The Roaring Twenties : A Time Of Economic Prosperity

The 1920’s are commonly referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Many factors during the time played significant roles in earning the decade this name. Economic conditions and developments in the arts and entertainment were some of the most impacting among these factors. Economic conditions and developments in the arts and entertainment helped create the reputation of the 1920’s as the Roaring Twenties. Economic conditions gave people a feeling of economic prosperity. They also allowed people to buy a lot of things on credit. Developments in the arts and entertainment created a culture of free expression by granting women the ability to express their opinions more clearly than they were able to in years prior and encouraging jazz and dancing.

The Roaring Twenties were a time of new behaviors, attitudes, and freedoms which were all presented during the Prohibition. The Roaring Twenties were an era of social, political, and dramatic change. During this age, freedoms were expanded yet, in some cases, they were diminished. Prohibition was an enormous part of this era. Prohibition was ratified as the 18th Amendment in 1919, banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol. The three main contributions from Prohibition were: bootlegging, organized crime, and the failure of Prohibition. Prohibition very much contributed to the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties in a detrimental way to society by creating a period of time in which even the average citizen broke the law.

The Roaring Twenties is known as an age of parties, jazz, and overspending. After World War I, the optimistic American people reacted by celebrating and overspending. They purchased new appliances such as cars, radios and refrigerators; they purchased luxury items like clothes and invested in stocks. Their new attitude towards the booming American economy was carefree, leading to a series of events. First the stock market crashed. Next, the banks failed. Then, companies laid off employees who were unable to make the payments on the items they purchased. Tariffs and droughts further complicated the situation. This decade became known as the Great Depression, because the economic setbacks impacted everyone and everything. But the question is “Why did Americans lose so much money in such a short period of time?” One answer is, the failing stock market. A second is unregulated banking systems which allowed for buying on margin. Third, the lifestyle following World War I was too materialistic. The Great Depression was caused by Americans failing to responsibly manage their money.

The 1920s was known for its prosperous and flamboyant lifestyle. The GDP during that time had risen by 30 percent and unemployment was as at an all-time low of 3 percent. This was not meant to last forever. In fact, it was nearly impossible for this to last any longer than it did due to an imbalance that society was unaware of including that not every citizen was experiencing this uncommon wealth. There were still 3 percent unemployed and even some of the employed members of society did not make enough to support a family and were considered homeless. It was in October of 1929 when this so-called luxurious lifestyle vanished as the stock market crashed at a time when the stock market seemed it would never stop increasing. This caused an economic, downhill, rolling ball effect. Those who took out loans to invest in stocks could not afford to repay the banks causing the banks to fail and close down. When the banks closed down, the depositors of that bank lost their life savings causing them to go broke and some company owners to close their doors. This led to a loss of jobs by the employers of those companies. This time period was known as the Great Depression and rightfully so. It is the most significant setback in the American Economy to date. The Herbert Hoover administration was in effect at this time giving the society an easy target to blame. Come time for the next election in 1932, Americans were ready for a change in authority to bring them out of this seemingly black

The 1920’s were a swinging party of an era. People learned what having a good time and living the American dream truly meant when they began partying all night, seeing movies, placing imaginary money into a new system called “credit”, and ignoring the impending doom that sat on the horizon. On October 29, 1929, tragedy struck America; the newly founded stock market crashed, and suddenly people were trying to sell off their bad stocks to people with no money, who were being hounded by banks trying to reclaim the imaginary money that turned out to be not so imaginary after all. This date marked the start of the era known as the Great Depression. The Depression would control the 30’s, leaving some on the lower levels of society struggling to survive,

The era of the 1920s, also known as the Roaring 20’s, was a revolutionary time in which radical changes struck the American nation, drastically increasing advances in society and economy. New and different forms of dance, music, clothing, behavior, and lifestyle were developed nationwide. The Antebellum Period in the late 1700s increased rebellion, similar to the Roaring 20’s era of growth and reform. As this time period brought profound changes, conflict, cultural excitement, and experimentation, the population of America was experiencing an alteration in social values. The American pride, similar to the pride we had when separating from the British, was still alive as independence and freedom was strongly rebelled for. The Roaring 20’s depicted the growing independence of the American public as the promised result of cultural excitement with the usage of alcohol, experimentation with labor strikes, conflict over ones rights, and change in the prosperity of the nation, was much linked to and differed from the Temperance movement, Labor movement, Suffrage movement, and the Industrial Revolution.

