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The great war was over

the world in America.

2

With it had been irrevocably altered

and in its wake, a profound yearning

3

for calm, a return to simpler times

after war spread across the nation.

4

This sentiment found its voice in

5

and its champion in Warren g Harding.

6

He had a promise, his promise.

7

A return to normalcy.

8

America's present need is

not heroics, but healing.

9

Not nostros, but normalcy, not

revolution, but restoration.

10

Not agitation, but adjustment.

11

Not surgery, but serenity.

12

Not the dramatic but the dispassionate.

13

Not experiment, but

equipoise, not submergence.

14

In internationality.

15

But sustainment in triumphant nationality.

16

End quote, Harding's words

delivered to the home market

17

Club of Boston in May of 1920.

18

Struck a chord with the nation.

19

The nation was exhausted by the global

conflict, by the social reforms of

20

the progressive era and by a series of

domestic crises that seem to signal.

21

Anything but peace between 1918

22

pandemic had claimed the lives of

nearly 700,000 Americans hitting

23

almost 20% of the population.

24

Lucian Van Vert, a Native American nurse

volunteering in Washington DC during the

25

pandemic wrote of Soldiers Dying by the

Dozens, that was her quote, and a city

26

where all public life, that means schools,

churches, theaters, had ground to a halt.

27

This was a trauma etch deep

in the national psyche.

28

Then there was the red summer of 1919,

a period of intense racial violence

29

that erupted in at least 25 cities,

including Chicago and Washington.

30

DC.

31

The Chicago race riot alone sparked by

the drowning of a black teenager named

32

Eugene Williams after he had crossed an

Ivis invisible line at a segregated beach.

33

It lasted 13 days, leaving 38 dead.

34

23 African Americans and 15 whites

while injuring over 500 more and leaving

35

a thousand black families homeless.

36

This wave of violence underscored the

raw, unresolved racial tension simmering

37

beneath the surface of American life.

38

Adding to the instability.

39

The immediate post-war period saw

an economic downturn with national

40

unemployment soaring to 20%, and farmers

facing catastrophic bankruptcy rate.

41

So Harding's call for normalcy was less

a reflection of the existing reality

42

and more of a potent political appeal

to a deep seated desire for respite.

43

But the very forces unleashed by the

war, the economic shifts, the experiences

44

of returning soldiers, the heightened

nationalisms and the widespread

45

disillusionment made a simple return

to the pre-war state and illusion.

46

I.

47

The war had mobilized American industry

and society on an unprecedented

48

scale, and these changes couldn't

be reversed, including the new roles

49

for women and other minorities, and

it just wasn't feasible to go back

50

to some kind of pre-war normal.

51

I.

52

The psychological scars of war

with the pandemic and the red scare

53

created a volatile social landscape.

54

Normalcy was the promise, but the

55

So to talk about the 1920s, this decade,

it cannot be understood in isolation.

56

It was profoundly shaped by the

legacy of the preceding eras.

57

The failures of reconstruction,

for instance, cast a long shadow.

58

The inability to secure, lasting

civil and economic rights for

59

African Americans in the South.

60

Leading to the entrenchment of Jim

Crow, the exploitative sharecropping

61

system, the pervasive racial terror

we've talked about in previous episodes.

62

Well, these directly fueled the great

migration as hundreds of thousands

63

of African-Americans move north,

seeking economic opportunity, as

64

well as an escape from southern

oppression, lynching violence.

65

They carried these unresolved national

wounds with them reshaping urban

66

centers, and they laid the groundwork

for a new cultural expression as well

67

as continued racial conflict even in the

North as the national archives itself.

68

Notes regarding this earlier exo

duster movement that we talked about.

69

The failure of reconstruction led to what

Carter g Woodson called quote slavery in

70

a modified form, and it compelled many

to seek refuge and opportunity elsewhere

71

in the nation away from the south.

72

This same dynamic propelled the

larger waves of this great migration.

73

Simultaneously, the industrial

behemoth that was forged in the Gilded

74

Age provided the technological and

75

The era's newfound mass

production coming out of the war.

76

Its dazzling consumer goods.

77

Its sprawling cities.

78

Were all.

79

Built upon the foundations we talked

about, laid in the 19th century.

80

Yet the Gilded Age also gave a legacy

of vast inequality, bitter labor

81

disputes, and severe urban problems

like overcrowding and poor sanitation

82

issues that continue to provoke social

critique and demands for reform in the

83

1920s, which was called The New Era.

