Historiography of the 20’s

 

Traditional View of the 20’s:

          A period of institutional disintegration

          few new laws and social experiments were instituted

          Prohibition failed

          decline in morality

          orgy of financial speculation

          reaction against authority

          increase in organized crime

          American withdrawal from world affairs

         

Contemporary Businessman’s View:

          new era of change and efficiency in business

          scientific efficiency would lead to new prosperity

          a new age of enlightened businessmen and a sympathetic government would

                   lead to the elimination of poverty

          America’s greatness arose from individual laborers who had lifted America to new

                   levels of prosperity: “rugged individualism”

 

Beards:

          Didn’t view this as a reactionary period

          Rapid growth of industry and mechanization was the outstanding development of

                   the period

          Political battles were NOT the key of the period; people’s belief in unlimited

                   progress and the ability of the masses to meet the new issues of the time

                   WERE the issues

 

Sociologists:

          Optimistic confidence that the defects of society could be fixed by the gathering of

                   scientific data and its use by political leaders who were “scientifically

                   enlightened”

          Previous leaders had inadequate information to make decisions

          Cultural Lag: institutions change more slowly than technology and science, this lag is

                   responsible for the tensions in society; therefore the updating of institutions 

                   and the tensions can be solved

          Advocated the transfer of power from the profiteers to the engineers of society to

                   reach the social utopia

 

Literary Intellectuals:

          Referred to the period as a decade of decline

          The flaw of over-zealous materialism led to a superficial (shallow) society

          Americans failed to grasp the meaning of life

 

Harold Stearns: Civilization in the United States

          Hypocrisy is America’s major characteristic (the wrong isn’t bad, getting caught is)

          America lacks a genuine “national self consciousness”

          American social life is the equivalent of emotional and aesthetic starvation

 

The “New Humanists” of the 20’s

          need for an “inner check” to control man’s impulses

          natural aristocracy is needed

          scoffed at the idea of progress

 

Post-Depression Writers:

          Changed view of the 20’s: Optimism faded because the 20’s led to the worst

                   economic catastrophe in American history

          20’s viewed as an era of reaction and ultraconservative presidents who

                   reflected the desires of business

          20’s was a reprieve from 2 decades of moralistic fervor: domestic reform and

                   making the world safe for democracy

          US abdicated its responsibility in the world and in dealing with problems

          Government turned affairs over to business community which was based on the

                   outdated idea of individualism

          Evidence of the negativity of the period included:

                   suppression of dissent

                   prostration of the labor movement

                   decline in the relative position of the worker and farmer

                   growth of hypocrisy and bigotry (i.e. KKK)

                   closure of borders to the “huddled masses”

                   corruption in government (Harding scandals)

                   alienation and disillusionment of youth from society: idealism seemed out

                             of date

          The depression was the logical conclusion to the negatives of the period

                   because the bottom finally fell out

 

Post World War Two:

          Basic interpretation was that the 20’s were constructive in some ways

          America wasn’t bankrupt, the literary interpretation of the time was

          Economic depression grew out of the misalignment of productivity and

                   purchasing power which was NOT a new problem in American history

          America’s productive capacity helped win World War Two and to gave the free

                   world the ability to resist the Soviets

          Without government control, the US economy had given people a previously

                   unattainable affluent society

          Some lower (local and state) levels of reform DID continue in the 20’s, but the

                   national coalition and the vigor of the reform movement had been

                   shattered

          Conservative domination of the Presidency obscured these movements

          20’s were a period of continuity with prewar trends:

                   Breakup of the traditional upper-middle class Protestant aristocracy

                             began around 1910, not 1920

                   Prohibition had begun at lower levels of govt. much earlier than the 20’s

                   Drinking and mortality connected to drinking DID decline during the 20’s

                   Crime statistics did not support the assumption that crime increased

 

1960’s and 70’s: Availability of primary sources helped to change the view of the 20’s

          Social historians: emphasis on the complexities of the period, not simple dichotomies

                   What were the links between religion, prohibition, and nativism??

                   Emphasized the theme of anxiety of the period: Klan anxiety against tensions of the

                             previous age of social revolution

          “Youth” were influenced by the changes in family, education, communication, mass

                    consumption

          “New Political Historians”: viewed quantitative analysis of voting records

          “Minority Historians”: sparked by the Civil Rights Movement began writing about the Harlem

                   Ghetto, Harlem Renaissance, Marcus Garvey

          Rehabilitation of the reputation of Hoover and Harding