Home > SparkCharts > History > U.S. History 1865–2004 > The Roaring Twenties 1920–1929

U.S. History 1865–2004


 
 

The Roaring Twenties 1920–1929

  1. Postwar U.S. economy prospers, thanks to pro-business administrations and boom in automobile industry

  2. Intolerance thrives in both society and big business as African Americans and immigrants are pushed to margins of society

  3. Harding, Coolidge lead United States toward isolationism in reaction to World War I

  4. Freewheeling culture of Jazz Age conflicts with previous generations’ notions of right and wrong

  5. Severe economic depression brings prosperity to screeching halt in 1929

 
1920   In reaction to Russian Revolution, Palmer Raids arrest or deport thousands of U.S. residents on suspicion of Communist affiliations
 
  First commercial radio broadcast airs
 
  Warren G. Harding elected 29th president, promising “return to normalcy”
 
  19th Amendment grants women’s suffrage
 
1921   Congress sets quotas on immigration
 
  Federal Highway Act allots aid for construction and maintenance of state roads
 
1922   Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union or USSR) established with Vladimir I. Lenin as leader
 
1923   Harding dies; Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes 30th president
 
1924   Lenin dies; Joseph Stalin becomes leader of USSR
 
  Teapot Dome scandal exposes massive corruption in Harding administration
 
  Dawes Plan eases war reparations against Germany
 
  National Origins Act limits immigrants from Asia, Eastern and Southern Europe
 
  Coolidge elected president
 
1925   Scopes Monkey Trial popularizes debate over teaching evolution in schools
 
  F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes novel The Great Gatsby
 
1926   More than 60 nations sign Kellogg-Briand Pact condemning war in any form
 
  Ernest Hemingway publishes novel The Sun Also Rises
 
1927   Charles Lindbergh completes world’s first solo flight across Atlantic
 
  Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti executed for murder; controversial verdict leads to charges that executions were politically motivated and unjustified
 
  Film The Jazz Singer popularizes “talkies” and signals end of silent era
 
  Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs for New York Yankees
 
1928   Herbert Hoover elected 31st president
 
1929   Young Plan further reduces Germany’s war reparations
 
  William Faulkner publishes novel The Sound and the Fury
 
  Stock market crash (“Black Thursday” on October 24, “Black Tuesday” on October 29) launches Great Depression