"The five years from 1920 to 1925 were an exciting time. During this period, presidents were elected, one died in office, baseball remained the national pastime, a major political scandal occurred, and new inventions emerged everywhere." Although all of the events of the 1920s can be listed in chronological order and described as news, there were many exciting firsts that occurred during this decade. To make these firsts more interesting, it may be better not to present them in any particular order. This approach also makes it easier to categorize them into events, which ultimately make up the news, sports, industrial announcements, and political reports of the time. Warren Harding walked a couple of miles down Pennsylvania Avenue on the day he was sworn into office. He appointed Republican Senator Albert Fall from New Mexico to the Department of the Interior. Secretary Fall became one of the major scandal makers in U.S. history. The Teapot Dome affair (named for an oil field in Wyoming) was about oil. Albert Fall believed that the Navy’s oil reserves, still underground, should be available to private enterprise. That was against the law, especially since it was done for a bribe. The radio station KDKA out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was the first to make a broadcast in America, but there were very few people listening. Radio receivers did not exist for the general population at that time. However, Americans soon caught on to the idea and demanded radio sets for their homes. A previous World Series was scandalized by bribery when "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and eight other players from the Chicago White Sox were put on trial in 1921. Baseball was greatly affected by this scandal. However, in the same year, baseball also celebrated the first radio broadcast of the World Series, which saw the Giants defeat the Yankees. Colonel Billy Mitchell decided to prove his theory of airpower to the higher-ups in 1921. He used German ships from the Great War, and his bombers sank the former dreadnoughts quite easily. Although he was correct, the brass disliked him for showing up the Navy, and the star (General Staff) was never put on his collar. Airpower did take its place in the military, and it became every bit as important as he had hoped. The early twenties sure went by fast. In 1923, Lt. Al Williams broke the air speed record while flying a Curtis Racer at an airfield in St. Louis, Missouri, reaching a speed of 273.7 mph. The President died in office, and the newly sworn-in President, Mr. Coolidge, cleaned up the government by firing Mr. Fall. The dance and nightclub scene was also fast-paced, with jazz and flappers being the popular musical directions. However, Prohibition (the 18th Amendment) prevented Americans from consuming alcohol. Although anyone who went to a "speakeasy" club claimed to be only going for a cigarette and soda water, it was clear that they were there to drink. Tutankhamun finally arrived at another time and place! The tomb of the boy-king was discovered, and the beauty of his burial attire was breathtaking. When the golden coffin was examined, it quickly rose to the top of the list of wonders.
The World Series of 1919 resulted in the most famous scandal in baseball history. The teams that played were the White Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. Eight players on the team were accused of losing the World Series on purpose. Those players were Claude Williams, Joe Jackson,
Amazingly, it is not until President Nixon and his involvement in the Watergate scandal that the Teapot Dome scandal finally takes a backseat as being notoriously known for the biggest political scandal in U.S. history. This paper will illustrate how and why one man in the oil industry could so easily manipulate the presidential election of 1920 in order to set up important cabinet appointments that will enable him and a few others, to reap millions. In addition, there will be important points on a select few people and their contribution, not only to the Teapot Dome scandal, but also to the 1920 presidential nominee, Warren G. Harding. Not only did this scandal involve President Harding, but it also included Albert B. Fall, former Senator of New Mexico, Harry Daugherty, Jake Hamon of Oklahoma, along with Secretary of the Navy - Edwin Denby, the founder of Sinclair Oil – Harry Sinclair, and finally, oil tycoon Edward Doheny. This paper will also illustrate how President Harding was a “sitting duck” due to the greed and premeditated planning of just two men.
The 1919 World series resulted in the most famous Scandal in Baseball history. Eight players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the series against the Reds and were banned from Major League Baseball. (“History files-Chicago Black Sox”) All eight players were expelled in an attempt to save the purity of the game. The White Sox lost the opening game of the series nine to one, and then ended up losing the series five games to three. (“Black Sox Scandal”) They had won the American league pennant and were highly favored to beat the Reds in the World Series. (“Bankston, Carl. L”)
Radio waves were first discovered in 1887, but radio itself was initially invented by Italian Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 (1). His biggest mentioned success was in 1901, when he managed to broadcast the letter “S” across the Atlantic Ocean (1). However, he focused primarily on point-to-point transmissions, not large scale broadcasts from one point (F). As such, three American inventors - Lee De Forest, Edwin Howard Armstrong, and David Sarnoff - took credit for making radio as it is today a success (F). De Forest was born and raised in Alabama and he thought of everything in terms of patents and eventually held more than 300, but many claimed that he simply stole the inventions of others (2). In 1900, he patented a device to enhance weak signals and in 1902, he formed the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company (1). In the same year. Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian, invented the “electrolytic detector”, which later became the spade detector that brought De Forest so much fame (F). In 1904, John Fleming invented the oscillation valve, which later became De Forest’s audion, and De Forest won the gold medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair for his “spade detector” (F). De Forest gained quite a bit of fame by broadcasting music live from the Eiffel Tower and from the Metropolitan Opera; however, many believed that this was a scam and that he had actually had the device broadcasting the signal only a few blocks away (F). In 1906, he envisioned bringing music and voices to all American households, but as it turns out Canadian inventor Fessenden had already broadcasted a Christmas greeting and music to the crew of a ship off the coast of Canada on Christmas Eve a year earlier (F). In 1912, Armstrong became prominent by inventing regeneration, wh...
