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U.S. History – A Chapter 12
Politics
of the
Roaring
Twenties
410 C
HAPTER 12
Warren G.
Harding
is elected
president.
1920
Palmer Raids
1919–1920
Sacco
and Vanzetti are
convicted.
Federal-Aid
Road Act funds a
national highway
system.
1921
1921
President
Harding dies
and Calvin
Coolidge
becomes
president.
1923
Chinese
Communist
Party is
founded in
Shanghai.
1921
Benito Mussolini
is appointed
prime minister
of Italy.
1922
German
economic
crisis.
1923
USA
WORLD
1923
1923
Angry mill workers riot after walking
off the job during a strike of Tennessee
textile plants.
1919
1919
1921
1921
410-411-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:17 PM Page 410
Page 1 of 2
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 411
INTERACT
INTERACT
WITH HISTORY
WITH HISTORY
World War I has ended. As Americans
struggle to rebuild broken lives, the
voices of angry workers can be
silenced no longer. Despite public
criticism, many risk losing their jobs
to strike and join unions. The streets
become a battleground for fair pay
and better working conditions.
Would you strike
and risk your
family’s welfare?
Examine the Issues
• Do city workers have a responsi-
bility not to go on strike?
• Should the government intervene
in disputes between labor and
business?
• Does the success of a strike depend
on you?
Calvin
Coolidge is
elected
president.
1924
A. Philip
Randolph organizes
the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car
Porters.
1925
Henry
Ford introduces
the Model A.
1927
Herbert
Hoover is elected
president.
1928
Hirohito
becomes
emperor of
Japan.
1926
Vladimir
Ilich Lenin, founder
of the Soviet
Union, dies.
1924
British
laborers
declare a
general strike.
1926
National
Revolutionary
Party is organ-
ized in Mexico.
1929
Joseph
Stalin launches
the first of his
Five-Year-Plans
in the USSR.
1928
1925 1927
1925 1927
1929
1929
Visit the Chapter 12 links for more information
about The Politics of the Roaring Twenties.
RESEARCH LINKS CLASSZONE.COM
410-411-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:17 PM Page 411
Page 2 of 2
Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
•nativism
•isolationism
•communism
•anarchists
•Sacco and
Vanzetti
•quota system
•John L. Lewis
A desire for normality after
the war and a fear of
communism and “foreigners”
led to postwar isolationism.
Americans today continue to
debate political isolationism
and immigration policy.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
One American's Story
Americans Struggle
with Postwar Issues
During the 1920s and 1930s, Irving Fajans, a department store sales
clerk in New York City, tried to persuade fellow workers to join the
Department Store Employees Union. He described some of the tech-
niques union organizers used.
A PERSONAL VOICE IRVING FAJANS
“ If you were caught distributing . . . union literature around the job
you were instantly fired. We thought up ways of passing leaflets with-
out the boss being able to pin anybody down. . . . We . . . swiped the
key to the toilet paper dispensers in the washroom, took out the
paper and substituted printed slips of just the right size! We got a lot
of new members that way—It appealed to their sense of humor.
”
—quoted in The Jewish Americans
During the war, workers’ rights had been suppressed. In 1919, workers began to
cry out for fair pay and better working conditions. Tensions arose between labor
and management, and a rash of labor strikes broke out across the country. The pub-
lic, however, was not supportive of striking workers. Many citizens longed to get
back to normal, peaceful living—they felt resentful of anyone who caused unrest.
Postwar Trends
World War I had left much of the American public exhausted. The debate over the
League of Nations had deeply divided America. Further, the Progressive Era had
caused numerous wrenching changes in American life. The economy, too, was in
a difficult state of adjustment. Returning soldiers faced unemployment or took
their old jobs away from women and minorities. Also, the cost of living had dou-
bled. Farmers and factory workers suffered as wartime orders diminished.
Many Americans responded to the stressful conditions by becoming fearful of
outsiders. A wave of nativism, or prejudice against foreign-born people, swept
the nation. So, too, did a belief in isolationism, a policy of pulling away from
involvement in world affairs.
▼
Irving Fajans
organized
department store
workers in their
efforts to gain
better pay and
working
conditions during
the 1920s.
412 C
HAPTER 12
412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 412
Page 1 of 7
Fear of Communism
One perceived threat to American life was the spread of
communism, an economic and political system based on
a single-party government ruled by a dictatorship. In order
to equalize wealth and power, Communists would put an
end to private property, substituting government owner-
ship of factories, railroads, and other businesses.
THE RED SCARE
The panic in the United States began in
1919, after revolutionaries in Russia overthrew the czarist
regime. Vladimir I. Lenin and his followers, or Bolsheviks
(“the majority”), established a new Communist state.
Waving their symbolic red flag, Communists, or “Reds,”
cried out for a worldwide revolution that would abolish
capitalism everywhere.
A Communist Party formed in the United States.
Seventy-thousand radicals joined, including some from the
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). When several
dozen bombs were mailed to government and business
leaders, the public grew fearful that the Communists were
taking over. U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer took
action to combat this “Red Scare.”
A PERSONAL
VOICE A. MITCHELL PALMER
“ The blaze of revolution was sweeping over every
American institution of law and order . . . . eating its way
into the homes of the American workman, its sharp
tongues of revolutionary heat . . . licking the altars of the
churches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawling
into the sacred corners of American homes, . . . burning up
the foundations of society.
