Chapter 14 Section 2 Section Objectives

Chapter 14 Section 2Section Objectives

1. What impact did Prohibition have on crime?

2. What were the characteristics of the new youth culture?

3. How did celebrities and new forms of popular entertainment help create a mass culture?

4. What did the religious movements of the 1920’s and the Scopes trial reveal about American society?

Chapter 14 Section 2Life in the Twenties

The 1920’s became the 1st time in American history that we had a truly “mass culture” Radio, movies and the auto increasingly linked our country coast to coast.

ProhibitionThe 18th Amendment passed in 1919 prohibited the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcoholic beverages. The Volstead Act was then passed to enforce prohibition.

In some places prohibition was strictly enforced, but in cities it was frequently ignored and many people went to speakeasies to drink. Moonshine and smuggling from Canada, Mexico and the West Indies were big business.

Prohibition and Crime

• Bootlegging became very profitable• Criminal gangs controlled liquor sales• Al Capone ruled Chicago’s underworld• Violent wars were raged by gangs for turf• St. Valentines Day Massacre- 1929• The Kennedy’s gained their wealth• Widespread breakdown in law and order-corruption• Prohibition was repealed with the 21st Amendment in

1933*Prohibition did actually reduce alcoholism and alcohol

related deaths

Al Capone

St Valentine’s Day Massacre

Federal Prohibition Bureau

The FPB was set up to stop bootlegging. Most law enforcement was corrupt BUTElliot Ness and his agents were relentless and

completely honest. They earned the nickname the Untouchables because they couldn’t be influenced by bribes. Elliot Ness was a media and cultural hero

1920’s Youth Culture

Some members of the youth culture openly rejected the values of the older generation

• The “New Woman”- Stylish, adventurous, independent and career minded.

• Flappers were an ex.- They wore their hair short, no corsets, short skirts and transparent silk hose and might even smoke

• Many of these women sought financial independence and worked at nontraditional jobs, flying trucking, taxis

*Most women though were traditionalists and worked as nurses, teachers and domestic servants

Stylish Flapper

College Life

Between 1900 and 1930 college enrollment tripled

• Most were from middle and upper classes• They had a huge influence on popular culture• Had a college look- baggy flannel slacks and sports

jackets• Advertising, movies and magazines focused on their

styles and lifestyles

Leisure Fun and Fads

• Dance Marathons- could last days• Beauty Contests• Flag Pole Sitting- Alvin ‘Shipwreck” Kelley• Marathon Bike Riding

Mass Entertainment

Many Americans had bigger paychecks and more free time than in the past. To help fill their time many turned to radio, movies and professional sports for entertainment

RadioCommercial radio began in the early 1920’s and by

1929 more than 800 stations reached over 10 million homes

• Early 20’s radio broadcast a wide variety of programs• Advertising soon followed• Businesses would often sponsor shows• NBC began offering local stations packages of programs• A BIG effect was that Americans, coast to coast began

developing a shared culture- jokes, music, ads, serials

Movies- The Silver Screen

Originally movies were silent , the people loved them.• Cecil B DeMille directed a new style of movie with epic plots

and complex characters-The Ten Commandments, Forbidden Fruit

• Hollywood became the movie center• Some of the early stars were : Lon Chaney, Tom Mix and

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin as the “Tramp”

Clara Bow

Talkies

1927 saw the end of silent movies with the first “talkie” called The Jazz Singer starring recording star Al Jolson

Overnight movies changed with musicals and newsreels bringing in 80 million viewers each week

The rapidly changing standards of morality and sexuality disturbed many Americans. Sex symbol Rudolph Valentino created a lot of controversy with The Sheik.

In 1922 Will Hays became head of a movie group to limit offensive matereial

The Sheik

Sports became a major entertainment in the 1920’s. Baseball was king with millions of fans. Babe Ruth was #1, but others like Ty Cobb and Lou Gehrig had huge support.Red Grange was a major college football star that launched pro football.Bobby Jones in golf, Tilden in tennis and Tunney in boxing among many others were popular stars Baseball had an enormous scandal in 1919 with “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and others being banned for life. That is why baseball has a commissioner

Books and Magazines

New weekly and monthly publications entertained millions

• Book- of –the- Month-Club: sold directly to consumers

• Colliers and The Saturday Evening Post entertained with cartoons, short stories and ads

• Reader’s Digest was a huge hit with its reprinted and shortened stories

Celebrities and HeroesThe mass appeal of movies, radio and sports created hordes of

fans who shared in their heroes accomplishments and copied their behavior

Heroes of the 1920’sBabe Ruth- baseball superstarJim Thorpe- A star in every sport at his Indian school, went to the

1912 Olympics- 1st man to win both the pentathlon and the decathlon.

Charles Lindbergh- 1st man to fly solo across the Atlantic OceanAmelia Earhart- 1st woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean

Babe Ruth

Jim Thorpe

Charles Lindbergh

Amelia Earhart

Religion in the 1920’sThe declining moral standards of the 20’s alarmed many and

launched a new religious movement called RevivalismSome revivalists like Aimee Semple McPherson combined a strong

message with the glamour of Hollywood. Her services had sets, props and an orchestra. Her movement was closely tied to Pentecostalism.

Pentecostalism: • Multidenominational• Experiencing the “Holy Spirit”- baptism, faith healing• Emotional services, speaking in tongues• Appealed to a diverse audience, particularly those with little

formal education• Very successful- 11 million in the US and 100’s of millions

worldwide

FundamentalismWas a conservative response to the changing times. The goal

was to get back to the “Fundamentals” of Christianity

Fundamentalists felt the Bible should be interpreted literally and felt other Christians who embraced science “Modernists” and particularly evolution were sell outs and contributing to the moral decline of the nation.

A major fundamentalist figure was Billy Sunday who through his revivals and radio programs kept the audience spellbound with his rousing attacks on card playing, drinking and dancing

The Scopes TrialThe Scopes Trial was a symbolic battle between the forces of

modernity- science and evolution- vs the fundamentalist’s beliefs .

Short version: John Scopes a biology teacher accepted the ACLU’s offer to test the Tennessee law against teaching evolution. Clarence Darrow agreed to represent him. William Jennings Bryan -a noted fundamentalist -agreed to prosecute Scopes. Darrow used a 1st amendment defense and the case was stacked against him. In the end Scopes was fined $100 but the withering cross examination of Bryan lowered some people’s perception of fundamentalism

*It became a circus in Dayton Tennessee