Ch.24 “The New Era”

Ch.24“The New Era”

PoliticsWarren G. Harding “Return to normalcy”• Return to old-guard conservative Republicans.• Limited government regulation

Domestic Policy: -Reduction in income tax-Increased tariff rates (Fordney-McCumber Tariff)-Bureau of BudgetScandals and Death:-Appointed good and some VERY bad men for positions.

(Teapot Dome)-Died suddenly in August 1923.

Harding & Foreign PolicyPeace Movement

• Washington Conference: Stabilize armaments. • Five-Power Treaty - Navy ratios: US 5, Britain 5, Japan 3, France 1.67, Italy 1.67.• Four-Power Treaty - US, France, GB, and Japan respect

each other’s territory in the Pacific• Nine-Power Treaty - Open Door Policy

• Kellogg-Briand Pact- All nations signed a pact to not use aggressive force to achieve national ends.

• Dawes Plan- A cycle to help Germany pay war reparations and Britain and France pay back borrowed money to the US.

PoliticsCalvin Coolidge “Silent Cal”“The business of America is business”

• Election of 1924: Wins reelectionVetoes and inaction: • Vetoed almost everything, wouldn’t help struggling farmers or

veterans. • Andrew Mellon (Secretary of Treasury)- Reductions in taxes,

personal income and inheritances. • Herbert Hoover: (Commerce Department)- “Associationalism” – National organization of businessmen.

Coolidge declines a second term Herbert Hoover runs for president

“New Era” Economic Development

• 1921: Postwar recession• Business prosperity: (1922-1928)

Standard of living higher, indoor plumbing, central heating, electricity, income increased for most middle and working class.

Reasons for Business Prosperity: • Increased productivity: Assembly line, mass production• Energy Technologies: Oil and electricity instead of coal. • Technological Advancements• Government policy

Big Business & Unions

• Concentration of business in large firms. • Modern Administration System- (Alfred Sloan) Efficient

division• Trade Associations- Cooperation between businesses• “Welfare-Capitalism”- Keep the workers happy. Ex: Henry

Ford(Shortened work week, wage raises, safety, sanitation, pensions,

vacation, etc...)

*Lessened power of unions, few actually influenced by it.*• Unions ineffective because they were conservative• Lose what they had gained during progressivism. American Plan: Open Shop- Allow workers to not join unions. “American Plan”-Supreme Court-Upheld limiting strikers rights.

Women and Minorities

• Women: “Pink-Collar” Jobs- Low paying jobs (secretaries, salesclerks, telephone operators, etc…)

• Blacks: Janitors, garbage collectors, dish washers. *Neither group represented by unions*A. Philip Randolph- Sleeping Car Porters union• Increased wages, shorter hours, etc…• Most minorities faced job issues/ union issues.

Rough times for farmers

• Increase in tractors/production• Better planting technologies: Hybrid corn• Overproduction led to lower prices.

• “Parity”- Gov. ensure farmers a certain price for crops -McNary-Hangen Bill- Wouldn’t pass.

New Culture

• Consumerism- (Tons of new products)

• Automobile- (Increased transportation)

• Advertising- (Buy things you NEED?)

• Movies and Broadcasting- (Hollywood)

• Professional Women- ( Barely growing)

New Culture• Changing Ideas in Motherhood- (Birth control, & roles)

• Flapper- (Change in dress, hair-style, speech, behavior)

• Women’s Rights- (League of Women voters, Sheppard-Towner Act-Protective legislature for women.

• Youth Culture- Better education.

Decline of the “Self-Made Man”• “Self-Made Man” becomes more of a myth

than reality.• Men sought after other outlets for “manhood”• Heroes: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and

Charles Lindbergh (Aviator flew solo across the Atlantic.)

Literature of Alienation

• Writing turned against religion and wartime. • Gertrude Stein called these postwar writers and peoplea “lost generation”• F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, & Sinclair Lewis,

Ezra Pound, & T.S Lewis spoke out against -Ideals of earlier times-Materialism

Harlem Renaissance

• Harlem NY became famous for black actors, artists, musicians, and writers.

Poets & Musicians: -Looked at African American hertiage-Jazz Age- Duke Ellington & Louis Armstrong-Blues- Bessie Smith, Paul Robeson

Prohibition• “Noble Experiment”• Defying the law- Popular to ignore the law

and drink.• Speakeasies- Bars that gave access to

bootleg liquor. • Gangsters- Al Capone used alcohol to

strengthen his posse. • 1933- 25th Amendment repealed the 18th

Nativism & the Klan

Nativism:“old Americans” wanted to slow immigrationQuota Laws: Congress passed 2 laws• 1921- Quota Act – Immigration limited to 3%• Second Quota Act (1924)- 2 %-Banned immigration from Asia completely.

New Klan:• KKK huge supporters of nativism, Jew, Catholics,

foreigners, and blacks.• Huge membership in Indiana and Texas• Hold onto traditional values• Declined because of corruption and immorality• David Stephenson- Leader convicted of murder.

Religious Fundamentalism

• Modernism- New modern form of religion for Protestants. Change with the changing times.

Accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution.

• Fundamentalism- Condemned modernists and stuck to tradition.

• Revivalists on the radio- Billy Sunday

Scopes Trial • Tennessee debate over evolution on schools. • John Scopes taught evolution in school and was arrested. • Lawyer Clarence Darrow defended scopes• William Jennings Bryan was the prosecution. • Scopes was convicted but no answer was given to the question

at hand.