The New Era

The New Era – Page 1

The New Era – 1920’s to 1945

Kimberly Hemric

HIS204 – American History Since 1865

Professor Burgin

October 18, 2010

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The New Era of the 1920’s brought a booming economy and modern times to the

United States. The 20’s is largely known for the “jazz age” which accompanied an

explosion of art, music, and culture in America.

This era accelerated the forces of change – government, productivity, technology,

and consumerism. When the stock market crashed in 1929, the economical outcome

was devastating. With the “crash” came the end of the New Era.

It can be argued that one’s understanding of the preceding decade leading the

Great Depression is important because it shaped American history like no other era.

This writer will explore five key events that molded American history: The roaring

economy of the 20’s, a car culture, managerial elitism, a consumer culture, and a

stock market recovery. The brief economic boom of the 1920s had a dramatic impact

on the U.S. economy and this paper will connect the dots with spending too much on

credit which proved to be the New Era’s undoing.

A Car Culture

The primitive versions of suburbanization began with the rail lines extending

outskirts of cities and with those who could afford to get a car and a country house in

1920s and 1930s. The suburban settlements via rail lines still maintained a centered

structure. They were formed by clustered and mixed-use developments.

Suburbanization as we know of today - centerless and made up of detached one

family houses, began and got established with the rapid rise of car sales to ordinary

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Americans (Kellar, 1973).

However, manufacturing techniques changed over time. By the early twentieth

century, many American industries were using mass-production methods. Still,

businesses had not yet attained the level of efficiency we are familiar with today.

Henry Ford applied the concept of efficient production to the automobile industry. In

doing so, Ford significantly lowered the cost of the automobile, making it affordable

for most Americans.

Ford used a number of different techniques to increase efficiency at the Ford

Motor Company. The public and the factory at large were exposed to the concepts of

interchangeable parts and Taylorism, both of which were used in the Ford plant.

Ford 's most important innovation, however, was using the assembly line in automobile

Production (Davidson, et. al, 2008).

Other carmakers followed Ford 's ideas, and during the 1920s, car ownership

became the norm for middle-class and even many working-class families. One can

conclude that the social and cultural effects of mass automobile ownership changed

the era. Some historians have focused on changes in dating practices as a result of the

automobile. One can really imagine how young men and women met and socialized

before most people owned cars. One can determine that in fact, before the

automobile, "dating" as the students know it did not exist. Instead, young men would

"court" young women. A boy and a girl would meet at the girl 's house and talk under

the supervision of a chaperone. The automobile introduced mobility and privacy into

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the equation. Now, boys and girls could meet beyond the prying eyes of their parents.

Is it not surprising that some social critics and religious leaders in the 1920s decried

the decline in morality as a result of the automobile.

Of course, the effects of the automobile on American culture extend beyond

dating practices (Brown, 1987). In fact, some observers point to the automobile as a

central feature of American society. One can conclude that the United States is truly

a "car culture."

Economic Times

The interwar period in the United States, and in the rest of the world, can

arguably be the most interesting era. The decade of the 1930s marks the most severe

depression in our history and ushered in sweeping changes in the role of government.

Economists and historians have rightly given much attention to that decade. However,

with all of this concern about the growing and developing role of government in

economic activity in the 1930s, the decade of the 1920s often tends to get

overlooked. This is unfortunate because the 1920s are a period of vigorous, vital

economic growth. It marks the first truly modern decade and dramatic economic

developments are found in those years. There is a rapid adoption of the automobile to

the detriment of passenger rail travel (Johnson, 1975). Though suburbs had been

growing since the late nineteenth century their growth had been tied to rail or trolley

access and this was limited to the largest cities. The flexibility of car access changed

this and the growth of suburbs began to accelerate. The period saw major innovations

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in business organization and manufacturing technology. The Federal Reserve System

first tested its powers and the United States moved to a dominant position in

international trade and global business. These things make the 1920s a period of

considerable importance independent of what happened in the 1930s.

Consumer Culture

The 1920s is commonly thought of as a hedonistic interlude between the Great

War and the Great Depression, a decade of dissipation, of jazz bands, raccoon coats,

bathtub gin, flappers, flagpole sitters, bootleggers, and marathon dancers. According

to this view, World War I had shattered Americans ' faith in reform and moral crusade,

and the younger generation proceeded to rebel against traditional taboos while their

elders engaged in an orgy of speculation. Consumer culture was critical to the

prosperity during the 1920 's as it encouraged people to use credit for the first time

and high purchase rates meant that more people had to be employed on the assembly

line to keep up with the demand (supply and demand). High tariffs on European

products meant that people brought products that were made in America therefore

increasing the countries wealth.

