Flappers,Depression, andGlobal War

1920–1945

Flappers,Depression, andGlobal War

376 Georgia and the American Experience

TThis chapter covers only a twenty-five-year period,

but this was one of Georgia’s and America’s most event-

ful times. “Calamity Jane,” a huge heavy artillery gun

on wheels, fired the final shots of World War I at 10:59

a.m. on November 11, 1918. The “war to end all wars” was over.

President Wilson wrote, “Everything for which America has

fought has been accomplished. It will now be our fortunate duty

to assist by example, by sober, friendly counsel, and by material

aid, in the establishment of just democracy throughout the

world.” America was at peace, and the party was about to begin.

Chapter PreviewChapter PreviewGeorgia character word:Respect for the CreatorTerms: jazz, the blues, bollweevil, Great Migration, stockmarket, Great Depression,laissez-faire, relief, New Deal,minimum wage, collectivebargaining, rural electrification,subsidy, integrate, isolationism,dictator, appeasement, WorldWar II, Holocaust, ration, G. I. BillPeople: Bessie KemptonCrowell, Viola Ross Napier, MaRainey, Charles Lindbergh,Bobby Jones, Franklin D.Roosevelt, Richard B. RussellJr., Eugene Talmadge, EurithRivers, Ellis ArnallPlaces: Blue Ridge Lake, LakeChatuge, Lake Nottley, PearlHarbor

Section 1 The RoaringTwenties

Section 2 The GreatDepression

Section 3 The New DealSection 4 World War Ii

Chapter 11: Flappers, Depression, and Global War 377

Left: Democratic presidentialcandidate Franklin DelanoRoosevelt campaigns inAtlanta in 1932. His wifeEleanor is sitting on the rightside of the car.

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pSigns of theTimesSigns of theTimes1920-19451920-1945Population: 131.6

million in 1940

Costs of Living: During the Depression,milk was $0.14 a quart, bread was $0.09 a loaf,flour was $0.39 a pound, coffee was $0.46 apound, eggs were $0.15 a dozen, and 10 poundsof sugar cost $0.43. A new house cost $7,146. Anew car cost $610, and gas was $0.10 a gallon.

Art/Architecture: Important artists

of the period included Willem de Kooning,

Georgia O’Keeffe, Thomas Hart Benton, Edward

Hopper, Grant Wood, N. C. Wyeth, Jackson

Pollock, Piet Mondarian, and Andrew Wyeth.

Skyscrapers erected during this period included

the Woolworth Building and the Empire State

Building in New York and the Wrigley Building in

Chicago. U.S. Army Engineers completed the

five-sided Pentagon Building.

Literature: Books published during theperiod included Dr. Benjamin Spock’s CommonSense Book of Baby and Child Care, DashiellHammett’s The Maltese Falcon, Pearl Buck’s TheGood Earth, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes ofWrath, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s The Yearling,Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, RichardWright’s Native Son, and E. B. White’s StuartLittle. Leading poets of the era included e. e.cummings, Carl Sandburg, Edna St. Vincent Millay,Langston Hughes, and Robert Frost.

Life Expectancy: In 1920, Male 53.6 and Female 54.6;in 1940, Male 60.8 and Female 68.2

Wages: The average annual salary in 1920 was

$2,160 but only $1,973 in 1930. In 1920, a

teacher’s salary was $970; in 1940, it was $1,441.

The minimum wage in the 1940s was $0.43 an hour.

Music: The music of the 1920s featured jazz, theblues, and sentimental ballads. The 1930s was the bigband era. Big bands gave way to rhythm and blues. Hitsongs included “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” “CaliforniaHere I Come,” and “Second Hand Rose.” Hit singersincluded Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Kate Smith, BingCrosby, Perry Como, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Fads/Fashions: Popularity of radio boomed,

and television began to expand late in the era. Dance

marathons were popular; popular dances were the

Charleston, black bottom, shimmy, and jitterbug. The

board game “Monopoly” was invented. Women began

wearing knee-length skirts. Ready-to-wear fashions

became popular. Zippers became common in clothes.

Hats were mandatory for men. Women’s nylon stock-

ings were first marketed in 1939.

Religion: The American Lutheran Church formedin 1930 in Toledo, Ohio. The International BibleStudents Association became Jehovah’s Witnessesin 1931. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1943 thatschoolchildren could not be required to salute theflag in school if their religion prohibited it.

378 Chapter 11: Flappers, Depression, and Global War

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Signs of the Times 379

Transportation: The first coast-to-coast

bus line, Yelloway Bus Line, offered service from New

York to Los Angeles, a 5-day, 14-hour trip. Charles

Lindbergh made the first nonstop transatlantic

airplane flight. Amelia Earhart became the first

woman to fly alone across the Atlantic in 1932. She

disappeared on a flight across the Pacific in 1937.

The Queen Mary arrived in New York on its maiden

voyage. Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened.

Science: The bulldozer was invented in1923. RCA licensed NBC as the first nationwideentertainment network in 1926; CBS wasorganized in 1927. The nation’s first planetariumopened in Chicago in 1930. DuPont marketed thefirst nylon product—a toothbrush. Aerosol spraycans were introduced. Computers were devel-oped in 1945; the digital computer named ENIACweighed 30 tons and stood two stories high.

Education: At the height of the depression

in 1933, some 2,000 rural schools closed,

200,000 teachers were out of work, and about 2.3

million children were out of school. The concept of

junior high schools spread across the nation in the

1920s. National Spelling Bee began in 1925,

sponsored by the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Leisure Time: The movie Gone With theWind premiered in Atlanta, and Margaret Mitchellwon a Pulitzer Prize for her novel. Eight ChicagoWhite Sox players were accused of “fixing” theWorld Series; they were found not guilty but bannedfrom baseball. Baseball Hall of Fame established inCooperstown, New York. The first Winter OlympicGames were held the in U.S. in Lake Placid, NewYork in 1932. Bobby Jones developed the AugustaNational Golf Club, which opened for play in 1933.

1922Rebecca LatimerFelton appointed

to U.S. Senate

WSB radio wenton air

1924Drought hit state

1943Georgia first stateto allow 18-year-olds to vote

1939Gone With the Wind moviepremiered in Atlanta

1937Margaret Mitchell won Pulitzer

Prize for Gone With the Wind

1932State governmentreorganized into 17agencies

1931Paved highway opened from

Atlanta to Brunswick

Figure 38 Timeline: 1920–1945

1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 19451929

Stock market crashed1932

Franklin Roosevelt elected president

1945World War II

ended

PresidentRoosevelt died at

Warm Springs1941

U.S. entered World War IIafter attack on Pearl Harbor

1933CCC and TVA created

1934Textile workers strike

1939World War II broke out

in Europe