84

I've used this quote before, but I'll

use it again here, speaking about

85

the British author Rudyard Kipling,

86

the height of the Gilded Age, and he

described a city quote, captivated

87

by technology and blinded by greed, a

huge wilderness of terrible streets.

88

And terrible people.

89

His words capture the mixture of awe

and unease that industrial modernity

90

inspired an ambivalence that would only

91

Therefore, the 1920s often dubbed the

roaring twenties, or the new era was

92

far from a simple return to normalcy.

93

Instead, it was a dynamic and deeply

contradictory decade, a cultural

94

and social battleground where the

forces of modernity clashed with

95

traditional values, where unprecedented

prosperity and technological

96

advancement existed alongside profound

social anxieties and where new

97

voices of liberation and artistic

expression challenge the old order.

98

In this episode, we'll explore these

tensions from the assembly lines and the

99

airwaves that reshaped American life to

the resurgence of the KKK and the culture

100

wars that sought to define what it meant

to be American, all while reconnecting

101

and connecting these developments to the

enduring legacies of the 19th century

102

reconstruction and industrialization.

103

So let's go.

104

So let's imagine if we can capture

105

it might best be done by thinking

about the gleaming hood of a.

106

Ford Model T rolling off the

assembly line, ready to transform

107

the American landscape and

the very rhythm of daily life.

108

This was the machine age and

its gears were driven by mass

109

production, birthing a new consumer

republic, and at the forefront of

110

this transformation was Henry Ford.

111

His relentless pursuit of efficiency

through the moving assembly

112

line didn't just build cars.

113

It kind of built a new form

of America, the innovation.

114

First successfully implemented at

his Highland Park Assembly plant

115

in 1913, dramatically slashed the

time it took to build a Model T from

116

over 12 hours to a mere 93 minutes.

117

By 1914, by 1925 Ford's factories were

churning out up to 10,000 cars a day.

118

This incredible output.

119

Increase over the decade made the

automobile, which was once a luxury

120

accessible to the average American.

121

The price of a Model T also plummeted

122

1924 because of the mass production.

123

Ford himself famously declared, quote, we

believe in making 25,000 men prosperous

124

and contented rather than follow the

plan of making a few slave drivers in

125

our establishment Multimillionaires.

126

End quote.

127

This was part of his justification

for the revolutionary $5 Workday,

128

which he introduced in 1914.

129

While seemingly altruistic, this move

was also a pragmatic response to the

130

grueling, monotonous nature of the

assembly line work, which had led to

131

a staggering 370% labor turnover rate.

132

I.

133

At his Highland Park factory.

134

The higher wage, though, initially

a profit sharing bonus with strings

135

attached Ford's sociological department

was even inspected workers' homes

136

to ensure they lived according

to company approved standards.

137

It did attract and retain workers.

138

It also can lead.

139

Turned his own employees

into potential customers.

140

While it was a pragmatic response

for the turnover, it also has to be

141

reviewed in the response to labor issues

and wanting to avoid strikes as well.

142

Ford was smart in that aspect.

143

The impact of the affordable automobile

was seismic industries like glass,

144

steel, and rubber boomed to meet

the production demands of more cars.

145

The very landscape of

America began to change.

146

As our textbook notes quote,

street, street carb suburbs

147

gave way to automobile suburbs.

148

End quote.

149

Families could now live further from

urban cores leading to an explosive growth

150

of suburban communities with developers

designing new homes complete with

151

driveways and garages for their new cars.

152

Rural life too was transformed.

153

The car began to erode the profound

isolation that had characterized much of

154

farm existence, a trip to town once and.

155

All day affair by a horse and wagon

can now be done in a matter of hours.

156

As one farm woman succinctly put it when

asked why her family bought a car before

157

getting indoor plumbing in their home.

158

Quote, why you can't go

to a town in the bathtub?

159

End quote.

160

By 1920, a third of American

farmers owned a car using it not

161

just for transportation, but also

for hauling goods and even as a

162

source of farm machinery power.

163

This new mobility fostered a

roadside culture up, started to pop.

164

Gas stations, diners, motels, and the

ubiquitous billboards, which sprang

165

up to cater to the traveling public,

auto camping, or gypsy as it was

166

called, became a popular pastime even

among the wealthy with figures like

167

Henry Ford and even President Harding.

168

Himself partaking in the activity.