Predominately appealing to American women - who were seen as the bedrock of

American families, and thus, those most likely to make use of consumer goods –

companies began to advertise in newspapers, on broadsides, and billboards. The

reality of this new form of advertisement is seen in this document packet 's

photograph of a boardwalk, where product names literally cover the entire

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streetscape. Of course, the custom of placing advertisements in newspapers held a

tradition in American society; however, the advertising techniques and strategies that

formed in the middle to latter part of the nineteenth century acquired a different

character. Traditionally, businesses would post brief assessments of their wares in

the advertising sections of newspapers, merely providing a list of their goods to

inform the public of what was available for purchase. The new advertisements, by

contrast, focused on creating unique slogans that customers would remember and

that cast products in an optimistic light. The Industrial Revolution saw a slew of

innovations in technology and medicine, and these innovations fueled a growing

advertising industry. Products of similar designs began to compete against one

another - a particular model of steam engine would feature unique instruments and

features, for example, and these differences would be emphasized in the product

advertisement. Perhaps the most famous examples of these type of advertisements

can be found in the now-famous Sears and Roebuck catalogue.

Stock Market Recovery

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade

preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but

in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early

1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th

century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of

how far the world 's economy can decline.[2] The depression originated in the U.S.,

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starting with the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929 and

became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as

Black Tuesday). From there, it quickly spread to almost every country in the world.

At the worst point of the Great Depression, in 1933, one in four Americans who

wanted to work was unable to find a job. Further, it was not until 1941, when World

War II was underway, that the official unemployment rate finally fell below 10%. This

massive wave of unemployment hit before a food stamp program and unemployment

insurance existed. There were few government programs designed to help the poor or

those in temporary difficulty. Further, most wives did not work, so if the husband lost

his job, all income for that household stopped. An equivalent rate of unemployment

today would cause less economic hardship because of the variety of programs (often

inspired by the Great Depression) that cushion unemployment and poverty (Brown,

1987).

In conclusion, this era accelerated the forces of change – government,

productivity, technology, and consumerism. When the stock market crashed in 1929,

the economical outcome was devastating. With the “crash” came the end of the New

Era.

It can be argued that one’s understanding of the preceding decade leading the

Great Depression is important because it shaped American history like no other era.

This writer will explore five key events that molded American history: The roaring

economy of the 20’s, a car culture, managerial elitism, a consumer culture, and a

The New Era – Page 8

stock market recovery. The brief economic boom of the 1920s had a dramatic impact

on the U.S. economy and this paper will connect the dots with spending too much on

credit which proved to be the New Era’s undoing.

The New Era – Page 9

References:

Davidson, J. W., Gienapp, W. E., et al. (2008). Nation of nations: a narrative history of the American Republic (6th ed., Vol. 2). Boston: McGraw Hill.

www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/.../1920s.html

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/subtitles.cfm.titleID=67

Brown, Dorothy M. Setting a Course: American Women in the 1920s. Boston: Twayne, 1987.

America: History & Life [online]. Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-Clio, Inc., 1998-2009

Keller, Robert. "Factor Income Distribution in the United States During the 20 's: A Reexamination of Fact and Theory." The Journal of Economic History 33 (1973): 252-95

Johnson, H. Thomas. "Postwar Optimism and the Rural Financial Crisis." Explorations in Economic History 11, no. 2 (1973-1974): 173-192.

References: Davidson, J. W., Gienapp, W. E., et al. (2008). Nation of nations: a narrative history of the American Republic (6th ed., Vol. 2). Boston: McGraw Hill. www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/.../1920s.html http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/subtitles.cfm.titleID=67 Brown, Dorothy M. Setting a Course: American Women in the 1920s. Boston: Twayne, 1987. America: History & Life [online]. Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-Clio, Inc., 1998-2009 Keller, Robert. "Factor Income Distribution in the United States During the 20 's: A Reexamination of Fact and Theory." The Journal of Economic History 33 (1973): 252-95 Johnson, H. Thomas. "Postwar Optimism and the Rural Financial Crisis." Explorations in Economic History 11, no. 2 (1973-1974): 173-192.