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Roaring Twenties In The United States During The 1920's

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Following WWI, the United States entered in to what became known as the “Roaring Twenties”—a decade of unprecedented economic prosperity. However, the 1920s were rife with problems in an ever-changing and diverse nation: the corrupt presidency of Warren G. Harding, the female liberation movement, prohibition, culture wars that spawned the Scopes Trial, immigration restriction, labor disputes, and equal rights and civil liberties topics that were revisited for the first time since the post-Civil War Reconstruction years. By 1929, the United States was a very different place—economically and socially. “The nation asks for action and action is now” (Foner). When Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) assumed the presidency on March 4, 1933, America’s banking …show more content…
The centerpiece of the plan for combating the Depression was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA). Following quickly were several additional programs—the Economy Act, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the Public Works Administration (WPA)—to name but a few (Foner). Collectively these programs formed Roosevelt’s New Deal. What came to be known as the Second New Deal, in 1935, created Social Security, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), and several programs involving music and the arts …show more content…
However, in the United State, many remembered all too well the fear brought about by Germany in WWI. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson had called for “peace without victory”, where he outlined his vision for a world order including freedom of the seas, restrictions on armaments, and self-determination for nations great and small (Foner). The Freedom of Fear was also felt on a personal level by many European immigrants, Asians, and blacks. “Americanization” became popular in the early 1900s, in the desire to assimilate them into the American culture. Ford Motor Company inspected immigrant workers’ homes to evaluate their lives and forced them enroll them in English courses. Those who resisted were fired. By 1919, most schools had banned the teaching of any foreign languages. In the South, much of the pre-Civil war mentality prevailed, and blacks lived in fear of beatings and lynching. The Fear of Want was more ambiguous in its definition, (Foner) and perhaps the most controversial in terms of interpretation. Roosevelt’s original meaning was “the elimination of barriers to international trade” (Foner). However, Americans linked the ideal more to their individual economic freedom. With the grim days of the Great Depression still fresh in their memories, most Americans wanted a guarantee of a reasonable standard of living—employment, a fair wage, and

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