America

• Mass Production and the Model T
• Mass production = making lots of the same product
• Assembly lines = goods are moved along the line, with each worker doing the same job over and over
• The Ford Model T was one of the first to use mass production
• In the 1920s, a Model T was made every 10 seconds
• Half of all cars sold were Model T
• Ford employed half a million people and paid the same wages to black people and white people
• The car industry helped other industries grow such as steel, rubber, glass, leather, and oil
• Other consumer goods made with mass production were radios, telephones, fridges, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and ovens
• Real wages for industrial workers grew by 26% during the 1920s
• Unemployment fell from 11.9% in 1921 to 3.2% in 1929
• Republican governments had a policy of non-interference and lowered taxes on incomes
• Economic Prosperity - Credit and Shares
• Hire purchase = buying on credit
• 8 out of 10 radios were bought on credit
• Shares = a 'share' of a company, you own a small part of it
• A booming economy made people more confident, many invested in shares
• Advertising was used to promote new goods available
• Factories made lots of goods, leading to increased demand and more profit
• Fordney-McCumber Tariff in 1922 taxed foreign goods coming into America
• Encouraged Americans to buy American goods but made it difficult to export American goods
• The Roaring Twenties
• 1927, Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly non-stop from America to Paris
• 1929, there were 400 skyscrapers in America
• Jazz music became popular with famous musicians like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong
• Sports events attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators
• Dance marathons were popular with new dances like the Charleston, the Tango, and the Bunny Hug
• 1927, 'The Jazz Singer' was the first full-length talking film
• Flappers were young women who wore short dresses, makeup, smoked cigarettes, and drove
• After WWI, women were given the vote in 1920
• Most women still had menial jobs and were paid less than men
• Farmers and black people were among those who didn't prosper during this time
• Prohibition was introduced in 1920, making alcohol illegal
• Al Capone was a famous gangster who made vast profits during Prohibition
• Immigration laws were passed to limit the number of immigrants allowed into the country
• Sacco and Vanzetti were immigrants from Italy who were arrested for murder in 1920
• Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants who were anarchists and hated the American government
• In 1920, they were arrested for murdering two guards in a robbery
• Evidence For:

  • They were carrying guns when arrested
• Evidence Against:

  • Eyewitnesses couldn't agree on the details of the robbery or description of the killers
  • 107 witnesses said Sacco and Vanzetti had been somewhere else at the time, but most of these were also Italian immigrants