In this lecture we will cover through World War II. In the next lecture we'll cover until the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980, and then the last lecture will be about the Reagan Administration and beyond.
Homework: write an essay of about 800 words on any topic (or two topics) related to this lecture.
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The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties was the period from 1920 to 1929, when there was tremendous economic growth and remarkable cultural progress. It was a period of great excitement and accomplishment in our nation's history on many levels: in politics, business, literature and music. From 1921 to 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (a measure of stock market performance) rose from 60 to an astounding 400, an increase of more than six-fold.[1] By comparison, the stock market today is lower than what it was in the year 2000. Many new millionaires were created in the 1920s. But the good times were not merely about money. The culture (music, literature, festivals, etc.) was vibrant also, and it was a thrilling time to be an American.
Politically, the period started with the election of Warren Harding as president. He was a conservative who nominated four (4) conservative Justices to the Supreme Court, several of whom later blocked and invalidated key parts of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)'s liberal New Deal. Harding also supported Prohibition, which was a conservative Christian women's movement. Harding opposed the League of Nations, which was a form of "world government" that conservatives today still dislike. Harding opposed immigration, and with his support the tightest restrictions on immigration in the nation's history became law.
Harding and his wife were colorful characters, opening the White House up to the public again (Wilson had closed it during his illness) and throwing regular garden parties for veterans.
Harding had some immediate political achievements. The Federal Highway Act in 1921 provided $75 million to States in matching funds (i.e., matching monies provided by the States) for State roads. The Washington Naval Conference (1921-22) was an international treaty that limited arms in navies worldwide, delayed war in the Pacific, and temporarily protected China against imperialistic Japan. The Fordney McCumber Act of 1922 increased tariffs to very high levels, but this was later criticized by historians for creating hardship for Europe after World War I, which had ended just a few years earlier.
Most of all, Harding laid the basis for a tremendous economic boom in America, which lasted the entire decade of the 1920s.
The Harding Administration was accused of scandals and corruption, such as the Teapot Dome Scandal. It was observed that George Washington could never tell a lie, but Warren Harding could never tell (recognize) a liar! On April 14, 1922, the Wall Street Journal reported an unprecedented secret arrangement in which the Secretary of the Interior, without competitive bidding, had leased the U.S. Naval Petroleum Reserve, located at Wyoming's Teapot Dome, to a private oil company. Wisconsin Republican Senator Robert La Follette (remember this founder of the progressive movement) arranged for the Senate Committee on Public Lands to investigate the matter. After his announcement, his office was mysteriously ransacked in the Senate Office Building!
The focus of the inquiry was this: "How did Interior Secretary Albert Fall get so rich so quickly?" The result was that Fall became the first former cabinet officer to go to prison. The investigation resulted in the Supreme Court decision of McGrain v. Daugherty (1927) which held, for the first time, that Congress had the right to compel witnesses to testify before its committees.
But this scandal did not detract from the continuing prosperity. Just as the nation became very prosperous under the conservative president James Monroe, the 1920s (the "Roaring 20s") became a very prosperous time under Harding's initial leadership. But unlike James Monroe, Harding did not live to enjoy it. He died from a health problem while in office, leaving his Vice President (and former Massachusetts Governor) Calvin Coolidge to take over. Coolidge was already famous for breaking a strike in Massachusetts by public workers, having declared that "there is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime."
Coolidge received the news that he was suddenly president, due to Harding's death, at 2:30 am on Aug. 3, 1923. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father (a notary public) administered the oath of office while Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible.
Coolidge was a character who became known for saying and doing nothing. He rejected regulations to control the economic boom, and denied funding for farmers to help their depressed conditions. His first message to Congress in late 1923 was to limit aid to farmers, avoid becoming involved in foreign disputes, and cut taxes. His popularity increased and he won reelection with 54% of the vote, taking credit for "Coolidge prosperity."
Coolidge became known for his laconic style of few words. A young woman at a social event whispered to Coolidge's wife that the woman would start a conversation with Coolidge such that Coolidge would say at least three words. Coolidge must have overheard the whisper, because he then said, "You lose." In 1928, Coolidge lived up to his reputation by giving the following statement to an anxious public, "I do not choose to run for President in 1928." That was it. In the 1980s conservative President Ronald Reagan infuriated liberals by finding a portrait of Coolidge in the White House attic and prominently displaying it along with George Washington and other prominent presidents.
Notwithstanding Coolidge's lack of words, the rest of the nation was saying and doing a great deal. 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." Liberals particularly liked Faulkner because he described the Christian South as poor and racist. Eugene O'Neill was a playwright who became the second American 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. There was a Harlem Renaissance that became a center of black culture, and the New Negro Movement emphasized learning and pride for African Americans.
Some jazz clubs and silent movies began to have the same undesirable influence on morality that Hollywood brings to culture today. The "flapper" was a new lifestyle for young ladies that encouraged smoking, shorter dresses, drinking alcohol (which was illegal), taking cocaine (deadly but legal then, illegal now), and overall immorality. The name "flapper" comes from a silent movie called "The Flapper" that was produced in 1920, and today the name is often associated with the type of dress. But an immoral lifestyle came along with it, and tobacco companies promoted it in order to profit from an increase in smoking by women. A musical appeared mocking how women were beginning to act so much like men that all men should grow mustaches, because that was one thing women could not do!
The first commercial radio broadcast was in 1920. The "talking" movies came in 1927, with the first successful one being "The Jazz Singer." Also in 1927 Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo airplane flight from New York City to Paris, in competition for a prize. He named his small airplane the "Spirit of St. Louis." On his takeoff he narrowly avoided crashing, and he encountered problems like ice on his wings and getting slightly lost along the way. He was greeted by a huge crowd and a hero's welcome when he landed in Paris, and thrilled many Americans.
One more key event happened in 1927: the Great Mississippi Flood was massive flooding of the river that displaced 700,000 persons. This caused many African Americans to migrate from South to northern cities. Oh, there was one other thing that happened that year: Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in one season!
If you like the excitement and mystery of court trials, the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in 1927 despite having political support by liberals. Their crime was to commit murder in 1920 during a bank robbery, and to this day some have doubts about their real guilt. But reconsideration of their case by independent reviewers has concluded that, yes, they really committed the crime.
In 1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact (or Treaty) was a silly international attempt to outlaw war. It proved to be ineffective because only a war can force a nation to stop doing something! A country would have to start a war to make another country obey the treaty, and that would defeat the purpose of the treaty.