169

So while the automobile started to

conquer physical distance, another

170

invention was conquering the ether.

171

The radio in the 1920s radio

transitioned from a tinkers

172

curiosity to a household necessity.

173

Sales skyrocketed from about $60

174

By 1929, that's a sevenfold increase,

and by that year, over 10 million

175

American households had a radio.

176

It was more than just

an entertainment device.

177

The radio became a powerful unifying

force as our textbook highlights

178

it, quote drew the nation together,

blunted regional differences and

179

imposed similar tastes in lifestyles.

180

End quote.

181

For the first time, Americans from

coast to coast could share the

182

same experiences simultaneously.

183

They could listen to the same news, the

same music, and hear the same stories.

184

The reach of the radio cannot be

understated because it was unprecedented.

185

It penetrated even the homes where

literacy was a barrier, something

186

that newspapers could not do.

187

The writer EB White would later

recall radio's impact on rural

188

communities, describing it as

almost a God-like presence.

189

The airwaves crackled with

a variety of programming.

190

Musical shows were immensely popular,

bringing jazz from Harlem's Cotton

191

Club performed by iconic artists

like Duke Ellington and Benny

192

Goodman to a national audience.

193

Comedy shows like Amos and Andy, despite.

194

Perpetuating very harmful racial

stereotypes became a national phenomenon.

195

News, political speeches,

and play-by-play.

196

Sports broadcasting also

filled the airwaves.

197

Transforming how Americans engage

with current events in leisure.

198

Sitting down and listening

to a ball game by the radio.

199

Still one of my favorite things to do.

200

The first live broadcast of presidential

201

on the station KDKA in Pittsburgh,

202

four years later, radio had become

a significant campaign tool.

203

So this explosion of mass produced

goods and mass media created the fertile

204

ground for another booming industry.

205

Advertising our favorite

thing, we all love ads.

206

The 1920s saw advertising transform

from a largely informal service

207

to a powerful pervasive force.

208

The total advertising volume in the United

States grew from about 200 million in

209

1880 to nearly $3 billion in 1920, and

210

in the advertising industry itself.

211

Advertisers began to employ sophisticated

psychological techniques and emotional

212

appeals to create a desire for products

moving beyond simply responding to demand.

213

To actively creating that demand.

214

The Listerine campaign, for

example, didn't just sell mouthwash.

215

It sold relief from a newly minted

social anxiety of halitosis.

216

Coca-Cola invited customers

to pause that refreshes.

217

As one contemporary observer noted

quote, advertisers were no longer

218

simply responding to demand.

219

They were creating the demand end quote.

220

This new culture of consumption was

further enabled by the widespread adoption

221

of also something new consumer credit.

222

The mantra, buy Now, pay later took hold.

223

Department stores offer generous

lines of credit and installments.

224

Plans made big ticket items like

the automobile and new household

225

appliances attainable for many middle

class families who couldn't afford to

226

buy them wholesale with a lump sum.

227

By the end of the decade, an astonishing

75% of cars were purchased on credit.

228

The economic engine of the

229

machine of interdependent parts.

230

Mass production, fueled by

industrial advancement, churned out

231

an unprecedented volume of goods.

232

Mass media, particularly the radio and

national magazines, created a unified

233

audience for advertisers who in turn

cultivated new desires and aspirations.

234

The consumer credit provided the

mechanism for these desires to be

235

translated into purchases to be consumed.

236

This cycle propelled a prosperity of the

roaring twenties, but it also embedded

237

a reliance on continuous consumption and

debt that would have profound consequences

238

when the economic wind shifted.

239

While these technologies fostered a

national culture by breaking down regional

240

barriers and exposing diverse populations

to shared products and media and news,

241

they also paradoxically contributed

to a new form of social segmentation.

242

I.

243

The automobile, for instance, facilitated

the growth of the suburbs, which often

244

became segregated by class radio programs

while creating the shared experiences,

245

sometimes did so by reinforcing harmful

stereotypes, particularly of African

246

Americans in shows like Amos and Andy.

247

Access to these new consumer goods

and technologies was not universal

248

and it often reflected and reinforced

existing class and racial divides.

249

Thus, the very tools for forging a

national culture were simultaneously.

250

Inscribing new lines of division.

251

Amidst the roar of the engines and

the crackle of radio waves, new voices

252

were rising, challenging the old

norms and forging fresh identities.

253

The 1920s was a period of

profound cultural ferment.

