Postwar Society and Culture

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Chapter 25

• Postwar Society and Culture

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Closing the Gates to New Immigrants

• World War I caused immigration to dramatically
  increase
• Congress passed a quota system that closed the
  gates to Southern Europeans and Jews
• The National Origins Act caused foreign-born
  percentage of population to fall
• Jews subjected to increasing anti-Semitism

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New Urban Social Patterns

• By 1920, more Americans lived in urban areas
  rather than rural ones
• Urban environment changed family patterns-
  marriage a partnership where women were equal
• Emergence of child experts- ranged from rigid
  training to permissiveness
• Urbanization loosened constraints on sexuality

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The Younger Generation

• Disillusionment over the Great War and prudery of
  elders caused more liberal expression
• Advent of dating versus courting
• Relations between the sexes becoming more relaxed
  / uninhibited
• Fashion and public behavior impacted

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The New Woman

• After 1920 more openness about sex but
  contraception concern of married women
• Margaret Sanger Bohemian leader of birth
  control movement
• Birth control not constitutionally protected
  until 1960s
• More women worked outside the home but most work
  menial disparity in wages
• The passage of the 19th Amendment caused rift in
  womens movement as some saw more work needed
  while others saw the job as done

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Popular Culture Movies and Radio

• The film industry became the 4th largest in
  capital investment
• Films became new art lighting, camera angles,
  new methods of narrative
• New celebrities American royalty?
• Impact of radio on common population
• Immediate communication
• Advertising
• 1934- FCC established to revoke licenses that
  failed to operate in the public interest

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The Golden Age of Sports

• People had more money to spend and more time to
  fill
• Sports superstars and the rise of professional
  sports
• Rise of school team sports

Jim Thorp
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Urban-Rural Conflicts

• Changes mostly in urban areas
• Changes resented by rural areas seen as sinful,
  overly materialistic, and unhealthy
• Radio and movies caused rural areas to want new
  ways at same time they spoke out against new ways
• Manifested in resurgence of religious
  fundamentalism - conservatism

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Urban-Rural Conflicts

• Conflict illustrated by Scopes Monkey Trial
• Darwins theories banned
• William Jennings Bryan versus Clarence Darrow
• Biology teacher John Scopes Dayton
• Test case for ACLU
• Conviction

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Prohibition

• Rural versus urban conflict alcohol
• 18th Amendment Prohibition
• Alcohol related crimes dropped
• Total abstinence caused many to violate law
• Smuggling
• Bootleggers
• Speakeasies
• Bathtub gin
• Alcohol prescriptions
• Hypocrisy of officials
• Gangsterism

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The Ku Klux Klan

• Revival in 1920s symptom of social malaise
  (apathy)
• New Klan founded in 1915 by William J. Simmons
• Targeted Blacks, Catholics, and Jews
• Very little appeal in NE and cities most
  popular in mid-west and west
• Success caused factionalism and squabbling over
  power and money
• Conviction of leader, David Stephenson, for rape
  and death of young woman caused dramatic decline

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Sacco and Vanzetti

• Crime 1921 robbery and murder of shoe factory
  paymaster and guard
• Accused Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
  Italian immigrants and anarchists
• Convicted sentenced to death
• Cause celebre
• Executed 1927 disillusioned intellectuals

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The New Negro

• Disappointment after WWI gains
• Segregation
• Labor issues
• Marcus Garvey
• Separatism
• Back to Africa
• The Ghetto
• Concentrated political power
• Built self-confidence brought opportunity
• Culture
• Jazz
• Harlem Renaissance

Marcus Garvey
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Economic Expansion

• Little government interference
• Federal Reserve kept interest rates low
• Post-war demand for products
• Increased mechanization
• Increased use of electricity
• Assembly line
• Taylorism

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Age of the Consumer

• Rise of advertising
• The installment plan
• The Automobile
• Biggest single impact on American society in
  1920s
• Million cars produced per year cars cheaper
• New industries to supply parts for cars
• New road building
• Changes in family life and recreational patterns
• Sense of freedom

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The Airplane

• Internal combustion engine made airplane possible
• Wright Brothers
• Most planes built before 1920 intended for
  military use
• Charles Lindbergh solo flight across Atlantic
• Glenn Curtiss father of naval aviation