”
—“The Case Against the Reds”
THE PALMER RAIDS
In August 1919, Palmer appointed J. Edgar Hoover as his
special assistant. Palmer, Hoover, and their agents hunted down suspected
Communists, socialists, and anarchists—people who opposed any form of gov-
ernment. They trampled people’s civil rights, invading private homes and offices
and jailing suspects without allowing them legal counsel. Hundreds of foreign-
born radicals were deported without trials.
But Palmer’s raids failed to turn up evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy—
or even explosives. Many thought Palmer was just looking for a campaign issue
to gain support for his presidential aspirations. Soon, the public decided that
Palmer didn’t know what he was talking about.
SACCO AND VANZETTI
Although short-lived, the Red Scare fed people’s suspi-
cions of foreigners and immigrants. This nativist attitude led to ruined reputa-
tions and wrecked lives. The two most famous victims of this attitude were Nicola
Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a shoemaker and a fish peddler. Both were Italian
immigrants and anarchists; both had evaded the draft during World War I.
In May 1920, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the rob-
bery and murder of a factory paymaster and his guard in South Braintree,
Massachusetts. Witnesses had said the criminals appeared to be Italians. The
accused asserted their innocence and provided alibis; the evidence against them
was circumstantial; and the presiding judge made prejudicial remarks.
Nevertheless, the jury still found them guilty and sentenced them to death.
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 413
A
E
C
O
N
O
M
I
C
E
C
O
N
O
M
I
C
ROOTS OF COMMUNISM
The first Communist government
in Russia was based on the teach-
ings of Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels. In 1848, these two had
published The Communist
Manifesto,which outlined a theo-
ry of class struggle. It said that a
class that had economic power
also had social and political
power.
It also said that two classes,
the “haves” and the “have-nots,”
have struggled for control
throughout history. During the
Industrial Revolution,
Communists believed, the strug-
gle was between the capitalists,
who owned capital—land, money,
and machinery— and workers,
who owned only their labor. Marx
and Engels urged workers to
seize political power and the
means of production. Ultimately,
they believed, laborers would
overthrow capitalism in all indus-
trialized nations.
A. Answer He
believed that a
Communist rev-
olution was
imminent in the
United States,
and he needed
an issue on
which to cam-
paign for the
1920 Democratic
presidential
nomination.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Analyzing
Motives
Why did
Attorney General
A. Mitchell Palmer
launch a series of
raids against
suspected
Communists?
412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 413
Page 2 of 7
Protests rang out in the United States, Europe, and Latin
America. Many people thought Sacco and Vanzetti were mis-
treated because of their radical beliefs; others asserted it was
because they were immigrants. The poet Edna St. Vincent
Millay donated proceeds from her poem “Justice Denied in
Massachusetts” to their defense. She personally appealed to
Governor Fuller of Massachusetts for their lives. However,
after reviewing the case and interviewing Vanzetti, the gov-
ernor decided to let the executions go forward. The two men
died in the electric chair on August 23, 1927. Before he was
executed, Vanzetti made a statement.
A PERSONAL VOICE BARTOLOMEO VANZETTI
“ In all my life I have never stole, never killed, never spilled blood. . . . We were
tried during a time . . . when there was hysteria of resentment and hate against
the people of our principles, against the foreigner. . . . I am suffering because I
am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I was an Italian
and indeed I am an Italian. . . . If you could execute me two times, and if I could
be reborn two other times, I would live again to do what I have done already.
”
—quoted in The National Experience
In 1961, new ballistics tests showed that the pistol found on Sacco was in fact
the one used to murder the guard. However, there was no proof that Sacco had
actually pulled the trigger.
Limiting Immigration
During the wave of nativist sentiment, “Keep America for Americans” became the
prevailing attitude. Anti-immigrant attitudes had been growing in the United
States ever since the 1880s, when new immigrants began arriving from southern
and eastern Europe. Many of these immigrants were willing to work for low wages
in industries such as coal mining, steel production, and textiles. But after World
War I, the need for unskilled labor in the United States decreased. Nativists
believed that because the United States now had fewer unskilled jobs available,
fewer immigrants should be let into the country. Nativist feelings were fueled by
414 C
HAPTER 12
B
B. Answer
Because he
was a political
radical and a
foreigner
History Through
History Through
Background
On August 23,
1977, exactly 50
years after the
executions,
Massachusetts
governor Michael
Dukakis declared
that Sacco and
Vanzetti had not
been given a fair
trial.
SACCO AND VANZETTI
(1932)
The painting by Ben Shahn
shows (right to left) Nicola Sacco,
Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a miniature
Governor Fuller, and a group of
Sacco and Vanzetti supporters.
Why do you think Shahn depicts
Sacco and Vanzetti as so much
larger than Governor Fuller?
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Analyzing
Events
According to
Vanzetti, what
were the reasons
for his imprison-
ment?
Image not available
for use on CD-ROM.
Please refer to the
image in the textbook.
412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 414
Page 3 of 7
the fact that some of the people involved in postwar labor disputes were immi-
grant anarchists and socialists, who many Americans believed were actually Com-
munists. Racist ideas like those expressed by Madison Grant, an anthropologist at
the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, fed people’s attitudes.
A PERSONAL VOICE MADISON GRANT
“ The result of unlimited immigration is showing plainly in the rapid decline in the
birth rate of native Americans . . . [who] will not bring children into the world to
compete in the labor market with the Slovak, the Italian, the Syrian and the Jew.
The native American is too proud to mix socially with them.