254

Nowhere more vibrantly expressed

than that in the Harlem Renaissance,

255

in the emergence of the new woman.

256

These movements didn't just reflect

the times they actively shaped them,

257

offering powerful critiques and

alternative visions of American life.

258

So let's start with

the Harlem Renaissance.

259

The great migration, that vast movement

of African Americans from the rural

260

south to the industrial north was

more than just a demographic shift.

261

It was a catalyst for

a cultural revolution.

262

Harlem in New York City became the

epicenter of this transformation.

263

Its black population exploded, growing

264

it grew to over 327,000 people.

265

As one contemporary account noted,

Harlem became a destination for

266

African Americans of all backgrounds.

267

They shared common experiences of slavery,

emancipation, and racial oppression,

268

as well as a determination to forge a

new identity as free people end quote.

269

This concentration of talent,

experience and aspiration created

270

the fertile ground for what became

known as the Harlem Renaissance.

271

Now a key intellectual architect

of the Harlem Renaissance in

272

this movement was Allain Locke.

273

In his seminal 1925 essay, entered

the new Negro Locke, proclaimed

274

that the arrival of a black populace

imbued with a new psychology and

275

undergoing a spiritual emancipation.

276

The old Negro as Locke argued, quote,

was a creature of moral debate and

277

historical controversy, more of a

formula than a human being End quote.

278

This new Negro by contrast was

shaking off, quote, the psychology

279

of imitation and implied inferiority.

280

This was a declaration of intellectual

and cultural independence.

281

This new spirit found powerful

expression in literature.

282

Men like Langston Hughes.

283

Perhaps he was the most iconic

poet of the Renaissance itself, and

284

he championed the beauty and the

resilience of everyday black life,

285

infusing his work with the rhythms of

286

Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.

287

Hughes challenged black artists to

embrace their heritage and resist the

288

urge towards whiteness, the desire to

conform to white artistic standards.

289

He declared, quote, we younger Negro

artists who create now intend to

290

express our individual dark skinned

selves without fear or shame.

291

We build our temples for tomorrow strong

as we know how, and we stand on top

292

of the mountain free within ourselves.

293

End quote.

294

His poem entitled I too, captures the

spirit of this assertive belonging quote.

295

I too sing America.

296

I am the darker brother.

297

They send me to eat in the kitchen

when company comes, but I laugh

298

and I eat well and grow strong.

299

Tomorrow I'll be at the

table when the company comes.

300

End quote.

301

Zora Neil Hurston, another towering

figure celebrated southern black

302

folk culture and explored the

multifaceted identities of black women.

303

Her 1928 essay how it feels to be

Colored Me offers a defiant and

304

individualistic perspective on race.

305

She famously wrote, quote,

I am not tragically colored.

306

There is no great sorrow damned up in

my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes.

307

I do not mind at all, end quote,

and with her characteristic wit,

308

quote, sometimes I feel discriminated

against, but it does not make me angry.

309

It merely astonishes me.

310

How can any deny themselves

the pleasure of my company?

311

It's beyond me.

312

End quote.

313

Claude McKay, a Jamaican immigrant,

brought a militant fire to his

314

poetry, his sonnet, if we must die.

315

Penned in response to the

316

anthem of resistance quote.

317

If we must die, let it not be like hogs

hunted and penned in an inglorious spot.

318

Like men will face the murderous

cowardly pack, pressed to the wall,

319

dying, but fighting back end quote.

320

His poem.

321

America in 1921 expressed a more

ambivalent yet powerful engagement

322

with his adopted homeland.

323

Although she feeds me bread of

bitterness and sinks into my

324

throat, her tiger's tooth, I.

325

Stealing my breath of life.

326

I will confess.

327

I love this cultured

hell that tests my youth.

328

End quote, visual artists also flourished.

329

Aaron Douglas often called the father

of African-American modernism, created

330

murals like aspects of Negro life in 1934

that depicted the historical journey and

331

cultural heritage of African Americans.

332

Blending African motifs

with modern aesthetics.

333

His work visually narrated the black

experience, making history and identity

334

accessible and instilling pride.

335

And then of course there was the music.

336

The 1920s was undeniably the jazz

age, and Harlem was, its beating heart

337

innovators like Duke Ellington and

Louis Armstrong revolutionized American

338

music and I can't stress that enough.

339

Ellington himself captured the allure of

the place, saying Harlem in our minds had

340

the world's most glamorous atmosphere.

