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Democracy at Risk

• Transition out of wartime economy leads to economic hardship and labor upheaval
• Veterans flood labor market, government controls end
• Unions strike (Seattle, Boston Police, steelworkers) but are shut down & lose gains
• Red Scare: labor unrest stirs fears of communist revolution
• Palmer Raids, institutions from libraries to schools clamp down on dissent, attacks on civil liberties
• Schenck v US leads to "clear and present danger test"
• Election of 1920: Dems stick with Wilsonian Internationalism, lose to isolationist, pro business Harding

The New Era

• Government goes pro-business, "return to private pursuits"
• Less regulation, higher protective tariffs – good time for enterprise
• Harding marred by scandal, dies suddenly - Succeeded by Coolidge "business of America is business"
• Worker associations: bad, business associations: good

Promoting Prosperity & Peace

• Post war situation leaves US at center of capitalist world (NY replaces London)
• Kellog-Briand Pact: nations agree to settle conflicts peacefully
• Dawes plan restructures German reps

Boom and Consumerism

• Growth of Auto industry feeds other industries
• Mass Production creates needs for new markets, advertisers create…
• Consumer Culture – especially in middle and upper classes
• All about filling consumer wants, not just needs (appliances, hygiene products, etc.)

The Roaring Twenties

• Prohibition – last progressive reform, fails, difficult to enforce, organized crime booms, widespread corruption
• New Woman: voting (do not form a single bloc), working (1 in 4, "women’s jobs")
• Flappers push social boundaries & participate freely in new consumer culture, image spread through pop culture
• New Negro: NAACP & Back to Africa Movement raise consciousness - attempt to counter renewed racism
• Harlem Renaissance marks entry of black experience into mainstream culture (esp. jazz & literature)
• Mass Culture booms: movies, radio, spectator sports, etc.
• Lost Generation rejects much of mainstream (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Lewis, etc.)

Resistance to Change

• Nativism grows: immigration restriction, quota system ends open immigration, Sacco & Vanzetti
• Rebirth of the KKK
• The Scopes Trial: clash of traditional (rural) & contemporary (urban)
• Election of 1928: Al Smith ("wet" Catholic, urban, opposed immigration restriction) defeated soundly by Herbert Hoover

The Great Crash

• Hoover: The Great Problem solver, not politically skilled, tied to ideology
• Economy badly distorted – wealthy getting wealthier, farmers & workers struggled, middle couldn’t keep up consumption
• Speculation leads to Stock Market Crashes in October 1929 – loses 80% of value over next 6 months

Hoover’s Response

• Calls for "rugged individualism", opposes direct relief for the poor
• Hawley Smoot Tariff supposed to support industry, only worsens situation
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation to support endangered banks and corporations (trickle down)