Chap 2

• The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote
• Advertising revenue reached $2.98 billion in 1929
• In the immediate aftermath of the First World War, America suffered from a postwar recession, and an outbreak of political and racial violence.
• Employers adopted welfare capitalism, first introduced by Henry Ford, by providing their employees with social benefits such as healthcare and pensions and set up 'company unions' controlled by management.
• The 'American Plan' adopted by employers was to have an 'open shop' policy, a workplace free of government regulation and unions.
• Collective bargaining was thought to have impeded persona, liberty and business' ability to prosper. Many employers used strikebreakers, private detectives, and blacklisted union members to discourage workers from joining unions.
• In the aftermath of the Red Scare, unions were increasingly associated with foreigners and socialism so union membership fell dramatically.
• The new American heroes were the businessmen who represented the American way of life and the prosperity of Americans while Europe tried to recover from the war.
• Most American could buy more consumer goods at a cheaper price.
• By the 1930, around 2/3 of the population had access to electricity. Marketing, movies, photographs and paintings all celebrated the American businessman, the factory and the machine.
• Government policies reflected the pro-business mood of the 1920s, business lobbyists persuaded government to lower taxes while maintaining campaigns against unions, and imposing high tariffs to protect American goods from overseas competition.
• Henry Ford is the man most strongly associated with the development of the American car industry. He bought together three significant ideas

  1. the assembly line
  2. the interchangeability of parts
  3. the principles of scientific management (the breaking down of tasks into small components)
• The demand for the Model T was so great that the Ford Motor Company did not need to buy any advertising between 1918 and 1924.
• The flapper had become one of the most recognised symbols of the 1920s. With bobbed hair, loose dresses, minimal underwear, sheer hose and short skirts. She came to represent personal liberty and physical freedom. Flappers smoke, drank and used cosmetics, all behaviours that were once associated with prostitutes.
• Many attempted to create political change during this time, however across America there was little interest in political reform and fewer people voted in elections . Young college-educated individuals, who were expected to be engaged with reform, were no longer interested in 'the big questions'; consumerism and courtship dominated everyday life.
• Society was hostile to married women who worked, they were dubbed 'traitors to their sex'. Women's work was seen as temporary if the woman was single, and could only be justified in married women by dire financial necessity. Marriage and motherhood was still seen as the ultimate 'career'.
• Advertisers hired psychologists that would appeal to the needs and wants of Americans. Advertisement campaigns glorified the leisure and consumption and celebrated the modern aspects of American design, fashion and progress. They also sought to appeal to the dears and anxieties generated at the time, cosmetics and toiletries were the most advertised products, after food, and played on consumer's fears of being dirty, ugly, old, old-fashioned or smelly; these appeals resulted in a 500% increase in advertising revenue.
• Entertainment and leisure became big businesses in the 1920s, with Americans increasing their expenditure 300% during the decade. Historian Sean Dennis argues that as work became repetitive and boring (from the mass production nature of the factories as a result of the consumerism) leisure and entertainment provided an escape.