The 1920s
Boom Times and Pop Culture
OBJS
Discuss the factors that led to the economic boom of the 1920s.
Explain how consumerism increased during this period.
Explain the changes in life in the 1920s.
Evaluate the extent that the majority of women’s lives changed in
the 1920s.
Bellringer
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Compare the ads from the next slide –
1920s emerging consumerism
 2008 ad
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Consumerism
Intro
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The war is over –what will the factories
produce?
1. And 2. -Characteristics of the
Economy and Boom Times
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Prosperity and Productivity

Factors
 Republican
Pro-business stance
 Abundant supplies of energy
 Wealth concentrated in a few
 Demand for new electrical appliances
 New “wonder” materials – plastic, rayon, acetate,
etc…
Factors con’t
The Assembly Line
Ex: Henry Ford and the Model T –
production costs decreased/supply
increased
Impact of the assembly line on the
Auto industry

Large Corporations formed
Small Corporations went out of business
The Big Three remained –Ford, General Motors
and Chrysler
Auto Co’s in 1920s = America’s largest business

What role did the Republicans play in this?
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Changes in Work
Assembly line decreased skilled labor jobs
 Shorter workdays/Higher wages
 Frederick W. Taylor and scientific
management –created “white collar”
management jobs
 Power of Labor Unions decreased

Domestic change

Housewives – reduced # of housekeepers
and delivery people – took over the jobs
with electrical appliances and autos
What changes occurred in
America
due to the increased # of Autos?
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400 K miles of highways built
Public Transportation Decreased
Decreased population of inner cities/Growth of
the “suburbs”
More contact between the rural and urban
Americans
Camping trips
Decreased Sense of “Neighborliness”
Teenagers – more freedom
Pollution/Traffic Jams/ Parking Problems
Increased Accident Rate
Creating Consumers

“To keep America growing we must keep
America working, and to keep America
working we must keep them wanting;
wanting more than the bare necessities;
wanting the luxury and frills that make life
so much more worthwhile, and installment
selling makes it easier to keep Americans
wanting.” (p. 651)
Advertising
Played on peoples’ hopes and fears
 Celebrity pitches
 Jingles and slogans
 Chain Stores (A & P)
 Merchandising
 Easy credit/installment plan

Life in the 1920s

Popular
Entertainment

Radio
 Programs
 Music
 Advertisements
3. Intolerance
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
 Resurgence of the KKK
 Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924
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4. Moral Issues of the Time
The New Woman
Fundamentalism
Prohibition
Moral Issues/The New Woman
Flappers = no corsets,
shorter skirts and hair
(bobs), transparent hose,
wore make up, drove cars
and many smoked
 Minority and NOT the
IDEAL!
 Had social and economic
freedoms

Movies

Lavish theaters
Silent Movies
(Valentino,
Chaplin, and
Garbo)
 1927 –”Talkies”
begin

Celebrities and Heroes

Rudolph Valentino
Babe Ruth
Helen Wills
Gertrude Ederle
Jim Thorpe
Closure
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Read and discuss p. 657