HISTORY NOTES AMERICA: ROARING 20S AND FDR: NEW DEAL

America Notes The USA is comprised of 50 states. It is a democratic federal republic governed and ruled by a constitution, containing the bill of rights which contains things like Freedom of Speech, Worship, Free Press, and Fair Trial in front of a jury and a right to carry guns. States can tinker around with these rules. In the north east, gun laws were much tighter and you could only carry around a concealed gun, but in Texas, you must show your weapon. The point of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution was to limit the power of the Federal Government over the individual. State The state has a governor and has a different number of congressmen depending on the size of the state. The state controls police, education, welfare and the National Guard. It is extremely democratic. Federal Government Controls foreign policy and defence, some welfare and the economic policy of the USA In the middle of the two Taxes: Local city and country taxes, state taxes and federal government taxes Laws: Local country laws, state laws and federal laws, mainly for crimes extending over one state Development of America In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America. However, this was previously discovered by Vikings.

Rockies

Appalachian Mountains

Deep South

The first influxes of settlers were fleeing from religious persecution round Rhode Island, Massachusetts. All the developments were in the North East. Then, the Deep South started developing. It was very hot and humid a lot of the time, perfect conditions for growing: 1) tobacco, 2) cotton The trouble with these was that they are very labour intensive activities, needing a lot of workers. The Deep South became a place where slaves were brought in from Africa. The Deep South developed as a very agricultural place. There began two parts of America: 1. The industrial, wealthy North East 2. The agricultural Deep South At this time, there was no movement into the Great Plains at all. There was a civil war between the forces of Union, the North, who wanted a United States, and the Confederates from the south, who wanted a loosely tied together collection of states. The Union won, and that resulted in the United States as we know it, the abolition of slavery and reconstruction in America. Missing two lessons on the USA Political Intolerance Socialists, Trade Unionists and Communists frightened the USA as they believed in Capitalism. Also, there were Anarchists, they wanted to get rid of the system altogether and have no rules or laws. Only a tiny population voted for Socialist candidates, but in Russia, these people overturned the government and their movement got very strong. The USA was frightened. 1919/20 Strikes In 1919, a series of parcel bomb attacks occurred on the houses of officials A Mitchell Palmer is the Attorney General. A bomb went off outside his house, put down by a communist who killed himself accidentally. He was angry and decided to do something about them. He launched Palmer Raids and used the FBI to arrest 4,000+ people. These communists hadnt broken any laws as the Communist party wasnt illegal, he didnt like them and he arrested them. He believed they were dangerous. He should however have contacted the president and had the communist party made illegal. He was humiliated and was out of a job within 3 weeks.

This is a good example of political intolerance they were arrested for not fitting into the American idea.

1917 When the USA went into WW1, they established a set of laws: Espionage Act they were there to protect USA from foreign influences. These were laws that were applicable when at war Trading with the Enemy Act gave the government the right of censorship Alien Act the right to deport suspected people of hostile actions or beliefs Sedition Act a blanket ban on uttering, printing or saying any abusive language of the government or army. It was a means of controlling not just outside influences but certain parts of US society. All of these are examples of laws because of Intolerance Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti They came into the USA in 1908/1910 and were both self proclaimed anarchists from Italy. Both of them spoke almost no English, which was odd, they had been there for a few years. 5th May 1920 They were arrested for being part of a Bank Robbery for which 2 guards were killed. Both of them were carrying guns, one was the same type which killed a guard. They were sent to trial and this produced all sorts of problems. The gun that Sacco owned, whilst being the same type, was a different gun, as the pin on the bullet strikes at different places. However, he was arrested in Massachusetts in the North East of the USA. All sorts of things went against them: 1. They were anarchists and the Judge and Jury were biased. They didnt like Sacco as he didnt speak English, one of the steps seen towards being a good, proper American citizen. Also, because new immigrants coming to the USA werent learning English, it meant that non English speaking communities were developed. 2. At the trial, 61 Eye Witnesses say they saw Sacco commit the crime; however he didnt commit the crime, and 107 people said at the time the crime occurred, Sacco and Vanzetti were at a party. They were all non English speaking people and the Judge and Jury believed they were lying. Sacco and Vanzetti found guilty and he was sentenced to death by execution on 24 th August 1927. It took so long, as many appeals were made. It was tried at a time when everyone thought Communists and Anarchists wanted to murder everyone. These show that there was a high degree of Political Intolerance in America very early on in the 1920s. Americans didnt want to accept anyone who didnt fit into the American dream. A large majority of the US population said you didnt have to break a law to be arrested, but could be arrested if not liked. Immigration and Xenophobia Xenophobia Fear of foreigners and things different to what you do America always had xenophobic problems and still has. There were a group called Nativists who wanted to keep America the way it had been. They were against German and Irish immigrants; they didnt like them as most of them were catholic under the control of the pope who tried to take control of the USA.

