The document outlines the significant changes in America during the 1920s, a decade marked by economic prosperity, cultural transformation, and political turmoil. It discusses the presidencies of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, the emergence of a consumer economy, and social changes including women's liberation and the Harlem Renaissance. The 1920s also saw conflicts between traditional values and modern beliefs, as well as the rise of nativism and organized crime, culminating in a complex societal landscape of both progress and hardship.
A Republican Decade
Strikes, arrests, revolution overseas—such events
frightened Americans in the 1920s and they turned
to Republican Party for stability and economic
prosperity
3.
What is happeningin this picture?
What concept is this political cartoon illustrating?
4.
The Harding Presidency1920-1923
 1920 election, Republican Warren G.
Harding promised “return to normalcy”
 1920 won presidency until death in
1923
 Foreign policy reflect America’s
desire for isolationism—policy of
avoiding political or economic
alliances with foreign countries
 No attempt to join League of Nations
 Yet President support efforts to
prevent future wars
 Disarmament—nations voluntarily give
up their weapons
5.
Economically, he
favored:
Lower taxes
Lesscontrol over
businesses
Support high tariffs
(taxes) on foreign,
competitor goods to
make them more
expensive 
protect US
businesses/workers
6.
 Culturally, asAmerica became
more isolationist, they also
became more nativist—
movement favoring native-
born Americans over
immigrants
 Nativist Reasons = Anti-
Immigrant
 Never loyal
 Blamed for urban city problems—
slums & corruption
 Fear for loss of jobs
 Pass on anarchist (violent
overthrow of government) +
communist (opponent of
democracy + capitalism) ideals
7.
End of PresidentHarding…Literally
 Start of 1923, economy bouncing back +
strong popularity for president
 Mid 1923  corruption scandals in
Harding’s cabinet
 Biggest scandal  Teapot Dome Scandal
 Harding’s Secretary of Interior Albert
Fall bribed by oil executives to sell
government land in Teapot Dome,
Wyoming—oil
 Albert Fall became 1st cabinet member
imprisoned for crime while in office
 Harding died in 1923 during the scandal in
office
8.
The Coolidge Presidency 1923-1928
 Vice President Calvin Coolidge
became president and cleaned
up scandals
 Elected president 1924-1928
 Major View  “The Business of
the American people is
business”
 Laissez-Faire  limited to no
government interference in
business
9.
Election of 1928
When Coolidge decided not to run for a 2nd
term, Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover
 Hoover promised more pro-business,
isolationism & small government = victory
10.
A Business Boom...MixedSuccess
 1920s gave birth to
much of modern
America
 Shopping centers,
fast-food, advertising,
mass media, cars,
radios, movies
11.
Causes of EconomicGrowth
 Consumer Economy—depends on a large amount of
buying (consuming) by people who use products
 New & Improved products  Model-T cars, refrigerators,
radios, vacuums, ovens, telephones
 Income tax cuts (% taken out of paycheck for
government) left people with more $$$
 Higher wages gave people more money to spend on
movies, radio, sporting events
 Until 1920s, Americans generally paid cash for things
they bought
 Borrowing = unthrifty + immoral
12.
 1920s sawnew ways to purchase goods as
demand for them grew
 Credit—a way to delay paying for a
purchase (pay once you hit a certain
amount)
 Installment Buying—system allows
customer to make partial payments
(installments) over a few months
 Installment + Credit plans encouraged people
to buy things who otherwise would not 
even though they had to pay high interest
rates
13.
Economic Troubles
 Economyappeared to be
healthy but looks can be
deceiving…uneven
prosperity
 Huge gap between rich
and poor  50% in
poverty
 Many Americans did not
prosper
 Farmers  over
production
 Minorities—African
Americans
14.
New Roles forWomen
 During 1920s, women had more freedom
than ever before  drove cars, sports,
college, teachers, nurses, social workers
 Some women in 1920s called
themselves flappers – young, rebellious
fun-loving, bold
 Stood for a longing to break with the
past
 Fashion  Shorter dresses, short hair,
make-up
 Manners  Smoked + drank in public
 19th Amendment gave women right to
vote
 1920s women developed a new attitude
toward marriage = partnership (men
agreed)
15.
