Mrs. Ruland's Advanced Placement United States History Class

Unit 11 — Boom and Bust, 1920-1941

1. Business and the Economy
   1. Rapid expansion of capital investment
   2. Increased productivity
      1. New energy - human replaced by electrical/mechanical
      2. Organization of production
         1. Timed efficiency - Frederick W. Taylor
      3. Increasing the standard of living - explain
   3. Automobiles: 1929 26 million - more than bathtubs - 1:4.9 Americans
      1. Production & Consumption - more than rest of world
      2. Basic industry - Prosperity of nation tied to industry
      3. Supporting industries
      4. Social changes
      5. Effect on railroads - economic dislocation
   4. Airplanes: 1903
      1. WWI
      2. Post, barnstorming, & "private" mail
      3. 1927 Lindy
      4. 30's and 40's travel
      5. WWII
      6. Post WWII
      7. Present
   5. Advertising: goal to promote consumption
      1. Print
      2. Radio
      3. Installment
      4. List effects
   6. Signs of trouble
      1. Banks failed
      2. Real estate speculation - Florida
      3. EXPLAIN THE STOCK MARKET - new vs. old stocks reflects perceived future of company and economy
   7. Buying on the margin
2. Intolerance: Aftermath of WWI
   1. Governmental
      1. Communists: REDS
         1. Red Scare 1919-1920
            1. Newspapers fueled hysteria
            2. E. Europeans: Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
            3. Anti-radical division in Justice Dept -- head J. Edgar Hoover -- anti-red.-- turned division into FBI
            4. Palmer raids with Hoover - one campaign caught 4,00 "subversives" in 33 cities
               • Civil Liberties
                 • Illinois search and seizure
                 • no bail
                 • writ of habeas corpus
            5. Palmer predicted May 1, 1920 overthrow of government
            6. Sacco and Vanzetti on list sent to Mass Attorney General
         2. Speech versus action?
         3. Elected socialists not seated in NY state legislature
         4. Unions branded "reds" - break unions - Wilson sided with business leaders - anti-union
      2. Immigration laws
         1. based on 1890 census - Japanese no!
         2. 1931 more aliens left than entered US - always number leaving for various reasons
      3. Tenn. Law: Scopes "monkey" trial 1925
         1. Illegal to teach theory of evolution
         2. Religious belief becomes law
         3. Trial:
            1. William Jennings Bryan - literal interpretation of the bible
            2. Clarence Darrow
         4. Media circus - ridicule
      4. SACCO (SHOE) & VANZETTI (FISH) TRIAL
         1. Anarchists and pacificists? - WORLD ATTENTION
         2. Holdup - man killed - 2 men and lookout
         3. Evidence and police/prosecuter's behavior
            1. No evidence prior to arrest/suspicious behavior
            2. First 2 days never told why arrested - questioned political beliefs
            3. Identification - alone in center of room posing as bandits
            4. No trace of money
            5. No fingerprints matching prints
         4. Witnesses
            1. one under bench
            2. prostitute who police pressed for testimony
         5. Judge's behavior
            1. outside courtroom
            2. conduct of case
         6. Jury's behavior
            1. all native Americans
            2. foreman former police chief
         7. Felix Frankfurter - Harvard Law School - SCJ
         8. Never proved case - appeals decided by same judge - higher appeals decided on each individual item rather than the totality; federal appeal based only on constitutionality of laws used
         9. Governor's committee to decide clemency
         10. ELECTROCUTED - 1927
   2. KKK - Phenomena of the 1920's
      1. Rural, WASP, Middle West and South - Bible Belt!
         1. ANTI—
            1. Foreign
            2. Catholic
            3. Jewish
            4. Internationalist
            5. Communist
            6. Pacificist
            7. Revolutionist
            8. Bootlegger
            9. Gambler
            10. Adultery
            11. Birth Control
         2. Corruption!
   3. PROHIBITION - Churches and women - WASPS again - 1919 18^th Amendment
      1. Why didn't it work?
         1. Not enough enforcement
         2. Too many against it
         3. Hadn't been a crime in the past
         4. Role model/hypocrisy
      2. Results?
      3. Blindness and death
      4. "Youth rebellion"
      5. Organized crime - alcohol, prostitution, gambling, drugs
      6. Corruption of law enforcement by organized crime
      7. More money in banks
      8. Less consumption
      9. Less battered women and children

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Last updated June 16, 2004

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