The Road to the
Great Depression
The Economy of the 1920’s
The “Roaring Twenties”
• Key aspect of our sense of the 1920s: economic prosperity
• Closer look:
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1914-1919: economic boom
1920-1922: recession
1922-1929: another boom
The “Roaring Twenties”
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Economic statistics, 1922-1929
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Industrial output doubled
GNP rose by 40%
Wages rose by 17%
Industrial productivity rose by 75% (industrial output per manhour)
Population rose by 10% (to 121m)
American workers highest paid in the world
Sources of Economic Growth in 1920s
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Transition to a full-blown consumer economy
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Especially in durable goods → last at least five years
Spending by middle and upper classes
Consumer revolution made possible by
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Low prices: inflation low throughout the decade
Advertising: changes to more graphics-based (from text-based) ads
Buying on credit: “installment plan” for most significant purchases
Consumer Revolution
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For first time, average Americans can afford products that make their lives easier
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Especially housewives
Leads to creation of more leisure time
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Which helps propel mass culture
• Radio shows
• Movies
• Magazines
• Books
• Sports
Causes of the Great Depression
• So if everything was so great, what the hell happened?
• Basically, the “Roaring Twenties” prosperity masked several deeper
economic problems that eventually led to the Great Depression
Causes of the Great Depression
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Let’s look at SEVEN FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS:
1.
Durable goods sales by definition can’t be sustained by domestic consumption
Need to sell to other markets
2.
Wages, while high, didn’t keep up with productivity gains, so workers eventually
can’t buy what they’re making → requires exporting of surplus production
Causes of the Great Depression
3.
Many traditional industries not “roaring”
Industries that employed many workers and had high capital investment
Railroads, coal, textiles in particular
Causes of the Great Depression
4. Farmers don’t “roar” at all in the ‘20s
Farm exports plunge after 1919
Per capita agricultural income, 1929: $273
Per capita national income, 1929: $681
Causes of the Great Depression
5. Installment buying (credit) got out of hand
Farmers always in debt
Average American consumer debt skyrockets
1919: $100 million
1927: $7 billion
Credit buying only works if economic fortunes continue to improve
Causes of the Great Depression
6. Distribution of income very unequal as 1920’s progressed
Wages up 17%
Dividend (payments to stockholders) income up 65%
Saving account totals up 50%
Problem: as incomes of the wealthy rise, less of their income is spent on
consumer goods, more spent on investment (e.g., stocks) and saving
Causes of the Great Depression
7.
U.S. goes from net debtor nation to net creditor nation
That is, other countries now owe us more than we owe them → HOW?
Problem because in order for our economy to grow, we have to export
surplus production to other countries (see Reason #2 above)
But for other nations to pay back their loans to us, we need them to export
goods to the U.S., to make money that they can turn around and send to us as
debt payments
The 1920s
THE AGE OF CELEBRITY
The Age of Celebrity
Pre-1900, America celebrated “heroes”
Political figures like Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jackson
Businessmen like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller
Inventors like Edison, Ford
What did we celebrate about them?
Their accomplishments
But also their character and values
They represented “us” in some meaningful way
Models of certain behavior or beliefs
Helped to create a mythic narrative of America
The Age of Celebrity
Post-1920, America celebrated “celebrities”
A person who is always in the public eye
Interest in all they do, say
Dependent on the creation of a “mass culture”
Celebrities need fans, after all
Celebrity possible only after creation of “mass media”
Movies
Magazines
Radio
“Mass media” makes possible national cultural figures in ways not
possible before
The Age of Celebrity
So who were these celebrities?
Mostly, figures from popular culture
Movies
Sports
Music
What did we celebrate about them?
Their exploits
But also primarily their personality and private lives
That is, what they did and were like when not doing “their jobs” on
the screen, the playing field, or the radio
The Age of Celebrity
Celebrities must have accomplished something
No Kardashians, that is
And that’s why Babe Ruth was a celebrity but Jimmy Dykes
wasn’t
But they become “celebrities” because they represent
something that someone else believes can “sell” a
product
And because they make fans feel better about their
own lives and flaws
The Age of Celebrities
Where did the “worship” of celebrities come from?
Basically, from the rise of the consumer-based economy
How do companies distinguish their product from others?
Should you go to a Metro movie or a Warner Brothers movie?
The one that has your favorite movie “star”
Which newspaper should you buy?
The one that has pictures of your favorite athlete
Which cigarette should I smoke?
