1920s: The New Era

1920s: The New Era U.S. History II

The Election of 1920 • Republican candidate Warren G. Harding promised a “return to normalcy” • End of progressivism on national level, but continued on state & local level – Many states passed old age pensions & workers’ compensation laws

Consumer Economy • Consumer goods like automobiles led economy, rather than producer goods like steel – Ford Model T = $300; Chevrolet = $700 – Average blue-collar salary $1,300 – Average white-collar salary $2,300

• Modern marketing techniques created demand to meet supply – $4.3 billion spent on advertising in 1929 – Bruce Barton’s The Man Nobody Knows described Jesus as a salesman

Radio Advertising • KDKA Pittsburgh was first commercial station in 1920 • 508 stations by 1922 • Networks created for nationwide advertising – National Broadcasting Corp. (1926) – Columbia Broadcasting System (1927)

• By 1929, Americans spending $50 million/year on radios

Women as Consumers • Women still seen as homemakers, but now consumers rather than producers • Ads targeted women • Employed married women increased by 30% to 3.1 million, but still only 12% of total • Marriage seen as romantic companionship, & divorce rate rose

Entertainment Culture • Entertainment grew as leisure time & purchasing power increased • Amount spent increased from $2.5 billion in 1919 to $4.3 billion in 1929 • Fads like mini golf swept the nation • 100 million moviegoers a week by 1930 – Total population = 120 million – 60 million a week = average church attendance

The Harlem Renaissance • Black actors – Charles Gilpin – Paul Robeson

• Black authors – Langston Hughes – Countee Cullen – Claude McKay

• Black jazz musicians – Duke Ellington – Count Basie Duke Ellington

Darwin’s Challenge to Christianity • • • • •

Literal interpretation of Genesis 1-2 Divine creation (argument from design) Human souls Original sin Social Darwinism – Herbert Spencer – sociology – Francis Galton - eugenics

3 Responses to Challenges: • Hostility – Fundamentalism – The Fundamentals reasserted basic Protestant doctrine – Premillenial dispensationalism taught that world would get worse, not better, before Jesus’ return – Holiness movement emphasized personal purity & devotion – Pentecostal movement featured ecstatic worship & spiritual gifts • Azuza St. Revival (Los Angeles, 1906-09) – Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors insisted on papal infallibility & the immaculate conception of Mary

3 Responses (cont.) • Capitulation – Modernism – The Social Gospel focused on political & economic reform – Federal Council of Churches founded in 1908

• Compromise – Evangelicalism (Neo-Orthodoxy) – Salvation Army combined evangelism & aid to poor – Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891) called on Catholics to work to ameliorate poverty & combat injustice

The Scopes Trial (1925) • Attracted celebrity lawyers: – Clarence Darrow for the defense – William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution

• Scopes found guilty, but overturned on technicality