The Roaring 20's: Crash Course US History #32

Summary

In this Crash Course US History episode, John Green explores the 1920s, a decade marked by economic prosperity, cultural shifts, and societal contradictions. The era brought jazz, movies, and consumer culture, but also saw corruption, increased wealth disparity, and prejudice against immigrants. The government's laissez-faire approach benefited businesses but led to the Great Depression. The episode also covers the Harlem Renaissance, women's liberation, and the Scopes Trial, reflecting the decade's complex mix of progress and reaction.

Takeaways

• 🎷 The 1920s, known as 'The Roaring Twenties,' was a decade marked by cultural shifts, economic prosperity for some, and significant societal changes.
• 📈 Prosperity was not evenly distributed; while industrial wages rose, corporate profits increased at a much faster pace, leading to a growing wealth gap.
• 🚗 The automobile industry boomed, with production tripling and cars becoming a symbol of American freedom and a catalyst for a new culture of leisure.
• 🏭 The era saw a rise in 'laissez-faire' capitalism, with minimal government regulation, which initially boosted the economy but also sowed the seeds of future instability.
• 🎬 Hollywood became the center of the film industry, reflecting and shaping American culture, and movies became a significant leisure activity for the growing middle class.
• 💸 Consumer culture expanded with the widespread use of credit, leading to a shift in attitudes towards debt and the establishment of the American standard of living.
• 📻 Technology advancements like radios and domestic appliances improved quality of life and contributed to a growing leisure industry.
• 📈 The stock market attracted many new investors, but the lack of regulation and the focus on big business also led to economic disparities and the eventual market crash.
• 🌐 Immigration faced restrictions due to fears of cultural dilution and economic competition, with laws being passed to limit the number and type of newcomers to the U.S.
• 📚 There was a tension between science and religious beliefs, exemplified by the Scopes Trial, which highlighted the struggle for modern ideas in a traditional society.

Q & A

What is the stereotypical view of the 1920s known as?

The 1920s are often referred to as 'The Roaring 20s,' a decade characterized by exciting change, new cultural touchstones, increased personal freedom, and dancing.

What economic policy was prevalent during the 1920s in the United States?

The economic policy during the 1920s was characterized by 'laissez-faire' capitalism, which involved minimal government regulation of businesses.

Which political party dominated the 1920s in the United States?

The Republican Party dominated politics in the 1920s, with all the presidents elected during the decade being staunch conservative Republicans.

What was the impact of the assembly line techniques on productivity during the 1920s?

Productivity rose dramatically during the 1920s, largely because older industries adopted Henry Ford's assembly line techniques, and newer industries like aviation, chemicals, and electronics grew.

How did the automobile industry change during the 1920s?

The automobile industry saw a tripling of annual production to 4.8 million cars during the 1920s, leading to the consolidation of automobile companies into the 'Big Three': Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.

What was the role of credit and consumer debt in the 1920s American economy?

The widespread use of credit and layaway buying plans in the 1920s meant that it became acceptable to go into debt to maintain the American standard of living, marking a significant change in attitude towards debt.

How did the American film industry evolve in the 1920s?

The American film industry moved to Hollywood before World War I and by 1925, it had become the greatest in the world, with more and more people having money to go see movies, thanks to consumer debt.

What was the Harlem Renaissance and how did it reflect the spirit of the 1920s?

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement in the 1920s that celebrated African-American experience, rejecting stereotypes and prejudice, and was part of the broader spirit of the decade that sought to challenge traditional norms.

What were the social changes for women in the 1920s?

Women in the 1920s experienced increased autonomy, with flappers adopting new fashions, smoking and drinking in public, and using birth control, although societal expectations for marriage and childbearing remained.

How did the prosperity of the 1920s affect the American economy and society?

While the 1920s saw increased wealth for some, prosperity was not equally distributed. Corporate profits rose faster than wages, and many Americans went into debt to pursue the American dream, setting the stage for economic trouble when the economy faltered.

What was the Scopes Trial, and what was its significance in the 1920s?

