The Roaring Twenties

1
The Roaring Twenties

• And its Seminal
• Issues
• The Politics
• Of Frustration
• And
• The Politics of
• Prohibition

2
Not All is Well in Gotham

• Not everyone benefited from the Politics of
  Prosperity.
• Ex-Servicemen had difficulty finding jobs
• Huge upswing in Racism and Xenophobia
• Many desired a return to The Good Ol days.

3
Gotham is troubled

• Warren G. Harding promoted a Return to
  Normalcy.
• What sort of normalcy? Did America return to
  normalcy?
• Distinguish between cultural fundamentalism and
  religious fundamentalism.
• Define invisible empire and Americanism.

4
Good Ol Days

• People began to write and yearn for a Bygone
  America.
• Free of labor and racial strife
• Fewer Foreigners.
• No radical ideologies (ostensibly there was a
  time everyone got along).
• A return to the small town America atmosphere
• A more devout citizenry, Christianity.
• Less government interference in their daily lives

5
Return to Normalcy

• Associated with the notion of returning to the
  good old days Harding run on the normalcy
  platform Return to Normalcy included three
  major trends not really intended
• 1) Redefinition of Americanism
• 2) Resumption of racial antagonism.
• Resurrection of Old Time Religion.

6
Cultural Fundamentalism

• H. L. Mencken was the spearhead of this movement
• Be more European forget the Puritanism of
  American society, stamp out anti-intellectualism,
  we must have some Conformity. Liberalism is
  needed for this backwards dull-witted American
  population.

7
Henry Louis Mencken

• Journalist and Editor and Social Critic (Jewish).
• He hated all things Americanassumed they were
  dull-witted
• Abhorred the South and the West He coined the
  term Bible Belt and Monkey Trial
• No one ever went broke underestimating the
  intelligence of the American People.

8
Culture of Fundamentalism

• Many people seemed to believe that all the
  consumerism and cultural decadence was a scourge
  from Godneeded to get back to the fundamentals
  of Christian tenets. A certain pattern of
  thought
• Quest for certainty and predictability in social
  relationships.
• An order in human affairs that was at once
  familiar, comfortable, and unthreatening.
• Nostalgia for the idealized, non-industrialized
  society of their parents.

9
Politics of Frustration

• Begins with suspicion of anything foreigndriving
  force behind some notorious events We will focus
  on four (4)
• The Red Scare
• Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
• The New Ku Klux Klan
• The Scopes Monkey Trial

10
Red Scare

• WWI saw the fall of the Kaiser, the rise of the
  Communist in Russia the fall of older more
  nationalist empires and the rise of influence of
  communism all across Europe.
• The Bolshevik or October Revolution of Nov 1917
  saw the rise of Lenin and the Communist
  International.

11
The Red Scare

• The U.S. and other European countries were facing
  labor unrestthe Communist League was gaining
  adherentssuch as Eugene V. Debbs of the American
  Communist/socialist league in America
• The real issue Russia was embroiled in a civil
  war and the Communist party neither had the
  material nor the resources to fight or influence
  World labor unions. Few people knew lenin, and
  even fewer had heard of Karl Marx.

12
The Red Scare

• Did however, fear the corruption of the Labor
  Unionsseem to instigate mob violence and labor
  unrest.
• Huge increase in labor strikes and unrest in 1919
  fueled this fear.
• Seattle was on general strike, Boston police
  force and a nationwide steel strike was on going.
• Many were recent immigrants from eastern and
  southern Europe, semi and unskilledmany labeled
  these strikes un-American and were filled with
  radical anarchists.

