The Roaring 1920s

The 1920s were a lively decade, characterized by redefining social norms and a strong belief that a never ending abundance settled over America in light of the economic boom following World War I. Though the decade started out as prosperous and plentiful, it would end with the greatest economic crisis in American history.

Industry

As World War I came to a conclusion, soldiers returned home and began working again in the continuously growing industrial labor force providing them with money, and a market full of consumer goods to spend it on, making the 20’s a prosperous era. Mass production was developed which allowed companies to produce more goods at a cheaper rate, making many goods that had been considered luxury items such as automobiles something the average person could afford. By 1927 over 15 million Model T’s had been sold, mobilizing America. The automobile industry created the need for fuel, which paved the way for the oil industry to grow.

Entertainment

Radio became very popular during the 20’s, due to the fact that it was a convenient way to broadcast vital information to numerous people at the same time. The radio was also responsible for the increasing popularity of jazz music. With astounding musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, jazz music was the staple sound of the 1920’s. Vaudeville shows also became a common form of entertainment. Vaudeville was a show that consistied of multiple acts such as dancing, singing, burlesque performances, acrobatics, or even magic tricks. Broadway musicals became extravagent spectacls that gave attention to future stars who we may eventually see in films. Towards the end of the 1920’s big band and swing music began to seep into the musical culture.

Color films began to gain popularity during the 1920’s as well. Prior to 1922, all films were silent, and shown without color. This changed when the film Toll of the Sea was released, it was the first color movie. Towards the end of this decade in 1927, the first film featuring talking was release and it was titled The Jazz Singer. In 1929 a film titeled On With the Show was released and holds it’s place in film history for being the very first all color and all talking movie.

The Harlem Renaissance occurred during the 1920’s, when African Americans moved north into cities such as New York and Chicago in an attempt to escape the brutal segregation of the South. The Harlem Renaissance was an African American art and literature movement. Willis Richardson was a noteable playwright of this time who had multiple successful plays. Langston Hughes was one of the most famous African American writers and poets of the 1920s, and his work is still finds it way into eveyr English textbook today.

Artworks and paintings varied greatly with individual styles, and expressed modernism. Urban scenes were often mixed with nature to create amazing, dynamic paintings. Although some artists were optimistic and painted the positive side of society, others such as Edward Hopper focused on realism and had quite morbid pictures.

Sports became increasingly popular during this period of time as well, particularly baseball and boxing. Radios made it easier than ever to tune into a game and listen. Babe Ruth became an iconic figure in the history of baseball, hitting record breaking numbers of home runs, sixty in one season. That record would stand until 1961. Boxing became very popular during this time, and the boxer Jack Dempsey was one of the most famous. He was in posession of the World Heavyweight Championship title for 7 consecuitive years, until he lost it to Gene Tunney. When the two had a rematch, fans went absolutely balistic, and one store sold over $90,000 worth of radios in two weeks, which was a phenomanal sum at that time. Tennis and golf were also fairly popular, and football began to gain popularity as well.

Politics

The United States had multiple political policies at this time, which resulted in intense elections and vigorous presidental campaigning, that was covered well by the media over radio broadcasts. The 1920’s saw 3 presidents, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Harding's policies were strongly centered around the idea of isolationism and normalacy after WWI, and he also believed the government should have little involvment in regulating business. Harding's administration was also tainted with several scandals involving his cabinet members. The tea pot dome scandal occurred during his term when the Secretary of Interior, Albert Fall, secretly leased land that contained Navy Oil reserves in Wyoming and California. As payment, the government received over $300,000 in bribes. When the Senate investigated this incident, Fall became the first US cabinet member in American history to go to prison. When Coolidge became president after Harding, he quickly distanced himself from the scandal of that administration and focused on the economy, which he though prospered from big business. Herbet Hoover was the last president of the 1920s who was faced with the challenges of trying to deal with the beginnings of the Great Depression.

Nationalist views in America after victory in World War I were very prominent, which resulted in a very patriotic nation that often times involved racism. The pseudo-science of eugenics fueled the belief of the nativist argument that American's possessed superiority over the white, Protestant Americans with European descent. Eugenics proposed the idea that humans inequalities were inherited, and demoted the idea of continuing to reproduce with those deemed inferior, basically degrading some people to the level of animals. Not all nationalists supported this science, however enough did support it that immigration control was very strict during this time and sterilization laws were easily passed in many states.