The Scopes Trial in 1925 was a test case for freedom of speech where John Scopes was tried for teaching evolution, which was against the law in Tennessee. The trial, though lost by Scopes, drew national attention and symbolized the tensions between science, education, and religious beliefs during the 1920s.

Outlines

00:00

🎩 The Roaring Twenties: Prosperity and Prejudice

The 1920s, often romanticized as 'The Roaring Twenties,' was a period marked by significant cultural shifts and economic growth, but this prosperity was not universally shared. The era brought jazz, movies, and radio to the forefront of American culture, and consumerism thrived on credit. However, this was also a time of gangsters, prejudice against immigrants, and the seeds of the Great Depression. The government adopted a laissez-faire approach, favoring business growth with minimal regulation and lower taxes, which led to a short-term economic boom but also corruption, particularly under President Harding's administration. The decade saw the rise of the automobile industry, with Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors becoming dominant, and the expansion of American corporations overseas, making the US a global economic powerhouse.

05:02

📚 High Culture and Social Change in the 1920s

The 1920s were not just about economic and technological advancements; they also saw a flourishing of high culture and significant social changes. The Harlem Renaissance emerged as a cultural movement that celebrated African-American experiences and rejected prejudice, with Harlem becoming a cultural capital. Women's autonomy increased as they adopted new fashion trends, like the flapper style, and gained access to birth control, challenging traditional gender roles. However, the prosperity of the decade was a facade for many, with wealth and corporate profits rising disproportionately compared to wages, and a large portion of the population living in poverty. The federal government was largely unresponsive to the needs of farmers and workers, and the Supreme Court became a bastion of civil liberties, upholding the right to free speech and setting the stage for future social progress.

10:03

🌐 Immigration, Nativism, and the Contradictions of the 1920s

The 1920s were a period of both progress and reaction in American society. While the economy boomed and consumer culture thrived, there was also a rise in nativist sentiments, leading to restrictive immigration policies that favored Northern Europeans and severely limited the influx of Southern and Eastern Europeans, as well as Asians. The Ku Klux Klan's resurgence and the introduction of immigration quotas reflected a fear of change and a desire to preserve a perceived 'American' identity. Additionally, the decade saw tensions between science and religious beliefs, highlighted by the Scopes Trial, which, despite its outcome, brought national attention to the debate over teaching evolution in schools. The 1920s were thus marked by contradictions, with advancements in civil liberties and consumer culture coexisting with a rise in intolerance and a quest to define American values.

Keywords

💡Laissez-faire capitalism

Laissez-faire capitalism refers to an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from government intervention such as regulation, privileges, or subsidies. It is a more absolute form of free market capitalism. In the context of the video, the 1920s are described as a period where the government largely adopted laissez-faire policies, which meant minimal regulation of businesses, contributing to rapid economic growth but also leading to significant wealth disparities and eventually the Great Depression.

💡Republican Party

The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States, often associated with conservative policies. The video highlights that the Republican Party dominated politics in the 1920s, with all presidents elected during the decade being staunch conservative Republicans. Their policies favored business interests, which aligned with the laissez-faire economic approach of the time.

💡Teapot Dome scandal

The Teapot Dome scandal was a major political scandal during the administration of President Warren G. Harding in the 1920s. It involved the illegal leasing of federal oil reserves for personal gain by Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. The video mentions this scandal as an example of the corruption that was prevalent during the 1920s, particularly within Harding's administration.

💡Assembly line

The assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts of a product are added as the product moves down a production line. It was pioneered by Henry Ford and revolutionized industrial production by significantly increasing efficiency and reducing costs. The video notes that the adoption of assembly line techniques by older industries, along with the growth of newer industries, contributed to the economic boom of the 1920s.

💡Consumer culture

Consumer culture refers to a society characterized by the consumption of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts as a spur to economic growth. The video describes how the 1920s saw the rise of a consumer culture based on credit, with Americans buying more goods and services than ever before, often financed through debt. This shift in attitude towards consumption and credit was a significant feature of the decade.

