Harding to Hoover 1921 - 1932 Flashcards
The 1920s was the Jazz Age, a mix of the Lost Generation with those who perceived a bright new future of American prosperity. This deck describes the Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover Administrations, evolving American standards of morality, and the cultural influences of the 1920s. (52 cards)
What was the Emergency Quota Act of 1921?
Enacted under pressure from nativists, Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, which limited immigration to three percent of the number of persons from a given nation counted in the 1910 census.
Immigration of Catholics and Jews from Southern and Eastern Europe (deemed “undesirables” by nativists) was sharply curtailed.
Two topics were the focus of international talks at the Washington Conference in 1921. What were they?
The two main issues of contention were arms reduction and competition in Asia.
Representatives from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Portugal, the United States, and the Netherlands attended.
The Conference resulted in three treaties: the Five Power Treaty, the Four Power Treaty, and the Nine Power Treaty.
What is assembly line production?
Assembly line production was a method adopted by Henry Ford and other industrialists to streamline production.
Workers stood in a single spot and performed the same task repetitively. Assembly line production greatly increased the speed of production, and consequently lowered the cost of the goods produced.
Complete the sentence:
_____ _____ _____ was an American mechanical engineer who applied science to business practices.
Frederick Winslow Taylor
Henry Ford and others adopted Taylor’s suggestions in order to achieve improved efficiency on the factory floor.
In 1920, only 34.7% of households had electricity, but by 1930, 67.9% had electric access. How did the growth in access to electricity spur consumer demand?
Many of the new products coming off the assembly lines such as washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuums were powered by electricity. Access to electricity meant that consumers bought these products in large quantities.
In urban areas, increased access to electricity was even more dramatic; 84.8% of urban residences had access to electricity by 1930.
Increased access to electricity during the 1920s required sources of power and led to increased growth and development in what related area?
During the 1920s, oil development experienced an exponential increase. Although many homes continued to be heated with coal, electricity from oil powered the factories, and gasoline powered the increased number of automobiles.
Much of the oil came from the United States, which produced more oil than the rest of the world combined during the 1920s.
Define:
Installment plan
An installment plan is a system of credit, whereby a good is purchased for a fixed amount of payments spread over an extended period.
Many of the new products being manufactured in the 1920s were purchased on installment plans.
What segment of the American economy failed to prosper during the economic boom of the 1920s?
Farming
Farm prices and the value of agricultural goods had plummeted at the end of World War I, and continued to be depressed throughout the 1920s (and into the 1930s). Farmers had difficulties paying back their loans, and over 6,000 rural banks closed during the period.
Define:
Open shop
An open shop is a labor system in which jobs are not restricted solely to union members.
Define:
Closed shop
In a closed shop system, a factory owner agrees only to employ workers who belong to a union.
What happened to union membership in the 1920s?
Union membership declined. Most factory owners continued to have an open-shop policy. Further, many factories offered workers better wages, benefits, and working conditions than in previous eras, removing the impetus for workers to join unions in the first place.
Anti-union efforts were also favored by the courts, who issued injunctions in the event of strikes, which brought them to an end without negotiations.
How did Republicans view the idea of regulation and taxes on American businesses?
In the words of Calvin Coolidge, “the business of America is business.” Republicans adopted pro-business policies and preached limited government intervention in the economy. They wanted to cut taxes, especially for the wealthy, and especially for American businesses. Republicans during the 1920s wanted to remove as much regulation as legally possible.
What was the Teapot Dome Scandal?
Between 1922-1923, President Harding’s Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall accepted bribes to grant oil leases on federal lands at Teapot Dome, Wyoming.
Fall wasn’t the only Harding cabinet official to face corruption charges. Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty accepted payments not to prosecute suspected criminals, and Charles Forbes, head of the Veterans Bureau, misused $250 million in federal funds.
Who was Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette?
Robert La Follette was a Republican politician from Wisconsin, who served as the leader of the Progressive wing of the Republican party after Theodore Roosevelt’s death in 1919. La Follette ran for President in 1924 on the Progressive Party ticket, denouncing the influence of corporations in government. He garnered 17% of the national vote.
How did Calvin Coolidge view the shared roles of government and business?
Coolidge shared Harding’s view that the main role of government was to help business prosper. He kept Harding’s Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, who continued to implement fairly conservative economic policies.
Viewing himself as fiscal steward of the nation, Coolidge vetoed any federal spending bill that he felt could not be afforded.
Complete the sentence:
The _____ _____ _____ of 1924 restricted immigration to 2% of the number of persons from a given nation counted in the 1890 census.
National Origins Act
Passed under nativist pressure, the National Origins Act further restricted immigration of “undesirable” Jews and Catholics. In addition, the National Origins Act completely barred any immigration by non-whites, a provision aimed at restricting immigration from China and Japan.
What was the Dawes Plan?
In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had agreed to pay reparations, but by the early 1920s was suffering from a severe recession in consequence of the Allies’ occupation of the Ruhr Valley, Germany’s industrial heartland. Under the Dawes Plan, the U.S. government lent money to Germany to pay reparations to Britain and France.
The Dawes Plan would tie most of Western Europe to the fate of the American economy, to significant effect during the Great Depression.
How did the role of women change during 1920s?
Women were still primarily homemakers during the 1920s, though new household goods such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners helped alleviate some household chores.
In urban areas, young, single women, commonly called Flappers, began challenging traditional ideas about marriage, family, work, and sexual mores.
Who was Margaret Sanger?
Birth control was illegal in most states, and Margaret Sanger was an advocate for ending restrictions on access to it.
Sanger was a eugenicist, who believed that access to birth control was essential to reduce reproduction by those considered unfit.
Who were the Flappers?
Flappers were young, mainly urban women who defied social and sexual norms by flaunting short dresses, bobbed hairdos, and makeup. Flappers also smoked and drank openly (despite Prohibition).
In 1919, alcohol became illegal through the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. What was the effect of Prohibition on drinking during the 1920s?
Alcohol use skyrocketed, and it was fashionable to drink in speakeasies or purchase alcohol from bootleggers who either brewed liquor themselves or imported it from Canada.
As bootlegging grew into a lucrative profession, it was taken over by gangsters, such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, who thrived in the illegal climate.
How did mass culture develop during the 1920s?
Fueled by the prevalence of the radio and the popularity of movies, Americans for the first time shared many common cultural experiences. Americans saw the same films and listened to the same radio shows.
Amos n’ Andy, a radio show that premiered in 1928, proved so popular that stores played it over their loudspeakers to induce customers to shop while listening instead of staying at home and listening.
What musical style came to symbolize the youth culture of the 1920s?
Jazz
Jazz came to symbolize the dominant free-flowing spirit of the period, so much so that the 1920s is often called “The Jazz Age.”
With roots in the Southern black experience, jazz became widespread through the use of radios and phonographs.
Who were Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, and Greta Garbo?
They were movie stars during the 1920s.
During the period, moviegoing became a national trend, backed with lavish theaters, celebrity actors and actresses, and gossip magazines.