Huge waves of immigration happened into America. From 1880 1990, 24million people immigrated to America. 1.2million people entered the USA as immigrants. Americans werent happy with this influx of immigration. Many immigrants were from Southern and Eastern Europe. Large numbers of these were Jewish and as political and religious persecution in Poland and Russia increased, they went over to the USA. Titanic Passenger Manifesto 322 First Class for the Ride 709 Third Class to get to the US - 3 (95 in todays money) What annoyed Americans was the way people came into America and settled in little groups and didnt learn the language. It was not seen as American to the WASPS the White Anglo Saxon Protestants Americans developed a racist attitude to who was allowed in their country. Immigrants began to clash with Americans who wanted America to be one country speaking one language. The USA started to reject certain people but allow others in. They didnt want Coloured people, Italians, Spaniards e.t.c. as they didnt share the US Dream; they wanted British, Nordics, and Scandinavians e.t.c. They had a desire for Immigration Control. It had already started in California they had a law to stop the number of Chinese and Japanese immigrants coming into California who came for a better quality of life. Economic migrants were certainly better. 1917 The US enters WW1. Questions are asked. They brought in a Literacy Law which meant if you couldnt read or write, you couldnt come to the USA. 1921 Literacy act didnt work. They then came out with the Emergency Quota Act. This limits the number of immigrants coming into the USA. Per year they only let in 357,000 immigrants. They had regional quotas. Countries had a quota of how many people could go to America. It was based on USA populations. The quotas were skewed so that people who they wanted to come into the USA could enter. 1924 They decided they hadnt gone far enough. They reduced the quota to 165,000, although they kept the regional quotas based on the 1890 census so they would have more WASPS. This is an example of intolerance. It is an example of them trying to manipulate the population. They did it as they were frightened that the wake of immigration would change the USA. Not everyone wanted these. Employers wanted a constant supply of immigrants coming into the USA. Overall, this is intolerance, as the US people are not prepared to accept that other people might have a right to come to the USA. They believed that it was against why the USA started. The lack of immigrants created a movement of people inside America. The USA begins to drift into Isolationism. Their failure to join the League of Nations shows this. They were prepared to say no. Intolerance was a symptom of what was going on in the USA at the time.

The development of the Ku Klux Klan was an example of Isolationism. 1865 The US civil war finishes and the Union win and impose laws on the South. They impose equality there was no such thing as slavery after the civil war. The black man was given the same rights as a white man. The KKK was formed because of this to make sure it didnt happen. It was a group of white guys who wanted to show black men they stand behind them and are worthless. They do this by creating a rage of terror in southern USA. Outfit they wore a white suit and big pointed hats to represent angels of death. They had their own language. In the 1860s and 70s they were just racist thugs that picked on coloured people. Black men tried to buy a house in a good neighbourhood, but on the first night, theyd see a burning cross in the lawn. It was a simple message; the KKK didnt want you there. If you didnt leave, on the second night, they would stone your house and burn a cross. On the third night, theyd drag out your family and whip them with barbed white and burn the house down. This wasnt an unusual event. It was entertainment for white people. They didnt see it as evil. It was all to do with intolerance. For ten years they ran a raid of terror in the south, convincing blacks they should know their place. The federal government began to lose interest in the late 1880s and they ignored discriminatory racist laws. Jim Crow Laws In the Deep South, there were two societies: Black and White. They hardly ever crossed paths (the Mason Dixon line marked differences of slave and Free states. White American citizens didnt find this unusual. 1910 Thomas Dixon the Klansman D.W Griffiths The birth of a nation portrayed KKKs as saviours from the blacks 1915 Inspired by the film, Simmons, a teacher from Georgia began to rebuild the clan. In America in 1917/1918, lots of Black Americans volunteered to go to the army. They had been to Europe and noticed there was no segregation so when they returned to the USA; they questioned the country they came back to. During the war, lots of new industrial works were built in the North East and lots of blacks from the Deep South went up to find low paid jobs and low cost housing. As the war ended, unemployment rised and there was a competition for the lowest sectors in these industrialised cities. Whites that were poorly educated felt they were getting pushed out from black coloured people. This was the reason for the Clan revival. The 3rd reason for the clan revival was that from 1915 onwards, there was a growing increase from WASPs about things changing that they didnt like. There was a growing unhappiness of Catholics, Jews and new immigrants who werent willing to accept the American way of life. All these people looked for something to represent them. The KKK offered an organisation which spoke for the hidden fears of these people. The

