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1920's Politics: Progressive Party Breathes
Robert LaFollette's revival of the Progressive party occurred temporarily during this time, and complicated matters further for the Democratic Party. -
1920's Culture: Female Sexuality
Women - commonly referred to with the "flapper" term - became more adventurous and received more opportunities during this era of prosperity. -
1920's Politics: Republican Rule
Republicans in this time period generally reversed progressive advancements, raising tariffs again, giving big businesses more or less free reign, and cut taxes for the rich. -
1920's Politics: 18th Amendment
This amendment to the US constitution began Prohibition. It was caused by a common belief that alcohol prevented American advancement. -
1920's Politics: Democratic Confusion
The Democrats failed to rally enough votes to win the presidency in these years not only due to a Republican government, but also due to their inability to stand behind any one particular candidate. -
1920's Economics: Traditional to Free Market
America migrated from a system of traditional economy, where values and morals dictated the direction of economy, to a free market one where supply and demand ruled supreme. -
1920's Economics: Banks
Not all banks were monitored by the Federal Reserve, and many did not have the reserves they claimed to. This led to much cash that might as well have been imaginary, leading to many losing their money in banks. -
1920's Culture: Western Uncertainty
The disillusioning and deadly confrontation of WWI made many Western people question civilization as they knew it, prompting socialism to come to light. -
1920's Culture: Jazz Music
Developments heightened the popularity of jazz music, for its modern feel and optimistic tune. -
1920's Culture: Harlem Renaissance
African Americans influenced music and literature during this time period, dominating the jazz music scene and having famous authors like Langston Hughes. -
1920's Culture: The Lost Generation
Many of the artists and writers and otherwise intellectual individuals born during the WWI era became known as the Lost Generation due to their cynical ideas and their fame that was lost to them due to the worldwide conflict. -
1920's Literature: This Side of Paradise
This novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald showed the "new Youth," the ones who demanded more freedom and more adventurous lives. -
1920's African American Identity: Jazz
Jazz music was primarily composed and performed by African Americans. -
1920's African American Identity: Harlem Renaissance
African Americans contributed much to American society in the 1920s, and much of it stemmed from New York, near Harlem. Thus, the term Harlem Renaissance was coined. -
Religion: Fundamentalism
In the wake of WWI, many Americans either turned devoutly to God, or turned harshly against him. This sparked the rise of Fundamentalism in Christianity, a very literal interpretation of the Bible. -
Religion: Communism
Communism rose as a direct opponent to Christianity, and the brutality of WWI propelled it. -
Prohibition: Flouting
The everyday American tended to flout Prohibition, and led to very flagrant violations of the law. It was mainly political or religious groups that preached Prohibition. -
1920's African American Identity: Black Swan Records
This was the first American record label to consist of only African Americans. -
1920's Economics: Growth and Output
Due to the aftermath of WWI, the US produced almost half of the world's total output, and mass production pushed consumer goods into almost every household. -
1920s Literature: The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby was considered a symbol of the American Jazz Age. -
1920's Politics: Teapot Dome Scandal
President Harding's administration accepted bribes from oil companies, which further damaged the administration's reputation. -
1920's African American Identity: Harlem Renaissance Basketball Club
This club founded by Bob Douglas would later become the best basketball team in the world, and likely cause the modern stereotype of black people being better at basketball than white. -
1920's African American Identity: Playwrights
African American playwright Willis Richardson debuted The Chip Woman's Fortune at the Frazee Theater - the first serious work by an African American to debut on Broadway. -
Immigration: Anti-Immigration Policies
With the assumption of Republican control, anti-immigrant policies flourished. This was mainly to restrict Europeans and refuse entry to Asians. -
Immigration: Asians
Asians were almost entirely restricted from the US, and many other parts of the "Western world," such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. -
