Did the 1920s Roar for All?

The Boom

In 1919 there were 9 million cars, this rose to 26 million by 1929. Telephones also doubled from 10 million to 20 million between 1915 to 1929.

Skyscrapers were being built in New York City.

The car made it possible for people to live in suburbs on the edges of towns. Queens outside New York doubled in size in the 1920s.

The road building program began with the Federal Road Act of 1916 beginning intensive road building. This industry employed more than any other. The total extent of roads doubled. This led to a truck industry with 3.5 million trucks by 1929.

In the 1920s rayon replaced silk for stockings and in 1930 300 million pairs of stockings were sold. 

By 1930 new aircraft companies flew 162,000 flights a year and there were passenger airlines. 

In 1918 only a few homes had electricity but by 1929 most urban homes had it, although not many farms were on the grid.

In 1859 Charles Darwin wrote a Theory of Evolution and in the 1920s, some Protestants firmly disagreed with it, believing in the Old Testament's teachings of how the universe came to be. In 1921-2, members of the World's Christian Fundamentals Association, (1919), passed 6 bills banning teaching it in schools and six Southern states followed through. The American Civil Liberties Union, (ACLU), offered to defend anyone wishing to test this.

Scopes' Trial

John T Scopes taught biology at a school in Dayton, Tennessee, and was arrested for teaching evolution. His trial was recorded in the press, showing its rise. Clarence Darrow of the ACLU went up against William Jennings Bryan, a fundamentalist. Darrow criticised and ridiculed Bryan for his literal interpretation of the bible and as a result of the humiliation, the trial ended with Scopes fined $100. Fundamentalism declined.

Fundamentalism did survive…