Klan took an impact and took hold even in non black areas because it stood for tradition and old standards and was seen as a defence against ignorance of new immigrants. Klan members were intolerant of the whole thing. It was mainly based in the Mid West and the Deep South and also in cities like Chicago and Detroit. It never got a hold in New York. Another reason why the Klan grew was because it became very well organised. Simmons was an orator and Edward Clarke and Bessie Tyler began to set up the Klan as a major organisation. They ended up marketing the KKK. It cost $10 to join, about 2 or 3 days wages. The people in it werent rich. It was a male organisation but they had womens groups and kids group and it was a much wider organisation. The people at the top realised that everyone at the top could be satisfied by making money. People wanted white robes and $650 made in Tyler and Clarkes factory. It was organised and became acceptable 1920 100,000 members 1924 5,000,000+ members Being in the Klan became the thing to do. Most of them were democrats. It became powerful and at first was a bit of a joke. Every two years, they had elections so by 1924, politicians standing in Local Elections made it known they were in the Klan even though it wasnt a party. 1924 Democrats wanted a guy called Al Smith to run for them. He was a fantastic candidate, but was catholic, so the Klan protested against him and he lost the nomination. Unease began in America about the power that the Klan had. When you joined, you had to sign a blood oath. 1920 (mid) there was an increase in violence against blacks, mainly due to financial gain as blacks had businesses whilst white ones wanted them. 1927 Governments had two leaders. An elected state governor, but if he was in the KKK, he would have to take instructions from a Klan Official (Dragon or Wizard) so therefore, a second leader. 1928 D.C Stephenson (Klan Dragon) in Indiana He boasted by saying he was the Lord of Indiana as the state governor in the KK had to take instructions from him. The KKK was seen as supporting the church and applying a moral code that the USA needed to keep. Stephenson took a like to a girl in an office he visited and attempted to seduce her. She said no, so he didnt like it and decided to kidnap her, rape her, put her on a trail to a house and give her time to get normal. The girl was so frightened that she took tablets and swallowed them all. She was taken to hospital by family, told that she had just 24 hours to live and her fianc makes her write an account of what happened. Her fianc went to try and find a way of getting this law. He was clever and found when Stephen bundled the girl on the train, the tracks went through Illinois and that meant it was a Federal Case and under the control of the FBI. They hated the clan and wanted a way to get at them this was perfect. They charged Stephenson at a trial. The girls death bed testimony was read out in court and taken as word. FBI got a jury of non KK members and Stephenson was found guilty and