”
—quoted in United States History: Ideas in Conflict
THE KLAN RISES AGAIN
As a result
of the Red Scare and anti-immigrant
feelings, different groups of bigots
used anti-communism as an excuse to
harass any group unlike themselves.
One such group was the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK). The KKK was devoted to “100
percent Americanism.” By 1924, KKK
membership reached 4.5 million
“white male persons, native-born gen-
tile citizens.” The Klan also believed
in keeping blacks “in their place,”
destroying saloons, opposing unions,
and driving Roman Catholics, Jews,
and foreign-born people out of the
country. KKK members were paid to
recruit new members into their world
of secret rituals and racial violence.
Though the Klan dominated state pol-
itics in many states, by the end of the
decade its criminal activity led to a
decrease in power.
THE QUOTA SYSTEM
From 1919 to 1921, the number of immigrants had grown
almost 600 percent—from 141,000 to 805,000 people. Congress, in response to
nativist pressure, decided to limit immigration from certain countries, namely
those in southern and eastern Europe.
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 set up a quota system. This system estab-
lished the maximum number of people who could enter the United States from
each foreign country. The goal of the quota system was to cut sharply European
immigration to the United States. As the charts on page 416 show, the system
achieved that goal.
As amended in 1924, the law limited immigration from each European
nation to 2 percent of the number of its nationals living in the United States in
1890. This provision discriminated against people from eastern and southern
Europe—mostly Roman Catholics and Jews—who had not started coming to the
United States in large numbers until after 1890. Later, the base year was shifted to
1920. However, the law also reduced the total number of persons to be admitted
in any one year to 150,000.
In addition, the law prohibited Japanese immigration, causing much ill will
between the two nations. Japan—which had faithfully kept the Gentlemen’s
Agreement to limit emigration to the United States, negotiated by Theodore
Roosevelt in 1907—expressed anger over the insult.
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 415
C
Vocabulary
bigot: a person
who is intolerant
of any creed, race,
religion, or political
belief that differs
from his own
▼
In 1925, nearly
60,000 Ku Klux
Klan members
marched along
Pennsylvania
Avenue in
Washington, D.C.
C. Possible
Answer To keep
America under
the control of
white, native-
born males; to
get rid of other
groups, includ-
ing Roman
Catholics, Jews,
and foreign-
born people,
and radicals; to
oppose union
organizers; to
help enforce
prohibition.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Analyzing
Issues
What were the
main goals of the
Ku Klux Klan at
this time?
412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 415
Page 4 of 7
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
PACIFIC
OCEAN
CANADA
EUROPE
UNITED STATES
MEXICO
416 CHAPTER 12
U.S. Patterns of Immigration, 1921–1929
SKILLBUILDER
Interpreting Graphs
1.
Which geographical areas show the sharpest decline in immigration to the
U.S. between 1921 and 1929? What are the only areas to register an
increase in immigration to the U.S.?
2.
How did the quota system affect where immigrants came from?
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R28.
The map and graph below show the change in immigration
patterns resulting from the Emergency Quota Act, among
other factors. Hundreds of thousands of people were
affected. For example, while the number of immigrants
from Mexico rose from 30,758 in 1921 to 40,154 in
1929, the number of Italian immigrants dropped drastically
from 222,260 in 1921 to 18,008 in 1929.
Immigration to the United States, 1921 and 1929
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957
Number of Immigrants
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
North America Europe
1921 1929 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 1921 192919291929192919291929192919291929
Canada
Mexico
Portugal, Spain, Greece
Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia
Italy
Poland
Germany
Great Britain
Ireland
Scandinavia
Ellis Island in Upper New York Harbor was the port of entry for most
European immigrants.
412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 416
Page 5 of 7
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 417
The national origins quota system did not apply to
immigrants from the Western Hemisphere, however.
During the 1920s, about a million Canadians and almost
500,000 Mexicans crossed the nation’s borders.
A Time of Labor Unrest
Another severe postwar conflict formed between labor
and management. During the war, the government
wouldn’t allow workers to strike because nothing could
interfere with the war effort. The American Federation of
Labor (AFL) pledged to avoid strikes.
However, 1919 saw more than 3,000 strikes during
which some 4 million workers walked off the job.
Employers didn’t want to give raises, nor did they want
employees to join unions. Some employers, either out of
a sincere belief or because they saw a way to keep wages
down, attempted to show that union members were
planning a revolution. Employers labeled striking work-
ers as Communists. Newspapers screamed, “Plots to
Establish Communism.” Three strikes in particular grabbed public attention.
THE BOSTON POLICE STRIKE
The Boston police had not been given a raise
since the beginning of World War I. Among their many grievances was that they
had been denied the right to unionize. When representatives asked for a raise and
were fired, the remaining policemen decided to strike. Massachusetts governor
Calvin Coolidge called out the National Guard. He said, “There is no right to
strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.” The strike
ended but members weren’t allowed to return to work; new policemen were hired
instead. People praised Coolidge for saving Boston, if not the nation, from com-
munism and anarchy. In the 1920 election he became Warren G. Harding’s vice-
presidential running mate.
THE STEEL MILL STRIKE
Workers in the steel mills wanted the right to
negotiate for shorter working hours and a living wage. They also wanted union
recognition and collective bargaining rights. In September 1919, the U.S. Steel
Corporation refused to meet with union representatives. In response, over
300,000 workers walked off their jobs. Steel companies hired strikebreakers—
employees who agreed to work during the strike—and used force. Striking work-
ers were beaten by police, federal troops, and state militias. Then the companies
instituted a propaganda campaign, linking the strikers to Communists. In
October 1919, negotiations between labor and management produced a deadlock.