341

We had to go there.

342

End quote, venues like the Cotton

Club became legendary, though they

343

often embodied a central paradox

of the era showcasing incredible

344

black talent in the music on stage.

345

To exclusively white audiences.

346

It was a stark reminder of

the pervasive segregation.

347

Even within this cultural blossoming

and even in the north, black culture

348

was being celebrated and consumed,

yet often on the terms dictated bias.

349

Segregated society, highlighting

the complex interplay of artistic

350

freedom, economic necessity.

351

Racial Inequality Magazines like The

Crisis published by the NAACP under the

352

editorial leadership of WEB Du Bois and

literary editor Jesse Redmond Faucet.

353

An opportunity published by the

National Urban League with Charles S.

354

Johnson at the helm played a crucial

role in nurturing and promoting this

355

new wave of black writers and artists.

356

Often through literary contests and

providing a platform for their work to

357

be published, these publications were

vital in shaping and disseminating

358

the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance.

359

Parallel to the emergence of the new

360

the new woman, the iconic image of the

flapper with her bobbed hair, short

361

skirts, makeup, and a penchant for

smoking cigarettes, drinking cocktails,

362

and dancing to jazz symbolized a

broader challenge to the Victorian

363

norms of femininity and domesticity.

364

The new woman was more than

just a fashion statement.

365

She represented a deeper shift in women's

roles and aspirations, significantly

366

fueled by the achievement of national

367

Feminist and socialist Crystal

368

Now we can begin articulated a

forward-looking agenda with the vote.

369

One she argued the real fight for women's

freedom could commence for Eastman.

370

This meant quote, how to arrange the

world so that women can be human beings

371

instead of being destined by the accident

of their sex to one field of activity.

372

Housework.

373

Child raising.

374

She called for economic independence,

a revolution in the early training and

375

education of both boys and girls to

dismantle traditional gender roles in

376

domestic labor and voluntary motherhood

through access to birth control.

377

She quip men will not

give up their privilege of

378

helplessness without a struggle.

379

End quote.

380

Women's activism in the 1920s

extended into various spheres.

381

They were prominent in peace movements

with organizations like the Women's

382

Peace Party, which became the US

section of the Women's International

383

League for Peace and Freedom, and

they advocated for international

384

cooperation and military disarmament.

385

They lobbied for labor

regulations and child welfare.

386

A significant legislative victory was

387

provided federal funds for maternal and

child health clinics, a landmark piece

388

of social welfare legislation heavily

influenced by women's advocacy groups like

389

the Women's Joint Congressional Committee.

390

This act demonstrated the newfound

political leverage of enfranchised

391

women and their commitment to

social reform providing a model for

392

future federal state partnerships.

393

I.

394

In addition to these was Margaret Sanger,

who was a leading figure in the birth

395

control movement and in founding of

the American Birth Control League in

396

1921, tirelessly campaigning for women's

reproductive rights, despite facing

397

legal challenges and social opposition.

398

Her work, however, was complicated by her

association with the eugenics movement.

399

In 1920, Sanger stated that birth

control is nothing more or less

400

than the facilitation of the

process of weeding out the unfit and

401

preventing the birth of defectives.

402

This alignment though Sanger

reportedly opposed eugenics along

403

purely racial lines, tarnished her

legacy and highlighted the complex

404

and sometimes troubling intersection

of 20th century reform movements.

405

The era's exuberance and excesses

also drew sharp criticism from some of

406

America's leading literary figures who saw

hollowness beneath the glittering surface.

407

Sinclair Lewis in novels like Main Street

and Babbitt Satirize, the conformity,

408

materialism, and anti-intellectualism of

small town and middle class American life.

409

His character George f Babbitt, A

prosperous real estate broker in

410

the fictional city of Zenith, became

an archetype of the unthinking

411

self-satisfied American businessman.

412

Lewis, through babbitt's voice

in a speech captured this mindset

413

quote, here's the specification of

the standardized American citizen.

414

We're not doing any boasting, but

we like ourselves first rate, and

415

if you don't like us, look out.

416

Better get undercover before

the cyclone hits town.

417

End quote.

418

Maybe the best well known as f Scott

Fitzgerald's, the Great Gatsby in

419

1925, which offered a poignant critique

of the American dream exposing its

420

corruption by wealth and class, and

the moral decay of the jazz age.

