History USA

• The economic boom


  1920s
• Economic boom of the 1920s


  • Created by the growing new industries, particularly cars, electrical goods and chemicals
• Mass production-motor industry


  1. Each worker would perform a single task

  2. Ford did not need trained workers so he could pay them less

  3. Cars would be built cheaper and quicker
• By 1913 Ford's factory in Detroit was pioneering the assembly line principle
• More than 15 million Model T Fords were produced using mass production between 1908 and 1925
• By 1927 a Model T was coming off the assembly line every 10 seconds
• Groups who didn't benefit from the boom

  • 40% of all Americans lived below the poverty line
  • Farmers: 6 million farmers forced from their land
  • The unemployed: didn't create new jobs because of mechanical methods
  • African Americans: worked as farm labourers earning little in extreme poverty
• Prohibition laws in 1920 made production of alcohol illegal, meaning less wheat and barley was required
• In 1921 alone farm prices fell by 50% and total farm income dropped from $22 billion in 1919 to $13 billion in 1929
• The Republican policy of 'laissez-faire' meant doing nothing about unemployment
• 1 million Black workers lost their jobs in the 1920s, usually ending up in the lowest paid jobs
• Cultural changes in the 1920s and 30s


  • Average working week dropped from 47-48 hours to 42 hours
  • Average wage rose by 11%
  • More leisure time and more spare cash
  • Big changes in entertainment and leisure activities
• Radio


  Most households owned one, in 1921 there was only one licensed radio station but by the end of 1922 there were 508, and by 1939 2.8 million homes had a radio
• Jazz music


  Popular in the Jazz Age
• Cars


  Enabled a new way of living and travel
• Basketball was popular but people couldn't afford tickets so they listened on the radio
• Women in the 1920s

  • Gained work in factories, 10 million women in jobs in 1929 24% more than in 1920 when the men were at war
  • Wanted higher standards of living, got a car, vacuum, washing machine making home work easier
  • Gained the right to vote in 1920
  • Flappers: young women in urban areas whose behaviour became more relaxed, wearing more revealing clothes, using makeup, smoking, associating with dancing, drinking and kissing men
  • Films gave women new role models
• Rural women remained more restricted and saw little change, still paid less, didn't gain political power
• Prohibition


  The 18th Amendment introduced in 1919 and became law in 1920, banning the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol across the USA
• Reasons for prohibition


  • Campaign groups argued alcohol was to blame for a range of social problems and violence
  • Supporters were high in the rural South
  • The First World War boosted the campaign, arguing drinking was unpatriotic as many breweries were owned by German companies
  • The Red Scare - alcohol was linked to communism and immigrants, so prohibition was seen as a way of 'protecting American life'
  • Commercial reasons - business men supported it
• Early success of prohibition - alcohol levels fell by 30% in 1920 and gained approval in rural areas
• Problems with prohibition


  • Speakeasies - many in urban areas not obeying the law, saloons replaced with speakeasies (illegal bars hidden behind locked doors), by 1925 there were more speakeasies in the USA than there had been saloons
  • Bootleggers - smuggling alcohol into the USA, about 2/3 of illegal alcohol came from Canada
  • Moonshiners - started producing their own alcohol, but it was often poisonous
  • Prohibition agents were never enough, poorly paid, and often took bribes from breweries
  • Organised crime - gangsters were able to take control of the alcohol trade, making about $2 billion selling illegal alcohol
• Prohibition was repealed in December 1933 when America entered the Great Depression, as many argued it was a waste of money enforcing a law no one wanted, and it had made gangs rich and powerful
• Experience of African Americans in the 1920s


  • Segregation and Jim Crow laws in the Southern states restricted access to education and the right to vote
  • Violence - lived in fear of being lynched, with the government taking no action to stop it, over 1300 African Americans were murdered by the KKK between 1919 and 1925
  • In the Northern states, African Americans faced prejudice and hostility, isolated in ghettos
• Prejudice faced by immigrants in the 1920s