Mass Media
 Before1920s, the majority of
Americans did not travel much
and was divided culturally
 Mass Media 
communications that reach a
large audience
 Film, Radio, Advertising 
peaceful propaganda
 Created a national culture
(things that people had in
common across the country)
 songs, dances, fashion,
slang, sports, news
16.
Lost Generation
 Forsome, the decade after WWI
was not a time for celebration 
deep despair + resentment = Lost
Generation
 Lost in a greedy, materialistic
world
 F Scott Fitzgerald  The Great
Gatsby
 Focus on wealthy, sophisticated
Americans during Jazz Age
 Rich  self-centered and
shallow
17.
Prohibition
 18th Amendment—banalcohol
 Most Americans disregard law
 Bootleggers  suppliers +
smugglers of illegal alcohol
 Speakeasies illegal bars
 Rise of organized crime  Al
Capone
18.
Jazz Age
 1920s—JazzAge—was a time
celebrating new and modern
things
 Jazz music—mix of African
rhythms, ragtime, blues 
free spirit of the times
 Rebelled against values
which led to WWI
 Harlem
 Duke Ellington + Louis
Armstrong  musicians
19.
Issues of Religion
Religious movement called fundamentalism gained
followers and political power
 Fundamentalists took the bible literally (everything was
true)
 Argued that public schools shouldn’t teach evolution—
theory that living things developed over millions of
years from simpler life forms
 Felt it contradicted the Bible  pass laws made
evolution teachings illegal
 1925, John Scopes broke law & found guilty
 Guilty verdict over-turned by state Supreme Court
 **Clash between modern beliefs vs. traditional values
20.
The Harlem Renaissance
1920s brought changes to the lives of many
African Americans
 Great Migration  North and Western cities
for economic and social opportunities
21.
Confronting Racism
 Asblacks moved out of the South the KKK
eventually moved with them
 By 1924, the KKK claimed about 5 million members
 ‘America for Americans’
 KKK carried out many crimes against African-
Americans, Catholics, Jews & immigrants
 Increasing violence against African Americans rallied
the efforts of the NAACP
 Worked in vain to pass anti-lynching laws +
protect voting rights
22.
 Many African-Americanswere
losing faith in the US  dreamed
of a place where they could live in
peace
 Marcus Garvey  Universal
Negro Improvement Association
(UNIA)  sought to build up
blacks’ self-respect + economic
power
 Garvey urged ‘Back to Africa’
solution since equality seemed
hopeless
 Failed
23.
Rise of Harlem
Late 1800s  wealthy white community
 Build up too much and buildings
remained vacant  real estate prices
fall
 Black businessmen started buying
cheap buildings and selling them to
African Americans
 By 1920, New York, Harlem, became the
unofficial capital of black America
 Soon Harlem produced cultural activity
called Harlem Renaissance
 Symbolized rebirth of hope and
culture for African Americans
 Writers, singers, painters, sculptors,
scholars move to Harlem
24.
In Summary…
 Newtechnologies led to social
transformations that improved the standard of
living for many, while contributing to increased
political and cultural conflicts.
 New technologies contributed to improved
standards of living, greater personal mobility,
and better communications systems.
25.
 Technological change,modernization, and
changing demographics led to increased
political and cultural conflict on several fronts:
 Tradition vs. innovation
 Urban vs. rural
 Fundamentalist Christianity vs. scientific
modernism
 Native born vs. new immigrants
 White vs. Black
 Idealism vs. disillusionment
26.
 The riseof an urban, industrial society
encouraged the development of a variety of
cultural expressions for migrant, regional, and
African American artists (expressed most
notably in the Harlem Renaissance
movement); it also contributed to national
culture by making shared experiences more
possible through art, cinema, and the mass
media.