The Road to Failure

No era in American history is quite as dynamic and contradictory than the 1920s. Deemed the “Roaring Twenties,” the country experienced vast increases in wealth and in the standard of living. Americans were earning the highest wages in the world and were out producing their competitors in astonishing numbers. Technological developments made life easier and increased leisure activities such as sports, cinema and music. Despite this prosperity, the decade also saw a backlash against the changes America was experiencing. A federal ban on alcohol consumption yielded a dangerous increase in bootlegging and organized crime while reckless economic policies threated the financial security of the nation. In his book The Perils of Prosperity, author William E. Leuchtenburg detailed the events of this contradictory decade. The nation was on a dangerous, yet prosperous, road to self-destruction. Those who lived through it surely enjoyed the ride, but suffered the consequences once that road ended.

As World War I ended and the troops were brought home, developments in technology continued to change and improve everyday life. By 1920, nearly all major cities and their surrounding areas had access to electricity, giving rise to new household appliances such as the vacuum cleaner, refrigerator and washing machines. These new appliances were possible because of the electric motor, which also began to replace the steam engine as the nation’s primary source of industrial power. Although the new home appliances proved useful, they often increased the expectations of women’s duties in the home. Yet innovations in in the home were not limited to household chores; people in the decade started to communicate more efficiently. By 1930, the number of ho...

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...tributed to what would later be deemed The Great Depression. Leuchtenburg broadly blames both the crash and the depression on “The foolhardy assumption that the special interests of business and the national interest were identical” (244). As the economy spiraled downward, so did then President Herbert Hoover’s approval rate. The roaring twenties came to a sudden and dramatic halt in the final months of the decade.

The 1920s was an era of excess. The country experienced prosperity of which it had only dreamed. An increase in leisure time lent itself to an explosion of culture in music, movies and sports. Yet its disastrous legislative policies created a time-bomb that could not be stopped. When that bomb finally exploded, it left a cloudy haze over the jubilant memories of the previous decade as Americans looked toward the future and saw nothing but despair.