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These are some of the important events in American history during the decade starting 1920.
The 1920s were a period of vigorous, vital economic growth. It marks the first truly modern decade and dramatic economic developments are found in those years. There is a rapid adoption of the automobile to the detriment of passenger rail travel.
Though suburbs had been growing since the late nineteenth century their growth had been tied to rail or trolley access and this was limited to the largest cities. The flexibility of car access changed this and the growth of suburbs began to accelerate. The demands of trucks and cars led to a rapid growth in the construction of all-weather surfaced roads to facilitate their movement.
In this decade, America became the wealthiest country in the world with no obvious rival. Yet by 1930 she had hit a depression that was to have world-wide consequences. 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.
Many young people began to challenge the traditions of their parents and grandparents. They experimented with new ideas and ways of living. People of all kinds became interested in the new popular culture. Radio and films brought them exciting news of court trials, sports heroes and wild parties.
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.
One of the reasons for this was the introduction of hire-purchase whereby you put a deposit on an item that you wanted and paid installments on that item, with interest, so that you paid back more than the price for the item but did not have to make one payment in one go. Hire-purchase was easy to get and people got into debt without any real planning for the future. In the 1920's it just seemed to be the case that if you wanted something then you got it.
ART & ARCHITECTURE
Early modernism in art, design, and architecture which began at the turn of the century continued through to 1940 and the war. In cities, Skyscrapers (first in 1870s) were erected and hundreds of architects competed for the work. The first successful design was the Woolworth Building in New York. In Chicago, the Wrigley building was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst, and white while the Chicago Tribune Tower was designed by Howells and Hood.
The Art Deco design was exemplified by the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings (depression projects - the Empire State Building completed early 1931.) Frank Lloyd Wright was prolific during this period, designing homes in California and in Japan. The term Art Deco (1925-1950) is derived from the International Art Exposition in Paris in 1925. In the 20s and 30s art of that style was referred to as modern. Designers included Karl (Kem) Weber and Eliel Saarinen.
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site gives access to online american history and culture information. There is a timeline of american history, many american history facts. You will find american history answers to questions that you always wanted to ask like what is american history? and exam questions. Summary of american history topics: american history civil war, events timeline,african american history articles and essays for kids/students.
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