President Woodrow Wilson made a written plea to the combative “negotiators.”
A PERSONAL VOICE WOODROW WILSON
“ At a time when the nations of the world are endeavoring to find a way of avoid-
ing international war, are we to confess that there is no method to be found for
carrying on industry except . . . the very method of war? . . . Are our industrial
leaders and our industrial workers to live together without faith in each other?
”
—quoted in Labor in Crisis
The steel strike ended in January 1920. In 1923, a report on the harsh work-
ing conditions in steel mills shocked the public. The steel companies agreed to an
eight-hour day, but the steelworkers remained without a union.
D
▼
Strikers included
working women
tailors who fought
for improved
working
conditions.
D. Answer
The number of
immigrants
increased
sharply, and
many
Americans did
not want people
from foreign
countries enter-
ing the nation,
since some of
them were anar-
chists and
socialists and
some were
believed to be
Communists.
E. Answer
Neither strike
was successful:
The police lost
their jobs, and
the steel work-
ers won nothing.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
Developing
Historical
Perspective
D Why did
Congress make
changes in
immigration laws
during the 1920s?
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
E
Comparing
Compare the
results of the
Boston police
strike and the
steel strike.
E
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. Decline:
Southern and
central Europe;
Increase:
Mexico and
Germany.
2. Fewer immi-
grants came
from southern
and central
Europe, except
immigration
from Germany
increased.
412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 417
Page 6 of 7
418 C
HAPTER 12
THE COAL MINERS’ STRIKE
Unionism was more success-
ful in America’s coalfields. In 1919, the United Mine Workers
of America, organized since 1890, got a new leader—John L.
Lewis. In protest of low wages and long workdays, Lewis
called his union’s members out on strike on November 1,
1919. Attorney General Palmer obtained a court order send-
ing the miners back to work. Lewis then declared it over, but
he quietly gave the word for it to continue. In defiance of the
court order, the mines stayed closed another month. Then
President Wilson appointed an arbitrator, or judge, to put an
end to the dispute. The coal miners received a 27 percent
wage increase, and John L. Lewis became a national hero.
The miners, however, did not achieve a shorter workday and
a five-day workweek until the 1930s.
LABOR MOVEMENT LOSES APPEAL
In spite of limited
gains, the 1920s hurt the labor movement badly. Over the
decade, union membership dropped from more than 5 million
to around 3.5 million. Membership declined for several reasons:
• much of the work force consisted of immigrants will-
ing to work in poor conditions,
• since immigrants spoke a multitude of languages,
unions had difficulty organizing them,
• farmers who had migrated to cities to find factory jobs
were used to relying on themselves, and
• most unions excluded African Americans.
By 1929, about 82,000 African Americans—or less than
1 percent of their population—held union memberships. By
contrast, just over 3 percent of all whites were union mem-
bers. However, African Americans joined some unions like
the mine workers’, longshoremen’s, and railroad porters’
unions. In 1925, A. Philip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters to help African Americans gain a fair wage.
While America’s attitude toward unions was changing, so, too, was its faith
in the presidency.
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
JOHN LLEWELLYN LEWIS
1880–1969
John L. Lewis was born in the lit-
tle mining town of Lucas, Iowa.
His family had traditionally been
concerned with labor rights and
benefits.
Lewis grew up with a fierce
determination to fight for what he
believed companies owed their
employees: decent working condi-
tions and a fair salary. As he said
years later,
“I have pleaded your case not in
the tones of a feeble mendicant
[beggar] asking alms but in the
thundering voice of the captain
of a mighty host, demanding
the rights to which free men
are entitled.”
•nativism
•isolationism
•communism
•anarchists
•Sacco and Vanzetti
•quota system
•John L. Lewis
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
In a cause-and-effect chart like the
one shown, list examples of the
aftereffects of World War I.
What event do you think was the
most significant? Explain your choice.
CRITICAL THINKING
3. EVALUATING
Do you think Americans were
justified in their fear of radicals and
foreigners in the decade following
World War I? Explain your answer.
Think About:
• the goals of the leaders of the
Russian Revolution
• the challenges facing the United
States
4. ANALYZING ISSUES
In the various fights between
management and union members,
what did each side believe?
5. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
What do you think the Sacco and
Vanzetti case shows about America
in the 1920s?
Event Result
1.
2.
412-418-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 418
Page 7 of 7
Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
•Warren G.
Harding
•Charles Evans
Hughes
•Fordney-
McCumber Tariff
•Ohio gang
•Teapot Dome
scandal
•Albert B. Fall
The Harding administration
appealed to America’s desire
for calm and peace after the
war, but resulted in scandal.
The government must guard
against scandal and corrup-
tion to merit public trust.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
Warren G. Harding was described as a good-natured man who
“looked like a president ought to look.” When the silver-haired
Ohio senator assumed the presidency in 1921, the public yearned
for what Harding described as “normalcy,” or the simpler days
before the Progressive Era and the Great War. His words of peace
and calm comforted the healing nation.
A PERSONAL VOICE WARREN G. HARDING
“ America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nos-
trums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation,
but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but
the dispassionate; . . . not submergence in internationality, but
sustainment in triumphant nationality.
