The Roaring Twenties ushered in an exciting time of social change and economic prosperity, as the recession at the end of World War I was quickly replaced by an unprecedented period of financial growth. The stock market soared to unimaginable heights, buoyed by the so-called second Industrial Revolution of the turn of the twentieth century, which saw the development of new inventions and machines that changed American society drastically. For example, industry leader Henry Ford developed the assembly line, which enabled mass production of the automobile—the invention that changed the nation more than any other during the era. The car helped give rise to suburban America, as thousands of middle-class Americans left the congested cities for nicer communities in the city outskirts. The airplane, radio, and motion picture ranked with the automobile as popular new inventions of the time. At the same time, a new age of American literature blossomed in the 1920s.
Source:
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/depression/summary.html
This section form spark notes gives a good overview of the amazing achievements of the 1920's. The assembly line was formed and produced automobiles, or Model T's, invented by Henry Ford. With the assembly line, a new automobile was produced every ten seconds. This was a great industrial achievement. Then America grew wings, when the Wright Brothers took flight for a total of 12 seconds. Soon came the first person to ever fly across the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh, who flew solo from New York to Paris in the Sprit of St. Louis. But as the automobiles and planes drew people away from their homes, the invention of the voice carrying radio drew people back in. The first ever radio broadcasts originated from the station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But one invention that changed entertainment forever was the motion picture. And the first ever movie, The Great Train Robbery in 1903 lasted ten minutes long, and revolutionized/initiated the film industry. The 1920's had the stock market at the highest it has ever been, and no one saw what was ahead of all of this excitement. Sure, the 1920's revolutionized American technology, but the greta Depression which followed shortly after seemed to take all of this away.
I really like your commentary on the technological advances of the 1920s, but I also disagree with your last statement. While the Great Depression may have held technology back for lack of resources, people found solace in such like radio and the movies. When all else was wrong with the world, they could immerse themselves into these and forget about their own troubles for a time.
ReplyDeleteI think what Nick was trying to say was that the Great Depression took attention away from the advancements of the Roaring Twenties; people were more worried about getting enough to eat and having a roof over their heads than driving around in automobiles or enjoying the technological advances of the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alvina on her point about radios and movies acting as a sort of distraction from the Great Depression, however. As Alvina mentions in her post about radio in the 1900's, fireside chats with people such as President Roosevelt must have comforted them, to some degree, in dire times (http://ushaplahs2013.blogspot.com/2013/12/radio-in-early-1900s.html).
Lastly, I think it's interesting how stark the contrast between the Roaring Twenties and times during the Great Depression were. Just goes to show how quickly things can change.