Jerry Goure

History 17C
12 December 2013
Reading Notes - Faragher - Ch. 22-23
I. The effects of World War I in the U.S.
A. Business, in particular corporations, grew considerably with the cooperation and support
of the federal government. (p.416)
B. Trade unions, especially AFL affiliates, prospered; though the radical Industrial Workers
of the World was broken by the Justice Department under the Espionage Act.
1. Economic expansion, army mobilization & a decline in European immigration
caused a labor shortage.
2. Samuel Gompers pledged the AFL’s support for the war effort and was appointed
to the National War Labor Board (1918)
3. The NWLB supported the unions and pro-labor policies – 8-hour day, time and a
half, and equal pay for women.
C. Many women switched to defense-related jobs or jobs such as train engineers, streetcar
conductors and mail carriers, while others joined the workforce for the first time.
1. The Labor Department created the Women in Industry Service, which aided the
cause of female workers.
2. After the war most women lost their defense-related jobs and moved into white-
collar clerical positions; the Women’s Bureau continued the work of the WIS.
(p.417)
D. The National American Woman Suffrage Association helped women gained the right to
vote by connecting it to the war effort and showing strong support for both. (1920)
1. The National Woman’s Party, led by Alice Paul, used more radical tactics –
picketing the White House, burning Pres. Wilson’s speeches, etc.
E. The temperance movement, particularly the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, got
its wish in 1919.
II. The price of prosperity
A. The second industrial revolution led to increasing industrial output without increasing the
labor force.
1. Electricity and more efficient machines
2. Mass production of consumer-durable goods
B. The modern corporation developed as ownership of stock became divorce from the
everyday control of a business.
1. The most successful corporations led the way in:
a) Integration of production and distribution
b) Diversification of products
c) Expansion of industrial research
2. Oligopolies became common.
3. New executives, managers and engineers used scientific management.

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C. In response to wartime gains by labor, companies adopted the strategy of welfare

capitalism.
1. Employee stock purchase plans, medical services & recreation programs
2. A corresponding “American plan” associated unionism with un-American ideals.
D. Ford’s assembly line brought the auto within reach of millions of Americans and began
the dramatic cultural shift.
E. Not everyone prospered.
1. After WWI farmers began to suffer devastating chronic surpluses.
2. Coal mining communities suffered as oil and natural gas became more important.
3. Autos and trucks displaced railroads.
4. Textiles moved to the South for lower wages.
III. The new mass culture
A. Advertising shifted from describing the qualities of products to focusing on consumers’
needs, wants, and anxieties, and celebrated consumption.
B. Starting with KDKA’s broadcast of the presidential election returns in 1920, radio
broadcasting took off.
1. The dominant corporations decided that radio would be advertising-supported.
2. Variety shows were the first important style of program.
C. The shift of movie making to Hollywood marked the expansion of the industry.
1. Large studios, producing feature films, were founded and headed by European
immigrants.
2. Studios controlled production, distribution and exhibition, and controlled movie
theaters around the country.
3. The start system and the cult of celebrity appeared.
D. Hollywood and advertising reflected and helped to promote a changing morality.
1. The flapper, greatly romanticized, embodied the new morality – a more open
sensuality, individual pleasure, heavier use of makeup, smoking, jazz, etc.
2. Advertisers used sex appeal to sell products.
a) Tabloids’ cheesecake photos
b) Movies’ sex symbols
3. Women became more likely to use contraceptives and to have pre-marital sex.
IV. The state and business
A. Harding was a weak president who delegated considerable power to a small group of
friends.
1. The Teapot Dome scandal
2. Mellon’s tax cuts

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B. Coolidge easily defeated Harding and became president in 1923. He tried to clear the way
for American businessmen by reducing spending, taxes and congressional initiatives.
C. Herbert Hoover – secretary of commerce under Harding and Coolidge, and president in
1928 – actively assisted business.
1. The “Associative State,” in which the government would encourage voluntary
cooperation among businesses and volunteer groups.
2. The expansion of national trade associations
D. Leaders pursued policies that expanded American economic activities abroad.
1. Oil, autos, farm machinery, and electrical equipment expanded through the
opening of branch plants abroad.
2. In Central and Latin America, U.S. investment led to underdeveloped economies
dependent on too few crops grown for export.
V. Resistance to modernity
A. Prohibition took effect in 1920, but it was difficult to enforce.
1. Speakeasies and organized crime thrived.
B. New immigrants – Catholic and Jewish, poorer, politically weaker – led to anti-
immigrant sentiment and legislation.
1. The American Protective Association and the Immigration Restriction League
formed in the 1890’s.
2. Eugenicists espoused scientific racism.
3. The Immigration Act (1921) set a maximum of 357,000 immigrants per year.
4. The Johnson-Reed Immigration Act (1924) limited annual immigration from any
European country to 2% of its natives counted in the 1890 US census and set the
maximum total to 164,000.
C. The Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915, inspired by The Birth of a Nation, but began to
lose influence within a decade.
1. Hiram Evans became imperial wizard in 1922 and launched an effective
recruiting scheme.
2. The Klan had a strong presence in the 1924 Democratic National Convention.
3. In 1925 its Indiana leader, Donald Stephenson, was involved in a scandal and
convicted of manslaughter.
VI. Promises postponed
A. Having gained suffrage, the women’s movement split into two groups
1. The National American Woman Suffrage Association became the League of
Women Voters in 1920
a) Educating female voters
b) Encouraging women to run for office
c) Supporting protective laws for women and children

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2. The National Woman’s Party focused on the passage of an Equal Rights

Amendment.
3. Women increasingly worked in white-collar jobs, but men still held most higher-
paid and managerial positions.
B. Mexican immigration rose sharply, spurred by the Mexican Revolution (1911) and
agricultural expansion in the Southwest.
1. Increasing numbers of immigrants stayed permanently, alternating between
seasonal agricultural and factory jobs
2. Women often worked in the fields with their husbands in addition to taking in
laundry and boarders and working as domestics and seamstresses.
3. Most were confined to barrios by racism and segregation, with poor housing,
high disease and infant mortality rates.
4. Mutualistas provided death benefits and widow’s pensions, and acted as centers
of civil rights resistance, in the Southwest and Midwest.
C. Alain Locke described the “New Negro,” a celebration of black culture.
1. High demand for housing in Harlem led to skyrocketing rents, which led to
overcrowded apartments, unsanitary conditions, and the rapid deterioration of
housing stock.
2. Harlem also had a large middle-class population, and was a magnet for African
American intellectuals, artists, musicians, and writers.
3. New civil rights movements and projects appeared.
a) Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association
b) The Black Star Line
4. Harlem also became an attraction for slumming whites, who frequented night
clubs owned by organized crime.
D. The election of 1928 pitted NYC’s Democratic, Roman Catholic Al Smith against
Republican Herbert Hoover, who easily swept the popular vote and the electoral college.

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