Essay 2- The Roaring 20’s
There were a lot of factors that helped shaped the economic prosperity, social, and
political changes of the Roaring Twenties. Some refer to this era as the “New Era”. Many
factors or events that helped shape the economy was the automobile, new consumer
items, new freedoms, new morality, prohibition, the change of media, and the battle over
evolution.
There were four major factors that helped build the economy in the 1920s. The
biggest factor was the automobile. The automobile drove the economy. The automobile
became one of the most important industries of the nation. The automobile helped
stimulate steel, rubber, glass, tool companies, oil corporations, and road construction. The
automobile created drive-in movies and drive-in restaurants. People were also creating
new consumer goods. The radio, the vacuum cleaner, the electric iron, electric
refrigerator, electric stoves, and washing machine were all created. People were also
starting to buy store bought clothes instead of making their own clothes. Bakeries were
also starting to make bread and people were buying the bread from bakeries instead of
making their own.
The way of living changed a lot for people in the 1920s. Their freedom changed a
lot, drinking laws changed, and even divorce laws changed. Dating and relationships
changed a great deal. Women started seeing their dating and relationships as real
romance. Birth control was starting to be introduced by Margaret Sanger. She wanted
families to believe that the reason for poverty and other family problems was because of
larger families. Women also stated believing that they did not have to act as a woman
were expected to act all the time. They believed they could drink, smoke, party, dance,
wear make up and seductive clothes without any problems. These women were given the
name of a “flapper”. Alcohol had a major influence on the 1920s. In January of 1920 the
18th amendment was passed. This amendment prohibited the sale and manufacture of
alcohol. Progressives believed in this amendment however, others that did not found
ways to receive the alcohol. It did reduce drinking in some parts of the country but it also
produced organized crime. Progressives that once favored the amendment now turned
against it. In 1933, the 18th amendment was repealed.
Media changed in the 1920s. A new form of entertainment was introduced. The
radio was the most important means of communication. The first radio station in America
was KDKA in Pittsburgh in 1920. The first National Broadcasting Company was formed
in 1927. There were various radio shows such as soaps, dramas, comedies, and the wellknown Grand Ole Opry. Movies became popular in the 1920s. The first full length
“talkie”, as they were known, was The Jazz Singer in 1927.
Fundamentalism versus evolution was a big cultural controversy in the Roaring
Twenties. On one side of the argument there was the modernists, which believed they
should adapt their religion to the teachings of modern science and to the realities of their
modern, secular society. On the other side of the argument stood the fundamentalists they
fought to preserve their traditional faith and to maintain the centrality of religion in
American life. They insisted that the Bible should be interpreted literally. The Scopes
Trial is a popular trial that took place in the 1920s concerning the evolution controversy.
It was a planned trial. The ACLU offered free counseling to any Tennessee educator
willing to step up go against not being able to teach any theory that denies the story of the
divine creation of man as taught in the Bible. John T. Scopes stepped up and agreed to
the offer. Clarence Darrow was sent to defend Scopes in the trial. William Jennings
Bryan was sent for the prosecution. The trial was a circus. The trial boiled down to
Darrow’s attack on the Bible. However, Scopes did not win the trial and it did not resolve
any of the conflict between fundamentalists and modernists.
Each of the following factors helped shape the economy into what it is today.