Crime and especially organised crime became an ever-increasing problem to the American Society. People wanted to take risks and regain the freedom of drinking as they had before. This made organised crime and bootlegging appealing but also acceptable in society. This was a very big problem, as the gangsters could shoot each other to death, yet still be accepted by the people of America. As crime was looked upon differently, it meant that the police did as well. Bribery went up by a staggering 500% during the 1920s, as the organised gangs bribed their way out of punishment. Gang leaders such as Al (Scarface) Capone (see figure 4), made $60,000,000 from beer and liquor in one year and yet although people knew how dangerous Al Capone was, he was seen as a celebrity and people admired his personal life. This shows how the American People accepted criminals and treated them as stars. The acceptance of crime is the main problem that the American Society faces, as it sparks off all of the others. Crime was the largest of all problems because it meant that life in America was uneasy and violent. People could no longer enjoy everything as before, because of the gangs that roamed. The problem spread as it was linked in with racial and religious intolerance and poverty, and it controlled the “roaring” America.
Another large problem in the American Society, was the intolerance towards immigrants coming into the USA. America was a popular place for immigrants because of everything it stood for and all that was the “Roaring Twenties”. The Statue of Liberty was a welcome sign for everyone entering the USA, and as the statue reads: "From her beckon hand glows world-wide welcome." The racial intolerant group was the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPS) and KKK (Ku Klux Klan). The reason they were intolerant was that they feared what immigrants would bring to America. They were scared of, for example, Italians breaking laws, Russians creating communism. However, this was an unjustified intolerance because they were just stereotyping the immigrants. All these intolerances are unjustified for one reason also- most Americans were immigrants anyway and the Native Americans were the real inhabitants. The Ku Klux Klan (see figure 5) began in the South after the civil War. Poor whites resented the freeing of Negro slaves and were determined to keep them in their place, i.e. inferior. Negroes who were considered “white-haters” were lynched, tortured and hanged. There was strict segregation (separation of the races) on buses and in cinemas. Negroes had to sit in their own areas, which were not as comfortable. By 1920 there were 3 million members of the Ku Klux Klan and it was spreading to the north-eastern cities, e.g. Chicago, Cleveland, New York etc. The KKK were a secret society but very well known. They had special handshakes, language and dresses, to tell them apart from normal people. This problem was not as serious as the Crime but much more serious than Religious intolerance. The KKK formed huge gangs and lynch mobs that set out to attack blacks just because they felt threatened of their presence. The reason was wrong and small, but the result of the KKK was horrific as several thousand blacks were murdered each year and the immigrants would live in fear because of the KKK. The problem was interlinked with the other problems at the time. The Religious problem was linked, as it was the WASPs who were the KKK, and it was also linked to Crime, as the American people had now learnt to crime and violence. The growing divisions between rich and poor also contributed, as the whites living in poverty became angered at the blacks who took their jobs and they wanted revenge. Racial problems, similar to crime, were very serious as it had made America even more corrupted and dangerous. The large KKK meant that even the Government could be controlled by them, which was seen as segregation laws were put down later on, to prohibit blacks to be with whites in public areas.
In the 1920's, most country people were very religious Christians, Half the Christians in America were Protestants and belonged to churches They split into two groups over their beliefs, one group believed in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution (primates evolving into Humans), the other believed in the theory that God created the Earth in 6 days. Protestants had great power in society and refused to allow Darwin’s theory. They made it illegal for Darwin's theory to be taught in schools by 1920. A biology teacher called Johnny Scopes, taught the theory on purpose to one of his classes and let his friend sue him, to get him into court. Scopes was promptly arrested. The trial was nicknamed the 'Monkey Trial and became world famous, because it questioned the faith of Christianity. He was fined $100. Religious intolerance was not a very large problem as there was no violence or riots. The only small problem was with the WASPs who had such great control over schools and the American Society that they could ban anything that stood in their way of life, such as the Darwin Theory. Racial Intolerance was a much more serious problem than Religious Intolerance as it had many murders and great threats to society. Religious problems was the least troublesome in American Society, however, along with the more serious problems; crime and racial intolerance, they made America much more “roaring” than anybody wanted.
The rich and poor became very separated during the 1920s because of the economic “boom”. Although the 1920s was “roaring” and many companies became extremely successful, it was only the rich and WASPs that benefited from the boom. As mass production techniques became more and more common in companies and factories, it meant less people were needed and this meant more people were unemployed. Some sources say that the employment rate was very high during the 1920s, which was true to an extent, but it was only the higher classes that got the new jobs. The middleclass still received the normal wages, and yet with the new credit (loans) system, they were still in debt and not profiting. The boom was experienced by the highest directors within the companies, than the normal workers in the company. As more and more people became poorer, they starved and were forced to live on streets or in poor areas. Immigrants were hired as cheap labour or not hired at all, because the WASPs did not want any immigrants working for them. The divisions between the rich and poor became a very serious problem as it meant the rich were gaining too much power and the middleclass and working class were suffering. As they had no jobs, or very little money coming in, they turned towards crime. The problem with the rich and poor became very involved in racial intolerance and organized crime. The poor did not like the immigrants or Negroes because they were stealing the jobs they had before. This angered the poor white people and they joined the KKK to claim revenge and get their jobs back. Organized crime is linked also because as the immigrants and poor white people did not have a job, they were faced with little else than to turn to crime. Along with the acceptance of crime in society, they had little against joining, for example, Al Capone, and smuggle illegal liquor to Speakeasies and bars. The poverty problem was quite severe, as it meant many families were dying of starvation, and the richest people became too powerful. As poverty increased it linked with the other problems and made them worse.
Apart from the three main problems, there were some others in society, which may not have been as big or serious, but were still part of the American Society. The main other problem was fear. The Americans were proud that America was back on its feet after the First World War, and they wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. This created tension with the Americans and counted for the racial and religious problems, as they feared that the immigrants or other religions would change America into something they do not want. The Red scare started the intolerance of communism and anarchism. Communists and Anarchists are groups of people who believe in overthrowing the government in a violent revolution. In America, they were not a very big group at all. Just 0.1% of the population belonged to these groups but, even still, many were still frightened of them because the Russian communists had already overthrown Russia's government and in 1901, an Anarchist shot dead President William McKinley. Trade unions were also a very small percentage of the population but also stirred up problems. They wanted higher wages and were willing to strike. Henry Ford dealt very harshly with his trade union workers. There were incidents were Henry Ford would make his guards kill or brutally attack the rebellions. This shows the effect that organized crime had on the people in America, as they did not care about what Henry Ford did. It also shows how frightened some people were of a communist or trade union revolution and what extreme measures they would go to just to keep it like the normal America, like with the KKK.
The “Roaring Twenties” in America seemed very appealing to the immigrants that came there. They expected freedom and wanted to escape from the discrimination or problems in their homeland. The truth was that America had plenty of problems. The problems that were in the society were all linked to Prohibition and Organized crime, which were the most serious in America. Prohibition was the fuel that lit the flame to organized crime. If alcohol wasn’t banned, then people would not have any reason to turn to crime or accept it. Organized crime created fear amongst the streets, took control of cities and democracy and made crime seem like a minor problem to the Americans that lived to accept it. Organized crime was the most serious problem as it sparked off the others. Racial intolerance would not have been acceptable if the views about law hadn’t been changed, and what, for example, Henry Ford and the KKK did would never have been accepted. All the problems were linked with each other, as if people weren’t discriminated against or were poor, then they wouldn’t need to join crime syndicates. The fears that America gained led to its collapse towards 1930, where they became afraid of falling stock prices, which led to the depression.
