What happened in the 1920s?

The 1920s in the United States brought rapid economic growth alongside profound cultural change, a combination that gave the decade its nickname as the Roaring Twenties. After the brief postwar recession of 1920 to 1921, the economy expanded steadily. Real gross national product rose by roughly 40 percent over the decade. Industrial productivity climbed by more than 60 percent thanks to the assembly line and electrification of factories. Wages grew, work hours fell from about 50 hours per week to about 45, and the standard of living for many urban workers rose noticeably.

Henry Ford's mass production methods turned the automobile into a working-class possession, with the Model T price dropping below 300 dollars and total American car registrations climbing from about 8 million in 1920 to more than 23 million by 1929. New highways were built, suburbs expanded, and roadside businesses such as gas stations and motels appeared. Electricity reached two-thirds of American homes by the end of the decade, powering refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and toasters. Radios became standard fixtures in living rooms, and broadcasts of news, music, baseball games, and presidential speeches created a shared national culture for the first time. Hollywood produced more than 800 films a year by the late 1920s, and silent films gave way to talkies after The Jazz Singer in 1927.

Cultural change moved just as fast. The Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920 gave women the vote, and a younger generation of women known as flappers rebelled against Victorian dress and behavior. Jazz music spread out of Black neighborhoods of New Orleans and Chicago into national popularity. The Harlem Renaissance produced poets, novelists, and musicians who reshaped American art. Sports stars such as Babe Ruth in baseball, Jack Dempsey in boxing, and Red Grange in football became national celebrities through radio and newspapers.

Tensions also rose. Prohibition under the Eighteenth Amendment created the speakeasy and organized crime. Immigration was sharply restricted in 1921 and 1924. The Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 dramatized fights over evolution and religion. The Ku Klux Klan revived. The decade ended in disaster when stock speculation and weak banking regulation produced the October 1929 crash and the Great Depression.