Set Description
I just want to see where this set leads me.
The Roaring Twenties refers to the North American period of the 1920s, which has been described as "one of the most colorful decades in American history." The decade encapsulates a fascinating story, beginning with the return of young soldiers from the fronts of the World War I and emergence of a new and confident face of modern womanhood, and ending with the sad note of the Black Tuesday, harbinger of the Great Depression.
The years of the Roaring Twenties were marked by several inventions and discoveries of far-reaching consequences; emergence of unprecedented industrial boom and accelerated consumer demand and aspirations, coupled with significant changes in the lifestyle; and a series of events, national as well as international, which shaped a large part of the history of the 20th century.
Prohibition began on January 16, 1920. Nationwide prohibition was accomplished by means of the Eighteenth Amendment to the national Constitution and the Volstead Act. Prohibition was the era during which the United States government outlawed the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages. It also includes the prohibition of alcohol by state action at different times, and the social-political movement to secure prohibition. At any time possession of liquor, wine or beer was illegal. Drinking alcohol was never technically illegal, but one who was drinking was liable for prosecution on the grounds that they possessed the alcohol they were drinking.
Speakeasies became popular and numerous as the Prohibition years progressed, and lead to the rise of gangsters such as Al Capone. They more commonly began to operate with connections to organized crime and liquor smuggling. While police and US Federal Government agents raided such establishments and arrested many of the small figures and unimportant smugglers they rarely managed to get the big bosses; the business of running speakeasies was so lucrative that such establishments continued to flourish throughout the nation. In major cities, speakeasies could often be elaborate, offering food, live bands, and floor shows. Police were notoriously bribed by speakeasy operators to either leave them alone or at least give them advance notice of any planned raid.
The 18th amendment was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment on December 5, 1933. The 18th Amendment is the only amendment to be repealed by another amendment of the Constitution.
On August 26, 1920 the 19th Amendment to the U.S. constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage. On August 18, 1920, the State of Tennessee became the last of 36 states needed to ratify the 19th Amendment. Women were thus recognized as equals as men in every state; at least at the polls.
Warren G. Harding ran on a promise to "Return to Normalcy", a term he coined, which reflected three trends of his time: a renewed isolationism in reaction to World War I, a resurgence of nativism, and a turning away from the government activism of the reform era. Throughout his administration, Harding adopted laissez-faire policies. Harding's "Front Porch Campaign" during the late summer and fall of 1920 captured the imagination of the country. Not only was it the first campaign to be heavily covered by the press, and to receive widespread newsreel coverage, but it was also the first modern campaign to use the power of Hollywood and Broadway stars. His administration was plagued with scandals with which he was likely not involved.
From the early 1920s, a variety of eccentric dances were developed. The first of these were the Breakaway and Charleston. Both were based upon African-American musical styles and beats, including the all popular blues. The Charleston's popularity exploded after being featured in two Broadway shows in 1922. A brief Black Bottom craze, originating from the Apollo Theater, would sweep dance halls from 1926 to 1927, replacing the Charleston in popularity. By 1927, Lindy Hop, a dance based on Breakaway and Charleston, and integrating elements of Tap, would become the dominant social dance. Developed in the Savoy Ballroom, it was set to stride piano ragtime jazz. Lindy Hop would remain popular for over a decade, before evolving into Swing dance. However, these dances were never mainsteamed and the overwhelming majority of people continued to dance the fox-trot, waltz and tango throughout the decade.
Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated as president after the death of President Harding. He was easily elected in 1924 when he ran on a basis of order and prosperity. Coolidge made use of the new medium of radio and made radio history several times while president: his inauguration was the first presidential inauguration broadcast on radio; on 12 February 1924, he became the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio, and only ten days thereafter, on 22 February, he also became the first to deliver such a speech from the White House. He is famous for his quotation "The chief business of the American People is business".
Charles Lindbergh gained sudden great international fame as the first pilot to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Roosevelt Airfield in Nassau County, Long Island, New York to Paris on May 20-21, 1927. He had a single-engine airplane, "The Spirit of St. Louis", which had been designed by Donald Hall and custom built by Ryan Airlines of San Diego, California. He needed 33.5 hours for the trip. The President of France bestowed on him the French Legion of Honor and, on his arrival back in the United States, a fleet of warships and aircraft escorted him to Washington, D.C., where President Calvin Coolidge awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.
