U.S. Social Science Resource Guide 2025–2026: Radio, Movies, Sports, and Consumer Culture in the 1920s

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, legislation, technologies, and cultural trends related to radio, Hollywood, consumer culture, and sports in 1920s America.

Installment Buying

A system of consumer credit that allowed Americans to purchase goods by making small monthly payments, greatly expanding consumer debt in the 1920s.

National Association of Credit Men

Trade group that warned easy credit would erode personal morals and destabilize financial markets.

Model A

Ford automobile introduced in 1927; marked Henry Ford’s embrace of consumer credit and modern marketing.

Henry Ford

Automaker who pioneered assembly-line production and later adopted installment plans to sell cars competitively.

Mass Communication

The spread of information and entertainment to large audiences via media such as radio and film.

Radio (1920s)

A revolutionary wireless medium that rapidly became a household utility and billion-dollar industry in the United States.

Broadcasting

Transmitting voice or music to a mass audience over radio waves, replacing earlier point-to-point telegraphy.

David Sarnoff

Visionary who proposed the ‘Radio Music Box’ concept and later headed RCA and helped launch NBC.

Radio Music Box

Sarnoff’s 1916 concept of a simple home receiver enabling families to enjoy music, sports, and lectures.

Dr. Frank Conrad

Engineer whose hobby broadcasts in Pittsburgh became KDKA, the first licensed radio station.

KDKA

Pittsburgh station that aired the 1920 Harding–Cox election results, sparking the broadcasting boom.

Westinghouse Electric

Company that commercialized Conrad’s broadcasts and secured the first U.S. broadcasting license.

Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

Conglomerate formed by GE and AT&T to control U.S. radio patents and build a global communications empire.

Owen Young

Former GE executive tapped to lead RCA and align it with U.S. economic and diplomatic interests.

Vertical Integration (Radio)

Business model in which RCA controlled manufacturing, programming, and international circuits to dominate the industry.

National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)

Radio network founded by RCA that later became a major television network.

Eveready Hour

Early sponsored variety show on WEAF, demonstrating radio’s advertising potential.

Herbert Hoover (Radio)

Commerce Secretary who convened radio conferences and championed regulation to tame chaotic airwaves.

Radio Act of 1927

'Constitution of the Air' law that created the Federal Radio Commission to license and regulate broadcasting in the public interest.

Federal Radio Commission (FRC)

Five-member body established by the Radio Act of 1927; precursor to today’s FCC.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Agency that succeeded the FRC and continues to regulate U.S. communications industries.

International Radio Conference 1927

Meeting of 76 nations in Washington, D.C., led by Hoover to coordinate global radio wavelengths and principles.

Father Charles Coughlin

‘Radio Priest’ whose populist and anti-Semitic broadcasts in the late 1920s–30s illustrated radio’s political power.

Fireside Chats

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s nationwide radio addresses that built public support during the Depression and WWII.

Hollywood

Center of American film production that flourished in the 1920s and became a dominant global cultural force.

Nickelodeon

Early 5-cent movie theater showing short films to working-class audiences before World War I.

Movie Palace

Large, ornate, air-conditioned theater of the 1920s that offered feature-length films to middle-class patrons.

Mary Pickford

Silent-film actress dubbed ‘America’s Sweetheart’; co-founded United Artists and negotiated a $1 million contract.

Douglas Fairbanks

Swashbuckling star of The Thief of Bagdad (1924) who embodied masculine glamour.

Rudolph Valentino

Romantic icon whose roles as exotic lovers set 1920s standards for male sex appeal.

Clara Bow

Silent-era actress and original ‘It Girl’ who exemplified the flapper image in the 1927 film It.

United Artists

Independent studio founded in 1919 by Pickford, Fairbanks, Chaplin, and Griffith to gain creative control.

The Jazz Singer (1927)

Warner Brothers film starring Al Jolson; first successful ‘talkie’ that ended the silent-film era.

Talkies

Sound films that synchronized dialogue and music with onscreen images, revolutionizing cinema after 1927.

Big Eight Studios

Group that controlled 95 % of U.S. movie production by 1930 following industry consolidation spurred by talkies.

Kodak

American company that produced 75 % of the world’s film stock, underpinning U.S. dominance in cinema technology.

Cultural Imperialism (Film)

Critique that Hollywood’s global reach spread American values at the expense of local cultures.

Bobby Jones

Amateur golfer who won 13 major championships (1923-30) and popularized golf among Americans.

William Tilden

Top-ranked amateur tennis player (1920-25) whose success spurred U.S. interest in tennis.

Gertrude Ederle

First woman to swim the English Channel (1926), beating the men’s record by two hours.

Babe Ruth

Charismatic Yankees slugger whose 60-home-run season in 1927 made him a national sports icon.

Negro Leagues

Professional baseball leagues that showcased African-American talent excluded from Major League Baseball by segregation.

Red Grange

University of Illinois football star whose 1925 heroics exemplified college football’s booming popularity.

College Football Boom

1920s surge in amateur gridiron popularity; generated $21.5 million annually by 1930, eclipsing pro baseball revenues.

Flagpole Sitting

Bizarre 1929 fad in which youths vied to perch atop flagpoles for extended periods.

Mah Jong Craze

Nationwide obsession with the Chinese tile game that swept America in 1924.

Crossword Puzzle Mania

Sudden 1925 popular enthusiasm for solving crossword puzzles in newspapers and magazines.

Advertising Jingles

Short, catchy radio tunes that evolved from full-program sponsorships to direct product promotion.

Public Interest Principle

Idea, championed by Hoover, that the airwaves are a public resource to be regulated for societal benefit.

Propaganda via Radio

Hoover’s concern that radio could easily disseminate biased or ‘crooked’ political messaging.