1920 Women

6. The role of women in western society has changed drastically over the past three hundred years, and like most paradigm shifts, it happened in bursts. The 1920’s were one such time of great cultural change. Teenagers, as is common, felt the greatest amount of change in this time. For example, smoking and drinking among women became common in this period. What, a few years prior, simply didn’t happen, became a norm among the young. Fashion is another prime example. Young women, no longer forced to maintain somewhat prudish styles of dress, saw the skirt rise from the ankle to the knee. Short hair was also in vogue, the bob being the most popular at the time. Both of these showed a preference for more utilitarian styles, as well as an increase
The Great Depression was a terrible chapter in U.S. history. Though it was, perhaps, the greatest economic disaster in world history, as with anything in the realm of economics, the reason is not clear. This is because there are many possible causes and they are all connected to each other. Many people will point towards the the Black Tuesday stock market crash, though this is mostly a matter of convenience. The signs of the depression had existed for at least three years before the crash, though this is when the downward spiral began its acceleration. Real estate bubbles had been forming and popping, incredible income inequality in rural america had reduced purchasing power, European demand had dropped off, and sales of cars and houses stagnated starting in 1926. The crash exacerbated these issues by reducing consumer and investor confidence, and because of this, 26,000 businesses would fail in 1930 alone. Indeed many banks would fail due to this reduction in confidence, perhaps, causing the most issues of all. Those who remained working would see their wages and hours cut drastically, without any savings that they may have possibly had. Hoover was ill equipped to deal with the problem at hand. He was rich, and was counseled by the rich, and there was little understanding of the new consumer economy between every mind in government, let alone in his office. As such, he tried to encourage businesses to support their workers, a god’s task, and charities to pick up the slack. Further, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which Hoover signed in 1930, made the situation worse. This encouraged tariffs globally causing world trade to grind to a halt. In 1932, he would even raise taxes further reducing Americans’ buying power. Later in this year, realizing that these plans were an utter failure, he would take the sensible course of action, and intervene. He signed laws creating the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to loan money to failing banks and businesses, and the Federal