Changes for America in the 1920s, included the unfortunate political decision to remain aloof from Western Europe, despite the country's contribution in ending World War I. America was tardy in entering the war, because Woodrow Wilson felt the reasons for the war had little to do with America's interests. Yet, while many Americans agreed with keeping out of war (in fact, it was a campaign slogan in 1916 for Wilson's reelection, still since so many Americans were descendants of European immigrants and still had families there, eventually the decision to enter the war was made, the deciding point surely being the sinking of the liner Lusitania. Rejecting the League of Nations membership, the 1920s began an era of isolationism, politically, while building up industry- from mass production of automobiles to an increasing growth of the movie business, which culminated in 1929 with the introduction of the "Talkies." It was the decade that began the treatment of women as equals when the 19th Amendment (1921) gave women the vote. U.S. industrialists could focus on mass production, which had both its strengths and weaknesses: "The social institutions of mass production-collectively referred to as Fordism- and were at the center of a decades-long process of social struggle" (Rupert para. 2). Success on Wall Street was not universal, however, which meant many Americans turned to religion, where "God" created strange bedfellows including Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple MacPherson. The 1920s were the Jazz age, highlighted by flappers and the advent of a powerful crime element thanks to Prohibition. All the fun and paper profits ended when America's stock market crash began on Black Thursday, Oct. 24, 1929
Rupert, Mark: "Fordism" accessed Nov. 11, 2008 on
faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/merupert/Research/Fordism
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