sentenced to imprisonment. He went out of the court laughing he would be in prison in Indiana and could make a pardon be granted. The governor Ed Jackson took a look at the press and figured if he pardoned Stephenson, he would go down, so he refused to pardon him. He blew his whistle, invited the press to prison and told them all the bad things about the KKK. He blew the clan apart. When sex and drugs became apparent in the KKK, people disowned the KK and by 1929, membership was reduced to 200,000. This shows intolerance in the US. Prohibition The problem in most countries is that people drink lots of alcohol and that can lead to rowdiness and anti-social behaviour, making people feel uncomfortable. People drank alcohol to socialise, relax but if you drink too much, you lose control. Alcohol was seen as the root of problems in a country. 1874 Womens Christian Temperance Union 1893 Anti Saloon League They both have roots in the Protestant Church. They are both mostly entirely dominated by women and were very extreme and intolerant organisations. They were fundamentalists who believed everything in the Bible. They were centred in the Deep South and Mid West on people who didnt particularly consume alcohol themselves and who didnt come from a tradition of drinking alcohol. It was seen by these people as the root of all evil. They worked in all states to try and get alcohol banned. Both these were superbly organised and it tried to dry out America. 1914 9 complete states were dry The war came along, when it began; it became unpatriotic to drink beer and against the war efforts as beer was made by German brewers in the USA. 1919 32 states in the USA were completely dry and some states were patchy. The stage was set for an Ambitious piece of social reform. They believed banning alcohol would solve all social problems. It is a very simple answer to a complex problem and it appealed to people. To get the law changed, you must alter the constitution. 18th December 1917 Congress passed 18th Amendment to the US Constitution. It bans manufacture, sale and transport of alcohol and the law was then passed. All changed to constitution must be agreed to by of the US states 16th January 1919 36 states ratify this (3/4) meaning in a years time, It will become law October 1919 the Volstead Act was passed, defining alcohol as a drink with 0.5% or more alcohol per volume. Good laws are ones that are realistic, easy to enforce and good for the public. When prohibition came in, it was welcomed in the Bible belt of the USA as it was going to solve problems. There wasnt much support for it in the Industrialised North East of the US. People who lived there were from Europe and particularly Southern Europe where the culture was

based on alcohol. It is their culture that you have a glass of wine with your meal. This Volstead law is an example of intolerance. It was a bit like cancer inside US society and it lead to problems. A man on the 15th January 1920 has a little scotch in a glass, has a bit and has no problem. However, two days later, he is breaking the law. In his eyes, he is not wrong, but suddenly, the government say he is. He will still carry on doing this in his home but he is always aware he is breaking the law. When his whiskey runs out, he will want another bottle. This will be a bigger crime against the law but he doesnt se it as wrong this is the danger. Prohibition was intolerance; it was a minority imposing their beliefs on an unwilling majority. They believed prohibition was the answer to everything. Some people who didnt go along with the idea of prohibition very quickly began to express themselves. A demand begins to build up for alcohol which is illegal Bootleg Alcohol. Keeping alcohol out of the USA was always going to be a nightmare. Each night on the coast, fleets of boats gathered as it got dark to smuggle alcohol in them. The most famous bootleggers operated from Canada. McCoy had family in Scotland who got him Scotch Whiskey and he smuggled it in. The US-Canada border is unguarded so most alcohol came from Canada. 1920 Prohibition Bureau had 1,520 enforcement agents. These had to ensure a population of 100million people and frontiers of 12,000 miles didnt drink and they were paid peanuts for their efforts. As a result, the Prohibition Agents would be bribed. People needed places to drink it. This lead to the creation of Speakeasies they were places at the back of shops, barbers, hardware stores where men went. They were enclosed rooms where people could go and have a drink. They broke the law but didnt see themselves as criminals. If you were drinking and a policeman came in, you would probably be ok, as he would want a drink too. So, the bar owner will be happy and not charge for it. The policeman is then taking part in corruption. Everyone becomes grateful to the officer as he will tell them when a police raid will happen. The bar people will know when it is happening as they are now in a conspiracy. The officer will get money from the Speakeasy officer. That owner will pay money to a sergeant to get another Speakeasy raided and shut down. You can see the corruption. The owner takes over more and more speakeasies and ensures the sergeant and police officer get money from telling them when the raids are. It became very dangerous: a Speakeasy owner could fall out with another enemy owner and get killed. But because it was so corrupt, the police that were his customers could get the judge to release him free of charge. But in original speakeasies, people dont see themselves as a conspiracy criminal gang. Speakeasies created wide spread corruption throughout America. So many gang related murders and shootings happened because of Speakeasies. People who wanted alcohol didnt have to go to Speakeasies. You could produce your own alcohol, moonshine. They would try to create whiskey in their own home, but it was very poisonous. This corruption created organised crime. There were gangs in each city that tended to keep themselves to themselves. Prohibition for gangs was an excuse to print money. People were prepared to pay lots for alcohol. With prohibition, the types of alcohol consumed differed. It was mainly spirits consumed, because it was harder to smuggle in barrels of beers and a brewery is very large.