The World Series of 1919 was found out to be thrown by the Chicago White Sox, creating many problems within the American League. This World Series was different than many others. The 1919 World Series was played in a best-of-nine series, rather than being played in best-of-seven like all other World Series games before it. The other team involved, the Cincinnati Reds, had no idea of the scandal. The Baseball Hall of Fame states in their article “Guide to the Black Sox Scandal (American League),” Gambling was not new to baseball. There is evidence that White Sox players, in 1917, paid pitchers from the Detroit club, who beat Boston during the pennant stretch run $200 each.” This shows that the White Sox not only cheated in the 1919 World Series, but also in the 1917 season. There were 8 players involved in gambling with the 1919 World Series, including many of the league’s best players. The eight players involved included Eddie Cicotte, Oscar “Happy” Felsch, Arnold “Chick” Gandil, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Charles “Swede” Risberg, George “Buck” Weaver, and Claude “Lefty” Williams. These 8 players, threw the game for a cash reward from 5 separate gamblers who were involved in the scandal. Abe Attell, Bill Burns, Arnold Rothstein, Billy Maharg, and Joseph “Sport” Sullivan, were all indicted along with the players for gambling with the 1919 World Series, and was considered as a “crime against baseball
The 1920s was a time of conservatism and it was a time of great social change. From the world of fashion to the world of politics, forces clashed to produce the most explosive decade of the century. It was the age of prohibition, it was the age of prosperity, and it was the age of downfall.
“The Life of the Times 1919 – 29.” Great Events of the 20th Century. Ed. Richard
Farmers were paid very little because the price of food kept going down, they also had the Dust Bowl to worry about. African Americans became further infused with mainstream America during the Harlem Renaissance. They were also able to organize and elect officials who would make life better for them. The Roaring Twenties was a very exciting time to live in and we can all learn what the real world is like, and how we can prepare to be ready for it, today and in the future. In the real world, life has its ups and downs.
The “Roaring 20’s” was a time period when life was great. There were new inventions and technologies. Such as, electricity, radios, refrigerators, bathrooms, telephones, airplanes, automobiles and “Talkie.” In addition, Jazz music was popular, flappers were created and many sports were played. The radio helped keep people together. Airplanes were created by the Wright brothers. Airplanes were important at this time because of World War I. “Talkies” were motion pictures with sounds, this increased national figures and idols of hollywood. The automobile was the most advanced technology at this time, it was invented by Fords and Olds. It made transportation faster and many people were more socia...
As a nation coming out of a devastating war, America faced many changes in the 1920s. It was a decade of growth and improvements. It was also a decade of great economic and political confidence. However, with all the changes comes opposition. Social and cultural fears still caused dichotomous rifts in American society.
The 1920s in America, known as the "Roaring Twenties", was a time of celebration after a devastating war. It was a period of time in America characterised by prosperity and optimism. There was a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity and a break with traditions.
The 1920's brought many advancements in technology which allowed Americans to entertain themselves at home; the radio was one of them. The radio was actually developed before the 1920's; however, it was banned during World War I and allowed to reappear after the Prohibition ended in 1919 (Events 72). After the Prohibition ended, and radio broadcasting was being brought back to life, many people started up their first stations, like Frank Conrad (Events 72). Frank Conrad's first broadcast consisted of the Presidential Election results (Events 72). As Conrad was one of the first people to broadcast, KDKA was one of the first radio stations to appear in the Unite...
Every invention ever known to man had pioneers or people who contributed to the creation of the product. Radio had many pioneers that allowed for its creation and their names are Heinrich Hertz, Nikola Tesla, Ernst Alexander, Edwin Armstrong, Guglielmo Marconi, Lee DeForest, Frank Conrad, Reginald Fessenden, and Edward Armstrong. It all started with a German physicist named Heinrich Hertz who in 1884 proved that you could transmit and receive electric waves wirelessly. Hertz thought that the work he had done had no use whatsoever but little did he know that what he done is considered the fundamental building block of radio, and that is the reason why every frequency measurement is named after him (Short). In that same year a Serbian-American inventor named Nikola Tesla came to the U.S and sold patents to his inventions to a man named George Westinghouse. After that Tesla established his own lab which is where he built the tesla coil , an induction coil that is still used in radio today (Short). The next progression of radio focused on more than just the transmission of waves, the new focus was transmission of speech. The first to begin to add speech into the radio mix was Ernst Alexander, a Sweden born inventor who developed the first alternator to make speech transmission possible (Short). This was so new to the s...
American life was much different with radios starting to become popular and the creations of “talkies”. Radios started to become popular “13,750,000 American households had radios a figure that more than doubled in 1939” (1930s). Most people used it as entertainment and a way to get news in the house without news papers...
The 1920s were a period of economic growth and change. Real wages for most workers increased while stock prices increased as much as they had in the previous three decades; for the first time, 2,500, the majority of Americans lived in cities and towns. The appearance of current medicine permitted child mortality rates to decline significantly among the rich, but fewer other Americans appreciated regular admission to physicians.