America in the 1920’s.

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Joe Swainson 05/09/07                                                                                                        

America in the 1920’s:

The BOOM Years

The Motor Industry:

The motor car industry was one of the first to use the method of mass production.  Mass production was carried out in large factories across the USA and mainly in the large northern cities where the industry was located.  Mass production is a method of manufacturing a product.  It was done using long assembly lines where each person along the line would make the same component over and over again then pass it down the line for the next part to be added until the finished product was created. Henry Ford mastered this with a Model T Ford being produced every 10 seconds.  The Ford Company continued to produce and prosper with the Model T through boom and bust.  By 1925 one in two car owners in America owned a Model T Ford.

Consumer Goods:

It was not only the car, which had major success during the 1920’s in America.  Consumer goods were also in huge demand.  Consumer goods also used the method of mass production, as did cars.  Radio sets, telephones, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and ovens were the main goods wanted and bought by the American public.  These new gadgets and appliances were attractive and sales rocketed.  To help booster consumer goods sales a credit system was introduced.  This system gave people the power to buy the product on credit.  Those who could not afford the product in one go could pay for it in installments. Mail order also gave people who lived beyond the towns and cities the chance to buy the product in remote areas; this was also good for people who had responsibilities at home.  Advertisements in magazines, cinema, and newspapers, on the radio and on billboards encouraged people to buy the product.  These adverts were propaganda and said that this product made you a better person and if you did not own it you were a lesser person compared to those who did.

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The Ku Klux Klan:

The Ku Klux Klan originated from the southern whites after the American civil war in 1866.  They were a group who were against black people.  By 1900 the KKK where nearly non-existent until 1915 when William Simmons an ex history teacher from Georgia re-founded the Klan.  With this new start the KKK reformed their ideas.  They were only for WASP’s (White, Anglo Saxon, Protestants) and against all Jews, Catholics, immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, Asia and especially Blacks.  From 1921 to 1925 Simmons claimed an increase of nearly 5 million people on ...

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