USA 1917-1929

• Economic impact:
• by 1917 produced and used 70% of worlds oil
• Huga mid-west farms grew 30% of the world's wheat and 75% of corn
• Expanded global share of trade
• Isolationism:
• Wilson's 14 points faiiled to get enough support and suffered a stroke 1919
• congress rejected both LON and TOV(treaty of Versailles)
• No desire to be dragged into another European war
• USA had mobilized 4.3 million for WW1 and suffered 323000 casualties
• WW1 cost the USA $26.5 million
• wanted to keep freedom by acting independenlty without the LON
• Warren Harding won a landslide on a platform of a return to normalcy
• US returned to isolationism(no LON, quotas and tariffs)

• Aim to protect home-grown industries the republican party introduced tariffs to protect domestic producers from foreign imports
• The Emergency Tariff 1921 increased rates on wheat, sugar, meat, wool and agricultural products from other nations
• Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922 further increased tariffs on foreign agricultural and industrial imports
• Both helped the US economy grow rapidly
• Republican measures that helped businesses grow: low taxation and regulation and the promotion of trusts (huge powerful corporations)

• Attitudes
• The US was a very diverse and most Americans were of immigrant background(more than 8 million) almost a million per year migrated 1901-1910 as many escaping poverty in Europe
• Immigration caused tension between the more established groups (Irish and German) and newer (Italian or Eastern Europe)
• Prejudice, racism, religious difference and social problems added to the tension
• The Red scare/Sacco and Vanzetti Case
• There was hostility to new ideas (communism) which was described as the red scare
• Us government kept files on 60,000 suspects and 10,000 were deported by 1920
• 1919 bombings supported by immigrant radicals increased tension
• Sacco and Vanzetti case 1920-1921
• Two Italian immigrants who admitted they had radical views were arrested and accused of an armed robbery where two people were killed
• They were both executed 1927 and it showed prejudice  

Reasons introduced  Prohibition – had strong backing in rural areas C19 onwards and had support from churches and members of Congress  Groups such as the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union campaigned against the excesses and evils caused by alcohol and immorality in big cities (e.g. NY and Chicago)  C20 became a national campaign – by 1916 21 states had banned saloons – and some industrialists backed the movement

Successes and failures

Prohibition lasted from 1920-33 (21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment)  Prohibition failed, but did achieve some successes, for example:  During the 1920s levels of alcohol consumption fell by about 1/3  It was popular in rural areas and the Midwest  Large numbers of illegal distilleries were seized (total of over 280,000) and gallons of spirits confiscated (1925: 11m) and many arrests were made (1929 67,000)  It was hard to get conviction  Prohibition enforcement was not well-funded and there was a lack of enforcement agents (who covered huge areas)  Initially, there were only 1500 prohibition agents, though this number had almost doubled by 1930. However, they had to patrol 29,000 km of coastline and keep an eye on 125million people 

• Corruption and bribery were very common undermining the law
• gangs made more than $2billion per year selling alcohol illegally
• gang violence cause riots, prostitution and gambling
• 130 murders in Chicago 1926-1927 and not one arrest
• gang leaders making millions
• capone bribed officials(judges, police officers and the city mayor

• The US had growing industrial power and a wealth of natural resources 
• post-WW1 the US could boost global trade
• Republican policies during the 1920s helped the economy to grow with low taxation on businesses
• The USA loaned money to European countries to buy American goods
• Real wages rose by 11% by 1929
• By 1929 the USA produced 46% of the world's industrial goods
• Mass production
• The boom in the 1920s led to three key industries growing-motor vehicles, electricity and electrical goods and chemicals
• 1 in 5 in the US bought cars which showed a richer economy and more commodities
• New mass production techniques helped this such as Ford  who used the production line
• road construction became the biggest single employer because of the USA's biggest inidustry the car industry

• Consumerism
• New methods developed to get people to buy things e.g. mass advertising, travelling salesman, stock brokers+4 million shareowners
• The stock market became key as people thought that they could get rich quick+some people loaned money to invest in the stock market. Therefore businesses had more money so production went up
• Farming
• The farming sector enjoyed a sustained period of prosperity during the 1920s
• Overproduction was a real problem as more land was farmed with greater efficiency as better and more efficient farm machinery and better fertiliser techniques 
• Very high levels of unemployment as masses moved to the city because of better machinery
• 600,000 lost their farms in 1924
• Some farmers did experience growth to fill a healthy wealthy demand
• Older industries
  
• Workers in older industries e.g. coal, leather and textiles+living conditions were poor for these
  
• leather and textiles faced competition from new man-made materials
• 40% of people lived below the poverty line
  

• women
• Pre WW1 women's roles and opportunities were restricted e.g. clothing, make-up and behaviour(expected to have chaperones to go to sports events and to smoke in public)
• job opportunities were limited e.g. cleaning and secretarial work which paid low
• worse for women in rural areas
• After WW1 things began to change as more women were working in factories
• 10 million women employed by 1929
• films and novels started o show woman as heroic
• divorces became more common
• limitations still existed as they were paid less and had little influence over politics
• Women wore higher skirts and went out with more freedom

• social changes occurred especially in urban areas fulled by the growth of cities
• People had disposable income that could be spent on commodities and entertainment keeping other industries alive
• The working week became shorter
• movie industry took off because people had more money 17000 cinemas set up in 1926
• The jazz age rose as more people owned radios
• Organised sports leagues boomed e.g. Boston red sox or the Yankees
• Growth in leisure lead to people going on more shopping trips, holidays
• Morals
• The US divided and diverse society displayed differing values and attitudes
• People were divided over jazz and prohibition
• Flappers challenged the traditional view of the role of women
• Black people were victims of great prejudice
• The Scopes monkey trial during the 1920s highlighted the ill-feeling between rural and urban areas
• many rural areas believed in creationism rather then Darwins theory of evolution

• Attitudes and discrimination
• Despite the end of slavery racial intolerance and state laws showed racial prejudice 
• During the 1920s many African Americans moved to large cities like Chicago and NYC
• Jum Crow laws meant that black people led a difficult life and often in poverty as they had to have different water fountains and toilets also blacks didn't have access to good infrastructure
• Ku Klux Klan
• The situation was compounded by 1000s of lynchings and the emergence of a power KKK
• only WAPS could join the Klan
• The KKK discriminated against Jews, Mexicans, Roman Catholics and black people
• It was difficult to change the views of southern Americans
• Black campaigners
• Jazz and art flourished in places like Harlem which became popular amongst white people
• WEB Dubois founded the NAACP(national association for advancement of coloured people) which by 1919 had 90,000 members and 300 branches