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Name the three presidents of the 1920s
What was life generally like in the 1920s?
Positive, characterized by parties, spending on a comfortable life, and pushing boundaries.
Name one famous athlete from the 1920s
Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey
What is the difference between a bull market and a bear market?
A bull market is a stock market of optimism and rising prices; a bear market is a stock market of pessimism and falling prices
What was the Red Scare?
mass panic over the alleged threat of communism and anarchism in the US (post Russian Revolution). This was fueled by several bombs sent through the mail. It ended in the prosecution and deportation of many innocent immigrants.
Make sure to review communist ideology as discussed in class.
Who was Freud and what effect did he have on 1920s culture?
He was a psychoanalyst who popularized theories of sexual suppression and dialogue with patients. People used his ideas as an excuse to have sex freely and openly.
Describe a flapper
A woman willing to push social boundaries in the 1920s by wearing shorter dresses, smoking/drinking, etc. She had more freedom, such as the right to work outside the home, right to vote, control the size of her family (birth control)
What was the US's foreign policy theme in the 1920s
isolationism- focus on things at home rather than dabble in foreign affairs.
What was Coolidge's Presidency like? How did it end?
Very hands off, let the economy and business run unregulated. He did not run again even though he was eligible.
What groups did the KKK dislike/attack? Give one example from class about how this turns violent
Jews, Catholics, Blacks, Immigrants.
Examples: lynchings, Tulsa Massacre, Chicago Riot, Red Summer 1919
Who won the Scopes Trial?
John Scopes is found guilty and fined $100, but the modernists clearly win the support of the American public
What does it mean to buy on margin?
People buy stock with credit, so they only pay 10% and a broker borrows the rest from the bank.
Who ran for president in 1928?
Herbert Hoover and Al Smith
Who led the birth control movement in the 1920s?
Margaret Sanger
Name an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance
Marcus Garvey, Zora Neal Hurston, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Langston Hughes
Explain the debt cycle that persisted throughout the 1920s between the US and Europe
The Allies owed America war debt. Germany owed the Allies reparations. Neither had any money (US blocked European trade with the Fordney-McCumber Tariff). So US investors loan Germany money to pay reparation to the Allies. The Allies then pay the US government with the money from Germany.
What was the teapot dome scandal?
Harding gave Albert Fall control of the navy's oil reserves at Teapot Dome and Elks Hill. He leased these reserves to friends' companies in return for sizable kick backs. The Supreme Court ruled the leases fraudulent.
What characterized 1920s literature? Name two famous writers of the period
It broke with traditional writing norms, often times displaying a great deal of disillusionment and a search for meaning. The writers often looked beyond the glamorous 20s life, viewing it as empty/lacking.
Mencken, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Eliot, Falkner
What did the Immigration Act of 1924 do?
It restricted annual immigration to 2% of each nationality (Italian, Polish etc) that was present in the US in 1890. (according to the 1890 census). It also totally blocked Japanese Immigration.
What caused the stock market to crash?
1. Speculation caused stock prices to be too high (the stocks were overvalued).
2. When they naturally dipped, people panicked and began to sell. When everyone sells at once, prices fall (Black Thursday).
3. But to make matters worse, margin calls occur, where brokers and banks make consumers pay the rest of the stock price that they bought on credit.
4. This triggers mass selling, because no one can pay up. Prices of stock fall through the floor and the market crashes completely (Black Tuesday)