Did America in the 1920's "Roar" for everyone?

Authors Avatar

Jack Powell 10TH

Did America in the 1920’s “Roar” for everyone?

In the first three decades of the 20th century, America became the richest and most powerful country in the world. Its population, wealth and industry were growing fast. It had plenty of natural resources (oil, coal, iron ore etc.) The average American worker earned 5 xs more than in Europe. Many Americans owned their own cars. America was so rich it could lend money to Europe.

At the end of World War I, America turned its back on Europe. It didn’t join the League of Nations in 1922. Also in 1922 the McCumber tariff was introduced, this put heavy taxes on cheap foreign imports. This made goods from other countries look very expensive to buy in America, so Americans bought American made goods, and American companies made big profits. However foreign countries retaliated by putting high taxes on American goods being sold in their countries. By the late 1920’s this was a big problem for America and Europe. Isolationism roared for American companies as they made huge profits but the American people lost out too because Europe couldn’t export goods to America which is a very big country. So the tariff helped industry roar for most of the 1920’s because Americans only bought American made goods which meant that American companies made huge profits. However by the late 1920’s American companies were finding it hard to sell their goods in America because Americans already had their goods and other countries would not buy them because of the high taxes on them.

        The Ku Klux Klan wanted to stir up hatred and prejudice against blacks, Jews, Foreigners and Catholics. The Klan had been founded by southern whites after the American civil war. In 1900 the Klan died out but then in 1915 William Simmons, an ex-history teacher from Georgia, re-founded the Klan. By this time all the states of the old south had bought in “Jim Crow Laws” These laws said that blacks should be “separate but equal”. Blacks were separate from whites in every public place. During the war thousands of blacks moved to northern cities to do the newly created jobs. They usually ended up doing the worst jobs so most white people didn’t really mind.  However the movement to the cities led to housing shortages. This led to big riots between blacks and whites. In 1924 the Klan claimed it had a membership of nearly 5 million. The Klan attracted whites of low intelligence and those looking for excitement. However, some local and national politicians were members.  The Klan wore white to show purity. their costumes were baggy and lose so you could not tell the build of the person. They wore hoods that covered their whole faces so you could not see what they looked like and they had high points on so you could not tell the height of the person. The Klan roared for its members because they rarely got caught for their acts because no one knew who was a member and you could not tell who it was because of their costumes. The Ku Klux Klan didn’t roar for Catholics, Jews, blacks and foreigners in the south because they had to live their lives in fear of the Klan also they could not trust anyone because they did not know who were members and they could get beaten up at anytime. The KKK roared for the organisers because they became rich as it cost $5 to and there were over a million members. The KKK also roared for its members because they could victimise people and rarely be caught.

        By the late 1920’s the United States was making more “motion pictures” than any other country. Hollywood had become the film capital of the world. In 1925 over 90% of film show in British cinemas were American. All the early films were “silent movies”. Cinemas would hire piano players to provide background music during the films. People like Gloria Swanson, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton became stars of the silent screen. Charlie Chaplin became one of the greatest and well known comedians in history. In 1928 the first “talkies” were produced. These were new and exciting because no one had seen a movie with the actors and actresses talking before. A lot of silent movie actors lost their jobs if they had a funny accent so it didn’t roar for them. In the 20’s cinema tickets cost less than a loaf of bread so most people could afford to go and see the latest films.  In 1920 40million cinema tickets were sold a week, in 1927 60million were sold a week and in 1929 110million tickets were sold a week. Kissing was only allowed to be shown in the last scene. Unfortunately black actors were not allowed to act in any films. Hollywood roared for the film producers because so many people came to see their films they made huge profits until after World War II when television was invented and people stopped going to the cinema as much. It roared for the public as well because they could afford to see the films. However people lost out with the success of Hollywood as well. Silent actors lost out because they would lose their jobs when talkies came out if they had accents. Blacks lost out because they were not allowed to act in any films.  Cinema roared for the actors of the films because they became famous all over the world and made a lot of money from the films.

Join now!

        In the nineteenth century, in rural areas of the USA there was a very strong “temperance” movement. Members of the temperance movements agreed not to drink alcohol and also campaign to get others to give up alcohol. Most members of these movements were devout Christians who saw what damage alcohol did to family life. In the nineteenth century the two main movements were the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The temperance movements were so strong in some of the rural areas that they persuaded their state governments to prohibit the sale of alcohol within the state. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay