Chapter 15: Pg. 241-248 (part 1)

The mass production of automobiles:

-The mass production of automobiles had the greatest impact upon American society. When automobiles first appeared in the late 1890s they seemed to be a luxury toy for the rich. -However a gifted self-taught engineer named Henry Ford boldly vowed to "democratize the automobile. When I'm through, everyone will be able to afford one" -Ford fulfilled his prediction by applying his principles of assembly line production to the manufacture of automobiles.

The Scopes Trial

-The state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act forbidding the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The act expressed the alarm felt by many fundamentalist Christians who opposed Darwin's theory of evolution because it challenged a literal interpretation of the Bible. •John T. Scopes, a Tennessee high school science teacher, accepted the American Civil Liberties Union offer to test the constitutionality of the Butler Act. •Clarence Darrow, a well-known champion of civil liberties agreed to defend Scopes. •William Jennings Bryan, a 3 time Democratic presidential candidate and well known religious fundamentalist, represented the state. •The Scopes Trial on the surface tested the legality of teaching the theory of evolution in Tennessee's public schools. But for a national and international audience the case illustrated a cultural conflict between fundamentalism represented by Bryan and modernism represented by Darrow. •In the end the court found Scopes guilty and fined him $100

The Sacco and Vanzetti Case

-was the most celebrated criminal trial and involved 2 Italian born anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomo Vanzetti. The 2 men were arrested for a payroll robbery and murder. •The evidence against Sacco and Vanzetti was inconclusive. Many were convinced that the 2 men were victims of prejudice against radicals and recent immigrants. •After 7 years of lawsuit Sacco and Vanzetti died in the electric chair. Their execution sparked protests around the world

what did Secretary of Treasury do?

. Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon reduced taxes for the wealthy, raised tariffs on imports, and ignored antitrust regulations

Feminism:

Flappers provided the most visible model of the new American woman. They challenged traditional standards of feminine appearance and moral behavior. •New independent spirit expressed itself in the changes postwar women were making in their lives. Most women still followed traditional paths of marriage and family but a growing number of young well educated women began choosing a different lifestyle.

How was the assembly line better than the first automobile factories?

In the first automobile factories cars remained in one place while a number of skilled mechanics built the vehicle from the ground up. On Ford's new assembly line the car moved from one worker to the next. Each worker performed the same operation on each passing car. -The assembly line enabled Ford to reduce the time it took to build a car from 12.5 hours of work to just 1.5 hours. -The Ford Motor company made a new car every ten seconds. The price for a Model T fell from $850 to $290

who was the most influential black nationalist leader?

Marcus Garvey emerged as one of the earliest and most influential black nationalist leaders in the 20th century •Garvey's sudden and fast rise captured the imaginations of black people in America, the Caribbean, and Africa. Within a short time Garvey was one of most famous black spokesmen in the world. •Garvey's fame and influence didn't last long, he founded a steamship company, the Black Star Line, to promote trade between NY, Africa, and the West Indies. Garvey proved to be a poor business man and the steamship line collapsed costing investors over $750,000 •Irregularities in fund raising led to Garvey's arrest and conviction for mail fraud. President Coolidge commuted Garvey's sentence and he was deported to his native Jamaica.

The mass production of automobiles had far reaching consequences for American economic and cultural life:

Surging car sales stimulated the growth of companies that made steel, rubber tires, glass, and gasoline. -Encouraged by the Federal Highway Act of 1916 a network of new roads crisscrossed the nation and within a few years the automobile transformed America from a land of isolated farms and small towns into a mobile nation on wheels.

Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover:

were Republican presidents who reconfirmed the partnership between business and government.

The lost generation:

•A group of novelists found much to criticize in America's new mass culture. These writers have often been called the Lost Generation because they were disillusioned with American society and often moved to Paris. •F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis were the best-known Lost Generation authors. •F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, and other LOST GENERATION authors challenged middle class conformity (tradition) and materialism (greed) in "Main Street, Babbitt" and other novels.

Advertisement?

•A growing advertising industry fueled interest in the new consumer products. Advertisements glorified consumption and celebrated a tempting lifestyle based upon the possession of material objects. Advertising accounted for 3% of the nation's gross national product by 1929. •Companies used advertisements to promote a new array of purchasing techniques. Instead of waiting until they could afford a product, consumers could now use installment plans to "buy now and pay later" -The old values of thrift and saving gave way to a new culture that emphasized spending and consumption

Immigration restriction and national origins act:

•A new postwar wave of arrivals from Southern and Eastern Europe sparked a nationwide movement to limit immigration from these regions. •Congress responded to the nativist push for restrictive measures by passing the National Origins Act. The law limited annual immigration to 2% of a country's population in the US at the time of 1890 survey •Since the new immigration began in 1890 the quotas favored immigration for Northern and Western Europe while sharply cutting the flow of newcomers from Southern and Easter Europe.

Palmer launched a massive roundup of foreign-born radicals:

•Although no more than 1/10 of one percent of adult Americans actually belonged to the domestic communist movement, Palmer launched a massive roundup of foreign-born radicals. •Agents of the Department of Justice arrested over 4,000 people in a dozen cities across America. The Palmer Raids violated civil liberties by breaking into homes and union offices without arrest warrants. •Although most of those arrested were released, the department of Justice deported about 500 aliens without hearings or trials

affects of automobiles and radios:

•Automobile provided a convenient form of personal transportation and at the same time radio and motion pictures publicized the new lifestyle of urban America and promoted the rise of a standardized mass culture.