Evolutionists clashed with those who believed in creationism during the 1920’s as well. When the state of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which stated that no teacher had the authority to teach human existance by anthing other than the story told in the bible, evolutionists became enraged. A high school biology teacher named John Scopes challenged the law, and in his class he did teach the theory of evolution. He was arrested and put on trial in 1925. He was found guilty and fined, but the verdict ended up being overturned due to a technicality.

Perhaps the most infamous issue of politics during the 1920’s was prohibition. Prohibition was the movement of banning alcoholic substances due to the belief that it affected society in a negative way. Henry Ford was a very strong proponent of prohibiton, and put in place social policies in all of his factories that barred employees from consuming alcohol, even after the repeal of prohibition.

The 18th amendment passed in January of 1920, banning all alcohol. Over 540,000 arrests occurred because of illegally purchased, sold, or consumed alcohol. Opposition to the law was intense, and many Americans totally and completely ignored the law. Liquor was hidden in all kinds of ways, even in the heels of shoes! In order to consume alcohol, speakeasies were opened, which were secret bars and clubs that sold illegally smuggled liquor. There was estimated to be over 32,000 speakeasies in the United States while prohibition was in effect. Organized crime rates skyrocketed because of the booming industry that was created by the demand for illegal liquor, making a multimillion, possibly billion dollar industry for gangsters. Al Capone was one of the more famous gangsters of the time. His opperations were centered in Chicago, where he had multiple politicians, judges, and police officials on his payroll. Al Capone dominated Chicago for quite some time, but was eventually charged with crimes by the leader of the Treasury Department. Prohibition wouldn’t be repealed until the 21st amendment in 1933.

The role of women also began to change during the 1920’s. During World War I many women left behind the role of housewife and began to work in factories among other places that had been considered inappropriate for women at previous times. The 19th amendment had given American women the right to vote, and the United Kingdom gave women the same voting rights as men in 1928. Although women were equal under the circumstance of voting rights, they still faced many harsh stereotypes. Women’s rights activists began to start movements that would continued on until modern times fighting sexism.

Fashion

Aside from political reforms, the fashion of women also began to change significantly. Flappers began to emerge as the inquisitive, rebellious, younger generations breaking the social standards of acceptable fashion. They wore short dresses, flesh colored stockings, and wore their hair down in the bob style that originated in Europe, which at the time was seen as very risqué. Make up became heavier and flappers could often be seen at any club smoking or drinking, along with doing other things their elders frowned up. The desire to remain looking young and youthful was very high during these years.

The End of a Decade

Despite all the prosperity that Americans experienced, not everyone was able to share in this. American farmers were plagued with a low income. Advances in technology had allowed them to produce more food than they could before, but there was no increase in demand to match the rising supply. The depression of those who worked in agricultural industries began long before the international Great Depression. WWI had caused damage to multiple countries economies, which made it very difficult to pay the war debts the owed. American markets for trade were also somewhat closed off due to the high tariffs in place. The countries in debt wanted the tariffs to be lowered, so that money could pump back into their economy so they could pay their war debts. The United States refused to lower them, claiming that their debt was not our burden and we had gained nothing from WWI, and that Germany was making huge reparations which provided money. The German economy was crippled, and they couldn’t continue making these payments. An agreement was negotiated between Britain, France, Germany and the United States which stated that American banks would loan Germany money so they could pay the other countries, in an attempt to help the European economy. It failed, and resulted in putting the countries in a deeper debt to American banks.

In 1929, the United States began to fall into the economic down spiral. On October 29th, 1929 the stock market took a horrifically deep dive, resulting in the stock market crash. The stock market crash was not the cause of the Great Depression, but it did contribute to the economic recession. Over production was one of the main causes of the Great Depression. Installment plans resulted in many Americans slowly going into debt, and while trying to make their payments they couldn’t purchase other items, damaging the economy. Another cause was the lack of world wide trade, when banks invested in costly stock speculation; they weren’t lending money to foreign companies. Without those loans foreign companies wouldn’t buy as many goods from American markets. Companies had to lay off workers, resulting in unemployed workers who couldn’t get jobs because none were available. Thus, the Roaring Twenties rolled out, and a new era ruled by a depressed economy settled in.