Review of the 1920s

1. What is a “red”? Why were they
feared in the 1920’s?
someone with communist
sympathies, connection with
Russian Revolution

2. Why were recent immigrants
often portrayed as political
agitators in the 1920s?
Usually members of working
class, many had radical beliefs
(anarchists, socialists, etc.)

3. Identify two examples of
immigration restriction during the
1920s.
The quota system (set limits on
# of imms from each country),
1923 Japanese Exclusion Act

4. Why was there a wave of strikes
in 1919? How did employers
respond?
Workers wanted to gain what they
had missed out on during WWI,
employers called them
revolutionaries and Communists

5. What were the primary issues
that workers were striking for?
Shorter hours, five day work
week, living wage

6. What group wanted to form “one
big union” to fight against the
“employment class”?
Industrial Workers of the World
or the “Wobblies”

7. Whose trial was a clear example
of anti-immigrant sentiment?
Who took up the cause of their
innocence?
Sacco & Vanzetti, many
celebrities and intellectuals

8. Identify two examples of anti-
immigrant sentiment from the
twenties.
Sacco & Vanzetti, Al Smith,
KKK, quotas & restrictions

9. What group worked to oppress
everybody who was not a White
Protestant? Why did this group
grow in the 1920’s?
KKK, tension in cities between
poor whites and blacks and
immigrants

10. What Attorney General started
the “Red Scare”? Why?
Mitchell Palmer, thought fighting
Communism would help
advance his political career

11. What legal organization was
formed in response to the
Palmer Raids? Name a leading
member of this organization.
ACLU, Clarence Darrow

12. List three characteristics of life in
rural America in the 1920s.
cultural homogeneity, religious
fundamentalism, farming,
traditional values, country
music & ice cream socials,
tough economic times

13. Identify three characteristics of
urban America in the 1920’s.
cultural diversity, new
immigrants, religious diversity,
speakeasies & jazz,
manufacturing, booming
economic times

14. What the basis of the Christian
Fundamentalist movement? Name
a well known fundamentalist
preacher of the 1920s.
a literal interpretation of the
Bible, Billy Sunday or Aimee
Semple McPherson

15. What was the charge in the
Scopes’ Monkey Trial? What did
the trial represent?
teaching evolution, clash
between rural (esp.
fundamentalist) and urban
values

16. What encouraged consumption
of all kinds of new goods in the
twenties?
new marketing techniques
(advertising, installment plans,
mail order catalogs, etc.)

17. Why were so many Americans in
a hurry to get rich quick in the
1920’s? What two areas did
they invest in to accomplish this?
new American dream defined by
possessions, stock market and
real estate

18. What is “buying on the margin”?
taking a loan on profits existing
stock to buy more stock

19. Why is buying on the margin a
problem?
market crashes, stocks lose
their value, and nobody can
pay back their loans

20. Why were so many farmers
struggling to make ends meet
during the 1920s?
Overproduction (still producing at
WWI levels) led to low crop prices,
and many were carrying debt from
new equipment purchases

21. What happened to all the new
manufacturing capacity that had
been built up producing war
materials during WWI?
It transitioned to producing new
consumer goods (appliances,
clothing, cosmetics, etc.)

22. List two new electronic
conveniences of the 1920s.
vacuum cleaner, washing
machine, radio, refrigerator,
toaster

23. What were the two big auto
manufacturers in the 1920s?
Ford & General Motors

24. How did the automobile change
American life?
demand for roads, faster
transportation, closed
distances, greater contact

25. Why were Republican
Presidents like Harding and
Coolidge so popular in the
1920’s?
isolationist and pro-business

26. Identify 2 ways Harding’s tenure
was scandalous.
womanizer, seized alcohol at
poker parties, embezzlement
by cabinet members, Tea Pot
Dome

27. Who took over after Harding died
& cleaned up after the scandals?
Coolidge

28. Describe Coolidge’s business
philosophy.
hands off, pro-ownership

29. What kept Al Smith from winning
the 1928 Presidential election?
urban, new immigrant, Roman
Catholic

30. How many farmers lost their
farms in the ‘20s? What
institutions lost a lot of money as
a result?
1/2 million, the banks

31. What amendment made alcohol
illegal? How successful was it in
reducing consumption of
alcohol?
18th, not very

32. Who took over distribution of
alcohol during prohibition?
organized crime (bootleggers)

33. Identify two things that helped
“liberate” America in the ‘20s.
Jazz, Radio, Movies, Literature
of the Lost Generation,
Automobiles

34. Name two ways women
established new independent
attitudes in the 20s.
Bobbing Hair, wearing shorter
skirts, moving out on their
own, voting, rejecting the
sexual double standard

35. What amendment gave women
the right to vote? Did the votes
of women significantly change
the American political scene?
19th, no

36. Name two types of jobs
commonly held by middle class
women.
nursing, teaching, higher level
clerical

37. Name 2 big athletes of the
Twenties.
Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Bill
Tilden, Jack Dempsey,
Gertrude Elderle, Bobby Jones

38. Name two famous entertainers
of the ‘20s.
Charlie Chaplin, Gillespie, Clara
Bo, Valentino, Al Jolson, Paul
Robeson, Mills

39. Name two types of jobs
commonly held by lower class
women.
factory, lower clerical, janitorial

40. What was the Harlem
Renaissance?
the flourishing growth of the arts
in Harlem in the 1920’s

41. Name 2 authors that were part of
the Harlem Renaissance.
Langston Hughes, Countee
Cullen, Claude McKay

42. Why was the Harlem
Renaissance most significant?
Was the first time Blacks were
able to exert major influence
over American culture, gave a
voice to the Black experience

43. Name two writers that were part
of the “Lost Generation”. Why
were they lost?
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest
Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis,
H.L. Mencken; disillusioned by
destruction of WWI

44. Name one of the most influential
architects of the 1920’s.
Louis Sullivan & Frank Lloyd
Wright