Chicago Gangs Johnny Torrio Italian Gangs Dion Obannion Irish Gangs Torrio realises prohibition is good criminal wise and he builds up an alcohol producing empire. One of the first recruited was Bill Thompson, the Mayor of Chicago. His empire begins to grow. He decides he needs extra muscle so he imports from New York from a hit man called Alphonso Capone, or Al Capone. They set up their businesses but there is a problem, as Obannion tells the police on Torrio and he gets a year in prison. When out of prison, he was not happy. Obannion was killed and his gang was taken over by Bugsy Moran. Torrio and Capone decide living in the centre of Chicago is a bad idea. They move out of Chicago to a small town called Cicero. They move in and create their own town and council. They ensure people voted for the right party: they gave them money to vote and showed them a gun. Election officials phoned Chicago police but it was too late and Capones people were elected. People didnt complain as crime rates disappeared as Capone ordered police. It was corruption on a grand scale. The Italians and Irish didnt like each other much, and Capone makes sure that the Irish get his message. 14th February 1929 - Moran meets the gang and all the gang are killed as the policeman raid the meeting. All of the gang were shot; Moran turned up later and legged it. Chicago was now in the hands of Al Capone. In 1929, his empire had a turn over of $60m, in todays money, $50bn. Al Capone was in charge of Chicago. He was very very powerful as the gang had lots of money. Within a couple of years, prohibition and the gangs slipped back and they became less effective: 1. Al Capone was sent to prison in 1931 for 11 years for tax evasion. They sent officials from the Treasury lead by a guy called Elliot Ness and they were known as the Untouchables. Capone went down for 11 years and by 1941 he was good for nothing as Prohibition was beginning to be phased out in the late 20s/early 30s. 2. USA went into a depression in the 1930s and income went down and gangs became less important Long Term effects of Prohibition 1. 2. 3. 4. Less alcohol was consumed but... There was no effect on Social Problems America had a strong system of organised crime There was a certain attitude to corruption. American people didnt see prohibition as a crime so they had an acceptance of corruption at a certain level. The attitudes of bribery began in the USA. 5. People began to have different attitudes and values towards crime. People chose what laws were more important and which ones they would follow and in a developed state that is wrong. Religion

Up to 1918, the strongest religion in the USA was Protestants followed by Catholics. As was happening all over the world, there was a drift away from Religion. In the 1920s, the USA showed a strong religious revival. Revivalists Fundamentalists those to the extremes of religion and take to an extreme form of it

There were a lot of conmen about. At revivalist meetings, 3 or 4 thousand people came out and they went on about fire, hell, heaven. They said they could help everyone. They became popular and revivalist beliefs became popular. Aimee Semple McPhearson known as Sister Aimee she was so rich and out of it, she built her own temple and 5,000+ people came for her services. Billy Sunday hell fire and damned nations speaker. He had a song wrote, Chicago by Frank Sinatra, to take the mick out of him. They did, and still are, making a lot of money. Fundamentalists they had a belief that everything in the bible was true. This was made worse when Darwin wrote the Theory of Evolution. When he publishes the book, it doesnt go down very well in the Deep South. They banned his book so in some states in the Deep South, teaching evolution became a crime. 1925 A young biology teacher, John Scopes taught Evolution even though in his state it was illegal. He got a friend to report him and they got the best fundamentalist lawyer and normal lawyer and the trial became a national event. Scopes lawyer, Clarence Darrow torn William Jennings Bryan (the Fundamentalist lawyer) in pieces and whilst the Fundamentalists technically won, it was a victory for the teaching of evolution. Industry American civil war decided that USA should be industrial. They were lucky as they had lots of materials. Before WWI, US industry was growing rapidly. WW1 brought a huge boost to US industry as they supplied weapons to Britain and France. After WW1, in 1919/1920 there was a little dip but from 1921 onwards, there was a massive increase in production. It became known as the spiral of prosperity where one thing knocks onto another. Automobiles 1914 1.7million automobiles in USA 1929 26million automobiles 1921 Making 1.5 million cars per year 1929 Making 4.8 million cars per year trebled production! Henry Ford stands out for the way he started production on a large way. He brought revolutionary ideas to the industry standardisation.

