisim
…resented Protestant “Modernists”
Fundamentalist Revolt v. Modernism
Italian immigrants accused of murdering two employees of a Massachusetts shoe company in 1920
They were anarchists as well as immigrants so many believed that nativist prejudice tainted their trial
After protests, they were executed in 1927
Sacco and Vanzetti
Chemical
Aviation
Electronic
New Industries
Published pamphlet called the The Sex Side of Life
Conviction for sending inappropriate material through the mail was overturned by Supreme Court
Mary Ware Dennett
American photographer best known as first foreign photographer allowed to take pictures of Soviet industry and
First female photographer for Henry Luce’s Life magazine.
Margaret Bourke-White
Indian born World War I veteran
Asserted that he was “pure Aryan” and thus could be naturalized because he was white
Supreme Court said “white” was not a scientific concept
Bhagat Singh Thind
Organization that took part in many of the landmark “rights revolution” cases
Gave meaning to freedom of speech
Invented new rights like the “right to privacy”
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Communist publisher of the Left-wing Manifesto
Convicted for violating a New York law prohibiting anarchy
Supreme Court upheld conviction but dissent by Holmes and Brandeis established Fourteenth Amendment obligation by states to not restrain freedom of speech and the press
Benjamin Gitlow
Immigrant who filed for naturalization
Supreme Court rejected twice based upon definition of “whiteness” only applied to caucasions
Takao Ozawa
Foreign policy in the 1920s characterized by the following statement:
“…in these days of competition, capital, trade, agriculture, labor and statecraft all go hand in hand if a country is to profit.”
Huntington Wilson, State Department
Economic Diplomacy
1921 measure restricting European immigration
Limited immigration from a particular country to only 3% of the immigrants from that country living in the United States in 1910
Emergency Quota Act of 1921
(aka Johnson Act)
Wrote Home to Harlem and If We Must Die
One of leaders of Harlem Renaissance
Claude McKay
Supreme Court ruling upholding the Espionage Act
Declared that First Admendment did not prevent Congress from stopping speech that presented a “clear and present danger”
Justice Holmes wrote that free speech “would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and cuasing panic”
Schenck v. United States
Journalist who repudiated the Progressive idea to apply intelligence to social policy; modern problems were beyond understanding of ordinary men
Claimed the American voter was ill-informed
Wrote Public Opinion and The Phantom Public
Walter Lippman
Arrest of Tennesse teacher for violating state law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public school
Highlighted tension between two views of freedom:
- Traditional “moral” liberty
- independent thought
ACLU hired Clarence Darrow to defend
Prosecuter was William Jennings Bryan
Scopes Trial
Group of American intellectuals and cultural exiles who moved to Paris in the 1920s
Viewed America as bigoted, intellectually shallow, consumed with the quest for the dollar
Included Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Lost Generation”
Silent film actress
Starred in “The It Girl”
Clara Bow
Restricted immigration to 2% per year of each nationality as found int he 1890 census – limited immigration to 150,000 per year
Essentially ended immigration from southern and eastern Europe
Barred all those ineligible for naturalization including all Asians except Filipinos
National Origins Act
Characterized by…
…bobbed hair
…short skirt
…public smoking and drinking
…unapologetic use of birth control
…ability to perform wild dances like the Charleston
Flapper
Adopted by the film industry in 1922 to prohibit nudity, long kisses, adultery being shown in films
Supreme Court did not declare movies as protected by the First Admendment until 1951 in a case involving The Miracle
Hays Code
“The chief business of the American people is business.”