421

Jay Gatsby's, tragic

pursuit of Daisy Buchanan.

422

A symbol of old money in an idealized

past, ends in disillusionment and death.

423

The novel's famous closing lines

resonate with a sense of striving

424

against an elusive dream quote.

425

So we beat on boats against the current

born back ceaselessly into the past End

426

quote, Nick Caraway, the narrator observes

Daisy's failure to live up to Gatsby's,

427

quote, colossal vitality of his illusion.

428

A powerful commentary on the

nature of aspiration and reality.

429

And then there was HL Menkin, the

sage of Baltimore, whose biting satire

430

filled the pages of the American

Mercury Menkin relentlessly attacked

431

American conformity Puritanism, and

what he derisively termed the Bois Z.

432

He famously quip.

433

Democracy is the theory that the

common people know what they want

434

and deserve to get it good and hard.

435

End quote.

436

Speaking of American Puritanism, he

wrote, quote assumes that every human

437

act must be either right or wrong,

and that 90% of them are wrong.

438

End.

439

Quote, these writers, each in

their own way, held up the mirror

440

to the 1920s America reflecting

not just its achievements.

441

But also its anxieties and hypocrisies.

442

So let's move on to the

backlash in the division.

443

The culture wars of these 1920s,

the roaring twenties were.

444

Just about jazz and flappers beneath

the surface of prosperity and

445

cultural innovation, deep-seated

anxieties about the rapid pace of

446

change fueled a powerful backlash.

447

This was a decade of profound cultural

conflict pitting urban modernism

448

against the rural traditionalism,

science against fundamentalist religion,

449

and a diversifying America against

a resurgent exclusionary nativism.

450

Politically speaking, the 1920s were

dominated by a trio of conservative

451

Republican presidents, Warren g Harding,

Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.

452

They shared a largely pro-business

ideology emphasizing limited government

453

regulation and fiscal conservatism.

454

Harding, as we had heard, were promised

that return to normalcy, Calvin Coolidge

455

famously tack turn encapsulated the

era's economic philosophy with the

456

often quoted though contextually nuanced

phrase, quote, the chief business of the

457

American people is business End quote.

458

He delivered this to the American Society

459

statement underscored the centrality

of commerce in the National Identity.

460

Coolidge's administration with Andrew

Mellon as Secretary of the Treasury

461

championed significant tax cuts,

particularly for the wealthy, under

462

the belief that this would trickle

down and stimulate the economy.

463

While Coolidge favored a light hand in

business regulation, his administration

464

did sign the radio act establishing a

federal oversight of the radio, this

465

new, uh, medium, and he blocked farm

relief bills like the McNary Hogan.

466

Believing that market forces rather

than government intervention would

467

be the best help for farmers.

468

Herbert Hoover, who had served as

Secretary of Commerce under Harding

469

and Coolidge before his own presidency,

promoted what he called associational

470

a system of voluntary cooperation

between government and business.

471

In his 1928 speech on the principles in

ideals of the United States government,

472

Hoover championed the American system of

quote, ordered liberty, freedom, and equal

473

opportunity to the individual end quote.

474

Arguing this individual initiative

was the engine of American progress.

475

He warned against government overreach

stating bureaucracy is ever desirous of

476

spreading its influence and its power

free speech does not live many hours

477

after free industry and free commerce die.

478

This economic philosophy prioritizing

business and individual enterprise defined

479

the Republican leadership of the decade.

480

However, this era of Republican

dominance was also marred by scandal,

481

most notably the Teapot dome scandal.

482

During Harden's administration,

secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall

483

was convicted of accepting bribes for

secretly leasing federal oil reserves

484

at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk kills

California to private oil companies.

485

Fall became the first US cabinet

member to be imprisoned for

486

crimes committed in office.

487

Though Harding himself was not

personally implicated and he.

488

Passed away before any

damage could be done to him.

489

His awareness of corruption within

his own Ohio gang and his failure to

490

act severely damage his reputation

and public trust in the government.

491

Had he not passed away prematurely,

he might have had more problems.

492

He.

493

Another backlash of this era was the

anxieties that the new era itself

494

manifested, and it manifested in a

virulent wave of nativism and violence

495

with the disturbing reemergence.

496

The Ku Klux Klan, the second clan,

497

membership in the early 1920s, and it

claimed millions of members, not just

498

in the South, but across the nation,

and particularly in the Midwest.