1920's Economics: Stock Market Growth
The American stock market grew by almost 20% and many more shares were sold then than before. -
1920's Literature: The Sun Also Rises
This novel by Ernest Hemingway coined the "Iceberg Theory" for writing, or a minimalist style of writing that conveyed mainly emotion while leaving out vast amounts of detail. -
1920's Literature: Lady Chatterley's Lover
This book explicitly described sex and was scandalous for its time, but also showed the progressive nature of sexuality in modern culture. -
1920's Economics: Beginnings of the Great Depression
Near the end of the 1920s, speculatory actions in the stock market led to panic and disorder in the economy. The many unmonitored banks didn't help the shrinking economy. -
1920's Literature: All Quiet on the Western Front
This book illustrated the Western individual's sudden uncertainty in democracy and whether they could even consider themselves "civilized." -
Stock Market Crash: Black Tuesday
An illusion in the Dow Jones index led many to believe that the Bull Market of the era would continue, and speculatory action in the market eventually led to the crash. -
Stock Market Crash: The Great Depression Begins
The Stock Market crash on "Black Tuesday" in 1929 put many Americans out of the job in the 1930s, sharply crippling the American economy following an era of such prosperity during the 1920s. -
Herbert Hoover’s Policies: Minimal Government Interference
Hoover, like other Republicans, had believed in little government interference with the economy. His ideals however would later be considered too light for the economic crisis that was the Great Depression. -
Herbert Hoover’s Policies: Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
This tariff lowered foreign trade and is often viewed by historians as having worsened the nation's already crippled economy. -
Prohibition: Smuggling & End
"Bootlegging" and smuggling alcohol in from Canada became common disregards for Prohibition. It would eventually end, and quite early, in 1933. -
New Deal Programs: Economy Act and the Federal Deficit
As a part of the First New Deal, Roosevelt tried to balance the "Emergency" and "Non-Emergency" budget of the US government. It involved cutting federal employee wages and the bonuses to US veterans. -
New Deal Programs: Banking Reform
Roosevelt, using many of Hoover's advisors, drafted bank reform which included bringing banks underneath Treasury supervision and merging smaller banks with larger banks. -
New Deal Programs: Suspension of the Gold Standard
The suspension of the gold standard relieved much of the spiraling inflation and kept the US from losing much of its gold. -
New Deal Programs: Securities
To prevent another crash, the government enacted laws and requirements surrounding the issuance of securities. -
New Deal Programs: Repeal of Prohibition
Roosevelt's repeal of Prohibition garnered him much popularity and improved the US's economy by increasing cashflow to entertainment. -
New Deal Programs: Relief
Roosevelt instigated many programs to help the worst third of Americans impacted by the Great Depression. -
New Deal Programs: Public Works
Public works were used as both a tool to better the USA but also to give the unemployed jobs and consequently, income. -
Dust Bowl: Displacement
Many Americans lost their farms to the dust bowl, for improper farming techniques led to much farmland simply blowing away. -
Dust Bowl: Drought and Dust Storms
Drought claimed much of the American prairies during the 1930s and caused massive amounts of wind erosion that caused "black blizzards." -
New Deal Programs: Housing
Roosevelt aimed to raise the number of people who owned homes and stimulate the house building economy. This led to the establishment of FHA and HOLC. -
New Deal Programs: Social Security Act
This establishment of universal retirement pensions gave much longterm relief for the elderly. -
New Deal Programs: Labor Relations
Roosevelt's efforts in 1935 allowed American labor to finally legally negotiate wages with employers, and while it did not encourage employers to negotiate, the principal was an important progressive step. -
New Deal Programs: Tax Policy
Taxes on the wealthy increased, though the majority was placed on that of Rockefeller, and was mainly for popularity. The bigger goal was to redistribute wealth. -
New Deal Programs: Agriculture
Roosevelt felt that much of the country's economic problems could be solved by addressing the severe poverty that plagued farmers. Farmers' profit was nearly doubled by 1937. -
New Deal Programs: Abolishing SLums
In an attempt to abolish slums, Roosevelt created the United States Housing Authority.
