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