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Summary OCR GCSE History: America - Roaring 20s - Notes
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Grade 9 notes for the Roaring 20s topic from the OCR History syllabus.
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ROARING 20sWHY WERE THE 1920s ‘ROARING’?
More Americans lived in towns and cities than in rural areas
o A symbol of this was skyscrapers – showed that the city was growing and sharing in
the boom
In urban areas the average working week dropped from 47.4 to 44 hours and the average
wage rose by 11%
o This meant people had more cash to enjoy themselves with
RADIO
o In August 1921, there was only 1 licensed radio station; in 1922 there were 531
o Gave greater access to jazz music
o Black Americans who moved to the cities brought jazz with them
o Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong became household names
SPORT
o Flourished as a form of mass entertainment
o Baseball became the most popular sport of the urban working classes
o Babe Ruth was earning $80,000 by 1930
CINEMA
o By the end of the 1920s, 100 million tickets were sold each week
o Actors like Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford became stars
WHY DOES THE US ECONOMY BOOM IN THE 1920s?
RESOURCES:
o The US had a great store of natural resources such as wood, iron, coal, minerals, oil
and land
o This helped the US to become a great industrial power
IMPACT OF WW1:
o Had supplied Europe with many goods during the war and had taken over European
overseas markets
o Became the world leader in the chemicals industry
REPUBLICAN POLICIES: pro-business policies encouraged the boom
o Lowered taxes on income and company profits, giving the wealthy more money to
invest in the American industry and people more money to spend on American
goods
o Put tariffs on imported goods – made imports more expensive compared with
American-made goods and thereby helped American producers
o Didn't interfere with businesses or put any controls on financial institutions
CONFIDENCE:
o The confidence to buy goods, invest in companies and try out new ideas
MASS-PRODUCTION:
, o New techniques meant that goods could be produced much more cheaply on a large
scale
o Henry Ford pioneered mass-production in the car industry by introducing an
assembly line; cars were made so cheaply that thousands of ordinary Americans
could afford them
WHO WERE THE WINNERS FROM THE ECONOMIC BOOM?
MOTOR INDUSTRY
o Revolutionised by Henry Ford who pioneered the assembly line principle
Each worker would perform a single task
This meant that trained, skilled workers were not needed so workers could
be paid less
It also meant that huge numbers of identical cars could be built more quickly
and cheaply
o ‘Model T’ car fell from $850 dollars in 1908 to just $295 in the 1920s
o There was 1 car to every 5 people in the USA, compared to 1 to 43 in Britain and 1 to
2000 in Russia
o Owning a car became not just a privilege enjoyed by the rich
OTHER INDUSTRIES
o The idea of mass production was copied by other industries
o By 1929 there were more than 10 million radios in the USA, 20 million telephones
and refrigerators
o The success of the motor industry helped other industries to boom (glass, leather
and steel to build the cars, and petrol to fuel them)
o A huge number of jobs were created in road building which was the largest single
employer in the 1920s
o The growth of car ownership made it possible for people to live in the suburbs,
creating more jobs in house building
o Also gave people freedom to travel, stimulating growth in hotel and restaurant
industries
WHICH AMERICANS DID NOT BENEFIT FROM THE BOOM?
The USA became richer in the 1920s, but this wealth was not shared out equally
Around 40% of all Americans lived below the poverty line
The poor remained poor and in rural areas became even poorer
UNEMPLOYED:
o The growth in industry in the 1920s did not actually create many new jobs, because
factories were increasingly using mechanical methods of production
o The same number of people were unemployed in 1929 as there had been in 1920
o The Republican policy of ‘laissez-faire’ meant not interfering with the economy and
people’s lives
‘OLD INDUSTRY’ WORKERS:
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