”
—quoted in The Rise of Warren Gamaliel Harding
Despite Harding’s soothing speeches, his judgment turned
out to be poor. The discord among the major world powers and
the conduct within his own cabinet would test his politics and his
character.
Harding Struggles for Peace
After World War I, problems surfaced relating to arms control, war debts, and the
reconstruction of war-torn countries. In 1921, President Harding invited several
major powers to the Washington Naval Conference. Russia was left out because
of its Communist government. At the conference, Secretary of State Charles
Evans Hughes urged that no more warships be built for ten years. He suggested
that the five major naval powers—the United States, Great Britain, Japan, France,
and Italy—scrap many of their battleships, cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
Conference delegates cheered, wept, and threw their hats into the air. For the
first time in history, powerful nations agreed to disarm. Later, in 1928, fifteen
One American's Story
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 419
▼
Warren G. Harding,
shown here in
1923, looked
presidential, but he
is considered one
of the least
successful
presidents.
The Harding
Presidency
419-421-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 419
Page 1 of 3
420 C
HAPTER 12
countries signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which
renounced war as a national policy. However, the pact
was futile, as it provided no means of enforcement.
HIGH TARIFFS AND REPARATIONS
New conflicts
arose when it came time for Britain and France to pay
back the $10 billion they had borrowed from America.
They could do this in two ways: by selling goods to the
United States or by collecting reparations from
Germany. However, in 1922, America adopted the
Fordney-McCumber Tariff, which raised taxes on
U.S. imports to 60 percent—the highest level ever. The
tax protected U.S. businesses—especially in the chemi-
cal and metals industries—from foreign competition,
but made it impossible for Britain and France to sell
enough goods in the U.S. to repay debts.
The two countries looked to Germany, which was
experiencing terrible inflation. When Germany defaulted
on (failed to make) payment, French troops marched in.
To avoid another war, American banker Charles G. Dawes
was sent to negotiate loans. Through what came to be
known as the Dawes Plan, American investors loaned
Germany $2.5 billion to pay back Britain and France with annual payments on a
fixed scale. Those countries then paid the United States. Thus, the United States
arranged to be repaid with its own money.
The solution caused resentment all around. Britain and France considered the
United States a miser for not paying a fair share of the costs of World War I.
Further, the U.S. had benefited from the defeat of Germany, while Europeans had
paid for the victory with millions of lives. At the same time, the United States
considered Britain and France financially irresponsible.
Scandal Hits Harding’s Administration
On domestic issues, Harding favored a limited role for government in business affairs
and in social reform. Still, he did set up the Bureau of the Budget to help run the
government more efficiently, and he urged U.S. Steel to abandon the 12-hour day.
HARDING’S CABINET
Harding appointed Charles Evans Hughes as secretary of
state. Hughes later went on to become chief justice of the Supreme Court. The pres-
ident made Herbert Hoover the secretary of commerce. Hoover had done a master-
ful job of handling food distribution and refugee problems during World War I.
Andrew Mellon, one of the country’s wealthiest men, became secretary of the treas-
ury and set about drastically cutting taxes and reducing the national debt. However,
the cabinet also included the so-called Ohio gang, the president’s poker-playing
cronies, who would soon cause a great deal of embarrassment.
SCANDAL PLAGUES HARDING
The president’s main problem was that he
didn’t understand many of the issues. He admitted as much to a secretary.
A PERSONAL VOICE WARREN G. HARDING
“ John, I can’t make a . . . thing out of this tax problem. I listen to one side and
they seem right, and then . . . I talk to the other side and they seem just as
right. . . . I know somewhere there is an economist who knows the truth, but I
don’t know where to find him and haven’t the sense to know him and trust him
when I find him. . . . What a job!
”
—quoted in Only Yesterday
A
B
▼
In 1923, a
German man
papers his walls
with money made
nearly worthless
by high inflation
following World
War I.
A. Possible
Answers Their
economies had
been weakened
in the war; they
were unable to
raise money
because U.S.
exports were
limited by high
tariffs; Germany
failed to pay
them expected
reparations.
B. Possible
Answers That
although he
made some
good appoint-
ments, his
appointment of
cronies from his
home state
showed poor
judgement.
Vocabulary
reparations:
payments
demanded from a
defeated enemy
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Summarizing
What were the
reasons European
countries were not
paying their war
debts?
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Evaluating
Leadership
What do
Harding’s
appointments
indicate about his
judgment?
419-421-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 420
Page 2 of 3
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 421
•Warren G. Harding
•Charles Evans Hughes
•Fordney-McCumber Tariff
•Ohio gang
•Teapot Dome scandal
•Albert B. Fall
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
List five significant events from this
section and their effects, using a
table like the one shown.
Which event benefited the country
the most? Why?
CRITICAL THINKING
3. MAKING INFERENCES
How do you think the Harding
administration viewed the role of
America in world affairs? Support
your response with examples from
the text.
4. EVALUATING
How successful was Harding in
fulfilling his campaign pledge of
returning the country to “normalcy”?
Support your opinion with specific
examples.
5. ANALYZING EFFECTS
How do you think the post war
feelings in America influenced the
election of 1920? Think About:
• the desire for normalcy
• Harding’s image
• the issues Americans wanted to
focus on
Harding’s administration began to unravel
as his corrupt friends used their offices to
become wealthy through graft. Charles R.
Forbes, the head of the Veterans Bureau, was
caught illegally selling government and hospi-
tal supplies to private companies. Colonel
Thomas W. Miller, the head of the Office of
Alien Property, was caught taking a bribe.
