USA case study

Name two material goods the USA provided to Europe during WW1:

Food, raw materials, arms

During the war, the USA overtook Germany as world-leading producer of what?

Chemicals

What else did the USA provide to its wartime allies, which were repaid with interest after 1918?

Loans

Technological changes developed during WW1 allowed the USA to lead the world in which areas after 1918?

Mechanisation; plastics; aircraft design

By 1920, the USA was the world’s leading producer of which 3 resources?

Oil, steel, coal

What happened to the USA’s electricity consumption in the 1920s?

It more than doubled

Which new factory production methods were electricity-powered?

Mass-production

Name two electrical appliances which boomed in the 1920s:

Radios, telephones

Which three presidents led the USA between 1920 and 1932?

Harding, Coolidge, Hoover

What political party, which had pro-business and non-interventionist economic policies, did they all belong to?

The Republican Party

Complete Harding’s quote: ‘The business of America is…’

‘…business’

What name is given to the republican economic policies, which stated that the government should interfere in business as little as possible?

Laissez-faire

This suggested that giving businesses ‘a free hand’ would boost what? (4 things)

Employment, wages, profits, production

These economic theories complemented which attitude, which glorified independence and hard work as American virtues?

Rugged individualism

The government lowered income tax to encourage Americans to do what?

Buy/spend on US goods; invest in US business

After the 1926 Revenue Act, what % of the pop. paid 94% of the USA’s tax?

0.75%

Name the protectionist policy of making imported goods more expensive to encourage consumers to buy domestic products?

Tariffs

Name a 1922 example of tariff, placed on food products:

Fordney-McCumber Tariff

Which revolutionary production method allowed mass-production?

Assembly line

Who came up with the assembly line after 1913?

Henry Ford

In which city was Ford’s company’s automobile factory?

Detroit

Name Ford’s affordable, reliable car

Model T

By the 1920s, the Ford factory produced cars at what rate?

One every ten seconds

By 1925, how much did a Model T cost

$290– three months’ salary for a worker

Mass-production revolutionised which two aspects of production?

Speed and cost

By the mid-1920s, what proportion of cars sold were Model T’s?

One in two

Complete Henry Ford’s phrase about the Model T: available ‘in any colour…’

‘…as long as it’s black’

What % of all USA rubber and glass production went to the car industry?

80% rubber; 75% glass

What was the ratio of cars to people in 1920s USA?

One to every five people

What was the ratio of cars to people in 1920s Britain and USSR?

Br – 1:43; USSR – 1:7000

Which communities became less isolated due to car ownership?

Rural communities

What did people spend more leisure time doing?

Traveling

Which ‘buy now pay later’ schemes removed stigma from debt?

Hire purchase / credit

By 1927, what percent. of household goods were bought using hire purchase?

75%

Name 3 techniques used by advertising to sell consumer goods

Celebrity endorsement, slogans, sex appeal

What new sales method brought consumer goods to rural areas?

Mail-order catalogues

State the increase in car sales between 1920 and 1930:

9 million > 26 million

State the increase in radio sales between 1920 and 1930

60,000 > 10 million

What mood characterised the state of mind of the USA in the 1920s?

Confidence

Name two economic activities that confidence encouraged:

Buying consumer goods; Investing in business

Where did more and more Americans buy shares?

In the stock market

How many Americans were shareowners by 1929?

20 million

What led to falling prices and profits from coal mines?

Overproduction

Demand for coal fell due to which new power sources?

Oil and electricity

What happened to many coal mines in the 1920s?

Closed down

How many coal miners went on strike in 1922 to improve working conditions?

600,000

US farmers faced competition from efficient wheat producers in which country?

Canada

Name the machine that allowed the production of more wheat?

Combine harvester

The production of a surplus that could not be sold, led to what?

Overproduction

What happened when farmers tried to sell these surpluses?

Prices fell

US exports to which part of the world declined in the 1920s?

Europe

Why did Europe stop importing American goods in the 1920s?

US tariffs

How many farmers went bankrupt in 1924 alone?

600,000

What happened to farmers unable to make mortgage repayments?

Forced off the land/evicted

Which government policies were farmers critical of?

Laissez-faire

Name one artificial fibre that reduced demand for wool, cotton, silk, etc:

Rayon

What change in women’s fashion also reduced demand for textiles?

Shorter dresses/skirts

Which groups often worked in textile mills for low wages?

Women and children

Growth of ownership of what led to a decline in the railroad industry?

Cars / automobiles

Name 3 negative experiences faced by immigrants to the US in the 1920s:

Discrimination / low wages / unemployment

In which booming industry did many immigrants work?

Construction

Wages in the construction industry only rose by how much in the 1920s?

4%

Which government policies restricted immigrants entering the USA?

Quotas

What % of Black Americans lived in the southern states of the USA?

85%

How many Black Americans lost their jobs due to the downturn in US agriculture?

750,000

What form of discrimination separated whites from blacks in southern states?

Segregation

What form of violence led to the murder of Black Americans accused of crimes?

Lynching

Name 3 northern cities to which many Black Americans moved in the ‘Great Migration’:

New York, Chicago, Detroit

What kind of jobs were Black Americans normally forced to accept in these cities?

Low paid, menial jobs

What kind of discriminatory policies did employers often have?

‘Whites-only’

In which kind of neighborhoods, such as Harlem, did Black Americans often live?

Ghettos

Name 2 cities whose population was increased by rural and overseas immigration:

New York, Chicago

Name 4 negative features that conservative Americans associated with cities:

• Criminality

• Communism

• Immigration

• Sinfulness

Which event gave women a taste of greater independence & responsibility?

First World War

Name 3 military roles that women took during WW1:

1. Nurses

2. Clerks

3. Accountants

Name 2 traditionally male areas where women worked in the USA during WW1

Transport, industry

Which amendment to the constitution gave women the right to vote?

19th Amendment

In which year was the 19th amendment passed?

1920

Which woman became governor of Wyoming in 1924?

Nellie Taloe Ross

How many women were in work by 1929?

10 million

What was the percentage increase of women working between 1920 and 1929

24%

What name is given to the types of jobs that women mostly took?

‘White collar’ jobs

Name 4 white collar jobs

Librarians, teachers, clerks, secretaries, shop assistants, telephone operators

Working women became targets of which method of consumerism?

Advertising

The Supreme Court blocked attempts to gain what for women?

Minimum wage

What % of medical school places were allocated to women?

5%

Access to what new consumer good gave women greater freedom to travel?

Automobiles

Name 2 consumer goods that freed women from time-consuming domestic chores:

Vacuum cleaner, washing machine

Growing use of what products led to lower birth rates?

Contraception

What happened to divorce rates 1914-29, due to greater female independence?

Doubled

Which young, liberated, urban women challenged traditional attitudes in the 1920s?

Flappers

What were 3 physical characteristics associated with flappers

• short hair

• makeup

• short dresses or skirts

Name 4 of their social activities that were considered shocking for women (flappers):

• drinking

• smoking

• clubbing

• driving cars

Women in which areas were less likely to experience these changes?

Rural

What organizations were established to challenge female sexual liberation?

Anti-Flirt Leagues

Conservative Americans feared that cars were making what easier?

Crime

Jazz music originated from which American community?

African Americans

Name one jazz dance that became popular in the 1920s:

The Charleston

Name the USA’s most famous jazz club in New York’s Harlem:

The Cotton Club

The 1920s, because of this music, was given what title?

The Jazz Age