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The Business of America
Chapter 12, Section 3
Objectives
Summarize the impact of the automobile and other consumer goods on American life
Explain how prosperity affected different groups of Americans
Explain in what ways the country’s prosperity was superficial
Main Idea
Consumer goods fuel business boom of the 1920s as standard of living soars
Why It Matters Today?
Business, technological, and social developments launch the era of modern consumerism
Industry Flourishes
President Calvin Coolidge, “the business of America is business…The man who builds a factory builds a temple…the man who works there worships there.”
ELECTION OF 1924
President Calvin Coolidge1923-1929
Conscientious, honest & had impeccable manners
Least active president in U.S. history, took daily afternoon naps & proposed no new legislation.
Republican Presidents
Coolidge and Hoover Lower taxes Profits up Give businesses more $ credit to
expand Minimize government interference
so business can flourish
The Impact of the Automobile
Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles Towns emerge
Gas stations Motels Shopping centers
Housing styles change Garages Driveways Smaller lawns
HENRY FORD, THE MAN WHO REVOLUTIONIZED MANUFACTURING BY MECHANIZING THE ASSEMBLY LINE MODE OF PRODUCTION
IN 1925 FORD WAS PRODUCING NEW MODEL T’S AT THE RATE OF ONE EVERY TEN SECONDS.
ASSEMBLY LINE PRODUCTION
The Ford Assembly Line
The Chevy Assembly Line
$265 = $3,000 in 2012
$775.00 = $8,100.00 in 2012
INADEQUATE PARKING AND ROADS WERE APPARENT BY THE MID 1920s
An early gas station…
The Impact of the Automobile
First traffic light in Detroit Holland tunnel, 1st underwater
tunnel links NYC and NJ NJ builds 1st cloverleaf
intersection
Automobile Liberation
Links isolated rural families Broadens vacation experiences Dating practices expand Urban sprawl results from workers
living further from their jobs Economic prosperity Important status symbol
Impact of the Auto
Humorist Will Rogers remarks to Henry Ford, “it will take a hundred years to tell whether you helped us or hurt us, but you certainly didn’t leave us where you found us.”
The Airplane Industry
Mail Transportation
Weather forecasting Radios and navigational equipment
Transatlantic flights by Lindbergh and Earhart promotes commercial airlines
Standard of Living Soars
Own 40% of world’s wealth
Annual income rises 35% Spending increases Dependence on gasoline
Electrical Conveniences
AC/DC allows factories to expand the suburbs
Household appliances impact Housewifes lives made easier More free time to enjoy leisure
activities Time to work jobs outside the home
Modern Advertising
Companies hire psychologists Address people’s desire for
youthfulness, beauty, health, and wealth
National slogans and branding become familiar and make luxury items seem like necessities
A Superficial Prosperity
The Needy Textile and steel make little profit Farming losses money from deep
$ debt and high surpluses “Depressions are farm led and
farm fed.”
Producing Greater Quantities of Goods
Chain stores selling groceries, drugs, shoes and clothes start
As businesses grow so to does the income gap between workers and managers
Buying Goods on Credit
Lure consumers to buy in ever greater amounts by providing easy credit
Installment plans allowed people to buy goods over an extended period, w/o having to put very much $ down at the time of purchase
Banks provide low interest rates
Easy Credit
Consumers buy with abandon Accumulate large personal
debt Makes the economy a financial
“house of cards”
Invention or Trend Effects of the Invention or Trend
5.Alternating Electrical Current
6.Modern Advertising
7.Installment Plans
Inventions & Trends of the 1920s