United States in the 1920s

Like much of the twentieth century, the 1920s in the United States was a time of great change. Technological and social changes affected how people lived. The county was still recovering from its involvement in World War I, which ended only two years before the 1920s began. American President Woodrow Wilson (1865–1924) oversaw the nation’s transition from the 1910s to the 1920s. However, he had become less influential because of the war and the severe stroke that he suffered in late 1919. Although the country yearned for a “return to normalcy”—which was a campaign slogan used by Warren G. Harding (1865–1923) during his successful 1920 bid for the presidency—it continued to experience huge social changes, including women gaining the right to vote, Prohibition, and scientific and technological changes, such as the development of new medications and the increasing ubiquity of automobiles. The 1920s are often referred to as the “Roaring Twenties,” as the country experienced economic growth and increased leisure time. Although the Roaring Twenties eventually gave way to the Great Depression of the 1930s, the decade is usually remembered for its decadence and Americans’ increased focus on entertainment and leisure.

Overview

The 1920s influenced American history in countless ways and continues to be a period that is closely studied by historians, sociologists, and economists. The ‘20s occurred between two difficult and solemn periods in American history. In the 1910s, the United States entered World War I, and more than 110,000 Americans died during the conflict. Furthermore, Americans were expected to sacrifice for the war effort, causing many to purchase fewer goods and become self-sufficient and resourceful. The war also helped create high inflation rates, which caused more economic turmoil. The country also faced the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic in the late 1910s, which killed more than 675,000 Americans. However, when the war and pandemic ended, Americans were eager to spend money and enjoy themselves, which helped to bring about some of the economic and social changes of the 1920s.

The 1920s influenced by the 1930s, the decade after it. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 is often seen as the beginning of the Great Depression, which lasted throughout much of the 1930s. Furthermore, the changing role of women in society and the increase in racist violence against African Americans and other racial minorities that occurred during the 1920s influenced American society into the next decade.

Politics and Government

President Wilson, who served until early 1921, was the only Democratic president to serve during the 1920s. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge (1872–1923), and Herbert Hoover (1874– 1964)—three Republicans—filled the office for the rest of the decade. Most modern historians classify Harding, who died of illness in 1923, as an ineffective leader whose short term in office was plagued by scandal. Coolidge, who was Harding’s vice president, took over the office after Harding died and served until early 1929. Coolidge was more effective than his predecessor, though many historians believe that some of his policies negatively impacted the American economy. Although Coolidge had conservative economic policies, he supported more progressive social policies such as women’s suffrage and racial equality. Hoover, who won the 1928 election, is usually best remembered for leading the country during the 1929 Stock Market Crash and early Great Depression. Like Coolidge, Hoover had conservative economic policies and favored policies that expanded business and reduced regulation.

During the 1920s, the US government also passed laws that significantly changed American society. In 1919, the country ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, which brought about the Prohibition Era that began in 1920s. The Progressive Era (1890s to 1910s) encouraged many social changes, such as the temperance movement, which was one of the most popular progressive causes of the time. Since its founding, the United States had permitted alcohol consumption, and earlier Americans of all ages regularly consumed large amounts alcohol. By the mid-1800s, so-called temperance activists fought to reduce alcohol consumption. The temperance supporters, including organizations such as the Anti-Saloon League, gained support from employers, who wanted sober workers. It was also supported by women who believed that men’s excessive drinking was damaging to American families. The temperance, or “dry,” activists gained enough support to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919.

On January 16, 1920, Prohibition began in the United States, and it became illegal to buy, sell, manufacture, or transport alcoholic beverages. The law made a few exceptions, such as the use of alcohol for medicinal and religious purposes. Although Prohibition received widespread support before 1920, some Americans were surprised by the stringency of the law’s restrictions. Americans began illegally producing, selling, and transporting alcohol almost as soon as Prohibition started. During the early years of Prohibition, it was common for people to make money by transporting alcohol into the United States from Canada and Mexico. Criminal organizations flourished under Prohibition, a time when people could make large sums of money from alcohol sales. Some individual Americans—especially those living in rural areas in the South and Appalachia—distilled alcohol to sell and for their own consumption. However, organized criminal gangs became the most powerful and influential alcohol producers during Prohibition. Prohibition proved to be a policy failure, and the Eighteenth Amendment was eventually repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment, which was ratified in 1933.

The Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was ratified on August 18, 1920. The ratification of this amendment was the result of American women’s decades of protesting and organizing. At that time, most American women stayed at home and did not participate in paid labor. Women were often seen as second-class citizens, and for many years even many American women opposed women’s suffrage. Yet, the Progressive Era popularized progressive social changes, including women’s suffrage.

Gender and Race

Some of the most significant social changes of the 1920s dealt with gender and race. After women gained the right to vote, they had more social power than they had in past. Furthermore, other social changes, such as Prohibition, significantly influenced women’s role in society. The popular speakeasies of the Prohibition Era were secretive and somewhat private. They allowed patrons to drink alcohol and socialize with some expectations of privacy. Women who attended these speakeasies drank alcohol, listened to live music, and socialized with men. The Prohibition Era saw the development of a group women known as flappers, who had a specific style defined by a short haircut, makeup, a short dress, and ostentatious jewelry. Flappers were also known for their lighthearted, energetic attitudes. Many flappers listened and danced to jazz music.

Although women gained new rights in the 1920s, not all groups of women benefitted equally, in large part because racism allowed only white women to benefit. Racism in the United States had remained mostly unchanged—particularly in the South—since the Civil War. Other forms of discrimination, including antisemitism, were also common in the country in the 1920s, and racist terrorist groups, specifically the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), gained power in the 1920s. The KKK first originated in the 1860s after the Civil War. Klansmen beat, raped, and killed countless innocent people, mostly Black Southerners. Although the KKK was powerful, it was unfocused and most local KKK groups had dissolved by the 1870s. In 1915, however, Southern white men who feared losing their control and power revived the KKK. The message that the KKK sent in the 1920s was like the message sent decades earlier. It implied that white womanhood was under “threat” from Black men.

By the 1920s, the racist message of the new KKK became extremely popular among white Southerners, and the group was common throughout the South, spreading to the North and West as well. Although women did not participate in the Klan’s activities in the 1860s, the KKK leadership of the 1920s realized that women—who had been involved in the temperance and suffrage movements—could be a powerful force in the KKK, so they founded separate affiliated groups for females, such as the Women’s KKK (WKKKP), which allowed only white Protestant members. WKKK supported racism and antisemitism and sent a message that Catholics were dangerous. According to the WKKK, Protestantism was the only acceptable form of Christianity. Furthermore, the WKKK tried to attract members by promoting the ideas of white women’s empowerment. White Southern women participated in similar discussions even outside the KKK. For example, the Grand League of Protestant Women, a women’s social group organized in Texas in 1922, called for “white supremacy, protection of womanhood, defense of the flag” (Blee, 1991).

To escape the violent racism of the South, many African Americans relocated to the North and West. The Great Migration saw thousands of African Americans move from the South to other parts of the country in the 1920s. Because of racist hiring and housing policies in other parts of the country, most African Americans relocated to cities where they could more easily find employment. Urban locations were also popular because the public transportation there was more affordable than purchasing automobiles. Although African Americans who left the South escaped some of the violence, they continued to encounter laws and social systems designed to segregate them from white neighborhoods. They were also often excluded from labor unions.

Some African Americans sought to escape racist policies and social systems by creating their own communities, in which African Americans owned businesses and built their own mostly self-sustaining economies. An example of such a community was the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1921, a white mob attacked and destroyed the entire Greenwood section of the city, destroying one of the most economically developed African American communities in the country. As African Americans faced violent attacks, the US Congress voted on the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill. However, the bill was defeated through a Senate filibuster in 1922. Despite laws limiting their rights, African Americans advocated for themselves. For example, A. Philip Randolph, a Black activist, started the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) in the 1920s and worked to organize Black workers.

Anti-immigration sentiment was also common in the United States in the 1920s. In 1924, Senator David Reed of Pennsylvania helped sponsor the Johnson-Reed Act, which dramatically reduced the number of immigrants arriving in the United States. Before the bill was passed, Reed claimed that immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe had failed to assimilate enough to American culture, pointing out that many first-generation immigrants did not speak English. He also made the explicitly racist decree that America’s racial composition should remain unchanged.