THE TEAPOT DOME SCANDAL
The most
spectacular example of corruption was the
Teapot Dome scandal. The government had
set aside oil-rich public lands at Teapot Dome,
Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, for use by
the U.S. Navy. Secretary of the Interior Albert
B. Fall, a close friend of various oil executives,
managed to get the oil reserves transferred from
the navy to the Interior Department. Then, Fall
secretly leased the land to two private oil com-
panies, including Henry Sinclair’s Mammoth
Oil Company at Teapot Dome. Although Fall
claimed that these contracts were in the government’s interest, he sudden-
ly received more than $400,000 in “loans, bonds, and cash.” He was later
found guilty of bribery and became the first American to be convicted of a
felony while holding a cabinet post.
In the summer of 1923, Harding declared, “I have no trouble with my
enemies. . . . But my friends, they’re the ones that keep me walking the
floor nights!” Shortly thereafter, on August 2, 1923, he died suddenly, prob-
ably from a heart attack or stroke.
Americans sincerely mourned their good-natured president. The crimes
of the Harding administration were coming to light just as Vice-President Calvin
Coolidge assumed the presidency. Coolidge, a respected man of integrity, helped
to restore people’s faith in their government and in the Republican Party. The
next year, Coolidge was elected president.
Event Effects
1.
2.
C
The elephant, shaped
like a teapot here, is the
symbol of the Republican
Party (Grand Old Party).
The cartoonist implies
that Republicans were
responsible for the Teapot
Dome scandal.
▼
C. Answer The
government lost
revenue when
veterans’ hospi-
tals over-
charged it; in
the Teapot
Dome scandal,
public oil
reserves were
leased for pri-
vate gain.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Making
Inferences
How did the
scandals of the
Harding
administration hurt
the country
economically?
419-421-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:18 PM Page 421
Page 3 of 3
422 C
HAPTER 12
Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
One American's Story
•Calvin Coolidge
•urban sprawl
•installment plan
Consumer goods fueled the
business boom of the 1920s
as America’s standard of
living soared.
Business, technological, and
social developments of the
1920s launched the era of
modern consumerism.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
In 1927, the last Model T Ford—number 15,077,033—rolled off
the assembly line. On December 2, some 1 million New Yorkers
mobbed show rooms to view the new Model A. One striking dif-
ference between the two models was that customers could
order the Model A in such colors as “Arabian Sand” and
“Niagara Blue”; the old Model T had come only in black. A
Ford spokesman explained some additional advantages of the
new automobile.
A PERSONAL VOICE
“ Good-looking as that car is, its performance is better than its appearance. We
don’t brag about it, but it has done seventy-one miles an hour. It will ride along
a railroad track without bouncing. . . . It’s the smoothest thing you ever rode in.
”
—a Ford salesman quoted in Flappers, Bootleggers, “Typhoid Mary,” and the Bomb
The automobile became the backbone of the American economy in the 1920s
(and remained such until the 1970s). It profoundly altered the American landscape
and American society, but it was only one of several factors in the country’s busi-
ness boom of the 1920s.
American Industries Flourish
The new president, Calvin Coolidge, fit into the pro-business spirit of the 1920s
very well. It was he who said, “the chief business of the American people is busi-
ness. . . . The man who builds a factory builds a temple—the man who works
there worships there.” Both Coolidge and his Republican successor, Herbert
Hoover, favored government policies that would keep taxes down and business
profits up, and give businesses more available credit in order to expand. Their goal
was to keep government interference in business to a minimum and to allow pri-
vate enterprise to flourish. For most of the 1920s, this approach seemed to work.
Coolidge’s administration continued to place high tariffs on foreign imports,
▼
The Model A was
a more luxurious
car than the
Model T. It was
introduced at
$495. Model T’s
were selling for
$290.
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. Possible
Answers: With a
Southwestern
route, engineers
did not have to
build a road
across the
Rocky
Mountains.
Also, Route 66
would help open
up the sparsely
populated
Southwest to
the rest of the
country and
thus spur popu-
lation growth
and economic
development.
2. Cities along
the route grew
as traffic
brought more
business to the
area.
The Business
of America
422-427-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:19 PM Page 422
Page 1 of 6
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Albuquerque
Santa
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Amarillo
Barstow
Winslow
Holbrook
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
MISSOURI
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WISCONSIN
MINNESOTA
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which helped American manufacturers. Reducing income taxes meant that peo-
ple had more money in their pockets. Wages were rising because of new technol-
ogy and so was productivity.
THE IMPACT OF THE AUTOMOBILE
The automobile literally changed the
American landscape. Its most visible effect was the construction of paved roads
suitable for driving in all weather. One such road was the legendary Route 66,
which provided a route for people trekking west from Chicago to California.
Many, however, settled in towns along the route. In addition to the changing
landscape, architectural styles also changed, as new houses typically came
equipped with a garage or carport and a driveway—and a smaller lawn as a result.
The automobile also launched the rapid construction of gasoline stations, repair
shops, public garages, motels, tourist camps, and shopping centers. The first
automatic traffic signals began blinking in Detroit in the early 1920s. The
Holland Tunnel, the first underwater tunnel designed specifically for motor
vehicles, opened in 1927 to connect New York City and Jersey City, New
Jersey. The Woodbridge Cloverleaf, the first cloverleaf intersection, was built
in New Jersey in 1929.
