USA in the 1920's

Isolationism

1920 election was won by the Republican Party Warren Harding and his slogan was 'normalcy'
The USA did not LON and made a separate peace treaty with Germany in 1921
They refused to join alliances
Millions of refugees from Europe went to America to escape the war
In 1917 a literacy test was introduced for immigrants and Asians were not allowed to immigrate
The immigrants were blamed for the rising crime, alcoholism and other social problems
WASPs and Ku Klux Klan spread the belief that the USA should be a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant country
In 1919 there were a load of strikes which they immigrants were blamed for
Unemployment increased after the war and immigrants were blamed for taking there jobs
Quotas 1921,1923 and 1929 were introduced to cut immigration
In 1922 the Fordney-McCumber tariff put tax on foreign goods
When the USA introduced tariffs so did the other countries

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During the 1920's America had the highest standard of living in the world
The USA had been involved with the war for 18 months and did not recieve the damage that the European countries had
American industry and agriculture expanded enormously and American companies made profit selling to the European countries
America was owed money from debts from European countries
In the 1920's food prices and housing costs were low
People had money to spend on consumer goods
Lower taxes meant that people had more money to spend
New mass production methods meant that more goods could be produced at lower costs
Everyone wanted the newest things
New products were being made like cars, radio, refrigerators
After 1918 electricity was supplied to most houses
Advertising campaigns persuaded people to buy the new products
American farmers were producing more than what they could sell and tariffs meant that other countries wern't willing to buy it off of them
Black people in the South suffered from poverty and were victims of racial segregation and violence, they could only get low paid, unskilled work

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At the same time of the boom there were also major social and cultural change
There was a population shift from countryside to the towns and cities
In 1920 women were given the right to vote and could become town Mzyors, Members of Congress, Senators
Females had more choice of their clothes and it was acceptable for them to smoke,drink and go to parties unsupervised (Flappers)
They had more money to spend on entertainment - Cinemas, radio, stadiums, dancing, speakeasies, jazz bands, theatre
By 1925 KKK had 5 million members and believed in white supremacy in America. They wanted it to become a White Anglo Saxon Protestants countries
The Klan wanted segregation blacks and white and to take away blacks legal rights
The KKK was a very secretive organisation and used racial violence, terror, murder and lynching
The Anti Saloon League campaigned for prohibition, they believed drunkenness and alcoholism was a major socail evil
In 1920 the Volstead Act banned alcohol in the USA
Organised crime took over manufacture and distrubition of alcohol, thousands of speakeasies were opened to supply alcohol
The authorities could not enforce the law and few people were caught

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At the start of the 1929 they thought the boom years would never ended and Herbert Hoover thought that poverty have been conquered
American industry was producing too much consumer goods, which they could not sell
Many Americans -farmers, Black Americans and immigrants - were too poor to afford the goods
The boom led to over confidence in the stock market and it became a place for short term speculation rather than long term investment
People borrowed money to buy shares
Brokers charged very high rates of interests on these loans
On October 24th (Black Thursday) shares began to fall and panic selling caused prices to fall sharply
Financiers failed to restore confidence
On October 29th (Black Tuesday) investors rushed to sell and share prices fell $40 billion in a single day and by 1930 they had fallen by 90%
Many companies were forced out of business (declare bankruptcy), banks called in loans and people were unable to buy goods
Unemployment increased and demand for goods fell sharply forcing factories to close, people could no longer afford credit repayments and companies lost income, hundreds of banks closed because of stockmarket losses and bad debts
Between 1929 and 1932 unemployment increased from 2 million to 12 million

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