Chapter 22: The New Era
What challenges were faced by labor unions and how did they adapt?
Wages rose slowly, but the cost of living also rose, so it did next to nothing to improve conditions. The labor unions were not able to help much because their efforts were largely conservative and failed to adapt to the realities of the modern economy.
Mercifully, the last president elected from Ohio, who died after an illness in 1923.
Warren Harding
How did the open shop and American plan impact the power of unions?
The open shop was a shop in which no worker could be required to join a union. The American plan was the crusade for the open shop, and received the endorsement of the National Association of Manufacturers in 1920 and became a pretext for a harsh campaign of union busting across the country. This weakened unions, which were already weak because of the strength of corporations.
What was religious fundamentalism?
A movement that believed that the Bible should be interpreted literally.
Most notorious of all Prohibition era gangsters.
Al Capone
Corrupt politician indicted for his involvement in the Teapot Dome Scandal.
Albert Fall
Took over General Motors and turned it into a more profitable organization after restructuring.
Alfred Sloan
Organizer of the National Women's Party who argued for an Equal Rights Amendment.
Alice Paul
What effect did new corporate management styles, such as that of General Motors, have?
Allowed companies to control subsidiaries and expand further.
What did the growth in mass consumption during the 1920s include?
Americans spending more money on household goods, more Americans buying automobiles, an increase in pleasure spending, and a boom in the fashion industry.
How did women in the 1920s begin to view marriage?
An equal partnership with their husbands.
Author who portrayed Jesus as a great salesman.
Bruce Barton
Soft spoken man who brought little interest to the role of President.
Calvin Coolidge
Self-made man who became a national hero after his transatlantic flight from NY to Paris.
Charles Lindbergh
What did the writers of the Lost Generation feel?
Consumerism and materialism destroyed the idealism of the previous generation.
Jazz pianist at the Cotton club who was almost equally popular among whites and blacks.
Duke Ellington
Celebrated American author who exhibited his generation's contempt for war with A Farewell to Arms.
Ernest Hemingway
American author who exposed the dark side of wealth and power in The Great Gatsby.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
What political corruption existed within the Harding Administration?
Harding lacked the strength to abandon the party hacks who had helped create his political success. Members of the so-called Ohio Gang filled important offices throughout the administration. Unknown to the public, and perhaps to Harding, Daugherty, Fall, and others were engaged in fraud and corruption. The most spectacular scandal involved the rich naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California. Fall secretly leased the reserves to two wealthy businessmen for money.
What did the Sheppard-Towner Act help establish?
Health care programs for children.
President who promoted the idea of business associationalism.
Herbert Hoover
Of what was the Teapot Dome scandal a result?
High ranking politicians accepting bribes for selling oil rich land to a private oil company.
What was the idea of Welfare Capitalism?
Improve work conditions, pay, and benefits to discourage labor unrest.
How did the new administrative systems in big corporations allow them to expand further?
In those areas where industry did consolidate, new forms of corporate organization emerged to advance the trend. General Motors was a classic example. The founder, William Durant, had expanded the company dramatically but had never replaced the informal, personal management style with which he began. Alfred P Sloan created a modern administrative system with an efficient divisional organization. The new system not only made it easier for GM to control its many subsidiaries; it also made it simpler for it and others to expand further. Some industries less susceptible to domination by a few great corporations attempted to stabilize themselves not through consolidation but through cooperation. The trade association was a national organization created by various members of an industry to encourage coordination in production and marketing techniques.
What contribution did the automobile industry have on other industries, such as rubber, oil, and construction?
It helped all these industries grow: rubber for tires, oil for fuel, and construction for new roads (the dirt roads would turn to mud when it rained and cars would get stuck and such).
What did the Harlem Renaissance feature?
Jazz and theater that was enjoyed by both blacks and whites.
Found guilty of teaching evolution and fined $100.
John Scopes
African American poet whose writings encouraged pride and spirit among other African Americans.
Langston Hughes
What were flappers?
Liberated women who enjoyed fashion, drinking, smoking, and dancing.
What were Pink Collar jobs?
Low paying jobs reserved for women.
What were the motives for an impact of the Lost Generation?
Many artists were experiencing a disenchantment with modern America so fundamental that they were often able to view it only with contempt. Rather than trying to influence and reform their society, they isolated themselves from it and embarked on a restless search for personal fulfillment. This disillusionment had its roots in nothing so deeply as the experience of WWI. The repudiation of Wilsonian idealism, the restoration of business as usual, the growing emphasis on materialism and consumerism suggested that the war had been a fraud; that the suffering and dying had been in vain.
Woman who argued for birth control measures for women of the 1920s.
Margaret Sanger
By the end of the 1920s, did televisions begin to appear in American homes?
