The Roaring Twenties

From 1921 to 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (a measure of stock market performance) rose from 60 to 400;

American authors wrote tragedies about wealth (by F. Scott Fitzgerald), business and religion (by Sinclair Lewis), and war (by Ernest Hemingway). William Faulkner became one of America's most acclaimed novelists by writing during 1929-1932 the books "Sound & Fury," "As I Lay Dying," "Sanctuary," and "Light in August." Eugene O'Neill was a playwright to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for in 1936; he was praised for bringing psychological realism to his plays;

In the 1920s Americans invented the music of jazz, and "Tin Pan Alley" became a portion of New York City known for its music culture; Harlem Renaissance ;

"flapper" - a new lifestyle (tobacco companies promoted it);

The first commercial radio broadcast was in 1920. The "talking" movies came in 1927, with the first successful one being "The Jazz Singer."

The Great Depression

In 1929, the stock market suddenly crashed.\

speculators ? tariff increases ? concentration of wealth among the relatively few ? the gold standard ?

Unemployment increased until it exceeded 20% in 1933 ;

"Bonus March," ended in riots.Future generals George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur put down the riots using tanks and troops, fearing that the nation was on the verge of a …..

FDR, the New Deal, and Preparing for War

Democratic Party candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 1932; the "Hundred Days," deals:

Emergency Banking Act, which allowed inspection of bank records;

Agricultural Adjustment Act, which tried to raise prices and limit farm production by paying farmers not to farm land;

Federal Emergency Relief Act, which provided work on projects such as building roads, airports, schools, playgrounds and parks

Glass-Steagall Banking Act, which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) to insure deposits in banks in order to stabilize the banking system

National Industrial Recovery Act, which created the public works administration and defined fair business practices;

changed foreign policy towards Latin America; In 1933 implemented the "Good Neighbor Policy."

Social Guarantees

In 1935, the Social Security Act. It provided (and still provides) payments to the elderly by taxing the wages on young workers and employers. It has become a huge liability today…

1938 - the Fair Labor Standards Act, which abolished child labor and set the national minimum wage at $.40 per hour, and established the 40-hour work week.

In 1941, President Roosevelt gave his annual speech to Congress in which he advocated the "Four Freedoms": freedom of speech, worship, from want (e.g., from hunger), and from fear.

Maneuvering into War?

Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which ended America's neutrality and authorized the lending of materials to Britain and other Allies (France and Russia).

code-breakers had broken the Japanese codes : Pearl Harbor.

FDR did nothing to prevent the attack; news of the attack on Dec. 7, 1941 outraged the American public against Japan. The Japanese sunk most of the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor; "a date which will live in infamy”…

FDR forcibly moved Americans of Japanese descent in California to internment camps to keep an eye on their suspected spy activity, despite their American citizenship.

A Different history?

George Patton, nicknamed "Old Blood and Guts“; Patton was given the task of taking on the Germany's greatest field commander, Erwin Rommel ("The Desert Fox"). Rommel had completely destroyed the British in Northern Africa and Patton was sent there in 1942

Historians estimate that Patton's Third Army caused an astounding 55% of all of Germany's causalities in the war ???

Elegantly simple…

On June 6, 1944, massive Allied forces led by the American soldiers landed at Normandy, France, to retake mainland Europe from the Germans. Called the "longest day" or "D-Day" (day-day), it was the largest land invasion in the history of the world. Participants said the ocean was completely filled with boats and soldiers and it was difficult to see much water. The invasion caught the Germans, already weakened by Patton, off guard.

Hiroshima, Japan: verbatim

“But the war continued against Japan, and Japanese soldiers had a fanaticism that prevented them from surrendering at any cost. unless something extraordinary happened. The extraordinary opportunity was provided by America's secret development of the atomic bomb.

Truman's impulsiveness may have served the nation well at this critical moment. As soon as the atomic bomb was developed, the top military leaders were anxious to use it to save any further loss to American soldiers fighting Japan. They urged Truman to approve dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. Do it, Truman decided quickly, and later said he slept a good night's sleep after his decision. Truth be told, Truman hated the Japanese with a passion, as many Americans at the time did. Unlike the war against Germany, the war against Japan stirred racial dislike and distrust”

Debate: Was it right to drop atomic bombs on Japan?

Cold War

In 1947, President Truman announced what has become known as "Truman Doctrine." He pledged economic aid for democratic countries opposing communism, beginning with Greece and Turkey. Also in 1947, George Kennan at the United States State Department (the agency that handles foreign policy) published a new policy of "containment".

1947, (CIA)

1948, the United States and Western European nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ("NATO") to guard against the threat posed by the communist Soviet Union