499

This new clan broadened its targets beyond

African Americans to include Catholics,

500

Jews, recent immigrants, and especially

those from Southern and Eastern Europe.

501

Hiram Evans, a dentist who became the

Imperial Wizard of the Klan, articulated

502

his ideology in his 1926 article.

503

The Klan fights for Americanism.

504

He proclaimed the Klan spoke

for quote, the great Mass of

505

Americans of the old pioneer stock.

506

Whom he defined as belonging

to the Nordic race.

507

Evans argued that these quote old stock

Americans had felt their traditional moral

508

standards, the sanctity of the Sabbath,

the home and chastity had been eroded by

509

what he called strange ideas and aliens.

510

The Klan's definition of Americanism was

explicitly exclusionary based on quote.

511

Loyalty to the white race, to

the traditions of America and

512

to the spirit of Protestantism.

513

Their slogan, Evan stated, was

Native white Protestant supremacy.

514

End quote.

515

The Klan's method included

intimidation, but also violence such

516

as lynching, arson, beating, and

significant political maneuvering.

517

They wield a considerable political

power in states like Indiana,

518

where Grand Dragon David C.

519

Stevenson, boasted quote,

I am the law in Indiana.

520

As well as in Oregon where

the Klan was instrumental in

521

efforts to ban Catholic schools.

522

This resurgence could be understand

as a direct backlash against

523

the very diversification and

524

The Klan's targets, Catholics, Jews,

immigrants, the new Negro were the

525

embodiment of a changing America that

threatened the perceived cultural and

526

social dominance of white Protestants.

527

Now the anxieties of the 1920s also

ignited a fierce battle between religious

528

fundamentalism and scientific modernism.

529

Most famously, this was dramatized

530

It's often been called the Monkey Trial.

531

And this courtroom showdown in

Dayton, Tennessee pitted the

532

renowned lawyer, Clarence Darrow.

533

Defending high school teacher John

Scopes for teaching evolution, and

534

he went up against the three-time

presidential candidate and

535

fundamentalist champion William Jennings.

536

Bryan, who assisted the prosecution.

537

The trial became a national

media spectacle, the first to be

538

broadcast live on radio by WGN.

539

Journalists, including the acerbic HL

Mankin of the Baltimore Sun descended

540

upon Dayton with Mankin, famously

dubbing it monkey Town, and he ridiculed

541

Brian and the fundamentalist cause.

542

Darrow declared quote, scopes isn't

on trial, civilization is on trial,

543

and he framed it as a fight for

intellectual freedom against bigotry.

544

Brian during Darrow's relentless

cross-examination about biblical

545

literalism proclaimed, I'm simply

trying to protect the word of God

546

against the greatest atheist or

agnostic in the United States.

547

While scopes was ultimately

found guilty, a verdict later

548

overturned on a technicality.

549

The trial exposed deep divisions

in American society over science,

550

religion, and education, and many

saw darrow's grilling of Brian as a

551

SI symbolic victory for modernism.

552

The scopes trial was a flashpoint for the

broader rise of Christian fundamentalism.

553

This movement gaining traction in the

early 20th century emphasized biblical in

554

errancy and vehemently opposed Darwin's

theory of evolution and other aspects

555

of modern, uh, thought that they saw as

undermining traditional Christian values.

556

Leaders like William Bell Riley,

founder of the World, Christian

557

Fundamentalist Association in 1919, and.

558

Fiery evangelists like Billy Sunday

who proclaimed quote, Christianity

559

and patriotism are synonymous terms

and hell and traitors are synonymous.

560

End quote.

561

They mobilized conservative Christians

against what they perceived as societal

562

decay from this roaring twenties.

563

They aim to quote, hold the line

against change in American culture.

564

How can we talk about the 1920s

without talking about prohibition?

565

The noble experiment.

566

This was another major cultural

567

The 18th Amendment ratified in

568

which banned the manufacturer sale

and transportation of intoxicating

569

liquors, defines stringently as

anything containing over 0.5%

570

alcohol.

571

Motivations were mixed.

572

Progressive era desires to curb

social ills associated with alcohol,

573

as well as anti-immigrant sentiment.

574

Targeting the drinking cultures of

ethnic groups and the moral fervor

575

of rural Protestant Americans.

576

Clashing with urban lifestyles

led to the banning of alcohol.

577

Enforcement of the Volted Act

proved immensely challenging.

578

The result was widespread.

579

Flouting of the law bootlegging.

