1 The Halftime Show Between the Wars: US in the 1920’s
2 End of the War Why do allies win WWI? What was the cost of the war?Flu Pandemic 1918 flu pandemic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “It infected 500 million[2] people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—three to five percent of the world's population[3]—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.[2][4][5][6]”
3 Thesis The 1920’s were a period of significant growth and change in the United States, but also a period filled with contradictions.
4 Examine US in the 1920’s The goal of today’s class is to look at the US in the 1920’s with regard to the following areas: Culture Politics Economics
5 1920’s America All three of these areas (culture, politics and economics) overlap each other with regard to trends and changes. Changes in one aspect of society tend to create or reinforce changes in the other aspects of society.
6 Societal Conflict The older generation always has grave concerns about the younger generation. Currently, what do you think the older generation (people in the US over the age of 65) would say about the younger generation (people below the age of 25)? Write concerns/conflicts on board.
7 Culture One lesson from WWI and the flu pandemic is that life is short and can change at any moment. Death can also strike any person, no matter what their age is. Using this as a basis, how do you think many people, especially youth, looked at how they should lead their life?
8 Social Trends In addition to a mindset change for many people, especially young adults, there were other changes that took place. These included a significant increase in leisure time for almost everyone in society due to: In 1919, the work day is shortened to 8 hours for most workers Technological Advancements reduce the workload for many Americans In addition, as the economy grows, the standard of living for most Americans increases.
9 Technology and EconomyRadio Airplane Automobile Canned Food, Ready Made Clothes, and Household Appliances Credit
10 Social Changes rowellsapushistory – LeisureThe Roaring Twenties - Dance Craze – YouTube Babe Ruth Louis Armstrong & His Hot 5 - Savoy Blues YouTube
11 Fundamentalism The previous decade ( ) had seen a strong revival in Fundamental Christian beliefs. What do you think these people thought of the changes in Culture that we just discussed?
12 Conflicts Prohibition: Ken Burns's Prohibition -- coming to PBS | Sneak Peek | PBS – YouTube Evolution: Human Rights and Progressive Reform Versus the Revival of the Ku Klux Klan
13 Societal Conflict RevisitedLet’s examine the conflicts we mentioned at the beginning of class. Do you think these were the same conflicts that the older generation had with the younger generation in the 1920’s?
14 1920’s Political Trends Isolationism: League of Nations, Communism and Immigration Progressive Reform: Women’s Vote and Prohibition
15 League of Nations After WWI, the US entered a period where they did not want to take a role in world affairs. Even though President Wilson was strong proponent of the League of Nations, it was not ratified by the US Senate. They were concerned that it would force the US to take actions they did not want to take.
16 Red Scare With the fall of Russia to communism, the US was very concerned that our country would be taken over by the “Red Menace”. Palmer Raids- in contrast to the goals of increased human rights
17 Immigrants US became increasingly xenophobicPassage of 1921 Quota Act limited immigration to 2% of a country’s population in the US in 1890.
18 1920’s Politics
19 Economics United States Gross National Product Per Capita
20 Consumer Economy
21 Percentage of World Manufacturing Output1750 1800 1830 1860 1880 1900 China 33% 30% 20% 13% 6% Britain 2% 4% 10% 23% 19% US 0.1% 1% 7% 15% 24% France 5% 8% Russia 9% Japan 3% Germany
22 Source The information on the previous slide is from The Choices For the 21st Century Program, Watson Institute For International Studies, Brown University.
23 World Indices of Manufacturing Production1913 1920 1925 World 100 93.6 121.6 Europe 77.3 103.5 USSR 12.8 70.1 United States 122.2 148.0 Rest of World 109.5 138.1
24 Source The information on the previous slide is from The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy, page 280.
25 Economic Growth Economic Growth is largely the result of technological advancements- both in the creation of new products and in the advancement of the assembly line. Machines were becoming a major factor in the production of goods.
26 Assembly Lines The use of assembly lines certainly helped to improve the standard of living for most Americans, but there was disagreement about whether they were beneficial or not. Charlie Chaplin start at 5:17
27 Conclusions In all aspects of American society, there was wide scale change in the 1920’s. For the most part the standard of living for citizens improved dramatically and Americans had much more free time during this decade. There were both an increase in human rights (Women’s Vote) as well restrictions on human rights (KKK, Prohibition, Worker’s Rights). Also according to some, there also was a dehumanizing effect due to the mechanization of business.
28 Reality Check Although things look great in the US-The rest of the world is not enjoying nearly as much success as that seen in the US; and The Depression which begins at the end of this decade in the US will cause wide spread pain, not just in the US but throughout the world. During our next few classes, we will focus on Germany in the 1920’s and then on the Depression itself.