HIST 1312 1st Edition Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I. Woodrow WilsonII. World War I- Mobilization- Over Here- Bureaucrats, Labor and the War- Minority MigrationIII. The Treaty of Versailles- Wilson and the Peace Conference- Wilson at Versailles- The Senate and the Treaty- Legacies of the WarIV. Trauma in the Wake of the WarOutline of Current Lecture I. Prosperity Decadea. The Economics of Prosperityb. The Automobile: Driving the Economyc. "Get Rich Quick": The Speculative Mania d. Agriculture: Depression in the Midst of Prosperity These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.II. The Roaring Twentiesa. The Automobile and American Lifeb. A Homogenized Culture Searches for Heroes c. Alienated Intellectualsd. Renaissance Among African-Americanse. “Flaming Youth”III. Traditional America Roars BackIV. Race, Class, and Gender in the 1920sV. The Politics of ProsperityCurrent Lecture: The 1920s, 1920-1932I. Prosperity Decadea. The Economics of Prosperity - Declining prices for agricultural products brought lower prices for food and clothing. - Persuading Americans to consume an array of products became crucial to keeping the economy healthy. o The marketing of Listerine demonstrates the rising importance of creative advertising. Selling sex – saying it’ll make you kissableo Cigarettes became more fashionable after World War I, as soldiers had found them easier to carry and smoke than pipes or cigars. - Technological advances contributed in other ways to the growth of consumer-oriented manufacturing. o As the number of residences with electricity increased, advertisers stressed the time and labor that housewives could save by using electrical appliances. Vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, washers/dryers Created a radical change in lifestyle for women and longer lifespan (from50 years to 80)o Increased consumption contributed to a change in people’s spending habits. o In the 1920s, many retailers adopted the installment plan: "Buy now, pay later."  Large marketing schemeb. The Automobile: Driving the Economy - The automobile, more than any other single product epitomized the consumer-oriented economy of the 1920s. o MAJOR CHANGE: going from horse and buggy society to car society within 10 years- Henry Ford scored the greatest success by developing a mass-production system that drove down production costs. o By the late 1920s, America’s roadways sported nearly one automobile for every five people. - Ford’s company also provides an example of efforts by American businesses to reduce labor costs by improving labor efficiency. o Ford doubles wages of autoworkers so they could buy his cars; he had a long term view- The automobile industry in the 1920s often led the way in promoting new sales techniques. o By 1927, two-thirds of all American automobiles were sold on credit. c. "Get Rich Quick": The Speculative Mania - Stock market speculating - buying a stock and expecting to make money by selling it at ahigher price - ran rampant as more people saw the stock market as a certain route to riches. o Problem is that the stock market doesn’t always go up- Just as Americans bought their cars and radios on the installment plan, some also bought stock on credit - this was called buying on the margin. - Driven partly by real economic growth and partly by speculation, stock prices rose higherand higher. o This created a “bubble” (stock goes up but actual value doesn’t) which will eventually popd. Agriculture: Depression in the Midst of Prosperity - Prosperity never extended to agriculture, since many farmers did not recover from the postwar recession and struggled to survive financially throughout the 1920s.- Many had expanded their operations during the war in response to government demands for more food. - After the war, as European farmers resumed production and American production increased, the glut of agricultural goods on world markets caused prices to fall. o Prices fell as a consequence of this overproduction; corn and wheat sold for about half their wartime prices. o Good for buyers, bad for the farmers- Throughout the 1920s, farmers pressed the government for help. o A congressional Farm Bloc promoted legislation to assist farmers. o Farmers burned, dumped food and shot cattle while a depression goes on in the cities and people were starvingII. The Roaring Twenties a. The Automobile and American Life - During the 1920s, the automobile profoundly changed American patterns of living. o Highways significantly shortened the traveling time from cities to rural areas, thereby reducing the isolation of farm life. o Trucks allowed farmers to take more products to market more quickly and conveniently than ever before.  Needed fewer farm handso The spread of gasoline-powered farm vehicles also reduced the need for human farm labor and so stimulated migration to urban areas. o If the automobile changed rural life, it had an even more profound impact on lifein the cities; suburbs mushroomed. b. A Homogenized Culture Searches for Heroes - Together with the new technologies of radio and film, the automobile and restrictive immigration laws began to homogenize the culture. - Radio and film joined newspapers and magazines - the media - in prompting national trends and fashions as Americans pursued one fad after another. o Such fads, in turn, created markets for newfangled consumer goods. o The media also contributed to the development of national sports heroes.  Baseball- Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner Boxing- Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey Football- Knute Rockne and Notre Dame: beginnings of college football with huge stadiums and pro footballo The rapid spread of movie theaters created a new category of fame - the movie star. Hollywood: Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Beauregard, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Clara Bo, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford- Restrictive immigration laws were closing the door to immigrants from abroad. - Laws designed to restrict immigration resulted in major part from nativist antagonism against immigrants, especially those who did not appear to assimilate as readily as earlier immigrants had. - The National Origins Act of 1924 limited total immigration to 150,000 people each year, with quotas for each country in an attempt to freeze the ethnic composition of the