The 1920s and Consumer Culture

Red Scare
1919, influenced by World War I and Russian Bolshevik Revolution of 1917
postal services intercepted bombs addressed to prominent officials
General Palmer put in charge of General Intelligence Division to collect files on radicals
November 1919 - many immigrants and radicals were arrested deported without a court hearing
January 1920 - police arrest 5,000 suspects in 12 cities without search warrants, half kept in custody
by 1920 Palmer Raids stopped but they strengthened nativist movement and weakened labor unions

Nativism
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti trial for robbery and murder - they were convicted as immigrants and radicals, not clear if they were guilty
intellectuals in New York and elsewhere protested
1924 Immigration Law set immigration quota at 2 percent of 1890 census, 150,000 per year to keep Northern European immigration prevalent
KKK becomes more popular as a nativist organization

Scopes Trial
1925 in Dayton, Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes taught evolution at the request of American Civil Liberties Union to test Tenn. law prohibiting teaching Darwin's theory of evolution as fact
Clarence Darrow argued for the defense
William Jennings Bryan for prosecution
Darrow made Bryan a laughingstock on the stand
but Scopes was convicted, then conviction was overturned on appeal by Tenn. Supreme Court
marked the beginning of the conflict between fundamentalism and secular modernism

Consumer culture
definition: new culture where consumption of goods and leisure are more important than production
aspects: advertising, department stores,
economy was booming in the 1920s
1919 states ratified 18th amendment, 1920 prohibition era began
prohibition led to bootlegging crime wave (Al Capone)
movies were the most popular form of entertainment
radio began in 1920, radio networks emerged in 1926 (NBC) and 1928 (CBS)
jazz becomes popular music (hence the "Jazz Age")
1920 states ratified 19th women's suffrage Amendment
"New Woman," a liberated flapper, represented modern lifestyle

"New Negro"
Great Migration from the South began in 1915-1916
large cities like New York and Chicago had large diverse black population
black musicians like Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, popularized jazz and blues music (whites visited Cotton Club in Harlem)
Marcus Garvey advocated separation of black and white society ("black nationalism") and organized settlement of U.S. blacks in Afica
NAACP (DuBois participated) promoted civil rights (founded in 1910)

Great Depression and the New Deal
1929 Stock Market Crash - start of the Depression
causes: speculation on the stock market, overproduction and underconsumption
wages were too low - 1/3 of personal income went to 5 percent of the population
gold standard - President Herbert Hoover refused to abandon the standard to lower prices
Hoover refused to regulate economy - he thought recession would be the best way to stabilize stock market and prices
instead economy went into even deeper depression
in 1931 Europe plunged into depression - Austria's largest bank closed - European countries took gold out of U.S. banks
Hoover tried to increase public works and provide more credit for business but did not do enough
by 1933 13 million people were out of work

Protest
Hoovervilles - shantytowns and buldings made of cardboard, etc.; Hoover blankets - newspapers; Hoover flag - empty pocket turned inside out
farmers protested - mobs stopped foreclosures
in 1932 more than 15,000 World War I veterans ("Bonus Army") marched on Washington demanding immediate payment of the cash bonus to veterans that (Congress voted on this in 1924 to pay life insurance to veterans in 1945 or earlier to their descendants if deceased)
Senate voted down the bonus bill
many veterans still stayed in Washington in shantytowns
Congress voted to pay veteran's way home
many veterans still stayed
in July General Douglas MacArthur drove out veterans and their families from DC

Modern Times (1936) - Charlie Chaplin's comment on worker's plight during the depression
movies were the most common form of entertainment during the 1930s
tickets were cheap - homeless people went to the movies to warm up
movies were in sound - first sound movie - The Jazz Singer (1927)
Chaplin made part of the movie silent because he believed that silent films were more effective

New Deal
1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president on the program of the New Deal
promised to balance the budget but allowed for short-term deficit to prevent starvation
his policies in the 1930s extended government spending and government control of national economy
was famous for his "fireside chats" - radio addresses where he explained his policies to Americans
he was very personable over the radio and people wrote him letters back - he received more letters than any other American president before or since
Roosevelt instituted many reforms that still have an impact in American society (Social Security)

Banking Holiday
4-day banking holiday
Emergency Banking Relief Act - permitted sound banks to reopen and provided managers for banks in trouble
March 12, 1933 in the first radio "fireside chat" Roosevelt promised that it was safer to keep money in banks than "under the mattress"
on the following day, deposits in reopened banks exceeded withdrawals
March 9-June 16 "Hundred Days" Congress passed more than a dozen Roosevelt's proposals
Farm Credit Administration - refinancing of farm mortgages as lower interest rates
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - insured personal bank deposits up to $5,000
Securities and Exchange Commission (first Federal Trade Commission) - controlled Wall Street, required new stock and bond issues to register
Civilian Conservation Corps - jobs for young working-class men in forests, parks, road building
Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Civil Works Administration - also provided jobs on state and federal level respectively
Works Progress Administration - replaced FERA, created jobs
Federal Theater Project - plays promoting the New Deal
Federal Writers' Project - recorded American culture
Federal Art Project - murals, etc.

New Deal and Labor
resurgence of the labor movement
1933 National Recovery Act created National Recovery Administration (NRA) to stabilize business and define labor standards
provision in Section 7a guaranteed the right of workers to organize unions
set new standards such as 40 hour work week, end of child labor
Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1935

Second New Deal:
1935 - National Labor Relations Act created National Labor Relations Board
1935 Social Security Act - pension fund for retired people over 65 from payroll taxes (payments started in 1940, only $22 per month); unemployment insurance.
Court Packing plan - Roosevelt proposed to enlarge the Supreme Court (50 federal judges, 6 new Supreme Court justices); was unpopular; Roosevelt's plan wasn't adopted but the Supreme Court began to support New Deal anyway (supported NLR Act and Soc. Sec. Act)

1935 Congress of Industrial Organizations--organized better across unions and across racial lines than the American Federation of Labor
unions were strong in all industries (auto and steel workers) except textiles, frequest labor strikes were successful

New Deal and Farmers
Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) paid farmers to cut back production and destroy crops
farmers could take out loans and keep their crops in federal warehouses until prices rose
farm income increased 58 percent between 1932 and 1935
but dust bowl over the Great Plains between 1932 and 1935 displace many (white) farmers who then moved to California in search of work

New Deal and Minorities
many New Deal programs were for whites only
Agr. Adj. Act displaced over 200,000 black tenant farmers
Mexican Americans were denied access to relief programs because many could not prove their citizenship; many called for their deportation; by 1935 over 500,000 returned to Mexico
American Indians: commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs John Collier passed Indian Reorganization Act to reverse the 1887 Dawes Act and give lands back to Indian tribes; but was only able to produce partial reforms

Farm Security Administration Photographs
FSA was organized in 1935, employed photographers between 1935-1943
worked to build support for New Deal farm programs
headed by Roy Stryker
examples of photographs:
Dorothea Lange, "Migrant Mother"
Walker Evans, photographs of Floyd Burroughs and his family