The changing quality of life

• The automobile industry

  The automobile industry contributed a great deal to the business boom. Henry Ford, by adapting assembly-line techniques and concentrating on a standardised model, the Model T, brought the car to the masses. By 1925, he was producing a car even ten seconds. There was competition from other manufacturers. By 1929, there we nearly 27 million cars - 1 car for every 5 Americans. In 1929, the car industry employed 450,000 workers - 7% of all manufacturing wage-earners. The automobile industry stimulated other industries - steel, rubber, oil etc
• Bust, 1929-33


  In October 1929, the value of stocks and shares on Wall Street collapsed. This crash was followed by the most devastating economic collapse in US history. Business confidence evaporated as bankruptcies and bank failures multiplied. US trade fell from $10 million in 1929 to $3 billion in 1932. By mid-1932, industrial output had dropped to half the 1929 level. In early 1929, 1.5 million were unemployed - 3% of the workforce. By December 1932, unemployment was over 12 million - 25% of the workforce.
• Post-WW2 Boom

  • By 1944, unemployment was down to 670,000 - 1.2%
  • The personal income of farmers more than doubled between 1940-45
  • Business profits rose from $6 billion in 1939 to $10.5 billion in 1945
  • The war led to to co-operation between government and big business. Business accepted that the government had a role to play in managing the economy. The government, in turn, accepted that it needed business to come up with the goods - which it did on a huge scale.
  • Between 1940 and 1945, US industry produced over 100,000 tanks, 300,000 aircraft and 93,000 ships.
• Car ownership

  By the 1950s, most Americans families could afford to buy a car - indeed cars. Cars - long, multi-coloured and decorated with large quantities of chrome - reflected American affluence and self-confidence. Growing car ownership changed lifestyles in the 1950s, making lives easier and more varied. Americans could get to places faster and more comfortably.
• A consumer society

  For many Americans after 1945, the American dream was a reality. The booming economy led to a sharp rise in consumerism. The typical family brought consumer goods that made the US lifestyle envied by many across the world.
• The War on Poverty: Johnson's Great Society


  In 1964, Johnson persuaded Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act, which provided aid to poor families. This was central to his Great Society vision whereby federal government would ensure the end of poverty and urban decay and bring about racial equality and educational reform.

  The elderly constituted a large proportion of America's poor, partly because of the cost of health care. In 1965, Congress established Medicare and Medicaid.
• The situation by 1968

  By 1968, it became apparent that the USA could not afford both the Great Society and the Vietnam War. Conservatives bemoaned the fact that too much money was being spent on welfare programmes, which simply increased the poor's dependency on the state. Liberals bemoaned the lack of money spent on Great Society schemes. For many poor, elderly, sick and unemployed, Johnson's schemes did make a difference. But they did not stop the city's riots in 1968.
• Nixon's problems

  In 1969, Nixon inherited a massive federal deficit, inflation at 4.7%, declining industrial productivity and balance of trade problems:

  • Efforts to halt inflation by cutting federal spending failed
  • Nixon's New Economic Policy (1971) introduced the USA's first peacetime wage-prize freeze and devalued the dollar. The devaluation, which made US exports cheaper, was designed to help the balance of trade. But the USA's economic woes continued.
  • When Nixon abandoned wage and price controls in 1973, prices rocketed
• Ford and Carter's problems


  US economic problems continued under Ford and Carter. In 1973-80 the USA experienced unprecedented inflation (mainly due to rising oil prices and government overspending) which was in or near double figures. As the cost of living rose at a yearly average of 8.2%, this affected family incomes. The hardest hit were those in areas of declining manufacturing output. Increasing numbers of people previously used to well-paid work found themselves unemployed. This was mainly due to:

  • Increased mechanism
  • Countries (e.g. Japan) producing goods at lower prices/higher quality
• Sport 1917-45


  Sport became big business after 1917. Millions of Americans packed stadiums to watch sporting events. Black sportsmen, banned from playing in the major white leagues, formed their own leagues.
• Baseball


  Baseball was the most popular spectator sport. It survived the scandal arising from members of the Chicago White Sox revealing that they had accepted bribes to throw the 1919 World Series. 'Babe' Ruth's ability to hit home runs for the New York Yankees helped to repair baseball's image. (He hit 60 in 1927 - a record). Game attendance skyrocketed. Millions gathered to watch local teams and even more listened to professional games on the radio. (Reagan made his reputation initially as a baseball commentator).
• Professional football

  In 1920, the American Professional Association - soon renamed the National Football League (NFL) - was organised. It was primarily a Midwestern organisation of company-sponsored squads. Initially, the NFL had a hard time competing with College football for fan support. Public support grew when 'Red' Grange signed for Chicago Bears in 1925.