Evoluții politice în epoca contemporană

USA 1919-1940

AMERICA IN A NEW AGE

World War I made the United States a world power. While European nations tried to recover from

the war, the United States had overseas territories, access to markets, and plentiful raw materials.

Formerly in debt to European investors, the United States began to lend money abroad. At home, the

economy expanded. Assembly-line production, mass consumption, easy credit, and advertising

characterized the 1920s. As profits soared, American zeal for reform waned, and business and

government resumed their long-term affinity. But not all Americans enjoyed the rewards of prosperity. A

mix of economic change, political conservatism, and cultural conflict made the 1920s a decade of

contradictions.

A. Productivity and Prosperity

As war production ended, the economy dipped, but only briefly; by 1922 the nation began a

spectacular spurt of growth. Auto production symbolized the new potential of industry (see Automobile

Industry). Annual car sales tripled from 1916 to 1929; 9 million motorized vehicles on the road became

27 million by the end of the 1920s. At his Michigan plant, Henry Ford oversaw the making of the popular

black Model T. New modes of production changed car manufacture. A moving assembly line brought

interchangeable parts to workers who performed specific tasks again and again. Assembly-line techniques

cut production costs, which made cars less expensive and more available to average citizens.

The effect of auto production spread beyond car factories. Auto building spurred industries that

made steel, glass, rubber, and petroleum. Exploration for oil led to new corporations, such as Gulf Oil and

Texaco. During the 1920s domestic oil production grew by 250 percent, and oil imports rose as well.

State-funded programs to build roads and highways changed the nation’s landscape. Previously

isolated rural areas filled with tourist cabins and gas stations. New suburbs with single-family homes on

small plots of land arose at the outskirts of cities; the construction industry soared. For more information,

see United States (Culture): Way of Life; Living Patterns.

Finally, the car industry pioneered new ways to distribute and sell products. Auto companies sold

cars through networks of dealers to customers who often used a new type of credit, the installment plan.

With this plan, the purchaser made an initial payment, or down payment, and then agreed to pay the

balance of the purchase price in a series of payments.

Cars were just one growth sector of the 1920s. Energy use tripled, and electricity reached 60

percent of American homes. Industry produced new home appliances such as refrigerators, washing

machines, and vacuum cleaners. As incomes rose, families spent larger portions of their incomes to buy

these durable goods; items previously considered luxuries now became necessities. Chain stores, such as

A&P, put local retailers out of business; canned goods and commercial breads replaced homemade

products. The young advertising industry, which had appeared in the late 19th century, fed a desire for

consumer goods. Extensive credit abetted this desire, known as consumerism.

During the decade, American corporations became larger. Some grew by securing markets abroad,

as did the United Fruit Company in Latin America. Others grew through consolidation. Large companies

came to dominate many industries. By the end of the 1920s, 100 corporations controlled nearly half the

nation’s business.

The vast growth of business in the 1920s transformed many areas of life, but failed to distribute

benefits equally. Industrial workers did not reap the profit of increased productivity. Wages rose but not

as fast as prices. Unions competed with company unions (employer-established organizations) and battled

the National Association of Manufacturers, which sought to break union power. Union membership

dropped from about 5 million in 1920 to 3.4 million in 1930.

Agriculture suffered as well. Markets for farm products declined after army purchases ended and

European farming revived. Farmers produced more, and prices continued to fall. The annual income of

farmers declined, and they fell further into debt. Like many other Americans, rural families became mired

in a web of credit and consumption.

Mass Culture

Leisure industries, too, turned to mass production. Amusements of bygone days—amateur

theatricals, sleigh rides—gave way to new industries in entertainment and culture. Rural or urban,

Americans nationwide read mass-circulation magazines, full of advertising, such as The Saturday

Evening Post, Reader’s Digest, or The Ladies’ Home Journal. They listened on the radio to the same

popular music, comedy shows, and commercials, broadcast by new radio networks such as National

Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). Motion pictures gained vast

urban audiences, and in 1927 Al Jolson’s film The Jazz Singer introduced sound to movie audiences.

Fans followed the careers of movie stars in film magazines. The press also tracked other celebrities, such

as Charles Lindbergh, who flew the first transatlantic flight in 1927, or novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald and his

wife, Zelda, who epitomized an icon of the 1920s, the flapper.

Young and uninhibited, the flapper represented much of what typified the Jazz Age of the

1920s—youthful rebellion, female independence, exhibitionism, competitiveness, and consumerism.

Although a symbol of liberation, the flapper was in fact the ultimate consumer, dependent on a variety of

products. With her bobbed hairdos, short skirts, makeup, and cigarettes, she supported growth industries

of the 1920s—the beauty parlor, the ready-made clothing industry, cosmetic manufacture, and tobacco

production. Consumerism linked the carefree, adventurous mood of the Jazz Age with the dominance of

large corporations and their conservative values.

Among African Americans, the great migration of Southern blacks to Northern jobs during the

war created strong African American communities. During the 1920s these communities were home to

cultural revivals, such as the Harlem Renaissance, where art, music, and literature flourished. The “New

Negro,” a term used by critic and historian Alain Locke, celebrated African American heritage and racial

identity. As black creativity flourished, African Americans began to raise their voices for equality.

Interest also arose in black nationalism. Some African Americans became followers of Jamaican black

nationalist Marcus Garvey, who urged racial pride, formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association

(UNIA), and led a “Back to Africa” movement. At its height the UNIA claimed more than 2 million

members. It declined after Garvey was convicted of fraud and deported to Jamaica in 1927.