No
Did many Americans move to the suburbs during the 1920s because there were more jobs available there than in the major cities?
No
Did most labor unions in the 1920s begin to openly admit African Americans and women to their ranks?
No
Did radio prove to be an ineffective tool for communication during the 1920s?
No
Did the writings of the Lost Generation authors celebrate the free spirited lifestyle of the 1920s?
No
Was Bowman Dairy clearly an equal opportunity employer?
No
Was the flapper first popularized by the wealthy and upper class young women?
No
Was the new KKK very similar to the original Klan from the Reconstruction era?
No
How did the McNary-Haugen Bill fail to establish a system of parity to assist farmers?
Parity was a complicated formula for setting an adequate price for farm goods and ensuring that farmers would earn back at least their production costs no matter how the national or world agricultural market might fluctuate. The McNary-Haugen Bill failed to establish a system of parity because it was never passed - Coolidge vetoed it both times.
How did the automobile contribute to the growth of suburbanization?
People who had a car did not have to live so close to work.
Why did prohibition fail? How did it contribute to the massive rise in organized crime?
Prohibition did substantially reduce drinking, at least in some regions of the country. But it also produced conspicuous and growing violations that made the law an almost immediate source of disillusionment and controversy. The federal government hired only 1500 agents to enforce the prohibition laws, and in many places they received little help from local police. Before long, it was almost as easy to acquire illegal alcohol in much of the country as it had once been to acquire legal alcohol. And since an enormous, lucrative industry was now barred to legit businessmen, organized crime figures took it over.
By what were the presidencies of Harding and Coolidge characterized?
Rampant corruption and political scandal, few notable achievements when compared to Wilson and Roosevelt, economic prosperity and corporate and business growth, and business as usual politics.
What were Margaret Sanger's efforts to promote birth control among American women?
Sanger began her career promoting the diaphragm and other birth control devices out of a concern for working-class women, believing that large families were among the major causes of poverty and distress in poor communities. Women, she argued, should be free to enjoy the pleasures of sexual activity without any connection to procreation.
Why did college enrollment increase significantly in the 1920s?
Society believed that more preparation was necessary for young people to enter the work force.
How did the flapper lifestyle change the perception of young women among themselves and society in general?
Some women concluded that in the New Era it was no longer necessary to maintain a rigid, Victorian female respectability. They could smoke, drink, dance, wear seductive clothes and makeup, and attend lively parties. They could strive for physical and emotional fulfillment, for release from repression and inhibition.
How did the advertising industry become a vehicle for mass consumerism?
The advertising industry of today developed from wartime propaganda. Publicists no longer simply conveyed information; they sought to identify products with a particular lifestyle, to invest them with glamour and prestige, and to persuade potential consumers that purchasing a commodity could be a personally fulfilling and enriching experience. Newspapers, magazines, and radios helped spread advertisements.
From what did the nativist feelings of the 1920s mainly result?
The belief that an increasing number of immigrants had radical political ideologies.
Why did the advertising industry grow in the 1920s?
The growth of mass circulated newspapers and magazines.
Which famous American politician aided in the prosecution in the Scopes Monkey Trial?
William Jennings Bryan
As the 1920s wore on, were fewer and fewer people supportive of prohibition?
Yes
By the end of the 1920s, were most average Americans able to afford an automobile?
Yes
Were Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Charles Lindbergh self made men who were generally idolized heroes in the eyes of Americans?
Yes
Were Time and Reader's Digest popular magazines that first appeared during the 1920s?
Yes
Were progressives encouraged at first by the prospect of Herbert Hoover as a Presidential candidate?
Yes
Were religious modernists heavily influenced by the culture of the 20s and believed that accepting a faith would help people to live more fulfilling, prosperous lives?
Yes
Which of the following technological advancements did not appear in the 1920s? a. nylon b. plastics c. television d. genetic research e. computers
c television
The automobile had all of the following effects except: a. the growth of the suburb b. Americans began to vacation further away from home c. allowed younger Americans to develop lives on their own, away from their parents d. a massive increase in drunk driving arrests e. allowed urban families to bond through weekend drives through the countryside
d. a massive increase in drunk driving arrests
All of the following were economic results of the growth of the 1920s except: a. growth in the automobile industry b. per capita income grew by more than 1/3 c. a boom in construction d. high inflation rates e. massive increase in manufacturing
d. high inflation rates
All of the following was true of prohibition except: a. it contributed to the growth of organized crime b. there were too few law enforcement agents willing to enforce it effectively c. it was supported mainly by Protestants d. it reduced drinking in some regions of the country e. prohibition continued to gain support as violence linked to organized crime increased
e. prohibition continued to gain support as violence linked to organized crime increased