Boom - The Roaring Twenties

Economic Boom

Period where vast majority of the businesses are doing well, sales are high, wages on the increase and unemployment is low

• USA helped countries after WW1 by supplying loans, trade, equipment etc. this provided many jobs

• By 1927, nearly 70% of homes had electricity so people could spend money on electric gadgets - huge demand for these goods

• New ways to buy and sell - advertising, billboards and newspapers

• Growth of mass production

Henry Ford

• He realised if he wanted to make more money he had to produce cars quicker and cheaper

• He introduced the assembly line - electric belt that carried the partly assembled car past workers who stood in the same place and did the same role

• He made one type of car - Model T or Tin Lizzie

• As the production got quicker, the cost reduced so more people bought the car

• Allowed for more jobs like building roads, working in garages, allowed people to travel and caused more pollution

Who did benefit from the Boom?

Farmers: had done well during WW1, but high tech machinery meant that they were producing food to quickly so it remained unsold

Cotton/Wood Industry: less demand for product because of new manmade fibres, also new fashion required less material

African Americans: bad living conditions, made their way to cities to find work but only got low paid jobs or nothing because of white only policies

Stock Market

• Became a craze

• Several million Americans bought shares in all sorts of companies and made money by selling them

• Many bought shares with money they borrowed from the bank

Roaring Twenties

Crazes - millions became hooked on a board game called Mah-jong, crosswords became popular

Sport - sportspeople achieved celebrity status (Babe Ruth, Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey) radio helped bring sport to the masses

Jazz - new form of music, spread from the south to north, appealed to black and white people, new dances to go with the new music (Charleston, one step, black bottom)

Cinema - stars presented as sex symbols (Charlie Chaplin), Talkies, Hays code to sensor

Changing Life for Women

• Before the war, women had restricted lives - expected to behave politely and wear long skirts/dresses, relationships with men controlled, smoking = unacceptable

• WW1 bought changes as men were away so women took their jobs, they earned money and got a sense of independence - given the right to vote in 1920

• Flappers - shocked traditional members of society, they wore makeup, smoked, high heels, short skirts, went clubbing

• Changes didn’t affect every woman & still not equal

Prohibition

• Stopped the selling, making or transportation of any drink containing more than 0.5% alcohol

• Strong campaigns for many years by the Anti-Saloon League to ban alcohol - support from religious groups - said it caused violence, poverty, addiction and debt

• Government created prohibition agents to enforce the law but there weren’t enough

• Prohibition never worked - people still wanted to drink, they had illegal speakeasies, bootleggers and made their own called moonshine

Impact of Prohibition

• Criminal gangs/gangsters who could bribe or intimidate police

• Prohibition ended in 1933 - it was an attempt to make USA less violent but did the opposite!

• Argued that if alcohol was legal again it would create jobs

Immigration

• Late 1800s/early 1900s new immigrants start arriving in the USA

• Some not welcomed with open arms - they were resented because they were poor, couldn’t speak English and had different religions

• Some saw USA as a land of opportunity and opened new businesses and made a good living

• For some living conditions were bad

• Government introduced tests like literacy tests, and then Quota Laws to limit immigrants

Experiences of African Americans

• Lynching’s - took place for years, mainly in the southern states

• Segregation - Jim Crow Laws - stopped them from using the same restaurants, libraries, cemeteries etc.

• African Americans left the south where racism was the worst and headed to the north in hope of jobs

• Poverty and discrimination were common but some communities flourished - poets, musicians etc. “black is beautiful” phrase

KKK

• Founded in the 1860s to terrorise African Americans

• White protestant members

• Dressed in white sheets, white hoods and carried American flags

• Violent

• Many members held important positions (police, governors) so they often got away with their actions

Red Scare

• Suspicion fell on immigrants with ‘non American’ ideas

• Communists had overthrown their rules in Russia and USA feared something could happen in America too

• Anarchists another group that were feared (believed that governments shouldn’t rule)

• Palmer Raids - Palmer said he would get rid of communists, 6000 suspected communists arrested and put in prison

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Both Italian immigrants, poorly educated and spoke little English

• Arrested and charged with robbery and murder - sentenced to death!

• 61 eyewitnesses identified them as the killers

• 107 people said they were elsewhere

• Questionable evidence

• Trial reported all over the world