Chapter 23 Notes (UPDATED)

The Roaring 20’s

I. Return to Normalcy: Politics in the 20’s

A. Harding’s Presidency (1921-1923)
1. Nominated by the Republican Party for unremarkable background
2. A Newspaper editor from Marion, Ohio
3. Easily defeats Democratic candidate (Cox)
4. Biggest accomplishment: Washington Naval Arms Conference- an arms control treaty that limited battleship construction
5. Refused to join League of Nations or its international court
6. Administration marred by corruption and scandal
7. Died of heart attack in 1923
8. Teapot Dome Scandal (1924) was the most infamous (Interior secretary Albert Fall convicted of accepting 400k bribe

B. Calvin Coolidge
1. Harding’s VP from Vermont
2. Beat a divided Democratic Party in the election of 1924
3. Aloof and removed from the common people-refused to provide any federal aid for a major flood along the Mississippi River.
4. Business friendly- appointed Andrew Mellon as Secretary of the Treasury (reduced taxes on the wealthy, espoused trickledown economics). Taft as Chief Justice (reversed anti-child labor law), increased tariffs (Fordney McCumber Tariff), alienated farmers by vetoing McNary Haugen bill.
5. Foreign policy: Sought war reparations from Germany, protected US corporate interests in Mexico

C. Herbert Hoover (on your own)

II. The Booming Economy

A. Increasing Wages
1. Henry Ford established the $5/day standard for industrial workers
2. Business began to note that higher wages increased productivity and reduced dissent (unions declined during this time)

B. Explosion of New Products
1. Electrical gadgets- radios, refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners etc
2. Automobiles- assembly line production pioneered by Ford reduced prices and made cars more accessible. Credit also facilitated purchases. By 1930, 60% of American families owned cars and the auto industry accounted for 9% of wages in manufacturing.
3. Energy- electrical utility companies, oil and coal production skyrocketed

C. The Advertising Industry
1. By 1929, advertising was $2 billion business that employed 600000 persons
2. Use of celebrities to promote products


III. Society in the 1920’s

A. Rapid urbanization
1. By 1920, the urban population finally outnumbered the rural population
2. Improved urban planning- increase in services (water, gas, electricity, and development of skyscrapers)
3. Cars led to traffic jams, parking problems and the growth of suburbs
4. African Americans moved to northern cities in massive numbers

B. Changes for women
1. League of Women Voters- moved polling places out of saloons, promoted federal support for education and infant care.
2. Consumer society influenced many women to move away from politics and revert to traditional feminine roles
3. The % of women in the workforce remained the same throughout the decade (24%) wages remained unequal, and women shifted away from industrial work to office jobs.
4. By 1930, 12% of female high school grads went on to college, 50000 received degrees that year

C. Changes for African Americans
1. Huge influx of African Americans into Northern cities, particularly New York, Chicago and Detroit.
2. First African American Congressman since Reconstruction- Oscar De Priest from Chicago’s south side!
3. Harlem Renaissance- increased visibility and participation of African Americans in popular culture, sparked by returning African-American WWI vets; created major artists/celebrities- Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and many more, mostly an artistic and social rather than political movement, increased contact between people of different ethnicities.
4. Marcus Garvey- militant African-American leader who advocated equality now, voluntary separation from whites, and a return to Africa. Exiled back to Jamaica for controversial views.