The automobile liberated the isolated rural family, who could now travel to
the city for shopping and entertainment. It also gave families the opportunity to
vacation in new and faraway places. It allowed both women and young people to
become more independent through increased mobility. It allowed workers to live
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 423
Roadside stands offering food, drink, and other items
appeared in increasing numbers.
Routing of highway through
392 miles of Oklahoma
gave the state more miles,
more jobs, and more
income than other states
on Route 66.
The “Auto Camp”
developed as towns-
people roped off
spaces alongside
the road where
travelers could
sleep at night.
Route 66
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
1.
Place What do you think were some of
the reasons government officials decided
to build Route 66 through the Southwest
rather than straight west from Chicago?
2.
Movement How do you think the
increase in traffic affected the cities
along this route?
Gas for cars
was cheap and
plentiful. Gas
stations sprung
up on Route 66
charging 25¢
per gallon.
▼
Commissioned on the cusp of the Depression, Route 66 symbol-
ized the road to opportunity. Also known as “the Mother Road,” it
became the subject of countless songs, films, books, and legends.
1916 Federal-Aid Road Act sets up highway program with the
federal government paying half the cost of states’ highway
construction.
1921 Highway construction in 11 western states begins under
administration of Bureau of Public Roads.
1926 U.S. Highway 66, which would run 2,448 miles from
Chicago to Los Angeles, California, is established.
Route 66 linked hundreds of rural
communities in Illinois, Missouri,
and Kansas to Chicago, enabling
farmers to transport produce.
A. Possible
Answers Roads
were paved, and
shopping cen-
ters and other
services for
cars were built;
people commut-
ed to work, and
urban sprawl
developed;
regional differ-
ences dimin-
ished.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Analyzing
Effects
What was
the impact of
the automobile?
A
422-427-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:19 PM Page 423
Page 2 of 6
miles from their jobs, resulting in urban sprawl as cities
spread in all directions. The automobile industry also pro-
vided an economic base for such cities as Akron in Ohio,
and Detroit, Dearborn, Flint, and Pontiac in Michigan. The
industry drew people to such oil-producing states as
California and Texas. The automobile even became a status
symbol—both for individual families and to the rest of the
world. In their work Middletown, the social scientists Robert
and Helen Lynd noted one woman’s comment: “I’ll go
without food before I’ll see us give up the car.”
The auto industry symbolized the success of the free
enterprise system and the Coolidge era. Nowhere else in the
world could people with little money own their own auto-
mobile. By the late 1920s, around 80 percent of all regis-
tered motor vehicles in the world were in the United
States—about one automobile for every five people. The
humorist Will Rogers remarked to Henry Ford, “It will take
a hundred years to tell whether you helped us or hurt us,
but you certainly didn’t leave us where you found us.”
THE YOUNG AIRPLANE INDUSTRY
Automobiles weren’t
the only form of transportation taking off. The airplane
industry began as a mail carrying service for the U.S. Post
Office. Although the first flight in 1918 was a disaster, a
number of successful flights soon established the airplane
as a peacetime means of transportation. With the develop-
ment of weather forecasting, planes began carrying radios
and navigational instruments. Henry Ford made a trimotor
airplane in 1926. Transatlantic flights by Charles Lindbergh
and Amelia Earhart helped to promote cargo and commer-
cial airlines. In 1927, the Lockheed Company produced a
single-engine plane, the Vega. It was one of the most popu-
lar transport airplanes of the late 1920s. Founded in 1927,
Pan American Airways inaugurated the first transatlantic
passenger flights.
424 C
HAPTER 12
B
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
Flight attendants train
for an early United
Airlines flight. When
commercial airline
flights began, all flight
attendants were female
and white.
▼
CALVIN COOLIDGE
1872–1933
Stepping into office in 1923, the
tightlipped Vermonter was respect-
ed for his solemnity and wisdom.
Coolidge supported American busi-
ness and favored what he called
“a constructive economy.”
Known for his strength of charac-
ter, Coolidge forced the resigna-
tion of Attorney General Daugherty
and other high officials who had
created scandal in office.
Shortly after Coolidge was elect-
ed, his son died of blood poison-
ing. Coolidge later wrote, “The
power and the glory of the presi-
dency went with him.” When he
decided not to seek reelection in
1928, Coolidge stumped the
nation. Keeping in character, he
said, “Goodby, I have had a very
enjoyable time in Washington.”
B. Possible
Answers It
encouraged
consumers to
consider many
more items
necessities
rather than luxu-
ries. The
Coolidge admin-
istration and big
business got
along very well
together.
Vocabulary
status symbol:
a possession
believed to
enhance the
owner’s social
standing
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Analyzing
Effects
How did the
widespread use
of the automobile
affect the
environment and
the lives of
Americans?
422-427-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:19 PM Page 424
Page 3 of 6
Goods and Prices, 1900 and 1928
1900 1928
wringer and washboard $ 5
brushes and brooms $ 5
sewing machine (mechanical) $25
washing machine $150
vacuum cleaner $ 50
sewing machine (electric) $ 60
Page 4 of 6
426 C
HAPTER 12
songs, raised money for charities, and boosted the image of
the businessman “as a builder, a doer of great things, yes,
and a dreamer whose imagination was ever seeking out new
ways of serving humanity.” Many Americans idolized busi-
ness during these prosperous times.
