In this decade, America became the wealthiest country in the world with no obvious rival. On the whole, the United States economy experienced steady growth and expansion during the 1920s. Three factors fuelled this economic growth-: machines, factories and the process of Standardized Mass Production.
The decade of the 1920s, or as it was called by its contemporaries, "The New Era," was marked by prosperity and new opportunity in the aftermath of World War I. The war began in Europe in 1914, and the United States entered the fray in 1917. The USA was one of the victors in the First World War and it enjoyed a period of great prosperity in the 1920's, though there was a darker side to American life even then.
A significant reason for United States involvement in the war was the nation's economic links to the Allied Powers, and especially to Great Britain. Wall Street financial institutions such as the House of Morgan had given loans to Great Britain totalling over $2.3 billion. As a result, Wall Street feared a British defeat even more than Main Street.
There were many changes in the social customs and day-to-day life of millions of Americans during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge. The nineteen twenties also was one of the most active and important periods for the more serious arts. Writers, painters and other artists produced some of the greatest work in the nation's history. In the 1920s, pop culture thrived. Movies were extremely popular. Several studios in Hollywood dominated them.
In the society during the 1920s, people were distinguished by conflicts such as the liberals versus conservatives. For instance, prohibition was passed at the beginning of the 1920s, but it was not enforced. Prohibition was a period when the sale, manufacture, or transport of alcoholic beverages became illegal.
American foreign investments continued to increase greatly during the 1920s. Americans had more steel, food, cloth, and coal than even the richest foreign nations. By 1920, the United States national income was greater than the combined incomes of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and seventeen smaller countries. Quite simply, the United States had become the world's greatest economic power.
In the 1930's the Great Depression began in America and its effects were very serious there. But in the good times everybody seemed to have a reasonably well paid job and everybody seemed to have a lot of spare cash to spend. Unlike Germany, though, the USA managed to avoid dictatorship and remained a democracy (the Government being elected by the people).
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