1920-1929

     The main theme of this decade was the idea of the roaring 20's leading into the depression.  The country was full of good times and rebellion with things like the stock market, Jazz, bootlegging, flappers, high spirits, and a supposed strong economy.  This effected people then in many ways then.  Role models were a big part of commercials and the new attitude for Americans.  People like Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey gave people someone to believe and look up to.  The Jazz Age created new music for people to dance to.  New untraditional styles of dancing were also created by people like flappers, who rebelled by creating new styles like short hair, shorter skirts, and make up.  More economic freedoms and ideas started getting more Americans than ever before investing in the stock market, buying on margin, and using credit.  This was all highlighted by the bootlegging and rum running that kept America wet during prohibition.  All this came to a catastrophic end though in 1929 when the stock market crashed.

     Some of the effects of this decade are with us still today.  Like makeup, dancing without chaperones, credit, and people that are more cautious about money usage.  Because of the stock market crash in 1929 and another drop in 1987, the government has put computer blockers on the stock market to stop it from ever dropping that low again.  All this combined made the 1920's one of the most important and pivotal decades of the 20th century.

Events of This Decade
*Starred Events relate to the main theme.

    April 15, 1920-Two gunmen robbed and killed the guard and paymaster of a South Braintree, Massachusetts shoe factory.  Two Italian immigrants were convicted of the murder which created a national public outcry of innocence and an unfair trial.
    1920-League of Nations is established in Geneva by Woodrow Wilson and other world leaders.
    1920-Adolf Hitler helps organize the Nazi party in Germany with his radical views and new ideas.  He would be the future leader of the Nazi party during WWII and the orchestrator of the tragic holocaust.

    June 1920-The Ku Klux Klan launches a recruitment campaign using mass marketing techniques to gain 85,000 new recruits by October.
    August 18, 1920-Women win the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
  *1920-The first commercial radio broadcast is made.
    1920-The Women's Bureau is formed within the Department of Labor.
    1921-The Sheppard-Towner Act is passed.
    1921-A Reparations Committee ruled that Germany owed $33 billion in payment for the war.
    July 21, 1921-A joint resolution to officially end World War I in the U.S. finally passes.
    1922-The Cable Act is passed in the U.S.
    1922-T.S. Eliot publishes "The Wasteland."
  *1922-Filmmakers set up their own organization so they can censor their own movies.
  *1923-The popular Jazz singer Bessie Smith records her first jazz album.

    August 2, 1923-Warren G. Harding dies 2 and a half years into his presidential term and is succeeded by Calvin Coolidge.
    1924-Insecticides are used for the first time on crops.
    1924-U.S. immigration bill excludes all Japanese people.
    1924-France hosts the very first Winter Olympics.
    1925-A teacher, John Scopes is tried for teaching evolution.
  *1925-Bruce Barton writes The Man Nobody Knows, one of the decades best-selling books.
    1926-Germany is successfully admitted into the League of Nations.
    1927-The first pop-up toaster is design in the U.S.
  *May 21, 1927-Charels Lindbergh becomes the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

  *1927-American hero Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs, winning the hearts of Americans, and breaking the season record.

  *1927-Gertrude Ederle becomes the first women to swim across the English Channel.
  *1928-Walt Disney makes his first first Mickey Mouse cartoon.

    1928-The Grand Dragon of Indiana, David Stephenson, is jailed on second-degree murder charges.
  *1928-The automobile, steel, rubber, glass, and housing industries are in recession  foreshadowing  the future events of the depression.
    1929-The first color television experiments are performed by Alexander Grahm Bell.
  *October 1929-After reaching an all time high in September, the stock market crashes creating a worldwide economic crisis.

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