2. Economy Booms
As industry does well the U.S. becomes one of the richest countries in the world.
People have good paying jobs allowing consumers to spend more.
This helped businesses to do well because consumerism was increased.
Businesses hired more people to meet the production needs of consumers
Poor farmers 

3. Urbanization and the Industrial revolution
Urbanization by date: % % % % %
Prohibition represented a conflict between urban and rural values emerging in the United States:
-Immigrants liked to drink
-crime, generally attributed to urbanization, was blamed on alcohol
-poor working conditions  drunks 

4. Jan 17th 1920 - 18th amendment – no alcohol 1920- First radio station
1907 – Model T car invented
1919- Tommy gun invented
Jan 17th 1920 - 18th amendment – no alcohol
1920- First radio station
radio stations (!!!!!)
19th amendment – women voting August 18, 1920
1927 – 15 million model Ts
St. Valentine’s day massacre – 1929
21st amendment – Alcohols back! 1933
(yay!!)

5. The Ford Company
Henry Ford became an automobile tycoon when he applied assembly line production to the automobile industry.
Ford produced cars more efficiently than anyone else in the world. Production costs dropped and as a result so did the price of cars.
The affordability of cars turned the U.S. into a country where 1 out of 5 Americans owned a car by 1930.

6. The Impacts of the Automobile
The automobile (specifically the Model- T) changes the U.S. physically: More roads and freeways and cities are less crowded as people can now drive to work. They can work in the city, but drive home to the suburbs.
Roadside businesses like restaurants, gas stations, and shops become common.
Americans experience greater freedom of mobility. People are home less. They can take vacations to far away places.
Automobile production becomes one of the biggest industries in America. Cities where they are produced become economically prosperous.

7. The Impact of the Radio
In 1920, the first radio station was created. It played news, music and later, shows. By there were over 500 stations nationwide. By 1930, over 13 million American houses had a radio.

8. The Impact of the Movies
By 1928, talkies, or movies with sound, started being released.
Over 90% of Americans went to the movies at least once a week.
They created a “shared culture” as Americans listened to the same programs, heard the same commercials and music, learned about news at the same time, and watched same movies.
Steamboat Willie

9. Consumer Culture
As more products became available, companies began to advertise more and consumers bought more.
As consumption increased, companies competed to market their products to consumers. They developed innovative marketing techniques.
This created a culture of consumerism in the U.S. where people began to identify themselves with certain products
What you bought defined who you were.

10. Decadent Lifestyle
As more and more products became available to Americans, and these products were marketed as necessary for a certain lifestyle, more Americans began to live more decadently.
The line between the things that people simply wanted and the things that were necessities was blurred.

11. Superficial Prosperity
Consumers were able to buy more than they would normally be able to because of credit.
Consumers could take out loans on products giving them a superficial sense of prosperity.
They possessed products that they didn’t really own because they were not paid off.