Did People In the Usa Become More Prosperous In the 1920s?
st october 2001
DID PEOPLE IN THE USA BECOME MORE PROSPEROUS IN THE 1920s?
James Andrade
After the War, America decided to adopt a policy of isolationism and hedonism also putting tariffs on foreign goods, so the people of America bought from America. As the USA entered the 1920s, businesses were beginning to boom and thrive. The endless resources of America provided many ways of getting rich and further the boom.
The prosperity of people of in the USA in the 1920s is a very complex issue. You can define prosperity in many different ways I will explain how many prospered but many did not prosper and I will study the division of wealth and how that often there was a thin veil of prosperity with poverty lurking underneath.
For many Americans, the 1920s was a new exciting door opened up to them, a time often called "The Roaring Twenties". Social industries boomed, giant skyscrapers were built and technology became available in a way that changed peoples lives.
"The Jazz Age" was a new way to the American people. The music was different and had more modernity to it. However, it was not only music that changed - fashions also changed. There were "flappers", the young fashionable women of the 1920s. They shocked the older generation in many ways. "Flappers" were a sign of the times when many were becoming more prosperous, with much more money to spend. Many people could now afford the new ways. They could afford the fashions, the clubs and many things that went with it. However many critisisiced the " Jazz Age," they could not stop this new age. Many also wanted to rebel against prohibition.
Sport emerged triumphant from the twenties. Many athletes won fame and fortune in the twenties, and set many records like Babe Ruth - the baseball player. America enjoyed having many good athletes and sportsmen who beat the rest of the World. People were also enlightened by their success and contributed to the mood of the twenties and the National pride which went with prosperity.
One group that prospered out of this social revolution were gangsters and criminals like Al Capone who rebelled against Prohibition. Gangsters like Capone ended up making millions with networks of men and many bribed police, judges and politicians.
Separate from the jazz age was the development and prosperity of the film industry. As people became more prosperous - so did the film industry as people wanted to be entertained more.
This was a progressive age when many tried things that hadn't been tried before. One of the greatest heroes of America was Charles A. Lindbergh a key figurehead in American history, he was the first person to fly across the Atlantic, he came back to the USA with a huge heroes party, this shows how events like this can affect people in these changing ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Separate from the jazz age was the development and prosperity of the film industry. As people became more prosperous - so did the film industry as people wanted to be entertained more.
This was a progressive age when many tried things that hadn't been tried before. One of the greatest heroes of America was Charles A. Lindbergh a key figurehead in American history, he was the first person to fly across the Atlantic, he came back to the USA with a huge heroes party, this shows how events like this can affect people in these changing times and the effect it can have on history.
Although American people developed socially, it is important in explaining their prosperity that their social development would not have happened if it was not for the economic prosperity and technological advances.
In the 1920s many Americans became wealthier, especially under the presidency of Calvin Coolidge. He said "the business of American was business." He was an isolationist and he wanted to concentrate on just America and everything for Americans.
The greatest business boom was in the motorcar industry. The most popular company was Ford and the model T car that went with it. This was invented in 1909. One attraction of the Ford was its price - and it kept dropping - costing $1,200 in 1909 and only $295 in 1928. 15 million people bought the model T car between 1909 and 1928. This was a major revolution in the way people travelled. It was now easier to link all the communities together in America with travelling by car.
Cars were mass produced and standardized making them cheap to make. The car industry used many raw materials and it helped more than any other industry to make America prosperous in the 1920s. Car making used up 20% of America's steel, 80% of the rubber, 75% of her plate glass and 65% of her leather. The manufacture of the car not only provided jobs for workers in the car industry itself but all over many industries like the ones listed above. Cars on the road used 7 billion gallons of petrol per year and made oil producers rich, especially in the state of Texas. New roads had to be built for increased traffic and this meant jobs in the construction industry. With the roads sprang up thousands of garages, gas stations, restaurants, motels and hot dog stands - all providing new jobs and causing more prosperity for everyone involved.
The car industry was not only in itself prosperous, it caused a chain reaction of prosperity throughout America, giving people money in their pockets and a prosperous life. With the added income, people also spent more providing more boom for industries, especially technological. Average pay of industrial workers doubled and much money was spent on consumer goods.