Calvin Coolidge
Reborn in 1915 after the the lynching of Leo Frank, Jewish manager of company
Had 3 million members by mid-1920s
Attacked broad range of targets:
…blacks,
…Jewish and Catholic immigrants,
…movements like feminism, unions, immorality
Resurgence of Ku Klux Klan
Italian actor starred in The Sheik, among other films
Known as the “Latin Lover”
Rudolph Valentino
Purchasing plan that emerged int he 1920s to facilitate consumption
Instead of waiting to save the purchase price, consumers could make 36-48 “easy” payments on a refrigerator or an automobile
Most cars bought on credit by 1928
Installment Plan
British, French, and American oil companies divided oil regions in Middle East and Latin America
Red Line Agreement of 1928
1927 film starring Al Jolson was the first movie with sound
Story of the film deals with young Jewish man who has to choose between the “modern” and his Jewish past
The Jazz Singer
On May 21, 1927, completed the first transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis
Made him the most celebrated hero of the 1920s, many songs and headlines were devoted to him
Charles Lindbergh
Characterized by…
…New York banks extending loans to European and Latin American governments
…New York banks financing billions of dollars of reparations payments by Germany
…industrial firms building overseas plants especially in auto, agricultural machinery, electrical machinery markets
…American investment to gain control of raw materials
Private Enterprise and Foreign Policy
Motivation for this act include…
…desire for ideal population based on biology
…progress desire to improve “quality” of democratic citizen
…employ scientific methods to set public policy
Motivations for Immigration Act of 1924
Described as “a man of limited talents from a small town”
Continued to drink alcohol through Prohibition
Had affair with Nan Britton
President Harding
Established by Congress to police land boundaries
Border Patrol
Re-elected by landslide against Democrat John Davis, who was nominated on the 103rd ballot
One-sixth of electorate voted for Robert La Follette, Progressive
Calvin Coolidge
Production tripled from 1.5 million to 4.8 million during the 1920s
U.S. produced 85% of the world output
Half of American families purchased
Stimulated growth of steel, rubber, oil, and road construction industries
Automobile Industry
Idea put forward by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes that advocates of every belief should have the right to convert the public to their point of view
Developed in dissent by Holmes and Brandeis in 1925 Supreme Court decision upholding conviction of Benjamin Gitlow, a communist publisher
“Marketplace of Ideas”
Eliminated federal assistance for infants and child health
Repeal of Sheppard-Towner Act
Term used to describe…
…in politics the asssociation with pan-Africanism and Garvey
…in art with rejection of established stereotypes about Africa, rural South’s folk traditions, life in the urban ghetto
“New Negro”
New characteristics include:
…private pensions
…medical insurance
…job security
…safety
…sports programs for leisure time
New Business-Employee Relationship
Telephone
Vacuum Cleaner
Washing Machine
Refridgerator
New Consumer Goods
Wrote the following
“…the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people.”
Justice Brandeis
Raised taxes on imported goods to highest levels in history
Repudiation of Wilson’s principle of promoting free trade
Republicans believed “protectionist” policies would help profits
Fordney-McCumber Tariff
One of the most influential figures of the silent era.
Screen character “The Tramp” became a global phenomenon and remains one of cinema’s most iconic images.
Charlie Chaplin
Effort by farm state members of Congress to help constituents
Government corporation would buy crops to guarantee profit from farmers and then sell crops overseas for lower price
Vetoed twice by Calvin Coolidge
McNary-Haugen Bill
“God, J.P. Morgan and the Republican Party were going to keep everything going forever.”
Stockbroker description of the pro-business bias of Harding and Coolidge Administrations
Belief in the biblical account of the origin of the universe and the origin of man
Creationism
Overturned 1907 law requiring American women who married foreign nationsl to take their husband’s nationality
Cable Act of 1922
Banned 65 books from the city’s bookstores
Inlcuding works by Uptain Sinclair, Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway
Boston’s Watch and Ward Committee
Characteristic of the economy, examples of which include:
1% of banks controlled 50% of the resources
GM, Ford, and Chrysler controlled 4/5 of the auto industry
Economic or Industrial Concentration
Allowed through Homer Snyder, representative from New York, introduction of legislation in 1919 to overturn Elk v. Wilkins ruling in 1884
Indian Citizenship
Wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
One of leaders of Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes
Written by Ernest Hemingway during his time in Paris about a group of American expatriates traveling to the bullfights in Pamplona
The Sun Also Rises
Classic study of life in Muncie, Indiana, typical midwestern town written by Robert and Helen Lynd
Showed trend of leisure and consumption replacing interest in politics
Middleton
Common aim of the following…
…Roman Catholic Church
…Catholic Holy Name Society
…Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
…National Catholic Welfare Council
in response to the Nativist movement
Defend Ethnic Groups
Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim
Made approximately 290 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920
1904 recording of “Vesti la giubba” from Pagliacci was the first sound recording to sell one million copies
Enrico Caruso
Led Supreme Cout in a number of conservative rulings:
Struck down law barring interstate trade of goods produced by child labor
Repudiated Muller v. Oregon, which had restricted the working hours of women
Chief Justice William Howard Taft
Black literary and artistic movement from the 1920s that celebrated and lamented black life in America
Artisits included: Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, Florence Mills, Ethel Waters
Harlem Renaissance
Naval oil reserve in Wyoming that was leased by the Interior Secretary, Albert Fall, to Sinclair and Doherty
In return, Fall received a $500,000 personal loan
Resulted in Fall being first cabinet member convicted of a felonly; spent one year in prison
Teapot Dome Scandal
Described America’s consumer culture in the 1920s
Industry and methods to significantly influence the choices of consumers
Edward Bernays was one of the leading practitioners
Advertising Age
Dominated and influenced the national political conventions in the 1920s, getting politicians to…
…lower taxes on income and revenue
…maintain higher tariffs
…support campaign against unions
Business Lobbyists
Promoted by Alice Paul and the National Women’s Party
Called for the elimination of all legal distinctions on “account of sex”
Followed logically from winning the right to vote
Opposed by: League of Women Voters, Women’s Trade Union League
Equal Rights Amendment
Flamboyant preacher in the 1920s
Drew huge crowds with his theatrical preaching style
Denounced sins ranging from Darwinism to alcohol
Billy Sunday