💡Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion that flourished in Harlem, New York, in the 1920s. It was a period during which African-American artists, writers, and musicians produced exceptional works that celebrated African-American life and culture. The video mentions the Harlem Renaissance as a cultural movement that rejected stereotypes and prejudice, seeking to uplift the African-American experience.

💡Flappers

Flappers were young women in the 1920s who challenged traditional gender roles by adopting a bold style of dress and behavior. They were known for their short skirts, bobbed hair, and public consumption of alcohol and cigarettes, which was a significant departure from the social norms of the time. The video uses flappers as an example of how women found new ways to express autonomy during the 1920s.

💡Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that lasted from 1929 to the late 1930s. It began in the United States after the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday. The video alludes to the Great Depression as the economic crisis that followed the prosperity of the 1920s, highlighting the fragility of the economic boom that was built on debt and speculation.

💡Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is a white supremacist hate group that has existed in various forms throughout American history. The video notes the resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s, which was characterized by an increase in membership and influence. The Klan's activities during this period were marked by their denouncement of immigrants, Jews, Catholics, and their efforts to maintain the dominance of White Protestants in American society.

💡Immigration restriction

Immigration restriction refers to policies that limit the number of immigrants allowed into a country. The video discusses the immigration restriction bills of the 1920s, which were designed to limit the number of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and completely exclude Asians, reflecting the nativist and racist attitudes prevalent at the time.

💡Fundamentalist Movement

The Fundamentalist Movement is a conservative religious movement that arose in the early 20th century in response to secularism and modernism. The video references the Scopes Trial, where the teaching of evolution was challenged by the Fundamentalist Movement, led by William Jennings Bryan. The trial exemplifies the tension between science and religious beliefs during the 1920s.

Highlights

The 1920s, known as the 'Roaring Twenties', was a decade of cultural and economic transformation.

Jazz, movies, and radio became emblematic of the era, reflecting a new cultural vibrancy.

Despite prosperity, economic gains were not evenly distributed, highlighting social disparities.

Gangsters and the illegal liquor trade became prominent due to Prohibition.

The consumer culture was fueled by credit, leading to a shift in spending habits.

Prejudice against immigrants was prevalent, influencing social and political attitudes.

The economic crisis of the 1930s had its roots in the economic policies of the 1920s.

President Calvin Coolidge's 'laissez-faire' approach to capitalism shaped government policies.

The Republican Party's dominance in the 1920s led to significant tax reductions and pro-business policies.

Government corruption was rampant, particularly during Warren G. Harding's administration.

Productivity surged as industries adopted assembly line techniques and new industries emerged.

The automobile industry boomed, with car production tripling and major companies consolidating.

American corporations expanded globally, with the US becoming a major player in foreign investment.

Labor-saving devices like vacuum cleaners and toasters became common, changing household dynamics.

The film industry grew exponentially, with Hollywood becoming the center of global cinema.

The use of credit and consumer debt became normalized, impacting the American standard of living.

Celebrity culture emerged, with figures like Charles Lindbergh gaining national fame.

The Harlem Renaissance celebrated African-American culture and challenged racial stereotypes.

Women's roles and expectations evolved, with 'flappers' embodying new expressions of autonomy.

Despite appearances, the prosperity of the 1920s masked underlying economic inequalities.

The Supreme Court began to uphold civil liberties, including freedom of speech and the press.

The 1920s saw a rise in the Ku Klux Klan and restrictive immigration policies.

The Scopes Trial highlighted the tensions between science, education, and religious beliefs.

The decade ended with the Great Depression, casting a shadow over the previous era's achievements.

Transcripts

Hi, I'm John Green, this is Crash Course US History, and today we're gonna learn about one of the best eras ever:

the 1920s.

The 20s gave us jazz, movies, radio, making out in cars, illegal liquor,

and the 20s also gave us prosperity--although not for everybody--

and gangsters, and a consumer culture based on credit,

and lots of prejudice against immigrants,

and eventually the worst economic crisis the US has ever seen.