A Superficial Prosperity
During the 1920s, most Americans believed prosperity
would go on forever—the average factory worker was pro-
ducing 50 percent more at the end of the decade than at its
start. Hadn’t national income grown from $64 billion in
1921 to $87 billion in 1929? Weren’t most major corpora-
tions making fortunes? Wasn’t the stock market reaching
new heights?
PRODUCING GREAT QUANTITIES OF GOODS
As pro-
ductivity increased, businesses expanded. There were
numerous mergers of companies that manufactured auto-
mobiles, steel, and electrical equipment, as well as mergers
of companies that provided public utilities. Chain stores
sprouted, selling groceries, drugs, shoes, and clothes. Five-
and-dime stores like Woolworth’s also spread rapidly.
Congress passed a law that allowed national banks to
branch within cities of their main office. But as the number
of businesses grew, so did the income gap between workers
and managers. There were a number of other clouds in the
blue sky of prosperity. The iron and railroad industries,
among others, weren’t very prosperous, and farms nation-
wide suffered losses—with new machinery, they were producing more food than
was needed and this drove down food prices.
BUYING GOODS ON CREDIT
In addition to advertising, industry provided
another solution to the problem of luring consumers to purchase the mountain
of goods produced each year: easy credit, or “a dollar down and a dollar forever.”
The installment plan, as it was then called, enabled people to buy goods over
ANOTHER
P
E
R
S
P
E
C
T
I
V
E
P
E
R
S
P
E
C
T
I
V
E
THE NEEDY
While income rose for many
Americans in the 1920s, it did
not rise for everyone. Industries
such as textile and steel manu-
facturing made very little profit.
Mining and farming actually suf-
fered losses. Farmers were
deeply in debt because they had
borrowed money to buy land and
machinery so that they could pro-
duce more crops during World
War I. When European agriculture
bounced back after the war, the
demand for U.S. crops fell, as did
prices. Before long there were
U.S. farm surpluses.
Many American farmers could
not make their loan and mort-
gage payments. They lost their
purchasing power, their equip-
ment, and their farms. As one
South Dakota state senator
remarked, “There’s a saying:
‘Depressions are farm led and
farm fed.’”
Analyzing
Analyzing
Background
See productivity
on page R44 in
the Economics
Handbook.
“YES, SIR, HE’S MY BABY”
This cartoon depicts Calvin Coolidge playing a saxophone
labeled “Praise” while a woman representing “Big Business”
dances up a storm.
SKILLBUILDER
Analyzing Political Cartoons
1.
The dancing woman is a 1920s “flapper”—independent,
confident, and assertive. In what ways was big business
in the 1920s comparable to the flappers?
2.
What do you think the cartoonist suggests about
Coolidge’s relationship with big business?
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24.
422-427-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:19 PM Page 426
Page 5 of 6
E
D
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
Re-create the web below on your
paper and fill it in with events that
illustrate the central idea.
Choose one event from the web and
explain its significance in the 1920s.
CRITICAL THINKING
3. EVALUATING
Do you agree with President
Coolidge’s statement “The man
who builds a factory builds a
temple—the man who works there
worships there”? Explain your
answer. Think About:
• the goals of business and
of religion
• the American idolization of
business
• the difference between workers
and management
4. INTERPRETING GRAPHS
What trend does the graph show
between 1920 and 1930? What
were some of the reasons for this
trend?
Politics of the Roaring Twenties 427
an extended period, without having to put down much money at the time of pur-
chase. Banks provided the money at low interest rates. Advertisers pushed the
“installment plan” idea with such slogans as “You furnish the girl, we’ll furnish
the home” and “Enjoy while you pay.”
Some economists and business owners worried that installment buying might
be getting out of hand and that it was really a sign of fundamental weaknesses of
a superficial economic prosperity. One business owner even wrote to President
Coolidge and related a conversation he had overheard on a train.
A PERSONAL VOICE
“Have you an automobile yet?”
“No, I talked it over with John and he felt we could not afford one.”
“Mr. Budge who lives in your town has one and they are not as well off as you are.”
“Yes, I know. Their second installment came due, and they had no money to pay it.”
“What did they do? Lose the car?”
“No, they got the money and paid the installment.”
“How did they get the money?”
“They sold the cook-stove.”
“How could they get along without a cook-stove?”
“They didn’t. They bought another on the installment plan.”
—a business owner quoted in In The Time of Silent Cal
Still, most Americans focused their attention on the present, with little con-
cern for the future. What could possibly go wrong with the nation’s economy?
The decade of the 1920s had brought about many technological and economic
changes. And yet the Coolidge era was built on paradox—the president stood for
economy and a frugal way of life, but he was favored by a public who had thrown
all care to the wind. Life definitely seemed easier and more enjoyable for hun-
dreds of thousands of Americans. From the look of things, there was little warn-
ing of what was to come.
•Calvin Coolidge •urban sprawl •installment plan
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its
significance.
Technology &
Business Changes
of the 1920s
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
Analyzing
Issues
What were the
main advantage
and disadvantage
of buying on
credit?
D. Answer
Advantage:
People could
buy goods they
could not other-
wise afford.
Disadvantage:
People could
go far into
debt without
realizing it.
E. Possible
Answer
The economy
may falter when
consumers are
unable to meet
their credit obli-
gations.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
E
Predicting
Effects
How do you
think the changes
in spending will
affect the
economy?
Automobile Registration
1910–1930
Registration (millions)
25
20
15
10
5
1910 1915 1920 1925 1930
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States.
422-427-Chapter 12 10/21/02 5:19 PM Page 427
Page 6 of 6
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