Religion

Americans were predominantly Protestant Christians from the country’s beginning, and Christianity remained the most common religion in the 1920s. The rise of the KKK and the WKKK in the 1920s brought with it a revival of Protestant Christianity in some parts of the country. The revival pushed back against the progressive-era ideas, such as changing gender roles and equality for monitories, that had been popular in the previous several decades. The spread of Communism in Europe and people’s fears about the ideology taking hold in the United States also prompted a revived focus on religion in the country.

Popular Culture

Literature, art, music, and films were all important parts of American popular culture in the 1920s. Literature and art had numerous influences and styles during this decade. Much writing and art was created by those involved in the Harlem Renaissance, which was a revival of African American art, literature, politics that was centered in Harlem, New York. Other artists and writers used their craft to critique the decedent lifestyles some Americans had in the 1920s. For example, authors Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) and F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) were authors who criticized the culture of 1920s America.

The most famous and one of the most popular music styles of the 1920s was jazz music, which originated in the 1910s. Jazz itself was influenced by ragtime music, which originated among African Americans in the South in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One reason for the music’s popularity is that bands often played at speakeasies, which Americans frequented during Prohibition. Dancing was common in places with live music, and dance marathons were an important part of 1920s popular culture. Participants would try to dance for long periods of time with limited or no breaks. The marathons themselves became a form of entertainment, with people purchasing tickets to watch them.

By the end of the 1920s, the United States had thousands of movie theaters. Although most films made during this decade were silent, the first so-called “talkie,” or film with audible dialogue, was made in 1927. This development made films a more important part of American pop culture.

Economy and Economics

The 1920s was mostly a time of economic expansion in the United States. Wages rose during this time in part because technology increased productivity. Americans, who had saved their money during World War I, were eager to spend their money in the 1920s. The economy also expanded because people took on debt, and many Americans started investing in the stock market. Americans of all different backgrounds occasionally became rich through their investments. At the time, some people purchased stock using credit, paying only a percentage of the stock’s full cost at the time of the sale.

The increasing popularity of investment also contributed to the economic downfall that occurred at the end of the 1920s. As more Americans invested in the stock market, stock prices rose dramatically, eventually beyond sustainable levels. Furthermore, rising unemployment, a struggling agriculture sector, and high levels of debt (in part from stock investments) made the economy weaker and caused investors to take their money out of stock investments. The 1929 Stock Market Crash happened as a result. On October 29, investors sold more than sixteen million shares, creating a loss of nearly $15 billion in value. Although the market crash was not responsible for the Great Depression of the 1930s, it signaled its beginning.

Science and Technology

The 1920s was also a time when science and technology changed dramatically. The Scopes Trial of 1925 was a famous example of Americans’ differing opinions about science and their acceptance of scientific theories. During the trial, a science teacher named John Scopes was charged with breaking a Tennessee state law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public school. Both Scopes’ supporters and opponents realized the trial had the potential to shift public sentiment about the theory of evolution, so both sides presented their best arguments for and against the theory. The prosecution argued against the theory by stating that the Bible should be interpreted literally as a work of nonfiction that told the world’s history. The defense illustrated flaws in this argument through a line of questioning about how people can prove the Bible’s stories to be true. Despite this line of questioning being embarrassing for the prosecution, Scopes lost the trial and had to a fine of $100. The trial drew nationwide attention as Americans discussed evolution and persuaded scientific organizations, such as the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), to educate the American public about complicated or controversial scientific ideas.

Some American scientists and pseudoscientists helped popularize the eugenics movement in the 1920s. Eugenics is the idea that humans can rid themselves of social ills through selective breeding and an understanding of genetics. Eugenics began in Europe in the late 1800s, but it had spread to the United States and was accepted, even by some mainstream scientists, as a solution for society’s problems. Eugenics is an overtly racist and ableist idea, and the embrace of the eugenics movement in the United States had widespread social implications. State and local governments passed laws legalizing forced sterilization for numerous reasons, including health problems and promiscuity. The issue of forced sterilization reached all the way to the US Supreme in the 1927 case Buck v. Bell. In that case, Supreme Court Justice Wendell Holmes wrote the decision allowing Virginia’s forced sterilization law. The movement eventually lost support, especially after it was embraced by the Nazis in World War II.