In the presidential election of 1928 Hoover easily won the Republican nomination. The nation was prosperous and optimistic, leading to a landslide for Hoover over the Democrat Al Smith. Hoover deeply believed in the Efficiency Movement, arguing that there were technical solutions to all social and economic problems, that position was challenged by the Great Depression, which began in 1929, the first year of his presidency. A year prior, Herbert Hoover stated in 1928, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land."
Near the end of the 1920s, people believed the market could go nowhere but up. Despite hard-earned lessons from a Florida real estate bubble in the mid 1920s and even many volatile days (mostly down days) in September of 1929, investors did not hold back. Until Thursday, October 24, 1929; a day that will live in infamy as “Black Thursday.”
A record 12.9 million shares changed hands on Black Thursday. Most of the panic took place in the morning hours. The ticker tape machine fell behind by an hour and a half leaving investors madly scrambling to sell their investments without even knowing the current prices. Panic set in. People gathered outside the exchanges and brokerages, police were dispatched to insure peace. Rumors were flying. By 12:30 pm, the Chicago and Buffalo Exchanges closed down, eleven well-known speculators had already killed themselves and the NYSE closed the visitor’s gallery on the wild scenes below. Reporters learned that an important meeting was taking place at the office of J.P. Morgan and Company, involving many of the most important men in banking. After the meeting broke, Thomas Lamont, senior partner at Morgan, made the following statement to newspaper reporters: “There has been a little distress selling on the Stock Exchange… due to a technical condition of the market” and that things were “susceptible to betterment.”
The market moved up a bit after Lamont’s statement, but the real recovery came at 1:30 pm, when self-confident Richard Whitney, vice-president of the NYSE and floor broker of J.P. Morgan and Company, walked into the exchange floor. The crowd went silent. Everyone expected an announcement that the NYSE would be closed. Instead, Richard Whitney surprised everybody…
Whitney asked for the latest bid on U.S. Steel. “195” someone shouted. Then he promptly announced that he was buying 10,000 shares of U.S. Steel at 205. He immediately received 200 shares and then left the rest of the order with the specialist. He continued to make similar orders for over a dozen more stocks. Fear evaporated as investors became worried that they would miss the new boom. The market would have closed much higher if stop loss orders from earlier that day hadn’t been triggered during the upward surge. Needless to say, the recovery on Black Thursday was impressive, but so was the massive sell off earlier in the morning that gave it its name.
Following Black Thursday, the stock market was much calmer - it was up a bit on Friday and down a little on Saturday. People were optimistic, knowing that the market could bounce back from Thursday and that the bankers had stepped in. This false sense of hope would end on Monday.
Black Monday (October 28, 1929) was a terrible day in the market. Unlike the Black Thursday, no "hero" stepped in to regain investor’s confidence. Richard Whitney did not walk into the NYSE and the bankers and Mr. Lamont didn't make comments until after market close and those words weren't that optimistic. Volume levels were very high (around 9.25 million shares) as speculators began to realize that no one could save the market. Speculators could only hope that the damage wouldn’t be too bad.
Combine the worst features of Black Thursday with the worst features of Black Monday and you get Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929). On Thursday, a record 12.9 million shares traded and the ticker tape fell behind one and a half hours. On Black Tuesday, a new record of 16.4 million shares were traded and the ticker tape fell behind by two and a half hours! On Monday, the stock market suffered a record one-day loss of around 13 percent. On Black Tuesday, the market suffered a loss of about 12 percent.
By the end of November, investors had lost $100 billion in assets in what was later called "The Great Stock Market Crash." In just two months, September and October, the stock market had lost 40 percent of its value. Black Tuesday usually marks the point where the Roaring 20’s ended and the Great Depression started. The stock market would continue to fall until bottoming out in July of 1932 with the Dow at 41.22, down 89.2% (from 381.17 to 41.22. The stock market wouldn’t recover for another 22 years!
Set Goals
Type coins from the 1920s
(Under Construction)