8.4: Summary

The 1920s and 1930s marked very different eras in California’s economic history. The 1920s were years of prosperity, the 1930s a time of depression. Still, Los Angeles grew at a rapid pace through both decades. The motion picture industry, oil, and manufacturing all contributed to LA’s economic base during the 1920s and 1930s. LA was the first large city to be designed around the automobile and the single-family home.

The large majority of Californians voted Republican during the 1920s, but the Republican Party was divided into progressive and conservative wings. Hiram Johnson served in the U.S. Senate throughout the two decades and beyond, leading the progressive wing of the state Republican Party. The other most prominent California Republican was Herbert Hoover, who was elected president in 1928. Prohibition divided voters during the 1920s, and the early 1920s saw a renewal of anti-Asian actions and laws.

Highway and bridge construction laid the basis for the state’s transportation infrastructure in the automobile age. Hoover Dam was a massive hydroelectric and irrigation project promoted largely by Californians, though located in Nevada. Henry Kaiser was one of several construction companies that took on such mammoth projects. A. P. Giannini’s Bank of America brought important innovations to banking, especially the concept of branch banking. Cotton became an important crop during the 1920s and 1930s, and agriculture was becoming increasingly industrialized, as large corporations owned farmland, processing plants, and distribution networks.

California’s population grew throughout the 1920s and 1930s, with much of the growth concentrated in southern California. Federal immigration policy changed dramatically in 1924. Californians, led by Senator Hiram Johnson, succeeded in writing Asian exclusion into the new law. Though no formal limits were placed on immigration from Mexico, the process for legal immigration was intimidating and expensive.

Movies were California’s most conspicuous contribution to cultural expression. They came in a variety of genres and reached large numbers of Americans. Important architectural contributions included the California bungalow, popularized by Greene and Greene. Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan helped to create a distinctive California variant of prevailing architectural styles.

During the Great Depression, beginning in 1929, unemployment rose, wage levels fell, and business slowed. Some blamed Mexicans and Filipinos and agitated to have them removed from the state. The Communist Party showed some success in its efforts to organize the unemployed. Large numbers of Dust Bowl refugees poured into the state seeking work, but camps for migratory farm workers were unhealthy.

Labor conflict broke out among agricultural workers, often led by Communists. Longshoremen struck for three months in 1934 at all Pacific coast ports and encountered violent opposition, but secured most of their objectives. Changes in federal labor policy encouraged unions, and unions grew rapidly in both the San Francisco Bay area and the Los Angeles basin. The labor movement divided between the AFL and CIO, and both were well represented in California.

New federal laws, especially during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, redefined federal–state relations. California voters gave large majorities to Roosevelt. PWA and WPA programs resulted in the construction of a wide variety of new buildings and other facilities in California. New federal programs tried to assist migratory farm workers and California Indians.

Democrats hoped to win the governorship in 1934, but Upton Sinclair’s EPIC campaign came under heavy attack from both right and left, and the Republican candidate won. Other unusual proposals percolated up from southern California in addition to EPIC, including the Townsend movement and Ham and Eggs. The Democrats won the governorship in 1938, but Governor Culbert Olson proved ineffective.