Mr. Green, Mr. Green, but what about Gatsby?

Yeah, me from the past, it's true that Gastby turned out all right in the end,

but what preyed on Gatsby,

what foul dust trailed in the wake of his dreams,

did temporarily close out my interest in the aborted sorrows and short-winded elations of men.

*theme music*

So there's a stereotypical view of the 1920s as "The Roaring 20s,"

a decade of exciting change and new cultural touchstones,

as well as increased personal freedom and dancing.

And it really was a time of increased wealth--

for some people.

The quote of the decade has to go to our famously taciturn president from Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge, who said,

Jay-Z would later update this for the 21st century noting,

But anyway, during the 1920s, the government helped business grow like gangbusters,

largely by not regulating it much at all.

This is known as “laissez-faire” capitalism.

Or “laissez-faire” capitalism if you’re good at speaking French.

The Republican Party dominated politics in the 1920s,

with all the presidents elected in the decade being

staunch conservative Republicans.

The federal government hewed to the policies favored by business lobbyists,

including lower taxes on personal income and business profits,

and efforts to weaken the power of unions.

Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover stocked the boards of the Federal Reserve

and the Federal Trade Commission with men

who shared their pro-business views,

shifting the country away from the economic regulation that had been favored by Progressives.

And that was very good for the American economy,

at least in the short run.

The 1920s were also marked by

quite a bit of government corruption,

most of which can be pinned to the

administration of Warren G. Harding. Now,

Harding himself wasn't terribly corrupt,

but he picked terrible friends. They

included Attorney General Harry

Daugherty who accepted money to not

prosecute criminals, and Interior

Secretary Albert fall, who took half a

million dollars from private business in

exchange for leases to government oil

reserves at Teapot Dome. Fall later

became the first cabinet member ever to

be convicted of a felony, but on the

other hand, business, man! Productivity rose

dramatically largely because older

industry's adopted Henry Ford's assembly

line techniques and newer industries

like aviation, chemicals, and electronics

grew up to provide Americans with new

products and new jobs. During the 1920s

annual production of cars tripled to 4.8

million, and automobile companies were

gradually consolidated into the big

three that we know today: Ford, Chrysler,

and Harley-Davidson. What? General Motors.

By 1929 half of all American families

owned a car and thus began the American

love affair with the automobile, which is

also

where love affairs were often

consummated, which is why in the 1920s

cars came to be known as Scootaloo

pooping chariots. What's that? They were

called brothels on wheels? And the

economy also grew because American

corporations were extending their reach

overseas, and American foreign investment

was greater than that of any other

country. The dollar replaced the pound as

the most important currency for trade

and by the end of the decade America was

producing eighty-five percent of the

world's cars and forty percent of its

overall manufactured goods. Stan can I

get a Libertage?

And companies turned out

all kinds of labor-saving devices like

vacuum cleaners, toasters, refrigerators,

and not having to spend all day washing

your clothes, or turning over your own

toast like some kind of common or meant

that Americans had more time for leisure.