13
The Red Scare

• Coincidentally, there were bomb threats to US
  Senator Thomas Hartwickexploding mail, which
  killed his unsuspecting maid.
• Others were caught and headed offgoing to JP
  Morgan, JD Rockefeller, Justice Oliver Wendell
  Holmesno real evidence that the Bolsheviks were
  responsible

14
Palmer Raids

• Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer was also
  threatenedhe suspended the writ of habeas
  corpus, organized a crime fighting unit, which
  was headed by a young lawyerJ. Edgar Hoover.
• Began to round up communists and anarchists and
  place them in jailbegan deporting many, used the
  Sedition Acts to make it legal.
• By 1920, he had arrested about 3000 peoplemany
  were innocent, even Jane Addams of Hull House was
  suspected of Communist sympathizing

15
Palmer Raids

• Denounced the League of Women Voters as
  anarchists
• Even began to offend many conservatives
• Palmer used his raids as proof he was tough on
  communism and ran for the Presidencybut did not
  get the nomination.
• Hoover, under Harding, became Director of the
  Bureau of Investigation later the FBI

16
Sacco and Vanzetti

• Public distrusted Foreigners especially
  anarchists
• Arrested for robbery and murder
• Travesty of Justiceself-proclaimed
  radicalsessentially were considered guilty
  before trialtrue test of democracy was to
  protect rights of those who hold separate beliefs

17
Sacco and Vanzetti

• Delicate and sensitive trialwent on for 6 years
• Found guilty and were executedVanzetti claimed
  he was on trial for his beliefs not the act of
  murder.
• I am suffering because I am a radical. Indeed I
  am radical. I have suffered because I am an
  Italian. Indeed, I am an Italian But I am so
  convinced to be right you could execute me
  twice I would live again to do what I have
  already done

18
Rise of the New KKK

• After Sacco and Vanzetti, many became
  disillusioned with Cultural Fundamentalism and
  began to join more radical sects.
• The Ku Klux Klan first emerged during
  reconstruction. 1915, Col. William Joseph Simmons
  revived the organizationthe KKK received a
  charter from the Georgia legislature
• However, it remained insignificant until 1920.

19
KKK

• Two NY con men started a southern chapter and
  publicly promoted the Klans views
• The GA legislature began to investigate in
  1921unfortunately the investigation gave much
  free publicity
• Membership grew from 100,000 to 1 million in
  1922by 1925, 2 million members.
• Promoted 100 Americanism

20
100 Americanism

• Protestantism
• Charity
• Motherhood
• Morality
• Temperance
• Education

21
KKK

• Officially denied all hatreds, but qualifications
  for membership embraced all hatreds.
• CatholicsPope a political autocratworld
  dominion
• Jewsinternationalists who could never truly love
  Americathey killed Jesus
• African Americansmilitantly anti-Black

22
KKK

• Not relegated to the Deep South greatest public
  support was Texas, Indiana, and Ohio.
• Many served on city councils, state legislatures.
• Chicago, Indianapolis, Denver and Dallas had Klan
  mayors
• 6 Governors including Indiana, Oregon and
  Colorado.

23
Demise of the KKK

• By 1925, membership began to fall off.
• Leaders promised too much
• Never had a true systemic organization to
  influence public opinion
• Never could truly force docility on the African
  Americansthey fought back.
• It relied too much on passion and not enough on
  reason

24
Scopes Monkey Trial

• On the surface, it was about academic freedom.
• It really pitted two societal views
• The urban, modern intellectual rationalism and
  secularism vs. the religious conservative rural
  traditional values.
• Tennessee Legislature passed a law forbidding the
  teaching of evolution or any theory conflicting
  with the Biblical World View.
• John T. Scopes, 25, Dayton Tenn High school

25
Scopes Monkey Trial

• Clarence Darrow, secularist lawyer, defended
  Scopes (ACLU)
• Prosecutor was William Jennings BryanCross of
  Gold Speech and Populist and self-proclaimed
  leader of the fundamentalist movement
• Scopes lost, charged 100 fine, Bryan died 5 days
  after the trialvery sensationalpitted evolution
  and rationalism Vs. Bible.

26
Fundamentalism

• The name comes from a series of pamphlets
  entitled The Fundamentals A Testament of Truth
• Authors were Milton and Lyman Stewart between
  1909 and 1912. Principles are as follows
• The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ
• Jesus Physical Resurrection
• The second Coming was imminent and physical
• The Bible is literally and figuratively
  truethere are no allegories, not open to
  interpretation.