  • Immigration levels were at an all-time high in 1901-1910, but in the 1920s immigrants faced racist attitudes and prejudice from the American people
  • The Red Scare - racist attitudes grew due to fears of communism, many recent immigrants were blamed for bringing communist ideas with them
  • Sacco and Vanzetti case - two Italian immigrants accused of murder, despite protests they were convicted and executed, a clear example of racist and prejudiced beliefs
  • Literacy tests for immigrants, limits on the number of immigrants to 150,000 per year not from Western Europe, poor living conditions, no work
• Effects of the Great Depression

  • October 1929 - Wall Street stock market crashed, economy fell leading to the Great Depression
  • Banks and businesses lost value, 5000 banks went bankrupt by 1933
  • Unemployment reached 25% (14 million) Americans by 1933, production fell by 40% and average wages by 60%
  • Poverty - every town had 'Hoovervilles', shantytowns, in New York in 1931 238 people were admitted to hospital for malnutrition and 45 died
  • Businesses - 100,000 businesses went bankrupt 1929-1933, exports fell from $10 billion to $3 billion
  • Farmers - farm income fell from $5 billion, many unable to pay mortgages and had to leave their farms
  • Dust Bowl - over-farming and drought turned soil into dust, forcing many farmers to move to California
• Hoover's response to the Depression


  • Refused to accept there was a major problem, a 'do nothing' president
  • Tried to restart the economy in 1930 and 1931 with tax cuts and persuading businesses not to cut wages
  • Gave $4 billion to individual states to set up schemes to provide jobs
  • Created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation with $2 billion to help banks
  • Tried to protect US businesses by raising tariffs on foreign goods
  • Believed in 'laissez-faire' economics, that the government should not interfere with the economy
• Hoover said prosperity was 'just around the corner', but people said 'in Hoover we trusted and now we are busted'
• Hoover's policies made the situation worse, introducing tariffs that led to other countries retaliating with their own tariffs
• Hoover refused to meet the 'Bonus Marchers' - WWI veterans who marched on Washington demanding early payment of their war bonuses, and two protesters were killed
• Why Roosevelt won the 1932 election

  • Won 42 states out of 48, received 22.8 million votes - the biggest defeat the Republicans had ever suffered
  • Campaigned effectively, giving hope and promising a 'New Deal', believed in an active government role
  • Contrast with Hoover's failed policies and handling of the Bonus Marchers
• Roosevelt's New Deal


  1. Closed all banks for 4 days to check them over, only trustworthy banks could reopen with promise of government money if in trouble

  2. Fireside chats - radio broadcasts explaining his actions and why he took them

  3. Repealed prohibition, sent 15 proposals to Congress to improve the economy, all adopted

  4. Created jobs through the CCC, PWA, FERA, TVA, HOLC

  5. Helped farmers through the AAA, helped workers through the NRA
• The New Deal rescued around 20% of US homeowners and over 80% successfully repaid their HOLC mortgages by 1936
• The Second New Deal


  • Felt criticism that the New Deal wasn't doing enough for the poor, so made a more radical plan to make the USA a fairer place
  • Wagner Act to help workers, replaced the NRA, ensured all workers could join a trade union
  • Social Security Act provided pensions for the elderly, help for the disabled, sick and children in need, and an unemployment insurance scheme
  • WPA was the most important alphabet agency, creating jobs for unskilled workers
• 20% of US homeowners and over 80% successfully repaid HOLL mortgage
• AMIA


  Helps farmers dealing with low prices, modernize methods
• NRA


  Encourages employers to pay full wages, improve working conditions and end child labour
• The New Deal was felt by some to not be doing enough for the poor, while business leaders said the government was interfering too much
• Second New Deal


  1. Felt crisis from people saying the New Deal wasn't doing enough for the poor

  2. Business men said the government was interfering too much

  3. USA wasn't recovering as well as hoped

  4. Made a more radical plan to make the USA a fairer place
• Wagner Act


  1. Helped workers by replacing NRA

  2. Ensured all workers could join a trade union

  3. Allowed unions to negotiate with employers for better pay and conditions

  4. Made it illegal to sack a worker for being a union worker

  5. Introduced minimum wage rules and conditions on hours