And this was provided by radios and

baseball games boxing matches vacations

dance crazes. I mean before Gangnam style

there was the windy and the Charleston

but probably the most significant

leisure product was movies and I'm not

just saying that because I'm staring

into a camera. The American film industry

moved out to Hollywood before World War

one because land was cheap and plentiful

all that sunshine meant that you could

shoot outside all year round and it was

close to everything: desert, mountains,

ocean, plastic surgeons. And by 1925 the

American film industry had eclipsed all

of its competitors and become the

greatest in the world, especially if you

count by volume and not quality, and more

and more people had money to go see

those movies thanks to consumer debt. The

widespread use of credit and lay away

buying plans meant that it was

acceptable to go into debt to maintain

what came to be seen as the American

standard of living and this was a huge

change in attitude. These days we don't

even think of credit cards as debt,

really. But they are. And that was a

relatively new idea as was another

feature of American life in the 20s that

is still with us: celebrity. Opera singer

Enrico Caruso has often been called the

first modern celebrity but now he's a

lot less famous than Charlie Chaplin or

Rudolph Valentino or Babe Ruth but

probably the biggest celebrity of the

decade was Charles Lindbergh whose claim

to fame was flying across the Atlantic

Ocean by himself without stopping

although he did use an airplane which

makes it slightly less impressive. Now

Lindbergh wasn't a truly contemporary

celebrity in the sense of being famous

for being famous, but he was

a business more than a businessman. High

culture also flourished. This was the age

of the lost generation of American

writers, many of whom lived and worked in

Europe but America had its own version

of Paris in New York. The decade of the

1920s saw continued migration of African

American people from the South to cities

in the nNorth, and Harlem became the

capital of Black America. And speaking of

migration, let us now migrated to the

chair for the Mystery Document.

The rules here

are simple: I guess the author of

the mystery document, I'm either right or

I get shocked with the shock pen.

Alright let's see we got here.

“If we must die would it not be like hogs hunted and

penned in an inglorious spot, while round

us bark the mad and hungry dogs, making

their market are a curse a lot... Like men

we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

pressed to the wall, dying but fight back.”

Stan thank you for the poetry I

appreciate that it's not some obscure

document from 18th century blah blah blah

It's Claude McKay Harlem Renaissance

poet, the poem is called “If We Must Die.”

Ah, it's the only thing in the world I'm

actually good at. Now I know this from the

imagery alone, especially the line about

“mad and hungry dogs” that would

figuratively and literally make up the

mobs at the lynchings, but the giveaway

here is the ultimate sentiment that we

will fight back. This was part of the

spirit of the Harlem Renaissance which

rejected stereotypes and prejudice and

sought to celebrate African-American

experience. Meanwhile, things for changing

for women as well, as they found new ways

to express autonomy. Flappers kept their

hair and skirts short, smoked and drank

illegally in public, and availed

themselves of birth control. And

marketers encouraged them to buy

products like cigarettes christened

torches of freedom by Edward Bernays.

Liberation had its limits though; most

women were still expected to marry, have

children, and find their freedom at home

through the use of washing machines, but

the picture of prosperity is as usual

more complicated than it at first

appears. The fact that so many Americans

were going into debt in order to pursue

the American dream meant that if the

economy faltered, and it did, there was

going to be lots of trouble. Let's go to

the Thought Bubble. Prosperity in the 1920s

wasn't equally distributed through the

population. Real industrial wages rose by

a quarter between 1922 and 1929 but

corporate profits rose at twice that

rate. By 1929,

one percent of the nation's banks

controlled fifty percent of the nation's

financial resources and the wealthiest

five percent of Americans share of

national income exceeded that of the

bottom sixty percent. An estimated forty

percent of Americans lived in poverty.

Now many Americans celebrated big

business, and Wall Street was often seen

as heroic possibly because by 1920 about

1.5 million Americans owned some kind of

stock, but big business also meant that

smaller businesses disappeared. During

the 1920s the number of manufacturing

workers declined by 5%, the first time

this class of workers had seen its

numbers drop, but not the last. Now some

of these jobs were made up for by new

jobs in retail finance and education, but

as early as the 1920s New England was

beginning to see unemployment in

deindustrialization as textile companies

moved their operations to the south

where labor was cheaper and

working-class people still made up the

majority of Americans and they often

couldn't afford these newfangled devices,

like in 1930, seventy-five percent

of american homes didn't have a

washing machine, and only forty percent

of them had a radio. Farmers were even

worse off many had prospered during

World War One when the government

subsidized farm prices in order to keep

farms producing for the war effort, but

when the subsidies ended, production

didn't subside, largely due to

mechanization and increased use of

fertilizer. Farmers incomes dropped

steadily and many saw banks foreclose

upon their property. For the first time

in American history the number of farms

declined during the 1920s. For farmers

the Great Depression began early.