580

The illegal production and sale of alcohol

became a massive underground industry,

581

speakeasies the secret bars and nightclub.

582

Proliferated in cities becoming

iconic symbol of the era's defiance.

583

This illicit trade fueled the rise

of organized crime with figures like

584

Chicago's Al Capone earning fortunes

an estimated $60 million annually from

585

bootlegging and speakeasies for Capone.

586

The era saw a corresponding rise

in gang violence notoriously

587

exemplified by the St.

588

Valentine's Massacre in Chicago of 1929.

589

Prohibition also led to increased

corruption within law enforcement and

590

a general disrespect for the law and

the ultimate weakening of public trust.

591

So while America grappled with

its internal culture wars,

592

the new ominous ideology was

taking root in Europe fascism.

593

In October, 1922, Benito Mussolini and

his black shirt staged their march on

594

Rome leading to Mussolini's appointment

as prime minister and the subsequent

595

consolidation of fascist power in Italy.

596

Americans reactions to Mussolini's

Rise were varied and they were complex.

597

Some segments of the American press

and public expressed admiration for

598

Mussolini, particularly for fascism,

staunch anti-communism, and its perceived

599

restoration of order in discipline.

600

The Kansas City Star in August of

601

Mus Lee's fascism with quote.

602

100% Americanism.

603

End quote.

604

Mussolini himself in an interview with the

Dallas Morning News emphasized discipline

605

and work as his guiding principles.

606

Others, however, viewed the rise of

fascism with measured unease, fearing

607

its militaristic rhetoric, and the

potential for another European war, as was

608

noted by the Forth worth star Telegram.

609

These early American responses often

interpreted fascism through a domestic

610

American lens, sometimes praising

its perceived strength in combating

611

radicalism or promoting national

unity, while often underestimating its

612

inherent dangers and its fundamental

departure from democratic principles.

613

This foreshadowed the complex and

often hesitant response by Americans

614

to the growing threat of fascism.

615

In the 1920s, in the 1930s,

even leading up to World War ii.

616

So the 1920s, then this decade that began

with a plea for normalcy and ended on

617

the precipice of the Great Depression.

618

It was, as we've seen anything but normal.

619

It was an era of dazzling

technological innovation.

620

The automobile and the radio forever

altered the fabric of American life.

621

It created a mass consumer culture

fueled by new advertising techniques

622

and the seductive promise of credit.

623

It was an era of profound cultural

renaissance as the new Negro of Harlem

624

proclaimed a new racial consciousness

and artistic vibrancy, and the new

625

woman challenged traditional gender

roles demanding new freedoms in their

626

social, economic and personal lives.

627

I.

628

Yet this new era was an

age of deep contradictions.

629

The prosperity was unevenly

distributed, and the decades innovations

630

were met with fierce resistance.

631

Conservative politics sought to reign in

the perceived excesses of modern life.

632

The Ku Klux Klan experienced a terrifying

resurgence preaching a doctrine of quote,

633

native, white, Protestant supremacy.

634

End quote, against the backdrop

of increasing immigration

635

and black migration.

636

The scopes trial became

a national referendum on

637

science versus fundamentalist

Christianity and prohibition.

638

The noble experiment bred organized

crime and widespread disrespect for

639

the law even as America looked inward.

640

The rise of fascism in Europe

cast a long and ominous shadow.

641

The 1920s then was a

critical turning point.

642

The battles fought over cultural

values, racial equality, the role of

643

women, the definition of Americanism,

and the relationship between tradition

644

and modernity were not resolved.

645

Instead, they laid the groundwork

for the economic catastrophe.

646

Of the Great Depression, our next

episode, as well as the global conflict

647

of World War ii, the episode after

that, and many of the social and

648

cultural debates that continue to

resonate in American society today.

649

The echoes of the jazz age with its

vibrant creativity and its stark

650

divisions can still be heard as HL Menkin.

651

One of the era's sharpest critics

observed, quote, the whole aim of

652

practical politics is to keep the

populace alarmed and hence glamorous,

653

to be led to safety by menacing it

with an endless series of hob, goblins,

654

all of them imaginary end quote.

655

Perhaps the Hobb goblins of the 1920s

were not entirely imaginary, but

656

reflection of a nation grappling with

its own rapidly changing identity.

657

Thanks for coming out to

Star Spangled Studies.

658

I'm Dr.

659

G.

660

I'll see y'all in the past.