The United States had just gained victory from World War I and was thriving. The period known as the roaring 20s was a time of success and materialism. Consumers were buying more and more products and spending money on credit. People were frivolously spending money and buying stock in the stock market. Although things may have appeared to be a time of success and prosperity, a storm was brewing and there were underlying weaknesses in the economy.

The United States began as a hardworking agricultural country. It seemingly led up to what felt like the best years of America, the 1920’s. Widely known as the roaring 20’s were when the industrial and stock market boomed. However too much of a good thing can only end badly, and the 20’s were no exception. On October 29, 1929, better known as “Black Tuesday”, the stock market crashed and America was flipped upside down.

America had been a generally conservative nation with a population that avoided personal debt. However, this would all change during the decade known as “The Roaring Twenties.” This prosperous period embodied huge changes in the general lifestyle and culture of the American people as they embraced consumerism. However, during the 1920s the economy also faced numerous unfortunate events and unstable practices that would lead to one of the world’s worst economic crashes. There were many reasons for the economic downfall, including mass production and consumerism, excess credit and ‘playing’ the stock market, which led to the stock market crash in 1929.

Was the 1920’s really roaring? What really happened in order for this period to obtain this name? Well, the 1920’s gets the name Roaring Twenties due to the major change in political and social living. This period of time changed the way humans lived and viewed everyday life. With the start of many inventions including the automobile and the radio, social life began to improve for some, on the other hand the earlier generations saw this to be a coming of difference in social and racial views. This period had it reasons for being “Roaring”.

The 1920’s were a lavishing time. People of the 1920’s were living off the motto: “Forget about the war and live for today…spend, travel, dine, dance. Dash off to Florida, California, Europe. Buy expensive automobiles, luxurious houses, and costly jewelry. Throw money around, but forget about the war.” Even 31st President Herbert Hoover believed that we would abolish poverty, and the economy would not falter. That all changed on October 29th, 1929, which the date will be known as, “The Black Tuesday.” When the Stock Market crashed, major industries, factories, and millionaires, went bankrupt in a matter of hours.

The Roaring 20’s were an amazing time in our history when our economy and people’s lives were full of excitement of prosperity and changes happening during the decade. As the first world war ended, Canada's economy pick up speed because of the roaring 20's progressed and transitioned from a war based production economy to a balanced supply and demand economy of creating cars as well as radio. Throughout the roaring 20’s a economic boom was created as people bought new gadgets and mass consumerism began. While technology started to become a big role of society as well as helping the economy during the 20’s. Although cars, radios and silent movies were invented these factored how the roaring 20’s was about the economy, lifestyle and prosperity.

As early as the 1920s, Americans and their leaders were quite confident about their country’s better future, compared to some of the toughest economic times that the country had gone through, such as the mild economic depression in the early 1820s and the bank panic. In fact, during his election trail, Herbert Hoover shown off America’s optimism by citing that the triumph against the poor house was forthcoming. However, the Great Depression erupted at a full force the early 1930s; an event that Walton and Rockoff 439 describe to have been the country’s most important economic event of the 20th century (422). The great depression was a time when the United States’ economy was hit by the deepest as well as the longest-lasting economic downturn that was characterized by a drop in the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 30 percent. Unemployment also rose by 21.7 percent in 1933, and industrial production dropped by almost half. The nation was also paralyzed by hunger (Walton and Rockoff 422).

The stock market crash of October 27, 1929, marked the turning point in America’s economic history. The prosperous nature of the 1920’s was no longer as America suffered its longest and most severe depression in its existence. Despite actions taken by the government to counteract the economic collapse; inevitably, the depression left 25% of America’s population unemployed and millions hungry as agricultural stocks plummeted. The practice of “Buying on the margin” exposed the flaws in America’s economic system and the consumer mindset which once was the driving point for the prosperity of the United States, now became its demise, as overproduction and under consumption occurred. Despite Hoover’s best efforts to reinvigorate the economy, it was his actions that ultimately prolonged the depression and contributed to its extent. Ultimately it was for these reasons that the Wall Street crash can be considered the catalyst for the great depression.

The Great Depression of America started on October 29, 1929, after which, the day was known forever as “Black Tuesday.” The stock market of United States of America, which had been rising upwards for almost a whole decade, collided and eventually plunged the country into its most severe economic crises ever. Investors lost their investments, banks failed, the money of the nation supply shrank and companies got bankrupt and the workers got fired. In the meantime, President Herbert Hoover advised endurance and self-sufficiency. He thought that the crisis were temporary and considered it as a passing incident in their national lives, as it was not the job of federal government to resolve the issue.