27
Prohibition

• 1920s a decade of conflicts and contrasts sexual
  freedom, behaviors and dress clashed with a new
  Puritanism. (Decline of Anglo-Saxon Class)
• Old traditional values clashed with new urban
  modernityFreud and his Libido and love of self
• Termed a glorious orgy songs-Hot Lips I Need
  Lovin to movies Up in Mabels Room and Her
  Purchase Price. Much scandal.

28
Prohibition

• To maintain some Puritan control on social
  America, the 18th amendment was passed and
  ratified by ¾ of the state legislatures
  forbidding the manufacture or sale of alcoholic
  beverages in America.
• Called the Volstead Act of 1919 (National
  Prohibition Enforcement Act) gave the 18th
  amendment some teethby defining an alcoholic
  drink as any with a content of 0.5.

29
Define Anglo-Saxon Class

• 1) True Americans descended from early Western
  European settlers (English, German, Irish,
  Scandinavian)
• 2) The most respectable and responsible of the
  community
• 3) Small-town dwellers
• 4) Educated people
• 5) Protestants
• 6) Republicans
• 7) Wanted less government in society and economy

30
Anglo-Saxon Grip

• Immigration restrictionHarding and Coolidge both
  passed laws limiting immigration to America.
• Anti-Semitismconsidered the Jews the most
  responsible for world unrest (Henry Ford) very
  anti-Semitic.
• KKKto help combat immigration, Jews, Catholics
  and Blacks.
• Economic Controlwanted to maintain its hold on
  corporate Americacommunity clubs. Country clubs,
  high end segregation and control of colleges and
  many charities.

31
Melting Pot Bubbles

• However, demographics were changing.
• Birth rate of immigrants and native born
  increasing.
• 1911, 2 of every 3 school children had immigrant
  parents.
• Newbies settled in high states with many
  electoral votesbecame politically significant.
• Republicans ignored the needs of the growing
  immigrant classfound themselves on the wrong end
  of the birth ratemany turned to the democratic
  party.

32
Election of 1928

• Very significantwe see the great divide in
  American demographics.
• 1) Immigration had been restricted, but 6.5
  million(internal immigration) rural people moved
  to the citiescities very powerful politically.
• 2) democrats catering to these new arrivals and
  old immigrants broke the power of the republican
  party on national politics.
• 3) Presidential candidates represented the
  transformation under way (Rep Herbert Hoover
  aristocrat) Alfred E. Smith, lower class
  Catholic and a self-made man through the
  political machinery of New York politics. Smith
  disavowed prohibition.

33
Back to Prohibition

• Not a new phenomenon. Remember the Temperance
  LeagueThe Womens temperance Chriatin
  Uniontried to prove scientifically how bad
  alcohol was the country.
• They utilized Eugenics suggesting heredity was a
  cause for alcoholismneeded to selectively breed
  this illicit gene out of the gene pool
• Immigrants and Blacks were inferior therefore
  susceptible to profusive drink.

34
Anti-Saloon League

• Est. 1896, focused on the legal prohibition of
  drink developed a powerful congressional Lobby
• By 1918, 28 states had state laws against
  drinking (Dry States)
• Use prohibition to also attack political bosses
  and political machines

35
Typical Prohibitionist

• Rural or small Town Person
• Middle Class
• Anglo-Saxon
• Evangelical Protestant
• Embraced Eugenics, fearful of
• African Americans, Jews,
• Immigrants and Catholics

36
WWI and Prohibition

• War time hysteria against all things foreign
  linked prohibition to Patriotism.
• Centralization of government powermany saw the
  government as the upholder of American morality,
  temperance and sobrietyin other words abridge
  some liberties in the name of mmoral social
  responsibilities.
• The end result was failuretrying to impose a
  unique brand of social morality backfiredmany
  Americans enjoy drink and were quite willing to
  break the law to obtain itcreated a whole
  industry of Syndicated and organized crime.

37
Organized Crime
38
Organized Crime
39
Alfonse Capone