Thanks, Thought Bubble. So in general the federal

government did little to nothing to help

farmers or workers. The Supreme Court was

the only segment of the government that

kept any progressive ideas alive as they

began to craft a system of ideas that we

call the jurisprudence of civil

liberties. Now the court still voted to

uphold convictions of left-wing critics

of the government but gradually began to

embrace the idea that people had the

right to express dissonant views in what

Oliver Wendell Holmes called the

“Marketplace of ideas.” In Near vs. Minnesota,

the Supreme Court struck down

censorship of newspapers and by 1927

Justice Brandeis was writing that

“Freedom to think as you will and to

speak as you think are indispensable to

the discovery and spread of political truth.”

But despite increased free speech

and torches of liberty and flappers and

the Harlem Renaissance the 1920s was in

many ways a reactionary

period in American history. For instance

the decade saw the resurgence of the

Ku Klux Klan in a new and improved form and

by improved I mean much more terrible.

Spurred on by the hyper patriotism that

was fostered during World War One, the

Klan denounced immigrants and Jews and

Catholics as less than one hundred

percent American, and by the mid 20s the

Klan claimed more than 3 million members

and it was the largest private

organization right here in my home state

of Indiana. And with more immigrants

coming from Southern and Eastern Europe

who were often Catholic and Jewish,

White Protestants became more and more

concerned about losing their dominant

position in the social order.

Spoiler alert: it turns out okay for you, White Protestants

The first immigration

restriction bill was passed in 1921,

limiting the number of immigrants from

Europe to 357,000. In 1924, a new

immigration law dropped that number to

150,000 and established quotas based on

national origin. The numbers of

immigrants allowed from Southern and

Eastern Europe were drastically reduced

and Asians except for Filipinos were

totally forbidden. The quota for

Filipinos was set at 50 per year

although they were still allowed to

emigrate to Hawaii because their labor

was needed there. There were no

restrictions, however, on immigration from

the Western Hemisphere because

California's large-scale farms were

dependent upon seasonal laborers from

Mexico. These immigration restrictions

were also influenced by fear of radical

anarchists and pseudo scientific ideas

about race; whites were seen as

scientifically superior to people of

color and as President Coolidge himself

declared when he signed the 1924

immigration law, “America must be kept American”

Tell me Calvin Coolidge about

how American you are. Are you Cherokee, or

Cree, or Lakota? The 1920s also saw

increased tension between science

education in the United States and

religious beliefs. The best known example

is of course the trial of John Scopes in

Tennessee in 1925. Scopes was tried for

breaking the law against teaching

evolution which he had been encouraged

to do by the ACLU as a test case for

freedom of speech. Scopes was prosecuted

by William Jennings Bryan whom you will

remember as having recently resigned as

Secretary of State and who had become a

leader of the Fundamentalist Movement.

And Scopes was defended by Clarence

Darrow, that famous defense attorney who

contemporary defense attorneys always

point to to argue that defense attorneys

aren't all scum. Scopes and Darrow

actually lost the trial but the case

drew national attention and ultimately led to

evolution being taught in more American

schools. The Scopes trial is often seen

as a victory for free thinking and

science and modernism, and I suppose it

was, but for me it's more a symbol of the

contradictions of the 1920s. This is the

decade that gave us mass consumer

culture and celebrity worship, which are

important and very complicated legacies.

And it also saw the birth of modern

conceptions of civil liberties. It was a

period when tolerance became an

important value, but at the same time it

saw a rise in lynchings. Immigrants were

necessary for the economic boom of the

1920s, but at the same time their numbers

were restricted, as they were seen as a

threat to traditional American value, and

that raises a question that we're still

struggling with today: What are those

values? I don't mean that rhetorically

let me know in comments.

Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week.

Crash Course is produced and directed by

Stan Muller, our script supervisor is

Meredith Danko, the Associate Producer is

Danica Johnson to show is written by my high

school history teacher Raoul Meyer

Rosianna Rojas and myself and our

graphics team is Thought Cafe.

I nailed that.

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own in comments or ask questions about

today's video that will be answered by

our team of historians.

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