The one endorsed by your favorite athlete or movie star
The Age of Celebrity
In order to make and keep a celebrity, an entire
industry is created
Publicity people who work for studios, sports teams
Agents representing celebrities
Public relations companies (think “Mad Men”)
Newspapers reporters and columnists
Fan magazines covering movies/stars, sports/athletes
In the end, “accomplishments” morph into “image”
And once established, the image is the most important
It’s the image that gets sold
The Age of Celebrity
As the twentieth century progresses, the
“accomplishment” becomes less and less
“accomplished”
And today one can be famous for, well, being famous
“Image is everything”
Celebrities of the 1920’s
America’s Biggest Hero: Charles Lindbergh
Movie Stars of the 1920’s
Rudolph Valentino
Charlie Chaplin
Buster Keaton
Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd, “Safety Last” (1923)
Douglas Fairbanks
Mary Pickford
Lillian Gish
Clara Bow
Theda Bara
Theda Bara as Cleopatra (1917)
SPORTS HEROES
Babe Ruth
Jack Dempsey
Red Grange
Bobby Jones
Bill Tilden
Gertrude Ederle
World War I Propaganda
Public Opinion & the Great War
• In April 1917, Americans ambivalent about
entering the Great War
– How is this our problem?
– In what way are American values or interests threatened?
– Recent immigrants from both sides of war
• Plus, the Irish
– More draftees than volunteers
• Only such war in American history
– Most popular song in 1915:
• “I Didn’t Raise My Son to Be a Soldier”
Public Opinion & the Great War
• Public opinion needed to be mobilized in
order to win the war
– And it was: most popular song in fall 1917:
• “Over There”
The propaganda arm of the US Govt. during WWI:
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION (CPI)
Created in June 1917, headed by veteran journalist and magazine editor
GEORGE CREEL, the CPI performed many tasks aimed at controlling
information about the war and encouraging Americans to engage in
appropriate war-related behavior.
EXAMPLES:
• worked with newspapers and news services to insure that sensitive war
information did not appear in news stories
•organized a nationwide group of “Four-Minute Men” to serve as public
speakers
•Volunteers who spoke weekly on government-approved topics
• produced or co-produced short movies about the war, soldiers, training
camps, and the responsibilities of civilians
• shown before main features at theaters around the US
CPI’S PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN WENT THROUGH
TWO STAGES:
• 1917
•Very much “pro-American”
• Based on calls for Americans to “do their duty” in a
variety of ways
•1918
•Very much more “anti-German”
• Demonizes the enemy as a source of motivation
MOST FAMOUS ASPECT OF CPI’S
PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN
POSTERS
Most posters were commissioned from well-known graphic
artists of the 1910s
• James Montgomery Flagg
• Howard Chandler Christie
• Charles Dana Gibson (of “Gibson Girl” fame)
They appeared in post offices, stores, factories, schools,
and other government buildings – in short, EVERYWHERE
Some targeted civilians, others focused on young men
eligible for military service
ENLISTMENT
POSTERS
POSTERS
AIMED AT
CIVILIANS
ANTI-GERMAN
POSTERS
World War I Propaganda
Public Opinion & the Great War
• In April 1917, Americans ambivalent about
entering the Great War
– How is this our problem?
– In what way are American values or interests threatened?
– Recent immigrants from both sides of war
• Plus, the Irish
– More draftees than volunteers
• Only such war in American history
– Most popular song in 1915:
• “I Didn’t Raise My Son to Be a Soldier”
Public Opinion & the Great War
• Public opinion needed to be mobilized in
order to win the war
– And it was: most popular song in fall 1917:
• “Over There”
The propaganda arm of the US Govt. during WWI:
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION (CPI)
Created in June 1917, headed by veteran journalist and magazine editor
GEORGE CREEL, the CPI performed many tasks aimed at controlling
information about the war and encouraging Americans to engage in
appropriate war-related behavior.
EXAMPLES:
• worked with newspapers and news services to insure that sensitive war
information did not appear in news stories
•organized a nationwide group of “Four-Minute Men” to serve as public
speakers
•Volunteers who spoke weekly on government-approved topics
• produced or co-produced short movies about the war, soldiers, training
camps, and the responsibilities of civilians
• shown before main features at theaters around the US
CPI’S PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN WENT THROUGH
TWO STAGES:
• 1917
•Very much “pro-American”
• Based on calls for Americans to “do their duty” in a
variety of ways
•1918
•Very much more “anti-German”
• Demonizes the enemy as a source of motivation
MOST FAMOUS ASPECT OF CPI’S
PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN
POSTERS
Most posters were commissioned from well-known graphic
artists of the 1910s
• James Montgomery Flagg
• Howard Chandler Christie
• Charles Dana Gibson (of “Gibson Girl” fame)
They appeared in post offices, stores, factories, schools,
and other government buildings – in short, EVERYWHERE
Some targeted civilians, others focused on young men
eligible for military service
ENLISTMENT
POSTERS
POSTERS
AIMED AT
CIVILIANS
ANTI-GERMAN
POSTERS
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