The Roaring 20’s A Time of Prosperity

A Bump In The Road The Roaring 20’s start out as a yawn with a brief recession caused by returning troops. Warren G. Harding elected president to succeed Wilson. Some of Harding’s government appointees are found to be corrupt. Before any action against his men, Harding dies in office in He is succeed by Calvin Coolidge.

Let the good times roll…. After a slight recession when the troops come home, the 1920’s become an extremely profitable decade. US Government passes laws that produces more tax money and money for the population. No one sits on their cash. America goes on a spending spree. Henry Ford revolutionizes production of cheap goods. Much of the recovery and prosperity is brought about by the invention of the car.

Henry Ford Founder of the Ford Motor Company. Came up with the idea of the assembly line to make goods cheaper and faster. The car moves along a line in the factory. Workers are lined up along the assembly line. Each worker is responsible for one job/adding one part on the line. When the car reaches the end of the line, it is finished. Allows for numerous cars to be built in the same day.

Tin Lizzie The Ford “Model T.” “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”. Cost of Model T in 1909 = $895 (About $20,000 today) Cost of Model T by the Roaring 20’s = $290 ($3,000 today) From 1920 – 1930 the amount of cars on the road increases from 9 million to about 27 million.

Why is Lizzie so special? Steel, rubber, glass & oil industries grew to supply automobile builders. New jobs develop in the area’s of car selling, car repairing, valet and chauffeuring. Thousands of miles of new roads built. Diners, motels, rest stops & other small businesses spring up along the new roads. As roads increase and salaries do too, people move out of the cities into the suburbs.

Living beyond our means?? Americans start going on a luxury spending spree. They start buying things on installment plans (electronics, appliances). People start trading heavily on the stock market. Country setting itself up for a hard fall, that would come at the end of the decade.

Mass Media American citizen = cash American businesses want to know how to get your money? Radio programs begin in 1920, and radio advertising explodes. Magazines, such as TIME, are published, leads to more advertising. Ford makes sure that his car is advertised in every newspaper in Detroit.