He did away with the old way of manufacture where everything was handmade. Previously, it took days to build a car as it was all hand made, each piece was different. Ford took the standard car at the time, the Ford Model T. Ford uses the basic laws of economics, the more that you produce, the less it costs. He had a successful car but wanted more and wanted them faster. He stripped a car down to nut and bolts and standardised them. He measures it to ensure that the machines will make them all for him. He himself will build the cars together but he will have someone else make components for him. He just wanted to have an assembly line to make the finished product. All components entry the factory at one end and theyd then get assembled. He knew assembly belt would speed up production as more skilled workers would improve it. 1910 The Ford Model T would cost $1200 1928 It cost, for the same model, $295 He knew that the more he could reduce the costs, the more cars he would sell. Spiral of Prosperity By 1928: 20% of all US Steel was on cars 80% of all rubber 75% of all plate glass 65% of all the leather 7 billion gallons of petrol was used per year. It wasnt just the motor cars that were created. This influx of prosperity created car radio manufacturers, radios, service stations, petrol stations etcetera By 1928, million people were directly involved in building cars. 3 million were involved in the outskirts of it More products were sold The price fell More cars were sold More jobs created More money for workers More cars sold MORE MONEY! AMERICAN SOCIETY BECAME PROSPEROUS Consumer goods then came around. They made life easier and because of this, things became cheaper. In 1920, fridges costs lots and were only for the rich. But then someone else finds a better way to make them and it becomes cheaper and changes lives. Motor cars meant that peoples lives were changed. They would go to supermarkets on the outskirts of towns and buy food and then would store them in the fridge. You can see how the US society changes. Lots of other things happened, there were vacuum cleaners and people could buy carpets. Examples of consumer goods: Motor cars

Telephones Refrigerators Washing Machines Hoovers Electricity Electric Ovens Electric Iron

These all made life easier and it occurred because of mass production and the fact that things were easier, cheaper and better to produce. Electricity depended on these consumer goods and the consumer goods depended on electricity. 1912 16% of all US homes had electricity 1914 30% of US factories used electricity 1929 63% of all US homes had electricity 1929 70% of US factories used electricity

Radios 1920 - The KDKA (Pennsylvania) was the first private radio. Before that, radios were only used for government and military purposes. 1922 The station WEAF broadcasted out of New York State. It was a commercial radio station, it uses money to upgrade offering and to get more listeners. Also, RCA, Radio Corporation of America was set up In 1922 there were 542 radio stations 1924 NBC, the biggest radio corporation was set up In 1920, there were about 12 radio sets in the USA; by 1929 there were 10 million radio sets. Mass production techniques meant that the RCA could turf out cheap radios. 2 big players in the radio industry were NBC and CBS. Radio changed peoples lives; it meant they could know the news, communicate more and for companies it meant they made more money and sponsors were advertised. Consumerism All big names on the radio meant that people bought their things. Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and all of them put adverts on the radio so people bought their products. The radio moulded peoples buying habits. Hire Purchase came about it meant people could afford to have big things. Hire purchase meant millions of Americans could afford to have goods they wanted. It was the last thing you wanted in the Spiral of Prosperity. Visible signs of the boom: New roads Lots of factories Lots of construction and sky scrapers Lots of advertising posters around and big advertisement

