America through the decades

• The Roaring Twenties


  A period of economic prosperity, cultural change, and social dynamism in the 1920s
• Effects of social and cultural changes

  • Radio could listen to sports and news
  • Developed the idea of celebrities
  • Cinema
  • Sport benefitted the economy
  • Encouraged people to support teams
  • Major celebrities
  • Hays Code-shows the Jazz
  • Cars at the time
  • Divide and tension
  • Encouraged new popular dances
  • Made it easier for people to go to the cinema
• Flapper


  A woman who typically wore short dresses, makeup and Smo kad in public
• 10 million jobs created by the new industries in 1929 (24% more than in 1920)
• Women's domestic work was made easier by new technology such as washing machines and vaccum cleaners
• Women were still paid less than man even when doing the same job
• WW1 allowed women to gain experience in factory worth
• Immigrants


  • Lived in poor, overcrowded areas of cities
  • Most were WASPS (where language and culture were similar to those in power in USA)
  • Immigrant communities from a particular country lived close together
  • Usually poor, couldn't speak English and had unfamiliar traditions
• Fear that Russian immigrants in WA might try a revolution
• Racism - In 1900, 12 million black people lived in the USA, 75% of whom lived in the South
• Black people were discriminated against in housing, jobs, education, voting
• 'Jim Crow laws' - Segregation laws prevented black people from voting due to literacy tests and high taxes, segregated in military
• Leaving the South: nearly 2 million black people left the South for more jobs and less racism in new industries in northern states, still low pay
• Black renaissance: Talented black poets, writers, artists and musicians in Harlem, New York, attracted white customers to new night clubs and jazz bars
• Prohibition


  1919-1933 it was illegal to make, sell or transport alcohol
• Impact of Prohibition


  • Crime increased
  • Gangsters controlled alcohol trade
  • Smuggling and speakeasies (made $2 billion per year)
  • Dangerous alcohol caused poisoning (32,000 in New York)
  • Corruption and bribery
• Reasons Prohibition failed


  • 2,000 agents for 200,000 sq miles each, large borders
  • 30 agents took bribes from alcohol sellers
  • Organised crime (Al Capone), corruption
  • Massive public demand, especially in cities
• Prohibition ended after the St Valentine's Day Massacre 1929, 7 murders, and the Wall Street Crash
• Wall Street Crash 1929

  1. Millions of shares lost a lot of value

  2. Large scale investors lost out, tried to sell shares

  3. Investors lost money, people lost confidence and reduced spending

  4. Businesses sold less, so made less money

  5. Investors couldn't repay loans, many banks went bankrupt

  6. Businesses received less from banks, cut jobs or reduced wages

  7. Farmers and agriculture workers were affected due to dust bowls which ruined their land and crops
• Roosevelt's policies


  • Democrat, governor of New York, 'New Deal' - Relief, Recovery, Reform, public statements and policies too little too late
• Why Roosevelt won the 1932 election

  Hoover's poor public speaking and reluctance to change Republican policies, Roosevelt's strong speaking, 20,000 km train tour, polio determination
• Fear of Communism and anarchism in USA, Red Scare 1919 strikes blamed on recent immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia
• J Edgar Hoover, FBI 60,000 suspects, 10,000 people told they could be deported, evidence was inconclusive
• Sacco and Vanzetti trial, Judge Webster Thayer was biased as he was a conservative WASP who had contempt for anarchists and socialism
• 1950s: Consumerism, spending not saving, advertising presented a vision of the perfect life all Americans could aspire to
• 1947: Ten Hollywood filmmakers investigated by HUAC, one year jail sentence, most couldn't work in the industry again, Charlie Chaplin investigated and boycotted
• McCarthyism - Senator Joe McCarthy and Congress given power to investigate Communists in government, education, Hollywood
• New Deal immediate impact

  1. March 1933 - Emergency bank holiday, Banking Act reopened trustworthy banks

  2. Reduced bank collapses, confidence in economy, half the money people were saving went back to banks

  3. Reduced unemployment from 14 million in 1933 to 6 million in 1941
• New Deal inequalities - Alphabet agencies discriminated against African-Americans, job creation focused on males, big businesses remained powerful
• Second New Deal 1935 onwards - more aggressive, long term support for the vulnerable
• Roosevelt accused of being a dictator, Republicans thought he interfered too much in business and spent too much public money