Cars were not the only things you could buy. There was much new technology which people wanted. Much of it helped with house-keeping. Goods which we take for granted today were very unusual then. In 1920, Americas first radio station, Station KDKA went on the air. Within a year, radio became a craze and by 1929, 10 million homes had radio sets. Over 900,000 bought refrigerators, sales of vacuum cleaners, irons, ovens and telephone rocketed. The more people purchased these goods, the more jobs were created.
Although from much evidence you can see America as a prosperous and vibrant society, there was as Hoover said, " a terrible poverty in the midst of plenty." These people who were experiencing poverty were mostly country dwelling people who were mainly farmers. They could produce much food with all the new machinery but a problem began to emerge. They could not sell their food because farmers were producing food so effectively - there was a surplus. This caused food prices to drop.
Farmers tried to keep up their incomes by growing more food but this just made prices drop even further. An even bigger surplus was the result - the simple law of supply and demand. One way farmers could have tried to sell their food was to sell it to other countries. The problem lay with the Government. After the War, they adopted a policy of isolationism. The US put large tariffs on foreign goods and foreign countries did the same. As Coolidge said "concentrate on just America with everything for Americans". Thanks to Americas hedonism, there was "poverty amidst plenty."
Another group often oppressed and ignored were the blacks and immagrants. Most of this group never shared the dividends of prosperity. They were frowned upon by the established Americans and were often made into merely servants. Rasiscm often prevented them from starting businesses or trading on the stock market and were often not allowed to claim land and farm but only try and get jobs there.
When looking at prosperity you often look at figures like the gross national product as an average wealth indicator and in the 1920s this increased, but what many presidents in election campaigns didn't look at is the division of wealth. For example even though the GDP was going up, many got poorer, but to make up for this the rich got eve n more richer. There was definetely a veil of prosperity made up of the wealthy Americans.
The Stock Market was one of the best ways to become rich. Prices rocketed - buyers did not buy shares in the hope they would not loose money but in the wonder of how much they would make. Many bought shares on the margin. For example you want to invest $100 in shares - you could buy £1,000 worth of shares on the margin or on credit. The loan broker or bank that lent the money would then get the money back with interest - once the shares had risen.
By 1929, more than a million Americans owned shares. It was like betting on horses, but everyone won on the Stock Exchange. " For a while anyone really could be rich."
To sum up the question, many did prosper in America however many didn't, The majority were allowed to buy shares on the stock market and if you did not have the money one could buy on the margin. Many farmers and country dwellers didn't buy shares as it was difficult to buy them from the countryside and many were not used to buying shares. One other problem was sometimes the bank would not lend you money, if you had no collaterol for example or fixed substantial salary. Many farmers, blacks and immagrents did not have this, especially immagrents who were often poor with no collaterol. Once again this affected the division of wealth. The people who could buy shares got wealthier but the ones who couldn't stayed poor.
Buying on the margin mirrored prosperity slightly as people were using money that was not really theirs but as long as the stock market continued to perform, you could pay the money back and make a large profit yourself
Many would say isolationism caused prosperity among America, with all for Americans, however it did not help the farmers and export companies who found tariffs on American goods in return for American tariffs on foreign goods.
Technology developed and got cheaper. The prosperity caused a knock on effect with people earning more, they spent more meaning growth everywhere, which in turn produced jobs, which in turn provided money and so on
National pride hit America. America became Hedonistic and carefree about issues in the rest of the world like poverty and the League of nations which was trying to stop poverty but without America it was less powerful.
Socially America developed, with wealth people could afford new ways of fun and movies influenced the public greatly.
In 1929 the good times quickly came to an end, amazingly as worry struck people sold their shares and share prices collapsed. It was called the "Wall street crash" named after the stock exchange street. It happened right at the end of the era of prosperity in October 1929. The age of boom and prosperity therefore came to a sudden end, it showed how much people relied on shares for income. Thousands of banks closed because people wanted their money but because the banks had leant so much away they had none to give and people realised in horror that their life savings were gone.
No longer could American people look forward to prosperity but only hardship to follow, the mood and pride of happiness and prosperity was no more and soon people could not even afford to eat
