Blog Assignment #3

The 1920's were a very decadent time for the United States. This was a time with societal change, in terms of women, investing, and efficiency in the United States that differed from the period before world war one. Women were changing, and people could buy more things,with the help of credit, that were more efficient. All of the prosperity in the 1920's would lead to the depression in the form of a stock market crash.

With women suffrage being granted in 1920, the national idea about women started to change. Juliet Poyntz described it as women, "struggling for her own conception of freedom" (Liberty 771). From that struggle, came new groups of women, and the most famous new group being the flappers. In the old society, women were prudish, conservative, and submissive, not showing any skin and letting the men in society make the decisions. Once they were granted suffrage however, the flappers came about and started making their own decisions against society, such as drinking, smoking, and showing more skin. This differed greatly from the time before World War One.

The business system in the United States was also changing. In the 1920's, America was described as, "a huge factory of prodigious efficiency" (Freedom 149). With the progress in the work place came, "that wonderful progress in the standard of living of the American people" (Freedom 149) that had not previously been there before World War One. With the increased standard of living, came more income and thus more money to spend. One thing that many Americans chose to spend money on was the stock market. At first this was a wonderful opportunity that many Americans capitalized on and received even more income.

Movies and the radio were also a big hit in the 1920s. These two things gave people an entertainment source that they just did not have before. People were able to afford the cheap, talking movies of the time. This was a major factor in how stars came to be. As for the radio, advertising took on a whole new level by purchasing a radio show and using it's own commercials at the breaks.

Finally, the initiation of credit changed the face of purchasing in the 1920's. Made so that the people could afford cars, credit took off right away and allowed the American people the chance to purchase whatever the wanted. This certainly could not be done before and the effect was seen when the lower class citizens were able to afford things that, in previous eras, only the upper class had. Since many Americans had a car, traveling places was no longer an issue and people could take trips to other cities and see other things.

With all of the prosperity, came a horrendous downfall. The stock market crash was able to wipe out all of the excess money of the twenties as, "more than $10 billion in market value (equivalent to over ten times that smount in today's money) vanished in five hours" (Liberty 792). With the Infatuation of stock markets of the era, many businesses were set up to help the American people invest. When the crash happened, "around 26,000 businesses failed" (Liberty 792). Because of the fact that so many Americans had invested so much into the stock market during the roaring twenties, more money was lost than if this prosperous period had not occured. It is this fact that shows how the twenties led to the great depression.