Transcript 1920`s & 1930`s: Economic Boom to Bust

1920’s
&
1930’s:
Economic Boom to Great Depression:
Economic
to
The 1920’s &Boom
1930’s
Bust
Post-War America
I.
Return to isolationism:
A. American’s were
celebrating the end of
WWI.
B. Americans were reforming
society, culture and our
economy.
1920’s: Economic Boom
Presidents of the 1920’s
President Warren G.
Harding
(Republican 1921-1923)
Favored big
business:
Low taxes/high
tariffs
President Warren G. Harding
Republican 1923-Harding dies
Vice President
Coolidge
takes over
President Calvin Coolidge
(1923-1929)
President Calvin Coolidge
(1923-1929)
I.
Pro-business: “The chief business of
America is business. The man who builds a
factory builds a temple, the man who works there
worships there.”
A.
B.
C.
Low taxes & high business profits
Wanted to end government regulation of
business and industry
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) grew from
74 billion in 21’to 104 billion in 29’
Booming Society of the
1920’s
I. Business
A. Increase in consumer good
industries
1. Led to affordable luxuries--radios,
movies, cameras, vacuum cleaners,
washing machines, telephones,
automobiles, airplanes…
Booming Society of the
1920’s
B. Creative advertising
1. Focused on the psychology of
the consumer
C. Installment buying
1. Consumption became an easy
necessity
2. You buy now, pay as you use it.
Creative 1920’s Advertising
Booming Society of the
1920’s
II.
Culture
A. Americans craved
excitement and authority of
the past generations
B. Jazz Age
C. Women
Booming Society of the
1920’s
C. Women
1. Flappers-liberated women
a. Makeup, short skirts,
smoke/drank in public.
2. Right to Vote 1920
Flappers
Booming Society of the
1920’s
D. Automobile changed lifestyle:
1. Mobility, privacy for youth, farmers
less isolated
E. Radio & silent movie popularity
F. Harlem Renaissance
1. Harlem, NY
2. Popularized African American
creativity in art, music, & literature
Duke Ellington & his Orchestra
Langston Hughes: Poet
To fling my arms wide in some
place of the sun, to whirl and to
dance till the white day is done
then rest at cool evening
beneath a tall tree while night
comes on gently dark like me,
this is my dream! To fling my
arms wide in the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl! Till the
quick day is done, rest at pale
evening, a tall slim tree…. night
coming tenderly black like me.
----”Dream Variations”
Booming Society of the
1920’s
G. Prohibition (1919-1933)
1. Banning of the sale, manufacture,
transportation of alcoholic beverages
2. Society resists
bootleggers/speakeasies/gangsters.
Prohibition Era
Booming Society of the
1920’s
Heroes
III.
A. Charles Lindbergh-1st non-stop
solo flight, NY to Paris
B. Babe Ruth-60 homeruns for NY
Yankees in 1927
C. Jack Dempsy-Heavy weight champ
defeated by Tuney in 1st 50 million
dollar fight (1927)
The end of the good times
arrives in 1929.
• Stock market crashed
• Wealthy people lost their
investments
• Businesses failed and closed
• People lost their jobs
• Debts could not be paid.
• And… it just got worse!
• The 1930’s are known as the
Great Depression years.
Boom Versus Bust Economy
Boom 1920’s
Bust 1930’s
* high demand for goods
* inflation increases
Many jobs are available
* unemployment falls
* national income accelerates
* demand is low for goods
* inflation decreases
Factories and businesses close
* unemployment rises
* national income falls
Can make payments on debts.
Can’t make payments on debts.
The 1920’s
•
•
•
•
•
The Roaring Twenties
Many jobs
Harlem Renaissance
New technology
Celebrate life after
WWI
• This decade is the
birth of installment
buying.
• Advertisements
encouraged more
spending than
families earned.
• Music, literature and
art shows American
Spirit.
1920’s Roaring Twenties
• Americans had good
jobs.
• Steady paycheck
• Extra money to spend
• Improved the quality
of their lives