Another visible sign of the boom was in the aviation industry. Aviation, planes and airports before WW1 were for military and government use only. 1918 The US post office begins to fly mail across the USA 1925 US government tells the post office to allow private contractors in too 1926 The first commercial flights were scheduled. It meant that by 1929, there were 122 airlines in the USA flying million people. The oil industry benefitted greatly. In 1900, the only supply of energy was coal, by 1929, 1/3 of it was from oil. The oil industry was also expanded by motor cars and petrol sales. Other oil was broken down into tar and bunker fuel. Expanding the oil industry gave people jobs. It totally developed industry. Movies Movies were only developed around 1920 and whilst originally made everywhere, the film industry was quickly established in Hollywood in Los Angeles, because it was close to so many different scenes, the beaches, mountains, deserts and it was very well placed. Additionally, the climate was very good and people developed businesses for filming in Hollywood. Movies developed a Star System. From 1910 onwards, film companies realised that certain films did better than others. It all depended on who was in the film. Once done, it was a short step to making films starring people. Many stars included Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplain, Rudolf Valentino and Tom Mix. To show how big the industry is, in 1920, the US population was 120million and each week, 60million people went to the movies. 1927 A Jazz singer film was released in US cinemas and was the first movie with sound 1929 110million people went to the cinema as sound revolutionised movies Even films without sound were popular, you could have visual comedy with a punch line, you could type subtitles and you could have musicals with accompanying orchestras. Some however did lose out from the booming industry, Tom Mix only did movies with no sound and his business faded, but nothing could be done, sound revolutionised cinemas. Women In the war, like British women, the USA made use of all its labour pool and used women to work. For the most part, it was only working/lower class women who worked, as upper and middle class women waited to be married. WW1 was a time of liberation for women. They would go and tell their families that they were going to work to win the war. For the first time, women like this earned money. After war, women didnt want to return to the traditional roles of women; they had enjoyed freedom and there were lots of jobs around.

1920 Women in the USA were given the vote for the first time The phenomenon of the flappers then came around in America. They were hippies/punks of their generation. They were social rebels of the 1920, cutting their hair short, wearing trousers, short skirts, smoking in public, dancing with men without gloves and going to restaurants by themselves or with small groups of women. They went swimming, and changed their swimming suits exposing their legs and arms. They however were still a minority, but the rest of American women were still slowly changing to having more freedom in their lives. Industry US industry was fantastic in the 1920s, but why: 1. Improved research the US Government worked hard on encouraging companies on what they could develop. 2. Improved education they based the idea on a central campus school, it gave a good general education. It created an educated workforce = better for the economy 3. Management of production by use of assembly line and the Henry Ford system 4. Automation 5. It was protected they decided the US could take care of itself Isolation 1922 The US government set up the Fordney McCumber Act. These were tariffs created in order to protect US industry and growth. They set up tariffs on all imported goods. Tariffs were a variable tax with the intention of ensuring that an American product was cheaper than its foreign counterpart. US Exports US Imports 1920 $8.1bn $5.2bn 1925 $4.8bn $3.8bn

Of course, countries responded to this, so they imposed a tax on goods that were imported into their countries from the US. This was the only bad move for the USA for US agriculture. 6. Huge internal demand people became wealthy due to the Spiral of Prosperity Missed Lesson 13/09/10 Wall Street Crash By 1929, there were 1.5 million investors in the USA, from a population of 130 million. Investors were rich Americans who were rich with little effort. Shares and the stock market grew in America in 1929. Americans realised they could be rich quickly and shares were nice little earners based on how well the economy was doing, which was brilliantly in the 1920s. With Shares, you would make money if the value of the company increased (dividends) and people decided to play the market. However, people made money on speculation of the value of shares, not on the true value of the shares.

The value of shares went up and up and people made money and had the potential to make more money. People played the market on shares. However, the increase of shares depended on confidence in the market that the market will go up and up and keep on rising. Problems however arised: The value of shares should reflect the value of the company, so as the companies value goes up, so should the share value and thus the dividends. However, as the price was going up in America due to speculation and confidence, the shares started to exceed the companys value. Shares were designed so that you could sell the company and pay all the share holders. However, the shareholders were outstripping the value of the company so if the company was sold, shareholders would not get their original investments back. The only way to get your money back was playing the market. In 1929, the market was still shooting up. However suddenly, when shares went so expensive, people stopped buying their shares as they lost confidence. People lost faith in the market going up and up in value. American Can Anaconda Copper Electric bond and share General Electrics General Motors New York Central Radio US Steel Westinghouse Woolworth 3/3/28 in cents 77 54 90 129 140 160 94 138 92 181 3/9/29 in cents 182 164 209 396 182 256 505 279 313 251 13/11/29 in cents 86 70 50 168 36 100 28 150 102 52