Engineering

The United States experienced further innovations during the 1920s that changed not only American society but also the American landscape. Developments in engineering and improved building materials made it possible for Americans to construct taller buildings. In 1928, workers began construction on the Chrysler Building, a famous art deco skyscraper in New York City, and finished in the 1930s. It was the tallest building in the world for a brief time after its completion. Plans for the construction of the Empire State Building began in the 1920s. Urban centers also became more densely populated in part because of improvements in plumbing and electricity.

Technological advancements also changed how Americans traveled. More Americans began flying planes in the 1920s in part because the US government sold fleets of planes after the end of World War I. Furthermore, cities built electric railcars to help urban residents get from place to place. The population and size of cities were constantly increasing. Although trains and planes changed during the 1920s, the biggest change in transportation in the country at the time was the proliferation of the automobile. Ford’s Model T, which had been sold in the United States since the 1900s, continued to be popular in the 1920s. In 1927, Ford replaced that vehicle with the updated Model A.

Medicine

The 1920s also saw numerous developments in the field of medicine. A Canadian doctor, Frederick Banting, and his assistant, Charles Best, isolated and began using insulin to treat patients with diabetes in the early 1920s. The American pharmaceutical company Eli Lily started large-scale production of insulin soon afterward, and insulin became the common treatment for diabetes by the end of the decade. Scientists also developed vaccinations for diphtheria (1923), whooping cough (1926), and tuberculosis (1927). The discovery of penicillin in Europe in 1928 helped change the future of medicine around the world, including in the United States. It gave doctors a safe and effective way to combat many bacterial infections.

About the Author

Elizabeth Mohn earned a BS in communications in 2006. She has developed social sciences content for more than a decade.

Bibliography

Arnold-Forster, T. (2022). Rethinking the Scopes Trial: Cultural Conflict, Media Spectacle, and Circus Politics. Journal of American Studies, 56(1), 142–166. doi.org/10.1017/S0021875821000529.

Blee, K. M. (1991). Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s. University of California Press.

Bouche, T. & Rivard, L. (2014, September 18). America’s Hidden History: The Eugenics Movement. Nature. www.nature.com/scitable/forums/genetics-generation/america-s-hidden-history-the-eugenics-movement-123919444/.

Cataneo, E. (2020). A Brief History of Women’s KKK. JSTOR. daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-the-womens-kkk/.

Diamond, A. (2020, May 19). The 1924 Law That Slammed the Door on Immigrants and the Politicians Who Pushed It Back Open. Smithsonian Magazine. www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1924-law-slammed-door-immigrants-and-politicians-who-pushed-it-back-open-180974910/.

Gardner, K. E. (2019). The Art of Insulin Treatment: Diabetes, Insulin, and the 1920s. Journal of Medical Humanities, 40(2), 171–180.

Hintz, M. (1996). Roaring Twenties. In Farewell, John Barleycorn (p. 52). Lerner Publishing Group.

History.com Editors. (2021). The Roaring Twenties. A&E Television Networks. www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/roaring-twenties-history.

Lewis, S. L. (2019). “We are not copyists”: Socialist Networks and Non-alignment from Below in A. Philip Randolph’s Asian Journey. Journal of Social History, 53(2), 402–428.

Lidz, F. (2016). Welcome to Monkey Town. Smithsonian Magazine, 46(11), 76–81.

Nkiri, E. (2021). What Was Lost. American History, 56(5), 42–49.

O’Neill, J. (2009). Constitutional Maintenance and Religious Sensibility in the 1920s: Rethinking the Constitutionalist Response to Progressivism. Journal of Church & State, 51(1), 24–51. doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csp003.

Richardson, S. (2021). The Threat of Success. American History, 56(5), 6.

Simon, L. (2017). The Original “It” Girl: Flappers Took the Country by Storm in the Roaring ’20s and Then Suddenly Vanished. Or Did They? Smithsonian Magazine, 48(5), 9–11.

Varrasi, J. (2005). Soaring Twenties. Mechanical Engineering, 127(05), 39-41. doi.org/10.1115/1.2005-MAY-4.