The red scare act:

•Bolsheviks led by Vladmir Lenin seized power in Russia and shortly created a communist dictatorship. The revolutionary disturbance in Russia alarmed many Americans who believed that communist sympathizers and other radicals were secretly planning to undermine the US government. •The fear of traitors escalated when the post office interrupted 38 packages containing bombs addressed to important citizens. •A wave of labor strikes and race riots intensified public anxiety adding to calls for action. Anyone who appeared different or foreign was branded "un-American" and therefore "Red" •The Red scare or nationwide fear of aliens forced attorney General Mitchel Palmer to act.

what was "Main Street, Babbitt" about?

•George F. Babbitt was a gung-ho real-estate broker who lived in the fictional Midwestern city of Zenith. Babbitt represents most of what appalled Lewis about America, he was a shallow person with no ideas of his own and very little awareness of the world outside Zenith. Babbitt mimicked Republican positions on issues and prized material objects as symbols of his success.

which place became a center of african american culture?

•Harlem soon emerged as a vibrant center of African American culture. A new generation of black writers and artists created an outpouring of literary and artistic works known as the Harlem Renaissance.

what did women want to do?

•Influenced by feminists, women wanted greater freedom in their lives and argued that wives should be equal partners with their lives. They argued that wives should be equal partners with their husbands and supported Margaret Sanger's campaign for birth control. •A advance group of college educated women sought new careers in medicine, law, and science •Young women called flappers provided the most visible and shocking model of the new American woman because they challenged established norms of feminine appearance by wearing short skirts, heavy makeup, and close cut bobbed hair.

Human suffering and economic destruction caused by WW1 dealt a shattering blow to the comforting belief that progress was unavoidable:

•John F. Carter expressed the widespread postwar mood of disillusionment when he wrote in the Atlantic Monthly: "I would like to observe that he older generation had certainly pretty well ruined this world before passing it on to us. They gave us this Thing, knocked to pieces, leaky, red hot, threatening to blow up ; and then they are surprised that we don't accept it with the same enthusiasm with which they received it."

group of Harlem Renaissance writers?

•Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, James Weldon Johnson, and Zora Neale Hurston formed the core group of Harlem Renaissance writers. Taken together their poems, novels, and essays comprised a distinctive African American literature. •The Harlem Renaissance writers had little immediate impact on the majority of African Americans.

Individual freedom:

•New inventions and greater freedom time made a new kind of individual freedom possible. A rebellious generation of young adults challenged traditional values while a critical group of writers questioned the conformity and materialism they saw in American society.

Radio station KDKA:

•Radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh announced the news that the Republican candidate Warren Harding won a landslide victory over democrat James Cox. •The broadcast signaled the birth of a new industry and 7 years later, millions of Americans anxiously listened to breathless accounts of Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic. •As the radio mania swept across the country, families could now gather around their sets and listen to the same programs, laugh at the same jokes, sing the same songs and hear the same advertisements.

Silent films:

•Silent films appeared in early 1900s. But the modern American motion picture industry began with the release of DW Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. Soon feature length films turned Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, and Rudolph Valentino into celebs. •Fascinated fans watched and listened to the first "talkie," the Jazz Singer. •Silent films quickly vanished and by 1930 motion pictures became the nation's most popular form of entertainment.

The Palmer Raids marked the end of the Red scare:

•The Palmer Raids marked the end of the Red scare but they did not mark the end of the postwar drive for "100% Americanism". •The defenders of traditional values both resented and resisted the changes sweeping across America. The conflict between the "old" local rural America and the "new" more sophisticated urban America expressed itself in 2 famous legal cases and a renewal of nativism.

The Tennessee supreme court overruled the fine?

•The Tennessee supreme court overruled the fine on a technicality while upholding the Butler Act. Bryan died 5 days after the trial from a heart condition probably aggravated by Darrow's grueling and sarcastic cross-examination.

what attracted african american migration?

•The great migration of African Americans from the rural South to industrial cities in the North and Midwest began during WW1. Attracted by the promise of jobs and the possibility of escaping Jim Crow segregation over 400,000 African Americans left the South and the by 1930 another 600,000 blacks moved to cities in the North.

The new KKK

•The original KKK terrorized newly freed blacks in the post civil war south before dying out. The post WW1 mood of distrust and intolerance fueled a revival of the KKK •The new Klan was aggressive towards immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and African Americans. It favored immigration restriction and white supremacy. •Membership in the Klan swelled to as many as 4 million people. However passage of the National Origins Act removed the Klan's most popular issue. Divided by recurring leadership quarrels, the Klan once again became a bordering group on the fringe of American society.

what illustrates aspects of the widespread intolerance and nativism of the 1920s.

•The red Scare, Sacco and Vanzetti case, Scopes trial, National Origins Act, and reemergence of the KKK

How did women further shake the tradition?

•They further shook the traditional guardians of morality by enjoying carefree dances such as the Charleston, listening to the lively, loose beat of jazz, and attending parties that featured drinking, smoking, and petting.