The value of shares going up was due to confidence, demand, greed and the theory that anybody could be rich quickly, making something for nothing. The value and value of shares continued to climb, up until September, you had so much confidence in the market. Monday 21st October 6 million shares are traded. The average for a good day is 3million shares. The value goes down. Negative Equity the value of the thing you possess is not of what you paid for it. It causes problems when the house market drops, and it means you are left with cash you have to repay. If you lose your money on shares, if the value goes down, and when the value went down, it was a pandemonium money just disappeared. Tuesday 22nd October they believed the market would go up Wednesday 23rd October Morning was very quiet but it was a busy afternoon. Noticing

the problems, the market was shut at 4pm so no one could trade. However that night, people will have sat and thought about the market and wondered whether the shares they have are worth the value they paid for them. For example, if the shares you had were 525cents on Monday and 510cents on Tuesday, you really wanted to get out, it would be bad for you. Thursday 24th October BLACK THURSDAY 13 million shares are traded there was panic and pandemonium everywhere. In the afternoon, the 6 biggest bankers in New York agreed to each put in $40million to the market. They bought anything they could to try and drive the prices up and restore confidence. They succeeded, the share prices didnt go up, but people stopped selling in huge numbers. What they havent accounted for is human nature. Monday 28th October 9 million shares are sold Tuesday 29th October The market went into a free fall and the market collapsed. 16million shares were sold. Thousands of ordinary Americans were ruined. They gambled everything on the continuing rise of the stock market What makes matters worse is on that day the banks were set to lose a lot of money. The banks were worried because investors they lend money to for investments have paid on a margin they only put up 10% of the money and the banks then leant them the other 90%. They were worried as the US banking system is different to ours. In the olden days, when Americans moved into the south, they set up banks. A bank works by taking your money and lending it to someone else. In our modern world, if you put $15,000 into a bank, you get 0.5% interest, but then if someone comes and borrows that $15,000 from the bank, they pay 8%-9% interest, so the bank makes 7.5%-8.5 profit from your $15,000. In small US towns, there would be little banks, for example, the National Smallville bank, the Farmers Smallville bank and another Smallville bank. These were all small, local banks. They had no problem in saying to a dentist that they could lend money; they knew he could pay them back the Dentist got money, the bank got money, and they were all happy until the 29th October when the market collapsed. The problem is that if the dentist borrowed money for shares, the small bank would want the money back. The money all disappeared, so to get their money back, they would have to close down the local dentist, and that would leave a split and annoyed community. The Wall Street Crash was a massacre and a total disaster. People lost so much money. The banks took houses and possessions of people to get their money back. The Wall Street Crash unmasked other problems in the USA. The Wall Street Crash did not cause the depression; it was merely a trigger for the depression

The Wall Street Crash was simply a trigger; companies became over valued when the crash happened, people lost lots of confidence It did however cause a lack of confidence and caused businesses to go bust, creating a spiral of depression: Bust businesses Rise in unemployment less money spent Businesses go bust or cut back on production unemployment or cuts in wages unemployment depression Florida Land Boom In the 1920s, the motto in the USA was that Anybody can be rich Many farmers in the Mid West had bad rain, cold winters and hot summers and when they were ready to retire, they wanted a nice apartment and a place in Florida was ideal it was appealing and had a nice climate. There slowly developed a demand for property in Florida. It has a nice climate. Some people moved down, but others were not ready for retirement but wanted to have some property in case there were none left. This created a demand, and when there is a demand, there is a chance of people making money out of it. People bought money on a binder, they put 10% down on a piece of land, it was theirs and it was a deposit. Soon in the 1920s, US magazines were full of glossy adverts about Florida showing how marvellous it was and how easy it was to get one. The demand further increases so advertisers made the pictures look less and less resembling to what was exactly on the ground. People began to trade bingers. A market developed trading binders. All this was based on getting rich quick. You bought binders then sold them for a huge profit. People bought binders in the confidence they could sell them. The confidence went up and up and up and up. Everyone thought it was great, no one looked at what happened in Florida and what it was really like. 18th September 1926 a hurricane swept through Florida and wrecked the place. It tore through central Miami and eradicated the full town. They did two things: 1. Made lots and lots of people thinking of going to Florida whether it was worth it because of hurricanes. The value of binders went down. 2. News reporters went to Florida to report and they took images. People thought where is all the property and retirement villages? There was nothing here. People lost interest of going to Florida, the whole thing of binders collapsed The Americans learnt the British attitude: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is Lots of people got a lot of money, but lots lost a lot of money on the scheme. They learnt that anyone can be rich and speculation was a good way of getting something for nothing.