1920s American economy boom

Roaring 20’s – a timeline

1922: growth of the radio – 60 radio stations broadcasting everything
1923: six-year bull run begins
1925: more than 25% of families own a car
1926: Air Commerce Act authorises commercial airlines
1928: stock prices rise 39% – Fed raises discount rate to 5% from 3.5% to stop speculation
1929: 26m cars registered, $1b spent on roads by end of the decade
- connecting cities & towns across America
- buying into consumerism – a whole industry grows around leisure road trips (e.g. motels, fast food, highway roads)
1929: number of people flying increases from 6,000 in 1926 to 173,000
1929 August: Great Depression begins
1929 October: Stock market crashes

only the financially-comfortable with time on their hands can afford leisure
- e.g. going to the beach, movies, plays, etc.
became part of the American social fabric

Importan

America was still extremely conservative – the government was mainly Republican throughout the entire decade.

increase in consumerism
less labour needed to run farms – increased mechanisation
- farm costs increased, but the subsidies provided for the WWI effort had disappeared
beginning of labour-saving household appliances – vacuum cleaners, washing machines
economic inequality
- unequal distribution of prosperity; beginnings of extreme wealth gap
Ku Klux Klan increased in numbers
- they denounced Jews, immigrants, Catholics, as “not American enough”
nascent birth of civil liberties
- Near v. Minnesota struck down newspaper censorship
Black Americans began migrating away from the South to cities
- Harlem became the capital of Black America
corruption in the government
Republican policies led to laissez-faire capitalism – businesses weren’t tightly regulated
- the 1920s were full of Republican presidents – boards for the FTC were stocked with men who agreed with them
women’s role in society and the household was changing
- women could go out and work – as flappers, or as actresses
  - but it was still a very conservative time; not all women were able to pursue these lifestyles
  - it was very disapproved of in society

laissez-faire policy – non-interference by the government in the private sector
- Republicans thought that prosperity came from leaving businesspeople to do their jobs – i.e. judge the market, invest, innovate
- allowed & encouraged businessmen to take risks, which helped businesses and grows the economy
  - e.g. the innovation of the Ford Factory, becoming one of the biggest in the industry
protective tariffs – increased the cost of importing foreign goods
- 1922: Harding introduces the Fordney-McCumber tariff, making imported food expensive in the USA
- protected American businesses from international competition
- enabled rapid growth of the American economy
low taxation
- brought some benefits to ordinary working people, but even more to very wealthy Americans
- businesses had more money for themselves, which could be invested into R&D, venue, profit for their businesses
  - the money would eventually flow back into the economy, thereby growing it

America was naturally well-endowed → enabled easy industrial growth
- companies could get raw materials and manufacturing done for cheap domestically

Source 6, page 304

The cartoon is talking about foreclosure on family farms and properties.

lots of American farmers took out loans to expand their farm during the agriculture boom
- WWI played a large role in this – farmers were heavily subsidised and encouraged to expand to support the war effort
when the war ended, American farmers’ overhead cost remained high while subsidies ended and prices dropped
- farmers had lots of excess harvest they couldn’t sell; much of it was left to rot
they didn’t have any money to repay the bank loans for more land
a large number committed suicide, and an even larger number had their homes and lands foreclosed upon by the bank
the Republican government placed a heavy emphasis on big corporations; they didn’t favour farmers or offer any support